Tour 14er - Self-Supported Duathlon 14er Challenge!

[THE LONG RANGER]

Hey everyone! I'm pulling the trigger on doing a self-supported, go-fast bikepacking + trail running tour of the Colorado 14ers this year, in the style of the TD, CTR, AZTR (go fast, do it all yourself), etc. It'll be a hybrid challenge, with a route that's using bits of the GDMBR, Colorado Trail, TransAmerica Trail, plus some historic and well known passes (Pearl, Taylor, Argentine), with random bits of paved road to put the bits together. The route for any challenger is up to the challenger (just gotta tag the top of the 14ers!), so that's also kinda neat!

Here's the working copy of the idea, the rules, my idea on the ultimate route for such an adventure (avoid roads, max the amount of dirt fun!):

http://longranger.justinsimoni.com/tour14er/

I'm taking ideas, questions and suggestions - well, until I get started in mid-July. Thought I'd share - cheers, everyone!

[Adam Alphabet]

Super Sick idea! like a Nolan's meets the CTR at a TDR length on steroids. Hope the idea picks up steam and gets some people interested. It'd be neat to see some ultra types get on bikes or some bike packer types on the trail shoes. Nice work and Good Luck!

[Done]

Absolutely fantastic! I wish that I had the time. Huge kudos for taking the initiative for dreaming this up!

[Done]

Dealing with Culebra Peak could be a real issue. Timing is everything, and the limit of 30 people/day could make it tough to climb it on the ideal day. The $150 fee is absurd. Your rules seem to preclude poaching, but I'm guessing that people will anyway (unless you demand permit verification or something).

[THE LONG RANGER]

Yeah, much like the TD, etc, it's on Scout's Honor, but the stories I've heard from poaching Culebra are ninja adventures in of themselves  - like this one:

http://juliansmithnolans14.blogspot.com/2013/08/operation-dark-snake-culebra-peak.html

To keep things sustainable though, I'd never condone doing thing (not that you think I would!).

One of the more interesting things you can do with this kind of challenge is play a game of one-upmanship, since there are "official" 14ers and "unofficial" ones. Challengers that go for the record need to do at least as much as the previous, but could add another unofficial peak that any future challengers would also have to bag. One such peak is Sunlight Spire, which is a heck of a hike up to, and then you're faced with a splitter crack that goes up to 5.10. Doing that solo is above and beyond most climbers (I couldn't lead it with gear, and I'm not sure how cleanly I could even second it), even if you don't factor in that the hard stuff starts almost at 13,975 feet and an all-day hike in. Bet Chris Plesko could take a go at it, though!

I'm actually amazed something like this hasn't taken off - it may just be too large of a project to take on casually, or at least fit in one's head - I know I'm having a hard time understanding it, when I'm out on a 14er, and look aaaaaaall the way in the distance, at another range. It just seems impossible. Stories abound of people simply loading in a track for the TD/CTR/etc, grabbing their sleeping bag and heading to the start - sometimes with really good results. That'd be hard to do for this. It may stay way fringe-ish.

What I'd like to do though, is establish some good routes, so that mortals could do ranges or subranges as a realistic bike tour/hike adventure, as I think there's major potential for Colorado to a destination for bikepack-touring, outside of the GDMBR and CT strictly. It'll probably live as a website, or a eBook or something.

[THE LONG RANGER]

I'd also like to call attention to another group of people that are riding their bikes to all the 14ers this year:

http://www.pedallthepeaks.com/

They're taking a much more casual time of things (~100 days), have other goals, and it's not particularly self-supported - one of their blog entries talks about pushing the SOS button on their SPOT, because they ran out of water/problems with their purification systems a few miles away from the nearest town (and you know, entirely surrounded by snow to melt/boil), which is absolutely nuts. If you look at their rigs, their not new-school bikepacking rigs, but what looks like fully-loaded front/back pannier laden touring machines.

Sounds like their lady friends met up to deliver water and spend a little quality time with them. More than one way to do it!

I'm quite impressed with the sponsorship ops they've accumulated. I haven't anyone (nor have I really tried), save my shop sponsor, who are first and foremost my bros and friends I've known since I walked into a shop to ask about these bike inventions well over a decade ago Anyways, wish them luck, too.

[mbeardsl]

I'd be interesting to see how you'd carry the additional gear needed.  How much/what would you have to bring "extra" for such an adventure (not including something like Sunlight Spire)?

[THE LONG RANGER]

Yeah, Sunlight Spire is not on my radar for this trip, it would be just infeasible. For the next gen! (or Stefan G., whose ability and experience are up for the task!) 

"Speed (can) equal safety", so light and fast is the ticket. The style I'll be going for, once off the bike is going to be to blitz to the summit, and back, before any potential for storms come rolling through, and not parking the bike, and doing huge backpacking loops over multiple summits over multiple days. Although I may do traverses from nearby peaks - there's potential to bag up to four in one go, it makes more sense to leave most everything at the bike/basecamp.

For additional gear, over and above a bikepacking setup one would use for the Tour Divide or the CTR, I'm def. bringing a pair of trail runners (to be replaced during), potentially a pair of approach shoes, like the 5.10 Guide Tennies (which I already have) for the more technical routes, a pair of running shorts, and maybe an extra layer - maybe - that's literally it for extras. Kinda like when you're cycling up a long hill, if you're running: you're warm - the problem is sometimes then, overheating.
 
I may also potentially switch out using a small pack for something like the Ultimate Direction "Adventure Vest" -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLyfXktCDNr2xFwqKkk3MI7Iy4sCiTkejl&v=H4QIxmeQ_kQ

as these things ride a lot better on your back, when running - although for what they are, they're sure a pricey piece of kit. I use my mountain bike backpack now, and my lower back is terribly cut up after long runs, so maybe it's worth it. Again, just like in bikepacking: Comfort is King and having gear that takes away from being comfortable can be a truly limiting factor to your entire go at it.

There's no need for crampons/ice axes or any other technical gear - all the official 14ers can be done as walk ups or as 5.easy scrambles by late July - something that's a few major grades lower than what I'm comfortable free soloing - (I've been climbing a lot this past year)

If, or when the weather changes unexpectedly, I've got the fitness to literally descend 1,000 feet in ~ 10 minutes. Make it to treeline, and you can usually find a nook to weather things and make a new plan. Still gotta use your brain though, as not all mountains are this accommodating -  those will need special attention and why I'm preparing myself for some mountains to take > 1 attempt.   

So, the daily plan would be to get up as early as possible each and every summit day (which is almost every day), summit and be down before even noon, as thunderstorms are just a given. If they don't come - take it as a gift! - (a rough estimate is that every other day will be a wash b/c of t-storms.)  Descend back to the TH and to the bike, and ride to the next trailhead. If there's time, and if weather permits, go for another summit! Repeat until the day is through - probably no more than 2 of those a day, as a 4:00am wake up call usually means hitting the hay right when it's dark. Repeat that, until you're done! Depending on the difficulty of the route, many of the 14ers can be ascended in the middle of the night - that will sort of be the fudge factor of being rained out during the day. It's certainly a risk, but I've started a lot of hikes at midnight, and if you see stars and the wind is calm, you usually have a pretty big window to do your thing.

[Joliver]

Hey Justin,

I like where your head is at!  I have been thinking of doing this exact same thing for a while now, but I haven't thought that I would have the time over the next few years to do it, so I haven't actually sat down and put pen to paper in terms of logistics.  You, however, have done a great job in thinking this one through.  Super psyched for you, and will definitely be following along.  Good luck, compadre!

Jerry

[PhotoJB]

It looks like the record for this is 19D 10h 40 min 37 seconds. Found it here http://www.wwwright.com/climbing/speed/colorado14ers.htm


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[mbeardsl]

More like 37d 12h ( http://www.wwwright.com/climbing/speed/Unsupported14Effort.htm) in the way Long Ranger has presented it.  Sounds pike 19d involved support between summits where I assume he had another bike waiting for him etc.  Awesome, but different.

[THE LONG RANGER]

Yup! Andrew Hamilton has the first one, the "Self-Powered" record. He's been very open and helpful with a few of the route logistics, especially figuring out the San Juans. In turn, I've released all the routes I've whipped up, which you can find here:

http://www.bikely.com/listpaths/by/longranger

A lot of these routes are unscouted (and untested), so do please take that into consideration when using them. Much like Scott M. is doing now with the CDT for bikes, it would be amazing to put out a guide to do this specifically with a bike.

Man, I wish I could read that report that Roy Benton created about his trip - stuff of legend! < 38 days is a pretty solid effort. Now, think that Roy didn't have all the mapping softwarre, GPS, and the reams of beta we have on routes.

[ScottM]

I don't have much to add at this time, except "BRAVO!"

Looking forward to following along.

[mbeardsl]

There's no need for crampons/ice axes or any other technical gear - all the official 14ers can be done as walk ups or as 5.easy scrambles by late July - something that's a few major grades lower than what I'm comfortable free soloing - (I've been climbing a lot this past year)

I didn't realize they were *only* that technical.  Sounds like you are well prepared!

I just got done looking through the blog of the duo that did the thru hike last summer.  Some amazing pictures.  Wish I lived there again, had the time, had the fitness/skills, and a wife I could convince to allow such a thing  

[THE LONG RANGER]

I didn't realize they were *only* that technical.  Sounds like you are well prepared!

Eh, I'll  be as prepared as I can be

You *can* make the routes more technical as you want - but the hardest standard route doesn't go higher than Class 4. The Diamond on Longs Peak def. has routes that go up to 5.13 - 5.14. Insanity

[Done]

http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_24193166/pair-who-walked-colorado-14ers-expect-hit-58th

Might be worth contacting these guys. One is the son of a neighbor, so let me know if you'd like me to help with an introduction.

[Couloirman]

Sounds fun! Wish I had the time for that-- good luck! You planning on biking off the summit of any?

[THE LONG RANGER]

Actually, not particularly! But, I'd like to keep my plans flexible, and go with my whims. Not having a specific route makes things fun, since you aren't stressing about making sure you're on route and can keep the day a bit more spontaneous, which fits my character pretty well.

The logistical bummer is that you really want a bike with some squish to go down those trails and still have fun and my bike will be fully rigid and not so much fun to shred. Scott's diary has a lot of trips where he's gone up to summit some of the 14ers:

http://www.topofusion.com/diary/2011/08/24/altitude-binge-mountain-biking-14ers/


I may do some traverses with my bike ala the Arizona Trail Grand Canyon section (where logistics make some sense, and its legal to do so), but I'll leave that again to my whims

[THE LONG RANGER]

A small update - things are coming together - my biggest hurtle is figuring out where I'm living for the month of July, leading up to my depart later that month

Here's a rough draft of just the cycling route I plan to take. It tries to be somewhat direct, avoid major highways, take as much dirt as possible, as well as utilize known trails like the Colorado Trail, and the GDMBR. It's a long haul, for sure, and def. bike-packing worthy.

I may have to make some compromises on this route, to make the distance to ride a little less, but there's no huge things to cut, that I can see. One alt. would be to take the highway directly from Lake City to Gunni, rather than take the CT detour.

A more detailed version of each "leg" can be found on,

http://longranger.justinsimoni.com/tour14er/route/

[mbeardsl]

Wow, that's a big route!  Any idea on total length?  I can't wait to see some pictures and write up on the progress/completion.

I like the route you take over to the Dunes.  My mom used to drive us through there going the opposite direction when we were kids.  That's some nice scenery, and I bet a real fun thing to see coming down into the dunes.  None of my friends believe me those are there in CO.