I thought the statement "The best Thursday I've had in a while" pretty much summed up our entire day. A MTBR.com heavy hitter Scrublover, a MTBR.com lurker Bells and myself took off very early yesterday morning from the Boulder area 3 hours SW to Poncha Springs for a ride often dubbed Monarch Crest, although Monarch Crest is just the beginning.
While technically a shuttle ride, its what is deemed a "Colorado Shuttle". You may drop 6-7k feet, but you earn it by pedaling up several thousand as well. We did the Monarch Crest Trail to Silver Creek (I think) to the Rainbow Trail. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 35 miles of pure singletrack bliss.
Enough pontification, on with the pics...
The mandatory "tourist" picture at the top of the pass.
Scrublover climbing away on the Crest Trail at 11,500 feet.
Bells heads towards the last few trees before we top out above treeline
Scrubby, Bells and another rider heading towards the ridge
Looking back at what we've just ridden
On top of the world, or at least the Crest
Scrublover don't need no stinking oxygen...
Scrubby & bells riding towards the first descent
This looked like a nice spot for some lunch
Bells checking out the descent that awaits us
Bells heading down
Scrubby is a sharp dressed biker, and he can ride a bit too
A token pic from the Rainbow Trail. There was a lot more incredible singletrack with great views that was just too fun to stop and take pics.
While technically a shuttle ride, its what is deemed a "Colorado Shuttle". You may drop 6-7k feet, but you earn it by pedaling up several thousand as well. We did the Monarch Crest Trail to Silver Creek (I think) to the Rainbow Trail. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 35 miles of pure singletrack bliss.
Enough pontification, on with the pics...
The mandatory "tourist" picture at the top of the pass.
Scrublover climbing away on the Crest Trail at 11,500 feet.
Bells heads towards the last few trees before we top out above treeline
Scrubby, Bells and another rider heading towards the ridge
Looking back at what we've just ridden
On top of the world, or at least the Crest
Scrublover don't need no stinking oxygen...
Scrubby & bells riding towards the first descent
This looked like a nice spot for some lunch
Bells checking out the descent that awaits us
Bells heading down
Scrubby is a sharp dressed biker, and he can ride a bit too
A token pic from the Rainbow Trail. There was a lot more incredible singletrack with great views that was just too fun to stop and take pics.