IMO just go with what is already working for you.  Merino wool is nice because it doesn't end up stinky as quickly and still insulates when wet, but it also stretches differently and usually ends up with a different fit than you are used to.

Some people like to rotate 2 pairs of shorts, which is not a bad idea if you have the space and are going to be out for a while.

I think if you are planning around a week or less, then just go with one pair of shorts, have a pair of merino wool long underwear to sleep in and make sure you have a good supply of wet wipes.  When it comes to bikepacking and shorts, cleanliness is happiness.

Anyone have thoughts on the minimum degree sleeping bag to be used on the CT?  I've got a 45 lightweight option or a 30 degree heavier bag.  I plan on starting the CT in a few weeks.

Thanks,

George

I've used a 40 degree bag that I think might actually be closer to 45 degree.  I also sleep in my puffy jacket and tend to be a "cold" sleeper.  I was also always in a bivy sack, so that was a little bit of warmth too.  I was comfortable most of the time, even the night I spent at 12,500. 

@Woodland,
CTR 2012, first day, after having been pinned-down on the Kenosha side of Georgia Pass for about an hour, I finally make it over Georgia and descend down below treeline, just in time to setup my tarp before another round of storms comes rolling thru. Long story short, I've never had lightning strike that close to me. Usually it's flash-bang, between the light and sound. That time the sound came before the "L" in "flash". The lightning seemed brighter than daylight and for a surprisingly long time. Nothing like lying under a tarp, getting pelted by hail and rain, having never felt that helpless and wanting to just snap my fingers and transport the hell out of there. I had three series of storms roll thru that night, about every 90 minutes, and the last one was the crescendo which I will never forget. What topped off the evening was while pretending to sleep for a couple hours, after the storms quit rolling thru, it was oh so quiet by then, I was startled by the sound of a tree snapping and then the slow-motion snap, crackle, pop of many limbs as it crashed into other trees on the way to the ground, what felt like less than a hundred feet away. No wind when it happened. Gravity? The causality of the lightning strike? A sign to get the flip out of there? My palms sweat just thinking about that night...
-B

I too remember that night.  Descending Georgia at 11 pm with that intense storm going on was ridiculous.  There were several people camped near swan river road, I remember seeing someone under a tarp trying to sleep (you Barry?).  I thought it was crazy to stop, not like one could sleep in that storm.  I pushed on to 1:30 am that night through hail drifts and bonks.  But by the time I laid down to sleep the storm had passed, thank goodness.

4 years later and that storm is still the most vivid memory from that race.  Riding through all the wet grit is what (I'm pretty sure) killed my brake pads and forced me to buy a new set in BV.

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https://www.windfinder.com/ is another good site for wind conditions/forecasts

Hey all, on a road trip and will be in Denver this weekend. Can anyone tell me what conditions are like on the first sections of the trail? Thanks

Last I heard you can ride all the way from Waterton to Kenosha (via the Tarryall detour), so go have some fun!

Anyone used a hammock on the CT?  I'm looking to do an ITT this summer but believe some of the miles in the San Juans might not be ideal for hanging a hammock. 

I've seen guys out there with hammocks, though not many.  There will be stretches where you won't have any trees at all.  I'm thinking it will be toughest from Spring creek pass to Silverton, no trees after spring creek (well not totally true, you do go through a small patch about 2 hours after leaving spring creek pass).  I think the average time for that section is 12 hours though.

So, it depends on how you plan on riding, but hammock seems doable if that's your thing.

I've only had one headlamp that attached to my helmet, and it came with a little custom clip; I think most of them do?

I just wanted to let anyone else with an old NiteRider Trail Rat 2.0 light know that Batteryspace.com made a custom replacement battery for me for $35 configured and wrapped to fit in the original battery container (part number CU-J1219, product ID 10232). You will need to handle wiring it to the existing cable (the cable polarity is described on the back of the original charger if needed), but compared to getting those friggin' secure hex bits out, that's the easy part. The best part (other than breathing new life into these things instead of tossing them - they're quite bright) is that you can also get a smart charger for these cells, so the battery charges faster, and you don't have to estimate charge times on the fly. In addition, since I was cutting the cable from scratch, I was able to make the cable the perfect length for putting the battery in my preferred nook in the bike frame (the stock cable was too short for this). 

If you want spares, I still have my trail rat 2.0 and rapid charger around.  I can charge it up and make sure it still works.  Pretty sure I've got several extra bulbs lying around too

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Thanks Mark.  One more question...I guess there is plenty of water along the way?  I'm thinking I can get along fine with tabs only.  Cheers!

CTR has plentiful water, just tabs is ready to do, that's what I did last year.

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I've been using Glacier Gloves for a few years now, love them.  Still sad I lost my last pair near Tarryall reservoir when I stopped in middle of the night to lube my chain and forgot to pick them up.  Oh well, I'll get a new pair.

http://www.bikerumor.com/2011/12/09/initial-review-glacier-outdoor-perfect-curve-winter-glove/

A quick note to all you CT enthusiasts.  You can set your smile.amazon.com charity to the Colorado Trail Foundation.  I didn't realize this at first, but have since changed it to CTF.  Every little bit helps, 0.5% of your eligible purchases will get donated to CTF without any additional cost to you.

Don't let this make you decide to not send in a donation, just feel good that you are helping out even that much more.

Nice compilation.

With a username like ea82abuser you aren't by chance an old school Subaru fan are you?

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You've got one and didn't ride it on the CTR?!
I love mine. Exactly what I need.

Ha, I know.  It's an S&S coupled hard tail, I opted for the soft tail for the CTR.  The frame bag I was using was custom made for the WW though, just happened to work well with the dos niner too. 

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I'll second that Walt does great work, I love my WW bike.

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I've got a Delorme PN-40 I'd sell you for $75.  I never have used it, got it as a gift, did one geocache with it and haven't touched it since.  There are bicycle mounts available for it to.

Otherwise, yeah the etrex series is popular.

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I've toyed with the thoughts of Grand Loop this year myself.  Though, I might just do a Kokopelli Trail blast in early May.

Awesome write up Nick. The last time I saw you was climbing out of Copper trying to escape the storm. Amazing finish, glad you came around.
Damn you though! write ups like this give me the stoke to go back this year! Not sure if I'm there yet mentally but the appeal and 'unfinished business' feeling is there for sure. Good Job man!

Well, last year you were playing around with sleep deprivation a lot, so now you've got better intel on how you should tackle it in 2016.

Personally, I slept much more than I expected, probably 30-33 hours total.  At least it justified me carrying a comfortable sleep setup.


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If anyone wants to relive the 2015 race a little or get a little more insight, I've finally completed some sort of write-up on my race.  It's pretty brief, I tried to be efficient.

http://www.bikepacking.net/forum/ultra-racing/ctr-2015-race-discussion/msg80285/#msg80285

[Nick Patzer - 6 Days 7 Hours 50 Minutes]

I'm long overdue in writing up my CTR race report and just uploaded it to Strava finally.  I've decided to just do a different format for this report.  Links to my strava activities and I'll post the short descriptions with the links since they don't seem to be visible to the public.

Nick Patzer - 6 Days 7 Hours 50 Minutes


CTR 2015 Day 1
https://www.strava.com/activities/482850093
Outfitted the Dos Niner and headed out for the CTR!  Tried to ease into the race to prevent body revolt, but that didn't go that well.  Crashed 3 miles in and cracked a rib and effed up the bike (bent handlebars, really bent saddle, broken brake reservoir).  Kept moving, though body wasn't cooperating that well.  I really wanted to make Silverton, but was too "fragile" to risk going over another 12,000 foot pass to get there.


CTR 2015 Day 2
https://www.strava.com/activities/482850099
Still felt bad. Big bonk as I reached Carson Saddle, once again afraid I would run out of food before Buena Vista, I was burning 10,000 calories every 12 hours and not making much progress along the course. Over all felt crummy. Stopped and had a long sleep and a camp fire to lift spirits.


CTR 2015 Day 3
https://www.strava.com/activities/482850022
Body revolt is over!  Finally, I'm able to eat something other than simple sugars and I'm feeling much better!  Flying along to Spring Creek Pass and through the La Garita Wilderness detour.  The gluten-free burrito I ate at the top of Los Pinos Pass was heaven!  Sidewall cut slowed me down right near sunset as I entered Sargents Mesa, but kept pushing late.  Stopped and slept because it sounded smart more than feeling the need to.

I even snuck in a KOM over Jesse Jakomait, Stefan Griebel, Neil Beltchenko and other CTR heavy hitters ha!


CTR 2015 Day 4
https://www.strava.com/activities/482850062
Still feeling good.  Body was functioning well, but I still didn't like the pushing through the Cochetopa Hills.  Took a break at Marshall Pass to eat some food and talk to some CTR enthusiasts.  US50 to Mt Princeton is a slog, but eating dinner at the Mt Princeton Hot Springs Resort is fantastic.  Was chased up Mt Princeton by a huge storm, but it stalled on the flanks of the mountain and I stayed dry.  Descended to Buena Vista and everything was closed, so decided to resupply in Leadville instead since the body was operating much more efficiently now.


CTR 2015 Day 5
https://www.strava.com/activities/482850088
Only had about 3 hours sleep and with the big push the previous day I was a little knackered.  Got to Leadville and dropped the bike at the LBS to check out the brake (turns out I had a cracked reservoir from the day 1 crash, bled it and hoped for the best).  Resupplied in Leadville, Doritos were now a large part of my diet.  Up over Kokomo and hit Searle at sunset, approached those climbs with a good attitude and really enjoyed them.  I despise the trail as it traverses Copper Mountain, takes way too long to do a simple traverse.  Slept in a Copper Mountain parking lot, didn't want to push into the Ten Mile Range climb and possibly change how good I was feeling.


CTR 2015 Day 6
https://www.strava.com/activities/482850163/segments/11586840800
Ten mile Climb wasn't bad. Ran into another CTR guy at the summit, chatted a few and then decided I was pushing straight through to Waterton. Slow and steady over to and up Georgia and descended to Kenosha in late afternoon, I was feeling fantastic so I hammered it to make it to the Stage Stop Saloon before the grill closed. Stage Stop was fun with a busy bar during the weekend. Got a bunless burger and chicken sandwich and a Family Size Doritos (3000 calories!), Tarryall Pat is a fantastic guy (even if he doubted that I would be able to go straight through to the finish). Hammered the Tarryall Detour all through the night passing several guys that were slowing/tired while I was getting faster. Hit the CT trail at 4 a.m. and kept on moving. When I got to the South Platte I stopped to take a break and filter some water before starting the final segment. 2 of the guys I passed in the night finally caught up with me and chatted and then promptly attacked up the climb. I quickly packed up and gave chase, after so many miles and so many hours without sleep I now found myself in a cross country race to the end. I caught both guys on the climb (it's what us skinny guys do) and hammered the whole way as I didn't know how long they would chase. My wife and kids were 1.5 miles up the canyon to greet me, but I skidded to a halt and explained I had chasers so I tagged the finish line before coming back up to them. I rode the last segment faster than I ever had and the brake lasted me, barely, but it was a bit sketchy at the end.

Finish time was 6 days 7 Hours 50 minutes, good for 13th place. Not bad considering I was on 9 or 10 day pace those first 2 days. Turns out I didn't need to hammer that last segment as hard as I did, my closest chaser was 33 minutes behind.

I'll follow along in the thread and might be in for the 2016 CTR.  Really thought I wouldn't be, but the thoughts of a possible 5 day finish keep creeping in my head, just need to sort the body out better on the first 2 days.  Plus, I still have some slight numbness in my fingers from this years race, really thought that would be gone by now.

That first day Tarryall detour will be a rough one though, at least I'd be hitting it after the peak heat of the day.

This all reminds me, I need to still write up my 2015 race, probably have forgot a lot though.

Full moon is July 19th, so maybe we'll have a mid-July CTR this year?

Really? I was totally stoked to have that 850 lumen Fenix during the CTR. On my training rides, I brought 2 to try out at the same time, but THAT was indeed overkill. But any of the downhills at night  - like going down Gold Hill, or that pass out of Copper, I was happy to have as much light as possible.

I usually run them at their lowest setting, but I wouldn't ever call having more at my fingertips overkill. I was also super happy to have it on my 14er run, and most of that track looked like say, Pearl Pass between Crested Butte and Aspen.

I think, other than power, it's how well the light is spread out. If there's too much focus in one area, it's just useless, as you kinda have to constantly pan around to get a good picture of your surroundings, and that bright light does strain your eyes. During the TD, I just had a  BD headtorch, and I was miserable, especially on the downhills. Having the option to totally illuminate every damn thing around me as I'm pushing the speeds (and tired) is awesome! Once you're climbing though, I usually turn off that main light completely, and just got with a small headtorch.

Yeah, 850 lumens is on par with a halogen car headlight.  When I have no other competing light I don't need anywhere near that.

My light is capable of those light levels if I used a different driver, but I purposely didn't unleash it's full potential.  I have 10%, 30% & 100% as the different options for me.  The different levels wouldn't be as useful to me if high was 800+ lumens.  Currently I have a nice "climbing/pushing" level, "normal terrain" level and "descending" level.  A higher max gives two different descending levels, a cruising level and no climbing/pushing level.

Everyone is comfortable with different light levels; I don't require anything that high and that makes for a good battery situation for me, so I'm thankful for that.

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