Trestle

Trestle /
United States

WBP Review: Trestle WBP Review: Trestle

Trestle Bike Park was just a drop, whip, and a jump from Keystone. One of the many reasons we love Colorado is the close proximity to so many great bike parks and trails in general. One can catch a serious case of bike-bum-attitude living in such an amazing state, ‘you know what I’m saying man?’ Trestle Bike Park is no secret; they have been on the map for quite sometime. If you are a park-rider, you know about this place; it has been home to the Colorado Freeride Festival for the last 9 years. And, it is the closest bike park to Denver metro area. This year, we decided to skip the CFF festivities and see what Trestle Bike Park is like during a normal week.  However, we did get to watch as the whale-tails and massive-drops were being constructed right before our eyes. It is an enormous project and we give props to the builders and the riders! Aside from the construction of the slope-style course for the CFF, we also noticed a brand-new trail called ‘Blue-Crush’ and a few differences with some of the existing trails compared to two years ago, which was our last visit. However, you won’t find us complaining much about this bike park. They clearly have a vision for the trails, and the trail-crew knows how to give the riders what they want.

So let’s get started:

(Rider: Paul 'Wes' Weston, viewing the bike park from a differnt perspective)

Trestle Bike Park has options for every style of rider, but there are a few things that a ‘Full-Susser’ 8-inch(dual-crown) rider should know about this place. Not only is the park known for flow and airtime, but also, if you get on the wrong trail, you could find yourself –god forbid- pedaling up hill! Rider beware…there are many XC trails that connect and surround the bike park. The one long beginner ‘green’ trail has a fair bit of climbing in the middle section of it, and also there is a section of climbing on ‘Long Trail’, which is an intermediate-rated blue run. If you take the green trail from off the top at the lift, you will be committed to the climb about half way down. Don’t get us wrong, it’s not a horrible climb, but on a big bike, you will be sweating and more than likely hike-a-biking for about 10-15 minutes. The green trail is very long. It has rocks, roots, and some rollers that are a blast with any amount of speed. But after the climb, when the trail parallels ‘Free Speech’, a blue rated trail, it becomes very mellow and smooth with berms. A new rider should rent or bring an all-mountain bike. You will be very happy on the green trail and even blue trails when you are ready to up your game.

If you are a more advanced rider and need a warm-up, then ‘Shy Ann’ to ‘Long Trail’ to ‘Jury Duty’ will get your blood flowing. These are all blue-rated trails and is the way to go for all the intermediates out there. Rider beware, if you stay on ‘Long Trail’ past the junction with ‘Jury Duty’, you will be cursing like a sailor at the long uphill pedal and/or hike-a-bike. Once again, this section of ‘Long Trail’ is better suited for an all-mountain bike and for someone who likes or doesn’t mind some ‘UH’ with their ‘DH’. ‘Shy Ann’ is in much better condition than the last time we were here, and with more added features to slay! From off the top, there is a short tech section to navigate before you hit the flow. It is more worn and rugged and probably worth a look if you have never ridden there before or are a novice rider. We would rate it blue/black because you need to know how to navigate through rocky terrain with potential pedal-catchers and derailleur-killers. There is a go around for this section, but both ways are rated blue and that doesn’t make sense to us.  After you get through this first tech-section of ‘Shy Ann’, you will find some really nice intermediate jumps to warm-up on. We felt they were a perfect size to learn on and good preparation to dial your ride before hitting-up the famous ‘Rainmaker’ jump-trail. On a side note, the brand-new trail called ‘Blue Crush’ is loaded with super sweet and smooth berms. It also short cuts a bit of ‘Shy Ann’ where it is flat and somewhat featureless.  ‘Free Speech’ is the last blue trail we will speak of, and it is more of a connector trail with a few small wood features thrown in to make it more interesting. The first half is a bit of a slog on a big bike, but the second half is fast with berms and more wooden features that can be jumped and gapped.

(Rider: Meaghan O'Hara, hits the step-down gap on 'Cruel and Unusual')

Moving on to the many black rated trails at Trestle. Let’s start with the famous ‘Rainmaker’, Trestle’s signature jump trail. We have seen this trail change a bit over the last four years. But we noticed the biggest change this year. ‘Rainmaker’ has gone from being doubled-knuckled all the way down to a smarter more progressive trail. We know that there are going to be some haters out there because of us saying this, but the trail is now more forgiving. You can still eat an entire sandwich while in the air, but if you muff-up, you might be able to pull it off without spending time in the ER. Now, when you ride ‘Rainmaker’, the jumps start small and end bigger with doubles and more pronounced knuckles towards the end of the trail. This is much smarter and will advance a rider in the long run.  Aside from ‘Space Ape’, which has a great mixture of tech-gnar and jumps, the rest of the single black trails are more geared toward fast open downhill.  There are some good technical bits, but there is nothing super crazy or over the top.

(Rider: David 'DVH' Van Hosen, to the moon on this feature on 'Banana Peel')

Trestle Downhill’  is a long double black trail and is the signature gnar-trail at Trestle. It has a wooden step-down squirrel-catcher at the beginning, that we have seen people roll. Other than that opening feature, this trail has the roots and rocks that a true downhiller at heart will lavish in. There are a few really good, steep, techy-sections that are fun to session and master a fast line. However, intermediate riders will find themselves walking parts of this trail! The other two double-black trails, ‘Cruel and Unusual’ and ‘BeeAll UcanB’ are geared towards flow with mandatory wooden drops and large gap-jumps.  Both these trails are short, but they are stacked with features that will leave you beaming and wild-eyed.

(Riders: Paul 'Wes' Weston and Eric 'Campers' Canfield, stylin' off the mega-hip gap.)

Lastly, the pro-line called ‘Banana Peel’, makes everyone drool and pucker as they look down from the Gemini chair lift. This trail requires you to watch a special video, and you also need to sign a waver for this specific trail. There are massive, mandatory, step-ups, step-downs, jumps, and drops. You absolutely have to know how to ride these kinds of features before entering into the gladiator arena. We had the opportunity to film with the Trestle trail crew on this run, and wow! It is pretty cool to watch! The heckling from the people on the lift  keeps things pretty entertaining too. Thanks to the trail-crew guys for being so awesome and for keeping the trails in top shape.  You guys deserve more hugs and beer money.

(Rider: Eric 'Campers' Canfield, boosting it on 'Rainmaker'.)

Our time at Trestle never feels wasted, even if the rains come in and force us to stop riding…,the margaritas at ‘The Lime’ bar/restaurant are the bomb-digity! During the day things are hopping in the resort village, but everything gets quiet at night. If you’re looking for something to do at night, then drive into Winter Park proper and check out ‘The Library Bar and Grill’. They have great beer on tap, and the local party-scene rolls in after about 9:30pm. The term “zoo” was used to describe things there after a certain time, so choose your battles wisely. So, in all, and once again, Trestle Bike Park is pretty amazing! We love it there and will be back again! They are tops on our list as one of the best bike parks out west. Thanks for having us and until next time keep being awesome!

(Rider: Devin 'Tiny' Kearns, gives 'No Quarter' and doesn't need any on this feature.)

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