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| Fred and Jesse Jakomait prepare to depart from Waterton Canyon |
The CTR is definitely an adventure and a test of physical and mental fortitude. Whether you choose to race it, ride it or just survive it, it is a huge test of endurance. My goal was just to be done sometime Sunday, because I had no idea what to expect or how my body would react. I have never done a multi-day race or even a 24 hour race, just a few 100-mile races over the past couple years. Throughout the race I starting feeling like I could finish strong and my competitive spirit took over and I wanted to see how fast I could do this thing. There are so many aspects to this race compared to a one day race. Most importantly you have to stay ahead on calories because you don’t want your body to crash, and to monitor your output so you don’t blow up. Going too hard too soon could cause some serious trouble later in the race. Also staying dry (as much as possible) because you will get rained on and hailed on which we all did. My strategy was just to try and ride through all that weather as much as possible and dry out on the bike because stopping only gets you colder. It seemed to work most of the time. A few times I took cover and used that time to eat or filter water and just stay busy. Don’t focus on how miserable you are, all you can do is laugh about it because everybody is out there too.
The first day was the most weather. A rainstorm up and down Kenosha pass and then blue skies up Georgia pass. Descending onto Hwy 9 I hit a pretty brutal hail storm. I just kept riding and eventually rode out of it. That first night I ended up camping on the other side of Hwy 9 just past the trailhead.
Second day started up miners pass to Copper. That was a pretty tough hike a bike then a fun descent. After a quick breakfast in Copper headed up Searle and Kokomo pass to Camp Hale. Its always nice riding stuff you have been on before because you know what’s coming up but sometimes ignorance is bliss in some of the later sections that were just brutal hike a bikes. Continued on to Leadville and then onto Buena Vista on new sections that I haven’t been on before. Made it to Buena Vista just before 10pm and just made it to the grocery store a couple minutes before they closed. This was a relief because I did not want to waste time till they opened the next morning, some of the employees of City Market weren’t too happy though. I did not want to sustain on 7-11 food for the next two days either. Camped that night on the side of Cottonwood Pass rd. a few miles before the CT trailhead. I wanted to make it to the trail but just got too tired. It was already after midnight.
Got up early wed. morning and headed out hoping to make it past the Monarch Crest somewhere. Rode a lot of new stuff for me along this section till hwy 50. Some flowy fun stuff and kept a pretty good pace through here. When I hit the road up to Fooses I stopped to filter water and soaked my feet in the river while I filtered which felt good. The relief only lasted a little while, but that’s all I can ask for. After the long climb/ hike a bike up Fooses I stopped at Greens Cabin to sit on something other than a bike seat or the ground to take a break. I have always loved this section of trail along the Monarch Crest and am very familiar with it. It went pretty fast after getting a little second wind from the break at Greens. After passing Silver Creek it would be all new to me till the last 50 miles in Durango. The next 6 hrs or so were a blur, a lot of riding in the dark and the trail pretty much sucked. Would never come out and ride this again. I tried to get as far as I could to the point of pushing my bike the last couple miles because I was so tired I couldn’t pedal. I ended up camping somewhere along Sergeants Mesa.
Got about 4.5 hrs of sleep that night, not really quality sleep but at least my body was horizontal. Thursday morning headed out and the next 7-8 hrs of trail sucked. A lot of hike a bike up unridable terrain. Maybe if I was fresh I could’ve ridden it but I will never find out. Eventually I popped out on a dirt road to Apple the old guy “trail angel” who hangs out and gives hikers and bikers free food and drink. I grabbed a coke and some cookies and sat in a chair which felt good. The ass and feet were pretty sore by this time. After the road section I did a little more singletrack which was smooth and flowy which was a break from what I had been riding the past day. Then onto the long road detour and a series of long climbs and descents on dirt roads which made a lot of time up. Got to the trailhead for the Cataract Ridge and camped near the trailhead. It was pretty high, over 11,000 feet, so it was cold and the sleep wasn’t too solid. Slept about 4 hrs and I use the term “slept” very loosely being cold and high.
Woke up around 2am Friday morning and headed out because I knew this section was all over treeline between 11,000” and 13,200” and didn’t want to get stuck in weather or a lighting storm. It took about 11 hours to get through the next 35ish miles due to all the hike a bike and high altitude riding. Very pretty part of Colorado, and remote. The calories were going fast through here. I felt like I couldn’t eat enough. I am glad I stocked up well in Buena Vista for food. I was getting sick of the food I brought but just forced myself to eat it. It was a series of long ups and downs which never seemed to end. After finally getting out of here onto Stony Pass rd came the long descent into Silverton. Though it would be a break, it was a long steep rough road. It hurt to sit because of all the saddle sores on top of saddle sores and hurt to stand because my feet were pretty sore. Made it into Silverton about 2pm and picked up my post office drop with new chamois, jersey and socks. I also had some food and batteries I grabbed. The lady at the post office had a chocolate cake out and I must’ve eaten 4 or 5 pieces while she wasn’t looking. Then onto a restaurant for my first real meal in 4 days. I ordered cheese sticks, burger and fries and an apple pie a la mode. It all came out at once and I scarfed it down. Went to the Silverton grocery, grabbed a few things, and headed out just before 4. I think it was the real meal, because I got a second wind and rode really strong up Molas pass and felt good all the way to Celebration Lake. It was dark by now. From this point I was familiar with the trail since I had done all the trail a few weeks ago in the Durango 100. It helped to know what was coming. I pushed to Blackhawk Pass still feeling good thinking I might just push all the way through. After descending Blackhawk I started getting pretty tired. I kept going, just wanting to get as far as possible. About midnight I had been going solid about 22 hrs and could barely stay on the trail or walk. I can’t remember where I stopped, but I pretty much collapsed about 12:30a.m. I set the alarm for 3:30, ended up getting up about 4a.m.
This whole part of the trail was a blur till Kennebec Pass. I stumbled up the hike a bike moving pretty slow then made it to the sign that said Junction Creek TH -21 miles. Well its definitely not all downhill from here. Many, many ups and downs. I was pretty much done at this point, I was running on fumes. I ran out of water, crossed plenty of streams but too tired and incoherent to filter anything and I knew the end was in sight. I couldn’t even ride up the hills that I flew up weeks prior in the Durango 100. I had to walk, stumble and trip up every small uphill because I couldn’t turn the pedals over. Then I would pretty much just coast down with a little pedal action going on. My heart was racing on any little effort by this point. Finally made it to the high point and cruised into the Junction Creek TH about 1:20pm. I guess they say to always finish a race with nothing left and I did.
I am humbled by the guys ahead of me who broke the record. Jefe, Ethan and Jesse are all superhuman dudes. I could not imagine knocking 1+ days off of that effort. Those guys deserve huge props. Also to those who are still toughing it out days later and not giving up.
I left out a lot due to not wanting to drag on like the many other rainstorms I rode through, all the cool people I met and got to ride with for bits and pieces along the way. A lot of beauty out there and many things I have just forgotten because some pieces were a blur now. The mental and physical ups and downs of a race like this your body goes through. I want to give a thanks to all the words of encouragement, Jeff and Hillary for their stone artwork which was cool to see. Thanks to Jesse, Doug and Jon for advice on how to take on this beast and Doug for all the Kate’s Bars that sustained me. To many other friends and family for all the texts and emails of encouragement. To my riding buddies who would go out on long training rides with me.
