Woodland Ventures: Colorado Trail Race

The ascent up Georgia Pass is cold, wet and enshrouded in fog. I can only see maybe 100 yards. Normally it is one spectacular viewpoint. As I get near the top, close to 12,000 feet I get passed by a runner! He is followed by his support guy on a bike. 'Sully' is running the entire Colorado Trail to raise money for Autism and he is faster than me uphill. We get to a 'Trail Angel' cooler off the trail near the Georgia Pass road and he is stoked, 'best friggin thing I've seen all morning' he says. Touche. We each down an ice cold Sunkist and I head off for the downhill.

Coming off of Georgia I am still cold and the trail is slick and muddy and full of dangerous tree roots just waiting to slip me up. Eventually it warms up and I get to the West Ridge climb which is a steady walk for me near the top. I meet Wendy, 68 years old, who is also a racer and I am impressed. Go Girl! Her tent had collapsed on her last night in the rain and I told her then that she knows what it's like to be in a bivy sack in the rain! You can feel every drop that falls. The descent off the West Ridge is a screaming fast one with tight switchbacks that require some concentration. I dry some gear off in the strong sun at 1030 or so but darker masses of clouds are already building. By 11am I am at the Gold Hill trail head. This is a big milestone on the ride, being 100 miles in and the start of the nasty ten mile climb. I meet another of Sully's support crew who rode in from Buena Vista to meet him here and ride the next section with him.

The next 8 miles were some of the hardest damn hiking/biking I've ever done and I became supremely frustrated and downtrodden as I climbed ever higher and higher. All I can say is, thank goodness the thunderstorms never formed because as Sully put it (who passed me again up here) we would have been 'nuked'!

The trail starts climbing right away but I still have some leg power at this point and I climb probably the next two miles passing families out for nice hikes and people with dogs making me homesick again. Eventually I am walking/riding again. Off the bike...on the bike...off the bike...on the bike. With 4 miles to go to the crest I am mostly walking and pushing. I finally am just pushing. Nearing tree line things get really nasty, precipitously steep and loose and I have to put the bike up perpendicular to the slope and then climb up two steps to it, then move it up again and climb up to it. I fall down exhausted at the top of this steep pitch and realize I am at tree line. Things just get harder above tree line and I am limping along. Sully passes me at this point and he is tired but determined and he gives me a big high five and says 'awesome job dude' and passes on. Absorbing some of his energy (he has put on over 30 miles on foot at this point in serious high country) I decide to get my ass up and push on, but it just gets harder. Steep and rugged and loose and I slip and bump my shins against the pedal and curse. But finally I reach the crest and see Copper sprawled below and the ten mile range running sharp to the south. Breckenridge's Peak 7 seems so close (I am near the summit of Peak 5) The trail off the back side down into Copper is a screaming fast plummet off the top of the world and my hands are about to fall apart from clamping down on the brake levers. Finally, I hit the Wheeler Trail, plummet some more and hit HWY-91 outside Copper.

I spin down to the gas station/coffee shop off of I-70 near Copper Mtn and run into a bunch of riders that I was with yesterday at times. Everyone is cooked from the ten mile climb, and as it turns out I am not the only one with thoughts of pulling out of this race. The ten mile climb takes its toll on riders! I get some food (a microwaved ham and cheese hot pocket and a chocolate frosted donut - seems so wrong) and hang out outside with Kevin, John, Nicole and Tom. Tom says he got 2 hrs of sleep somewhere around the gas station and is heading off to ride through the night (turns out he camps near me this night). John heads into Copper resort area for a restaurant. I talk to Wendy and get a little pep talk and am inspired by people on facebook and email cheering for me. I'm back in it!

By the time I get back on the road I have hot food in me, fresh food in the pack for the next leg, gear repacked and my iPod playing tunes. I feel like a new man and hit the highway mashing the pedals. The trail through the Copper resort ski area is a blast and I am flying. Since I had done so little pedaling throughout the day my legs are fresh. I blast tunes and fly along singletrack on a beautiful evening - no rain today!!! I climb to about 11,000 feet and find a nice spot for a bivy. It is 830 and I feel a fresh wind and can see rain higher up...so much for no rain. Learning from last nights mistake of camping under dead trees which offer no cover I snuggle my bivy into a tight copse of spruce and face downhill - so the rain I can see coming over the pass will not blow directly into my bivy. It works pretty well when the rain does come, it is lighter than last night, but I manage to stay dry. I wake at one point with a mouth so dry I can't swallow...I frantically claw out of my bivy and half crawl over to my pack to get at my water. Also, I hear a squirrel or something trying to get into my pack and watch my helmet go flying off the pack as it tries to get in. I yell and throw stuff at it in the dark and I see its silhouette run off. I am not using NOLS approved camping techniques here in this race!!

At 330am after off and on rain since 9pm I awake to gloriously clear skies full of stars and with a full moon like a spotlight I can not go back to sleep. So I get up. The race is on!!