News

  • Estes or Bust Challenge Rules, Awards and a Dog Making the Trip


     Carl Cachi and Layla making the trip to Estes and back. Above, Dave McClure making a flat repair while Bil Danielson looks on. 

     The last blog covered how the Estes or Bust Challenge got started. Once started, people began to ask questions about details of what qualified to count as an official month completed. The unofficial/official Estes Challenge Rules Committee decided on the following rules:

    Rules to achieve the world-famous Turd Trophy Award

    •  Ride to Estes Park once per month for 12 consecutive months. 
    •  The starting point can be from anywhere in Loveland, Ft. Collins, Windsor, Berthoud or Greeley and no further west than the Big Thompson Elementary School.  
    • Either route, Highway 34 or via Devil’s Gulch Road (Larimer County Road 43 known as the Glen Haven route), is acceptable. If you ride via Highway 34, you must ride west to at least the Estes Park city limit sign near the Olympus Lodge. If you ride via Glen Haven, you must ride west to at least the top of the switchbacks where you can see Longs Peak.
    •       A return trip via bike back to Loveland is not mandatory but encouraged when conditions are safe, and fitness allows. (This means you only must ride up (one way) to have the trip count towards your trophy goal. If the roads or weather are bad, or you don’t currently have the fitness to do a round trip; a trip back in a car is fine.)
    •       Riding from Loveland to Lyons to Estes Park via either Highway 7 or 36 counts. This ride can be one way to Estes or a round trip back to Loveland.
    •       The honor system is strictly enforced - ride with or without the group, with a buddy or solo. You don’t have to report to anyone that you’ve made your trip for any given month, though others are happy to cheer you on.
    •       You can start any month of the year and go for 12 consecutive months or begin in January and go for a calendar year.

    One of the fun things about the Estes Challenge is that many people who did not participate in the 12-month Challenge joined the ride or hosted celebration parties. The sense of camaraderie around the rides is one of the things people enjoy the most – especially in the worst weather months. 

    When the Challenge began, in 2005, indoor riding software was still in development infancy. There was CompuTrainer, better than a wind or mag trainer, but still tedious for long rides. For many people, the Estes ride provided an endurance ride once per month around the 3-to-4-hour mark. Many people found this monthly ride enough to maintain a nice fitness base over winter months for events in the 3-hour range and even for long-distance Ironman® triathlons and Leadville 100 Mountain Bike racers. 

    Enjoy some of the past photographs ~

    Pam Leamons and Jo Raymond assembling trophies at Jo’s house

     

    Pam Leamons at home assembling Turd Trophies

     

    Todd Singiser (R) congratulates Lee Rhoades on the turd accomplishment, for the year 2008.

    2008 Award Party (held in 2009) at Pam and Kirk Leamon’s house. Left to right - Kirk Leamons, Peter Stackhouse, Lee Rhoades, Nick Hansen, Gale Bernhardt, Scott Ellis, Pam Leamons, Todd Singiser and Chad Brent. 

     

    Gale and Todd Singiser riding mountain bikes to Estes on snow-packed roads. (The photo is a little blurry because the official photographer and sag, Del, was likely frozen.)

     

    Gale is collecting elk turds for trophy assembly

     

     

  • Previous Post →

  • Leave a comment

Home / News / Estes or Bust Challenge Rules, Awards and a Dog Making the Trip