ANNOUNCING THE 2010 CTR RAMSTRONG AWARD
I want to put up a award for the racer er...........lunatic who stays out the longest and lives to tell about it! I'm pretty poor so no cash involved, but I will give the opportunity to place an UNLIMITED wholesale order with my bike wholesaler to the last rider into Junction Creek. I will also donate $50.00 to the charity that I rode for last year RAMSTRONG in the name of the rider. I hope this will give a tiny incentive to the racer willing to hold off on pulling the plug and suffer the longest in their quest to finish. Chances are that your bike and gear will be battered and torn up so this could take the sting out of replacing you tires, drivetrain, brakepads, wheels and who knows what else got trashed. If anyone has questions about the logistics or who should actually win the award, we will have a thread discussion to vote in the recipient. Since I did not do 22 and 23 last year (I rode Cinnamon Pass), so sticking to the official course is not as important as just making it. Please talk amongst yourselves..............................
Although I didn't cross the line last, I thought I might be a candidate. I put together a timeline of the downward spiraling bike failures from the race
430 miles to go: 3 flats all within a few miles. First one was the seam broke on the tube, second was valve failure (probably from frantic pumping), third was glass on 285.
370 miles to go: wear both sets of brake pads to the metal after a long, wet descent to Gold Hill TH from Georgia Pass. Also the front brake lost fluid. No problemo, bailed to Frisco, got the parts and the guys pulled an emergency blake breed, back on the bike by 11:30 the next day.
200 miles to go: Pinch flat on Sargents Mesa
180 miles to go: Another pinch flat, Segment 18 (...wishing I had tubeless...)
110 miles to go: Another pinch flat on Segment 22. Mini pump begins to fail; I can only get the tire up to about 25 or 30 psi.
100 miles to go: 2 more pinch flats and another valve failure flat. Things getting desperate, and I'm starting to panic with big dark clouds approaching. I began pulling used patches off of spare tubes and recycling them, cutting them in half. I realize I can't afford to continue like this so I take apart my pump and get it working again (should have done that earlier but I was afraid I'd ruin the thing completely and be SOL)
90 miles to go: On segment 23, freewheel begins to fail, probably clogged from mud. I'm unable to coast. Spray it down with water and dump as much lube in there as I can, which gets it to function intermittently
80 miles to go: Another pinch flat on Stoney Pass road
70 miles to go: another wet bivy, but I don't care because I am absolutely certain I will make it to Durango the next day!
60 miles to go: On segment 25, the freewheel is progressively getting worse...On a technical section I'm forced to coast and it pulls the derailluer into the wheel. The hanger and pulley cage both snap in half (lousy carbon XTR). I whip up a single speed, which seems to be working ok but tough to keep the proper tension with a full suspension. I'm still optimistic and know that I will make it to Durango today! Nothing can stop me.
50 miles to go: Chain snaps, rebuild the single speed
40 miles to go: Little chainring snaps off. Spent a long time attempting to get the single speed working with the middle chainring, but just couldn't make the tension work for me and ran out of links.
Decided it was time to toss in the towel and hike. 
Feeling so rejected
25 miles to go: Bike rack snaps coasting down from Indian Ridge.
22 miles to go: ANOTHER pinch flat, this time while
walking my bike. Not sure how thats even possible...I spend a short amount of time debating throwing my bike off the edge and yelling curses at whoever is out to get me.
14 miles to go, 10:30 at night: Fed up with my worst day on a bike ever, bonking from running out of food, my feet destroyed from hiking/jogging, I go for one more wet bivy with the hopes that descending the last 10 miles in daylight the next day will cheer me up. I'm completely and utterly crushed as a fall asleep.
0 miles to go: Cross the line the next morning, half in tears of joy, half in tears of frustration. I drink PBR, do some reflecting, and decide that I loved the race, in spite of a miserable last day, and I'm glad I stuck it out
Thank you Cat, Garret, and Matt for keeping my spirits up that last day. You guys kept me going.
