CTR 2012 Planning

[Laps]

GPS, maps, databook, compass, and I think I am going to bring some breadcrumbs along just in case.  At the very least, I know there will be people in front of me, so there should be some tire tracks to follow   

All good stuff, thanks to all who chimed in.  I am sure I will have more questions later. 

[JTVT29]

Hey Laps, I'm a VTer too and gearing up for my first attempt at the CTR this year.  Where in VT are you?  Maybe we could get together for some training rides and gear discussions this winter.

Shoot me an email if you're up for it.... jaytvt29 at gmail dot com

[Chad B]

Just wanted to get signed onto this thread....good stuff.

[mtbordie]

I also am planning my first ctr adventure in 2012.  Due to only wanting to take
one week off from work I have been thinking a sat start time so i won't have
the pressure of a 6 day finish bearing down on me as I really want to finish
this thing.  I live in the Thornton area if anyone is interested in doing some
trainning rides on the weekends.

[bartspedden]

I also am planning my first ctr adventure in 2012.  Due to only wanting to take
one week off from work I have been thinking a sat start time so i won't have
the pressure of a 6 day finish bearing down on me as I really want to finish
this thing.  I live in the Thornton area if anyone is interested in doing some
trainning rides on the weekends.

Hi mtbordie! It's good you're starting early on your CTR planning/training, working under a deadline is tough thing.  I'm guessing it's a big reason folks drop out. As I see it, a 6 day race means you'll need to be covering roughly 85 miles a day, and about 10,800' along with it. So, to make it back to work on monday, that means getting off the trail, having someone pick you up, feast some place in Durango, and get on the road. Maybe you can get some shut eye on the drive home. And somehow function at work on Monday.  That's a seriously tough agenda! Let us know how we can help!

If I was serious about taking only a week off I would probably shoot for a 5'ish day race so that I could crash in Durango for a solid night before someone drove me home.  That way I have a little time to  start to refuel the body with some real food and give my brain the chance to adjust to normal life again. I've never had much of an issue with my body after these types of efforts, it's more of a mental thing for me.  I seem to want/need a couple days of quiet time to sleep and veg out. My brain just wants to relive everything.  But that's me, everyone is different.

But seriously dude, a sub 6 race is an awesome goal! A sub 6 race and going to work 1 day later is twice the goal! You may want to check out riding with Jeff Kerkove up in Fort Collins.  They seem to have somewhat regular rides for the faster folks. I don't really know Jeff, just know "of" him from this site and his blog: http://www.jeffkerkove.net

Good luck man!

[peteshoe]

Looks like Waterton Canyon will be open for next years race.

http://www.denverwater.org/Recreation/WatertonCanyon/

[JCarr13]

Wow. CTR Planning already? Im excited to ride again next year!! Such a great trail.
Gotta make it through the winter first though.

[fritz]

Sign me up. While thru-hiking the CT last summer, I swore that I would never bike it, and even took pictures of the gnarliest hike-a-bike sections to dissuade myself, but to no avail. Selective memory has always been one of my strong suits.

I look forward to reading everyone else's training and trip reports. Iron sharpens iron.

Current phase: Daily 10 mile round trip commute, two weekly ~4-8hr ride/bc skis, daily pushups and grip exercises.

Ride on!


Wilson Creek Summit near Dallas Divide; Ridgway, CO

[mtnbound]

I have trouble with sharp pain and tingling /numbness in my hands from riding.  I have read that changing grips can help. I looked into some ergon grips.  What type of grips do you use?

[bikpdlr]

The best money I've ever spent on anything bike-related was a "professional" bike fitting.

Professional is the operative word here.  Find someone who is trained and certified in standardized techniques like...

• The Wobble-naught bike fitting system/Dartfish Video analysis - http://www.wobblenaught.com/
• ReTul - http://retul.com/

Endurance racers and coaches like Eddie O'dea (Atlanta, GA) specializes in Wobble-naught (http://www.55nine.com/) and long-time fitters like Chris Pieck (Greensboro, NC) specialize in Retul fittings.

Chris has worked with the likes of Chris Eatough and Eddie has worked with Carey Lowery, Rob Roberts and Krista Park.

Personally, I've been working with Chris Pieck and I'm amazed by the difference.  His fitting is no one night stand, he will work with you as long as it takes and until you are completely satisfied.

The thing that instilled the most confidence in his abilities was his post-fit request to ride "uncomfortably" if I was able, but not "painfully" for the first 24 hours and to jot down every complaint I had (i.e. numbness, knee, etc.).  After the first hour of riding I was uncomfortable, but NOT in pain.  And, I had atleast 5 items on my list.  Over the next 23 hours of riding, every one of those items was removed from the list as they worked themselves out on their own.  I had conditioned my body to tolerate a bad fitting, so the right fitting took some time to adapt to.

That was it ... I was a believer (period).

Since I got "dialed in" I've completed my first 100 mile day on an MTB, then my first 150 mile day, then my first 185 mile day on an MTB (CFiTT 2011).

I still have multi-day formats ahead, but I have ton's of confidence that I have a "fit that won't quit" and I've never been more comfortable on a bicyle in my life.

BTW ... I run Ergon grips and I wouldn't have anything else.

[fritz]

I switched to Ergons a year ago and never looked back. I ride a rigid fork on technical terrain, and my hands have never complained.

 The only downside is that the models with short bar ends have slippage issues on carbon bars, and that getting the adjustment dialed in takes some trial and error on the initial setup or anytime you make a cockpit adjustment.

[mtnbound]

Thanks for all of the advice!  I am thinking about the GS model ergon grips -they are the new model size brand the gp and gx but there are few reviews.   Good to hear from others that  the grips actually help.

I never thought about bike fit for hand problems, thought that primarily helped knee issues so thanks for the tip! 

[anth]

Never had any serious hand issues but got a pair of the GS grips last year and I'll never use anything else. Awesome comfort over the long haul and still small enough to have good control. I went with the GS because the bar ends are a good compromise length wise with enough room for a few fingers. I did have some slippage issue initially on an Enve carbon bar but sprayed some cheapo sticky hair spray in there and they've been good for the past 8mo without any damage to the carbon. Can't go wrong with the Ergons for long rides in my opinion. See you in August @ Waterton!

Cheers

anthony

[bartspedden]

I tried a pair of Ergon GP1s and had to go back to my ODI Rogues. Basically, the bump in the palm is too high for my hands and causes severe pain after 90 minutes.  I talked to the folks at the LBS and they said that it was probably because I had a size large.  They suggested that the large was better for a commuter and the small was better for mountain biking. So I put the larges on the commuter and still have pain... I have absolutely no issues with my ODIs, but I do think another hand position would make for an even better experience so I think I might try the Ergon GR2 BioKorks in the small size. 

[DanHickstein]

Hi Bart,

I always ride with the Rogues – they are a sweet grip! I've never really understood how the Ergon grips worked for technical riding. I got some cheap bar-ends to use with the Rogues and they worked really well for the CTR. You can grab the bar ends in the middle or way up on the ends, so they provide some variety to keep your hands from getting tired. Also, since you can get your whole hand on them, they are amazing for climbing. http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bc/SBCEqProduct.jsp?spid=41552

Cheers, Dan

[bartspedden]

Thanks dan, that's a good idea! It gets the job done, keeps me on the grips that I like, and it saves me some money! Now the real question is... why didn't I think of this??? 

[Joliver]

I tried a pair of Ergon GP1s and had to go back to my ODI Rogues. Basically, the bump in the palm is too high for my hands and causes severe pain after 90 minutes.  I talked to the folks at the LBS and they said that it was probably because I had a size large.  They suggested that the large was better for a commuter and the small was better for mountain biking. So I put the larges on the commuter and still have pain... I have absolutely no issues with my ODIs, but I do think another hand position would make for an even better experience so I think I might try the Ergon GR2 BioKorks in the small size. 

This is interesting.  I think Ergon makes a tremendous product.  However, I had a little bit of difficulty with them on the CTR due to relentless amount of pushing the bike uphill.  I couldn't quite seem to get the angle right throughout the race.  The angle that I normally use while riding seemed to cause a pretty fair amount of consistent pressure in the palm of my hand (due to the curvature of the grip) while pushing the bike uphill.

Like I said, great product, but for the CTR they didn't work well for me. 

[mtnbound]

Thanks for all of the great responses on types of grips!  Good stuff to mull over.

bart - I have heard about the issue with the large Ergon grips being too large for most people (particularly the GP series) and I have heard it recommended that the vast majority should get the small size.  I think that is why they came up with the mid sized GS.

Joliver - you bring up an interesting point for a newbie like me.  Grips like Ergon that have a bigger palm area to relieve pressure are made to be somewhat horizontal/parallel to the ground to work while in the riding position.  However, when hiking/pushing your bike (which happens quite a bit on the CTR as I can easily tell), that palm area would seem to be in the wrong position since your palm will now be more vertical to the ground.  Is this the problem you are describing?  Are the grips easy to move (i.e. can be done in a matter of seconds)?  Do others with grips with larger palm areas (like Ergon) have the same problem?  Anyone else experience this problem on the CTR?

One additional questions/survey on grips -how many of you used grips with bar ends in the CTR?  If so, would you use them again in the next CTR?  If you didn't use them in the CTR, do you wish you would have had them?  I know this is a personal choice but with the substantial climbing (OK, that word choice seems vastly, vastly understated!) involved and the longs days in the saddle, it seem like it would be nice to be able to change hand position from time to time, plus help with climbing.  I had bar ends many years ago but I ditched them after one year since my rides were mostly 1-2 hour local stuff with not too much climbing and I didn't like having my hand butt up against the bar end all the time, particularly when I rarely used them.   But, CTR seems like it might be a good reason to go back to bar ends, such as on GS2.

[JReeves]

I'll chime in with a response, I'll be a first timer this year, so take it for what it is.  I'm planning on running the Ergon GC2's for the CTR.  I used them on a 250 mile bikepacking trip that lasted 4 days and found them great.  I suffered no wrist or hand pain.  Like you mentioned, for climbing they're great.  I've found that the wider grip helps to open the chest up for breathing, makes the slow and technical uphills a little easier to navigate, and the obvious benefit of giving you multiple hand holds and angles.

[DanHickstein]

Hi Mtnbound, I too ditched the bar ends for a while since they used up space on the end of the bar and I always found myself pushing the edge of my hands against the bar ends while using the grips. For the CTR bike I switched from a 27" bar to a 28.5" bar and found that this worked much better with the bar ends. It seems that the bar ends each take up 1/2 of an inch or so on the end of the bars, so I guess it makes sense that I had to get bars that were at least an inch longer to compensate. I was riding a singlespeed and really like to climb standing up, so I thought that the bar ends were awesome. If I was sitting down more I don't think they would as useful.