As you probably know by now, we’ve switched things up going forward and have introduced our “new” Ride Limitless trips; 5-day adventures based around truly epic riding in the Rocky Mountain high country.  The reasoning behind this is two-fold:  first, it allows us to introduce new routes, trails and rides that in our minds are better than ever.  Sure, we’ll have some rider favorites from past trips, but we’ll also be doing rides that you’ve never seen on a Chasing Epic trip.  Second, with the trips being a notch or two harder than what we’ve offered in the past, we believe it’ll give you the motivation to push yourself and see what’s possible.  More on this in the weeks & months to come!

Each year we’ll break our trips out into two levels of difficulty (1 & 2) so you can choose which is right for you.  Going into 2026 we have three destinations for these trips: Crested Butte, Durango and Sun Valley.  For a full breakdown of the Ride Limitless levels and the destinations themselves, read on!

Level 1 vs Level 2

For those familiar with our Chasing Epic trips, expect Level 1 to be a bit harder than what you’ve been on in the past… a very similar itinerary but with one or two slightly harder days.  You can expect 20-25 miles a day with around 2800-3000′ of climbing and even more descending since most all of our rides will be point to points with a shuttle drop to start.

Level 2 will be a notch above our standard trips; for these, you can expect somewhere between 25-30 miles a day with 3500-4000’ of climbing and big days on the bike.  Most everyone will have to step up their training for these trips, but we promise it’ll be worth it!

In 2026 our Level 1 trips will be Crested Butte and Durango, and our Level 2 trip will be Sun Valley.

Technical Difficulty

Overall with our Ride Limitless trips in the high country, you can expect a mix of technical sections of trail along with long, flowy, never-ending singletrack descents.  When it does get technical, you’ll usually see roots and rocks, fast chunk, and sustained steep sections.

Crested Butte: Intermediate+.  Crested Butte has some pretty legit blue-black tech trails like Teocalli, 403 and Doctor Park but overall it’s a mix of what we described above.  Definitely not for beginners, but if you can handle the bike on long rides, you’ll be A-OK.

Durango: Intermediate+.  Very similar to Crested Butte with typical high country chunk and tech.  There are a few trails like Graysill and Engine Creek that are full-on legit enduro trails, but the relative ease of the other big descents offset those to bring the overall rating down.

Sun Valley: Intermediate.  Definitely our easiest trip technically, Sun Valley has very few difficult sections or trails.  Most of what you’ll find is flowy and fast, but sometimes the trail conditions can add to the difficulty when it’s dry and loose!

Time of Year

Crested Butte: All-time fall time!  It doesn’t get much better than riding CB in late fall when the aspens are changing, the weather is cool, and the trails are perfect.  Expect temps averaging in the 50-60s with colder starts.  Timing this trip later in the year will also give you more time to get into “epic” riding shape!

Durango: We’ve realized late July is the best time to ride in the San Juans – our 2025 trip was one of the most beautiful four days of riding most of us had ever experienced.  The mountains are green, the wildflowers are popping, the creeks are ripping, and the trails are perfect.  You can expect temps in the 60-70s with chances of afternoon storms each day.

Sun Valley:  Mid-September is just about perfect in Sun Valley… temps are cooling off, rain starts to become a bit more normal making for great trail conditions, and all options are open for big rides up high!

Style of Riding

Crested Butte and Sun Valley:  Most of our rides in these two locations are similar in layout, with big climbs and long descents.  On average, you’re looking at climbs somewhere between 3-5 miles and 1-2k’.  A normal ride will have two big climbs and two or three big descents!

Durango:  Our rides in the San Juans are based around the Colorado Trail, so the layout of these tends to be a little different.  Typically there are more longer “traverse-based” sections where the climbs and descents are shorter with terrain that’s a bit more rolling in nature.  That said, we almost always have a longer climb built in, to maximize long, sustained descents.  Virtually every ride will finish with an epic descent that’s 2-3k’ and will blow your mind!

Which Bike to Ride

Across the board, the answer to this question is “it depends”.  It’s all about the ride you want to experience, and your preference and level of riding.  If you’re a strong climber and want a bike that’s a bit more fun on the descents, then we recommend more of a trail bike like the Stumpjumper 15 or a Revel Rascal.  If you’re a strong technical rider and need a bit more efficiency on the climbs, then we’d go with a downcountry bike like the Epic Evo or Transition Spur.

Other Things to Know

We’re super psyched to offer these Ride Limitless trips for 2026 and hope you’re as excited to ride with us – the routes we have planned are truly epic.  They’re some of our favorite rides ever and with a great crew, we’re confident they’ll be rides you remember forever.  We’ve received lots of questions already along the lines of “Do you think I can handle bigger rides?” – and the answer is YES.  Yes you can.  If you’ve comfortably finished a Chasing Epic trip in the past, you’re absolutely capable of crushing a Ride Limitless trip.

In some cases – specifically for our Level 2 trips- you’ll have to step up your offseason and spring training program, but we’re going to help you make that happen by giving you a fully-adaptable program that fits your schedule and goals.  In most cases though, you won’t have to increase your training time at all… it’s just a matter of being more efficient and training the right way.  We all spend time in the winter on a spin bike or lifting weights anyways, right?  Let’s do it the right way, make ourselves stronger riders and more healthy human beings.

In terms of the trips themselves, the layout is a bit different than past Chasing Epic trips.  We’ll have you show up around lunch on the first day to set up bikes, do a quick intro, and then head out for a 2-3 hour warmup ride.  Then days 2-4 are full days on the bike, and the last morning is departure.  This will allow us to maximize ride time and hopefully make travel a bit easier for you.

During the rides, we’ll generally keep a slightly quicker pace – not necessarily the speed of the ride, but just less casual stopping and probably no long sit-down break for lunch.  Instead, we’ll have lots of little ride snacks and nutrition for you to keep things moving, and you’ll be able to ride more at your pace instead of worrying about group dynamics as much.

The Final Word

Don’t let these Ride Limitless trips scare you: instead, use it as motivation.  Motivation for pushing yourself, for becoming stronger, for having a goal on the calendar that excites you.  In the 10 years we’ve been running trips, we see one thing play out on virtually every trip we’ve ever run: for those that show up in-shape and ready to crush the rides, the stoke level and overall experience is second-to-none.  Everyone feeds off each other’s energy and the bonds you’ll form with other riders will last forever.  We’ll do our best to make sure each trip is truly special, and we hope you’ll do your best too.