CTR 2012 Planning

[Boney]

Hey Boney, do those Mountain Laurel Rain Mitts stand up to much time on the handlebars? They look awesome, but looking at the weight, I'd assume that they would wear through pretty quickly.

So far so good! I've only had them for about a year, but I used them fairly frequently on the TD last year and they still look basically new.

[nepbug]

I got out on the CT for a trial run of some gear on Saturday night.  I thought I would share so everyone can see what the first part of the trail is looking like.

I started just before sunset and rode through section 1 and into section 2.  Section 2 is crappy for camping, so I back-tracked to the South Platte to camp there.  With those fierce southerly winds it was smoky and warm.  At 11:45 when I stopped for the night I was still in short sleeves and shorts and it was 66 degrees out!

[joeydurango]

Oh, this makes me jealous.  If I survive this summer inside the shop 60 hours a week it will be a miracle.  There's always next year... sigh.  Keep having fun out there!  T-minus two months...

[Woodland]

I did a classic Buff creek loop last week, riding the CT from the South Platte to the Wellington Lake road and then looping back through to Buff creek and the trail is in great shape - super sandy and granular east of Chair Rocks. The Wellington Lake road has been smoothed out all the way from Bailey in and I was clocking close to 40 mph on a short stretch of it (wind at my back)! No washboard!!

Too bad the CT route doesn't join up with the Buffalo Burn trail - so much nicer than the old road segment that the CT follows in that area...

[mtnbound]

Nepbug- nice pics!

Woodland - good to hear Wellington road is in good shape.

Any suggestions on specific gym/weight lifting exercises to help on the hike a bike? I have been doing some curls and shoulder exercises ( overhead lifts).

Also curious about whether others specifically bring a knife. My multitool has a small knife and not sure I want to carry leatherman just to have a bigger knife but extra weight if it doesn't serve much purpose.

Getting excited for this awesome event!

[Done]

Any suggestions on specific gym/weight lifting exercises to help on the hike a bike? I have been doing some curls and shoulder exercises ( overhead lifts).

Also curious about whether others specifically bring a knife. My multitool has a small knife and not sure I want to carry leatherman just to have a bigger knife but extra weight if it doesn't serve much purpose.

All I carry is a small Leatherman Juice C2. The blade is pretty small, but it does everything that I need it to. When I bought some Nutella in Leadville, I picked up a plastic knife from the deli to spread it with.

[Yogi the Barry]

Toby,
Since there isn't yet an official 2012 GPS track, just wondering if your GPS track is going to be the surrogate track?
And do we need to do anything with Trackleaders.com to reserve a Spot?
-B

[Done]

Toby,
Since there isn't yet an official 2012 GPS track, just wondering if your GPS track is going to be the surrogate track?
And do we need to do anything with Trackleaders.com to reserve a Spot?
-B

Hi Barry,

The track on Stefan's site is still the official one. Just ride up Waterton Canyon instead of the alternative start that's been required the past couple of years. I just posted my track because it's a little more accurate than Stefan's, and it includes the Colorado Trail mileages from Bear Creek Survey. Either track should work great though.

Now that the Waterton Canyon road is open, I need to ride it and update my track as well. The posted track is good, but the first few miles are drawn rather than ridden because of the closure.

As far as Trackleaders goes, that's Scott's deal. He and/or Stefan will probably post something about that a little closer to the start of the race. I don't know  how Stefan will handle the size issue this year, since last year's race was pretty close to the Forest Service's cut-off limit.

[nepbug]

Hi Barry,

The track on Stefan's site is still the official one. Just ride up Waterton Canyon instead of the alternative start that's been required the past couple of years. I just posted my track because it's a little more accurate than Stefan's, and it includes the Colorado Trail mileages from Bear Creek Survey. Either track should work great though.

Now that the Waterton Canyon road is open, I need to ride it and update my track as well. The posted track is good, but the first few miles are drawn rather than ridden because of the closure.

As far as Trackleaders goes, that's Scott's deal. He and/or Stefan will probably post something about that a little closer to the start of the race. I don't know  how Stefan will handle the size issue this year, since last year's race was pretty close to the Forest Service's cut-off limit.

Toby,
  I'm still learning the GPS, but maybe I could get me my track from this weekend and you can use it to update yours.

  But if you want an excuse to go out and ride that section, by all means...

I had both my eTrex 30 and Edge 500 on the bike with me.

[Done]

Toby,
  I'm still learning the GPS, but maybe I could get me my track from this weekend and you can use it to update yours.

  But if you want an excuse to go out and ride that section, by all means...

I had both my eTrex 30 and Edge 500 on the bike with me.

That would be awesome! My bike is in the shop right now, so I'm not going to get a chance to ride for a bit. So, yes, please e-mail me the track and I'll plug it in right away!

Thanks!

[mtbordie]

I was out this weekend doing some hiking in my cycling shoes to see how they
are going to work for extended periods of hike a bike and I rolled my
ankle pretty good, not real sure if it was due to the shoes or not.
So I was wondering if anyone bothers carrying a second pair of shoes for
hiking. My current shoes are made by lake and I really like them because
they have real tread on the bottom and are slightly flexible, no sore spots
up until I tweaked my ankle. Now I am changing my training to more time
with weights and upper body stuff till the foot heals.
Opinions on the second pair of shoes anyone yea or nay?

[Done]

Opinions on the second pair of shoes anyone yea or nay?

Like Rover said, it's not like there are long stretches of hiking followed by long stretches of riding. Seems like I got off and on my bike a hundred times per day! So, no, I don't think that bringing an extra pair of hiking shoes would work well.

I'll be using Shimano SH-MT53 shoes this year. They are mid-height, which makes them good for walking. The strap keeps my heels from lifting, which reduces blisters.

You could also try regular hiking shoes with flat pedals.

[JReeves]

I too screwed up my ankle this weekend on my CTR shakedown run.  Not entirely sure if the shoes are to blame, but it has me a little concerned.  We ended up hiking about 15 miles of our 75 mile loop, most of the hiking in snow and mud... It was rough!  Feet felt fine at the time, aside from being wet and cold the entire two days, but upon getting home, my left ankle has been pretty swollen and stiff on the inner ankle bone.  We were doing some serious bushwhacking and the shins and arms took a ton of abuse as well.  Not sure if I whacked it on rocks/pedals/everything, or if it's due to something being "off".  I was wearing the shoes I just bought with intentions of wearing on the CTR, the Mavic Razors.  They have pretty aggressive treads, and aren't as stiff as many shoes, so I thought they'd be a good fit.  Now I'm kind of back to square one.  I've worn the shoes on several rides with no discomfort, so I might give them another go, on a long overnighter.  But I'm also considering the Pearl Izumi X Alp Enduro III's now, as they're designed specifically for hiking and biking, and offer a little more ankle support.  They look very similar to the Shimano's you just mentioned Toby.  It seems a general consensus as of late, that a very "hiking oriented" shoe is a must...

On a separate note, related to the GPS discussion above...
I used my Garmin Edge 800 this weekend and was pleasantly surprised.  Aside from only having topo maps loaded, that when zoomed out far enough to try to get a broad idea of where certain dirt roads might lead, would simply give me a blank screen.  I'm not sure if that's user error(by not loading other maps as well), or a flaw in the small screen of the Edge.  It was super easy to follow trails on the topo maps, and just being able to visualize certain bends in the trail and your relative location to them is awesome.  
I've downloaded the above mentioned GPX files.  With the confusion of zooming out on the Edge, and as a general backup plan, I'd like to make some Cue Sheets for the CTR.  I'm hoping to break it down into several segments, one for each day ideally.  I want to be able to print a small map with the course appearing as a line, and then also an elevation profile along the bottom, and perhaps a few notes as to water sources or anything else important...  This is all on a Mac as well...  I've found a few programs that are free to download that claim to do this, but are for PC only...
So, I've played around in GSPvisualizer and the Garmin Basecamp, but still can't figure out how to break down a route into "chunks" or days....
Does anybody have a technique for this?  I want to keep the same route obviously, but just be able to separate the route between two set points as a new "route" or file...

[Woodland]

How bout the CT Databook - has cues, profiles, maps on small pages.

That is all I plan to use, cut out the relevant pages throw them in a ziploc and reset my computer at each segment. I know the trail pretty well to the Hot springs, but beyond is new for me. I will have a GPS, but only as backup in the bottom of my pack.

[mtnbound]

I've been planning on using the databook too, along with GPS.  It has lots of good info in it, such as water sources and camping places. I've made notes in the databook and plan on making notes in it along the way, but gps will be my primary guide.

[TruthRider]

I found the databook to be simply awesome last year.   Not so much for routefinding - honestly, 98% of the route is very easy to follow, with few exceptions - but for knowing how much longer I had to go to get to some landmark.  For me, given that I was beyond exhausted beginning around Bailey and pretty much the rest of the way, it was invaluable to know that in 2.7 miles I was coming to the top of a long climb and would have a precious 4 mile downhill after that.   And then the downhill went by in like 53 seconds and it was back to climbing for another 2 hours.

Seriously.  If you're doing this race for the first time - big, big props to you for doing so, by the way - I'd say the CT databook is a Top 3 essential item.

I mostly remember that 2 days into it, all the plans and preconceptions and expectations I had were out the window.  A friend had urged me to "remember to enjoy the views" and believe me, this was much harder than it sounds.  When you're pushing your bike up slight grades that you would NEVER push up if it were just some regular ride, it's hard to look around and tell yourself how awesome it is.   But it is awesome, the route goes through the best that CO has to offer.  I'm not riding it this year and I'm jealous as hell of all of you.

[JReeves]

I just ordered the Data Book, as well as the Guide Book through Amazon. 
I also played around in the BaseCamp program a bit, and figured out how to do exactly what I was looking to do.  I was able to split the entire Track into 5 separate tracks, and then color code each of them to a day.  There's also the ability to then get an elevation profile from each of those new shorter Tracks.  Worked out great. 

[sherpaxc]

Reeves, which gps are you using?

[mtbordie]

Thanks for the input about the shoes, I didn't think I would need to carry around another
pair but just one of the thoughts about the race. It is amazing how much stuff goes
through your head about getting ready for this.  Now that start is getting closer I
have a doubting thought pops up llike WHAT THE HELL AM I THINKING am i really
ready for this, but I talk myself out of thinking like that. I just am excited about seeing
what we are capable of. My main goal is to have fun regardless of the outcome, out
riding for a week isn't anything to complain about.

mtnbound you still planning a earlier take off day as I am thinking of sat morning
instead of mon.  Wish I had the time to ride with the pack but work won't allow it.

[sanjuanrider]

I found the databook to be simply awesome last year.   Not so much for routefinding - honestly, 98% of the route is very easy to follow, with few exceptions - but for knowing how much longer I had to go to get to some landmark.  For me, given that I was beyond exhausted beginning around Bailey and pretty much the rest of the way, it was invaluable to know that in 2.7 miles I was coming to the top of a long climb and would have a precious 4 mile downhill after that.   And then the downhill went by in like 53 seconds and it was back to climbing for another 2 hours.

Seriously.  If you're doing this race for the first time - big, big props to you for doing so, by the way - I'd say the CT databook is a Top 3 essential item.

I couldn't agree more with TruthRider - the CT databook is absolutely essential.  I lost my GPS on the 2nd day of the CTR in 2010   but had the databook  .  Is was essential for finding water, and knowing big climbs that would let me make plans during thunderstorms. That said a GPS with the route plugged in is a tool I will always use.  Most of the trail is well marked but I had trouble in about 3 spots on the south end (Jirosa Mesa, a few miles out of Bolam Pass, and then about 10 miles from Junction Creek finish) due to signs being down or trail splits with no markers.  Other than that the CT is excellent at being marked at every questionable turn.