Ole’ Roller

Bermed juniper flow off Colorow Trail East

Ole’ Roller is the flow lap of the Colorow side: a mile of bermed corners and tight turns dropping 270 feet through a corridor of old junipers, with a short punch of a climb at the end to put you back on Colorow Trail East. The dirt is that red-brown New Castle grit with just enough embedded rock to keep you honest, and the trees crowd close enough that the speed feels faster than it is. Berms do the work if you let them, which makes this a good place for newer riders to learn to lean a bike, and a good place for fast riders to link the whole thing without touching the brakes. The junipers in here are ancient, twisted things; worth a look on the way down.

It rides best as a finisher on a Colorow or Highland loop, dropped on the way back toward town. Save a little for the last pitch; the climb back to Colorow East is brief but arrives right when your legs think they’re done. It’s also a good one for night laps, when headlamps turn the juniper corridor into a tunnel. Keep an eye out for deer — plenty of wildlife works this hillside, and the bones off-trail prove it.

A signed junction ties it to Adam’s Way, the downhill connector next door. Like the rest of this BLM ground, the gate closes it to bikes December 1 through April 15 for wintering wildlife. Trailside you’ll pass a sawn-log bench, lichen-covered boulders, and a local touch — painted “chick-in-egg” rocks set in a little stick nest. It’s a night-ride favorite, headlamps turning the juniper corridor into a tunnel, and blue-hour winter laps catch a star or planet over the trees. Fresh berms and cleared corridor show the crews have been busy.

More on this trail: View on MTB Project → (original description contributed by community members on MTB Project)