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I live in central Iowa and travel once a year to the Breck area (Breckenridge, CO) to do mountain biking. Since that is the Rocky Mountains, well they are rocky and steep. Very different terrain from the dirt top soil trails here in Iowa.
Anyone have some tires they would recommend for the trails out in Colorado? Btw, I ride a 29er.
See the Schwalbe Rocket Ron. 29x2.25, good, fast rolling knobby with enough width to be stable in the rock garden, and comfy, good cornering feel, and good hook up. It even sheds mud well. i ride it in Pacific Northwest singletrack, including Whistler and Banff, which is fairly similar to Colorado, if not quite as dry.
I do want something durable and that will climb well on lose dry dirt, dead pine needles, and rocks. My current tires (S-Works Fast Trak LK) just never felt like they would hook up last year. I played with different tire pressures and nothing seemed to help.
Climbing "well" on loose dry dirt and dead pine needles (not to mention rocks) might be a tall order for a tire.
If you haven't already, perhaps adjusting your riding style might also help: see for example this answer.
It has been a while since I have been to Breckenridge, however, from what I remember of the terrain and trails it is 'rocky'. I am not sure that I would like to get caught out on punctures there - this will matter whether you are going into true back-country or finding your way around on resort cycle paths.
My recommendation is for the Specialized 'lightweight' 'Armadillo' tyres 'Captain Elite' - dual compound, nice and nobbly, good TPI casing, foldable - the wishlist boxes get ticked for where you are riding and what you plan to be doing (that'll mean no mud, then).
For the front you can put the 2.2" and on the back the 2.0", and in 29-er.
Anyway, I am quite envious - I wish I had got my act together and had the dream to head off to Colorado for cycling this summer! Enjoy, I am sure you will.
As follow up I wanted to share the tires I wound up riding.
For the front tire I chose a Michelin "Wild Rac'r" 29 x 2.1. Nice low profile lugs in the center for speed on the straights, but beefy side lugs for cornering. Worked great on the rocky soil.
On the back I put a Specialized "The Captain" S-Works 29 x 2.0. It has nicely spaced lugs that hook up wonderfully for rocky climbs, but is not a gigantic tire to keep the wheels rolling fast on level single track. Considering the extreme rockiness and steepness of the trails in the Breckenridge, Colorado area I rode, these tires worked perfectly.
Pressure wise, I ran the front at 40 psi and the back at 35 psi.
