Full disclosure: out of everywhere I have ridden my bike, Crested Butte tops the list as my all-time favorite location. I’ve ridden all over the United States, and while there are many places I still want to visit inside our nation’s borders as well as abroad, Crested Butte is currently my favorite place in the world.
When I first learned to mountain bike in Wisconsin, Dean, the man that taught me to ride, used to rave about this place called Crested Butte. I eventually learned that he and a group of friends would take a trip out west every year or two, and almost every single time they went they traveled to Crested Butte. At first I thought that was ridiculous: if you only get to visit the Rocky Mountains once a year, why the heck would you go to the same place almost every time?
I didn’t understand it at the time, but after visiting Crested Butte a couple of times myself, I eventually realized why: if you only get to the visit the Rockies once a year, there’s no point in wasting time on anything less than the best.