what is interesting about this race is the top guys are sure to suffer more than they would suffer on a free race with no money.
lets go back to last year when Jefe and Jesse were battling it out for the top spot on the ctr.  Now imagine that someone told each of them that they would get a million dollars if they won the race.  Just imagine how much harder they would have tried to push themselves.  I would imagine they would have dug deeper and fought off the sleep demons longer and longer to do whatever it took to stay on top with a prize purse that would buy them years without having to work and all the free time to do whatever adventures their hearts desire.
I can imagine a race like this would push people way past their comfort zone.  It would be interesting to see what the people in the back of the pack do when they realize they don't have a chance at the prize... Do they continue to push or do they give up?

It's for sewing up my soul after Fooses. And torn sidewalls.

no sense in mending your soul after fooses only to have marshal and sargents tear it out and crush it again.

I know this is a newbie question, but larger in front than in back?  I would think you would want more surface area in the back for better traction.

you want the traction for cornering on the downhills.
you don't need traction on the back because if it gets even the slightest bit steep, you will be walking due to altitude.  at least that's my experience haha

comparing his time to aaron gulley's time last year from that spot, it looks like he's around 9 hours from finishing, so possibly under 46 hour finish.  insane

does anyone happen to know how many cc's the engine on kurt's bike is?

Touring it together, looking to optimize mexican food and ice cream quotients.  Back before race start.

750?
I'm sure you both will still "tour" it faster than most of us mortals could race it.
have fun out there.  you are sure to have plenty of us following your dot.

Got 6 signed up for tracking the 750 already.  Woot!

The tracking map is up, with only us on it, if anyone wants to follow along:

http://trackleaders.com/aztr14

are you guys planning on touring/racing together? before the mass start?

I personally would like for the date to stay with stefan's original date of the 10th.
I've ITT'd the ctr twice and would really like to experience the grand depart for the first time this year but won't be able to do it before the 10th because I'll be suffering in ironman boulder on august 3rd... but that's just my vote

Quoting this because my schedule has been in flux, and now it looks like I will be starting on August 3rd as well. That would be AWESOME if I could take part in the grand depart. Been training like a madman and hoping to push myself hard this year. If I have to do an ITT that is fine as well though, and if thats the case Ill probably start from Durango, which is my preference anyway so either way I guess Im happy. Either Ill get to ride with the group, or Ill get to ride the direction I prefer.

back to the fs/ht and pack/no pack discussion.
one topic that has not been discussed is temperature management.
in 2012, I did the ride with a pack and would find myself getting too hot and sweating then freezing when I got in the shade or downhills because of the moisture that was on me caused from sweating on the pack.
in 2013, I was pack-less and my body was able to much better temperature control itself and I didn't find myself going through those temperature swings near as much because the sweat would evaporate as I was sweating.  this saved a lot of energy and time not having to try to warm myself up.  plus the process of putting a jacket on and taking itself off was much easier so I was more inclined to stop real quick and do that when needed since it wasn't a big undertaking not having to take a pack off my back to do it.
I often ride to work in the winter in tulsa and am faced with the same issues.  when it is 20 degrees out and I'm wearing a pack, my back sweats and the rest of my freezes because of it and when I don't wear a pack, I am fairly comfortable the whole ride(after the first couple miles of warm up that is).

just food for thought.  every body behaves differently so you would have to try different things for yourself.

Thanks for the insight, lots to think about. FS sounds like more fun out there & easier on the body.

I have ridden both aluminum FS and steel hard tail on the CTR(ITT).
The FS was of course more fun on the downhills and easier all around on the downhill.
The hard tail was easier to get uphill even though it was slightly heavier.
I originally thought the FS would make it easier on my butt but come to find out, the FS forced me to stay seated a lot more while climbing so it ended up hurting the rear more.  the hard tail let me stand a lot more on the climbs to give the butt a break.
also, the hardtail allowed just enough extra room on the bike to avoid having the carry a pack on the back.
it pretty much boiled down to FS="better downhill" and HT="better uphill".... I figure the uphill is the part I need all the help I can get so I choose HT
but then again, everyone has their own unique experience with both styles of bikes.  I would suggest riding that kind of terrain on both and see which one is easier to get up and over the mountain on and what makes the most sense with your gear packing strategy

I like 8-10 for the start date.
that way I can endure plenty of suffering at IM boulder on the 3rd before the ctr.
I have yet to start with the grand depart.  I have started both before and after the grand depart.  my suggestion would be to start a day or so before the mass start.
if you start too far ahead of the group, then the only people you see will be going too much faster than you for you to ride with them much.  if you start after the race, you may not see anyone and would miss out on the comradery altogether.
starting a day before the race will eliminate the crowded nerves at the start line and lend you to still be able to ride with some people close to your speed when they catch you half way through the ride.
my suggestions is whenever you do choose to ride, make sure to sign up for the CTR spot tracker so all the people who are unable to ride the route this year can still follow your progress and live vicariously through you and everyone else... plus family always worries when they can't see where you are and there in no sense putting extra stress on them.

he appears to be making slow progress again... I don't know if maybe someone got him what he needed or if he gave up on waiting for help.  would be interesting to know what happened.

looks like Dave has hit his help button.... 3 times.
is someone around to go check on him?

Looks like Aaron Denberg is heading down the final stretch to waterton.
Excellent ride, Aaron.
it's almost kind of sad to have the last rider finishing up so we all have to accept that ctr is over for the year.
I've been pretty obsessively thinking about all the sections of the ctr.  I don't know what it is about this ride, but it becomes an obsession once you do it.  I hope to give it another go next year now that I feel like I have an idea of what to expect from section to section.

It was a surprise to meet you in Cochetopa Park. Glad we helped motivate you to get to Apple's. Sad to here you didn't get a root beer float.

hey thanks for the motivation.  and the pictures.  BTW, that tape on the leg gave me the most retarded looking sun tan line lol

Chrissy,
way to persevere through everything mother nature threw at you.
on the food thing... being a low lander, I was never able to eat food while biking.  I had to stop just to take a sip of water cause I could not skip a breath while riding since the air was so thin.
I usually would stop for 5 minutes to relax and eat a gel or snickers bar or what not.  I don't think it really cost me much time especially given how infrequently I was eating... maybe like 4 stops a day.  I spent far more time sitting under shade trees trying to cool off from the sun than I spent eating.
I would pretty much just ride till I started not being able to put power into my pedals and my mind couldn't focus on the trail anymore (signs of low blood sugar) then I would stop and eat a couple hundred cals and go on my merry way.  btw, this is a horrible nutrition plan for doing a ride like that, but I liked how when I starve myself for long enough, everything I had to eat actually tasted really good
I'm still trying to wrap my head around how slow my moving speed was on the trail.  it's so hard to comprehend how you can push so hard and go so slow.
did anyone actually track how much time they spend walking vs biking? it feels like at least 40% in terms of time... at least on the trail.  I'm sure biking is a lot more miles than pushing, but I spent an insane amount of hours pushing.

I will say, though, it makes the trail seem more smooth and effortless than I remember it:)

I agree... I was just trying to figure out where he found so much footage of rideable trail... I remember pushing way more than riding.  need more footage of that to be accurate.

I guess some people don't have facebook so here's a non facebook link to my trip report
http://josiahmorgan.blogspot.com/2013/08/colorado-trail-journey-2013.html

my writeup.  Sorry if it isn't completely coherent, as I'm still not completely coherent yet after losing so much sleep lol.
https://www.facebook.com/notes/josiah-morgan/colorado-trail-journey-2013/10151799146928117

let me know if the link works.

I finished yesterday at 4:50 PM.
I'm pretty sure I left Velorution around 2:43 PM last sunday so that's around 7 days, 2 hours and 7 minutes.
there was a section of trail I missed.... going up to the coney summit, I didn't see the trail to the left and assumed the difference in the gps were within gps tolerance and that I must still be on route.  when I got to the top of that road climb, I realized that there was a trail switch backing off to the left to get up the same climb.  That vertical push up that road almost killed me and there was no way I was going back down to ride the trail... I just took the assumption that the push up the road had to be as least as hard as the switchback.