Crested Butte, CO

I made it to Crested Butte Tuesday morning after spending Monday night in Pike National Forest, just west of Colorado Springs. Crested Butte is a small resort town, surrounded by Gunnison National Forest on the western slope of the Rockies. It is a true mountain bike mecca. There are high quality trails everywhere you look and was one of the birthplaces of mountain biking. On Tuesday, I got to town and found a good camp spot, then set out to ride the 401 Trail, which has a long fireroad climb followed by an amazing singletrack descent back to the valley. There are definately no trails like this back east. A good bit of the descent was on the side of the mountain with no tree cover, with amazing views of the surrounding scenery.

401 Trail

On Wednesday, I went and visited the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame in town, then returned to the forest to ride the 403 Trail. 403 was similar to 401, but a good bit more technical, with more rocks and waterbars to navigate on the way to the bottom.

403 Trail

I was planning to leave town Wednesday night and start heading north, but things didn't quite work out as planned. I was driving on one of the dirt forest roads near where I was camped when my car kicked up a rock and put a hole in my oil pan. There wasn't much of a shoulder where I was so I had to either leave the car where it was, blocking the road for other cars, or try to drive to a parking area that I saw up ahead, maybe a 1/4 mile or a little more ahead. I decided to go for the parking area, but before I made it there, the engine seized up from lack of oil. I pulled out my cell phone to call for a tow truck and was not surprised to see that I had no reception. I was about 10 miles from town, so I got my bike out and got ready to ride back for help. Fortunately, another car came along and the driver helped push my car down to a better part of the road where it would be out of the way and I took off for town on my bike. I kept my phone in my jacket pocket so I would have easy access to it and I could check along the way to see if I was getting reception. I never did get a signal in the forest, but when I made it back to the edge of town I reached in my pocket to start making calls and found that my phone was no longer there. I turned around, turned all of my lights on, and tried a quick search for my phone. I rode back a couple of miles with no luck, and decided to abandon the search because it was getting darker and colder by the minute. As I was riding back to town for the second time, thinking about my stupid mistakes, in the dark and cold, I hear a wolf start howling from behind me and think that this has to be one of the most miserable nights I have ever had. Fortunately, I was able to find a hotel with decent rates and a good hot meal when I finally made it back to town.

Thursday went a little better for me. I had my car towed back in and called my insurance company and I was told that they are going to pay for all of the repairs and the tow bill, I just have to cover the deductible. Later that afternoon, I was trying to find the nearest store where I could get a new phone and make this ordeal a little easier when I got an email from my brother Steve saying someone had found my phone. After a few more emails and phone calls, an all around awesome guy named George stops by the hotel and drops my phone off for me. He had been walking his dog as I was riding into town and saw my phone on the road, then took the trouble to track me down and return it. Many thanks go out to George.

I do not know how long the car repairs will take, but for now I am playing the waiting game. If I have to be stranded somewhere, Crested Butte has to be one of the better places (at least until it starts getting snowy) but the longer the repairs take, the more places I am going to have to cut from my trip. I have been thinking that I should try to get the northern portion of the trip done by the first of October, because after that snow becomes a serious threat in those places. I have already given up on Rocky Mountain National Park, and will almost definitely have to shorten or cancel my visits to South Dakota, Yellowstone, and Glacier National Park. There is also a chance that Geico will refuse to pay the repairs for the seized engine, saying that I shouldn't have driven with low oil, but given the situation and lack of area to pull the car over, I stand by my decision to try and drive to the parking area, and for what it is worth, the tow truck driver agreed. But, if I have to pay the repair bill myself, I will probably not have the funds to continue on and have to head back home much earlier than anticipated. Nothing to do now but wait.