If you saw our article in the Snowmass Sun on Wednesday, you may have seen a very important announcement. New this year for Snowmass Demo Days, we will be offering a complimentary bike shuttle to and from Town Park (aka the Rodeo Lot), courtesy of Roaring Fork Cycling.

Concerned about conditions on-mountain early on, thanks to our epic winter, we started looking at alternatives in case the snow stuck around too long. The obvious answer was Town Park with immediate access to Sky Mountain Park, Seven Star and North Rim. After a lot of discussion on the issue, we decided to keep our regular venue that is renowned for its great vibes, great local businesses and beautiful setting while offering a shuttle to expand the trail options.

Then the news got better.

After several weeks of beautiful weather, Snowmass Bike Park has been opening trails at a rapid pace. From the gondola down, the downhill trails are riding very well. The dirt is awesome right now. Keep your fingers crossed, because there are rumors that we may even see Animal Crackers (aka Trail 16) opening off of the top of the Elk Camp Chairlift this weekend thanks to the hard work of the Snowmass Bike Park Rangers and Trail Crew.

The shuttle, this season will add great access to the XC trail networks of Sky Mountain Park without having to spend a lot of time and legs riding to and from Town Park on the bike path. This will offer XC riders and trail riders who like to earn their descents more immediate options as well as giving us great climbing trails to see how these awesome bikes go up the hill.

Still cooler yet, not only will we have great access to the bike park and Sky Mountain but the shuttle will allow us to ride the "Super D" lines on the east end of the mountain, which link the downhill trails to trails like Starks/Powerline, Government, Sequel and Anaerobic Nightmare to Town park via Highline/Lowline and Tom Blake ending at Town Park. If you haven't tried these route mashups they are truly awesome, and combine bike park DH riding with epic traditional single track descents and a few punchy little climbs sprinkled in.

Finally, the Rim. Need I say more?

Well, just in case you aren't familiar, this Colorado Classic runs from the Village Mall all the way to Town Park along the ridge line on the north side of the valley, offering varied single track with breathtaking 360 degree views ending with 2 options. Either the quick and thrilling turns of the Rim Trail descent or the wide open flow of Seven Star. Typically this ride requires a lengthy bike path climb back up to the Base Village, but thanks to Roaring Fork Cycling, you can zip right back to the demo venue to grab the next bike on your list and do it again.

For this we would like to offer our most sincere thank you to Roaring Fork Cycling. If you don't know this group, Roaring Fork Cycling is a non-profit organization offering skills-based cycling programs, clinics and camps for students K-12. They are a great group of people empowering kids through cycling.