Well, it’s holiday time again, and this time I was determined to get some riding in. We had never been to the Rockies before, so this time Durango in Colorado was our first destination. Durango is know as a mecca for cross country mountain bike trails, and it had been recommended by a friend who has done a lot of biking in the US. In fact the single speed world championship had just been held there the week before we arrived.
Anyway, after an 8 hour flight to Denver, arriving at 8:30 in the evening, we picked up our hire car, and heading south to Colorado Springs to get some miles under our belt. On waking up, the sun was out, and the views were breath taking:

Pikes peak (I think!)
Then, after stocking up on clothes, it was on the road again, for a further 7 hours before we arrived in Durango. Accommodation sorted, it just left checking that the hire bike that I had booked was ready to roll for the first days biking (brake levers needed to be swapped around).
The next day, I met up with John, from Hermosa tours , who was going to guide for me for a couple of days. We loaded the bikes onto their minibus and headed off for ½ a day riding the Horse Gulch trail system. This is a set of single track trails created by a local organisation who have done an excellent job of creating and maintaining fun single track. We could learn a thing or two from them.
The trails are hard and fast (do not go off line, as I did a couple of times, as you wash out very easily on the dirt that has built up along side the trail, not to mention the possibility of running over a cactus or rattler (in the summer)). Other wild life in this area of Colorado includes black bears and cougars, but these are rarely seen.

We start off riding up ‘Sale barn’, which was a bit of a shock. The trail was crying out to be ridden fast, but at 6000 ft, my lungs (not good at the best of times) were crying out louder for oxygen. It started off with a good climb up onto the mesa (we had a chance for a pause, to help a couple of other riders move a fallen tree off the trail), with many sharp switch backs, finally flattening out to join up with ‘cowboy’. Thankfully, this was flatter, allowing us to open up out legs through the sage brush, scrub oak and pinion pines. The end section of cowboy was another climb up to ‘Sidewinder’, with a warning to watch out for other riders sending it down cowboy. This section had a couple of jumps where (going the right way), one could easily launch into the bush.
Sidewinder was fun, very fast and flowy, with just the correct gradient….

Following sidewinder, we picked up ‘Carbon Junction’ on top of the mesa, where I nearly ran into a Mule dear.

At the end of CJ, we dropped down a section of steep switch backs to pick up ‘South Rim’, which as the name might imply, followed the edge of the mesa, to meet up with the bottom half of ‘Big Canyon’. This was one of the routes that I must return to. It made full use of the canyon and the creek bed running down it: fast, twisty, WhoopDeDos, close trees (!), wall ride, 2 miles, etc…. Unfortunately, it was too good to stop for photos.
The next day, it was off to the Hermosa creek trail. This was the route that I was most looking forwards to. Starting a nearly 9000 feet, descent 3000ft, ascent 2000ft, and 18 miles of continuous single track. The day starting ominously, with it trying to snow as we were heading up to the trail head. The trail head was up past the purgatory ski resort (10 miles north of Durango), over a col and down into an alpine meadow.

The creek started in this meadow, and then pasted down a narrow valley and exited in Hermosa, a couple of miles north of Durango. For the first few miles, the trail was open, along the valley bed

but then it slowly narrowed as the valley tightened.

to a more interesting trail. There was even ice in places amongst the rocks (John mentioned that this was the first time he had seen ice on this trail). The going then became more interesting, with the odd rocky section, and warnings to mind the roots. (John, if you ever visit here, I show you some proper roots….) After crossing the creek a few times, the trail starting following up the side of the valley,

with interesting drops should you cock it up!

Notice the bones of a scott rider
The trail continued in this fashion, following the side of the valley and feeder valleys for quite a few miles, until we stopped for a short lunch break (as it was now raining), at a spot with a good view of the Hermosa valley.

From this point on, the valley sides were not so steep, giving good a flowing trail:


and more of the yellow aspens were present in the woods. All the woods along the valleys were a marvellous selection of colours, with the leaves of all the deciduous trees changing colour. The best time of the year to come.

The down side to this, in the last 4 miles, was that now was the time to regain the altitude that had been lost. Some of the climbs made me forgive cardiac and the rope swing. John commented that the only people that he knew to have cleared these climbs had come from aspen, which is at a higher altitude to Durango!. Needless to say, I did not put my hero top on!.
These climbs were at the end of the route, which brought us out at the end of a logging road, leaving us a two mile run down to the transport and welcome shelter with a change of clothes, as it had been raining properly. I had been wearing an Enduro Baabaa top under a Berghaus soft-shell jacket, and ideal combination for the day. Needless to say, we ended up with a search for a suitable café for the traditional.
The final day, I decided on something different, as the local trails do not fare well after rain. An hours drive away in the direction of new Mexico, were the Mesa Verde pueblo Indian dwellings, one of the world heritage sites.

Well worth a visit
Strangely enough, close by, was ‘Cliffs World’! A 25 mile single track circuit out in the desert, where you could get sea sick, with the number of bends.

In the car park, I started talking to another rider who arrived at the same time as myself, who decide to stop for a ride at ‘Cliffs world’ on the way to Moab (3 hrs drive from Durango). Mitch and myself decided to explore Cliff’s World together. The trails here were very well marked out and maintained, the best section (know as the rib cage) was a ¼ mile section of WhoopDeDos and berms that followed a river bed. Great fun.
Unfortunately, this was the last day free for riding, and a return to Denver was in order to get a flight to California. We had timed it just right, as in the Rockies, snow was falling and the ski runs were opening. A longer return trip will be on the cards!

All the pictures can be found here.
Charlie