on the rocks

ANY TRAIL NETWORK THAT KEEPS avid—even elite—mountain bikers from driving an easy 28 miles to the famed singletrack of Crested Butte, Colorado, is worth riding. I made that mental note last summer when I rode an alpine trail near Crested Butte with Jon Brown, a local rider who owns High Alpine Brewing Company in nearby Gunnison. It was August, and when Brown told me it was his first ride in Crested Butte that summer, I stared at him in disbelief. How? Why? “I ride Hartmans,” he replied. The following spring, the allure of the place deepened when I interviewed Dave Wiens, Gunnison legend and executive director of the International Mountain Bicycling Association, who admitted that he’ll go an entire season without riding ‘the Butte.’ As soon as the snow melted after a record