On the CT: The Gear

The Packing List: The Colorado Trail

That’s Right. We have a strategy. The Morale Chairman and I are headed back out on the Colorado Trail.

The Schedule:

July 23rd & 24th. Silverton to Durango. Molas Pass + Segments 25 – 28. This is the another ‘shake down’ ride. Why? Because.

Ok. The goal is to have some trail knowledge of the last 200 miles of the Colorado Trail. (We’ve got 112 miles in the bag – Segment 18 to Silverton.) Once the mind fails and the body breaks – you must have something to hang onto. (Or is it ‘hang on to’… I hate grammar.) Well, I want to hang on to the memories of success, memories of ‘I can do this s*^t‘. So that is the plan.

July 30th & 31. The Judd’s 20th High School Reunion, Durango High School class of 1991. And I was #3 in my class, dude! Yeah, like that ‘got‘ me an extra $20k signing bonus at work. I wish. I still wonder why I stressed about those vocabulary / spelling tests.

Anyway, the late night boozing will be supplemented with a fixie ride to Silverton and back. That’s the 32×14 Black Sheep fixie, if you care.

Ok, Ok. Do you think I’ll really go to the 20th DHS reunion? Maybe, maybe not. Chances are I’ll go hang in Durango and make my own party – Back of the Pack Style. Which means I’ll be drinking SOLO.

August 5th – August 15th or 16th or 17th or…. The Colorado Trail Race – Individual Time Trial Style. That’s right. Even though there is no RACE at the Back of the Pack – we’ll do it – unsupported. Our strategy? Simple. Ride and Eat. AND we are planning a detour to Lake City for resupply. No way are we going to tackle Segments 22 and 23 without a full supply of food. Once was enough.

We can’t start on August 1st. Because…. The Morale Chairman must be at work on the 4th. End of story. Not really. There is more to it, sort of.

The Shoe Debate:

So, our buddy Super Nick (like Super Dave Osborne ) competed in the 2009 edition of the CTR. Super Nick estimated that he and his crew walked 20% of the Colorado Trail. So, lets do some math.

500 miles * 0.8 / 8 mph + 500 miles * 0.2 / 2 mph = 50 Hrs Riding + 50 Hrs Walking.

This assumes a slow riding average of 8 mph. (That’s pushing it.) And an average walking speed of 2 mph. Yep. I’ve got the data.

On Segments 22 & 24 we maxed out our pace on the ‘easy’ stuff at 3mph, we conquered the brutal goat trails at 2mph and crawled up the unreal rock slides and snow slides at 1mph. Yep, a 2mph walking average is accurate, kind of.

So. If we are riding 1/2 time and walking 1/2 time – why not wear some good hiking boots and try to boost the hike-a-bike average? How about doing something stupid like… protecting the feet. Call me stupid. But it makes sense. Remember, we are Riders not Racers. So… that’s what we’ll try out on the final shake down ride.

And before we get to the good stuff – let’s listen to Against Me!

How many times could you listen to this song – in a row?

The record at the Back of the Pack?

134 times, of course – Check out the 2010 Gunnison Growler Race Review

Now, what I’m packing for the Colorado Trail

I’m not a weight freak. Mad Rhino is a weight freak. The Morale Chairman is a control freak. Prob-eee is a hippie freak. The Lt Col is just a freak. Yep, I’m a data freak. Below is my data based on Super Nick’s spreadsheet and some of Mad Rhino’s additions.