PHYSICAL EXERTION: INTERMEDIATE+ / TECHNICAL ABILITY: ADVANCED

Trip highlights: Big rides above treeline with epic descents in the Colorado high country that will blow your mind.  These will be physically tough with rowdy, long descents that will have you shaking out the arm pump and then begging for more!

Most mountain bikers know of the Monarch Crest IMBA Epic ride, which encompasses about 30 miles and one main downhill (Silver Creek).  What most riders don’t know is that the other descents off “the Crest” are just as epic and in most cases longer!  For this trip, we’re basing most of our riding around the main descents off the Crest, in addition to other rides in the Salida area that we personally love!  This is true high-alpine tech with loooong descents of 5-7 miles and over 3,000′.  We’ll regularly be riding up above 10,000′ on this trip, so altitude is definitely a factor as well.

Airport Options: Colorado Springs (2.5 hours) – Denver (3+ hours)

DETAILS AND EXAMPLE ITINERARY

Each trip is custom designed and every one will be different – you’ll receive the exact routes and trails with your official trip itinerary, which will be emailed to you about a week before the trip. For our three full-day rides (long option), you can expect an average of 20 miles, 2000′ of climbing and around 6,000’+ of descending while the shorter rides will be closer to 15 miles, 15000′ of climbing and 4000′ of descent.

Day 1: Plan on arriving around 5:30 in Salida, where we’ll have everyone check in, unpack and get our demo bikes set up.  After that we’ll have a welcome dinner and drinks before getting a rundown of trip basics along with the first day’s ride options.

Day 2: After a filling homemade breakfast in the main house, today we’ll get dropped off at Marshall Pass for a big double-descent day with Starvation Creek and Silver Creek on the docket.  Starvation is a good intermediate introduction with a little tech and few steeps mixed in, while Silver Creek will step it up a bit in the afternoon.  (shorter ride option is 15 miles with 1000′ of climbing and 3000′ of descending)

Day 3: Today is our big pedal day, with Canyon Creek on the schedule.  This one isn’t for the faint of heart, so we also have a very solid “shorter ride” planned for those that don’t want to attempt a true Colorado backcountry epic.  Canyon Creek starts with a 10-mile, 3500′ climb that will likely take a few hours, but which tops out at just over 12,000′ with 360* views of the surrounding peaks.  From there, you get an incredible 8-mile descent that has it all:  uber-chunk, exposure, high-speed singletrack, jumps and much more!  This is a tough ride, but definitely worth the effort if you can make it work!  (shorter ride will be on the S-Mountain trails with 12-15 miles, 1500′ of climbing and 3500′ of descent)

Day 4: Double shuttle day!  Today is a Chasing Epic original, with a double shuttle of the Greens and Fooses Creek descents.  With our shuttle drops, you only need to pedal 1500′ in order to get almost 8000′ of high-alpine goodness.  Fooses Creek is a bit more flowy and fast, while Greens Creek is pure chunk and will test your technical skills while seemingly never ending.  There is no shorter ride today, but after Greens Creek (which is first) we’ll give everyone the option for the afternoon ride on Fooses.

Day 5: Today is the last day of the trip, but it doesn’t mean we’re done riding!  This morning the longer option ride will start on the back side of the Methodist Mountain trail system, with a steady 1000′ climb to access the top of Guts, a steep and relentless descent that’s worth the effort on Day 5.  From there we’ll link into Lost, which is much faster and flowy, and is a great way to wrap things up!  (shorter ride will be 8 miles with 1000′ of climbing/descending)