Tonight I'm relaxing and having a few beers after spending the last three evenings obsessing over gear, how much food to carry, mileage splits, horrific elevation profiles, and how to dodge lighting for a week while riding a couple hundred miles above 12,000 feet during Colorado monsoon season.
I'm nervous about the upcoming challenge, but I'm very excited to get out there and get started. I like my gear-packing system and I feel relieved to have abandoned a silly idea that I might skip resupply in Silverton and try to carry enough food all the way to Buena Vista from the start. That decision has significantly lightened my load.
I know from some prior endurance racing experience that I can push through the first night and into the next evening without sleep if I needed to. With the full moon, I wondered if I might be able to get through Silverton and then continue to push on through the exposed Cataract / Coney segment during the night to reach relative safety before the inevitable electrical storms blow up on Monday afternoon.
But rather than basing this cockeyed plan on mileages and elevation profiles, I finally started digging into hard data from racers that have covered these sections in the last couple CTR's. What I discovered was a stark reality that I better add about 10-15 hours to my estimates for those first 100 miles. So I'm relieved to take that unnecessary pressure off. I'll just carry enough food to get to Silverton and then make my plan for crossing Cataract / Coney once I get there.
So we are heading out for Durango about noon on Friday. I am sharing a one-way rental and a motel with two other racers from the front range. One is a rookie like me, and the other is a multi-year CTR veteran. It will be nice to pick his brain on the ride down.
Even though I was actually in better riding shape last summer, my mindset in good. Although I am competitive and want to go as fast as I reasonably can, racing other people is not really my goal. Finishing is my goal. I can't really remember quitting any competitive event I have ever started, so even though the toughness of the CTR makes that a distinct possibility, I refuse to let that enter my mind right now.
I have no arbitrary time pressure. I've taken off work until August 5th, so barring injury or serious illness, I have enough time to finish this thing. I want to remind myself to have fun and enjoy my time in the wilderness, and to just keep making progress towards Denver. I know there will be some serious low points, but I have to persevere.
Its going to be beautiful to a spiritual level out there. Its going to be the most amazing adventure of my life.
I'll take lots of pictures and check back in on the flipside.
For in-race coverage, go here: http://trackleaders.com/ctr13
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