Riding the Summit
For the avid mountain biker, there’s a sort of cruelty to Summit’s endless winter play.
As April turns to May and snow still blankets the ground, the rest of the Rockies have dried out for ideal early riding season.
But here at the Summit, trails won’t harden until the beginning of June or sometimes even July… well, that sort of prolonged waiting can drive even the most patient bikers batty.
Thankfully there’s a payoff: When summer finally arrives, Summit transforms into one of the premier mountain biking destinations in the country.
Within one county you’ve got single track, downhill, old bumpy mining roads that drive deep into the backcountry and a smooth rec path that circumnavigates the reservoir.
Talk to locals and they’ll tell you the same: They came for winters but stayed for summers.
The terrain that lies below that snow has an allure all its own.
“Here in Summit it’s a very short cycling season,” says Chris Hart, a longtime local and a partner at Great Adventure Sports in Breckenridge, one of the county’s five main bike shops.
“But when the season’s on, you can’t beat it.
The Rec Path system is an absolute jewel, and the backcountry terrain is phenomenal. The result is that every experience level can enjoy cycling here.”
Beyond the Rec Path, the county boasts a few well-known rides.
The Peaks Trail, which ascends from Frisco along the Ten Mile Range to Breckenridge, is often considered the county’s signature ride.
Then there’s the Colorado Trail, the epic path that traverses the Rockies from Denver to Durango and passes through Summit along the way, and Tenderfoot Trail in Dillon, one of the fastest tracks to dry in the early season.
After that, areas take precedent over the trails themselves.
Keystone Gulch in the east of the county is criss-crossed by myriad single tracks.
Boreas Pass in Breckenridge is another popular destination, as is the Golden Horseshoe, whose siren call is dozens of old mining roads that wend through acres of pristine backcountry.
Cradled between Frisco and Silverthorne is the heavily wooded Ryan Gulch, and jutting out into the blue of the reservoir is the Frisco Peninsula, perhaps the county’s most welcoming non-paved terrain.
And that doesn’t even mention the resorts, which continue to run their lifts throughout the summer to give riders access to downhill runs.
Indeed, Keystone Resort offers some of the best riding in the county. It boasts an on-the-mountain bike park called the Drop Zone and has groomed hundreds of downhill trails that, as in winter, range from casual greens to double black diamonds.
“There’s so much riding in the county, and all of it is quality terrain,” says Greg Rood, Keystone’s bike park manager.
“There’s really something for everyone here, and the local community totally embraces it. If you see an open garage anywhere, there’s going to be mountain bikes inside.”
“The variety of trails is what makes this county unique,” echoes Brad Eckert, resource manager for Summit County Open Space and Trails.
“If you want to do something mellow like the rec path, great. If you feel like doing some gnarly single track, you can do that.
If you want to put a loop together in Wildernest, it’s done. I don’t know anywhere else that makes so much available to so many.”
Eckert says that 20 years ago it was a different story.
Summit is a difficult place to ride (there’s lots of climbing and the air is thin), and when you coupled that with mountain bikes that lacked front and rear suspension, only the bravest ventured off the paved stuff. 
But as the industry has evolved, it’s encouraged more people off-road, which in turn has led local towns and the county government to embrace the sport more openly.
The purpose of Summit County Open Space and Trails, a department in the county government, is to purchase and protect open space, to manage trails, and to procure easements when private developers threaten to close off trails.
The department recently partnered with the Town of Breckenridge to purchase the Golden Horseshoe area, and currently is busy with the Swan Mountain Road addition to the Rec Path, which will finish the loop around Dillon Reservoir.
“Summit has really embraced the sport,” says Eckert. “Every year, we’re building a mile here and mile there of new trails and always designing with sustainability in mind.
We want to avoid the tragedy of the commons: The better the bikes get, the more people use them, and the more they enjoy it, which leads to better bikes and more use until the resources are sapped dry.
We’re being proactive so everyone can enjoy our terrain for a long, long time.”
COMPETIVE RACING
The Firecracker 50 is one of Summit’s biggest mountain bike races. Each July 4th bikers ascend to Breckenridge from around the county, state, and country to compete for a USA Cycling Marathon Mountain Bike Championship.
Last year 966 people showed up, 25 percent of which didn’t finish the race. It’s a grueling 25-mile loop with 5,400 feet of elevation gain on the east side of Breckenridge — through Boreas Pass, Baldy Mountain, the Sally Barber mine, and finally the Golden Horseshoe — that riders must complete twice.
The winning time is usually around three hours and forty-five minutes. Slower riders get pulled off the course after seven and a half hours."
The Firecracker 50 is a real animal,” says Jeff Westcott, whose company Maverick Sports Promotions hosts the race.
“There’s a lot of elevation gain, a lot of long sustained climbs. We have quite a few pros who show up looking to add a victory from a race with a good reputation to their resume.
Then again, locals fair very well. We’ve had several locals on the podium over the years.”
Because of the short season, few professional mountain bikers call Summit home.
Boulder and Durango are more popular nesting spots. What Summit does boast, however, is a community of lifestyle athletes manically dedicated to their recreation.
Most locals have day jobs as Realtors or waiters or managers or lawyers, but you can bet on any free day in the summer they’re out fishing the Blue or hiking the Gore or grinding trails on their mountain bikes.
It’s no wonder they perform well in the Firecracker 50 or in more casual races throughout the summer.
Maverick Sports Promotions also hosts the Colorado Freeride Summit Mountain Challenge, a seven-race series that plays out over the course of the summer.
Races range from the Frisco Roundup on the Peninsula to the season-ending Breck Brawl on Peaks 8 and 9. It’s 20 bucks to compete, and usually upwards of 200 people show up for each Wednesday night race.
“The Summit Mountain Challenge is for someone who works hard, likes to stay fit, and who’s looking to get together with friends, race hard, and have a beer after,” says Westcott.
Serious locals often join bike teams. Each shop in the county — Great Adventure Sports, Colorado Freeride, and Avalanche Sports in Breck; Wilderness Sports in Frisco and Dillon; and Mountain Sports Outlet in Silverthorne — has its own team, usually about ten or 15 riders strong.
Back in the mid-90’s Thane Wright, a then-recent arrival in the county from Boulder, started the Arapahoe Warriors Cycling Club.
In just a few years’ time it grew from a hardy band of five to more than 40.
The club started a race of its own, the Snake River Mountain Challenge at Keystone, and competed in Summit Mountain Challenge races as well as Montezuma’s Revenge.
For years Montezuma’s Revenge was an icon in the county, an epic 24-hour endurance race that began at 4pm and didn’t stop until that time rolled around the next afternoon.
Whichever rider had pedaled farthest was deemed the winner. Wright won the contest three times, one time riding almost 150 miles.
And although neither his club nor its race nor Montezuma’s Revenge survive today, Wright’s promotion company, Warriors Cycling, has gone on to create the county’s second major mountain bike competition:
The Breckenridge 100, which winds through 100 miles of distinct Summit County terrain.
The race is held in mid-July a few weeks after the Firecracker 50.
“I started it to highlight the awesome terrain that we have to ride here in Summit,” Wright says.
“I just thought there was a need for another endurance type of mountain bike race up here. After Montezuma’s Revenge went away, I wanted to keep that spirit alive.”
Local rider Josh Tostado has won the Breck 100 each year since its inception in 2005. Tostado is arguably the strongest rider in the county.
He won Montezuma’s Revenge twice with record-setting distances and last year won the vaunted Canyonlands 24 hours of Moab, Utah.
He’s got pressure, though, from the bottom up. Summit has a vibrant youth scene. Kids grow up on skis and boards in the winter and bikes in the summer.
In 2001 Westcott started the grass roots Mountain Bike Junior League. Last year 125 kids participated ranging in age from 8 to 18.
Well-known graduates of the program include Taylor Sheldon, who now races on the Pro Tour Cycling Garmin-Chipotle Team, Kevin Soller, who competes on the USA cycling U-23 Road Development team, and Kevin Kane, who recently trained with the Swiss National Team in Switzerland.
One important element of the league is the non-competitive educational group rides, where both parents and kids learn about trail stewardship.
“It’s the responsibility of every user group, equestrians, hikers, and bikers alike, to be aware of other user groups and the ways to protect the environment,” says Westcott. 
“We try to engrain that sensibility in the kids from early on. If this is going to remain a vibrant area, it’s crucial we all adopt that spirit.”
A PERSONAL ODYSSEY
Last summer my brother and I wanted to go mountain biking for a day in Summit.
Neither of us is experienced on bikes; we’re more the fly-fishing/hiking/backpacking types.
Nonetheless, we’d been hiking, camping, and fishing for a week in the north of the county and wanted to switch it up.
We went to Wilderness Sports on Frisco Main Street, where a guy with a gray goatee and big calves that flexed every time he stepped forward or back helped us out. His name was Tom Herzfeld, a store manager.
He said he rode the Frisco Peninsula almost every day and recommended that we do the same, as it had terrain for both beginners and more advanced riders alike.
We followed his advice, cruising down Main Street across Highway 9 then up the Rec Path to the peninsula. It was one of those crystal clear bluebird Summit County days.
Grandparents and little kids pedaled along the path. Out on the peninsula birds fluttered from one lodgepole pine to the next.
We rattled over clay and tree roots, and everything was moving a little too fast to feel anything but sheer adrenaline.
And then rocks. Somewhere the path gave away, I lost my balance and plunged over the path onto the rocks eight feet below. My bike ended up all the way in the reservoir.
My brother helped me scrape myself off, and on the backside of the peninsula we ran into a longtime local, John Delaney.
He was dressed in a Triple Bypass yellow and blue racing jersey and looked like, well, the kind of guy who wouldn’t end up in the reservoir.
He told me not to worry about, that he’d been living in Summit Cove for 12 years and that spills were an inevitable part of mountain biking.
“Somehow you two ended up on one of the tougher trails on the peninsula,” he added.
“If you don’t know where you’re going (in parts of Summit), it can be pretty rough. Once you figure it out though,” he said, “it opens up some of the best terrain anywhere.”
Andrew Tolve is a former Frisco-based writer now based in San Francisco and traveling the world in search of stories.
