That picture is "someplace" south of marshall mesa.  Some folks hate this section, but I loved it! So friggin technical that it took a complete mind/body/soul effort for me to get through.  I think the endorphins may of taken a really painful section and turned it into something really fun!

 

Is everyone ready for some fun!

Thanks Scott  just an FYI I do have my own spot.

I've filled out the form and made a donation to trackleaders.  Should I be able to see my name as an "Active Rider"? Maybe I just need to be patient?

Looks like Gabe is suffering towrds Sargents! Goooo Gabe!!!   

+1 on the rigid fork
+1 on the single speed

salt is clearly the big issue here. My grandparents had a little vacation trailer at the beach with a storage shed in the back.  Each year the bikes would be totally rusted from storage.  Back then we used motor oil for the chain and fixed the bikes as they broke.  Tires would dry rot pretty badly too.

Essentially it comes down to this.  Remove as much as possible from the bike that "could" break and have spares of everything else.  

I'd go over the frame and sand down and prime/paint the whole thing with marine quality paint.

If money weren't tight I'd say go for a frame that doesn't rust (aluminum/Ti/carbon) and use a belt drive and rim brakes.

On that note, I'd probably also review the remaining components and see what they are made of. Things like handlebars and stem and seatpost are most likely aluminum, but if not, there's lots of cheap replacements to be found.

As far as tools are concerned he should be able to take the bike apart and put it back together. I'm not familiar with the bike so it's tough to say for things like headset and bottom bracket... However... assuming a single speed with rigid fork...
  - full set of allen wrenches
  - chain break
  - tire levers
  - high quality pump (floor pump and travel pump if possible)
  - bottom bracket tools (almost every current BB requires a custom tool)

In my mind your best defense is a good offense, which in this case would be the non-rusting path.  But since the cost prevents this I would think that the best defense would be EXTREMELY regular maintenance that includes disassembling the bike, greasing everything, and putting it back together.  

As a kid my best friend and I would do this kind of maintenance every week or two.  It doesn't take long once you're in the habit and the bikes end up running to near perfection!

And lastly, I would think about storage.  Maybe get some type of "bike bag" to cover the bike up with if it can't come inside.

As far as water is concerned, there's also a high alpine lake where the sheep graze.  If the weather permits, maybe a good place to cool the feet! Last time I was there I was playing hide-and-seek with a lightening storm.  It tricked me and I got caught out on one of those exposed passes.

Last year none of the detours were marked. I doubt any will be marked this year either.

Here's a pic of the no biking signs for wilderness areas;



Here's another one too:



I can't believe you guys are making your way out here for this race!  Pretty amazing  

Additionally Frisco is a little bit off the trail, but they also have a bike shop. Copper Mountain rents bikes, so they might be able to provide some help if needed. And if something were to happen after BV and before Fooses Creek you could make your way into Salida.

Just wanted to say a quick thanks to everyone on the site who has given tips/suggestions/advice for the CTR and bikepacking in general! I decided a bit ago to pull the plug on my race attempt this year (due to feeling too unprepared experience and equipment-wise for my liking) so I won't be at the trailhead next Monday. I'll definitely see you out there in 2012! Good luck to everyone next week, be safe, and have fun!

Cheers
anthony

Anth,  Sorry to here that your adventure is cut short.  There is another option though! If you can find some friends/family to help, you can just ride the trail with support.  I did this in 2009 and it was one of the best adventures of my life!  Knowing that at the end of a segment that there's a vehicle waiting there with food/clothes/people is a huge boost to morale.  It's not a race anymore when you just ride it, it's a damn cool vacation.  There's a lot of magic out there in the mountains.  Forget about the race and just go have fun!

Unfortunately I have the bad habit of breaking bikes    so I a pack few extra items:

• Shoe Cleat and 2 bolts
• derailleur cable
• hanger

NOAA is calling for a low of 54 Friday night in Bailey with only a 20% chance of rain, so you should have a pretty decent first night.  Careful out there on 285 with weekend traffic.  I'm not sure what others are doing, but I'm slapping a red blinky light on the back for all road sections, even if during the day.  While the rest of us are sitting around waiting for Monday to come you're gonna be out there enjoying the mountains!  

Good luck out there Dan!

I'm sure you just forgot to put it on there, but I didn't see any bike repair stuff.  What are you bringing?

I ride flats for commuting and DH, but I clip in for XC, and I see value in both setups! So I have different pedals for different bikes.  But my wife uses one bike for everything and I just swap out the clips and the flats for the occasion because in my mind there's always a comprise with hybrid systems that I prefer not to make. However, one option I didn't see was the Crank Brothers Mallet (http://www.crankbrothers.com/pedals_mallet.php) It offers a large platform and the DH pegs to grip your shoes when you want flats and then you can clip in when you wish. Not a bad compromise!

As far as the chain guard is concerned, if you have ICSG tabs it's not a bad idea to run one. While it's clearly not needed it does ease the mind when you're on the downhill.  The CTR has 60K feet of climbing, which means that there's also 60K feet of downhill too!  If I had the tabs I'm pretty sure I'd be running it because my gearing of choice is 1x10, 30T on the front and a 12x36 on the rear, so it sure would be nice to be able to protect that fragile little 30T chainring!

Went up and over the ten mile range this weekend. Had 3 small snow fields on the east side of wheeler pass.  And there was only one patch of snow left on the west side at the avalanche path (maybe 2/3's of the way down).  One thing to note about the avalanche path this year... one of the avy's this year whipped out some trees and covered the CT. A path has been cut with chain saws to open the CT back up and there's "debris" left that covers the remaining snow.  So basically what happens is that the pine needles, etc. cover the snow and you don't realize you're about to go over snow until your tires sinks... I just jumped off my bike and walked the 30 yards, no big deal.  It's ride-able, but I just didn't feel like risking it as I had already smashed my rear derailuer and was single-speeding out.  Things are melting quickly, so this patch might be gone in two weeks.

Getting stoked!

Thanks for all ideas guys.  I'm working on some ideas for covering my ankles too    Don't know if I'm the only one, but my shoes always seem to fill up with water in the downpours.  Not really sure if anything can be done, but it gives me something to obsess over.

One other question.  Sometimes when it's raining I keep my hood down because it's cooler.  At some point, my head will start getting wet and water starts running down my neck and gets my insides wet.  I've learned to pre-empt this and get my hood up sooner.  I saw the goretex bike helmet covers and was wondering if anyone has any experience or opinions about them.

Thanks for helping out a guy on back of the pack!

Thanks Toby! I like idea of balancing the sweating versus wet-by-rain equation.  Makes perfect sense.  And I've got a set of base layers in a dry bag for if I get "really" cold too. 

Not a bad idea sherpaxc! Getting the clothing dialed sure makes for a nicer time of things.  I got a good reminder about riding in all day rain yesterday.  I have a 26.4 mile commute home from the office and it rained the ENTIRE ride. I had a rain jacket and was able to vent well enough to not get soaked from sweat.  I had rain pants too, but choose not to put them on because I thought I might get too hot.  If I would of known the rain was going to last until I got to my jeep I think I would of just put them on.  As it was, sans pants, my lower half was completely drenched and the rain just funneled down my legs into my shoes.  My shoes filled up with water and I just had to laugh because I knew a mistake like this on the right day in the mountains could mean a pretty miserable day/night. I always struggle with when to put on the rain gear and how much of it to put on.  I prefer to ride with as little rain gear as possible, but sometimes when I do this the rain comes on fast and furious and I'm soaked before I have time to get the pants on.  

Any rules of thumb you folks use?

We're starting to see some of the more typical afternoon rain storms.  Heavy with lots of thunder/lighting/wind, but rather short lived.  The past week has been pretty humid in the front range for Colorado.  I dare say even muggy at times.  

This past weekend in Breck the rain came in between noon and 1pm. It felt pretty cold to me!

I road the portion of segment 6 that over laps with loop 2 http://www.warriorscycling.com/courseMaps/B100-loop2-2010.pdf on the breck 100 (think "before breck" for south bounders).  The trail was in great shape! The previous night rain tacked up the dirt nicely for some hero mud on the downhill sections.  A couple of the turns were bogged out greasy mud, but you could see them coming because they were that dark greasy colored mud.  Overall though, the trail was exceptional!  It looks like the ten mile segment still has some snow.  Has anyone been up to Searle Pass and had a look out towards Kokomo Pass? I wonder what the snow pack is like over there?