“Burn the Grump! Burn the Grump!” The cries echoed through town like the pagan chants they were. You see, the Cycling House, hosting it’s first ever stand-alone mountain bike camp, had stumbled upon Vinatok, a festival in Crested Butte in which the burning of the Grump is the culmination of a celebration of the Fall Equinox. A combination of a “Pray for Snow” party and a celebration of the end of personal grumps, or bad things in your life, participating in Vinatok was simply the icing on an amazing week of riding and having fun in Crested Butte.

Over a year ago, The Cycling House Think Tank came up with an idea of hosting a mountain bike camp in the mecca of high-altitude singletrack, Crested Butte, Colorado. It was decided that the camp should take advantages of the mild-temperatures but cloudless skies as well as the yellowing aspens of September. A crack team of TCH staffers were assembled and The Cycling House Crested Butte was born.

Ten brave (and some of the most fun people I have ever been around) signed up for this first ever mountain bike camp. They were greated with endless blue sky over miles of some of the best singletrack in the world. The riders fueled themselves with dishes like ground lamb burgers with homemade buns and brisket barbacoa which had been slow roasted for over 9 hours. Besides riding, campers and staffers found themselves hanging out with some of the friendliest locals anywhere in downtown Crested Butte, swimming in the Gunnison River, flyfishing, rock climbing, and falling asleep on the massage table.

As I watched the Grump burn on our final night in Crested Butte it occured to me that I haven’t had more fun then I had during this week of riding in nearly as long as I can remember. The Cycling House Think Tank has done it again.

-Andy Schultz

p.s. To view more pictures from this camp checkout our Facebook photo gallery here.