Tales of My Demise, a CTR Report

Some time ago this young woman asked me, “If you could have one superpower, what would it be?”
“I’d want the power to be able to ride my bike all day and night without getting tired,” I told her.
Which isn’t exactly true. To have this “superpower” would take most of the fun out of it.
I like the process that goes into attaining that power. Sometimes I feel like I have the power to ride indefinitely without getting tired. The wheels feel like they are rolling on glass and my pack must be a jet-pack. Nothing super about it really. I’m just a mere mortal who loves floating over trails.

When you feel invincible, you’re the most vulnerable. The harder you try to hold onto something, the faster it crumbles in your sweaty palms.

I’ve embarked on a fairly ambitious race schedule this season and as many of you who have been following along at home(or the side of the trail, you’re the best thanks!) already know things have been going quite well. I felt like after the Firecracker 50 I started going slightly backwards. But I thought if I could tough it out thru the Breck 100 I’d have a couple of weeks to taper and be flying again for the CTR.

Well the weekend before the CTR I felt great, super-human, with the power to bike and run all day and night. But I got a little carried away up in the hills outside of Creede, Co. When I feel lonely I seek solitude on the trails, which most of the time leads to my advantage, and I feel lonely most of the time. Actually I feel the presence of everything when I’m alone in the mountains and in-turn not so alone. Anyway when I should have been resting I was trail running at 11,000’. But I felt awesome, I knew the end was near, but I was hoping the end was still a couple weeks away. After the weekend I got sick, muscle aches and the shits for a few days, I felt horrible. I knew I was screwed. I did next to nothing for a week . By the weekend my bowels had settled and I started feeling normal.

If it were any other race I would have stayed at home. But this was the Colorado Trail Race, I was hoping for the best. For the first couple of hours of the race I didn’t feel too bad. I set the pace up front with Jesse Jakomait. The trails were horribly wet from the rains the night before. The trees held so much moisture that every time we hit a branch with our shoulder or helmet, it’d be like someone threw a bucket of water on us. By the time Ethan and Jeff caught up to us I knew I didn’t have it. I had no power at all. Legs and back were already aching. Last year I rolled into Durango with barely a twinge in a single muscle. We all hit Bailey at about the same time. I was the last to leave.

I suffered on the road up to Kenosha Pass. It started raining just before I hit the top. I was hoping my superpowers would return once I hit the trail. They did not. I was reassessing my goals for the race. As I churned up towards Georgia Pass I thought I’d just cruise until I got to Copper Mountain, then see how I felt. If I felt better I’d continue. The same, I’d ride on, but it wouldn’t be pretty. Worse I’d pull the plug.

It stopped raining. I felt better as I popped out above tree-line, my superpowers always work well up there. The descent off the top is always awesome. There is one section that is a mile long rock garden, it was really fun with all the moisture. As much fun as I was having I could feel that I didn’t have any power, even going downhill! Once I hit the bottom the real rains began. I hid out under a tree, put the rain gear on, and scanned the forest for a better tree to hide out under. I wondered about all the racers still up on Georgia Pass, I’ll bet they will have some stories to tell.

I thought about getting into the bivy to wait out the storm, but most everything I had on was either soaking wet or damp at best. I was also getting a chill just standing there. I wasn’t carrying a sleeping bag, only a bivy and bag liner. A sleeping bag liner is basically a silk sheet meant to go inside a sleeping bag to increase it’s warmth. I was going “light and fast”. Most of the racers up front are carrying the bare minimum to survive. We usually have just enough layers to only be a little cold at night while riding with everything on, including rain gear. And we sleep only a few hours at night, again with everything on. Last year I only had one night were I was too cold to sleep, so this year I decided to save the space and weight, and leave the sleeping bag at home.

This whole “light and fast” philosophy requires a couple of things. One, you are in good enough shape to keep moving most of the time, 20+ hours a day. Two, you are tough as nails and nothing goes wrong. I’m sure all the racers regardless of the amount of gear they were carrying had an epic experience these first couple of days. And for them some of the greatest challenges are yet to come. This is such an epic race that the first couple of days may be long forgotten by those who roll into Durango.

So standing in the rain, I knew I wasn’t getting any closer to Durango. I rode on for a couple of miles. The trail had turned to a river and every flat section a lake. When I hit Tiger Rd. I thought about waiting out the storm, but without a sleeping bag there was no way I could conceive of being warm or drying out inside the bivy.

Physically I didn’t have it, had the legs been feeling good I would have pushed on thru the rain. Which lasted all night. Waiting out the storm wasn’t all that appealing. I knew it was mostly downhill to Breckenridge on Tiger Rd. I bailed into town. Disappointed, YES. It has been a great season thus far, maybe a little to good.

It’s impressive how much ground Ethan, Jeff and Jesse made up after not making it over Ten Mile Range the first night. And as for my good buddy Jon Csakany, when asked what superpower he would choose? “The ability to regulate my body temperature no matter what the conditions are outside.” Keep moving my friend! And the young woman? “Gecko fingers and toes.”