Colorado Springs, Colorado is located at 6200 feet above sea level. It’s a high desert, and normally by the end of July every bit of scrub grass is brown, tinder dry, and ready to burn. But every few years, it really rains. This year happens to be one of those years, and just about every day Colorado Springs is getting rocked by big thunderstorms that roll through in the afternoon.

The rain changes everything, at least when you’re training for a mountain bike race. The rain changes the trails almost every day. On one ride you might follow a great line to the left of a particular rock, and the next day there’s a new head-sized rock right in the middle of that line. Or six inches of soft gravel. Or even an 8-inch deep rut.

The ever-changing nature of the trails in Colorado Springs is due to the fact that we ride on trails of decomposing Pikes Peak granite. Whereas riders on the East Coast ride on black earth and contend with roots, we have soft trails that constantly move under your wheels. And when it rains, that gravel shifts and flows. The rainy summer in the Springs is also making the trails narrower because the scrub oak and sunflowers that line the trails are overgrown.

In a lot of ways, the rain is making me a better mountain biker. Riding in unpredictable conditions means you have to pay more attention to where you put your wheels, when and where you hit the brakes, and how you stay loose and balanced over the bike.

I guess you could say I’m having a good summer. The riding has been great, and I’m happy to be back from the Tour de France and riding the trails in Colorado Springs. Outside Magazine was right: Colorado Springs is the greatest city in America.

Chris Carmichael

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