Overnighter on CT

[riverfever]

Did an overnighter on the Colorado Trail and got back this afternoon. I started from Waterton Canyon in Denver at noon yesterday. I ran into some really nasty weather about 9 hours into the ride and had to hunker down for what ended up being the night. Slept horribly and didn't get moving until 9 a.m.

Ride was 80 miles and 10270 vertical gain. Here's some pics:

Waterton Canyon fire road

Singletrack starts:

Segment 1

Segment 2

Wellington Lake

Sunrise this morning:

 

[OverlandZJ]

Wow Chris, that could have been ugly. How's the training going?

Beautiful scenery though, i miss Colorado.




John

 

[riverfever]

Hey John! I was thinking about you the other day. I forgot that you changed usernames.

Training is going well. It's ALL I've done this summer for the most part. At times I worry that I'm not ready for this (I know I'm in over my head). At times I just wanna start heading to Durango so I can see some different scenery. It gets horribly boring riding around here for 5-8 hours a day.

I can't wait until this fall. I'm planning on fisihing a ton to make up for neglecting it this summer.

 

[DaveInDenver]

The race is the end of this month, right? Any word on what they're gonna do if the CT is still snowed in? Would you do the Creede bypass, etc. We were still post holing on Searle Pass, I can only imagine the SW sections will be just as deep still.

 

[riverfever]

Hey Dave.

It will be held regardless of snow. A lot of the Tour Divide Racers and Great Divide Racers have already made their way through and ran into big drifts. I intended to make my way to Breck yesterday but I hear it's incredibly sloppy up on Georgia Pass and I'd rather not do that. The only detours we will be taking will be to avoid the wilderness areas (think there's 6). I know I'll be detouring segments 18-24 due to La Garita and I think Weminuche.

 

[DaveInDenver]

Gotcha. I know they bypass the Wilderness sections, but that's even in good conditions. It sorta bugs me that they don't bypass the sloppy sections, not good Tread Lightly and IMBA practices, but at least it's not hundreds of riders like on organized races. You know it, but I'll say it anyway; don't ride around the mud holes! Keep the singletrack narrow.

BTW, I've ridden on the MTB patrol at Buffalo Creek for a few years and have done the section 1-2 ride a bunch of times, I know how fun it is to do the Waterton to Buffalo Creek out-and-back.

Good luck on the race, you are incredibly more brave than me. I'd like to ride the CT contiguously (I've ridden about 60% of the open-to-bikes sections), but it would take me more than a few days like you guys... Heck, it would probably take me a month to ride it.

 

[riverfever]

I hate getting muddy Dave. I also wouldn't mind detouring the sloppy sections. I avoid training on those areas for the same reasons and end up carrying my bike and walking through IF I HAVE TO. I'm such a sissy.

I don't have a clue how long this is going to take. I have under estimated it. I knew it was going to be really tough but I know it'll be tougher than even I imagined. I hate the detour from Wellington Lake to Taryall Road. It's so barren and hot. Depressing. I am going to try and finish that up through the night and then sleep late that second morning.

 

[DaveInDenver]

I'm such a sissy.

Uh, yeah, NOT!

 

[riverfever]

I hate to disappoint but...I was scared of lightning until about 2 weeks ago when a bolt came in through the cable, fried the flat screen and then shot out of the wall in my living room when I was sitting on the couch not more than 6 feet away. Now I'm absolutely terrified of it. I hear thunder and start scanning for places where I might have to lay low for a while. If weather is an issue during the race then it could take me a year to finish.

Still waiting to find out if insurance is going to cover my BVD's that I claimed.

 

[Topmounter]

I rode Breck to Georgia pass and back last weekend (6/28-29).

The only section that was a bit of a pain was the first couple of miles off the ridge just west of Georgia pass. There were a bunch of drifts, two of which that were large enough I had to hike up and around them instead of riding through or walking over them.

On the descent down to middle-fork there are half a dozen good sized trees blocking the trail, but they weren't hard to get around or over. Everything from middle-fork to Breck was no problem at all.

I can't wait to ride Kenosha pass to Breck after another couple of weeks of warm weather.

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[riverfever]

Really nice pictures Topmounter. That's still a lot of snow. Thanks for the report.