A story of friendship, recovery, and finding community at Baseline Mountain.
Since I have rode Baseline since the '90s, I've always dreamed of things like the Legacy Trails Project happening out here. Amazingly, men and women have come together to make this happen. My dreams are shaping into reality! Are they dreams or visions of things to come? A vision of a kick-ass community!
Baseline has been my home for as long as I can remember! The first time I discovered this mountain with a young Wheeler and a brother I still look up to today in Derek, it was like a whole new world right in my backyard! Like Alice falling down the rabbit hole, but with wooded features, gnarly steeps, beautiful views of the Rockies, and copious amounts of loam.
It used to take me an hour to push my little BMX to the top. I'm sure the locals thought I was crazy. I probably was crazy, but determined to ride my bike down this mountain 100%. After riding a Bearded Lady lap and the V-brakes melting off the rims, I knew this was my home away from home, and I needed a bigger bike!
The friends I have at Baseline I now call family are a huge part of my life today. How I treat myself and others, always wanting to cheer them on in bikes and life, winning or losing. It's all part of this crazy thing we call life. Stoked I have a mate I met at Baseline who would speak truth and be real with me when he saw me drinking and smoking too much when nobody else would! Thank you! My best friend who I got a chance to help in 2017 - much love, brother! So happy we have been friends since high school, and to the two rad homies who always help me with my bike repairs, you are deadly!
Now the tough part... Recovery was not an easy journey for me, so I am not gonna say much about it. Where I was and where I am today are two different worlds! Would love to thank the Baseline Mountain Bike Club, my mate, my best friend, and everyone who has helped me in the past 2 years, helping fight the demons within, and get to where I am headed today and in the future.
Much love everyone. See ya on the trails for high fives and skiddies!
-Eric Faubert