Tips and tricks for the CO trail

[couloirman]

OK it's official now. Ive got just under 3 weeks to give the CO trail a go this summer starting August 1st. Any good tips/tricks for someone who hasn't done a ride this long before? Things you wish you knew before your through ride? I've been training hard all year, and I'll continue to train like an animal all summer so fitness will not be a problem. I guess I'll start with a few specifics from a bikepacking jong and see where it goes from there.

1) Do you see any obvious areas I can/should lighten my bike up:

2010 Knolly Endorphin bike specs:
frame -- Knolly Endorphin w/ RP23, white, small
Brakes- Formula R1 w/ R1 rotors (180 front, 160 rear)
Wheels- Velocity Blunt SL with CX Ray spokes, Hope Pro 2 rear hub, and stock lefty front hub
Tires- 2.25” Ardents, tubeless
Fork- Lefty max carbon 140mm with PBR upgrade
seatpost -- Thomson
crankset -- Race Face Deus 175mm
pedals – Point One Podium
cassette -- SRAM 990 redwin
shifters -- Sram XO
front D -- Shimano XT
rear D -- SRAM XO medium cage
cables & housing -- Jagwire Ripcord

Weight: 27 pounds

I could always swap frames for something like a yeti ASR carbon, or even go hardtail and shave several pounds. Do you think it's worth the extra comfort to just take the endorphin and deal with it? Or should I swap frames out and save the weight?

2) I am getting a frame pack, seat pack, and handlebar pack made by Porcelain Rocket. I hear the best thing to do is get the weight off your back and onto your frame so I thought this would work well. Will this be overkill/too heavy with so many packs on my bike?

3) What do you think is mandatory repair gear to bring, and the mandatory repair skills to know how to do? Flat tires, deraileur repairs, and chain repairs are pretty obvious, but what the heck else can go wrong? I bike a lot but just haven't had any mechanical problems so just haven't had to deal with this stuff before and want to be prepared. I want to minimize weight to maximize my chances of finishing and am a repair jong. I will be taking a repair course in a month or so if I cant just learn everything on my own from Park tools website or a book.

4) Is it worth it to bring a tiny fly rod (Cabela's stowaway or similar) or are there not many fishable streams that I will cross along the way and feel like fishing on?

5) Tent vs bivy sack? A lot of people dont bring tent to save on weight and just use a bivy sack-- anyone regret their decision not to bring a tent? 2 weeks is a long time to sleep in the open air in less than perfect comfort...

6) How much weight in gear did you bring along total? I can imagine my bike getting seriously heavy with all the packs I am fitting onto it. Also, how much water should I be able to carry? I hear there are some really long stretches where you dont cross any water sources and want to be prepared for that. I have 2, 4 liter platypus bags and feel like that should be enough but not sure.

7) Denver to Durango vs. Durango to Denver? Anyone done the ride in reverse (from Durango to Denver)? Would be cool to do it that way and finish on the front range instead of biking forever only to end up stranded without a car in a far away town but I just want to go whichever way makes the most sense in terms of riding, so if it's dumb to ride it in reverse than Denver to Durango it is.

8) Should I actually carry that heavy ass trail map/data points book from here? I know parts of the trail well, and they are quite well marked so maybe a GPS and a bunch of batteries would do just fine. I mean, it's the CO trail, you'd kind of have to try to get lost on it (at least on the parts that I have been on).



I'm sure I will think of more. Feel free to throw in any tips you might have from your own ride on the CO trail. Im sure some of my questions are/will be stupid as heck, but I'm sure some peeps on here know a lot more than I do about super long rides. Feel free to lay into me for being a JONG as well-- that is always good wholesome fun.

[Laps]

Check out this site www.climbingdreams.net/ctr It is geared towards racers, but has a lot of info and gpx files. I am headed out from VT to ride starting July 30th, and had many of the same questions answered.

[couloirman]

Nice, thanks. Yeah Ive seen that site too. Im starting August 1st I think so I might run into you on the trail. You soloing it?

[Dromond]

I good friend of mine did it a couple of summers ago. Here are a few second-hand tips.

-He is a pro road racer and an extremely mountain biker skill-wise. Even then, there were some days with a huge amount of pushing. Bring riding shoes that are comfortable to hike in for long distances. (Sounds like it won't be a problem for you.)

-He did it later in the season (late Sept. maybe?) and one day he called from Silverton and left a message asking me to check the weather. I called back quick because the forecast for the next day was for over and inch of rain and a bunch of snow up at elevation.

-He had a rack made for bike-packing that broke partway through the ride forcing him to carry everything in his backpack. Make sure yours is solid.

Anyways, it sounded like an awesome adventure if you are up to it!

[edog80]

I did three (four?) segments near Durango two years ago. I have a Maverick, about the same weight as yours. Some tips:

1/2. I am very much anti-weight weenie usually because I break stuff a lot, but this is one trip where I was not enjoying my almost 30 pound bike. You will probably be pushing 40-50 lbs once you load your bike up, so imagine trying to ride a 45lb bike up a steep grade after you have been riding all day.

Another thing to think about: With full suspension you have to be careful where you place the packs. You will probably adversely influence your suspension characteristics, at least that is what happened on mine. I had to get the shock pumped up so high once I had a big pack on it that is became somewhat sketchy on the decents.

IMO that is where the beauty of running a hardtail would come into something like this. You can load your bike with frame packs and your front suspension is ok. Any type of seat bag or handlebar bag is going to mess with how you are used to riding your bike. I got used to it after a while but wanted to put it out there.

3. Tough one. We needed a chain tool, I would recommend a good first aid kit, electrical tape, other macguyver type stuff?

4. Unknown to me, I don't fish, I would expect more trouble than it's worth?

5. We used a tripod/tent thing from golite, I enjoyed it but we lucked out with weather.

6. I was about 50lbs with bike and gear plus water. It sucked at the beginning of the day when the water bags were full. I would recommend a full camelbak and bringing a water filter. Do some research on where the water is at, if you miss some water sources you could be in for a long day. On the flipside, starting out with 2 or 3 camelbaks kills your back and it weighs you down terribly.

7. I don't know, the trailhead was mobbed in Durango and gave a backpacker a ride into town, I would want to have a ride lined up though. The decent into Durango is really nice, I would not want to miss out on that.

8. I would print out sections so you can have printouts handy with you as you are riding. The CO trail book is pretty good, but there are better sources out there now. Keep in mind the topo profiles in the CO trail book are pretty worthless, they are so spread out that they make a long gnarly hike a bike look like a easy climb, the bumps get smoothed out-I would recommend something else if you want to know where you are at.

Some other things I would recommend:

Good hiking shoes: A hybrid hiking/clipless shoe would be ideal. You will be hiking miles over scree fields, doing it in sidis was bad. I would make sure the shoes are broken in prior to this trip also, bad shoes would be a deal breaker.

Altimeter: This helped me immensely in figuring out where I was on topos.

Extra hanging out shorts: Once you are to camp, the last thing I wanted was to hang out in my bike shorts, I was so thankful I brought a pair of comfy clothes to hang out in.

Sorry for the blog, hopefully you found it helpful, PM me if you need any other info.

[bsavery]

1. Done the whole through bike in two weeks with a few friends. One suggestion I do have is depending on how strong you are, you might be better suited going faster than that. Any longer than 2 weeks and you'll honestly be going too slow. What I mean by that is you'll be stretching out the times in between towns and end up carrying more, etc. etc. As others have said, there is a bunch of walking/pushing that perhaps you can get up if you're very light, or at the least you could push less weight. I did it on a 120mm travel stumpjumper, my friends were both on epics, if I had to do the whole thing again I'd do a 29er hardtail.

2. Again, we had three guys, so split the tent/cooking equip between three. But I did: sleeping bag behind seat, sleeping pad under bars, my share of tent on the frame, and my share of cooking stuff in backpack. And all my clothes in the backpack. That worked really well with an Osprey Talon bag. I might put more weight than most do on my back but it was fine, and I like being able to move the bike around more.

3. Pretty much what you said. Bring a chain tool, quicklinks for chain, der hanger, spokes... and a couple bolts that are common.

4. No.

5. Depends when you go. We went end of August and had one rainy night. If you're solo I'd do a bivy. And there are nights you can stay in motels.

6. 2x4 litres? That's alot. I had a 3 litre camelbak and space for a bottle or two. I drink less than most though.

7. I dunno. Everyone does it denver-> durango.

8. We never got lost. I printed out maps and cue sheets.

Good luck. Like I said you might be happier going faster...

[goldenboy]

Don't know if you saw this interview I did with a friend of mine that won the CTR twice, but some of his advice may be useful. The interview is HERE.

Personally I'd go Den-Dur, if nothing else for the Molas to Durango finish. Have fun!

[fatkid]

besides the tip of you might want to move faster tip, some stuff that no one has talked about are:
-little travel pack of baby wipes can keep your downunders happier longer...clean all the grossness out everynight - Good for feet too.
-i rode the trail last year in a lightweight pair of patagonia board shorts over chammys and was psyched to have an extra chammy on long days to either double up or swap out and wash the dirty one at every chance. You really have to keep the chammy zone happy if you want to have fun for the last few days.
-besides having 2x chammys keep your clothing load way down. one wool tshirt, 2 pairs of sox (one warm/one cool), beanie, ride gloves, windproof fleece gloves, rain layers top and bottom, puffy layer top, and thats about it. if it gets gnarly you can always get in your sleeping bag.
- make sure you have a cover/trashbag for your backpack...
- if you have the cash getting a nice 45deg sleeping bag can be clutch, you can get a big agnes that weighs 1 lb and packs to the size of a loaf of bread. I carried my sleeping pad(therma prolite) and sleeping bag on my bars w/o handling issues. less than 2 lbs for this setup,,sick
-make sure you can bring a tacoed wheel back to life. learn how to hit it on the ground and true a bit. It might save you.

most of my tips are for a pretty cushy setup that is still rideable...If i went again i would def think about going super light and ditching some stuff and doing it in 8 daysish.... But the 11 day cruiser is pretty fun. dont forget that every step,pedal or stumble forward is progress!

[bsavery]

besides the tip of you might want to move faster tip, some stuff that no one has talked about are:
-little travel pack of baby wipes can keep your downunders happier longer...clean all the grossness out everynight - Good for feet too.
-i rode the trail last year in a lightweight pair of patagonia board shorts over chammys and was psyched to have an extra chammy on long days to either double up or swap out and wash the dirty one at every chance. You really have to keep the chammy zone happy if you want to have fun for the last few days.
-besides having 2x chammys keep your clothing load way down. one wool tshirt, 2 pairs of sox (one warm/one cool), beanie, ride gloves, windproof fleece gloves, rain layers top and bottom, puffy layer top, and thats about it. if it gets gnarly you can always get in your sleeping bag.
- make sure you have a cover/trashbag for your backpack...
- if you have the cash getting a nice 45deg sleeping bag can be clutch, you can get a big agnes that weighs 1 lb and packs to the size of a loaf of bread. I carried my sleeping pad(therma prolite) and sleeping bag on my bars w/o handling issues. less than 2 lbs for this setup,,sick
-make sure you can bring a tacoed wheel back to life. learn how to hit it on the ground and true a bit. It might save you.

most of my tips are for a pretty cushy setup that is still rideable...If i went again i would def think about going super light and ditching some stuff and doing it in 8 daysish.... But the 11 day cruiser is pretty fun. dont forget that every step,pedal or stumble forward is progress!

@Goldenboy. Yeah I forgot that last section before Durango is WAY better going towards durango vs the other way. Good enough reason to go that way.

Second the gear setup to fatkid. I did only one set of chammy though, and board shorts. No lower rain layer but long underwear pants. Puffy vest and a rain top. If you plan on sitting out the big rains anyway no need for rain pants.

Just to reiterate, take all the time you want in the cool towns like Leadville, but going uber slow on some of the long slog climbs make them 10x worse IMO.

[Mr Mack]

I rode the CO trail last summer and found the CO Trail pocket guide with my bike computer to be adequate for navigation. I would leave the GPS at home. I set the computer at 0 at the start of each segment and had a good idea of where to find water and camping-- and the trail is very well signed.

I rode a 29er hardtail with a Thudbuster post and thought it had enough suspension. My wheels had lightweight racing spokes and I got alot of flex in the wheels with a loaded bike-- you might notice the same with your lightweight wheels. I ended up replacing the spokes. Bring extra brake pads--

I did several weekend overnight rides with the loaded bike and highly recommend it for figuring out what works. I recommend riding some steep and rocky trails to get a feel for how much more difficult it is with a loaded bike, particularly the hike-a bike. The lighter the load the more fun it is (though the whiskey sure was tasty after a long day).

CD