It’s on, people: The world’s oldest mountain bike festival kicks off Thursday, June 25 and continues until Sunday, June 28. Below is an abbreviated schedule of events. For registration and additional information check out www.cbbikeweek.com. Please remember, registration is vital to successful events, especially in the Chainless race and, as always, volunteers are needed.

Day One—Thursday, June 25 

gO-Clinics 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

gO Orthopedics will be sponsoring bike clinics to benefit riders of all abilities. gO Riders will lead clinics and help riders get a better grasp of the legendary terrain that surrounds the Crested Butte community. It is $25 to participate in any level of the clinic and lunch is included. Reserve your spot at cbbikeweek.com.

Beginners: Spend the day working on the mountain bike basics. Start in town and venture to Lupine.

Intermediate: Spend the day going through portions of the Fat Tire 40 race route. Start in town and venture to Upper Loop and Strand trails.

Advanced: Spend the day going through portions of the Fat Tire 40 race route. Start in town and venture to Deer Creek trail.

Clinics will begin and end in the parking lot behind the Chamber of Commerce at 601 Elk Ave. (Four-way Stop)

Yoga for Bikers! 5:30 to 6:45 p.m.

Yoga for the Peaceful is offering yoga for bikers. Classes daily for a discounted rate of $10 with a Crested Butte Bike Week participant voucher at Yoga for the Peaceful, 327 Elk Ave., Crested Butte, (970) 349-0302. Thursday’s class will be Slow Flow for Bikers (all levels), 5:30 to 6:45 p.m.

Guided Bike Ride 11 a.m.

Meet at Handlebar Bike Shop, 315 6th Street at 11 a.m. The ride will be a 10-mile ride in Cement Mountain area, with hike-a-bike sections. Shuttle is available for $10 for a 45-minute truck ride. To register, email info@handlebarbikeshop.com.

Mountain Bike Film 7 p.m.

We are kicking off the first night of Crested Butte Bike Week with mountain bike films at the Majestic Theatre. The evening will also include Oskar Blues Beer and a drawing with all types of bike gear from our sponsors. Doors open at 7 p.m., tickets cost $10. Proceeds from this event will benefit the Crested Butte Mountain Bike Association, so come out and show your support for the folks that make Crested Butte a mountain biking Mecca. Reserve your seat or hope there are tickets left at the door—seems risky!

Day Two—Friday, June 26 

Guided Ride with The Alpineer, 9 a.m.

Meet at the Alpineer at 9 a.m. for one of two guided ride options. Route 1 will be Teocalli Ridge from town via Tony’s Trail and Upper Loop (25 miles/3,000 ft. climbing/4 to 6-hour ride). Route 2 will be Teocalli Ridge starting at the Brush Creek Trail head at 10 a.m. (14 miles/2,400 ft. climbing/3 to 5-hour ride). To register email info@thealpineer.com or call (970) 349-5210.

Yoga for Bikers!

Two classes available: 9 to 10:30 a.m., Prana Vinyasa for Bikers (level 2/3); and 12 to 1:15 p.m., Restorative Yoga for Bikers (all levels).

The Chainless World Championships 4:20 p.m.

The legendary seven-mile Chainless Bike Race from the top of Kebler Pass into the town of Crested Butte is an event like no other. Ask for Friday off work, prepare your bike, don your costume and get your tickets at cbbikeweek.com. Prizes this year provided by SOMA Wellness Center.

Participant information: Bike drop-off at the parking lot behind the Chamber of Commerce from 10 a.m. to noon. If your bike is not dropped off at noon it will not be at the top of Kebler. Participant Shuttle to the top of Kebler Pass leaves from Elk Ave. and 6th Ave. next to the Chamber Parking Lot, 2 to 3 p.m.

To board the shuttle you MUST have a completed waiver in hand! NO WAIVER = NO GO! Find waiver link at cbbikeweek.com.

Race starts at 4:20 p.m. Participants over the age of 21 will receive two free drink tickets for the Chainless After Party. Don’t forget your ID.

Chainless Race Party, 3 to 4:30 p.m.

Decide to opt out of the Chainless World Championships? That doesn’t mean you have to miss out on the celebration! Come to the Chainless After Party held at the Parking Lot located at 1st Street and Elk Ave. Get here at 3:30 p.m. to claim a seat, enjoy the live music and sip libations as your friends come flying into town and across the finish line. Guaranteed to be a spectacle!

Oskar Blues Brewery Dinner, 7:30 p.m.

Oskar Blues Brewery Dinner at the Coal Creek Grill. Enjoy a four-course meal, each course served with a different Oskar Blues Beer. $45 in advance and $55 at the door. Ticket price includes tax and gratuity. Creek-side seating is available.

Day Three—Saturday, June 27

Fat Tire 40 8 a.m.

This 40+ mile mountain bike race is not for the faint of heart. Charging through the best single track Crested Butte has to offer, the Fat Tire 40 is an epic race for those looking for a challenge and spectacular views. Register for this kick-ass race and print and sign your waiver at cbbikeweek.com. No Waiver = No Competing. Race categories are as follows: Open/Pro Men and Women, ages 10 to 25, 26 to 40 and 40+. Rec Men and Women, ages 10 to 25, 26 to 40 and 40+. Did we mention there’s $5,000 in cash up for grabs?

Yoga for Bikers!

Two classes available, 327 Elk Ave., Crested Butte, 8:45 to 10 a.m., Prana Vinyasa for Bikers (all levels); and 10:30 to 11:45 a.m., Yoga Basics for Bikers (level 1).

Bridges of the Butte, noon start

This one-of-a-kind 24-hour bike tour 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. Proceeds from the event go to the Adaptive Sports Center. See more information on their website, adaptivesports.org.

Day Four—Sunday, June 28

Gravity Downhill Race

Crested Butte Mountain Resort will host the final event of Crested Butte Bike Week, a downhill mountain biking race in the Evolution Bike Park on Captain Jack. This race is part of the Rocky Mountain Gravity Series. Do not miss out on the final day of Crested Butte Bike Week and the opportunity to ride the lifts and race on some of Crested Butte Mountain Resorts’ finest summer terrain!

Bridges of the Butte, noon finish

Cheer on the solo and teams participating in the Bridges of the Butte as they wrap up 24 hours straight of riding throughout the town of Crested Butte.

Yoga for Bikers!

There is one class on the final day, from 9 to 10:15 a.m.: Slow Flow for Bikers (all levels) for a discounted rate of $10 with a Crested Butte Bike Week participant voucher at Yoga for the Peaceful, 327 Elk Ave., Crested Butte, (970) 349-0302.

Films, clinics, guided rides, Chainless, Fat Tire 40 and cash prizes

by Than Acuff

Last week I saw a guy on a Klein Pinnacle. Remember those bikes? Remember those colors? My first Klein Pinnacle sighting was at Fat Tire Bike Week in 1992 and it was beautiful. The one I saw last week, not so much. It just so happened that very same day I was on a ride with a friend and we were discussing past mountain bike technology—biopace chain rings, U-brakes and the PowerBar Malt-Nut flavor.

Now there’s raking, tapering, disc braking, Gu, 1×11 gearing, widening, shuttling, downhilling, dropping, sending and people are riding further and faster. All of that, and more, will hit the north end of the Gunnison Valley in force June 25-28 when the Crested Butte/Mt. Crested Butte Chamber of Commerce brings you Crested Butte Bike Week (CBBW), the world’s oldest mountain bike festival presented by Oskar Blues Brewery.

“There’s no doubt about it, it should be a huge event,” says chamber director Dave Ochs.

The week, formerly known as Fat Tire Bike Week, has been through its fair share of ups and downs in its 30+ years of existence but started taking off again with the inception of the Fat Tire 40, the Chainless World Championships and the overall growth of the mountain bike industry. There’s even a question in Trivial Pursuit, the Genus 5 edition, about the “Fat Tire Bike Festival Race in Crested Butte.”

This year the chamber has upped the ante, bringing in cash prizes for the first time for the Fat Tire 40 and adding more events, as well as returning to the good old days by partnering with the Crested Butte Mountain Bike Association (CBMBA) for the event.

“We’re getting back to the original days of Fat Tire Bike Week,” says Ochs. “The goal is to support the club that puts the labor into building and maintaining trails around here.”

Overall, the week has been tweaked to focus on clinics and ancillary bike-related activities at the start and then close with a bang with the Chainless World Championships on Friday, the Fat Tire 40 on Saturday and, at the Evolution Bike Park at Crested Butte Mountain Resort (CBMR), downhill racing on Sunday.

“We’re switching it around a little bit to concentrate on clinics and a movie first and then focus on two iconic Crested Butte events, the Chainless World Championships and the Fat Tire 40,” explains Ochs.

Thursday, June 25
The festival opens Thursday with bike clinics sponsored by Griggs Orthopedics (gO) and led by Team gO athletes for anyone from beginners to expert riders. Yoga for the Peaceful will have classes throughout the day as well and Handlebar Bike shop will be leading a guided ride.

The first day closes with a movie night at the Majestic Theatre at 7 p.m. The chamber is soliciting short films related to mountain biking that are anywhere from three to five minutes long, no longer than eight minutes, to be shown on the big screen.

“We’re asking people to make their own movies about people riding bikes,” says Ochs.

They already have three submissions and would like to get a total of 10 films in the line-up, with prizes going to the best films. You can contact them for submissions at events@cbchamber.com or swing a thumb drive by the chamber of commerce building at the Four-way Stop.

That same evening CBMBA will kick off their annual membership drive at the theatre and all profits from the movie night will go directly to CBMBA. Their annual membership drive continues throughout the festival, so look for them at each event.

In addition, that will be the last chance to register for the Chainless World Championships. Registration is available online but if there’s any room left, the final spots will be sold at the movie night.

“I would encourage people to go online and register—it does sell out,” says Ochs.

Friday, June 26
More Yoga, a guided ride of Teocalli Ridge offered by the Alpineer and then one of two highlights from the week, the Chainless World Championships, take up day two of Crested Butte Bike Week.

As many as 300 people will line up at the top of Kebler Pass for the start of the Chainless race at 4:20 p.m. As mentioned before, registration is available online and you can pick up your number plate and zip ties at movie night Thursday or at the chamber building at the Four-way Stop on Friday, June 26 between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.

That is also the time participants are required to drop off their bikes to get them shuttled to the top, or you can do it old-school and ride your bike to the top.

There has been some controversy over the past couple of years about people on tandems and/or mountain bikes taking the title. This year, in an effort to remain in the vein of the original chainless race days, the Chainless World Championship title will go to the first person to finish on a “townie.”

“It is a classic and historic event and we want to see all kinds of bikes out there,” explains Ochs, “but the winner must be on a townie. We want to make sure we’re staying true to our roots.”

For you spectators, the chamber and town are opening the entire 0-100 block of Elk Avenue to partying, responsibly of course. Oskar Blues will be selling their fine malted beverage product starting at 3 p.m. and you can purchase them and then grab your favorite spot to witness the sketchy turn from the gravel of old Kebler Pass Road onto the pavement of Elk Avenue.

There may be a kids’ chainless race from the top of Elk Avenue before the official race and live music playing before and after the race.

“We want to entertain the crowd and, for people coming out early, we want to hydrate them with the finest Oskar Blues beverages,” says Ochs.

Day two closes with an Oskar Blues Brewery beer tasting and dinner at the Coal Creek Grill starting at 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, June 27
Had enough? Better not have, because Saturday is when the suffering, I mean, fun really starts as Crested Butte Bike Week brings you the Fat Tire 40, starting in town at 8 a.m.

You’ve seen the movies, done the clinics, taken part in a guided ride and then rode down from the top of Kebler Pass and partied—now you can get on your bike and ride until you see stars, or at least watch other people do that.

While most modern day cross-country races involve two or three laps on a closed course and typically take place on a ski area, the Fat Tire 40 is a classic cross-country race that takes racers on a 40-mile tour of the trails around Crested Butte.

“We’re just trying to keep it good old grassroots Crested Butte cross-country racing,” says Ochs.

It all starts in town at Yelenik Pavilion in the Crested Butte Town Park at 8 a.m. Riders will head through town, including a coast down Elk Avenue before heading 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 and down the West Side Trail, back to the Upper Loop and down Tony’s trail into town, with a couple more turns through town before finishing back at Yelenik Pavilion.

“We’d like to see people lining Elk Avenue to send the riders out on the race,” says Ochs.

Ochs expects the winners to complete the course in around four hours and, thanks to the Crested Butte Tourism Association, a total of $5,000 in cash will be handed out to the top five men and top five women in the open class. Ochs hopes the cash booty will boost participation in the race.

“The Fat Tire 40 has been hurting and we’re looking to ramp it up,” says Ochs.

Say you like to ride a long time but not that hard, jump into the annual Bridges of the Butte Townie Tour starting at noon on Saturday. The event is a 24-hour tour of town and is open to solo riders or teams and raises money for the Adaptive Sports Center. For information or to sign up go to www.adaptivesports.org.

Sunday, June 28
The festival wraps up with more yoga, downhill racing and one last guided ride of Doctors Park, provided by Big Al’s Bicycle Heaven.

The downhill racing will take place on Captain Jack in the Evolution Bike Park and is part of the Rocky Mountain Gravity Series. According to Evolution Bike Park manager Christian Robertson, Captain Jack is in good shape and getting better, provided the rains subside.

“We’ve been riding it and it’s riding really well,” says Robertson. “It’s quite a bit faster than last year.”

As always, volunteers are needed for Crested Butte Bike Week, especially at the Chainless race and the Fat Tire 40. If you wish to help out contact the chamber at events@cbchamber.org. Additional information, detailed route maps and event registration can all be found at www.cbbikeweek.com or www.cbchamber.com.

When I moved to Crested Butte a few years ago, it didn’t take long for me to wrap my head around the idea of winter biking as a way to get around town. I put studded tires on my townie and pedaled carefully, quickly realizing that it was indeed safer than walking (I prefer to keep the stats to myself, but let’s just say I’ve fallen on-foot more than I’ve fallen off my townie). Read More »

“I’m definitely getting into my groove”

 As the summer mountain bike racing season progresses, so does Team Griggs Orthopedics (Team GO) rider Jari Kirkland. After reaching the podium in her last couple of races, Kirkland stood on top winning the Leadville Silver Rush 50 last weekend in a time of four hours, 40 minutes and 28 seconds. Read More »

“Patience paid off”

It’s hard for the layperson to truly understand how fast these people ride 40 miles on their mountain bikes. The fact that Team Griggs Orthopedics (Team GO) rider Brian Smith won in a time of three hours, 12 minutes and 34 seconds is staggering but, like I said, hard to comprehend because only a handful of people would actually ride those very same 40 miles of trails in one effort. Let alone keep track of their time. I guess one could always “Strava” it but, again, who would ride that punishing combination of trails?
The women’s times were impressive as well, as Rachael Hadley out of Aspen, Colo. won in a time of 4:04:47, with Team GO rider Jari Kirkland a minute back in second and Team GO rider Janae Pritchett placing third with a time of 4:06:10.
I will try to break down the times for said laypeople. Read More »

Thursday
3 p.m., KEEN Rippin Chix, Skills Camp
7:45 p.m., Oskar Blues Beer Dinner at the Bacchanale. Reservations: (970) 349-5257 Read More »

Chainless, Fat Tire 40, Oskar Blues, clinics and more

The oldest mountain bike festival in America, 34 years old to be exact, is gearing up for four days of non-stop activities for all things mountain bike starting Thursday, June 26 and rolling through Sunday, June 29. Read More »

“What’s worse, DNS or DNF?”

Day one of the two-day Original Growler bike-racing weekend was as good as it gets out at Hartman Rocks. Day two was a little different.
The weekend, put together by Gunnison Trails with incredible volunteer support, kicked off at 7 a.m. Saturday with the Half Growler as 348 mountain bikers headed out from downtown Gunnison for 32 miles of prime Hartman Rocks riding under sunny skies.
The course has everything for participants, rolling big ring singletrack, technical ups and downs as well as the occasional pinching climb. And with recent rains mixed with sunny skies, the course was in incredible shape. Read More »

Takes B-68 title

It came down to the final turn to the finish line. After 71 miles of riding, complete with 18,500 feet of vertical gain, Team Griggs Orthopedics (Team GO) rider Bryan Dillon took the inside line on the last turn to the finish line to take the B-68 mountain bike race title by one second, with a time of five hours, 22 minutes and one second.

Read More »

Swiss pro happens here on a whim, throws down

The Fat Tire 40 bike race may not be the longest mountain bike race. It may not be the toughest mountain bike race. But it does put on the hurt. Team Griggs Orthopedics young gun Bryan Dillon, who finished in third place, put it this way.
“It’s only 40 miles, but it’s a hard 40 miles,” says Dillon. Read More »