Growler Wrap Up

It's 64 miles of classic Hartman Rocks singletrack.  It's rocky, unrelenting, and has brought grown men to tears.  Yes, boys and girls, it's the Gunnison Growler.

When the dust settled on Sunday, many Gunnison athletes ended up standing on the podium collecting the amazing prizes that Dave Wiens assembled for the event while listening to DaveO talk about, well, whatever DaveO talks about when handed a microphone.  Hundreds gathered around hoping to grab many of the raffle prizes and other schwag that was tossed out into the crowd, with many pairs of socks ending up in the pond and a tee-shirt in a tree.  There might have been some additional motivation to stick around with the free food from Garlic Mikes and bottomless glasses and growlers (awarded to all 64-mile finishers) of New Belgium beer satiating the hunger and thirst of tired racers.

(Pictures stolen from Jenny Smith's Facebook page)

Results of note would be Team Alpine Ortho's Brian Smith dominating the mens' field winning by 20 minutes.  Team Alpine Ortho's women put in a strong showing with Jenny Smith second, Eszter Horanyi 4th, and Jari Kirkland 5th in the Full Growler.

I'll post race-reports from Rock 'N Roll Sports athletes here as they trickle in, but for now, check out the highlights video here and keep an eye on the Team Alpine Ortho blog for updates and photos.

Big thanks to Gunnison Trails for putting on such a spectacular event yet again!

Trails Report for May 28, 2011

After a spring that long-time locals called 'the worst ever', summer seems to finally be descending on the Gunnison Valley with a string of days without precipitation this weekend and temperatures that will create ideal corn skiing conditions up high and will finally start melting out the Crested Butte trails.

For Gunnison, Hartman Rocks is riding fantastic with all of the trails open.  Watch out for grazing cattle and make sure to keep all gates closed.

Farther up valley, Cement Creek is drying out nicely with the roadside trail dry and Caves very nearly ready to go.

In Crested Butte proper, Tony's has been described as 'tacky' and reports are coming in that Upper Loop is dry with Upper-upper only being blocked by a handful of snow-plugs.

Get your riding shoes on CB folk because summer is coming!  We hope to be bringing you a weekly trails report as the snow-line recedes and the dirt bakes in the summer sun.

Get Ready for the Growler

It's Memorial Day weekend yet again which means one thing for the Valley: It's time for the Original Growler mountain bike race and the Sage Burner 25k and 50k trail running races at Hartman Rocks.  The Sage Burner races will be contested on Saturday, May 28th and the Growler will be raced on Sunday, May 29.  The Growler sold out in 8 minutes this year but there are still spots available for the Sage Burner if two-footed travel is your preferred mode of transport.

Information on the Growler can be found here.
Information on the Sage Burner can be found here.


For those not familiar with Hartman Rocks riding, here's a nice little sample of Team Alpine Ortho rider Eszter Horanyi negotiating Top of the World.

Hope to see you all this weekend.  Happy trails.

Welcome

Hello and welcome to the new Rock 'n Roll Sports blog, home to all cycling and skiing news in the Gunnison Valley!

We've got big plans for this site for the summer including, but not limited to:

- Weekly trails report.  Find out when the 401 is finally dry.
- Race and ride reports from Rock 'n Roll Sports athletes
- Valley events ranging from trail work days to races
- Interviews with local legends in the Gunnison Valley
- News from the local high school mountain bike teams
- News from the Western State College mountain bike team
- Guest posts and photos from residents from around the valley

Check back as we'll be updating often and summer in the Valley starts to bloom.

 Happy trails.