Steamboat Bike Town, USA®

Stop and Smell the Roses

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Have you ever gone out on a bike ride in Steamboat or around Routt County and smelt the roses? I mean really taken a big whiff of what the countryside has to offer our olfactory senses. Well have you? As you know I am usually writing these blogs, in my head, while on a bike ride and during one of my many wet (see last week’s blog) road rides I started looking around at the beautiful scenery the Yampa valley has to offer, and then inhaling some of the delightful, pungent and teasing fragrances to be found.   One of my favourite memories as a kid was the smell of a recent downpour on the sizzling, hot black top. Thinking about it now excites me in preparation for the up coming summer where all of the Emerald Mountain’s single-track trails are open, the downtown farmer’s market ... [Continue Reading]

Gravity Guy’s Spontaneous Spring

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This time of year in Steamboat is a rollercoaster for me… One day it can be unleashing the most epic snow storm you’ve ever seen and the next it could be 70* and you’re fishing or burning up the tarmac on two wheels. It's because of this exact variability that I avidly follow my moto of “play to the conditions”. Though some like to fully commit to one sport between summer and winter, I prefer to make the most of each weekend by highlighting what the conditions and weather are providing. This past month I had a three-day weekend that I was proud of and I think highlights the diversity of recreational opportunities this time of the year in Colorado. The mountains are still packed with snow but you have warm days and venturing to lower elevations you'll easily find dry dirt. Knowing this, ... [Continue Reading]

Spring in Steamboat Brings Out Your Inner Bike Girl

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It’s time .. Spring in Steamboat The mountain closed this week, my beloved board has her coat of storage wax, my skis are strapped together in my shed and I am officially allowed to jump up and down in pure excitement and scream ... IT'S BIKE SEASON. Now don't get me wrong I enjoy ski season it's what I do but I love bike season. I mean luuuvvvv.  Love love love it down to my core. My body thaws after a long winter and the cold fog lifts from my brain. There is this picture circulating of a little girl riding her bike with the biggest grin on her face and the caption says "this is what bike riding feels like everyday". I am that little girl. It doesn't matter if I am on my commuter bike riding to the grocery store on the Yampa Valley Core Trail, on my brand new mountain bike ... [Continue Reading]

Cycling Family Celebrates Spring

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We are a cycling family and the arrival of spring marks the end of snow biking season and the first of what I trust will be many wonderful road and trail rides in the warm months ahead. Just two weeks ago I took my teenage son for a late season fat bike ride, promising a fun descent as reward for climbing Blackmere to the quarry. A quick stop at Orange Peel had him fitted on an improbably light rental machine and before long we were cruising up Blackmere's meandering switchbacks scouting fun lines for the descent. A recent storm thwarted most of our options for single track, as the lines hadn't set up enough to ride. Leaving those for another day (and it was hard to bypass NPR) we ventured down Little Moab for a taste of adrenaline, and then gave the Nordic trails a try, finding them ... [Continue Reading]

Add a Fat Bike Adventure to Your Ski Vacation

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Winter. Bikes languish in the garage as we keep an eye out for the next blower storm and deluge of Steamboat’s legendary Champagne Powder ©. Even in an excellent ski year, you may notice packed single track on Emerald Mountain, or a knobby track snaking up Why Not. There is still biking to be had, and a new generation of machines make it not only possible, but fun. Fat bikes and their clownish tires open up incredible new terrain to the intrepid cyclist, and one of the easiest and most enjoyable introductions to the sport may be had at the Lake Catamount Touring Center (970) 871-6667. A short drive from town, Catamount has gently rolling terrain and many kilometers of groomed track for Nordic skiing and Fat Biking. Plan a morning trip, as the trails will be firm and fast, ... [Continue Reading]