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8th Annual Crested Butte Classic

CB Classic.

By Chris Miller

Every year riders gather at the crack of dawn at the 4-Way Stop in downtown Crested Butte to race a hundred miles through Crested Butte’s most classic trails.  The race, consisting of 3 loops, is designed to link together three of the most classic Crested Butte rides.  Riders check in at the Brick Oven Pizzeria after each lap and can stop by the 4-Way to resupply themselves for the next loop.  This year the order of the loops got scrambled from the traditional order, with Kebler Pass and the Dyke Trail taking the place of Strand and Deer Creek as the lead-off lap.

The race started with a pedal up Kebler Pass road in the early morning hours.  Temperatures hovered just above freezing as riders made their way through the Irwin townsite and onto the Dyke Trail.  After descending through bright yellow aspen groves, riders were deposited on the far side of Kebler pass and turned up the road to the Wagon Trail to head back to the Brick for the finish of Lap 1. 

The second lap started up Lower Loop and up the Slate River valley.  Towards the end of the valley riders were met with iconic Crested Butte peaks such as Mineral Point and Baldy Mountain.  The views make the stout climb of the ‘Slate Du’Huez’ nearly tolerable and soon riders were descending Trail 403.  After a steep technical descent, riders climbed to Schofield Pass and rode the world famous 401 before heading back to the Brick for the finish of the lap. 

The final lap headed out Brush Creek through the Strand Trails and up and over Deer Creek back to Gothic Road to the Brick Oven.  Deer Creek is known as a difficult 10 mile piece of singletrack on fresh legs but the short power climbs gave riders a whole new appreciation of the word ‘stinger’ after nearly 90 miles of pedaling.

With bragging rights on the line, this years edition of the race was dominated by local riders with the top five men all hailing from the Gunnison Valley.  Brian Smith of Alpine Orthopedics rode everyone off his wheel on the first lap and held his lead for the win in 7:50:20. Ethan Passant, also of Alpine Orthopedics, finished just behind in 8:14:40.  Ben Preston of Team Brick Oven came in 3rd 8:35:46 , with teammates Dan Loftus and Aaron Huckstep rounding out the top five, finishing in 8:55:36 and 9:02:21, respectively. 

For the women Brynn O’Connell of Crested Butte rode to victory for the women with a time of 10:20:44. Hanna Fiserova put in a solid time of 10:39:32 for second and Sydney Dickinson of the Brick Oven came in 3rd with a time of 11:18:00.

Results Here 

Regardless if riders were off the front, or finishing in the dark, there was a party at the Brick Oven with beer and pizza waiting for them.  The race grows every year, but the high quality of the trails and the after-party remains unchanged. 

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