THE TOP OF Monarch Crest trail outside Salida, Colorado, provides a stunning view, a 360-degree vista of the Continental Divide and the 14,000-foot Collegiate Peaks towering to the north. But as I clip into my mountain bike’s pedals, I’ve got more than selfies on my mind. I flip open the compression damping switches on my suspension fork and rear shock. I lower my telescoping “dropper” seat post to move the saddle out of the way. I shift to a sprocket in the middle of the gearing range to keep chain tension high. And when my rear tire bottoms out on a rock a few seconds into the descent, I wish I’d thought to check its air pressure before starting the 6,000-vertical-foot ride down.
