Captain Jacks and The Chutes
And a Few Colorado Springs Breweries
The climb up Pike National Forest Trail #666/Bear Creek was a little on the grueling side. Maybe the number of the trail was something to be heeded. The sound of a mountain stream kept me going higher, though, no matter the times I had to hike-a-bike. I reminded myself of the Rough Stuff Fellowship and pushed on, the goal being the turnoff for Buckhorn.
Up top, I turned left and Buckhorn was a ribbon of Colorado Front Range happiness. I saw no one. The air was chilled. The sun shined. All I had to do was connect into the upper limits of Captain Jacks and go down.
At the intersection, I ate an apple and rolled on by going to my left. Then the forest opened up and I found something I wasn’t really looking for but at the same time, I knew it was out there somewhere.
Going down, the trail surface was deeper-than-I-expected dirt/DG that made it a little on the slower-going side of things. Not more than a couple turns into it, two guys much younger than me were walking up the trail.
“We’re going back to where our friend crashed to pick up his hydration pack.”
On down I went, thinking they’ll likely catch up to me, youth and immortality and all that peppered in their jovial voices.
They didn’t. At the bottom of the first piece, their friend and another one waited. The two that went up wanted to go up, the hydration pack rescue an excuse to ride down a second time. I hung out and chatted with them, enjoying their fun-filled energy, kind of like: we’re out riding bikes on trails we know like the back of our hands … what else would we be doing? The crew regrouped when the other two arrived.
I said I’d follow them. Off they went and after a minute or two, I set out. The lower portion was less “slippery” with a trail surface that was more packed down than up above in the first stretch. In short, it was a fast blast of pure downhill junkie fun! I caught up to the “boys” a time or two, the trailing one having not been on a bike for a few years, he said.
At the end of it, I finished first while a slight drizzle fell from the sky. As they finished, the drizzle turned into a nice early summer mountain rain shower. We huddled under a tree and waited before I said: A little rain never hurt anyone. Wanna roll out to the Chutes?
They knew exactly how to get there, which wasn’t in any way difficult. Sometimes, though, it’s better to follow and let others lead.
At the Chutes, they simply said: You’re going to love this.
I did. One way directional, big swoopy turns, grinning from ear-to-ear kind of trail. Again, they went first and I finished first. I chalked all of it up to my big fancy bike.
Later on in the day, at a local bike shop, I chatted about bikes and trails and shared my route with the fellas. Climbing up Bear Creek got a round of that classic look locals give you when they hear you rode something that earns respect. I bought a couple things to support the local economy and then went down the sidewalk a block to the Pikes Peak Brewing Company Lager House and had an IPA. https://www.pikespeakbrewing.com/colorado-springs/
Other breweries I checked out in Colorado Springs along the Route 24 area, where you’d set up for Captain Jacks and also for riding Red Rock Canyon (more to come on that), are:
Smiling Toad Brewery: the vibe here is … remember in your younger days when people sat on couches on porches and wore Birkenstocks and smelled of various smoked inhalants with probably the Dead or Phish playing in the background? Super laid back and they don’t give a (enter your favorite swear word) about much of anything, it seems, including whether or not their beer is world class. It’s solid, but what I had wasn’t great, which is okay. https://thesmilingtoad.com/
OCC Brewing: this little spot in Old Colorado City is a refined joint that has a hankering for European style beers. I had a German Kolsch served in a stange glass. It was a perfect, refreshing sipper on a hot day after riding. Service was spot on and easy-going on a weekday afternoon. https://occbrewing.com/
Fossil Craft Beer Company: Ah, sometimes you walk in and it feels like your kind of place. A 1% for the Planet company sitting in an off-the-beaten-path spot with a very quiet energy flowing throughout it, Fossil was my favorite brewery of what I had time to check out while in town. Their Session IPA was what you’d expect. I learned from the beertender that mountain bikers are always there, especially on the weekends. Like I did at Toad and OCC, I picked up a crowler to go. If in town, check out Fossil Craft. http://fossilcraftbeer.com/
Cheers, y’all!
