Check the instagram account and fb page for updates! Having a total blast! Vroom vroom!

Indeed! Did Humboldt,  Columbia (13er), Kit Carson, Challenger, all before 11am, and then took on the Crestone Traverse. Summitt ed the Needle at around 14:15 and met up with a pretty nasty  thunder storm. Descended down to Broken Hand Pass but got stuck at the top of the pass, waiting for the now very dangerous storm to pass. Sure The Spot Could not Work Through The Cloud cover. Monsoon season here is currently epic, CTRers take note.  I'm exactly on my schedule though as I anticipated these issues. Culebra on sat or Fri if I'm feeling frisky, and then the tour will kick into a higher gear as I bee more aggressive bagging the easier peaks. The more technical peaks are extremely dangerous when wet. Lindsey done today, finishing up the rest of the Sangres starting tomorrow

[Instagram:]

OK, time to begin!

Start time is scheduled for Friday @ 4:00am at the American Mountaineering Center in Golden, CO -
There's a small chance I'll start a little earlier depending on how my schedule works out. Trackleaders has
been kind enough to take the time to put up a Tracker for this, so you may follow along:

http://trackleaders.com/tour14er

I'll be riding/climbing this as a self-supported individual time trial - the goal is to  ride to, and summit all the named and ranked 14ers in CO (53, by my count, but it's a given thatn I'll do the other usual suspects). Goal is to better a time set by Roy Benton in 1995 of 37 days,  12 hours - the last and fastest self-supported, self-powered time I could find in my research. It works out to roughly 1.5 summits a day. My rules are here. It's a DIY thing.

My projected route is shown on the Tracker, but there's nothing to say I won't change my mind and take a different route - in fact, it's a given.
There's no course really, so there's no, "off course", so don't worry about that.

I'll also try to post photos while I go and you may follow me on whatever you'd like:

Instagram:
 
http://instagram.com/longrangerjustin

Twitter:
 
http://twitter.com/justinsimoni
   
Facebook:

http://facebook.com/longrangerjustin
   
My hands - and feet are going to be pretty occupied, so if you spot me while on your own hikes and take a photo please share them!
It would mean a lot to me. It's been great to meet people while on my training runs/hikes.

I'll be easy to spot: big busy red beard and most likely a bright red, "Salvagetti" bike jersey on and a tiny, gray casquette on my sunburned head.
I'll look - and smell like a thru-hiker, but my pack will be minuscule or non-existent. Hi-fives and smiles are definitely appreciated if we cross paths, but please don't meet up with me to explicitly give me any sort of support, like food. Or whiskey.

Thanks goes out to a very long list of people: Salvagetti for being a wonderful bike shop to me for over a decade, Greg at Bolder Bikepacking for making some amazing packs that have taken me across the country - twice, and my lady for hanging in there, while I go out to do my /silly things. And also for the belays at the crags, which I guess would also fall under, "Hanging in there". A few companies/individuals in those companies have been helpful with gear. Thank you: Selle Anatomica for making literally the best saddle in existence, BOA Technology for having me on their product testing group, Ultimate Direction for making some pretty sweet vests. I've gained much inspiration from far too many individuals to count, really - I'd list them out, but I don't want to forget anyone.

I'm not doing this to raise money for a non-profit or anything like that, but if what I'm hoping to do inspires you, my suggestion would be to give to the 14ers.com CFI fundraising effort (if that's OK with you, Bill):

https://www.coloradogives.org/cfibillm

If you're looking for a more humanitarian org., consider the Colorado Harm Reduction Action Center:

http://www.harmreductionactioncenter.org

Wish me luck! As it's been shown, this type of challenge is TOUGH. I hope I can myself make it back to Golden before all the Aspen leaves change.

I wonder if Kurt Ref. (krefs on here?) would have any guidance - he's done some pretty cool projects with his students and bikepacking.

My guess is that it's just something super simple: a little dehydration, or not eating enough (which sometimes isn't something that's possible!), just basic exposure - being out in the sun all day (or the rain). Lack of sleep - just things like that.

I think the petite mort that is described by triathletes is more about the major buildup to the event that, in comparison to say, the CTR is over in an instant, and then you must definitely rest to recover. When you have that sort of training that can be so specific and regimented, even tapering gets people itchy, so once they do the event and then go right back to recovering, they may feel that they're doing something wrong - the body is used to (some say addicted) to the amount of work you're giving it.

After the CTR, I was pretty OK with not riding the bike for a while, to be honest! My fingers were wrecked, the bike was wrecked too. It took a few days to get out of that mental fog, but it wasn't anything like the TD - that was an intense amount of time to recover to 100% physically. I also had very strange anxiety dreams when sleeping - I'd wake up, not know where I was - thinking I was still racing and had to get out of Colorado, or something! I'd also think I was taking a nap and wake up 6 hours later. Fun times, for sure.   

Nice writeup, Paul!

Sorry, it's called, "Hidden Gem". There was a good pro-mtb video, which I'm also failing to find.

The regs. do start to get really weird and not so much making sense, but it's a slippery slope for sure. I know there was a new wilderness in CO that some wanted to designate, but having it would close down a ton of already established MTB routes, so a different plan was put together to figure out a happy medium, basically Wilderness+ (the plus being mountain bikes). Not sure where that sits atm - I wanna say it was called, "Ruby", but my Google-fu is failing me. 

The letter of the law is totally that even possession in Wilderness is a no no, and I'm not gonna challenge that! It's pretty serious from what I understand - even trail work done in Wilderness, is done with hand tools, for example. I know Curiak and co. have done trips where they have traversed over Wilderness in CO, while carrying their bikes, but I don't know the details enough to comment on if that was truly OK. It's def. a touchy subject.

Should be a wild trip! The first week is stressful (lots of hard peaks, gotta get to Culebra on time), and the rest looks like a ton - and I mean a ton of fun.

The rules I have in place, it would be totally up to you on how you'd like to summit, provided that the way you go about things is LEGAL for the area.  I like this, as it adds a lot of flexibility for how people would like to complete the challenge, although if you think things through, it rarely makes sense to schlep the bike up, except if you're doing some sort of traverse, and even then... It comes down to simple physics: where once the grade of the climb reaches a certain point,  it's much faster to simply hike up something, than try to ride, or hike-a-bike it. But the photo ops on the summit w/bike certainly could make it worth it!

Some areas where it would be legal to literally ride up to the summit would be the paved road up Mt. Evans or Pikes Peak, the dirt road almost all the way up Mt. Antero, Mt Elbert - which is right off the Colorado Trail, Lincoln/Cameron/Democrat/Bross, Mt. Sherman - there's actually quite a few summits you can summit via bike. Lots of places you can't, or wouldn't want to - anything in Wilderness, anything in Rocky Mountain National Park (Longs). Another thing to think about is descending these trails: fun with a nice squishy bike and a competent pilot, not so fun with the Surly Ogre I got. 14ers in the summer also get way crowded and there's a good correlation w/"bikable 14ers" and "crowds" - it's gonna be hard to descend fast and you're not gonna make a lot of friends smoking down a trail no one is really going to expect a bike on. There's lots of casual hikers on these trails - there's a chance they're not going to be super aware of their surroundings, except to take photos of all the beautiful scenes, around them.

The Loveland Pass -> Guanella Pass Traverse would be pretty showy - it's a long hike by itself above treeline already. Huckin' a bike ala AZTR Grand Canyon style would be an exercise in pain, for sure. But, it would be OK to do, as none of the area falls in Wilderness. Going from Guanella Pass, to the top of Evans would be a no-no even though it's possible, because you'd have to go into the Mt. Evans Wilderness. I'd like to try that Loveland -> Guanella traverse someday with a pretty light rig: it would make a pretty incredible loop and a fine one-day challenge.

So anyways, my plan is to leave the bike at the trailhead for the most part - I may even be pretty strict about the, "Colorado Rule": be 3,000 feet below the summit before you start hiking. Most places, that's a given already. Following the Colorado Rule will make comparing times with those who are going for the fully supported challenge (being shuttled from TH to TH) a lot easier. I can't think of any of the mountains where one would benefit from traversing over, by bike, to gain a time advantage.

Gonna drop in about 9 days or so. "I gotta figure out the start date" has been on my todo list for a few weeks now.

I think Argentine was an emotional choice - I've done it west bound with my Crosscheck. Hauling a trailer. Took about 3 trips to grab all the gear, schlep it up, assemble it all, and go down the West side. And then, I got a bit more enlightened on how to do bikepacking, properly It's a hike, fer sure. I may be in "let's get this finished up, already" mode, so we'll see which way I go. Loveland Pass, logistically, makes way more sense, as I don't need to double-back, once I'm down from Argentine.

I mean, if I had my way, I'd ride up Loveland, and hike from the Pass, over to Grays/Torreys, and traverse all the way Guanella Pass. That's a worthy goal in of itself! I don't know if it's the right thing to do, fully loaded! Eh, if I have time. If not, before the snow starts fallin'

That's too bad - it's a really beautiful part of the course. Those mountains... woo!

Get after it, Mark!

One solution Greg (12wheels - http://bolderbikepacking.wordpress.com/) made on my bags, is to attach the bag that's on the top tube with the frame bag, with a large strip of velcro, so the strap for the frame bag doubles as an attachment point for the smaller bag. Works great.

I like the webbing idea, too.

Sounds like Cjell Money, but read his entry - they didn't just let him through - he had to do a little song and dance as well.

https://cjellmoney.wordpress.com/2012/10/11/divide-riding-v-tour-divide/

It's unclear from the blog post, which probably makes sense - a bet they're a little tired! I was hoping she could get back on board and on route.


In 2012, my own rear hub was biting the dust - it was a problem that started on day 0, and one I promptly ignored - thought the chain was slipping because the chain tensioner was problematic - one of those Surly gizmos that wasn't impressin'. Same wheel I had used in 2011 - don't think there was much service done to the wheel itself; kinda didn't have the money to service the wheel and I like to tempt faint ev'ry now and 'gain, anyways. Really started being a problem right after I go out of The Outdoorsman's door (of course!). Damn pawls on the racheting system weren't catching and I would have  a back wheel that didn't want to engage. Sometimes it did, like if I dunk'd the entire contraption in a creek to baptize it back out of my own original sins. And sometimes it didn't, but when it did, I just kept pedaling, for fear it would disengage once again, 'cause every time it did, it took longer than the last to re-engage. Tickin' time bomb. From Red Rock Pass, onto Flagg Ranch Road, all the way past the Yellowstone entrance, I kept pedaling my self-imposed fixed gear. Didn't sleep much more than a wink before keeping on - I knew I was gonna lose a good bunch of time real soon. Made a decision that This Thing Had to Be Figured Out and pointed her straight to Jackson, after not having too much luck hitchin' a ride. I wouldn't have picked myself up, either - what with how I looked, and smelled. It's a miracle that thing made it that far. Once I got to town, the good souls at Hoback Sports in Jackson helped me out as quick as they could, which took all day - first trying to fix the problem, then trying to replace the wheel, then pointing me to a used bike parts place, when none of their replacements worked. Picked up an ancient wheelset (a gosh darn braking surface on the rim!) for next to nuthin' - weighed a ton, but seemed like it would survive the next 3 states - if only I had noticed I left my credit card back in Montana. Woo boy, another mess to get out of. I pointed her back North, and pedaled the route of shame to where I turned off the route (the scenery was nice enough - Tetons and all!), falling asleep on the handlebars periodically. I needed to get back on route, then - then!  I could take a real good rest. Finally made it, and finally saddled up under 'n the bridge where I spent 2011 as well; listening to the cars 'n trucks above me all night, clanking as they do on the splits of the concrete. Next morning, stopped by the café you see, once you turn off the main road - just had a cup of coffee - funds were runnin' low already! But, I had made it back on route - that was really a close one. It took me all the way to Salida to catch back up with the groupetto that I had seen that morning, all the way back at Yellowstone. They were as surprised as me!

Thanks to Hoback for being so ever patient with a half-falling asleep man, and thank you for the local that gave me some words of encouragement - I was day dreaming of bus schedules back to Denver. Not another mechanical for the rest of the trip. Just a tire change in Salida - kept the original chain! Bless those PC-1's. I still use that back wheel I had gotten in Jackson everyday. Turns out that brake surface on the rim comes in handy on a bike with cantis!

The next time I went to Canada - just a few weeks after the race had finished, they took me into that little room they used for questioning and I had to explain myself out of a few run-ins of my own and the law - but that's an entirely different story, altogether...

Here's hoping Jill can continue, without being relegated.

Pretty bad year for 'em, all over. Snow meltoff was really late this year.

I can totally relate with not finding too savory of foods super appealing. One trick is to add something sweet to the food - kind of like those M&M's with the peanuts. On the two Tour Divides I did, I didn't use one gel (except the one given to me at the Outdoorsman!), or energy bar - after a few days, they get prohibitively expensive to buy, for what they are - and a big reason to buy them is convenience.

Rather, it's just a challenge to find that doesn't come from a lab. Most gas stations around here have some sort of selection of nuts in different forms, fruit, yogurt - that sorta stuff. I've been trying to cut down on dairy, but string cheese is another thing that is usually available. I def. go on price too Sometimes a simple item like string cheese can be marked up by 300%. Same with energy bars. Jerky is a great one too, found at gas stations around here - not too much fat (unless you find BACON jerky!) but loads of protein - a little pricey, though but keeps well in weird situations (can't be smooshed). Only have had problems with fish jerky - that didn't sit right.

A lot of supermarkets here now have bulk food isles. A godsend.

So,

This topic is full of opinions, and mine is just going to be one of many different ones.

But, the idea that you need to eat (and only eat) sugar/maltodextrin/carbs for 8 hours doesn't make sense to me. What does make sense is just to eat fairly regularly. People racing the Tour de France are eating Ham Sandwiches on the long stages, you know? So that's honestly my suggestion. If you do up anything, up fat. Luckily, peanut butter can be found in most gas stations. When I get fancy, I go with peanuts mixed with M&M's.

Someone asked me what I brought along on a 8 hour run. I told them "raisins and ginger snap cookies!". I'm not sure if they believed me

Do you have GI issues? If so, then it is time to experiment in what foods causes them. Unless I'm redlining it on a sprint, not much food gives me too much trouble cycling. Running can be a little bit of a different scenario. Strangely, gels aren't a magic bullet, but warming up, before eating does help quite a bit.