Salida, Colorado. 11, 000 feet and Rising

I can tell you one thing for sure; time certainly does pass when all you are doing is traveling around the beautiful state of Colorado. Especially when your foremost goal is to ride your bike in some of the state’s most breathtaking locations, as Ian and I have been doing for the past eight or nine days.

The Colorado Plains. You could drive for hours it seems and hardly even turn your steering wheel, except of course to avoid the occasional Elk or Deer. Photo: Eamonn Duignan

After leaving the fantastic town of Durango, we hit the road once again for our next location of Salida. Colorado is a stunning place to visit with its huge mountains as well as its unreal vistas, and the drive southwest from Durango certainly won’t let us forget that fact. After about four and a half hours of Redbull, beef jerky, and as a consequence, Pepto-Bismol we reached our third destination of our 12 day trip…Salida, the ‘Heart of the Rockies.’

This is where it all starts, some 11, 000 feet up. The Monarch Crest Trail head is actually located up another mile or so from this sign via a dirt road. Photo: Eamonn Duignan

Following a much needed afternoon of rest it was back to the grind, and once again up for some very early morning starts. The ultra early starts were to catch the good morning light, and to also avoid the daily storms that tend to role in around mid-afternoon. The first trail we rode in Salida was the Monarch Crest Trail (MCT). According to the locals, it is one of the most popular rides in the region, and it is also renowned as one of the premier rides in all of the western states.

Double vision. Ian and I working on our XC skills. Can you see the focus? Photo: Ian Nelson and Eamonn Duignan respectively

The MCT consists of 12 miles of flowing single track, with extensions that could potentially take you another 28 miles – virtually all of it is single track goodness. That’s a total of 40 miles, some impressive stats to say the least. Unfortunately, we were only able to roll on the first five so miles of the MCT, due to filming logistics and accessibility issues.

The Rockies as seen from the Monarch Crest Trail. One of the many unreal vistas this part of the world has to offer. Photo: Eamonn Duignan

The trail starts at about 11,312 ft, and tops out at an unreal 11, 960 feet of elevation. It is an extension of the Continental Divide Trail System, as this epic trail winds along the Continental Divide. The total elevation climb is about 1,000 feet, with an elevation drop of 3,800 feet. The best of both worlds I suppose?

My Rocky Mountain Slayer preforming on top of the world. Photo: Ian Nelson

The MCT also offers some stunning views of the Rockies, including the Sawatch, Uncompahgres and the San Juan Mountain ranges. The trail itself primarily consists of fast, flowing, and for the most part, non-technical high alpine single track that seems to go on forever, and traverses through a variety of terrain from ultra high alpine granite to boulder fields. Bikes that are more oriented towards epic-XC style riding would have been ideal for this trail. Slope Style and Freeride bikes, not so much.

From a Whistler Crankworx SlopeStyle finalist to a self proclaimed cowboy, and XC star. As stated by Ian himself, “I’ve given it all up for the simpler life of bad hats and XC riding!” Photo: Eamonn Duignan

During our stay in Salida we also rode the Alpine Tunnel Trail, which is an old railway line that was built in 1881, and has been abandoned since 1910. This trail was less a mountain bike trail than it was a walking path, which never got any steeper than a pleasant grade of 5%. However, the day was saved when we were finally informed about the whereabouts of the local ‘Freeride’ trail, dubbed ‘Uncle Nasty.’

Clock work. If you ever travel to Colorado during the summer months you can be rest assured that you will be caught in an afternoon storm. It is an occurrence that you can virtually set your watch to, as it happens practically on a daily basis. Photo: Eamonn Duignan

Initially, Uncle Nasty started out kind of rough with a fair bit of climbing, and with some descents that were rather unruly. Ninety degree decomposed granite/sand corners into some mean looking rocks after a straightaway were initially on the menu for this trail. Although, the dirt and moonscape like conditions, gnarly rock formations, and thankfully, the corners of Uncle Nasty changed quickly as we descended. Fortunately, the trail opened up into some hard packed ripping single track with the occasional sandy corner for good measure. The trail actually finished off super fun. It became progressively faster and had a ton of flow, as it started to meander with the contours of the landscape. We didn’t get to Uncle Nasty until late in the day, although, this worked to our advantage as we got some pretty rad light as the sun was setting. Should make for some good TV.

A cowboy true and true. I think Ian’s mom just called to tuck him in prior to me taking this shot? Check out his mean cowboy hat and farmers tan…this kid is all business! Photo: Eamonn Duignan

That was Salida in a nut shell. The weather was fine, the beer was cold, the cowboy hats were out in full force and the riding was, umm, picturesque. Stay tuned, and hold on to your hats for the low down on our last stops of Gunnision and Crested Butte, Colorado.