HPT - Winter Park, Colorado

600 miles of riding pleasure

HPT rider Hardy feels the flow.

The Winter Park-Fraser Valley, Colorado, region is dubbed Mountain Bike Capital, USA. This moniker is even trademarked. At first, I thought this was some cute marketing ploy, and perhaps it is, but after 3 days of riding only a portion of the area's 600 miles of trails, I understand what the hype is about. What makes this trail system unique from so many other Rocky Mountain areas are the gentle rolling hills surrounding Fraser. Each ride is not a heart-busting climb right from the start. Instead, you can warm up on flat, twisting singletrack, the kind of trail so fun and fast you don't even realize you are pedaling hard in your big ring. There is an amazing network of trails, all interconnected singletrack winding its way through the forest, across streams, and to some nice views. Our favorite trail ended up being a super fast ride called Flume. As its name suggests, Flume is more like a ride at an amusement park rather than a trail. Slightly downhill, Flume is so smooth and fast that braking is not important, and spinning the big ring has never been so much fun. At one point, you can't help but feel the Jedi force as you zip through the trees, arcing the bike around the flowing turns. Besides Flume, there are many other trails with these same characteristics, but after spending several days following our local guide Keith through this euphoric labyrinth of prime trails, it was hard to remember details other than a pleasant blur of trails, and trees. Sometimes mountain biking is a very scenic way to see the outdoors. Sometimes it is a full on thrill ride, with no time to look up and enjoy the scenery as your body is mesmerized by the tug of gravity and the thrilling sensations it creates.

HPT in the house at Hernando's Pizza, Winter Park

After a morning ride, we headed over to Winter Park Resort to check out the trails and activities located at the base of the mountain. In between dodging huge rain and lightening storms, we were able to session the mini-golf and Alpine Slide-the perfect low-energy, post-ride activity. Not to be missed are the trails accessed from the top of the chairlift. Winter Park Resort kicks down serious time and resources to maintain their trails so the riding is as good as the views, if you stop to enjoy them. So get your plans set and get up here, as 600 miles of trails and countless other activities await. Check out www.winterparkresort.com for more details.

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