Colorado is a popular state among outdoor enthusiasts, with terrain that ranges from the high plains to deserts, mesas, rivers, lakes, deep forests, and, of course, loads of mountains. In fact, it features the highest number of 14,000-footers with 53 true peaks at or above 14,000 feet in the continental US. The continental divide extends along the crest of the Rockies, with the area to the west of the divide within the state known as the western slope, which contains a high concentration of incredible mountain communities and places to ride, from industrial relic communities such as Leadville, to agricultural staples like Grand Junction, or even hideaways for the ultra rich and famous like Aspen, it is a part of the start that seemingly has something for everyone. The southern half of the Western Slope also accounts for one quarter of the 4-corners alongside New Mexico, Utah, and Arizona, and provides access to all manners of adventure.
 

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Durango is a town that requires little introduction for mountain bikers. The city of 20,000 is perfectly positioned in Colorado’s southwest corner for full spectrum mountain biking, with desert trails in town, to high alpine adventures in the nearby San Juan Mountains, to lift-served shreddery at Purgatory Resort just to the north of town. Durango’s history with the sport goes all of the way back to its modern day origins, from hosting the first ever mountain bike world championships in 1990, to founding one of the country’s first junior development programs, Durango Devo, and pioneering world-class trail advocacy through non-profit Trails 2000. Durango will also play host to the 2030 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships, marking the 40th anniversary of the inaugural event.

The city has produced Olympians, world champions, and professional riders, including former UCI downhill junior world champion Asa Vermette. Durango is also home to Fort Lewis College, a powerhouse Division 1 cycling program under USA Cycling and holding numerous national titles across several disciplines within mountain biking. Needless to say, Durango and mountain biking are attached at the hip, so to speak.

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Durango Trails have been around for over 30 years, and are responsible for over 300 miles of trail within 30 miles of downtown Durango, utilizing 3,500 volunteer hours on an annual basis in order to handle such a monumental workload. While access to mid and high country trails are a major part of Durango’s popularity among mountain bikers, the trails in town are part and parcel with calling it home for locals. The city itself is surrounded by trails on all sides, from Overend Mountain Park on the west side of town, to Animas Mountain on the north side, and a bevy of smaller networks in between, access to these trails is a major resource for this community. Perhaps the most popular network of them all is the Horse Gulch trail network that borders the city’s southeast boundary.

In the early 1990s, Durango Trails was called Trails 2000, and the organization spoke with the owner of the vast area east of Durango, about preserving its many trails with permanent easements, eventually gifting easements of the land to La Plata County. Additional acquisitions in 2009 included the ever popular Raider Ridge, ensuring that the trail network and the high desert surrounding it will be preserved in perpetuity and enjoyed by locals and visitors alike moving forward.
 

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The trails have, over the years, proven to be a big part of the success experienced by the cycling team at Fort Lewis with the campus abutting the trails, making Horse Gulch an obvious choice for students looking to log some training time on the trails. One of those students, Ben Sonntag, managed to collect quite a lot of titles while attending college and continued to do so after graduating, with big results at prestigious events such as the Cape Epic stage race in South Africa, to a La Ruta win in Costa Rica, to stateside wins at XC staples like the Grand Junction Off Road and Carson City Classic. The German-born pro loved Durango and its trails so much that he decided to stay put after graduating, and joined the ranks of other heavy hitters to call Durango home.

Ben was killed in March of 2020 while on a training ride west of Durango. The tragic event shook the Durango cycling community to its core, with scores of local riders as well as many who had come to know Ben through racing from various parts of the globe, were left grief stricken and stunned at the suddenness of his passing. Despite knowing that the grieving process would be ongoing for an indeterminate amount of time, many of Ben’s closest friends were quick to memorialize Ben’s legacy.
 

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“Almost immediately after the tragedy with Ben, we knew he wanted a trail named to honor him, and we wanted to do that,” said Sonntag’s girlfriend Sarah Alsgaard when interviewed about the memorial trail. “It means a whole lot to us. It’s an emotional day. I think having a trail named after Ben not only recognizes what an exceptional athlete he was but how much he means to the people in our community.”

The trail is called “Ben’s Down and Out”, and is decidedly short but very sweet, dropping riders 350 feet over the course of about half a mile. It’s a mostly fall-line affair off of the legendary Hyper Extended/Extended Ridge trail, dropping down the southeast aspect of the ridge line to connect to the Horse Gulch access road, which can take riders back into town or further into the trail network. From the top things begin to get technical almost immediately, with an off-camber chute leading into a step-down that requires a bit of commitment and precision, before picking up speed through a handful of long and technical sections all of the way to the bottom of the trail.
 

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The trail was re-designed and rebuilt in 2021 by Durango Trails and scores of volunteers, with an emphasis on rockwork and erosion mitigation. It’s fun, it’s no joke, and it’s an incredible addition to an already incredible place for mountain bikes. Sounds a lot like Ben and his place among the Durango community now that you think about it. Professional rider Adam Snyder, one of Ben’s closest friends since they both began racing for Fort Lewis in 2008, really appreciated how the community came together to make it happen.

“Having this trail dedicated and named after Ben was really moving,” Snyder says from the top of the descent, next to Ben’s memorial at the start of it. “And it’s something Ben's family and loved ones really appreciated. It was amazing to have the town and Durango Trails all come together to honor one of our town's goofiest, nicest and most exceptional humans we had.  He and I used to ride in Horse Gulch a lot and usually get into heavy Strava KOM battles during the off-season on these Raider Ridge trails so it's super meaningful to have his trail right here.

“I think Ben would really love the trail and would have done a lot of ‘local laps’ on this trail,” Adam continued right before dropping in. “He was a professional XC and marathon racer but he really did love taking the big bike out and sending it. With how XCO courses are nowadays, Ben's trail is pretty similar to the technical descents found on your average World Cup XCO course. He'd be trying to send it harder than us all.”
 

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