On July 14, 2016, at approximately 12:20, Michelle Kartschoke, age 46 of Prior Lake, Minnesota died as a result of a fall while hiking near the summit of Mt. Crested Butte located in the Gunnison National Forest. Ms. Kartschoke was hiking with family members at the time of the fall. She suffered significant trauma to her head and body and was pronounced deceased at the scene.

Crested Butte Bike Patrol and staff members responded immediately. “Our thoughts and condolences are with the family during their time of loss,” says Erica Mueller, spokesperson for Crested Butte Mountain Resort. “And to all of those who assisted in today’s incident, thank you for your time and care. Our hearts are with you as well.”

Crested Butte Search and Rescue was dispatched for the recovery of Ms. Kartschoke.

More information will be forthcoming.

Bryan Dillon, Jenny Smith repeat as champions

by Than Acuff

Apprehension, fear, concern for one’s own well-being—these are the emotions expressed by many Fat Tire 40 participants leading up to the race. Yet, those feelings soon disappear as they roll out on course and nerves are replaced with pain, suffering and, eventually, oxygen deprived full body fatigued bliss.

Race organizers ramped up the already tough Fat Tire 40 course for the eighth annual event on Saturday, June 25 making it just a little bit longer. The race gives even the strongest riders a serious challenge with more than 6,000 feet of climbing, most of it on singletrack, spread over 40 miles, give or take a mile or two.

“It’s a lot of climbing for 40 miles,” says seven-time racer and two-time winner Dillon. “It’s a climber’s course, you gotta be able to climb to survive the course.”

But, with $5,000 in cash shared between the top five men and women compliment of the Gunnison/Crested Butte Tourism Association, there’s a pretty fat carrot hanging on the end of the stick for racers. In the end, two local riders defended their 2015 titles as Stan’s Notubes Elite racing team member Jenny Smith and Team Ergon/Topeak athlete Bryan Dillon both repeated as champions.

Dillon has been on a frantic race pace this season winning the Original Growler 64-mile race and finishing fourth overall in the Epic Race Series which, due to its big cash prize purse, attracts the strongest riders from throughout the country to compete.

Dillon finished up the Epic series the week prior to the Fat Tire 40 and took it easy leading up to prepare for both the Fat Tire 40 and his first run at the Chainless World Championships.

“I needed to rest up for that one,” says Dillon of the Chainless. “That was the priority.”

And while he missed out on the Chainless podium, he more than made up for it the next day.

Seventy-two riders rolled out of town at 8 a.m. Saturday and after a parade lap through downtown Crested Butte and a leisurely neutral start pace up Gothic Road, it was game on when the course turned onto the Upper and Upper Upper Loop trails.

While those two trails are fairly benign when it comes to the climbs and descents, the ride is rife with rocks, leaving riders of all abilities to their wits in an effort to make it through. Zach Guy made the initial sprint to the Upper Loop but Brian Smith soon took over in front with Dillon keeping him in sight, all the while keeping himself in check.

“I always want to be cautious in there,” says Dillon. “I’ve crashed in there so I played it safe without letting Smithy get too far ahead.”

Dillon took the lead on the climb up Strand Hill building his initial gap on Smith there and carrying it into Deer Creek as the course enters the brutal single track climb up, including the hike-a-bike section dubbed “the Wall.”

It was during that climb that Smith managed to reel Dillon back in and when Dillon hopped off his bike to hike, he tweaked his seat. While taking a moment to fix it, Smith rolled right up on Dillon and they were back in a two-way battle.

The difference came during the Deer Creek downhill, which includes one little stinger climb in the middle. Smith suffered a brief mishap and Dillon used it to his advantage as he punched it up the climb and pointed it on the downhill, carrying a lead to the end of the Deer Creek trail section.

“I put in a hard effort up that little stinger in the middle,” says Dillon.

Dillon climbed up Gothic Road to the start of Meander and caught a quick glimpse of Smith as he started up for the final and toughest uphill of the race.

“If you go out and just ride Meander, it’s not that big a deal,” explains Dillon. “But where it is in the Fat Tire 40, it can make or break you. Everything else is fun and then you hit Meander. You’re happy if you make it up that without cramping.”

Dillon did make it up with no problems, headed over to the West Side Trail and then bombed down the 2,000-foot descent to the finish line to take the win and earn a $1,000 payday. Smith rolled in a little under three minutes later in second place with Guy taking third. Dave Wiens soon followed in fourth place with the locals’ sweep of the cash podium disrupted by Alex Pond.

Smith finished in a time of three hours, 58 minutes and 57 seconds for the win, 13 minutes ahead of her closest competition and three minutes faster than last year. Sparky Moir rolled across in second place, Sarah Stubbe placed third, Tina Kempin got a slice of the cash pie coming in fourth and Gale Levins rounded out the payout with a fifth-place finish.

Smith’s race season has been relatively relaxed compared to Dillon’s. She dropped out of the racing scene last year following the Fat Tire 40 due to injury and came into this year with a different mindset.

“Things have been going really good, I’ve just been pacing things really slowly,” says Smith. “My form has just been building.”

Smith had a great showing a week earlier at the Epic Race series event in Carson City and carried her momentum into the Fat Tire 40. And while her race was not nearly as hotly contested as Dillon’s, she did have a couple things in the back of her mind. For one, she knew Moir was a rising star on the racing circuit, having raced against her earlier in the season.

Second, while Smith won last year, she crashed during a section of the Upper Loop, heavily damaging her bike so she opted to run that section both times this year.

Smith’s race this year was smooth from start to finish, relishing in her choice to ride a full suspension bike again complete with a dropper post, which helped shave time off of her descents considerably.

“I’ve ridden a hard tail plenty on that course,” says Smith. “I switched to full suspension last year and then added the dropper post this year. It was super smooth.”

Smith also had little trouble with Meander toward the end of the race and actually enjoys the final climb.

“I really like Meander so that helps,” says Smith. “If you can just keep your rhythm going, it’s enjoyable.”

Smith made sure to keep the rubber side down on the final descent, running the one tricky Upper Loop section, taking the win and a $1,000 check for her effort.

While Dillon and Smith are both accomplished racers on the national circuit, they are always willing to line up for the local race.

“It’s one of the highlights of the summer,” says Dillon. “I like the course, it’s challenging but fun and it doesn’t hurt getting paid for the effort.”

“It’s a really awesome course and it’s hard to not do the race when it’s right here,” adds Smith.

But the race isn’t all rainbows and unicorns as riders continued to roll in throughout the day with the last ones pushing the seven-hour mark.

“The folks that finished seven hours in, those are the true hard people,” says race director Dave Ochs. “People that do it in three and a half hours are amazing but the people that double that are incredible. Lot of suffering out there but they still finished.”

Cash, pain, beer—and a mid-course macchiato

by Than Acuff

While mountain bike racing continues to take on new formats, multiple loops on a ski area or enduro racing, the Fat Tire 40 remains true to what cross-country mountain bike racing once was and still is all about—miles of singletrack, punishing climbs and true backcountry trails.

This Saturday, June 25 marks the eighth annual Fat Tire 40 as part of Crested Butte Bike Week, the longest running mountain bike festival in the world. As of press time more than 80 riders are in, and race director and Crested Butte Mountain Bike Association (CBMBA) executive director Dave Ochs is hoping more will trickle in before the registration cut-off at noon on Thursday, June 23.

The Fat Tire 40 is definitely not for the feint of heart. That being said, it is not unattainable for your average mountain biker, it just hurts longer than it does for the elite mountain biker. One thing is for sure: The race provides one incredible loop of almost entirely singletrack.

“It’s pretty much dirt or singletrack the entire time—one small slurry of pavement,” says Ochs.

Racers will roll out from the Chamber of Commerce at 8 a.m. for a parade lap through town, including a coast down Elk Avenue.

“We want the people out with cow bells, coffee, flags—all of that good stuff,” says Ochs.

The riders then head up Gothic Road, still in neutral start mode, until they pass the Washington Gulch Road turn, at which point the police car pulls off and it’s game on.

The course will include the Upper and Upper Upper Loop, Strand, and Deer Creek before coming back from the town of Gothic and turning onto the Evolution Bike Park to ride up Meander, Primer and down the West Side Trail to Happy Hour, back to the Upper Loop and down Tony’s trail into town, finishing back at the Chamber.

Seems simple enough on paper. Granted, it’s taken me the past five years to pre-ride the course but now that there is a coffee cart in Gothic, how hard can it be?

Oh wait… right… We’re talking 40 miles of riding, actually 44 miles, with over 7,500 feet of climbing including “the wall” on Deer Creek, a sh***y, rooty and sometimes bug-biting hike-a-bike section of the course.

But the pay-off, oh the pay-off, makes it all worth it when you bomb down to Gothic (except for that stinger climb in the middle of the downhill) and can get yourself a macchiato so you can regroup for the climb from Gothic, to the climb up Meander (they truly nailed it with that trail name), a trail built through a collaborative effort of the Crested Butte Mountain Resort bike park crew and CBMBA. Meander poses the toughest challenge for everyone, and from the leaders to the back of the pack, all share their disdain for the climb up Meander.

“Meander is the nail in the coffin,” says Ochs.

The course finishes with a 2,000-foot descent from the top of the West Side Trail to town via the Happy Hour Trail, Upper Loop and Tony’s.

“That’s a major downhill,” says Ochs.

There’s money on the line once again this year with the winners taking home $1,000 cash each and the pay-out going five deep on both the men’s and women’s sides.

“There’s going to be some folks duking it out for cash,” says Ochs.

Ochs expects the winners to cross the finish line in around three and a half hours, with the rest of the field cruising through over the next several hours. There will be a cut-off time of 1:30 p.m. in the town of Gothic, so for everyone else, that’s your goal. Make that and you’re in it for the long haul—and the cold one at the finish line will taste that much better.

by Stan Cola

It’s that time of year once again, the sun is shining bright and the trails are opening up just in time for the 36th annual Crested Butte Bike Week, Thursday through Sunday, June 23-26.

The week is always highlighted by the Chainless World Championships but there’s way more to the festival than people dressing up and cruising downhill. The week also includes a film festival, a concert, the infamous Fat Tire 40 cross-country race, clinics for all ages and abilities, the Bridges of the Butte Townie Tour, downhill racing in the Evolution Bike Park at Crested Butte Mountain Resort and the Crested Butte Junior Wildflower Classic cross-country race for the kids. Let’s not forget good beer and a great party all week long.

For information, registration and a complete schedule of events, go to www.cbchamber.com/events/cb-bike-week/. Below is a brief synopsis of what is going on during Crested Butte Bike Week, the longest running mountain bike festival in the world.

Film Festival/Concert

New this year, Crested Butte Bike Week is partnering with Crested Butte Mountain Bike Association (CBMBA) to host the first Amateur Film Fest during Bike Week.

Join us the evening of Thursday, June 23 to see films about mountain biking. The event will be held in the Crested Butte Museum located at 331 Elk Ave. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., the lights go down at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10 per person. The event will include an evening of mountain bike videos brought to you by locals and visitors alike.

In addition, Crested Butte Bike Week will be partnering with the Crested Butte Music Festival to present Trout Steak Revival on Saturday, June 25 at 7:30 p.m. Trout Steak Revival has earned a place in the mountain state’s bluegrass scene, performing to sold-out audiences, winning the 2014 Telluride Bluegrass Festival Band Competition, placing in the 2012 Rockygrass Band Competition, and even winning an Emmy Award for a soundtrack with Rocky Mountain PBS.

Register for the Fat Tire 40 and enjoy the concert for free!

Clinics

Crested Butte Bike Week has partnered with the Griggs Orthopedics gO Ride team, Crested Butte Devo, the Backcountry Bike Academy and Rippin Chix to offer clinics for riders of all abilities throughout the week.

All groups will meet at the Chamber of Commerce in the town of Crested Butte. Some clinics are free, some are just a nominal charge and all of them will help improve your riding and, therefore, bring an even bigger smile to your face while you ride.

Races

Crested Butte Bike Week is the great granddaddy of mountain biking festivals and no mountain biking festival is complete without a race or two and in Crested Butte, we go big. Chainless World Championships, Fat Tire 40, Downhill—we’ve got it all.

Chainless World Championships, June 24

Friday, June 24, is all about the Chainless. Only in Crested Butte would we come up with a gravity-fed race like this. Bigger bikes. Bigger costumes. More ridiculous antics. Do whatever it takes to get you here in time for the Chainless. It’s probably the best time you can have for $25.

What is the Chainless? Racers weigh down their bikes, put on ridiculous costumes, and remove their chains (or just zip-tie them). Bikes are loaded into trailers and delivered to the starting line. We take you to the top of Kebler Pass, seven miles of dirt road from the finish line in downtown Crested Butte. At 4:20 p.m. sharp, racers sprint for their bikes and jump on to cruise down the road. The one who stays off their brakes the most wins. Well, actually, everybody wins—even the spectators hanging out at the end of Elk to watch the carnage on the final corner.

Important details:

10 a.m. to 12 p.m.: Registration and bike drop-off at the Chamber of Commerce in the town of Crested Butte. All bikes must be dropped off by 12 p.m.

2:30 to 3:30 p.m.: Participant shuttle to the top of Kebler Pass leaves from the chamber of commerce in the town of Crested Butte. Don’t miss it.

4:20 p.m.: Race starts. Sprint for your bike and coast the seven miles down to town. The after-party livens up Elk Avenue. All 21+ racers get two beer tickets.

Bridges of the Butte, Saturday-Sunday, June 25-26:

The Twelfth Annual Bridges of the Butte 24-Hour Bike Tour, presented by Bank of the West, loops through downtown Crested Butte, meandering across the town’s bridges. Sign up solo and brave the bike seat for all 24 hours, or put together a team of your friends and tour the town in shifts as day turns to night. Tune up your townie bicycle and find a fabulous costume, because this is one townie takeover you don’t want to miss.

Three hundred riders participate in the annual tour held the last weekend of June. Proceeds from the event go to the Adaptive Sports Center. The tour starts in the Crested Butte Town Park at high noon on Saturday, June 25 and finishes at high noon on Sunday, June 26. The cost for adults (solo or team) is $24, and youths 17 and under pay their age. Adults or youth who pledge to raise $100 or more by June 22 ride for free. Volunteers (age 18+) are always needed; help out for one shift and ride for free. Late registration (after Friday June 24, 5 p.m.) doubles—adults pay $48 and youths 17 and under pay double their age.

Fat Tire 40, Saturday, June 25 

The Fat Tire 40 is a serious mountain bike race. The start/finish area is in the town of Crested Butte and racers roll out at 8 a.m. for a 40-mile tour. The course is almost all on single-track linking local classic trails such as Upper Loop, Strand and Deer Creek trails with the trails in the Evolution Bike Park. This is the signature event of Bike Week, on Saturday morning, and there are plenty of good spots for watching and cheering on the racers. The $75 fee includes the race, dinner, beer, and a free ticket to the Trout Steak Revival show hosted by the Crested Butte Music Festival. There are men’s and women’s categories, both with Open/Pro and Recreational Divisions. Age group divisions: U-21, 21-39, 40-49, 50+. Registration will close Monday, June 20.

Crested Butte Junior Wildflower Classic, June 26

The Crested Butte Devo team will host its first-ever race during Crested Butte Bike Week: the Crested Butte Junior Wildflower Classic. Racing starts at 9 a.m.

All races will have neutral start and finish on dirt at Peanut Lake Road for safety. The award ceremony will be at the Crested Butte Chamber of Commerce parking lot at noon. There will be prizes for top three boys and girls in three separate age groups: 10 and under, 14 and under and 18 and under. Each age group is capped at 25 participants. Schedule of race starts below:

9 a.m.: Crested Butte Junior Wildflower Classic XC Race $30/athlete includes ice cream at pre-race meeting (75 participants). Sponsored by: Clif Bar and MTBhome.com.

18 and under (15-18) course (9 a.m. start): Approximately 12 miles, 1,500 ft. climbing; red bibs with red course markings.

14 and under (11-14) course (9:05 a.m. start): Approximately 10 miles, 1,000 ft. climbing; blue bibs with blue course markings.

10 and under course (9:10 a.m. start): Approximately 8 miles, 800 ft. climbing; green bibs with green course markings.

Gravity Slave Downhill Race, June 26 

The week comes to a thrilling close with high-speed downhill racing. The Evolution Bike Park will be the venue for the Gravity Slave hosted by Crested Butte Mountain Resort on the Captain Jack trail. The open category and each age class will vie for a chance to win a commemorative Evolution Bike Park belt buckle. The $25 in advance event registration includes a race day lift ticket, Evolution Bike Park swag, and a complimentary Odell beer at Butte 66. Day-of registration costs $30. Closed course practice will run on Saturday, June 25 and the competition will culminate on Sunday, June 26. Check in on race day is 8 to 10 a.m.; the race starts at 11:15 a.m.

Online registration is open through June 24 at 3 p.m.: https://www.bikereg.com/gravity-slave-downhill-race. This event is part of the Rocky Mountain Gravity Series.

Mike Preston boosts one in the powder during Sunday’s Hair of the Dog downhill race, bringing a close to the inaugural Fat Bike World Championships.   photo by Pat Addabbo

I’m not sure exactly why, but the picture and ultimate fate of the mountain lion lying by the snowmobiles at the Kebler Pass trailhead (see page 8) makes me a bit sad. Despite being in such bad shape—starving, quilled by a porcupine, frostbitten—the cat still emanated a wild dignity. For him to decide to give up and deliberately go where humans gather, even to stay warm, indicates the direness of his situation. Ultimately the professionals at Colorado Parks and Wildlife took charge, evaluated the situation and euthanized him. It was probably the most humane decision, given the circumstances. As Joe Lewandowski of CPW stated, “Life’s tough in the wild…”

Yes it is.

I like people who throw out ideas. Sometimes they work, other times they fall flat. But at least something is tried and ultimately something is learned if people are not afraid to throw some weird ideas against the wall.

Here are a few recent ideas people have shared (and none are that weird):

Fat Bike Grooming up a ‘silent’ valley—Groom Gothic Road this winter from the Snodgrass trailhead to Gothic. Adding several groomed road miles to the new tracks put down at the base of Snodgrass for the Fat Bike World Championships would be a great addition. Treat the road sort of like one of the southern drainages that allows for Nordic and snowshoeing on the right and fat biking on the left. Now, fat bikers should take responsibility for the chore and pay for the gear and grooming. A creative groomer could explore some singletrack in the aspen forests along the road for those bikers who are ready for the next step. Why not try it this year, see if it works and expand as needed…

Use Twister Lift (for fun!)—This idea is not to turn Twister on all day every day but make it an event—make it a party. Maybe CBMR could consider running it on just Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 2:30 to 3:30. Twister is an iconic Colorado double chair resting silently just outside Uley’s Restaurant on the front of the ski resort. It can still run after some maintenance work but it is a “redundant lift,” so CBMR has sort of mothballed it. That’s understandable, but Twister gets some of the last sun of the day. Bring it back into play and call it the Twister Happy Hour. Sell some PBRs out of a bin at the bottom. Bring in a DJ or a band or a boom box but make it a party at the end of the day. There’s something special about Twister. Bring some fun to the sunny side.

Introduce skiing to native Coloradoans—There was a news story on TV last week detailing the lack of kids from the Front Range who ski. It is primarily an economic situation. Apparently the majority of kids living in Denver, Fort Collins and Colorado Springs have never made it over Kenosha Pass. So maybe CBMR and the Tourism Association can partner with some sort of alternative school program and take a few late January weekends when it is slow and partner with a bus company, some lodging and some rental shops to introduce Colorado kids to … skiing (or fat biking). Bring them to what would likely seem a storybook setting in Crested Butte and give them one night and a couple days of lessons. Find some grants, partner with schools, charge a nominal fee and keep your ski instructors busy with introducing the sport to a new group who just might get hooked and come back. You get not only good karma, but a loyal growing client base for decades. It might actually be a good, long-term business decision.

And the biggest new idea thrown out here this week is how to handle the 44 acres north of Crested Butte, the Slate River development hybrid plan. My initial impression is that the development idea is pretty darn good—at least on first impressions. The 30 free-market homes (reduced from well over a hundred) would get hooked up to a town sewer system instead of using septic tanks along the Slate River. The public would get land for parks, a potential school building, affordable housing and a possible fire station. The sledding hill would move there from Big Mine Park, which means the skate park probably wouldn’t move—and that is a smart thing. The town and developers have struck a compromise and want more feedback. There are still some issues lingering out there (house sizes being a big one and water being another) but there are a few weeks to digest and evaluate the idea. Take some time to think about it and let your representative know what you think before a public meeting scheduled for January 25.

Ideas. I like them. Throw them all against the metaphorical wall and talk about them and use the good ones that stick and make sense. And if they don’t make sense, at least there’s something to think about…

—Mark Reaman

Looking toward single track and downhill opportunities

By Alissa Johnson

As Crested Butte prepares to host the Fat Bike World Championships in January, fat biking has begun to make headlines across the country.

In recent weeks, the Dallas Morning News and the Boston Globe published articles about fat biking and Crested Butte. The New York Times and Outside Magazine have also covered the sport, and industry growth suggests that it is more than a fad.

Yet as fat biking grows in popularity, so do questions about where and how the sport will be accommodated. As bikers look for more places to ride, Nordic and alpine ski resorts are being asked to consider adding bikes to their winter repertoire and land managers are also looking at where they fit into the recreation picture.

That discussion was highlighted at a November 17 meeting of the Mt. Crested Butte Town Council, where the council heard updates on both fat biking and the Crested Butte Nordic Council. One thing seeems clear: There is momentum behind fat biking, and riders are looking for more opportunities and places to go out for a spin.

Industry growth

Judging from sales, fat biking is unquestionably on the rise. Dave Ochs—fat biker aficionado and director of the Crested Butte-Mt. Crested Butte Chamber of Commerce—says fat bike sales are projected to be 20 percent of all mountain bike sales in the next ten years.

“Mountain bikes do represent 25 percent of all bike sales. Fat bikes are projected to shake up the market. In ten years it’s projected to be at least 20 percent of the mountain bike sales overall,” Ochs said, suggesting that projection could be easily surpassed.

In 2012 the fat biking industry grew 50 percent, in 2013 it grew 200 percent and in 2014 it grew by over 400 percent. There are more than 50 different fat bike manufacturers, including Walmart, and one company—Salsa Bicycles—went from $3 million of business to $27 million in three years.

“Fat biking is the biggest growing segment of the biking industry,” Ochs says.

Twenty-eight Nordic skiing facilities support fat biking in various ways. For example, Gold Run Nordic Center in Breckenridge allows fat biking on all of its trails on Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. Ochs also said some downhill ski resorts are hopping on the bandwagon as well, though no one is offering lift-served downhill mountain biking during the winter.

Balancing use

Of course, not all skiers want to share trails with mountain bikers and integrating fat biking into existing trails is a balancing act. Keith Bauer, executive director of the Nordic Council, told the Town Council that a 2014 survey of pass holders revealed mixed emotions about the matter.

“The feedback from the survey was that they were okay with seeing them on a limited basis on public trails… but gun-shy of seeing them on, say, Magic Meadows, one of our premier trail networks,” Bauer said.

Currently, the Crested Butte Nordic Center allows 10 kilometers of fat biking on the Poop Loop, the Riverbend Loop, the Skyland Connector and the Rec Path. This year, they are also opening the Teocalli connector to the list. That falls in line with what Bauer and the Nordic Council’s board of directors see happening nationwide.

Bauer referenced a recent meeting with an industry consultant who provides GPS mapping systems for Nordic centers across the country. “He’s familiar with what’s going on in North America with fat biking and what he’s seeing is that most Nordic centers have some fat biking, five to 10 kilometers, so people can get on and get their feet wet,” Bauer said.

So while the Nordic Council is partnering with the fat biking community on developing one of the courses for the upcoming Fat Biking World Championships, emphasis for future trails is being placed on single track opportunities.

Ochs sees the biggest potential for fat biking in ski resorts. He is working with Crested Butte Mountain Resort on developing a course for the World Championships but would like to see that developed even further.

“Ski resorts—to us that is the future of fat biking and something I’d like to see. We’ve discussed with CBMR lift-served downhill fat biking. If we were to do it first there is no doubt that Crested Butte Mountain Resort would make huge, huge headlines. It’s been discussed, there are other resorts talking about it but it’s ours to champion,” Ochs said.

Resort spokesperson Erica Mueller confirmed that the resort is open to the idea of fat biking, but is proceeding carefully because the sport is not included in the Ski Safety Act. They are working on options for the World Championships, and in the meantime, fat biking will be allowed to the top of the Red Lady Lift as part of the uphill skiing policy starting Saturday, November 29. Fat bikers who wish to bike the resort before 9 a.m. or after 4 p.m. need to visit the Adventure Center to read the policy and sign a waiver before hitting the hill.

“We also encourage fat bikers to use the Snodgrass trail or the North Village loop when it’s open, Mueller said

Some disagreement

Even as the fat biking discussion expands beyond Nordic trails, the limitations placed on fat biking by the Nordic Council have frustrated some community members. Council member Todd Barnes urged Bauer to consider opening more trails, even if they were limited to certain days of the week or changed on a regular basis.

“I don’t think you can argue with fat biking growth,” Barnes said, arguing that fat bikes couldn’t be any more destructive to trails than dogs or people who poach the trails by walking.

“I don’t think we are ignoring it,” Bauer responded, pointing out that challenges with easements were also a factor. Threatening legal action, one landowner in particular has been vocal in pointing out that easements for Nordic skiing were not secured for fat biking.

“The board has talked about it for about six hours over the last three months,” Bauer continued, “It’s on our radar, and we’re talking about it. Unfortunately, we saw tracks on every single trail last winter so there was some entitlement among locals saying screw it, we’re going to ride wherever. That was hard for the board to deal with and got things off in the wrong way,” Bauer said.

Nordic Council president Skip Berkshire emphasized that the future of fat biking doesn’t seem to be Nordic trails.

“I’ve taken to heart everything Dave [Ochs] has said and where fat biking is going is single track. That seems to be a win-win opportunity because if we can work to help put that in and connect with parts of our trails, then we can win with single track,” Berkshire said.

Barnes continued to push for more fat biking at the Nordic Center, suggesting that the jump from riding the Poop Loop to single track would be too big for beginners.

Facilitating future discussion

The exchange between Barnes, Bauer and Berkshire seemed to emphasize the need for further discussion. To that end, Ochs has added a regional fat biking conference to the World Championships line-up.

Gary Sjoquist of QBP (Quality Bicycle Products) will help host that discussion. According to Ochs, Sjoquist helped host a national summit for the past two years as a way to educate communities and land managers about fat biking.

Access, land use, easements, grooming, the future of fat biking, the next steps for fat biking and areas for fat biking will all be on the table. Ochs expects the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management to be in attendance.

In the meantime, one thing remains clear. Local fat bikers are determined to keep riding, and they’re not alone. As Ochs said of the recent publicity, “This is a national phenomenon, if you will, that is getting picked up by those [national] publications. It’s pretty neat.”

“We’re branding humans”

by Than Acuff

This could be the biggest season for fat biking, as local fat biking enthusiasts have rallied to bring new groomed trails and Crested Butte will be the host of the Borealis Fat Biking World Championships January 27-31.

“This thing is taking off like the Mars Lander,” says Crested Butte/Mt. Crested Butte Chamber of Commerce director and fat bike stalwart Dave Ochs.

The origins of the modern-day fat biking surge can be traced to the Sahara as well as to Alaska. Using fat tire prototypes from Michelin, a fat bike was ridden across the Sahara in 1986. At almost the same time, a man by the name of Steve Baker with Icycle Bicycles in Anchorage was welding rims together and designing bikes to travel across frozen trails in Alaska.

Fat biking has grown steadily over the past couple of decades in states such as Minnesota and Michigan and started popping up in the Gunnison Valley about five years ago. It had its official coming out party three years ago when a fat bike race was included in the Alley Loop weekend festivities. While several have embraced the idea of biking in snow, several others rue the day they get on a fat bike instead of skis.

“We’re like the snowboarders in the 1980s,” says Ochs.

That said, this year, the sport appears to be taking off with the first-ever Borealis Fat Bike World Championships in Crested Butte January 27-31. USA Cycling does a National Championships. Last year the American Birkebeiner did their first version of a fat bike Birkebeiner, attracting 700 fat bikers.

But thanks to the brainwaves of one Jason Stubbe, the push from Aaron Huckstep and the energy of Ochs, only Crested Butte is the home of the Fat Bike Worlds.

“Crested Butte is seen as one of the founding places for mountain biking and we want to extend that to fat biking,” says Ochs. “We would like to champion Crested Butte as a fat biking destination. Crested Butte has every opportunity to lead the charge in Colorado.”

While last year saw the advent of a fat bike race series in the valley, this year the series has been scrapped to focus on the Fat Bike Worlds. Nevertheless, Ochs assures there will be a less formal fat bike series available.

“There’s talk of a loose series, people getting together to ride and drink beer, but the emphasis is on Fat Bike Worlds,” says Ochs.

One doesn’t just step into the Fat Bike Worlds though, without some riding and that can be done almost anywhere in the surrounding valleys.

“Technically, you can fat bike anywhere up any of the drainages,” says Ochs. “All you need is a packed-out track.”

Thanks to the efforts of Gunnison Sno Trackers and a new single track groomer, there will be a trail available in the Lily Lake area leading up to and during the Fat Bike Worlds for people to get a real sense for backcountry fat bike riding.

“Thanks to all of these partnerships, we can create a backcountry fat bike single track experience at 10,000 feet,” says Ochs.

Closer to town, fat bikers can ride on the Poop Loop, Riverbend Connector, Teo Connector and the Recreation Path.

Looking ahead, Ochs is in talks with Crested Butte Mountain Resort to get fat biking on the resort, both up and down, as well as in the North Village area.

“There may be a super-groovy downhill fat biking course,” says Ochs. “Things are in the works.”

Registration is currently open for the Borealis Fat Bike World Championships at cbchamber.com. Demos will be available to use at the event but are limited, so Ochs recommends people sign up early to get on the list.

Venues for the races will include a backcountry course, a course in the town of Crested Butte, and a course on Crested Butte Mountain Resort (CBMR). Winners will have the unique opportunity to get an original Fat Bike Worlds brand anywhere on their body.

“We’re branding humans,” says Ochs. “Fat Biking is stirring up the bike industry and our country like a trailer park tornado. We are proud to be part of the action. Old-timers here helped found mountain biking. We are carrying on the tradition, creating high-altitude backcountry and town-accessible fat bike single track. Crested Butte rallies whenever bikes are involved and fat biking is quickly becoming a big part of our winter culture. This is the perfect opportunity to showcase our incredible valley with this inaugural event.”

Finish fifth overall in state

by Than Acuff

The Crested Butte high school mountain bike team finished up the 2015 season at the state championships in Eagle last weekend with two riders cracking the top 10 and the team placing fifth overall.

The team put the finishing touches on their season’s worth of workouts the two weeks leading up to the finals and coach Torrey Carroll felt they were as ready as they possibly could be for the big race.

“We did more of the same in the first week, intervals in the flats and false flats and the last week we tapered pretty well,” says Carroll.

But jumping into the big pool of the state championships can make for tough riding and Carroll made sure his kids were mentally prepared for the task at hand.

“We talked about the fact that there would be twice as many fast kids and that everyone would be strong,” explains Carroll. “We told them not to worry about moving up unless they feel strong and to stay on the wheel in front of them and don’t let gaps build.”

Ultimately, Carroll reminded the team that they were there to race hard, but also have fun and he kept the team relaxed, bowling some frames the night prior to the state championships.

When they woke up for the race temperatures were in the 30s but climbed up to the 50s for most of the races and thanks to recent rains and some trail work, the course was in great condition and a little bit longer than usual. Kai Sherman closed out his high school mountain bike racing career battling in the finals of the varsity class race. The varsity race was a series of four laps on the 6.3-mile course, making for over 25 miles of riding completely pinned.

Sherman started out on fire and was battling in the top 10 after two laps but forgotten lactic acid tablets and the high-speed pace eventually took its toll on Sherman as he cramped on the fourth and final lap but still gritted his way to a 21st place finish.

“He was bummed but he still had a good day,” says Carroll.

The top result among the Crested Butte riders came compliments of James Bivens in the sophomore age class. Bivens rattled off numerous top three finishes in the Southern Division all season but the championships were the first time he would line up against both the Southern and Northern divisions. Bivens rolled through the start/finish area in seventh place after the first lap but posted the fourth fastest second lap time to climb up three spots and finish the day in fourth place.

“He probably had the ride of the day,” says Carroll. “He really put the hammer down on the second lap. He’s a pretty smart racer and he rode really, really strong.”

Trouble hit a couple of the other Crested Butte sophomore class racers but they managed to still overcome and finish strong. The chain popped off Ian Eldridge’s bike in the opening double track sprint so once he was able to get back on his bike, he turned onto the single track in last place. Nevertheless, Eldridge managed to reel in riders over the course of the first and second lap, passing over 40 riders to finish in 31st place.

“He didn’t get down psychologically and rode all the way up to 31st,” says Carroll.

Finn Wilson suffered a similar fate, getting tangled up with his fellow racers at the start, but worked his way up to a 55th place finish out of the 140 sophomore racers overall.

Freshman Marion Chater gained additional experience in her final race of her first year of mountain bike racing. According to Carroll, nerves tend to get the best of Chater on race day. She turned nerves into energy on the first lap of her race but the effort eventually caught up with her on the second lap. Chater still hung in there to place 32nd overall, scoring additional key points for the overall team score.

“She really pushed herself on the first lap, I was pretty impressed,” says Carroll. “She’s still new to racing and still figuring out pacing.”

Additional issues hit the freshmen boys for Crested Butte. Tanner Perkins finished the regular season in second place overall in the Southern Division and was poised for a standout performance at the state championships. But, misfortune reared its ugly head as the rider in front of Perkins fumbled during the start, costing Perkins to fall back over 20 spots before he even got going. Given the early need for speed, Perkins buried himself to move into eighth place before reaching the turn onto the single track.

“He had to dig really deep to do that,” says Carroll.

Perkins continued to climb up a few more spots but by the close of the second lap, his early burst had put the hurt on him. But he held his spot through the second lap to finish in fifth place.

“He hung onto fifth place and that’s a good result,” says Carroll.

Liam Elliott finished the day in 28th, Ethan Carroll rallied from a crash on the second lap to place 67th and Luke Shull suffered a flat tire and had the wrong tube but got the right tube eventually and crossed in 127th place.

“We had some racers that overcame issues and responded well and they all had fun,” says Carroll.

Carroll believes overall the team had a great season taking second place in the Southern Division and fifth place in state.

“Definitely exceeded my expectations, I was really pleased,” says Carroll.

Memorial ride slated for noon Sunday

by Mark Reaman

A tragic race accident late Saturday morning has resulted in a death of one of the racers and the cancelation of the rest of the Crested Butte Big Mountain Enduro World Series event.

A memorial ride to honor 40-year-old Will Olson of Edwards, Colorado will take place at noon from the BME base camp in downtown Crested Butte and is slated to take riders up to the Strand Hill trail and back.

According to the Mt. Crested Butte police department, the accident occurred at about 11:50 Saturday morning on Forest Service Trail 400, Star Pass near the Block and Tackle Trail.

At a Sunday morning press conference, race officials said that no one saw the actual accident but Olson suffered a severe impact to his chest. It appeared to be a “freak accident” that occurred about a minute from the bottom of the Stage 3 course. Two riders that started after Olson came upon the scene and saw him lying face down. They immediately began CPR. A third rider continued on to alert medical and emergency personnel. Medics with the event responded within minutes and local police and Crested Butte search-and-rescue arrived shortly thereafter. CPR was administered on the scene for about an hour.

The police reports stated that, “a paramedic transported by Care Flight helicopter arrived on scene and pronounced the rider deceased. The victim was carried to the trailhead by Search and Rescue members. At approximately 4 p.m. the Gunnison County Coroner accepted the victim.”

“It is an incredibly sad situation,” said an emotional Chris Ball, the Director of the Enduro World Series Sunday morning. “Everyone did an incredible job yesterday with Will and we are shattered. We decided to cancel the rest of the event as result of this accident. No one wants to race after this tragedy. A rider’s life is more important than bikes. It’s the right move to cancel Sunday.”

Ball said the accident didn’t take place on an especially technical or fast section of the stage course. He said riders might have been going 20 to 25 miles per hour in that area of the course. There was speculation he clipped a pedal and ejected from his bike. “There was no injury to his head and his bike had no damage but there was blunt force trauma to his chest,” Ball explained. “Medical personnel were on the scene within minutes.”

Ball and BME race director Brandon Ontiveros said that Olson was a regular Colorado racer of the endure events. “He was a very skilled rider and had ridden around the Crested Butte area many times,” said an emotional Ontiveros. “This was a freak accident that happened to a positive soul that was very tight with the bike community.”

Ontiveros said there hasn’t been time to digest what the accident means to the future of the series. The Whistler World Series event scheduled for next week will continue said Ball.

Riders will gather at the town base camp of the event at noon Sunday to pay respects and ride in honor of Olson.