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Little Scraggy Mini-TR
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Author:  OldDogDan [ Mon Oct 24, 2016 1:04 pm ]
Post subject:  Little Scraggy Mini-TR

I went to Denver for the weekend to visit my daughter, and take her for a real singletrack experience, as she had only ridden a few fire roads since getting an entry level hardtail this summer. After doing some research, I really wanted to ride Little Scraggy in Buffalo Creek, which has been a popular trail for years, and just got turned this summer from an out & back into a purpose-built MTB loop that's getting rave reviews. The length, difficulty, and elevation gain (12.6mi, intermediate, ~1600') sounded perfect for me, but I knew it was too much for a novice, and that the 8000' altitude would tax us both. So after getting local forum advice, we decided to give it a try as an out & back ride.

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Weather was beautiful, and scenery was nice, a winding climb through the forest, with rocky sections on ridgelines followed by flowing descents. Most technical sections had go arounds, and my daughter surprised me by going down a couple of pretty good (but easy) rock rolls that some other riders passed up.


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There were several places where they had routed the trail so it wound around and through big boulders.

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The old dog finally got a worthwhile ride in on a 29er sized and set up for him. I rented this Enduro with Pike and dropper post for $65 from Cycleton. They let me pick it up the day before, and were open until 7 to return it. They set up the suspension in advance for my weight, put on my pedals & grips, swapped the brakes moto-style (no charge for SRAM Guide brakes, but not Shimano), and provided a seat pack with tools & spare tube (which buzzed loudly against the rear tire the one time I used almost all the travel).


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We rode up to a nice view point short of halfway, but with several hundred feet of climbing left, snacked and sat in the sun and talked while the late start folks passed on by. We then turned around to climb and then descend back to the trailhead. The completed loop is generally ridden clockwise, but the few people we encountered and yielded to on the way back were friendly. The trail was popular, but not crowded at all. Oddly, no one there was using trail bells. I had brought a couple, but trailhead advice was against them, so I didn't use them, as I figured the locals wanted a peaceful forest experience like I did (unlikely though with frequent barrages of semiauto weapons from somewhere down below in the National Forest. Oh well). We had a a really fun ride back to the trailhead where session beers and sandwiches waited in the cooler.

Conclusions: Her GT Backwoods 27.5 hardtail (complete with reflectors since she will be riding bike paths and streets too) shifted and stopped great, and if she sticks with it I will upgrade the rudimentary fork and some other items for her. That Enduro was a nice bike, but I don't want a wagon-wheeler. And Little Scraggy is a great trail. I really hope to get back and do the full loop next time, because the back side is where the best descending is said to be.

Trail info: https://www.mtbproject.com/trail/7015764

Author:  k2rider [ Mon Oct 24, 2016 6:13 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Little Scraggy Mini-TR

I need to eventually go ride that loop. I probably won't get any further East than Salida or Crested Butte next Summer due to time constraints due to **too many** trail options which is probably why Scraggy wasn't crowded. The Front Range may be over-populated but they have so many ride options that everybody is all spread out.

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