Keeping pace

Durango riding experience evolves with changing times

by Missy Votel

Used to be, Durango – along with its neighbors, Fruita and Moab – could confidently lay claim to top mountain bike mecca honors. Not only did it play host to the 1990 Worlds, but it is home to legions of pros as well as hundreds of miles of singletrack right out its back door. The area’s high country rides, like the Colorado Trail and Hermosa Creek, are the stuff of epic mountain bike legend.

Although the mountains themselves have not shifted, trends and attitudes toward biking have. While wheel size and suspension have grown, so have appetites for burlier, technical trails and big air.

“In some ways, we’re a little bit jaded by that history,” local pro and former Olympian Travis Brown acknowledged of Durango’s storied cross country past.

With places like Whistler and Angel Fire catering to the gravity crowd with beefed up berms, bridges, drops and other manufactured obstacles, Durango is finding there’s a few more contenders at the top of the mountain. In fact, there have even been whispers among some, freshly returned from a weekend of bombing trails in full body armor at Whistler, that Durango may have – gasp – gotten left in the dust.

Not ones to spin their wheels, local riders have taken matters into their own hands, creating rogue downhill trails on public lands in and around town. However, many of these trails – while satisfying the adrenaline itch – are, unfortunately, illegal and unsustainable. Several were recently red-lined for decommissioning by the City, much to the grumbling of local speed demons.

 But all momentum is not lost. To some in the trail community, the lack of progressive riding trails – as they’ve officially come to be known – is merely a speed bump in Durango’s long, illustrious mountain biking history.

“There are some inherent features to Durango’s trails network that are the best, like the diversity of trails; the high country access; urban access; and geology,” said Brown, who grew up in Durango. “Our whole network is really multi-use. But for single purpose-driven riding, we’re not keeping up with some places.”

 To that end, local trail advocacy group Trails 2000 launched its Gravity Council a few years back to address Durango’s need for more gnar. Made up of members of Durango’s freestyle and progressive riding community, including Walker Thompson, Dusty Bender and Grady James, the council was key in building last year’s Snakecharmer Trail and is currently working on two new rails – the Medicine Trail and Chapman Flow Trail. More, such as the Cundiff Bike Park, are in the works.

“We created it as a resource in the trails community for how riding and trail development is evolving,” said Brown, also a member of the council. “It goes hand in hand with how bike product development is evolving.”

And Brown should know. Since retiring from racing, he has worked in product development and field testing for Trek bicycles. “The evolution of bike parks and resorts is really informing and influencing designs and desires of riders,” he said. For starters, unless you’re a kid or, 26-inch wheels are pretty much a thing of the past, with 27.5-inch (also known as 650b in Euro circles) and 29ers taking the lead. “There’s still a lot of flex going on in the wheel-size debate,” said Brown, adding that market forces – i.e. popular demand for the latest and greatest – is also playing a role. (For what it’s worth, he noted the most recent North American Enduro race was won on 29ers in the men’s and women’s divisions.)

But when it comes to building progressive trails, ideas are almost as varied as the dizzying array of bikes available.

“If you ask 10 people what kind of trail they prefer, you’re probably going to come up with five different trail profiles. Everything from rocky and abusive to smooth with berms,” he said. “That’s part of Trails 2000’s long-term pipeline of its bike development plan, to address the desires of all those people. We want the trails network to be the best in every aspect, but it takes some effort.”

The Raider Ridge area of Horse Gulch has been pegged as ideal for progressive trails because the natural building blocks – steep grade and large rocks – are in abundance.

“The intention is to have all that style of riding in one place,” said Brown. “It’s a good place because there are big pieces of rock already there, unlike somewhere like the Mountain Park, where bridges would need to be built.”

The Medicine Trail takes off from the same spot as Snakecharmer before forking to the left. Like it’s neighbor, it will have drops and moves of varying difficulty, with the easier and more difficult lines marked. Right now, the Gravity Council, along with Trails 2000 Trail Coordinator Dewayne Buratti, is working on linking up pre-existing sections of the trail to give it more flow and improve the riding experience. Blind intersections are also being realigned to give riders better sight lines.

“In progressive trail building, it is crucial to achieve sustainable lines,” said Buratti. “Modern trail-building standards recommend ... following sustainable trail design rules and using rock-armored sections to harden some tread in critical places. This doesn’t mean well-built features can’t be fun; it just means they will be better built and last longer.”

Trails 2000 already held several work days on the Medicine Trail in May, with more planned this week (see breakout box.) “Trails 2000’s Gravity Council hopes to recruit those riders who are interested in this newer style of progressive riding,” Mary Monroe Brown, executive director of Trails 2000, said.

The hope is to have the corridor complete by next week, with the all-important “flow testing” taking place before the trail is officially open for public consumption.

Meanwhile, a few ridges away at Chapman Hill, plans have been finalized for what is going by the working name of “Chapman Flow Trail.”

Last week, the Whistler-based Alpine Bike Parks, which was contracted by the City of Durango, was in town laying out final plans for the new trail. The hill was originally slated for a bike park, but after much consideration, it was deemed insufficient. “Alpine Bike Parks said it wasn’t big enough and was too steep. They felt Cundiff Park was a better location for a bike park,” said Durango Director of Parks and Recreation Cathy Metz.

However, the wooded area to the north of the ski hill at Chapman was deemed ideal for a downhill flow trail, which will entail dirt berms, jumps and other technical features. The idea is that riders will be able to do “hot laps,” whereby they can ride their bikes back up on the existing trail for as many loops as their legs can handle.

The alignment of the 2,100-foot trail was sited last week, with work expected to be finished by the end of the month, Metz said.

It may not be the built-up, structured bike park originally envisioned, but Metz said it will help fill a need. “I think this is the best of both worlds,” she said. “It’s something that’s not available anywhere else and offers a very unique riding experience right in town.”

As Travis Brown attests, “unique” is the operative word when it comes to Durango’s appeal as a contender.

“I’ve never been anywhere like Durango, where you can ride through Mancos shale, terminal moraine, aspen trees and slick rock,” he said.

However, in the end, perhaps it’s most important not be too concerned with things such as wheel size, travel or keeping up with the Whistlers – and to just get out and ride. After all, maybe being king of the mountain is all a state of mind.

“That’s what’s great about Durango,” he said, “whether you look like Darth Vader and have 3 feet of travel or you’re riding a rim-brake, hardtail 26-incher, you can still have the same riding experience.”