COLORADOSo after Snowmass, Lars and I had a day of chilling/driving, and met up with some friends at Keystone Resort. Little did we know that Specialized was having their big dealer event. The resort was open to the public, but it felt a little Red- if you know what I mean:). Big ol Transition Sprinter parked in the lot next to their tent just felt like we were imposing a tad, even though it was no big deal. Really cool to see that kind of operation though, dialed bikes everywhere, good people. Even Bearclaw was there supporting S, but we decided to carry on and ride the next dat at Winterpark with Justing Frey of Fox.
Winterpark Resort is a partner to Whistler, so everything ran really smooth, good lift loading, signage, tons of space, etc. The Pro GRT makes a stop in Winterpark aka Trestle bike park as part of Crankworx Colorado a few weeks, so got to scope the vibe of the place a little early, ride some runs, etc. FYI to people, the prize purse is pretty sweet , 2k for first in men's DH and they appear to pay to 10th, 1K slalom, 6k slopestyle. World cup guys will be in Italy, so someone unexpected may make a bunch of money.
We didn't really ever find out which trail was the race trail, think it's under construction, but whatever. We rode a good variety of trails, blue and black diamond runs. The black runs were fun, dusty rocky, kinda flatish, some fast bits, but also a little tight in spots. Colorado has it's unique dirt and terrain, and the challenge is in the dry looseness of it, and maneuvering though rocks. I feel like a bit of a trail snob after my time in Squamish, love the loam, but going fast and adapting to new terrain is a good challenge too:). Had to do some creative bandaging not to get my stitches all dirty, healing up nice, couple more days and they are out.
We came across some new friends at Keystone, Winterpark, and Sol Vista who are just getting started doing this website reviewing Bike Parks in the USA. Check out www.projektroam.com .
National Champs in Sol Vista Next, the grand Finally...