First Impressions: Geoff Gulevich Rides The Crested Butte Bike Park

 The crustiest

 Can you still pedal up 7 springs or is it done, done? Launch bike park outside of Philly shut down, but some locals took over maintenance and now it's as good as ever with a thriving race series even.

 i miss bailey mountain soooooooooooooooooooooooo much!

 I hope Timberline WV opens back up...

 This comment is pretty funny because Crested is over a 4-hour drive from Denver. It might be one of the most remote bike parks in America. Snowshoe is within ~4 hours of at least 3 major population centers and international airports in Richmond, Pittsburgh, and DC.

 Bentonville, the mountainbike capital of the world???????

 @fiekaodclked: yeah. It’s the best. Because their marketing says so.

Do wish more Gumby’s went there instead of out west………

 @wyorider: Looks like we are approx same age. I moved from Denver to Bentonville two years ago. Riding more now than I ever did in Denver. That said, the damn marketing tag line is cheesy sh*t and not a single real rider living here likes it or accepts it. It's some clown in the Chamber of Commerce who came up with it. Really digging it here. The scene and area is very welcoming and only improving. It's is Whistler or Trestle? No, but I can get my fix on those when needed.

 Bentonville has incredible trail access, the pedal from town to the singletrack makes getting out for a quick ride very convenient. Otherwise, I was disappointed, but I'm someone who quite likes to scare himself on rides, so those IMBA graded smooth-track trails weren't my cup of coffee

 Forest Service actually cleared a HUGE expansion and another lift doing more.. it’s Vail not continuing on with it

 @stormracing: f*ck Vail

 Vail…. No thanks. #bailonvail

 Is your "west" include whistler?

 @stormracing: Vail is primarily a real estate company that is attempting to get a stranglehold on the ski industry so it can create new versions of the hyper-inflated real estate market it pioneered in Vail. It seems they figured out that acquiring resorts to build luxury destinations earns them far more money than improving the skiing or biking.

 @ryanandrewrogers: Pretty sure Vail has made a point in recent years to focus on guest services, not real estate.

 @whateverbr0: clearly not working, everyone still hates vail

 @ryanandrewrogers: That’s not my point, and yes everyone hates vail. It’s just misleading to say they are wrapped up in real estate when their focus has been on off-loading that to private owners and them acting as property management companies or working with third parties. Their focus is on guest services, meaning operating (not owning) lodging, skiing, etc.

 @ryanandrewrogers: that was Intrawest’s business model and why they failed. Vail’s model is to oversell tickets. Unfortunately, that just keeps them making record profits.

 the innocuous looking jump at 4:50 almost dead sailored me a couple weeks ago.

 Sorry you got injured, but since people are getting butt hurt about the slightest of things these days it has pushed me to vent through this comment. The sport is dangerous, accidents happen. I broke my neck making a slight right turn.

That is barely a jump first of all. I mean it is tiny with no gap. This is a “black diamond race course”. Second, on Avery there are much more dangerous hazards. (The blind rock drop after 90 degree turn, or man made rock gardens). Third, that dead tree is just a log lying on the ground with no punji sticks. What do you want, a nerf version of mountain biking? Or just to get sympathy for getting hurt? Unfortunately, people regularly die skiing at mt crested butte, mostly on beginner/intermediate terrain. Should they just close the whole
place? I really hope your not in law school.

 @robway go f yourself bro. Comment was the fact that the tree is still just sitting there like nothing happened. It fell in between laps and was laying in the blind spot of the jump and instantly paralyzed me when I landed. I had been riding there for years. I know the mtn plenty. I know this sport comes with risk. Been doing it for 30 years. Still ride the shit out of my off road trike. I guarantee I was a more skilled and polished rider than you and that still wasn't even the point I was making. Just the fact the Vail F'N sucks. More time and money is spent on real estate instead of basic maintenance. I have a screen grab a few weeks before injury of that tree with visible scarring up the entire trunk showing it was dead and not dealt with... And leave it to an idiot from Oregon to talk about CO ski mtns, of the 11 or so deaths on CO slopes last year zero were at CB & outside of backcountry avalanches in the valley the last on mtn death there was around 2017. Very regular indeed.

 @robway: I have to race this track in September for collegiate DH, and the lack of maintenance a lot of CO bike parks receive is quite detrimental to the racing. CB here has about a zillion examples of downed trees that are nothing but a hazard to riders who are already crashing.

Literally a couple of seconds down the trail @ 3:53 there is a rock garden that a lot of us racers are going to attempt to gap. Lucky for us there is a swath of downed trees and stumps alongside this rock garden to absolutely maim tf out of anyone who messes up.

 @dsoller33: I apologize. My comment was negitive, attacking, and uncalled for. This is not who I want to be. I was wrong. Vail/CB could do much more to make the trails safer. That really sucks your injury was so serious. I feel terrible for making my comment. Sincerely

 Epic

 Crazy how much that valley has changed in the last 5-10 years. Combination of Vail Resorts and Texan capital infusions.

 @fullendurbro: www.hcn.org/issues/53.1/south-economy-when-covid-hit-a-colorado-county-kicked-out-second-home-owners-they-hit-back

Pretty fascinating how that happened

 @fullendurbro: dude. I love CB. But the Texans...

 @fullendurbro: and yet Woods and Psycho hasn’t changed in 15 years haha.
I’m sure you can still grab yourself a breakfast burrito and an “Ass, Gas, or Grass” sticker also. Iykyk
Miss riding the Butte…but Texan suburbans were showing up over a decade ago.

 @mountainyj: The Texas is real in CB, shocked how how many cars with Texas or red plate (rental) CO tags there were in town recently - almost every home it seemed. Something worth tearing down in town is now over $1m to purchase. The Elk St. restaurant scene is a total entitled tourist disaster as well.

Still great trails everywhere and the bike park was actually pretty great with some crazy well-built stuff next to some unfortunate jank. And the breakfast at Gas Cafe still rocks.

 @sspiff: As they say... The best view in Crested Butte is a Texan leaving with a Californian under each arm!

 edit: wrong spot.

 Yea CB is not great at all.... no one should bother going there..

 You have horrible taste. I respect that. Stick with those places for sure. Way better!

 Damn. Trestle is literally the worst park in the state. The only thing they are good at is marketing.

 Yup agreed. CB/evolution bike park is not up to par with Angel Fire or Trestle. TBH I had fun, but quickly got bored. Its small, relatively flat, jumps aren't built great, and only one real tech trail. Best trail is Avery, kinda a mix of flow and tech.

But lets be real, you're big time missing out if you go to CB for a bike park.

 :p

 The bike park in CB is good... but there are definitely better ones. That's not why I took trips there. There's endless backcountry beautiful trails all around the town and coming off the valley on the way back towards Gunnison. The bike park is a nice break day from climbing.

 its a fun bike park but if you go to CB to ride bikes, youre not going for the bike park.

 @stormracing: haha I agree Trestle is overrated…flow trails are mediocre, tech isn’t super gnarly, but it’s super close and convenient and I love doing laps w the boys there! Crested Butte is far away man!

 @gabriepa: agreed they don't offer the same level of big jumps and steep tech as other places but man, crushing some Rainmaker laps with your buddies is hard to beat. It's also an hour from my house, CB, Angel Fire etc are all 4+ one way.

 @CSdirt: are there any trails at Angel Fire or Trestle that are on par with the technicality of Psycho Rocks?

 @adamdigby: comment for the graveyard trail at angel fire: 'If you fancy yourself a “big rock rider” and enjoy being balls deep in elephant head rocks on 30% downgrades then this, the Graveyard trail my friend is the trail for you.'

edit: just watched a vid of both, psycho rocks has a bunch of cool wood features and rocks. More on par with paja trails.

 @adamdigby: Trestle? No. There's nothing very technical at Trestle. Trestle DH has a combined 100 feet of trail that's technical, but an enduro bike can do it just as fast as a DH bike just due to the sheer amount of pedaling.

Angel Fire has proper tech and speed. The most fun I've had at Trestle was on a downcountry bike. However take a downhill bike to Angel Fire and you'll still end up puckered and grabbing fistfuls of brake.

 For real, does no one spell check these articles?

 @HenryJose: >Opens Slack > Sends article to Alicia > Can you proof read this for me? > 10 seconds later, Done > Article posted with no major errors > No time wasted