Words by Ambassador Becky Gardner.

Life can get hectic. Working, traveling, racing, all while trying to be part of this human race thing—sometimes feels like your life is one big episode of Star Wars and you’re traveling around at the speed of light. My job entails a lot of time away from home, which is fantastic but can also leave you feeling a little frazzled from time to time. Luckily, I have developed the ability and tools to stop time for a moment. Not really, but it sure feels like I have stumbled upon the holy grail of resetting my life by adding in this one activity. So what is this Star Wars force I have found? It’s called the Monarch Crest, and it’s located right in my backyard. 

The Monarch Crest and all trails surrounding it is a vast high-country trail system located in the heart of the Colorado Rockies.  As soon as I get home from a long work trip or even a stressful day, I head up the pass to indulge in one of the radical, loamy, rocky, and high-speed trails that orchestrate the Monarch Crest. High above treeline and away from most people you instantly feel better as you pedal across the ridgeline of the majestic Rocky Mountains. You may think, ‘What is this lady talking about stopping time by riding her favorite bike trails?’ It’s true. Riding up away from people, streets, and buildings give you time to reconnect with nature and truly makes you feel like yourself again. It doesn’t matter how busy my life is, I always have time to go for a high country Colorado ride. In return, I feel like I give myself a break from the hectic life to-do’s and return to civilization with a smile on my face and purpose back into my life. 

Life is always going to feel like we are time traveling around at a million miles an hour, so our job is to take time to slow it down. Maybe it’s the thin air and lack of oxygen at 12,000 ft getting to my head. But for me, the best way to put a pause and get back to reality is to take a spin on my Process 153 high above any of life’s nuances and to get back to nature and remember what makes me happy.

 Oh, and the views are not too shabby either!