MTB in Spearfish?

[smmokan]

I've got some time in May to go somewhere new, and I was thinking about heading up to Spearfish for a few days. It's only 5-6 hours from Boulder, and it looks like plenty of fun riding to keep me busy for a few days. From what I can tell on TF: maybe a day (20-30 miles) on the Five-O course trails, a day around Sturgis on the Centennial trails, and then Crow Peak / Fight Club? Has anyone ridden up there recently?

[evdog]

I rode there in Oct 2021. Only got two days being between storms. Would have liked to ride more but didn't want to stick around and wait for snow to melt.

Based on bike shop advice I rode Centennial and Foster Gulch. Foster was old school rocky singletrack with some tech features built in. It was hard to follow in places but a cool adventure ride. It trends downhill but had lots of short punchy climbs along the way. Sees little traffic.

Centennial - did a self shuttle from Dalton Lake back to the northern end at Fort Meade. This is more typical xc singletrack. Again sees much less traffic than what you'd have on the front range. Plenty of climbing. I don't recall thinking it was a killer descent even though the profile trended downhill toward the end. There was definitely pedaling involved. I'd skip the Fort Meade section next time. Based on TF comments it seemed like much of Centennial south of there is doubletrack.

The 5-0 course was recommended but shops I called couldn't tell me if it was ok to ride following storms.

[Iowagriz]

I'll have to respond later, but the short story is that the Dakota Five-O course can be divided into several shorter fun rides. Highly recommend.

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[smmokan]

I'll have to respond later, but the short story is that the Dakota Five-O course can be divided into several shorter fun rides. Highly recommend.

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Interested in your thoughts... probably going in mid-May.

[Iowagriz]

Working from mobile while in Ireland, I can get you better links from my laptop next week. And can type a more detailed description.

But, I rode the Dakota-fiveO for several years and always seemed to guide people before or after on mini loops of the course. If you go to my strave profile https://www.strava.com/athletes/99708 and go back approx 5 yrs to September, you can see my rides. There are multiple options for nice loops or downhill sessions with shuttles. The Mickelson trail is also easily reached for rail trail gravel. Lastly, the Dakota promo team does a gravel race in June, and those course profiles could be found.

Ping me again next week and I'll get you more details, including food and cabins.

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[Iowagriz]

I've got some time in May to go somewhere new, and I was thinking about heading up to Spearfish for a few days. It's only 5-6 hours from Boulder, and it looks like plenty of fun riding to keep me busy for a few days. From what I can tell on TF: maybe a day (20-30 miles) on the Five-O course trails, a day around Sturgis on the Centennial trails, and then Crow Peak / Fight Club? Has anyone ridden up there recently?

I'm finally back, sorry about the delay. I found my old Strava files from when I was racing the Dakota course. I think I did 7 years in a row and usually led others no pre-rides the days prior. These are all options around the Dakota course. Most of the times we parked after crossing the first cattle guard on Tinton Road. This is where the course enters the singletrack for a climb, also where the course ends the final downhill before the final roads to the finish.

First - full course - this GPS is in reverse, but it gets you the ideas.
https://www.strava.com/activities/79607861

On the Tinton Trail singletrack, about 6-7 miles up (or about 5 miles up the road to a big parking lot):
https://www.strava.com/activities/387341069 - this ride started at the big parking lot (shuttled it) - rode to the bacon station on the ridge, but went reverse course and then the big singletrack downhill to the cattle guard.
https://www.strava.com/activities/699504160 - this ride was similar, but riding to the bacon station, we did the ridge downhill normal direction, this is a funner/technical decent from the top, has some climbing in the middle of the ride. If you compare the two on sat map, after the ridge descent and road climb, you can keep climbing that same road back to the parking lot. The singletrack from the parking lot down is a lot of fun. Start all of this from town or the cattle guard and you can make some nice 20-30 mile loops.

Centennial Trail - the western part is fairly scenic for a rail trail. I once stayed at "Wild Bills Campground" on hwy 385 for a family reuinion. I rode hwy 385 to catch the trail in Lead, then the Centennial to south of Dumont and caught the FS256 gravel back to 385. That section of 385 back to Wild Bills was narrow and busy, and not much fun. My point is that with careful mapping you could make a nice loop in that area and get some diversity compared to just rail trail.

Lastly - look at the course for the https://bhexpedition.com/ - Bikepacking race in that general area, you might find some good ways to link trail together with that course info. Also, if you are into Instagram, follow https://www.instagram.com/pjrides/ - this is Perry, the founder and chief for Dakota Five-0. He is just a great dude and more that willing to give out info for the Spearfish trails. I know he does Crow Peak fairly often