Quiet before the Storm

I've been quiet lately. A lot of thought going into the final preparations. My last blog entry before the race as I am heading to Durango this morning.

As most of you are aware, if not VERY aware (thanks for all the support, btw), I will be making my second attempt at riding the Colorado Trail (CT) on my mountain bike. I have entered the unofficially official (or perhaps the officially unofficial?) 2013 Colorado Trail Race (CTR). The Colorado Trail is a multipurpose interconnected trail system between Durango, CO and Littleton, CO. The Colorado Trail Race uses this system of trails each summer as ~60-100 (to some extent, deranged) mountain bikers attempt to test their mental and physical capacity, in a self-supported* 500+ mile mountain bike race. For 2013 the race will start in Durango, CO at 4:00 am on the morning of Sunday, July 21st. The goal...make it to Waterton Canyon as fast as possible! Key words however, "make it".

(*Self-supported means no one can assist you along the journey. The rules of the Colorado Trail Race are simple. Riders must complete the course entirely under their own power with no support from others. They can utilize resources along the way, buying supplies at stores or restaurants if they choose to.)

In July of 2011 I made my first attempt at the endeavor which ended after a very long 3 day suffer fest (about 400 miles short) . There's a saying about this race that goes, "On day one of the CTR, the race is never won but can quickly be lost." In 2011, I proved that statement to be valid. Now, 2 years later I am coming back much more mentally, logistically and physically prepared.

So, the game plan is as follows:

The primary goal, I want to finish this ride! I entered the "race" for the add'l motivation of being out there with other like minded bikers! With that said, finishing would be awesome. Finishing in less than 10 days would be great. The goal is 7-8 days (revised many times). At least that is how we are logistically preparing for this. We are aware that anything can happen. Other than sleep and food, the wheels will be rolling via pedal power or push power.

In my mind, there are three critical checkpoints/junctures. The first juncture is making it to Silverton, CO. Initially, we were going to resupply here, but now we are thinking of packing food for a few more days. Reason being, we believe there is not doubt we will not make it to Silverton by the time the store closes Sunday night. If we wait until 8am Monday morning for the store to open at 8a, it'd put us above tree line during peak storm hours. So we'll ride thru Silverton before 8a on Monday. It'll be an interesting decision with segments 23 and 22 as those two segments are way above tree line for many miles. Our ideal goal is to traverse those segments in the very early morning hours with our lights and be back in the trees near Lake City as early as possible

It will take us 2-3 days to ride from Silverton to the Mt. Princeton Hot Springs (awesome place to visit, btw). Mt. Princeton is our second critical juncture. Surviving to this point means the most dangerous and technical portions of the race are behind us. Here we can feast on Almond Joys, Snickers, Coke and potato chips until we are content. But the race is by no means over. From Mt. Princeton we have the ability to quickly resupply in Buena Vista, Leadville, Copper Mtn, and finally Breckenridge. Whether we resupply in BV, Leadville, or Copper depends on what time we make it to Princeton. Our goal from Mt. Princeton will be to reach Copper Mtn. before we resupply. Althoooough...a quick pit in Leadville for a carb load at High Mountain Pies might be too hard to resist! Regardless of any impromptu indulgences, life will be good in or near Leadville.

The final critical juncture will most certainly be riding into Breckenridge, CO. This is our last chance for supplies. From Breckenridge we are ~2.5 days away from the Waterton Canyon finish line. From Breckenridge we will have to endure the Georgia Pass climb and the very long 74 mile dirt road Lost Creek Wilderness detour. Once we manage to endure the potentially hot and dry conditions of the detour, we will end up near Wellington Lake which is a short distance from the Buffalo Creek Trailhead. At this point, I am assuming the adrenaline will be high (goosebumps just typing that sentence) because it is almost all downhill from here. There will be a short 3 mile climb out of the South Platte River Valley, but only near death conditions will prevent me from dragging that bike to Waterton if need be!

Below I have provided a link to a website that uses a SPOT GPS to track each of the CTR racers. Most of the racers will carry this GPS device (not all). My SPOT GPS should show up on the website sometime shortly before the race.

With some luck, some patience and a level of determination I don't realize I have yet...I'll complete this journey!

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0b5SWohoapP5RepoPv79zAIIiRIGoIfBo

http://trackleaders.com/ctr13

West Gulch Fire from the Colorado Trail

I haven't had time to recap our quick journey from this pas weekend. Our goal was to ride from Silverton to Buena Vista, but due to the location of the West Gulch fire and our lack of familiarity with the area, we bailed. We spent all day Friday riding parallel to the smoke billowing off of the fire. A couple of times we contemplated heading back to Silverton. We ended up making it through segments 22 and 23 (a little stressful at times) and towards the end of daylight, we took a jeep road into Lake City and spent the night there. I will be adding more to this story later, but the pictures from this day are amazing. Thought I'd share...

Bailey Hundo Recap

Bailey Hundo. Check. Now this is my favorite Colorado mountain bike race…so far. The course was awesome. The staff was so helpful at all the aid stations. Everything about the day just went well.
The day started at 4am. I quickly loaded up the truck and was in Bailey, geared up at 5:30am. It was a chilly start as my thermometer read 42 degrees. My teeth chattered as I was getting dressed up and took a couple of spins around the street. I wasn’t too concerned with where I started from in the pack, so around 5:55 I strolled to the back of the start line and waited for it all to begin. 3-2-1 go, we are off.
The first 7 miles is a rolling dirt road, so there is plenty of time for the shape of the race to be established. There were 48 starters in my category and I’d guess ~300 starters (216 finished) total. After the first 7 miles we turn onto the Colorado Trail which becomes all single track for the next 50 miles. When I turned onto the singletrack, I’d guess there were around 30 riders in single file that set our pace. I didn’t see any passing as the pace was fast. For me, I was going harder than I had wanted to, but you can’t really ride your pace in a pack on singletrack. I stuck with the pace and the 30 of us dwindled down to 10 or so. At this point we passed through the first aid station and most of the racers stopped. I had packed enough water and food to make it to aid 6 at around 60 miles, so I was able to keep moving for the first 5.5 hours. I had 6 bagels, 6 shot blocks, 2 cups of cashews and 118 oz. of water.
At around 90 minutes into the race I was all alone. I finally found my pace and got comfy on the bike. I knew it was going to be a long day and probably hot later on, so I tried to save as much energy as possible for then. From the 90 minute point until I reached aid 6, the race was super fun!!! There was 1 tough climb in Buffalo Creek that seemed to take me a while. I was riding well, eating right and feeling good.
I was thinking in my head I could make it to the river (aid 6) by 11am which would give me the best chance to ride sub 9 hours. However, my timing was off and I didn’t reach the river until 11:30am. I took my first break of the day. I quickly filled up my water, ate gobs of watermelon and threw back a 12oz can of coke. As I got back on the bike I ate a handful of cashews and started wondering if sub 9 was possible.
For the next ~15 miles I had no idea what to expect. It was the only portion of the race route that I have never ridden. From aid 6 you following a dirt road which turns into pavement all the way to Deckers. There was a slight tailwind and in this section I could really feel the difference on the new wheels/hubs. I got down on my Ergon grips and made up some really good time as I was doing 23-25 mph all the way to Deckers. In Deckers, we turn right, however I went left. Thankfully some guys whistled and I realized I went the wrong way. So from this point all the way to aid 8, it was steep and hot. It was pavement for about 4 miles and then steep jeep road. There was a jeep that had almost slid down the mountain. The jeep was high centered on the edge of the road calling for a tow I had assume. I asked him if he wanted to hook his jeep up to my bike and I’d tow him out, but for some reason he said no. Oh well.
At aid 8 I am tired and hot. The thought of sub 9 seemed distant, but from aid 8 to the finish is the exact ride I had ridden 2 weekends ago so I knew what was ahead (I always seem to be able to ride harder when I know what’s in store for me). I thought if I could find a little giddy-up I could do it. I filled up my water, drank another 12oz coke and got back on the bike. I think it was a combination of the little adrenaline spike and the coke because at 7 hours and 15 minutes in, I giddy’d-up. I passed around ~25 racers and felt strong all the way to Bailey. At around 8:15 I knew I had sub 9 so I just rode strong to the finish.
I finished 15/48 in my category and 83rd overall. This weekend we are riding from Silverton to Buena Vista. The endurance gained from the Hundo will surely get us ready for this weekend.

Bailey Hundo Eve

New wheels are ready!

DT Swiss Carbon Hubs

It's the eve of the Bailey Hundo. A mad last minute scramble to get things in order. I am very excited. It will be an interesting race with ~12,000 of elevation gain in 102 miles. My goal is sub 9 hours...maybe sub 8.5. I am simply going to keep doing what I have been doing and find my comfy cadence and be consistent with it. I don't plan going hard often. To make things even more exciting...I will be making a maiden voyage with my new wheels, tires, and hubs. :) Yea! I went with the Mavic 717's, the DT Swiss carbon hubs with ceramic bearings, and the XKing continental tires. Just rolling around the neighborhood I can feel a major difference. More after the race!

Money in the Bank

If you recall, last weekend we missed the FSR-211 turn that would have led us to Wellington Lake. So, the plan this weekend was to start...almost-over, and do it again. Therefore, around 7am on Sunday morning we were rolling from Kenosha Pass to Waterton Canyon via the Tarryall detour. This time we weren't going to miss the FSR-211 turn!

Overall, my thoughts are somewhat indifferent on the detour as in pertains to the race. However, it is ~75 miles of paved and dirt road...so rather boring when you prefer trails. The roads are lightly traveled so we had most of the road to ourselves. The weather turned out to be perfect.

The starting temp was 32 degrees, so I elected to bring my larger backpack due to the amount of clothes I had anticipated shedding throughout the day. The first ~50 miles of the ride was exactly what we had navigated through the weekend before so we were making better time by knowing the correct route to take. Plus, we were much lighter w/o our camping gear. By the time we arrived to Tarryall Reservoir (23 miles), we were an hour ahead of last weeks pace and feeling fast. We grabbed a quick bite and continued on.

At 40 miles we found the turn we had missed the week before and stopped to pat ourselves on the back! We had a quick kodak moment before we set out. We had ~35 miles of fire road to conquer before we would arrive at Wellington Lake. There was a lot of scenery. This route was taking us right through the Hayman burn area and it was miles and miles of burnt forest. I gained a new perspective of just how large that fire was. However, the bare forest was full of very unique rock formations that made several miles go by. We had an excellent view of Pikes Peak for most of the ride.

We finally hit FS560, the last turn at mile 70 that leads us into Wellington. We had discussed what we were hoping to eat at the little convenience store. The thought of an ice cold Coke and potato chips fueled my burst of adrenaline. We rolled up to the store and it was closed. Instead, the next best thing presented itself. It was a water faucet with cold well water and a hose. We spent 20 minutes at the hose cooling down, showering, drinking cold water, and playing with the deer. At this point however, we were a little behind our anticipated scheduled. It was ~2:30pm and we had segments 1, 2, & 3 to traverse.

 By 3p we were back on the Colorado Trail after the 7 hour / 76 mile detour. The trail is fun and it was apparent. Brian was leading a mad charge through segment 3 as we were making up some time ripping through the turns. Segment 3 passed quickly.

We stopped near the fire station on the west end of segment 2 for a quick bite and then continued on. Again, the single track felt good and was fun. We made it to the Platte River just as the odometer passed 100 miles. However, the biggest climb of the day was just before us. The climb out of river valley is steep for about 3 miles of switchbacks. At this point the total  time, distance, and probably the little extra energy we expended through the last 2 segments were taking a toll. We arrived at the Platte feeling tired and hungry. Still craving a Coke, I had asked some hikers if they had any soda's. They were super nice and said if they would have had any they would have given us some. Oh well, worth the try. Sixteen miles to go!

Segment 1 was somewhat of a blur. I have ridden this segment so often and the fact that I was so tired I felt like it went by quickly. Just as I crossed the Colorado Trail head above the damn, my Garmin's batteries were done, symbolic of what my legs were also telling me at that point, we are done! We rode to the Wateron Canyon trailhead where we met Cindy and Shelby who had cold orange soda's!!! Sooooooooo good!

All in all, it was a good day to test the body and stress it just a tad more in prep for doing this multiple days in a row. While not the most fun ride, it was certainly money in the bank!!

Facebook Photos

Only perfect practice makes perfect!

Our first bikepacking adventure of the season was a good one. We didn't complete what we set out to do, but we are walking away with some valuable knowledge and confidence. This is how it all went down.

x1 lg. bag of smoked almonds
x6 white bagels
x10 power bars
x3 cans chicken
x148 oz capacity
x1 jar peanut butter



On Sat morning around 6am, Brian Hollister and I started rolling from Roxborough, CO. Our goal was Kenosha Pass.

For the most part, the morning was uneventful. I was excited to be on my bike with all my gear. The morning conditions were perfect. We had blue skies, cool temps, and the air was crisp. Time stood still. Stresses faded away. Bliss. We descended down to the Platte River around 8:30a, had some snacks and filled up our waters. We had packed our gear almost perfectly as neither of us were making adjustments. After about 30 minutes at the river, we started heading through segment 2.

Again, uneventful. We had found a good pace and were sticking to it. I had done a lot of mental comparing between this trip and my previous Colorado Trail attempt. In segment 2, two years ago, is where I started to unravel. Not this year! It was a relief to overcome those frustrations realizing the focused training (physically and mentally) over the past 2 years was paying off. We filled up our waters again at the fire station near the Buffalo Creek trail-head. We had some snacks during segment 2 and were feeling good.

Segment 3 was before us and once again, we pedaled right through it. We had stopped in segment 3 near a creek and took some mini baths. The cool water on the face was definitely a wake up and felt sooo good. Towards the end of segment 3, before the detour out to 285, I was for the first time starting to feel some burn in the legs. We were approaching 40 miles. We exited the trail and this is where the trip became somewhat...boring. The dirt road was full of cars spewing up dust for the next ~6 miles until we go to 285. Part of the CTR is staying mentally focused. You cannot wish for time to pass or the miles to disappear. Once those thoughts saturate your mind the end is near. Keeping that in mind, I stayed focused and still maintained a genuine desire to be on my bike. While we were getting close to the highway, we had hoped there was a Subway. Mmmm, iced down fruit punch, 12 inch turkey sandwich with extra mayo and chocolate chip cookies. Come to find out, there was no Subway. Instead, we stopped at a gas station that even had tables (the little things right?). We sat down and I filled up with a Coke, a chicken salad sandwich, a bag of potato chips, an orange Gatorade, an apple, and oatmeal raisin cookies. I think that was it. I was full but could have kept eating. We jumped back on our bikes. At this point it was ~4:30p, I think.My clock shuts off out here. We had the dreaded the ~20 miles up 285 to Kenosha from Bailey. Dreaded because the highway shoulder in spots does not exist, or just barely.Fatigue was setting in, but now was not a time to become lackadaisical. We had to ride on a tight rope (the white line) for the next 2 hours.

I am here, so we survived 285, but that was the first and last time I ride on that road. I am so glad the CTR voted to make the Tarryall detour the official route of the 2013 CTR. To compound the inherently dangerous riding along 285, it was a holiday weekend.

We summited Kenosha Pass ~7p. Nearly a 13 hour day with just under 3 hours of stopped time. Tired for sure, but not drained. We found camp,changed clothes and ... surprise ... we ate! We had contemplated getting a few hours rest and then start heading back down. Our plan was to head back down via the Tarryall detour. In retrospect, getting a "good" nights rest and not navigating down was the better idea. We curled in our bivvy's around 8:30. The moon was full. Unfortunately, neither of us got a lot of sleep. A skunk invaded our personal space and the pine cones seemed to be growing underneath us. I tossed and turned until 3:30a. I had whispered over to Brian, who was now out of his bivy sleeping. He did not respond, so I crawled back into the warmth of my bag.

We arose around 6:30a. It was later than we wanted, but we were fine. We packed it up, filled our waters, and then ... get this ... missed the CO Trail. We rode down a forest service road about a mile before we got to a locked gate. WTF? It can't be this hard to find a trail. We know we were looking for some single track. Well, yes, the trail wasn't that hard. We rode back to the trail-head and found the single track right at ... THE TRAILHEAD! I had anticipated the trail going in the complete opposite direction of what it was. I had no idea we would start out heading west. Not a big setback, but the day would end with a dud. Again, the plan was to detour through Tarryall which takes you 74 miles around the Lost Creek Wilderness, to the south, and meet back up with the CO Trail near Wellington Lake. I had copied the directions from a website to my phone, however the directions were from Wellington Lake to Kenosha. We were riding from Kenosha to Wellington so I had to interpret the notes backwards. We did good though, at the beginning. We rolled up and down through the single track catching glimpses of the Collegiate Peaks in the distance across the South Park valley. We got off the trail where mountain bikes are no longer allowed. We found this road, then that road, then this road until we get to the paved road that leads you to the Tarryall Reservoir and then to the town of Tarryall. All was going well. We had stopped for some more food about 20 miles north of the reservoir. I had Coke, Pringles, and a Gatorade for my second breakfast. This was gorgeous country up here so plenty of sights to keep your mind off things.

What to do with time to kill

We continued for another several hours. Just passed the town of Tarryall we stopped for some snacks and I had read the directions again. We were looking for FSR 211. According to my backward calculations we were 5 or 6 miles from the road. So we rolled along after our snacks. Unfortunately FSR 211 was not obvious. I had briefly remembered reading that there was a road that turned into another road (I couldn't remember the names though). I was internally hoping after we rode 8 miles that somehow the road we were on was supposed to be the way back to Wellington Lake. My hope was fading with each mile. The Hayman burn area to the East of us had come and gone. I knew we had to ride through that area, but the little burn area we did pass didn't match the mental pictures I had stored. Nonetheless, we kept going. We found a road with a map, which then we realized we were only 2.5 miles from Lake George, CO. At this point, it was clear we had missed the turn. Considering the time of day and the unknowns and the need to get back to work, we opted to roll into Lake George and call for a ride. We sat down on the front bench of the local grocery store along hwy 24 with a 6 pack of Coors Light and some time to kill. With that said, we are heading back this Sunday to w/o our gear to recon the Tarryall detour from Kenosha to Wateron. Considering the amount of downhill in this ~118 adventure, it should be real fun!

The road we missed...

Indian Creek Race

51.8 miles with 9,710 feet of elevation gain. Whew! Another great day for racing in Colorado. And...and let me tell you this WAS a mountain bike race. Sinlgetrack, technical, steep, challenging, fast, creeks, hike-a-bike, and you name it it was there. I am hoping RMES brings this one back next year. I was hoping for a tad bit better results, but I am encourage that I am just settling into a zone in each of these races where I feel real comfortable. I am not red-lining it, no big efforts, just steady riding at a pace I feel like I can do all day. This, I hope, will pay off in the Colorado Trail Race.

Close to completing lap 1 of 3