2011 CTR Planning

[TruthRider]

Sweet, thanks Stefan.  I figured you know much better than me what the current CT route is, I was just confused because my (admittedly old DeLorme Gaz) maps and personal experience were different.  I can't wait to check out the ridge; I've been up Pole Creek and some of the tributaries to the ridge several times up to the ridge, but never along the ridge. Also the Gaz does show much of the "new" CT route, but I've never been able to find where it hits Stony Pass road.  Now I'll find out, coming from the ridge itself.  Stoked.

[saferider]

I think it would be safe to say that I would not have completed the CTR last year without a GPS.  I was convinced that I could do it using only the 2+ lbs of Trails Illustrated maps... My GPS and a few days of batteries weighed less than the giant stack of maps!   I think that using the maps in the rain, wind or dark would be miserable!  Needless to say, I purchased a new GPS three days before the race began.  When I started the race I had never actually used a GPS to navigate.  (not a good idea)  While doing the race, I found several areas where the signs were missing or poorly marked.  I suppose it would be much clearer now that I have ridden the whole route.  About four hours into the race I came to an intersection of several trails.  I could not tell what way to go, so I pulled out the GPS and saw the "blue line" for the first time.  After that I zoomed the GPS in to about 60 ft. and just followed the blue line for the rest of the race.  When I got to Buena Vista, I mailed all of the trails Illustrated maps home to save weight and space.  I did however keep one basic map for emergencies.  Needless to say I relied on my GPS almost entirely.  The bottom line for me was that the GPS saved me considerable time and stress. (not that that was reflected in my finish time!)  bOB 

[Done]

While I don't think that a GPS is necessary to complete the CTR (as proven by Andy Farish who unfortunately lost his pretty early in the ride), it sure was helpful.

Last year, I rode the Cataract section in the dark, in the middle of a storm. The new trail is very vague in places, and the cairns are pretty far apart--which made traditional means of navigation nearly impossible at times. With the GPS, I was able to stumble along following the track line through the fog, rain, and sleet. I think that I would have been forced to stop and bivy at 12,000 (at 34 degrees) if I hadn't have had it--which would have been fine (I had lots of warm and safe gear), but not much fun.

[Done]

I was convinced that I could do it using only the 2+ lbs of Trails Illustrated maps

Hey Bob, did you use the maps that I made up? Any suggestions for improvements this year?

[Fettis]

GPS: Sure the CT is well sign posted but you take several detours where the quick confirmation you are still on track will save time at least, and could save you a dq.

Already mentioned but there are sections of the trail over Coney / Cataract with no obvious path on the ground and it's difficult to pick up the next post or cairn in the dark. GPS tells you if you have strayed off route.

Heading up to Coney in the dark I got a bit carried away descending a twin track that intersected the trail. After a few minutes I realised I was moving parallel to the GPS track but clearly off route. I did wonder if I was wrong or if the GPS track was a bit out. Decided it was time to bivy. Retraced (hiked) in the daylight and sure enough I'd gone wrong and had missed a sign.

I'll stick with the GPS. It gives you so much more confidence to know you are on track. Stefan's / Scott's track is accurate and makes following the route so much easier. You still need the data book of course for water & planning.

[gdillon]

I have a question about shelter. 

My current "ultralight" shelter is an REI bivy paired with a tarp (with hoop) that runs the length of the sack.  Total weight:  30 oz.

Right now my mindset is to not throw money at the problem... what I have works and my 1 person tent isn't that much heavier.

However, the Tarptent Moment looks really sweet and weighs the same/is cheaper than a Black Diamond/OR bivy with included hoop (and my current setup).

From my experience bivy sacks are very warm and I have accepted their limitations, but has anyone used the Moment?

[Solrider]

I have a question about shelter. 

My current "ultralight" shelter is an REI bivy paired with a tarp (with hoop) that runs the length of the sack.  Total weight:  30 oz.

Right now my mindset is to not throw money at the problem... what I have works and my 1 person tent isn't that much heavier.

However, the Tarptent Moment looks really sweet and weighs the same/is cheaper than a Black Diamond/OR bivy with included hoop (and my current setup).

From my experience bivy sacks are very warm and I have accepted their limitations, but has anyone used the Moment?

I'm interested to hear any experiences with this tent as well, although I'm not doing the CTR this year.  I've got it narrowed down to the Moment and the Nemo Gogo LE.  While the Nemo packs down a lot smaller than the Moment, the weight of the Moment cannot be ignored.  Another concern I have is that it looks like the Nemo would sleep warmer, which would be an advantage to me. 

[jeffkerkove]

I carried the following sleep items in 2010...
1. Sleeping bag
2. REI bivy sack
3. UL Rain tarp with guy lines and Ti stakes
4. Adv. Medical Kit Emergency bivy cut in 1/2 and used as a ground cloth.

I will leave the tarp at home this year.  Impossible to sleep while raining....too loud.  Hardly used the bivy either.....but take it for safety reasons.  The guys I was riding with in 2010....Ethan and Jesse....were sleeping on the ground in sleeping bags and bivys as well.  If they had tarps, I never saw them used.

Oh, and +1 for use of the GPS.  Yes, a few spots where the trail disappears or the signs are missing.  GPS is light in weight and can save some navigational nightmares.  Ethan, who won, did it all on memory.

[ETURK]

I purchased the tarp tent rainbow. At first I wanted the moment but last year supplies were slow just before the CTR, so I got the rainbow. I didn't ride the CTR last year but have used the rainbow a number of times and its SWEET for bikepacking. First, its got room inside to easily lay out gear or even cook (not recommended). I don't think you can fit that with the moment. Second its got this ability to see outside on all sides with your head low, very cool. You can tighten one outside wall from the inside, also cool. Its not as "light" as the moment, but it does have some advantages (particularly if you like to hike too). I was also amazed at how well its ventilated, very open and cool, which after doing a bivy and sweating, kinda nice.

Still, for "racing" I would check out the moment or, if your really racing, a bivy does the job. Bottom line I guess is the tarp tents are serious quality stuff. And don't forget to silicon the seams!

[bartspedden]

Thanks trail717 for the response on food.  I'll be giving your ideas a try as I'm training.  

As for shelter, last year I used a golite shangri-la 1.  At 555g it's weight
attracted me for the protection it offered.  And after seeing some of the torrential rains we were getting I tossed in the floor too. I didn't use poles, just UL cord and found a couple trees to setup in between.  It worked fairly well, I did experience condensation on the interior even with venting.

I'm changing things up this year and bringing an old moonstone mountaineering bivy with hoops. I like the idea of reducing setup time.  Not so much for saving race time, but for the "it's time to crash and I want to sleep NOW". My bivy is a little bit heavier then an OR or BD or RAB, but the cost to weight savings isn't big enough for me to drop $300.  I like Jeff's idea about using half a Mylar bivy for a ground tarp, so I'll give that a shot on a training mission in the spring.  And I'll probably go with an ultra thin closed cell foam pad and a synthetic quilt.

I got out this morning on my new 1x10 setup. The added 36 tooth cog really helped keep my heart rate nice and low on the climbs. The MRP chain guide was perfect too, no chain rub at all, what an amazing chain line! It was fun riding the frozen trail before it started to thaw.  Lots of traction and no one else the trail!  

[Marshal]

Thanks trail717 for the response on food.  I'll be giving your ideas a try as I'm training. 

As for shelter, last year I used a golite shangri-la 1.  At 555g it's weight
attracted me for the protection it offered.  And after seeing some of the torrential rains we were getting I tossed in the floor too. I didn't use poles, just UL cord and found a couple trees to setup in between.  It worked fairly well, I did experience condensation on the interior even with venting.

I'm changing things up this year and bringing an old moonstone mountaineering bivy with hoops. I like the idea of reducing setup time.  Not so much for saving race time, but for the "it's time to crash and I want to sleep NOW". My bivy is a little bit heavier then an OR or BD or RAB, but the cost to weight savings isn't big enough for me to drop $300.  I like Jeff's idea about using half a Mylar bivy for a ground tarp, so I'll give that a shot on a training mission in the spring.  And I'll probably go with an ultra thin closed cell foam pad and a synthetic quilt.

I got out this morning on my new 1x10 setup. The added 36 tooth cog really helped keep my heart rate nice and low on the climbs. The MRP chain was perfect too, no chain rub at all, what an amazing chain line! It was fun riding the frozen trail before it started to thaw.  Lots of traction and no one else the trail! 

The different Sleep systems for the CTR reflect the different race strategies and to a lesser degree the assumed number of nights to be spent on the route. Once you figure out your personal race strategy the best sleep system falls into place

1 Some want a system sufficient to ‘camp’ for the night in any conditions

2 Some want a system sufficient to ‘camp’ for most of the night in good to moderate conditions

3 Some want a system sufficient for optional ‘rest’ for 2-4 hours

For those who use #’s 2 or 3 there is a lot to be said for pre-planning/choosing a time or location that mitigates unfavorable conditions

[joeydurango]

After a TON of research I broke down and bought a TarpTent Moment a couple months ago.  I wanted something more than a bivy, because while weight is an issue for me, I still wanted something that I could sit up in, get into during a downpour without completely bringing the storm in with me, and spend more than a few hours in if necessary without going stir-crazy.  Also, I couldn't justify buying something for ultralight bikepacking alone, when the reality is that I'll use the tent for various outdoor pursuits.  Finally, the poled bivys out there - if I DID use a bivy, it needed to have headspace - ended up weighing close to or as much as the Moment.  I guess you could say I'm a #2 on Marshall's list above.

All that said, I'm going to anti-climatically tell you that since I bought the tent, it's been freezing and snowy here in Durango and I haven't had a chance to actually use it outside.

Initial thoughts, however:
1.  Light - for a tent.  Also light compared to some friends' bivys.
2.  Quality construction, super-easy setup.
3.  Silicone seam-sealing was easy.
4.  I'm 6'2" and the seated headroom is fine.  It is also plenty long.  I'm impressed.
5.  Silnylon is crazy stuff - super strong, but don't abrade.  Be careful, when packing the tent, of the metal ends of the pole segments - I made a small, light GoreTex/bubble-wrap/elastic pole-end cap deal so that I didn't have to worry about punching through the tent or the bag.
6.  Packs small in every dimension but length.  The girth can be smushed in pretty tiny if you use some homemade straps or put it in a compressible pack bag.  The pole segments are about 20" long, the carbon struts in the tent ends are 18" long, and the only way I could figure to pack it was A) in my backpack (barely), or B) in my homemade saddle bag, which I built specifically to accommodate such long cargo.  As yet I've still to see how my homemade saddle bag works out on the trail (once again, snow).  Perhaps if you had a full-front-triangle frame bag (no water bottles) and your downtube was long enough the tent could rest along said tube inside the bag - I thought of going this route but prefer water bottles, and the tent was a tight fit even on my 21" frame.

I'll post more specific thoughts on real-world performance once I've used it a few times.  Might be a couple-few months, though, unless I can get down to AZ for a while.

[Solrider]

Joey thanks for that review.  I was hoping that by carrying the pole of the Moment in my frame bag that I could really squish the actual tent down quite a bit, but it sounds like because of the carbon ends that is still not possible? 

I'm also looking for something that I can use in other areas, so I was up late last night doing research and comparing the Moment to my other two choices, the Nemo Gogo LE and the Nemo Mio. In a nutshell:

Nemo Mio: 3.1#/44x124/37" headroom/8x7 packed
Nemo Gogo LE: 2.8#/41X114/27" headroom/6.5x7 packed
Moment: 1.75#/42x84/40" headroom/4x20 packed

Even with the 2011 Gogo LE reported to weigh about a quarter pound less than last years model, the Moment's weight is a hard thing to ignore and the price is right.  My only real concern with it is packed size as I mentioned before. 

I'll probably just pull the trigger on the Moment and with the 90 return policy see how small I can stuff it into a handlebar bag. 

[joeydurango]

Yep, the carbon struts in the end of the Moment will prevent you from packing the tent any shorter than about 18".  However, the 4x20 claimed pack size of the Moment is, I think, a little bigger than necessary - that's the size in the supplied bag, but as I said you can certainly compress the girth down to much less than 4".

I also looked at putting the Moment in a handlebar bag.  The one I made needs to sit up really close to the bar and levers, so 20" was a little long as it got in the way.  However, a different bag design that allows room for the levers and carries objects a little lower could work with the Moment - kind of like Dave Harris' setup in the 2009 CTR (check Scott Morris' TopoFusion blog for pix).

[Marshal]

Yep, the carbon struts in the end of the Moment will prevent you from packing the tent any shorter than about 18".  However, the 4x20 claimed pack size of the Moment is, I think, a little bigger than necessary - that's the size in the supplied bag, but as I said you can certainly compress the girth down to much less than 4".

I also looked at putting the Moment in a handlebar bag.  The one I made needs to sit up really close to the bar and levers, so 20" was a little long as it got in the way.  However, a different bag design that allows room for the levers and carries objects a little lower could work with the Moment - kind of like Dave Harris' setup in the 2009 CTR (check Scott Morris' TopoFusion blog for pix).

I almost got a Moment for the 2010 TDR and was told I could request/order one where it was made in such a way as to be able to remove the end struts--I had planed to put the main pole along the down tube

Look forward to hearing how it handles hard rain conditions

[gdillon]

Last year I fell into category #1 and used an older North Face Windy Pass 1 person tent (3+ pounds).  No sit up room, but plenty comfy and plenty dry.

That said, the more 'shelter' you have, the more wet gear you have to deal with in the morning (especially last year).  Not wanting to crawl into a wet tent at night, I devoted about 30 minutes every day to drying my gear (eating).

Thanks for all the responses... they make me want to throw money at the 'problem'!

[TruthRider]

The handlebar bag comment brings a good question for me - what's a good one?  Are they all self made or is there a hot brand/model that's settling in as the standard?  I'm also intrigued by the Mountain Feed Bags in addition to a handlebar bag; everyone who has them seems to like them a lot.  Thanks everyone for your advice, particularly all the veterans who are willing to share their perspectives.  Such a cool community here.  -CJ

[Done]

Hi CJ,

The three big names in bikepacking gear are:

Carousel Design Works: http://carouseldesignworks.com/
Revelate Desigs: http://www.revelatedesigns.com/index.cfm
Epic Ride Research: http://epicrideresearch.com/index.php

I have two Epic Ride Research Mountain Feed Bags, and love them. Lightweight, easy to use, roomy, etc.

[Solrider]

Check these out: http://www.outdoorresearch.com/site/lateral_dry_bags.html

[jflanagan]

I am planning on giving the CTR a go this year. I will be riding a hardtail 29er and wonder if anyone had any thoughts or suggestions on full sus v.s. hardtails for the CTR.

--James