Patrick Emerson wore his full-face helmet and body armor. His voice, muffled inside his helmet, rang with adrenaline.
“These trails are radical,” he said. “You can catch a lot of air.”
Emerson, a student at Fort Lewis College, was waiting to catch a free lift up to ride Purgatory’s unveiled Divinity Flow Trail on Sunday. Some call the gravity oriented style of downhill mountain biking “freeriding,” others call it “flow.” Most everyone calls it fun.
In conjunction with the San Juan National Forest, local trails-advocacy group Trails 2000, and Saturday’s cycling event, Todd and Ned’s Durango Dirt Fondo, Purgatory invited the public for an inaugural ride where freeriders joined a who’s who of mountain biking – icons of the sport, like Ned Overend, Greg Herbold, Todd Wells, Travis Brown, as well as Trails 2000’s Mary Monroe and mountain bike luminary Ed Zink.
In 1990, Durango and Purgatory hosted the Mountain Bike World Championships, and 25 years later many competitors returned for the fondo, and Sunday’s flow trail ride was a way to end the cycling fun with a bang.
Purgatory’s trail manager, Josh Hamill, said it took hearty crews and a talented excavator more than three months of labor.
“I worked with Grady James, a very experienced mountain biker in the community, and we just put our heads together,” Hamill said. “I think it worked out.”
The 1.5-mile trail, packed with numerous and astounding bobsled-style banked berms and extended rollers where riders can find some air, also has wooden boardwalks and an elevated bridge in the forest about 10 feet off the ground.
There’s also an enormous slab wall ride, but all obstacles and features are easily avoided.
“We’ve built a multi purpose trail,” Hamill said. “A parent could ride with their child and have a good time.”
During the opening ceremony, San Juan National Forest Ranger Matt Janowiak said the trail is a foundation to build upon.
“This is the start of something big,” he said. “We just need to get the community behind it, take care of it and demonstrate to the community that we’re doing it right.”
Hamill said the future is anybody’s guess.
“That’s the hundred- dollar question,” he said. “But I think with the turnout we’re seeing today, we’re going to see some new things out here.”
Back at the lift, Emerson handed off his bike to the lift operator, ready to catch another chair and still raving.
“Going around those turns, you can get almost sideways,” he said. “It’s a lot of fun.”
The flow trail will be open to riding on weekends through September.
bmathis@bcimedia.com
