A couple that Teh Spousal Unit™ and I are good friends with found out The Roots were playing a free show at Copper Mountain, and being tried and true Fun Havers®, of course they invited us to join them. We hemmed and hawed about it for a bit, as we’d been out of town every weekend for over a month. But in our heart of hearts we knew it was gonna be a good time, and they’d already gotten a condo just steps away from the venue that had enough room for us to stay after the show. How could we say no?

Plus, it gave us a chance to take them on a killer ride out of Minturn that we’d ridden a bunch of years ago and had talked about wanting to ride again. I do so love showing great rides to people I love, so this worked out great.

The climb isn’t short, but it’s also not too terrible. Easy grades and plenty of views make it more than tolerable.

Up at the top, there’s a cool old shack that obvious still gets used. I think locals backcountry ski up here a fair amount.

Gravel bike, bucket hat, sandals, and zero fucks given. This guy was definitely pushing 80 years old and was just out for a Saturday afternoon cruiser.

Trying to recreate our classic photo from the last time we rode this loop. We’ve got the original framed and hanging in our living room.

Riding through a massive and beautiful aspen grove on the descent is a highlight of this ride.

It doesn’t hurt that the trail itself if super fun as well. The main descent of this ride is a trail called Whiskey Creek, which used to be closed to bikes. It’s a narrow, winding, root- and rock-filled masterpiece that harkens back to trails of old. Way before machine-built flow trails were a thing, these were the trails we rode. Terrible sight lines, questionable conditions, narrow, and just technical enough to keep you guessing. Throw in great weather and an awesome crew and you just can’t beat it, not even with a stick.

Can you tell I’m fully immersed in my happy place?

The ladies leading us out at the bottom of Whiskey Creek, heading towards the new connector trail Everkrisp.

A bit zoomed out, Everkrisp starts in that saddle just to the left of center in the frame. If Whiskey Creek is old school, Everkrisp is decidedly new school. Quite a bit wider with lots of little features and side hits along the way, it was pure joy to ride. As much as I love older style trails, new school flow when built this well is an absolute blast. We zipped through this one ripping corners and popping off the rock hits off to the side of trail with abandon. No pictures taken, we didn’t want to be late for happy hour and our evening engagement with The Roots.

Fun little illustration for my Strava ride, had ChatGPT cook this one up.

The crew, sometime between the start of happy hour and the delivery of our pizza.

Seriously one of the best shows I’ve seen in a long time. The level of musicianship these folks bring is unreal. Flowing in and out of originals, covers, grooves, songs, and everything else. Mind blowing.

This ain’t no fooling around! Not long after this pic, the concert was over. We did follow our ears to a VIP afterparty, complete with a DJ ripping a set of ridiculously danceable tunes. We cut a rug non-stop for what felt like hours, and still managed to be in bed by 10:30p.

I’ll call that a success any damn day.