It's bad form to have question marks in ones finish time. So to specify, I finished with Dylan making my time 5 d 17 h and 23 m. Thanks Stefan!

Got it!  I was guessing since your SPOT showed you camped out a mile from the finish for a couple days...

I wanted to share another email I got with respect to CTR riders.  A good one this time!  Mad Props to Martin and Jeannie. 

Hi Stefan,
I wanted to tell you about a great story involving two of your bike riders in the 550 mile race from Durango to Denver.

My 5 year old Bernese Mtn. Dog "Maisy" was spooked by I don't know what on the evening of Sunday the 26th of July on Tennessee pass at the entrance to Ski Cooper.
I spent three nights up there looking for her in the evening after work and in the morning when I awoke with a wonderful woman Ruth and Maisy's brother Mosley and sister Callie (2 Berner's).

On Wednesday the 29th we headed across the highway to search the Colorado Trail and adjoining structures.
We spent some time talking to people in the trail head parking lot.  and joining Fellow searchers Jody, Jason and Enzo the crazy big Bernese.
Two of the wonderful people we met there were Martin and Jeannie Dreyer who were riding in your race. 
They stopped for a few minutes to chat as a break to bicycling for hours on end. 
I told them about Maisy.
Martin took my phone number and said he would contact us if he saw our dog.

We spent probably another 20 minutes gathering our options and deciding who might go which direction.
Just as we were about to depart, Martin came racing back into the parking lot and said "we've seen your dog".
Jeannie was right behind and offered a direction to start looking from where they saw her.  Maisy ran away from them on the trail as she was afraid and alone.
We ran the mile and 1/2 to where Martin dropped my vest to show us where they saw her on their way along the Colorado Trail.

We searched till dark and finally as we were about to call it a night.  Maisy came tearing through the grass and we had a joyous reunion as great as I can ever remember.
She was quite hungry, very grateful for being found, sorry for taking off and we were so glad to have found her.

Martin and Jeannie sacrificed time and distance in order to help unite us with our great friend Maisy.  Heroes to myself and my family... 

I heard that you had some unfortunate interactions between riders and hikers in this years event. 
I just wanted you to know that some of your riders did marvelous things for hikers and dog lovers. 

Thanks for all the posts and stories so far everyone.  Check the results thread (http://www.bikepacking.net/forum/ultra-racing/ctr-2015-results/) and correct or add your time if necessary.  Also, feel free to post your trip reports and/or photo album links there, and I will link them to your name on the CTR results page like I have in years past.

In Buena
At Jan's
Not a bad ride so far
Been sleeping lots

Ready for a run here
Cottonwood last night after a crazy rain has me feeling ready for a couple all nighters

Triple double is coming
A few more days and it is mine

Hell yeah, Mark!!

Compiling results here which will eventually get posted to the website.  Initial times are from SPOT trackers. Please post up with a corrected, true time and/or name if you wish.  The times should be from downtown Durango to Waterton TH.  Race started at 4:02am on 7/26

3d20h44m - Jesse Jakomait (Course Record!!)
4d04h42m - Matt Schiff
4d10h40m - Jefe Branham
5d04h09m - Sam Harney
5d05h01m - Aaron Denberg
5d07h31m - Joe Grant
5d08h21m - Sam Koerber
5d08h24m - Alexander Lussier
5d10h45m - Jay Petervary
5d15h36m - Martin & Jeannie Dreyer
5d16h28m - Montana Miller
5d16h53m - Chaz Dimarzio
5d17h23m - Dylan Taylor
5d17h23m - Andrew Carney
6d07h48m - Nick Patzer
6d08h21m - Brad Kee
6d08h23m - Kurt Ireland
6d10h57m - John Greig
6d11h10m - Justin Simpson
6d15h52m - Jeff Rank
6d18h59m - Alice Drobna
6d20h37m - Robert Orr
7d00h28m - Adam Marcinkiewicz
7d11h19m - Felipe Borja
7d12h31m - Daniel Hockenberger
7d12h35m - Robert Maye
7d17h30m - Mick Lester
7d23h03m - Jens MacAller
8d18h42m - Mark Caminiti
9d14h58m - John Fairbairn
12d12h19m - Will Ritchie

ITT Denver to Durango
13d00h00m - Roland Sturm, course deviations including the summit of Mt. Elbert

Incredible ride Jesse! I think I speak for everyone when I say how stunning a 3d20h ride is, particularly on the longest course in CTR history.  This is the 3rd huge perspective changer about what is possible on the CT. The first was Owen Murphy when he blew away the 5 day barrier, seemingly with ease, riding a 4d08h in 2008. He missed a tiny piece of the course, but his time was nonetheless jaw-dropping.  Then Jefe took it under 4 days - absolutely inconceivable when the race started in 2007.  After reinstating the Tarryall detour in 2013, I thought we'd never see another sub-4 day time. Man, sometimes it is so freaking cool to be wrong!!

Yes, let's all wait to hear more from Martin and Jeannie.  I greatly prefer to give folks the benefit of the doubt. They flew in from South Africa, so it was quite a big time/money investment for them to do the CTR and it's hard to believe they would be ignorant of the rules. I corresponded a little with Martin prior to the race, and it sounded like he had gone through the entire CTR webpage. Maybe I need to make a couples division after all?

Finally, we've had a CTR facebook page for awhile, but I finally did something with it!  It's a better framework for posting photos, so feel free to browse and add at will! I think you might have to request to join, but I'll approve anyone who requests ASAP.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/44233836823/

[every single trail user]

I just received this in my inbox:

To whom it may concern,

I am writing in concern of a recent experience I had while hiking on the Colorado Trail on 7/26.   While hiking out to Junction Creek trailhead I experienced an alarming amount of Mountain Bikers.  When I first encountered them one of the first guys almost ran my 4 month old puppy over, scared her so much she pulled out of her collar and started running back up toward the lake while the biker refused to get off of his bike, chasing her up the hill.  She kept running when he finally did get off his bike 1/2 mile later and disappeared while I was trying to get there as fast I could with my backpack.  As I ran to try to catch her the biker kept riding toward her and scaring her.  He then stated when I arrived to where he was "she took off that way I don't know where she went"  He made no attempt to help find her and took off biking up to Indian Ridge seconds later.  It took me 20 minutes to luckily find her and she was very scared. 

I later found out there were many more bikers, at least 70, who were participating in a race called The Colorado Trail Race.  Many of these racers were in such a hurry that they refused to dismount their bikes and many of them almost ran into us as well.

I understand the race would be quite an accomplishment.  However, I feel this is much too large of a group to be traveling together, on mountain bikes, and on a trail where there are many hikers trying to enjoy the beauty and solitude that can't be found in many places.  I also feel the trail etiquette was extremely lacking and also dangerous.
Finally, I write this in hopes that noone else has to experience this in the future.  I almost lost my poor little puppy on her first backpacking trip because of someone who was in too much of a hurry to experience where he was. I was almost hit multiple times by high speed bicycles many times and forced to walk on steep hillsides to get around bikers. I also felt unsafe and unable to enjoy the beauty of this trail created just for people to do just that.

Thanks for your assistance and have a great day,

The lack of trail side courtesy here by a CTR rider is inexcusable and greatly saddens me. It does occur to me that in my pre-race shpeel at 3:55am I forgot to tell the racers to treat every single trail user encountered as if they were Gudy Gaskill. But I really shouldn't have to preach common courtesy... 

Whichever racer(s) had this encounter, please step forward! PM me and I will put you in touch for a personal apology.

YES!! Carver's 7pm if you want your SPOT then instead of 3:30am!

Also, don't forget to bring 4 AAA lithium batteries for your SPOT!  Most of them have battteries already but I'm not sure how fresh they are.  Best to change them out fresh, or carry the 4 extras.

-Stefan

Any word on a Carvers meet and greet tonight or has that idea faded?

YES!! Carver's 7pm if you want your SPOT then instead of 3:30am!

Anyone know when the Trackleaders site will populate with all the riders names that signed up?  Curious to see how many nutters are taking the plunge this year!

I know they are furiously getting things ready, but it currently looks to be around 50.

Stefan,  I signed up and paid my private spot but it never asked for my ESN or shared page URL.  I sent an email to Scott which bumped me to Matthew Lee so I sent it to him too.  Can you help?

Yep, email me or Matthew Lee and we'll make sure you're good to go.

Any interest in a pre-race gathering at Carvers again?  Say 7pm?  I could hand out rental SPOTs there, otherwise it will have to be at 3am before the start...

Same deal as the last 2 years.  Going into Leadville is now optional. If you don't need resupply, you can just bypass the town and save a couple miles.

Thanks for the updates guys.  I'm sure the trackleader page will get updated.  I don't actually have control of that, it's all trackleaders!

I've gotten a few questions about the .gpx track.  The 2014 .gpx on Toby's blog is still the newest. I'm not aware of any new course updates.

SPOT Rental / Sign-up form is live!  http://trackleaders.com/ctr-signup I will plan to hand out rental SPOTs in Durango the morning of or the evening before.

No course changes for 2015 as far as I know!

Barely a month away!  The Trackleaders SPOT sign-up/rental page will be up soon, I'll post here when it is. 

Wise words above regarding the Oregon Outback debacle.  I plan on beefing up my "imagine 1000 people doing the exact same thing as you" speech at the beginning of the race with this example!

Also, I just received the following message from Boneshaker cycles in B.V.  A very nice gesture.


----
Howdy! 

This is devin from Boneshaker cycles in Buena Vista.  Since we're getting close to the CTR 2015 I thought we'd reach out and check in with you guys, since the race rolls past our front door every year.

We will be open our regular hours which is 9-6 Monday-Saturday, and 9-4 on sunday. 
We will also offer neutral support after hours, and i will post this on the door as well.  My personal cell phone is 970-403-6563.  I live close to the shop so a rider in need can get help any time.

Feel free to share this in the forums or whatever you think is best.   Let us know how we can help!

Devin Dahl
Boneshaker Cycles
Buena Vista, CO 81211
719-966-5075

[ran]

Just ran down the bottom couple miles of the Longs Peak trail with Justin. Peter Bakwin caught up to him earlier and was there as well. Man, he was still cranking and high on the finish. His casual and chatty transition at the parking lot was still quite fast, and he hit the road in a light drizzle. He managed to get up and down Longs before the rain started, but he said it was quite slippery and icy going up the trough. A few more hours of pedaling back to golden, and he'll be taking a shower with a beer in hand. Or maybe he'll just jump straight in Clear Creek he said.

Outstanding and a supremely challenging adventure.  Well done Long Ranger!

In case any CTR'ers lost their pants...

http://www.bikepacking.net/forum/index.php?topic=10764.0

Gotcha. Thanks, Chris and Jim.

Stefan,

Sorry to pick nits, but in this case I'll take all the nits I can get.  My time was 6:22:56.  Thanks again for a great race!!

Rick Miller

Done!