Anyone notice Kevin Thomas go missing in Breck?

Drivetrain issues in the rain, via facebook

Looks like Kevin Thomas last years winner, is out too. He has gone to Breck. He has had a rough season with stomach problems all year. JC said he wasn't stoked on racing

the way her and Leslie H. have been riding AND hiking all year I can't imagine she has anything left. But her bike does like to break

myself and few other members of http://bandwagonracing.com/team.html  are members of the foundation! almost every inch of the trail rocks! and I love rocks

I really like Doug's description of cycling passion - fit's like a glove.

That "?" as the middle initial for Jesse should be replaced with "Canadian Stickboy"!

I was thinking "the calculator" Jesse has every last once planned out.

Happy Birthday!

The team has one thing in common! Blame stefan and scott. http://bandwagonracing.com/

The site will eventually have some useful bikepacking and ultra info.

nice job ethan and jesse!!! wicked conditions.

Go Jesse! COS represent!

word! i like Jesse's chances if he catches him

jon csakany is out as well. he was tired of being wet. burly race this year!!!

my guess is jeff ran out of food. seemed like him and jesse were running pretty light. that was a great effort tho.  ethan is still at least 28ish hours from durango and that is with good weather and spirits

Ryan called me this morning from Breckenridge, in good spirits.  We figured out his tracker is only uploading when he pushes the OK button.  He put new batteries in this morning, and has been putting it near the outside of his pack when it isn't pouring.  Is there anything else I should suggest the next time he calls in (probably Leadville)?  I will mention what I read here earlier, about having it in Track mode, not OK mode, although I won't actually know what I'm talking about when I say that.

1.) Turn the unit off (Press and Hold the On/Off Button, ~5 seconds).
LED goes off
2.) Turn the unit on (Press On/Off button briefly) 1 LED goes on and blinks.
3.) Enable tracking mode. (Press and Hold the /*OK*/ Button, ~5
seconds.) The OK LED will go on while you are holding it down. After
it goes off, 2 LEDs blinking simultaneously indicates tracking mode is
enabled.

Last year I got rained on every day, but it was a typical colorado thunder shower, rain for an hour then you couldn't tell anything had happened. It'll be interesting to see what happens if those guys and gals get slowed by the weather out there in the black hole. A trip into Lake City maybe mandatory for a lot of people.

Thanks for the write-up, Dug. You have been going well this year. Even your short course riding has been impressive. I dare say your bug last week had more to do with undermining any multi-day superpower (read: constitution) than being way past-peak. No worries. "The Race" ain't going anywhere--in fact it only seems to get better with each edition. There's always an ITT in a couple weeks if it's not sitting well with you.

thanks. I think I'll leave it be for the year. This race is still very much evolving. Might go cruise Cataract/Coney in a couple weeks if the rains ever cease.

It's impressive how much time Jeff, Ethan and Jesse have made up. Tales of my demise can be found here http://pedalsnotpistons.blogspot.com/

Doug

Ah yes the GLR, I think that someone should take the helm on this one! (I must admit I am a bit confused about the 800', are we no longer welcome to traverse that section near coal canyon? Nothing weirder than being in a backcountry mode and feel/imagine rifle crosshairs on the back of your head.) But I would like to see a nice group start on this one, no offense to those who went there own way last year, but I like tradition, start at the Lunch Loop, ride together to Loma, and race for the Gold! But that is just me. I am still interested in this, but after the whole PP/wilderness issue I started to look for another avenue for may june. Just kills me when we lose access over such a TINY bit of the whole deal. Also I believe the whole prologue thing need to be settled, I think add in the LL to Loma time to the total, so it doesn't matter when and where it is done. And damn it I want a trophy awarded to the crazy bastard that wins! Just kidding, this is one to watch....peace Jefe

I can see Glen Coe bench when I close my eyes.....ahh yeah...

i'm with jefe all the way on this one. i was "IN" for sure until the whole land issue deal. i'm racing the Growler at the end of may so i was hoping for an early june GL, but it seems that doing something a little less complicated might be in order.

i think keeping things low key is the way to go. i don't know about the other land managers but some of the folks over at the colorado trail foundation are down with "race" and wish more mtber's would contribute to the colorado trail foundation. they follow the "race" and knew who i was when i called on the phone. they are having a holiday party/fund raiser in december, here is the info.... http://www.coloradotrail.org/

 Mark Your Calendar for
The Colorado Trail Foundation's
Holiday Party!
 
Thursday, December 10, 4:00 til 7:00pm
American Mountaineering Center, 710 10th St, Golden, CO
 
Wine, appetizers, displays and good company provided throughout the evening
Come by anytime between 4:00-7:00pm. Short presentation at 5:30 and door prize drawings at 6:00
Free 2010 Colorado Lottery calendar featuring The Colorado Trail cover to cover
Come early to view the Bradford-Washburn American Mountaineering Museum - open prior to the CTF Party. Discounted admission for CTF guests: $3.25
Free parking and entrance in the rear (north & east) of the building
 
Please RSVP with names to the CTF office: 303-384-3729 or ctf@coloradotrail.org
Don't forget to bring your friends and family!

[I]

this thread is becoming nauseating. nailing down a set of rules and trying to eliminate the grey areas is fine, but you guys are nit-picking the rules to death. i have a great deal of respect for anyone who has finished the gdr or ctr. i don't really care whether they took a candy bar from a fat man with a lisp, or called their girlfriend in the middle of the night so they could rub one out over the phone. the spirit of the race has always been a self-governing type of thing, if you can live with style in which you arrived at the finish then by god I can live with how you reached the finish.

that being said my thoughts on the rules are this.... race completely self-supported, with these exceptions, resupply only from commercial businesses. ship only to and from post-offices. give and receive trail magic only from the trail angel. cell phone use only if you are standing next to a pay phone. then it is ok to call whomever you want, for any reason you want. absolutely no pacers. if your friends want to meet you on the trail it shouldn't be pre-arranged. the trails are open to everyone so stopping people from coming out and enjoying the race from the trail would be impossible. most folks know the difference between having a "pacer" and having friends on the course to cheer them on. riding with other racers is fine as long as there is no drafting and/or sharing of a light source. sharing course beta and having some company for a while is just a neighborly thing to do in my opinion.   

i don't really care if you have abided by these rules in the past but these in general are my racing ethics and the ones i will follow in the future. in the past i have only deviated from these set of rules in the trail magic department. although the year i finished the ctr i only took trail magic from the trail angel.

chris is the only one who should be interested in this thread, he has a broken ankle, the rest of us should be out riding. if any one wants to debate the rules from the trail i'll be riding into bean fesst http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=555479 on saturday. i'm sure you'll be more than happy to except some of my flan and then you will be rethinking your stance on trail magic.   

and by you i'm referring to all of us, i'm not singling anyone out   

Finding out about the rules is good. Walking in and claiming a large percentage of people cheat is not good. Read here: http://tourdivide.org/the_rules

Post specific examples. Change the race, the participants name, whatever. I disagree that cheating, even in a minor ways is common place. Self DQ for minor infractions is far more common in my readings.

I agree that trail magic can be a grey area. Accepting NO trail magic certainly would be easiest way to handle it. However if all race participants and perhaps extend that to SPOT followers really understand the rules it doesn't seem to be a big deal. It's hard not to feel like a dick turning down an apple from someone in the middle of nowhere when you're obviously hungry although I have done it. You just explain the rules or ethics of what you're doing and it's all good.

if you had seen what the trail angel had left for us at the end of sargents mesa you wouldn't even consider uttering the words "accept no trail magic"

in my opinion having something shipped TO somewhere other than a post office would be pre-arranged support. since it would be an advantage to have access to a resupply at say 3am when everything else was closed.but shipping something FROM a hotel would be fine in my interpretation of the rules. as far as the ctr goes this would only be an issue in leadville, buena vista or silverton, and not that great of an advantage anyway. the real crux of the biscuit for the ctr is between buena and silverton anyway and no one is shipping anything to or from any part of the trail in between those two points. i finished the ctr with everything i started with and only resupplied at grocery stores. it may come down to a matter of style or personal ethics. i'm sure stefan will chime in with his thoughts.