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

[THE LONG RANGER]

If I'm to believe the gpx track it's... long. Very long. Too long.

I may have to make some compromises, so that my peanut butter + jelly and coffee budget doesn't get too tight! The goal of 35 days is severely close with this route.  Some things I can probably make easier, and still have this route look similar, and keep the flavor: 

* Taking the highway from Lake City to Gunni, rather than the CTR detour - that'll also take out the crazy hill climb out of Lake City - this is pretty much a given, the CT Detour isn't that awesome, and goes well out of your way. I think a reprieve after the entire San Juan range would be nice, as well. Getting to Gunnison/Crested Butte will be awesome, and surely a time for some bike maintenance at a place I know can help. 

* Taking HWY 9 after Hartsel, rather than continuing to Como (and then, basically backtracking to Alma) on the GDMBR. 50% chance that'll happen. The route on HWY 9 has a bike path on it, so it's easy enough to do in the dead of night. I think my only interest in going to Como IS the Como Depot. Sorry, friends. I would like to take the GDMBR all the way over Boreas Pass (rather than Hoosier Pass), but Quandary Peak is basically on Hoosier Pass and detouring to dirt will only add more backtracking on pavement. HWY 9 is a part of the Trans-whatever bike way, so that's nice.

* Taking Loveland Pass over to the rest of the Frontrange, rather than Argentine Pass - it'll be quicker, and I won't have to backtrack for Grays/Torreys. Argentine Pass is epic though, it'll make this a true bikepacking experience. I wanna keep it in, even though it's ridiculous

* There's a much more direct route from Culebra to Creede, but it's a lot of boring highway riding, rather than a great part of the GDMBR, I'm hoping to keep that on, and negate as much hot, highway riding across the san luis valley as I can. The bonus to doing the reroute would be a stop in Del Norte. Good Juice place, there! Leaning towards keeping that.

* Staying on the highway from Idaho Springs to Longs Peak - most likely will happen - except taking Oh My God Road, out of Idaho Springs (misses most of the Central City Parkway, which isn't missing much, replaces it with steep, but very doable dirty route) , unless I'm well within doing this in 35 days. The highway riding is pretty tough for highway riding - lots of ups and downs, with only Ned. as an actual place with a grocery store. Hate to have to go through Central City - that'll be a weird wakeup call to the weirdness of the real world (although historicaly, it could be cool). If I could find a fairly direct, dirt road way that bipasses Central City, I'd take it, even if only to Ned.

You can play with the (simplified) GPX, here:

http://longranger.justinsimoni.com/tour14er/the_route_6_22_14.gpx

Each segment can be see/exported, here:

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

I'm slowing going through all the stops and making calculations, heavily padded on the hard peaks to see what a ETA would be to finish. I'd like to get 'er done by Labor Day, if at all possible. I'm calculated w/20 minute miles/1,000 feet an hour hiking, and 8mph on the bike - so glacial pace, but I don't expect very chipper legs! I can most likely do much faster, but I gotta err on the side of slowness, for the inevitable bikemergency.

[THE LONG RANGER]

Oh, and my, "35 days" estimate is based soley on this one account of some dude doing it, almost 20 years ago:

http://www.wwwright.com/climbing/speed/Unsupported14Effort.htm

SURELY with modern equipment, and all the beta known in 2014, the time can be met or beaten. In almost 20 years ago, and no one has clocked a faster time - or a time at all! It's quadruple the amount of time between John Stamsted ITT'ing the GDMBR and the first Great Divide Race!

Another perspective, is that there's a group of 3 right now that's gunning to do it in 100 days. 100 days! They've taken up to 4 days off at a time - it's def. not a speed run - more of a party on wheels, thing (lucky them).

Yet another perspective is that Andrew Hamilton has done it via bike, with full support (including bike changes, full sag, etc) in 19 days and change. Is doing it self-support going to take almost twice as long?

[Mathewsen]

Justin, you'll be pleased to know that a couple of years ago I had aspirations for a standing 14ers live SPOT tracker map taking off, being used by the masses, but we've yet to promote it (for various reasons). However, the mapping work is (thankfully) done. Check out all the (primary) routes on our Nolan's live tracker by panning around the map: http://trackleaders.com/nolans14
Giddy up!

[THE LONG RANGER]

Let's get 'er going for this! Once I get a proper start time, I'll ping Trackleaders about it. Since Culebra is a paid-for mountain, I have to figure out the time-to-get-there, as best I can. Seriously nerve-racking, making sure I don't fully over or under estimate my ETA!

[mbeardsl]

Oh, and my, "35 days" estimate is based soley on this one account of some dude doing it, almost 20 years ago:

http://www.wwwright.com/climbing/speed/Unsupported14Effort.htm

SURELY with modern equipment, and all the beta known in 2014, the time can be met or beaten. In almost 20 years ago, and no one has clocked a faster time - or a time at all! It's quadruple the amount of time between John Stamsted ITT'ing the GDMBR and the first Great Divide Race!

Another perspective, is that there's a group of 3 right now that's gunning to do it in 100 days. 100 days! They've taken up to 4 days off at a time - it's def. not a speed run - more of a party on wheels, thing (lucky them).

Yet another perspective is that Andrew Hamilton has done it via bike, with full support (including bike changes, full sag, etc) in 19 days and change. Is doing it self-support going to take almost twice as long?

Looks like that gpx track linked above is only a partial route?

I'm curious if you ever got the written report of Benton's trip from Andrew?  I bet that'd be a fun read.

On a side note, I've been following Andrews record attempt, pretty interesting to see another way to race.  Talk about logistics!  For example, having someone drive a raft up today so he can cross a river vs doing an out and back and driving to the next mountain.  Also, looks like he's on pace to reach his goal. 

[THE LONG RANGER]

Looks like that gpx track linked above is only a partial route?

Yikes! You're right, that's just shakedown trip I did a few weeks, ago! Got 4 in that time, plus 2nd place in a gravel grinder! (should now be fixed)

The GPS track says it's > 3,000 miles, but the elevation profile looks very suspicious (lots of repeated peaks and valleys). I'm double-checking. 3k miles is a long haul, even without the mountains to climb - I wonder if it's more than half - the *perimeter* of CO is 1600 miles. The main course is really the mountains - I'd like the route to be direct, efficient, and still be off paved highways. In CO, that should be a huge order!

I'm curious if you ever got the written report of Benton's trip from Andrew?  I bet that'd be a fun read.

Oh, man I wish. I bet it's lost in time, if I'm to gauge my own Word docs from 1995 (which would be middle school!). I think Benton was an accomplished mountain climber in his own right, so it's just not some dude hanging in CO for a while, or anything.

On a side note, I've been following Andrews record attempt, pretty interesting to see another way to race.  Talk about logistics!  For example, having someone drive a raft up today so he can cross a river vs doing an out and back and driving to the next mountain.  Also, looks like he's on pace to reach his goal.  

Yeah, it's pretty crazy, such a different style. Check out the photos of the totaled car.

[mbeardsl]

Yikes! You're right, that's just shakedown trip I did a few weeks, ago! Got 4 in that time, plus 2nd place in a gravel grinder! (should now be fixed)

The GPS track says it's > 3,000 miles, but the elevation profile looks very suspicious (lots of repeated peaks and valleys). I'm double-checking. 3k miles is a long haul, even without the mountains to climb - I wonder if it's more than half - the *perimeter* of CO is 1600 miles. The main course is really the mountains - I'd like the route to be direct, efficient, and still be off paved highways. In CO, that should be a huge order!

Oh, man I wish. I bet it's lost in time, if I'm to gauge my own Word docs from 1995 (which would be middle school!). I think Benton was an accomplished mountain climber in his own right, so it's just not some dude hanging in CO for a while, or anything.

Yeah, it's pretty crazy, such a different style. Check out the photos of the totaled car.

Nice job on the gravel grinder. Huge week!

I saw those car pics.  I'd have a hard time continuing after something like that happening to the support crew.  Not judging, just saying it'd be mentally tough.

The gpx file is strange.  It shows up in sections for me, says 3222.3 miles.  But when I merge the separate tracks into one (so I could see the total elevation profile) I get 1621.7 miles and 226K ft in elevation (without the summit hikes!!!).  That also seems to match when you start mapping it out with Strava, Google, etc.

[THE LONG RANGER]

I saw those car pics.  I'd have a hard time continuing after something like that happening to the support crew.  Not judging, just saying it'd be mentally tough.

I do agree, that would be harsh to continue, knowing that sort of accident happened. Let's hope the rest will be a cruise, however you define, "cruise"! Mountains are mountains and the dangers are there for everyone to negotiate.

So, that gpx was created by exporting all the gpx's from bikeley, imported into Google Earth, exporting out as a KML, changed back to a GPX with GPSBabel (that then simplified it, so it wasn't a hyoooge file) - I'm guessing all those changes made some, as they say, lossy changes. If only Topofusion worked on the Mac! Find me a Windows license and dual-boot this macbook! 

[mbeardsl]

I can send you the merged file if you need it.

[THE LONG RANGER]

That's OK - I got it figured out... (I think). The cycling route seems to come a little under 1600 miles in my latest iteration. I'm deciding to take the highway from Lake City to Gunnison, as well as HWY 9 from Harstel - those make total sense. Probably be taking the HWY, after Central City, as well. Good chance I'll be taking Loveland Pass up and over the Divide, out of Summit County, as well, as Argentine Pass may not be officially accessible out of Montezuma, anyways.

Nice and tightened up! Now to ride it!

[ScottM]

No problems with access on Argentine.  But I wouldn't recommend it going eastbound -- mostly a hike.

Sounds like an early Aug start or late July?  We'll get a map going, for sure.  Looking forward to seeing it go.

[THE LONG RANGER]

Gonna drop in about 9 days or so. "I gotta figure out the start date" has been on my todo list for a few weeks now.

I think Argentine was an emotional choice - I've done it west bound with my Crosscheck. Hauling a trailer. Took about 3 trips to grab all the gear, schlep it up, assemble it all, and go down the West side. And then, I got a bit more enlightened on how to do bikepacking, properly It's a hike, fer sure. I may be in "let's get this finished up, already" mode, so we'll see which way I go. Loveland Pass, logistically, makes way more sense, as I don't need to double-back, once I'm down from Argentine.

I mean, if I had my way, I'd ride up Loveland, and hike from the Pass, over to Grays/Torreys, and traverse all the way Guanella Pass. That's a worthy goal in of itself! I don't know if it's the right thing to do, fully loaded! Eh, if I have time. If not, before the snow starts fallin'

[bmike-vt]

So, for most of these, the bike stays at the trailhead? But for others, the bike might go up and over, or at least through a pass on your back? Curious. Thinking about some local stuff where bikes are verboten but want to connect things up.

[THE LONG RANGER]

The rules I have in place, it would be totally up to you on how you'd like to summit, provided that the way you go about things is LEGAL for the area.  I like this, as it adds a lot of flexibility for how people would like to complete the challenge, although if you think things through, it rarely makes sense to schlep the bike up, except if you're doing some sort of traverse, and even then... It comes down to simple physics: where once the grade of the climb reaches a certain point,  it's much faster to simply hike up something, than try to ride, or hike-a-bike it. But the photo ops on the summit w/bike certainly could make it worth it!

Some areas where it would be legal to literally ride up to the summit would be the paved road up Mt. Evans or Pikes Peak, the dirt road almost all the way up Mt. Antero, Mt Elbert - which is right off the Colorado Trail, Lincoln/Cameron/Democrat/Bross, Mt. Sherman - there's actually quite a few summits you can summit via bike. Lots of places you can't, or wouldn't want to - anything in Wilderness, anything in Rocky Mountain National Park (Longs). Another thing to think about is descending these trails: fun with a nice squishy bike and a competent pilot, not so fun with the Surly Ogre I got. 14ers in the summer also get way crowded and there's a good correlation w/"bikable 14ers" and "crowds" - it's gonna be hard to descend fast and you're not gonna make a lot of friends smoking down a trail no one is really going to expect a bike on. There's lots of casual hikers on these trails - there's a chance they're not going to be super aware of their surroundings, except to take photos of all the beautiful scenes, around them.

The Loveland Pass -> Guanella Pass Traverse would be pretty showy - it's a long hike by itself above treeline already. Huckin' a bike ala AZTR Grand Canyon style would be an exercise in pain, for sure. But, it would be OK to do, as none of the area falls in Wilderness. Going from Guanella Pass, to the top of Evans would be a no-no even though it's possible, because you'd have to go into the Mt. Evans Wilderness. I'd like to try that Loveland -> Guanella traverse someday with a pretty light rig: it would make a pretty incredible loop and a fine one-day challenge.

So anyways, my plan is to leave the bike at the trailhead for the most part - I may even be pretty strict about the, "Colorado Rule": be 3,000 feet below the summit before you start hiking. Most places, that's a given already. Following the Colorado Rule will make comparing times with those who are going for the fully supported challenge (being shuttled from TH to TH) a lot easier. I can't think of any of the mountains where one would benefit from traversing over, by bike, to gain a time advantage.

[bmike-vt]

Can you possess a bike in wilderness so long as it is inoperable? Of verboten completely? I have a few routes mapped here in the east but the letter of the law is use is prohibited, possession, assuming inoperable for a bullet proof defense, is OK.

Love following the progression on this. Can't wait to read about it.

[THE LONG RANGER]

The letter of the law is totally that even possession in Wilderness is a no no, and I'm not gonna challenge that! It's pretty serious from what I understand - even trail work done in Wilderness, is done with hand tools, for example. I know Curiak and co. have done trips where they have traversed over Wilderness in CO, while carrying their bikes, but I don't know the details enough to comment on if that was truly OK. It's def. a touchy subject.

Should be a wild trip! The first week is stressful (lots of hard peaks, gotta get to Culebra on time), and the rest looks like a ton - and I mean a ton of fun.

[bmike-vt]

Yeah, in the ADKs possession of a chain saw is prohibited. But possession of a bike, so long as it is not operable is OK. That is for ADK park, different than Fed wilderness. So, some folks say that you should be able to push like a canoe cart or dead animal cart if you pull the seat or pedals off. For the trip I have sketched I will just strap to my back for 6-8 mile stretches. I raised quote a bit of discussion on a local forum when I broached the subject.

Now, if I can get my hands on a packraft.... That would change things up. Lots of places to get into, but you get hemmed in by wilderness and water. So, ride in, maybe walk a short distance portaging bike, then float out to another trail or dirt road.

[THE LONG RANGER]

The regs. do start to get really weird and not so much making sense, but it's a slippery slope for sure. I know there was a new wilderness in CO that some wanted to designate, but having it would close down a ton of already established MTB routes, so a different plan was put together to figure out a happy medium, basically Wilderness+ (the plus being mountain bikes). Not sure where that sits atm - I wanna say it was called, "Ruby", but my Google-fu is failing me. 

[THE LONG RANGER]

Sorry, it's called, "Hidden Gem". There was a good pro-mtb video, which I'm also failing to find.

[Shirey]

Looks like the start is near!

Good Luck Justin! I'll be rooting for you.

I met you at Tank 7 Creek last year when we had our Copper Spoke. After I explain some of your crazy adventures to my wife, she thinks mine are totally sane, so thanks for that.

I hope you have a lot of fun!