Fruita -> Aspen First Time

[Tech Tonics]

How'd she do?

What did you end up riding?

She did awesome! She took first place in the Freshman Girls division and her team (Durango Demons) took the overall win. And she ran on the varsity team at the XC meet and took 5th place, and that team also took first place in the overall meet. She’s a stud.

After reading beaterdit’s recommendations I was planning on going to Palisade on Friday, but called them and it was full. Which was maybe a good thing. After her XC meet and then pizza and beers at Hot Tomato we weren’t too stoked on driving, so we went out to 18rd and found a nice camp on the north end of the giant campground. There were plenty of open spots in the campground when we got there after dark, and endless open spots across the road.

I busted out a quicky that morning. Down joes/mojoes and up prime cut. It was super fun and fast though I’m not itching to go back there unless i was with my family. Would make for a cool place to family camp and ride loops from camp. I was planning on doing zippity also, but Willow’s friends were already in aspen and she wanted to bounce.

We got to Snowmass around noon and set up camp at the Snowmass Rec Center and the NICA race was staged up at the Snowmass Mall area. I never actually even went into Aspen then entire trip.

On Saturday afternoon I rode from camp at the Rec Center and did Lowline/Highline-Tom Blake-up Anaerobic Nightmare-across on Government into the bike park. Ran into some local bro and his hotty GF who suggested I descend some new trail in the park (Trail 6?) and it was sick. I’m not much of a bike-park guy but I can see how that would be fun as fuck to ride that all day every day.

Once down into the base area I happened into the Durango Devo team setting up their pit zone, so I helped out and chatted with other parents (one of whom is a famous mtb racer and a super nice dude). After a while of helping out i rolled from the Mall to the Rim Trail to Seven Star which dropped me right back to camp at the Rec Center. I was super stoked on all of that ride. Loved the ups on Tom Blake-nightmare-government and the views and vibe of Rim was awesome. And even though 7star isn’t technically challenging, those berms and rollers were a blast.

I was planning on on exploring more of the highline/skyline/deadline area on Sunday, but was so pumped on watching the NICA races (not only did my daughter crush it, but so many of her friends and teammates had awesome races too, Durango kids kicked serious ass) that I ran out of time. In the mid afternoon I was up at the mall and had to get down to the rec center to help a friend breakdown her camp so I did a second lap on the rim-7star. Which was cool as I could hammer it out a bit more than saturday.

Anyway, you guys have sick trails. The first place I’ve ever (ever) ridden that I’d concede MAY have even better riding than Durango.

Thanks for the beta. I’m looking forward to coming back and exploring more. I’m sure I just saw the tip of the iceberg.


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[Tech Tonics]

That’s her in second place heading up the first big climb. She dropped those girls by the top of the hill, though the girl behind her in the “points leader” Jersey is a friend and teammate who is faster on the DH so it was a close race. Willow would pull away on the climbs and her friend would almost catch her on the descents. At the end of the race though It was Willow across the line first and her teammate took 2nd. Good Times!

[beaterdit]

Awesome! Sounds like a winning weekend on all counts! Willow’s an animal!

[BigHerm]

Glad you enjoyed our spot and congrats to your daughter. I haven't ridden 6 yet, hoping to ride it soon. Plenty more trails to explore next time .

[grskier]

Glad you enjoyed our spot and congrats to your daughter. I haven't ridden 6 yet, hoping to ride it soon. Plenty more trails to explore next time .

I love the new 8 and 9 trails, need to get up and ride 6 this week. Maybe I can bring the bike up tomorrow am.

Glad you enjoyed Tech. The one thing I'm jealous of your riding down there is the true alpine stuff.