2009 CTR Update Thread

[mtbcast]

We have a call from Doug Johnson. He made it in this morning. His time appears to be 4:20:47! Stefan also made it in at 4:23:22! Incredible riding!

Yeah when I got in from the TNT it wasn't too long after 10p my time so no biggie. I can take a midnight finish once  in awhile. It's the 2am's that hurt. Relative to what these guys are doing, though, I'm not suffering.

BTW:
Andrew Carney called in from Lake City. Chuck Ray was with him. They didn’t have enough calories to move forward so they pulled into Lake City to eat. They are bailing but he may continue on to Durango on the road.

[ETURK]

Yeah when I got in from the TNT it wasn't too long after 10p my time so no biggie.

BTW:
Andrew Carney called in from Lake City. Chuck Ray was with him. They didn’t have enough calories to move forward so they pulled into Lake City to eat. They are bailing but he may continue on to Durango on the road.

Well, I am really hoping my buddy Chuck Ray decides to get to Durango. I know last year I didn't complete the whole course but getting to Durango, one way or another, is a satisfaction and achievement in itself.

[ETURK]

Yeah when I got in from the TNT it wasn't too long after 10p my time so no biggie. I can take a midnight finish once  in awhile. It's the 2am's that hurt. Relative to what these guys are doing, though, I'm not suffering.

BTW:
Andrew Carney called in from Lake City. Chuck Ray was with him. They didn’t have enough calories to move forward so they pulled into Lake City to eat. They are bailing but he may continue on to Durango on the road.

On the flipside - not getting to Durango or going off course to get to Durango likely will provoke an instinct to work harder for next year

[ETURK]

Anyone hear what Shelman's bounus loop was all about?!? Maybe a wicked storm forced him down to continue?

[wookieone]

Hello Y'all, This is Jefe, I am eating and eating in Durango. Stefan & I hit the Junction creek TH @ 5:20AM this
(friday)morning. Stefan was most definatly in front of me. I just got to take a shower at Owen's motel, talked a good bit. Man what a chill guy! Super mellow for someone who rode 470+ miles in 4 days 3.5hours!!!
  Anyways, I had a mixed race this year, started feeling ok, then got the worst leg cramps I have ever had, weird. Then I managed a poor emergency dismount and twisted my right knee a tad, yikes! All before Kenosha. (and on my single too!) Oh well, I have learned that it is best to not pull the plug til you give the situation every chance to fix itself. So onward! The cramps went away, the knee got better, so I tried to turn up the juice. Well I went into this CTR way too tired and it plagued me thru-out, and the juice just wasn't there.(by the last day/night I was almost useless.) The weather was pretty good, the course is brutal!!! 285 sucks, miner creek/tenmile is ridiculous, coney's and cataract crazy hard and gorgeous. Tough stuff. Rode with doug a bit, and stefan quite a bit, jason shellman a touch. Good folks. I can say this was a very tough race for me this year, I never felt super great, but I kept plugging away and not sleeping much, didn't sleep at all the first night, tried just didn't happen. Then about three hours the following nights with a big push from Carson Saddle area to the finish without sleeping more than 5 minutes. I fell apart! The push up Indian Trail Ridge was scary, lightening around, dark clouds, completly empty gas tank, all at midnight! By the climb out of Junction Creek I wanted to disappear! Yet you just have to go on, and on and on, it was the most exhausted I have ever felt, ever. I cracked wide open and fell into the negative trap,yikes! Stefan was a champ, strong one there! So yeah I still haven't slept, sorry to be so disorganized with my thoughts here....Thanks for following, more to come, Peace Jefe 
PS anyone who gets the chance to finish this beast deserves a big gold star!!!

[Chad B]

Great job Jefe!

[jenyjo]

No kidding!! Jefe -- what an amazing and incredible ride you had! Sorry to hear you were low on energy going into it --- I can't believe how hard that must have been to keep going and going and going.  Absolutely awesome!

Rest up!  Hope to see you soon!

Jj

[ZackR]

Way to go Jefe! You still managed to do better than your winning time in '07 by five hours!

Alla youse guys, great race. It's been a blast watching. And Owen, holy cow, what a ride. I'm  surprised by the number of people still out there hammering away at this beast. We'll keep watching till it's over.

[mtbcast]

Karl Wilcox called. He's out as of mile 250!

[LyndaW]

Congrats to all the finishers so far. Owen - wow, incredible, unbelievable!

Dave and Scott are chugging along and bivvied up at 12k near Carson Saddle last night. I can't wait to hear about that sunrise view! Hopefully Dave will call me later today from Silverton.

[Stefan_G]

Stefan made it safe and sound to his Mom's place in Dolores. He ran out of water and real food toward the end, relying on Perpetuum (sp?) and caffeine to pull him through. His body is a mess as a result. He threw up in Denny's and is spending time in the bathroom (sorry if that's tmi). He's so glad that he made his goal of under 5 days so that he doesn't have to do this race again! He'll be thrilled to organize again, though, for those of you out there who are considering it next year. He says that the new section, Cataract Ridge, was definitely the HIGHLIGHT of the trail for him this year. Smooth, high altitude single-track or cairn to cairn alpine tundra. He was there for sunrise and said it was absolutely stunning. I'm sure that he'll have much more to add over the coming days.

Good luck to the rest of the racers out there! We're still watching ya!

[Woodland]

Joe Bagley's off course...same area as Jason

[jaybird]

Way to Kill It Stefan!!  You da man! You are inspiring me to potentially give it a shot next year.   All you CTR racers are just amazing!

[tetontodd]

Great Ride Stefan and Jefe, It was great meeting you guys, and everyone else I met and rode with my first CTR, what a mental game it is out there! I like what you said Jefe, sometimes you just have to relax and give the problem some thought before bailing. Sit down ,Eat, think, re-evaluate...You have times where your riding strong and then times where you are suffering to no end,cramps, slight injuries,gear,bike, things that just mess with your head, you can't let this bring you down, just keep going! This is where these riders are special! It takes a different breed to be a rider like this. A different mind-set for sure, Great learning experience for me out there this year. I will check in later with a full report, but before that, Big shout out to Jeff Oatley and Tim Stern!! Solid Individuals! Great to have ridden with you guys. All the racers that are still on course, good luck, steady as she goes......

Todd Johnson

[tetontodd]

By the way, Has anyone heard from Jeff Oatley or Tim Stern? Tim's spot has been in Lake City for awhile? I don't think Jeff had a spot? I hope these two finish!!

[LyndaW]

Just talked to Dave. He is eating Mexican food in Silverton with Scott. His Spot was flashing red lights so he thinks it might have a bad battery. They are in good spirits and loved Cataract Ridge. They are refuelling then heading on out.

[dwj]

chris, cool race reporting!!! the run into durango was brutal. i'll give you some stories later. i'm looking for a ride back to colorado springs on saturday, if anyone knows of anything give me a call 719 502-1312. doubt i'll be back online for the next day or so. i talked to joe about a ride but it looks like he is a ways out. thanks. congrats to anyone who rides day and night, sleeps on the freezing cold ground above tree line and calls it fun! this is one tuff bike race. jason shelman had the understatement of all time when we were dropping into sargent's mesa. he said, "It's gonna get bumpy". this is doug johnson btw

[ramstrong1]

Hi all!  Way to go OWEN and everyone else who makes it to Durango!  I put you top guys up there with the Lance Armstrong and Chris Sharmas of the world!  Truely WORLD CLASS efforts.  I overestimated my fitness and underestimated the seriousness of this trail.   I'm in Salida and I'm DONE!  I was fighting lung stuff the whole race and just have nothing left.  Thanks for all the great times and I'll be back next year in better condition with a better setup. 

Tom Jensen

[timroz]

This is Tim.  I'm in Lake City.  Not continuing.  The mind and legs were done at the bottom of Los Pinos Pass.

Had dinner with Andrew and Chuck last night at Poker Alice. It did not seem like they were gonna make the climb  back up Slumgullion, but I can't confirm that as I have not seen them this morning.

[clockrhymer]

This is where SPOT data gives an incomplete picture sometimes but he does have a few close points to analyze. His "farthest back" point from this morning seems to be a couple miles from his turn around point of last night. His next point after that this morning is 12 minutes later, further down the trail in the right direction. Going back to his original point and back the right way again in 12 minutes seems unlikely. However if you look at his furthest point from last night and then the next point heading the wrong way, it's over an hour and half of time passed. He could have gone further than we have SPOT points for before turning around, we just don't know. Ultimately it is Jason's word to whether he went back far enough to complete the full course. I think he's an honest guy so we won't know for sure until he can look at the SPOT data after the race is over and rectify that with what's in his head.

I really feel for him, that detour had to be brutal mentally. Hopefully he can rally in Silverton and knock out the last section in good time.

I agree with this analysis. One of the SPOTS out there on the course is mine and I took it on the GLRide this June. There are times when it spots every 10 minutes just like it is supposed to and then other times it would go 30, 40, 50 minutes without communicating.

Also, notice that where there two sections of SPOT points for Jason seem to come together and what is right in the middle? A pass. Every time I'm in the mountains, passes seem to be logical places to do things like eat lunch, or turn around, or stop to look at the map. If he was lost and made it to the pass and then decided to turn around, then once he was back on track he would have known that he only needed to go up to that pass to log the whole trail.

What I really want to know is if that extra loop was a great ride or a crappy ride. Looked like a great piece of riding.