It's not a lock but I clip my helmet strap to my tire/fork and click my shifter a whole bunch.  if someone tries to do a grab an run on my bike it will atleast be a clumsy getaway.  Then again I only hit up gas stations for a few minutes and keep the bike against the glass in full view.

I've done that twice and never had a problem.  Doesn't mean your experience will be the same but that's my experience.

I'm getting all my gear off my body on onto my bike need someone to make me a custom frame bag.  High quality is more important than price.  Who's out there that can do this sort of thing?  Anyone go nuts and make these out of cuben fiber? 

Just to be clear Stefan, the choice on the Lost Creek Wilderness bypass has no effect on seg 22 & 23 right?  Either way we keep Seg 22 & 23, this is only deciding to add more course on the dirt road or continue on 285 and pass through Bailey.

I think Eszter might have been thinking you would have to trade one for another.

4am start from town?  Rad!  Looking forward to a whole new experience the other way!

Hey Jordan, thanks for the offer for info.  I did do it on Black Friday and had a great time.
http://app.strava.com/activities/29627717
conditions were peachy and logistics turned out to be a snap!

Got a few basic questions since it looks like I might give this a whirl Thanksgiving weekend and I've done zero research so far.
-is it 100 miles for the loop?  I just had two different people tell me it was 80miles then 130 miles?!
-is there anyway to cut into the loop from the east without needing cams and a rope?  I may have to ride it from town and getting up 313 is going to add another 50 miles there and back.
-any idea what the sand is like right now?

So you didn't skip all the classes and started with a masters in mountaineering!   

1. I had never ridden a bike (even a road bike) more than 50 miles.
5. I had only ridden my mountain bike a couple of dozen times in the ten years leading up to the race.

Wow!?! That's like signing up for college, skipping all the classes and showing up for the final exam hoping to pass!  I don't think that's a good template to follow but I'm impressed you made the whole journey.  I can't imagine how much harder it would have been race it like that vs being a regular endurance mtb junkie.  I can tell you it isn't easy even when you show up to all the classes!

thanks guys....
One thing I have been thinking, here in N GA, I can pack a filter and get the water I need when deep in the mountains.  Since I am not out as long, it is sometimes easier than using iodine, and often times, I am too far out to depend on a store stop.  What do you do on the CTR?  Filter?, or are there sufficient water supplies that you don't need to worry too much about that?

Like the people here say, you can finish this with just about anything for gear.  There is no best way.  My advice if you are serious about racing is figure out what you need to stay safe in the wilderness and take nothing more.  If it functions the same, lighter is always better and find gear that is quick to use.  Its amazing how stopping a few minutes every once in a while can add up to 3 hours of stopped time in a day.  For your specific question, most of the water sources run cold and clean.  Out there 30g of iodine are as effective as a 400g filter.  The choice is yours.

Anybody thinking of how different it will be going in reverse, looks like that is the plan!
Jefe

Are you thinking how it will be different Jefe?!  You going to try and do it on 1 hour sleep this time?
I think the big thing will be what time we start and how fast you'll have to go to make it to Silverton before the stores close!  Overcooking it on the first day could lead to a miserable time getting to BV.

Edit:  And look at that - 6am proposed start - The fast guys will have 15 hours to to get there otherwise you might as well chill and plan to be there the next morning at 7am.  Or start with 270 miles of food?..

2 of the 3 top racers were on 29er Hardtails. Jesse was on a Cannondale RZ120 I think...

Cannondale carbon RZ140 actually with a Rockshox Revelation 150 fork.  But since I work in the industry it IS all about the bike and gear.  Buy as much as you can   Seriously though, the top three of us had quite a bit of carbon fiber with Jefe on a carbon Giant HD and Ethan on a Specialized carbon HT.  Saving some grams wont get you to Durango but its hard to resist shiny things!

The post-ride, mini write ups are a nice view into the challenges you all faced. I wish my worst moments started after a three day, four hundred mile bike ride/push. Still nice to hear that even though most of us couldn't compare, you all still face the same demons we do. Especially in contrast to the beautiful photos that Ed and Jen are posting up.  I would guess that for a lot of the racers, their memories of the trail are so much less idealic than what we are seeing. All of it is inspiring. Thanks for all the posts.

Actually the memory of the hardship and agony fades very quickly and all you have left are the visions of being high up on mountains with the majestic morning glow of the sun turning the alpine grass the most beautiful green you have ever seen in your life.  Only the tip of the serenity is captured in these pictures!

I’m sitting here clean, dry and without the uncontrollable urge to want to just curl up on the ground and sleep!  I have a roof over my head and a fridge full of food that I’m not worried about how heavy it is!  But yet the CTR is a magical thing and I’m glad to experience all the struggles that it brings.   My state of delirium is still pretty heavy but I don’t have to stare at tire tracks in the mud trying to invent in my mind what is going on with the race.  I gave that trail everything I had in the most methodical way I knew.  For three and a half days things were going about as perfectly as they could while dealing with the mandatory weather in the Colorado mountains.  It wasn’t until the last 40 miles that I started to unravel.  Until then I was eating more food than I thought was possible and my body and mind were staying sharp covering ground.   

Shortly after Molas pass I became engulfed in the most violent hail storm I’ve ever experienced making me nervous my jacket was going to get ripped to pieces.  As I dried out and the clouds began to clear my thoughts began to focus on my mission to break 4 days and the only way possible was ride through the night.  I had carried a pound of Ayup batteries all the way from Denver for this and it was time to make good on the promise I made to myself to shut out the fatigue and keep moving.  By Blackhawk I spotted two dinosaurs lurking in the night and black masses hiding down the side of ridges.  I started stumbling and was so sick of eating the only way I could get more food in me was to stop and make it the only thing I did for 15 minutes.  My last burrito and fresh batteries on my lights kept me on track but my mind desperately wanted sleep.  I pressed on.  Keep moving.  Stumbling.  It’s so hard.  Keep moving.  Just before leaving the last woods before Indian peaks I just couldn’t.  I couldn’t eat.  I couldn’t pedal.  The 5 hour energy drink I just took helped my focus for about 5 minutes then was gone.  My coordination to walk was gone.  There was no way I could make it over the next section. 

In my heavy fog I had not choice but to lay down on the trail and set my watch for an hour later.  It felt like seconds later I woke up shivering and acutely aware of how insignificant I was to these mountains.  My throat and tongue were blistered to the point I was almost crying trying to eat a granola bar.  It was all I had left.  I kept checking the ground for a dropped gel but I knew the dinosaurs would have got them before I had a chance.

Finally when I passed the last ridge the sense of death left me but that was quickly replaced with dread at the top of Kenebec when I saw the sign that said there was still 21 miles to go.  But shortly the sun started to light up the sky and just before the final climb I was stunned to see Ethan, completely shelled but getting back on his bike.  Suddenly I was not the only human alive on earth and together we gained competitive energy from each other’s presents.  We were ready to keep fighting to the end but my hands were so beat up I needed to dig out my gloves for the descent.  I stopped quickly, my pack was now an unorganized mess as I shed my warm layers an hour before not caring to keep the order I maintained over the last 4 days.  Digging, where are they?  Damn I pulled everything out to find them, put them down then jammed everything back in.  Then I look over to put my gloves on.  No gloves!  Ahh I put them back in with everything else.  By the time I got back on my bike I knew Ethan was long gone and had to settle for besting the long standing record yet placing 3rd.  Being beat by Jefe and Ethan is nothing to be ashamed of and finishing the Colorado Trail in 4 days and 2 hours is an accomplishment I will always be proud of.

Huge thanks to my wife for putting up with my obsession, Joey at Velorution for meeting me and Ethan at the finish with a breakfast burrito and to HB for hauling my grimey body to his place to clean up and rest.

-Jesse Jakomait

Can anyone refresh my memory?  will the Spot 2 make it 5 days on one set of batteries out there?

1x11, nice! 

Ya Jeff, I drew the long straw and lucked out getting the new XX1 kit.  CTR is the ultimate testing ground for new parts!  The 10-42 cassette is wild how much gear range you get and I'm still baffled how well that special teeth on the front ring work.  Hopefully my left thumb doesn't get too bored out there!

I'm an OCD weight weenie!  Got my gear down a little farther this year with a few new pieces.  All my gear and bike without food or water is 32lbs (what you see in the pick plus a 3.5lbs pack).  I'm still a wuss and am taking a sleeping bag, tent and a real bike light that forces me to carry all the battery power from the start.  Of course you could go lighter by omitting things - nothing is lighter than zero!  If you are serious about weight think about dropping some coin here:  www.zpacks.com.  I have no affiliation but who can argue with a 4 oz backpack?

did someone have a picture of the sign that the FS had up?

Kevin slept 5 hrs last night, the record is safe but there is no question he is putting in an amazing ride.

Wow, Kevin is hauling!  last year it took me 14 hrs to get from Silverton to D town and with how much quicker he did section 22 and 23 anything is possible.