Day 2 in Crested Butte was action packed. Tony and I set out on what turned out to be a death-march of a bike ride – only 3 hours or so, but we covered plenty of ground quickly. We headed out towards the Crested Butte Country Club via Tony’s Trail (just a coincidence, I think) which was a nice gradual climb into the aspens followed by some fun downhill.
Resting...but not for long.
From the Club, we hit a gravel road for a few miles into a gorgeous green valley. As Tony was explaining, the majority of the valley is family-owned and has been passed down through the generations. The owner lives on top of the hill and keeps a watchful eye for developers. Rumor has it that anyone pointing around “developer-like” gets greeted by him, shotgun resting over his shoulder.
We rode by the old barns and stables that had that classic Crested Butte look – splintered wood that has definitely seen its share of rough weather through the years.
Historic Ranch in Need
We finally reached the trailhead of Strand Hill – a steady climb up a jeep road to the top with the promise of epic downhill. I kept reminding myself of the downhill to keep my legs cranking!
My Trusty Rental
The downhill was no short of epic: smooth singletrack that rode super-fast, complete with rollercoaster bank turns and short technical sections. I was glad I had enough left in my legs to enjoy it! We cooled off with a stream crossing at the end and started the long pedal back to the yellow house on Gothic.
Between gasping breathes on the exhausting trek back, I asked Tony some trail details: we had covered about 23 miles and climbed more than 1,700ft. WOW! By far my longest ride. Good thing that I asked after the fact and not before – I may have cowered in fear…
We made it back with minutes to spare before the Wine Festival’s Grand Tasting – remember that whole ‘work’ thing? It was a smaller group than we are used to at these festivals, which was a good thing. We had the chance to have good conversation with the attendants rather than just pouring like a bartender.
Our wines were well received and we met some Colorado distributors that might make a good match for us. Working a market backwards (without a distributor yet) definitely has it’s challenges, but we are committed to being in the Colorado market!
Our 2007 Sauvignon Blanc and 2005 Midnight Reserve seemed to be the most popular, with the small-lot 2008 Generations Viognier and 2007 Zinfandel attracting praise as well.
After the show, we grabbed a seat at the bar at djangos, just a step away from the Festival’s ballroom. Owners Chris and Kate Ladoulis serve up a big menu of tapas (a favorite style of Mandy and me) along with an extensive wine list. Although we ordered wine by the bottle, djangos seems like a fun place to order a few different glasses of wine to pair with your tapas. We had some lamb carpaccio that was outstanding as well as the mushroom flatbread – garlic goodness!
djangos bar
We hope we can grab some of Chris and Kate’s attention and taste our LangeTwins wines soon.
A fantastic day.
– Day 3 up next! It was our busiest…
