2011 CTR Planning

[Emily]

But footwear has me in a tizzy.  I want to be prepared to finish happy even if it is a deluge like last year.  I vacillate on regular shoes (d2 custom - so comfy) and carrying waterproof shoe covers.  Or going another route like PI goretex shoes from the word go (with maybe a gaiter to prevent h2o entrance).

Solving problems does not always require buying new things... think about this another way: it doesn't really matter if your shoes are wet or dry, only if your socks and feet are wet or dry. Plastic bags between the sock and shoe are cheap, waterproof, lightweight, and easily replaceable in any town. My socks and feet were dry throughout last year's downpours. Put them on when the rain starts, take em off when it stops. Yeah, it looks like crap, but the fashion police are not out on the trail. 

[gregclimbs]

<snip of a lot of good info>

agreed.  while my first ctr, not my first bikepacking trip and definitely not my first backcountry expericence.  And when I say dry, it is all relative...

Solving problems does not always require buying new things... think about this another way: it doesn't really matter if your shoes are wet or dry, only if your socks and feet are wet or dry. Plastic bags between the sock and shoe are cheap, waterproof, lightweight, and easily replaceable in any town. My socks and feet were dry throughout last year's downpours. Put them on when the rain starts, take em off when it stops. Yeah, it looks like crap, but the fashion police are not out on the trail. 

again, good advice, except that there isn't enough room in my current shoes for this method to work.  They are custom and really snug, so much so that woolies are about the limit of what I can jam in there.  Have two sets of booties already.  The gators work well, but slip off if walking much.  The PI barriers work really well, but are stupidly heavy.

I just have the images of JK's blog post of trench foot on my mind in considering this problem.

I agree with you about not solving all problems by throwing $ at them...

But then again, these might just be the bees knees in terms of staying dry (and the other corellary - walking quite a bit which my current shoes aren't really made for): http://goo.gl/y9c4c

Not to mention I can get them wholesale   Worse case scenario, they become my big dummy riding shoes later down the road...

[Done]

I rode with a thick pair of wool socks last year. When they got too waterlogged, I just wrung them out and kept rolling. Thick wool is good that way--after the water is pressed out, it fluffs back up and lets your feet breathe. As an added benefit, fluffy socks also provide a little extra room when your feet swell from the altitude (assuming that your shoes have room for them).

If you really hate wet feet, Emily's solution is good. But some of the other ideas are a bit overkill--remember that you need to walk a lot on the CTR, and things like expensive shoe covers probably won't survive very long.

Blisters and altitude-associated swelling are the real demons out there. And both of those can be addressed with proper-fitting shoes and socks. Plan on wearing your custom-fit, rigid, skin-tight racer shoes? Then you might need to prepare for pain, blood, numbness, etc.! Go with flexible shoes that walk well and can expand a little to accommodate swelling, and you should be fine.

In short, blisters can be living hell, but a little dampness is survivable.

[trailrider11]

All this advice of footwear and saddle sores has got me thinking.
If you take care of your feet and behind your more likely to focus better. One thing that always bugs me when hiking or playing baseball games in the rain is the soggy feel of your feet. It annoys me and I lose focus. One thing i have done to prevent this is on my lunch breaks i would simply take my shoes and socks off. I would do this for about 10 to 15 minutes to air out my feet and dry, then throw on a second "fresh pair" of socks. I would then tie the wet pair on to a strap to dry while hiking (like the other post said, plastic sacks work great and are a wilderness survivalists best friend).
Please correct me if this is not possible to do on the CTR. I plan to use my lunch breaks in this manner as taking care of my feet is a must.
Also, i plan to go with flat pedals and a waterproof hiking shoe. Yea or Nea?

Off topic: Toby, did you say spots were 30$ this year to rent for the CTR?

[jp3d]

Solving problems does not always require buying new things... think about this another way: it doesn't really matter if your shoes are wet or dry, only if your socks and feet are wet or dry. Plastic bags between the sock and shoe are cheap, waterproof, lightweight, and easily replaceable in any town. My socks and feet were dry throughout last year's downpours. Put them on when the rain starts, take em off when it stops. Yeah, it looks like crap, but the fashion police are not out on the trail. 

I've heard about this before but never tried it. Being a vapor barrier the plastic bags will end up soaked soaked from the inside from sweat eventually, but your feet will probably stay warm. When you take the bags off after the rain stops don't your feet end up getting soaked from your wet shoes, or am I missing something?

Thats why I was leaning towards the overshoe option - your feet are going to get a little wet at times no matter what you do, but with an overshoe I'd hope to keep my footwear from getting completely saturated with water (which would leave no hope of ever drying out again.)

One thing i have done to prevent this is on my lunch breaks i would simply take my shoes and socks off. I would do this for about 10 to 15 minutes to air out my feet and dry, then throw on a second "fresh pair" of socks. I would then tie the wet pair on to a strap to dry while hiking (like the other post said, plastic sacks work great and are a wilderness survivalists best friend).
Please correct me if this is not possible to do on the CTR. I plan to use my lunch breaks in this manner as taking care of my feet is a must.

This is exactly what I was planning on doing, and why I'd want to try and keep my shoes as "dry" (a relative term obviously) as possible: so that when I put on the dry socks they don't end up wet again immediately from wet shoes.

[Done]

Please correct me if this is not possible to do on the CTR. I plan to use my lunch breaks in this manner as taking care of my feet is a must.
Also, i plan to go with flat pedals and a waterproof hiking shoe. Yea or Nea?
Off topic: Toby, did you say spots were 30$ this year to rent for the CTR?

I dried my feet out a couple of times at breaks, and it felt great (almost too good--it was hard to get moving again!) Flat pedals and waterproof hiking shoes also sound like they'd work just fine. I personally don't ride with flats, but lots of people do.
Scott Morris, the owner of this site and trackleaders.com rents Spots for the CTR. I think that he charged about ~$30 last year. I expect that he'll chime in when the race gets closer.

[trailrider11]

Ok, sounds good. 30$ is better than buying and activating your own for 200$+.
To all of the CT racers out there: If you ran tubes this last year, what psi did you run and what tire do you recommend? (Toby: I remember you saying you ran with continental mountain kings.)

[faastmoto]

I have not making plan for this addition yet.

[pro_out]

  In honor of John Muir's birthdate tomorrow. "Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves." 1901

[steve_UK]

Could someone please give me an idea of what time lights are needed to ride in the evening? And what time they can be switched off in the morning? I'm trying to calculate roughly how many hours of light I need. Thanks.

[Done]

Hi Steve,

In early August in Colorado, the sun rises around 6:00 AM and sets at about 8:00 PM--so that's a pretty good starting point. Beyond that, the actual time it gets dark or light depends on which side of a valley/mountain you're on, because of the shadows. Climbing near the top of a high pass at dawn?--expect a beautiful early sunrise! On the other hand, it can be get dark a fair bit earlier in you're stuck down low behind a big peak in the evening. The type of riding will also determine how much light that you need--on some of the technical descents, I used everything that I had even when there was a fair bit if twilight, but on some of the climbs I walked well into the dark. All of that said, you'll probably be fine if you expect darkness to last from 8:00 PM until 6:00 AM.

[steve_UK]

Thanks for the info Toby. I'll get calculating.
Of course it's hard to estimate how much riding I will actually do in the dark, having not done this sort of event before. But I'm talking to others who have, getting help from here, and getting some training in......

[Done]

Of course it's hard to estimate how much riding I will actually do in the dark, having not done this sort of event before. But I'm talking to others who have, getting help from here, and getting some training in......

Heading into the unknown, even after lots of researching, planning, and thinking, was a BIG part of the fun for me last year. Enjoy!

[gregclimbs]

shoes arrived and it appears that it was about $70 well spent.

I rode today for ~2hrs in them and rolled out forgetting I still had my white rim gear on.  So I walked a fair bit of the steep stuff.

The water resistant xalps are what I will be riding.

Probably bring along these nice gators since they are 50g of dry feet insurance after I washed them in DWR...



-g

[trailrider11]

GEAR UPDATE!
I have most of my gear coming in soon and would like your opinions. 

2011 CTR Setup
Clothing
Thermal fleece pullover
Patagonia Long sleeve
Under Armor light long sleeve
Pearl izumi jersey
1 pair riding shorts
1 pair light weight riding shorts, compression underneath
Stocking cap
Long socks
Helmet
Warm gloves
Miscellaneous gear
Backup contacts and case/solution
Carmax
Chamois
Toothbrush and small tube of paste
Sunglasses
Sunscreen
Glasses(optional)
Navigation
Accutera (if needed)
Mostly done with maps and guidebook
Spot tracker
Compass
Speedometer
Gear
Relevate designs seat bag and handlebar harness.
Camelbak 100oz backpack
Waterbottles (2)
Cash
Frame bag(possibly)
Extra batteries
Lights for bike
Camping gear
Sleeping bag
Bivvy
Sleep pad
Ziplock bags for keeping things dry
Nutrients
Vitamins
Water purification tablets and filter for camelbak
5,000 cals estim
First aid
Small kit of the basics
IBProfin
Tums or pepto tablets
Matches and metal striker
Bike Repair
2 inner tubes
Multitool
Chain tool
Chain links
Deraillur hanger
Pump
Duct tape
Patch kit
Rag and small bottle of chain lube possibly.




 

[gdillon]

I have most of my gear coming in soon and would like your opinions. 

Rain jacket... I'm sure you were going to bring one, but didn't list it.

[bartspedden]

Looks like a pretty good list.  I go a bit lighter in some areas and a bit heavier in others...  For instance I go a bit lighter on the clothes/sleeping/food side of things and a bit heavier on the bike repair kit.  I like to have spare brake pads for front/rear, spare shifter cable, and a bunch of zip ties.  My clothing is dialed from competing in the mountains year round, I know exactly what my needs are so I don't bring anything extra.  I don't use a sleeping bag, just an old synthetic bag liner that's been turned into a quilt.  And while I wish I could eat 5000 calories a day... I simply can't... yet.  Believe it or not, part of my training this year is to eat as much as I can, when I can, on the bike.

On a side note, here's a question to everyone.  This winter I was riding and lost air in my rear tire (UST).  No big deal, I pulled out the pump and filled it.  The weather turned from sunny in the 50s to snowing.  I lost air again. Fine. I put a tube in.  But this time, my pump didn't work.  So I'm sitting there on the trail, getting cold, fiddling with my pump (crankbrothers ppp) trying to get it work. From what I could tell the seal on the plunger just got cold and iced over and wouldn't do it's job.  Thankfully some super cool guy (Jeff??? - may all the good trail karma flow your way  ) came by with a Big Air canister and filled me up.  Has anything like this happened to anyone? If not, what pumps are you using? My pump has worked ever since, but I've never tried it in the colder temps.  I've also considered bringing along a BigAir as a back up.  I just wish I had more confidence in my pump and didn't desire a back up.  Clearly this aspect of my kit is not as dialed as my clothing.  

[trailrider11]

Thanks and yes, I do have a rainjacket i just forgot to put it on there.

[gdillon]

I'm heading out for a 100 mile challenge next weekend if anyone's interested.  Starting at Indian Creek Campground on Saturday, May 14 at 8 am, riding the CT to Bailey, eating, then making it as far back to the beginning as possible before sleeping.

Looking to get some night riding practice as well as sleeping under trees.

I average 5 mph or so, but working on getting faster.

Gabe

[trailrider11]

Sounds like a nice trip, the midwest out here is all flooded from the continuation of storms and all our paths and trail routes are underwater. Its been 4 hours of stationary a few times a week and short trips here and there on the bike. VERY BORING.

Have a good one!