Questions about my CT trip in September

[zenboy99]

Hello everyone, I'm looking for some advice for my Colorado trial trip.  I'm hoping to do 3-4 days of riding, possibly to Frisco or Copper Mountain.  I'm a cat 2 roadie, do about 20-30 races/year and I've done 2 24 hour mountain bike races.  I'm hoping to ride 6-10 hours per day and a good pace, but also hope to take some pictures along the way and enjoy the mountains since we don't have them in Wisconsin.  I've been to several places in Colorado and really haven't been bothered by the altitude.

Anyone have suggestions about where to camp along the way?  I plan on doing the same route the CT racers took going to Bailey and taking 285 back to the trail.  How much ground does the average person cover/day?  Also, can you just camp anywhere along the trail, or only in designtated sites?  How long do you think it would take me to get to Frisco or Copper Mountain?  I remember riding from Breck to Copper Mountain over Wheeler pass a few years ago and that didn't seem to take too long.

So far I have my start time as leaving from Denver the morning of Friday September 11th.  Not sure when I'll return, I guess it depends on how everything goes.  I am thinking of riding to Copper Mountain, taking the bike path to Frisco, then riding back to Denver.  What's the best route, and how long would it take to get back to Denver?

So far I have:
-Nemo GoGo tent
-Camelback Alpine Explorer hydration pack
-Topeak Beamrack
-Tools, tires, tubes, patch kit, first aid kit, water filter, food
-Gortex riding gear
-Primus stove with titanium pot
-Garmin 705 and the CT guidebook

Need:
Sleeping bag (not sure if my current bag will pack tight enough)
small sleeping pad
Possibly getting a SPOT from my worried mother and wife.

Thanks for the help!

[jonesy792]

I did the same trip about a month ago and its a good one.  You can crash wherever you want along the trail.  I rode at a casual touring pace and made it to leadville in 3 days of easy riding (I took the road from copper to pbville).  A good way back if you decide to go to pbville is east over mosquito pass to fairplay and then back to Denver on 285, its either a long one day ride or two short days.  Have fun, you won't forget it.

[Pivvay]

It's hard to say how far you'll get but I'd take a look at the time splits from the group behind the front 6. That's how long it will take roughly to get to any one location riding "all day" and probably some of the night. As a guess those guys are sleeping 6 hours/night and aren't quite as efficient with downtime as the more seasoned top guys. You'll undoubtedly be packing heavier than the fastest racers.

You can camp in "most" places. Certain places you can't camp, some campsites have a fee (the one at Kenosa Pass for example), most of this is in the CT guidebook. For racers it rarely matters because you're showing up in the middle of the night, throwing out a bivy and leaving 4 hours later, no one knows you were ever there. When you start staying some place for 12 hours at a time, you have to pay a little more attention to the rules.

Be careful with the seatpost rack (i'm guessing that's what a beamrack is?), those things break really easily out on trails like the CT. Definitely don't overload it.. Also don't discount altitude if you're coming from sea level without any extra days before you start out. Sometimes riding all day and sleeping out above 10 or even 12k feet can really really make you sick. It has nothing to do with your fitness or strength and everything to do with acclimatization.

Also don't underestimate the amount of hiking on this trail. Loaded bike or not, some of this stuff is just plain unrideable. Ten Mile range for example is a LOT of hiking uphill. If you're not used to taking your bike for a walk for extended lengths of time, yes more than a mile, it can be really hard. I know several 2008 CTR racers who were shocked at how much the walked, even packed lightly.

Finally you should be prepared for snow in September. I'm serious. It will be freshly fallen stuff but you'll want to be warm enough or know where to bail if a storm comes through.

Hopefully that didn't come off as a downer. The trail is AWESOME and really beautiful. Mostly I'm just advising to be conservative and flexible. The first 3 segments and the detour/road to Kenosha Pass is some of the easiest riding on the whole trail. Keep that in mind as you ride it and adjust accordingly. Even going from the start to Kenosha, Kenosha to Breck (slightly off route) and 10 mile to Copper may be a solid 3 days. Of course you may ride way faster than that but if you do, head over Searle and Kokomo and on into Leadville. If you haven't done anything like this before it will probably be really fun and a really big eye opener too.

[zenboy99]

Thanks for the replies. I'm really excited for this trip, just want to make sure I'm prepared.

The seatpost rack says it has a 20 pound capacity, but I'm only going to put my tent, sleeping bag, tubes and a tire on it.

If I can just camp along the trail I'll see how the ride goes and determine how far I'll get.

How long is mosquito pass from Leadville to Fairplay?

[jonesy792]

It is 16 miles from Leadville to the highway north of Fairplay, 21 miles to Fairplay itself.  The first 7 miles climb up to 13,000' and are pretty grueling (I would do it again though), the last 9 miles are all descending.  I made the trip back from Leadville to Denver in one long day and I'm no Cat 2 (Cat 5 right now), and also don't have a third lung like most colorado riders do (I'm from Tucson ~2500ft).


Looking down on Leadville from near the pass

[zenboy99]

Great picture!  That's the scenery I'm looking forward to seeing!

Now another question, do I need to worry about black bears while camping?  Just do the normal, eat away from camp, tie my food up?  

How busy of a road is 285?  Is there a large shoulder to bike on?

[Pivvay]

I wouldn't worry about black bears but definitely be aware they are there. I sleep with my food during races and never have had an issue. If you're camping in an "official" campsite, esp one with a trash can, I'd take more precautions. I've seen the most CO bears around places they know there is food. Out on a random trail in the middle of no where isn't one of those places, towns and campgrounds usually are.

Every black bear I've seen in CO has run away fast as soon as it heard me. That doesn't mean they all will but I don't worry about them.

EDIT: 285 is a fast hwy with little or no shoulder in a few places. It's not "ideal" biking. I've ridden 285 from Denver to Salida though and it's not that bad at off peak times. I'd bet it sucks much more on the weekend mountain commute times (Fri afternoon through Sun evening).

[jonesy792]

I talked with one biker on the CT who told me that he had a bear go through his panniers, apparently that bear wasn't scared off easily either.  I carried a can of bear spray and had a bell on my handlebars with me and felt perfectly secure.  285 is a fast road with not much in the way of shoulder but I found the drivers to be very courteous, on the ride back to Denver I only had 1-2 a-hole encounters.  Once you get close to Denver the shoulder gets very wide so there is no problem with Denver bound commuters.