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A trail divided

Riders lose patience for more challenging routes, but plans are in the works

In a quiet forest above Durango a mountain biker rides onto a massive boulder and drops 4 feet off its far edge. He rides up another enormous rock and down the other side over stacked wood and branches.

The features come and go, like some tug of war. Someone builds them, and someone breaks them down.

Technically, these trails are illegal, but the demand is so great that scofflaws continue to create challenging routes that match the more modern equipment found on today’s bikes.

Mountain biking is evolving. But in Durango, once a Mecca of the sport, the transition to more difficult tracks hasn’t taken root, leaving many riders asking if the stigma still sticks.

“We’re competing with the cream of the crop,” says longtime local professional mountain bike racer and volunteer trail advocate Travis Brown.

Brown is familiar with the tension between trail-riding athletes and the keepers of the laws that protect the land. But he also sees a niche that can be filled.

“There are a lot of sides to this argument, but I think if we have the land and the potential, we need to try to make it happen,” he said.

In October, at a joint meeting of the city of Durango’s Natural Lands and Parks and Recreation advisory boards, public comment was flooded with riders upset over proposed closures of some so-called freeride trails – trails that demand challenging maneuvers with features calling on higher skill sets than traditional mountain biking. The meeting left many riders frustrated.

The crux is that segments of trails reviewed for closure in Dalla Mountain Park, Overend Park and in Horse Gulch were built illegally.

Kevin Hall, the city’s assistant director of community development and an avid mountain biker, understands.

“I get the issues that are concerning everybody,” he said. “But these are areas where people have decided to start riding their bikes down steep terrain for the adventure of it.”

Cathy Metz, director of Durango parks and recreation, said the city protects certain values that need to be considered before modification to natural lands can take place.

“If you look at the city code, it has very specific language,” Metz said. “It’s not like we’re taking an unusual stance on this.”

But the riders have spoken. They want more options. Different trails. Trails like Free Lunch in Grand Junction, Captain Ahab and Pipedream in Moab, Utah, and PBR in Fruita all have features with a specific user group in mind. And the users they attract have the incomes that pump those towns’ economies.

For a cycling community that was built on endurance racing, what does flow, progressive and freeride even mean?

Trail-building crew leader Grady James said there is a new kid on the block who likes to go downhill just as much as up. He wants to see things done right, but, like others, he doesn’t want to wait forever.

“The trails we’re looking for don’t have to be super steep, long crazy fall-line trails,” he said.

Walker Thompson, an entrepreneur, says people are simply confused by the language.

“There are parts to the downhill, and maybe even the uphill, where it’s challenging, and it’s that challenging terrain that makes it progressive.”

He said today’s riders want to push themselves.

“In flow (trails), now you’re into progressive riding where you want to up your game a little bit. All of the sudden, it’s, ‘Oh, I really want to do that drop,’ and that’s free ride.”

James said some are taking the mountain out of mountain biking.

“They get a tool in their hand and they see a rock in the trail and they think, ‘Well, I have this tool, so I’m going to pick this rock out of the trail,’” he said.

“With the argument of sustainable trails that is coming up these days, the most sustainable thing you could have in a trail is a rock that has been there forever.”

Working with the city, Trails 2000 had a triumph in Horse Gulch called Snake Charmer. Volunteers, with the help of Utah’s Grand County Trailmix, followed the rules.

While the 1.2-mile trail is viewed as pedaling in the right direction, for many, it’s only a taste.

“This was a great start, but it’s clearly not enough,” Thompson said.

But according to officials, more is on the way.

The Chapman Hill Bike Park should be underway next summer. Trails 2000 also has flagged and aligned a new flow trail at Purgatory at Durango Mountain Resort that should break ground next summer. With a new owner who has seen the benefits of a biking culture at Pajarito, one of his ski areas, the hope is this could be the beginning of something at Purgatory.

“Trails 2000 did a quite a bit of work on that and they hope it’s the anchor stone for development,” Brown said. “It would mean running a lift for that run and hopefully would prove validity for construction of an entire bike park and get lots of trails up there.”

Meanwhile, portions of the Log Chutes downhill trail move slowly ahead. The city is considering annexing The Medicine Trail in Horse Gulch, now unofficial, into its trail system.

Metz said another joint meeting is being planned for January.

“We’re trying to find solutions, and I think we’re going to,” Hall said. “In the meantime we just have to get through this process.”

Said Brown: “We’ve been dealt a hand to be one of the best trail destinations in the world. It would be irresponsible to let that not come to fruition.”

bmathis@durangoherald.com

Dec 16, 2014
City takes comment on trail closures


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