labor day weekend in crested butte, colorado.

The best way to recover after a race? Hands-down, traveling somewhere new. We really didn’t get enough time in Mont-Tremblant or Montreal after IMMT, but we lucked out on timing that Nick was racing in Colorado the following weekend. Rather than flying, we opted for a good old fashioned road trip so we could haul mountain bikes for the race and my road bike. And after a 17-hour drive – with all the snacks and good tunes and podcasts (big fan of Finding Mastery with Michael Gervais and Oprah’s Master Class) – we kicked off Labor Day weekend with friends in Crested Butte. 

We stayed with six friends at an amazing VRBO on Elk (yours for only $2.56M!) – walking distance to everything, including the race start just two blocks down the street. And you guys, I can’t say enough good things about Crested Butte in general! What a fantastic mountain village with the best laidback vibe. We’ll definitely be back – and hopefully to ski in the winter. 

Anyway, the race! The crew raced the Grand Traverse – a 40-mile trail run from Crested Butte to Aspen on Saturday, and the reverse by mountain (hike a) bike on Sunday. About half of it was spent above 11k feet, pretty brutal for flatlanders from Minnesota (and two guys from Seattle). They all had the same race report: it was the hardest race they’ve ever done. And that’s saying a lot coming from multiple IM and 100-mile ultra finishers! 

While they raced, I cruised around Crested Butte on my road bike. Cycling at 9k feet is no joke! My post-IMMT legs felt decent, but whoa, was I sucking wind thanks to the altitude. With views like this, though, how could I not ride hard and chase some Strava QOMs? 

And to refuel: all the good food, including Secret Stash pizza (not kidding, nearly 10 people told me to eat here. They weren’t wrong – it was fantastic), coffee at Octopus (right across the street from our house) and Camp 4, and the Sunday farmers market for green juice, smoked salmon and sourdough bagels. 

And obviously, there was plenty of downtime, too. Exactly what I needed to recharge. I read two books – Girls Burn Brighter and Smoke Gets in Your Eyes – and lazed the afternoons away in the hammock… a pretty great way to spend Labor Day weekend.