Wow! It's not like I need another race that encompasses my dreams, but if this happens I'm in!  Not sure how I could help with the trails since I live in Colorado, but if you need a web site hosted, give me a holler.

Hey Toby!  Congrats on finishing last year.  You were so stoked on the trail I knew you would suffer through all the rain  

My chamois got soaked first thing in the morning on the start day and never really dried out.  By the next morning, like you, I couldn't really sit on my saddle without pain.  Climbing up Hoosier pass I just had to lock out my suspension and get out of the saddle for much of it.  Things seemed to settle down a bit heading up to georgia pass, but that must of been adrenaline because the next climb had me disfiguring my face with each bump on the trail until finally I just started the hike-a-bike routine for lots of the uphill. I got to ride with Emily Brock, Gabe Dillion, and Dave? for a while which made things a lot easier.  But with most of the trail to go and being in so much pain I bailed in Breck and road -- out of saddle -- to Frisco where I learned I had open sores on my rump!  A bacon cheese burger with fries a few pbr's latter at the moose jaw and my spirits were better, even if my tail was still in between my legs.

I'm thinking that a combination of the wet chamois and the 20-25lbs on my back was just too much friction!  So this year, like you, I'm experimenting with chamois cream and different shorts.  I'm unloading the weight from my back and getting it on the frame.  I'm also training much differently this winter too.  I've been able to ride every week so far this winter and I've been riding a 1x9 setup.  Things with the 1x9 are very encouraging, so I ordered a chain guide and a SRAM X9 1x10 setup that's should be at my house this Wednesday.  Can't wait to see how things go on some bigger mountain climbs, so far on smaller climbs like Mt. Falcon I'm loving it!

Let me know if you find any shorts that rock, I'm all ears!

I'm in for another try this year!  Believe it or not, most of my gear is out on the kitchen table right now! My wife and I started weighing each piece of gear.  It gives me an idea of where I could save some weight, but it also gives me a good idea of how much storage space I need.  I'm changing my strategy have very little weight on my back this year, I can still feel the psychological scars from last year's saddle soars.  I'm going to order my frame bag this week and I'll start riding with most of my gear once the frame bag arrives.  

Here's to happy CTR planning!  

Bart

August1 st    If the gods with us, no rain this year!

Anyone missing a pair of Smith sunglasses with amber lenses? Found them coming down Georgia Pass. Sorry, forgot to post earlier.

From Jeff's gear list (http://www.jeffkerkove.net/2010_06_01_archive.html) it looks like he had 2 sets of pads. Can't wait to find out what happened, at least it looks like he's ok.

Yeah, it turns out that a constantly wet chamois plus a 25 lbs pack is a bad combo! I was pretty jealous of all those revelate design frame packs. Getting the weight off the back would of caused less pressure on my butt for sure.

Thanks to all those that make the Internet experience possible for friends and family.

Bart

Howdy All,

I had a bad case of saddle sores and bailed at Breck. Coasted in to Frisco for a bacon cheese burger with extra salt and a couple PBRs.  Went home and cared for my lame ass. 

Good luck to all those still on course!

Bart

I road the trail with full vehicle support last year.  Here is a long winded pic/write up.   spedden.com
Enjoy,
Bart

For most of the terrain in Colorado I really appreciate my full suspension setup.  The rear travel is just a blast on the rocky downhill sections, on the soft pine needle laden burmy corners, on the little jumps where I can get some air. Getting the chance to pump every ounce of speed out of trail is just pure fun! Additionally, I like the dampening effect on long trails for my back.  And for a fork I couldn't say more good things about the benefits of an adjustable fork.  Mine adjusts between 90mm and 130mm and makes a HUGE difference for me on the climbs versus DH.  Some of the trails around Crested Butte are just fine with a hard tail (i.e. 401), but for most of Colorado I prefer a FS.  The weight difference of a HT versus a FS just doesn't make a big enough argument for me and my riding style. I can lock out my rear. I can lock out my fork. My fork travel adjusts for climbing and downhill.  The variations allow me to adjust for my personal needs as well as the needs of the trail.  In three years of abuse none of xc suspension parts have failed.

As for bikebacking versus day riding - I use the same bike for both because the same bike works really well for almost everything I ride... it comes down to adjustability for me. I also used the same bike to commute on the road last summer too.  The one thing that does change though is my tires. I find my tread makes a huge difference. I try to match tread with terrain (when I can afford it)!

my two cents  

bart

WOW! Really nice job.  Quite professional looking. I've wrapped my own fly rods and know how good it feels to use equipment you've built yourself.  I hope you enjoy that saddle bag for years to come!

Sent. I hope they understand what they are doing!!! Customers don't cares about their "trademark", but they do care about insane egotistic values.

I mounted the EOS's this weekend.  They seem just fine for cruising at a reasonable speed, but definitely not my choice for something like the 12-Hour Red Bull Burner.  The low setting is all but useless while riding, and the medium setting is barely expectable.  So, I'm guessing as the night time riding moves forward this season I'll be using the highest setting on the EOS's.  And this seems fine for me because I've done the math with daylight hours for the CTR and plan on minimizing the dark hours.  14 hours of sunlight should be enough for me - I'm just racing to finish!

Hey folks,

Like lots of kids I rode a ton of bmx, dirt jumps, bmx tracks, etc... but one day when I was 13 I got to try a road bike.  I immediately starting cutting all the neighbors grass until I could afford my very own Schwinn World Sport.  I quickly learned I could ride almost anywhere on my bike... but in the next few years I ended up getting hit by a car that ran a red light.  Not too banged up, but from then on, I was just too chicken to enjoy riding on the road again.  So most of my biking ended by the time I was 18.  After college I turned my road bike into a commuter and would ride to work if I could use bike paths for most of the commute, but still I wasn't really "riding".  Then at some point the docs told my wife that all the trail running was causing damage to her knees and she would benefit from some biking.  At that point we decided to buy a couple of mountain bikes and start riding the local Boulder trails.  All went well the first year, just playing on the bikes and having fun. And then our neighbors, Coleigh and Amy Patrick, invited us to try some downhilling at Keystone.  I was totally hooked after the first run!  I was instantly back to my bmx days of just riding through the woods and hitting as many jumps as I could. The next year I started racing XC and DH and I had a ton a fun! So last year, instead of racing XC I decided to just race DH and improve my technical skills while riding xc as much as possible. I had some time on my hands, so my wife supported me on a casual, fully vehicle supported, ride of the colorado trail.  This year I plan on racing the CTR, which is how I found out this site.  Thanks for a great site and all the hard work that goes into maintaining it!

As for lighting, I'm going to start my training with 2 Eos's - one mounted on my bars and second on my helmet. I've had excellent experiences with princeton tec lights on the grand traverse, so I'm excited to see how the Eos performs on my bike.  I'll set things up this weekend and let you know how it goes.

I'm fairly dedicated to not spending a lot of $ on lighting. I'll spare the diatribe, but the high end lights don't seem to offer a good weight to battery life ratio for the CTR.  Being able to get new batteries in town versus charging is a big win for me.

bart

I second Bral's advice. I've had back pain in my life from a car accident, and regular core exercises went a long way for me. I hate working out in the gym, but do it so that those parts of my body that don't get a good workout while skiing/riding are still strong.

 I personally don't like bar end's, but I fell in love with my wife's ergo grips while "test" riding her new bike last year.  I bought myself a pair with some x-mas cash for this season. 

As for the feet, I like a mid-stiff shoe with a little flex in it so that I'm not hobbling on the hike-a-bike sections.  i find my left foot goes a little numb with a totally stiff shoe.

Something else to experiment with is hydration. I've fixed all sorts of personal "ailments" by more hydration.

good luck!

I really enjoy both my crank brothers 5050's and candy's. I race downhill and xc and use the 5050s for dh and candy's for everything else. i road the candy's on the colorado trail last year and loved them.  So much of the climbing is (for me) just so steep that I couldn't imagine riding flats.  I always prefer flats on gnarlier downhill, but with time I've gotten used to being clipped in.  For me, it came down to balance on the uphills.  Once I gained control over my balance, I started learning to pull my rear wheel up and over rocks/roots with my clips on the steep uphills.  Stuff that I would of previously never really considered pedaling up, I suddenly learned to ride up, and it was all because of extra control I gained from being clipped in.  Additionally, on the steep switchbacks, I learned to hop my rear wheel around the curve while being clipped in verus putting a foot down.

Clearly, lots of folks can do all these things with flats, but for me, clips really helped me make the transition to being able to ride harder terrain without getting out of my bike while riding with a full pack.

enjoy!

bart