JPaks llc

 Colorado Trail race 2019

Day 1:

          Sunday July 28th and it’s 4am. I’ve been up for almost 2 hours now trying in vain to put food and water in my stomach, but with a combination of my nerves along with the fact it was 2ish in the morning, I was failing to eat much.

For the last 364 days I’d been thinking about this moment. Ever since Kristen rolled into Junction Creek in 2018 after 8 days on the CTR, I knew it was my chance in 2019.

We got into Durango Friday afternoon, a full day and some ahead of the grand depart. Waking up in Durango Saturday morning was a huge stress relief, we we’re already here! Some delicious breakfast, water, coffee and a nice stroll around town along with a a shakedown ride to Velorution started the day off right. Running into Bailey and Lewis downtown was a nice surprise. Some lunch and a beer at Animas River brewery was keeping my stress to a minimum. Eric recognized our bikes outside and stopped in for a snack. The three of us hung out at the river for a bit chatting about everything. Some Mexican food for dinner and I was in bed (wish I’d have been sleeping) at 9pm.

I had done the work, put in my time and there wasn’t anything left to do but ride my bike home to Denver starting the next day at 4am.

          And just like that I was standing with about 75 other racers in front of Velorution cycles in Durango, Colorado. Espresso shots, pastries and hugs are being handed out left and right. Friends were everywhere, that’s the coolest thing about doing something like the ‘grand depart.’ Sure it’s a race, but I’ve gotten to know these people over the years and to be able to share this experience together is what makes the ‘race’ so special.

Before I know it Stephan is giving his usual pre-race speech. The rules are simple. Don’t be a dick, don’t break the law and if there’s a question as to if something is ‘right’ or ‘wrong,’ think about the impact of that action being carried out by 1000 other people.

          And boom! We we’re off! The group roll-out to Junction creek through the city streets was cool at such an early time of day. No one else out and a mass of blinking lights and reflective bits along with a palpable excitement in the air. Adam Lisonbee swung up to my right and introduced himself. We exchanged real world introductions and chatted briefly as we ate up the pavement. And then before I knew it, we were onto the singletrack. Comforts behind, a full day of riding ahead and the unknown week to come.

As we worked our way through the Junction creek singletrack in a congo line towards the climb I was asked to let ‘9’ riders pass. I laughed out loud, pulled over and said “I’ll see you boys later.” We were barely 4 miles into the singletrack with 540 miles in front of us and I knew the long game. I’d been here before and I knew what lay ahead of us. As I passed them all back throughout the day, one by one as they burned out, it put a little spark into my fire and helped me push further.

          My biggest training for the CTR was P.M.A. Positive Mental Attitude. Do my own thing and ride my own race. Don’t get caught up in someone else’s pace or their race. It was literally all about me this time.

That first day I found myself riding with Andy, Brett, Josh and a few others. This was a fun leapfrog as I know Andy, Brett and Josh pretty well, but we’ve never pedealed together let alone raced together. Brett and Josh were both on singlespeeds so that kept the pace pretty chill. My goal for day one was to make it to Little Molas Lake and camp before dropping into Silverton the next morning for breakfast.

We made it to Blackhawk pass before dark and the group started breaking up. First Josh’s stomach, then Andys.  They both opted to stop at different places for the evening and see if they could sleep it off. I was feeling GREAT! We were almost to the final big saddle; Rolling Pass and I wasn’t done yet. The sky was clear, no wind to speak of and the push was on.

After Brett’s traverse of the river log above the raging creek, he decided to stop for a bit.

Brett’s knee was giving him trouble so I moved on to Rolling pass after dark without him. He wanted to weigh his options after a late meal and I needed to keep moving.

I did pass Maricio on the summit and he was shouting at me about something that I couldn’t understand. He then grabbed my shirt and gestured to the ground. I managed to make out that he had lost a similar black long sleeved top and was wondering if I had seen it on the trail. I hadn’t so I continued onward.

Made Rolling pass after 10pm with meteor showers, crystal clear skies and no one around! It was truly stunning. I turned off my lights and just stood there for a minute to take it all in. I had ‘almost’ made my goal and it was all downhill from here! Ha, it’s never ‘all downhill.’

Made it down the pass to water, filtered and proceeded to take a wrong turn down Engineer Mtn trial, instead of the CT, unknown to me at the time. Jammin’ along, feeling good about day one’s progress I kept dropping, and dropping. I remember thinking “hmm, I don’t remember this but I’ve never ridden this section in the dark and it had been a year since me last ride off Rolling Pass.

About 2 miles and 2k+ of descending before realizing my mistake after launching off a concrete reinforced section of trial. Wait a minute… A drop, concrete. I surely don’t remember this. A quick glance at my Garmin revealed my lapse in judgement. Stunned. Defeated. Laughing hysterically at the sky. I cannot believe I just made that mistake! I was crushed by the waste of time and more importantly, calories. I would push my bike right back up for the next hour. Damn.

It was now almost midnight on day 1 with over 20hrs of riding and 12k of climbing with my mistake.

Finally returned to where I left the trail and made camp at 1am. After setting the bike down and removing my hip pack, I came to the realization that I had left the zipper open after filtering water and subsequently lost my prescription sunglasses on the descent down Engineer Mtn trail. Shit, that was an expensive mistake but one that I wasn’t about to descend again just to hope to find. I can buy new glasses in Silverton and most importantly I still had my clear prescription sunglasses that would play a vital role in my finish.

I sat there in my bivy with small glaciers of snow and a crystal clear high country lake in front of me. The sky put on a show as I waited for my water to boil to make a chicken noodle soup packet before laying my head down for day 1. I laughed out loud and said ‘alright Joe, let’s get all the stupid shit outta the way on day one!’

Totals: 74 miles, 14k+ of climbing.

Day 2:

          I had set an alarm for 4am but I repeatedly pushed snooze and finally awoke around 5:30 to a beautiful sunrise. I was elated to be on the ‘other’ side of Rolling pass come sunrise, but I also came the realization that it was getting later and I had a huge day, again, ahead of me and I needed some motivation. Enter instant coffee! Boiled water as I packed up everything, drank hot coffee while trying to eat a pro bar.

Got rolling in the cool morning air and had a nice rolling descent to the Little Molas lake trailhead. My memory of this being ‘all downhill’ off Rolling Pass was far from true. The rolling undulations of the trial keep things interesting for miles upon miles.

Finally popped out at the parking lot and stopped to say hi to Craig Fowler and let him snap a picture of me. Chatted for a bit and rolled out to Silverton for breakfast around 9am.

Stopped at the gas station for a bacon, egg, cheese biscuit and snacks. I chatted with Kristen on the phone and Andy rolls up! Shortly thereafter Josh rolled up too and we went into town for resupply. Andy and I went to the coffee shop and Josh to the grocery store. Both guys were feeling better and the stoke was high. We would all be riding up Stony Pass together.

Ran into Bailey and Lewis at the coffee shop. Both were dropping and had been there all morning. The altitude and massive elevation gain had gotten the best of both of them. It was surreal. Here were two of the elite endurance racers (Lewis was the previous year’s Tour Divide winner and Bailey was 2nd place to Lewis with a singlespeed) Chatted for a bit with them while Andy and I got burritos with multiple iced coffee refills.

Started up Stony Pass around 11:30. Much later than I had hoped but the weather was supposed to hold and it was a beautiful day. Josh caught us right at the bottom of the climb for Stony and the three of us pushed, walked, climbed up to the summit. Finally topping out around 2pm I think. Ugh, what a slog that road is with the grade as well as the constant traffic.

We took a short break and headed into Seg 23 with hopes of the high point in front of us.

It wasn’t long before we found Brett and Hunter chilling around an icy pond. Brett’s knee was acting up again and he decided a high elevation ice bath was in order. After a brief rendezvous the 5 of us pushed onward, higher and higher.

On Cataract ridge, about 12,300’ elev Josh discovered his rear i9 free hub starting to walk off the axle. It had been making weird noises for the whole day and I knew instantly this was proper fucked and Josh wasn’t going anywhere. We pulled things apart and ball bearings fell out while the bearing races were separated and seized. We pulled out what we could, cleaned and removed Josh’s chain so he could at least coast back down to Silverton in hopes of fixing this.

Ultimately a Triple Crown destroyed by failed parts…

Hunter, Brett and myself started pushing on again. Andy and Jimmy had left us early to keep moving so the three of us pushed throughout the day. Sunny, partly cloudy and not a single thing forming anywhere on the horizon. Crazy lucky for so late in the day! It was a fine day of racing above 12k and I thoroughly enjoyed the 7 summits before the high point.

Brett started slowing down because of his knee, Hunter was slowing down because of his rib so I kept pushing into the sunset. I knew the boys wouldn’t be far behind and I knew this section so well, I relished in the pleasure of just shredding at my own pace. Had another amazing sunset at our favorite camp spot on Seg 22! Mind bending colors and a sense of peace fell upon the whole valley.

Finally caught up to Jimmy (who I though was Andy in the dark) about 3 miles below the high point around 8-8:30. He said Andy was in the old mining cabin for the night and he was thinking of going over the high point that night. I told him I was going and let’s move it. I was all about getting over the high point and waking up on the other side of the pass. There was no way (weather withstanding) I was staying on the Silverton side!

We topped out on the high point of the CT at 10:00 exactly with 270 degrees of lightning storms and clear skies on top of us. It was pretty cool. My third summit of the high point on the CT and the first in the dark. I was stoked and knew it was only a matter of time before I could lay my head down for the day.

I wanted to get to tree line for the night in case something moved in overnight. We did see lightening off in the distance while on the high point so I wasn’t taking chances.

Little did I remember how long it took to get to tree line, especially with the snow drifts.

Two hours felt like forever and I let my mind get the better of me, falsely remembering how close (or not) tree line actually was.

Jimmy and I descended multiple drifts in the dark, with the bikes. Crazy funny shit. Sliding, skating and nervously laughing as we did, we made it down without issue.

Finally made it to tree line two hours later at midnight and called it a night. While setting up camp, we saw a headlight coming down and Hunter rolled up. He crashed with us that night. I was so tired, bonked I didn’t even talk to the boys. Made miso soup and crashed so, so hard.

Totals: 35.2 miles 16,000’ elev

Day 3:

          Brett rolled up on us about 6am as we were getting going. Sweet! I love Brett’s energy and was stoked that these ‘groupings’ were happening organically. We regrouped and headed down to get water. Saw a female moose in the trees near the old yurt (removed?) and filtered water from the boggy crossing.

We all rolled across Cochetepa dome towards Spring Creek Pass. Ran into Robert and pals along the way and chatted for a bit. Made the pass around 9am, used the bathroom, ate and peeled off a layer. The day was shaping up to be another! beautiful day so the four of us headed off to the La Garita detour. Pretty quick ascent up to Slumgullion pass and perfect weather, again. That ascent went faster than I remember from 2017 and I knew the La Garita detour was in our favor with a majority of it dropping elevation for us.

Bombed down the dirt road and stopped at the river for water and lunch. Another tuna/tortilla but this time I had some chips from Silverton! We were all in great spirits and the day was perfect.

A friend of Brett’s was out riding and rode with us for a bit. Hunter and I chatted the whole time which helped pass time nicely.

As we neared the Los Pinos climb the clouds closed in on us. We got rained on for about an hour on Los Pinos pass with a little grapple. I made the choice to don the rain jacket and gloves but not my pants. All too quickly my shorts were soaked through and cold and left me wondering if I had made the right choice. But two hours later we were back in t-shirts and dry on the back side of Los Pinos and I was thankful that my gamble paid off. Cruised through the final section of detour with relative ease. A little headwind towards the final leg but we knew we were close to the end. The guys were talking about what they hoped would be there, food/drink wise with Apple, the legendary trail angel. Kristen and I had heard about the famous Apple years ago. Always at the end of Seg 18 with drinks, foot, shelter and a big smile. We were fortunate enough to enjoy this sliver of magic on our tour of the CT back in 2017, grabbing a Gatorade and Coke but this time we made it to the old Apple trail angle spot, but alas, no Apple. Pushed into Seg 18 and made quick work of it. I really like the reprieve Seg 18 offers no matter the direction. Generally rolling without too many punishing climbs it always feels fast and this time was no different. We got into Seg 17 (sargents mesa) about 5pm. The usual herd of cows on the initial fire road always bring a laugh and comments about burgers in Buena Vista. Started into the segment and pushed, pushed, pushed up the first hump. I had forgotten how steep and stupid loose most of Sargent’s Mesa is on both ends. Gotta watch those footsteps and rolled ankles.

Brett, Hunter and myself pushed until 10pm when we were all exhausted. Collectively we decided to bed down and get up at 12am to move on. A quick 2 hour nap to recharge.

For that reason, I opted to just roll out my bivy and inflate my pillow but not use my sleeping bag. I was worried I’d be too comfortable so I’d leave it packed. Well no one moved until 5:30 am. Ha! 7Hrs later we came to and all admitted we were too exhausted and really needed the sleep. This would be the longest I’d sleep during the whole race, without a sleeping bag or pad, on top of Sargent’s Mesa, and I slept like a baby

Brett was complaining about his knee right away that morning but it was early and cold so we moved out to Razor Creek for some water. Hunter and I got to the creek and Brett was about 15min behind. I made hot coffee and topped off water but had a feeling something wasn’t quite ‘right’ with the mood.

Once Brett arrived, he informed us he was scratching from the race because of his knee.

A straight up, ‘guys, I’m done here.’ What?! No! We were gonna finish this together! Up until this point it hadn’t occurred to me that anyone else in the group wasn’t running at 100%. (Oher than Hunter, he started the race with a broken rib. Another story) So the announcement that Brett was dropping woke me up. Shit was getting real now.

Brett had gotten a photo of a detailed map of the area from a hiker on the way to Razor creek and found a road he could bail onto Hwy 50 from the Mesa. It wasn’t a fun moment...

Brett is a strong, smart rider and there was no talking him out of the decision. He knew pushing further along would be detrimental if something were to blow up. It’s still a long way to Marshall Pass and plenty of climbing between here and there.

We smoked a joint and reminisced about our time on the trial, Brett’s friend Dave who passed, Hunters friend who passed and my father-in-law Dave who passed.

It was a somber and humbling moment, but we all knew how lucky we were to be where we were and took that time to soak it in.

I wouldn’t see Brett until Waterton Canyon as we got too far out in front of him and couldn’t wait any longer to see him off. Damn, this is a race and all and Brett is my friend in all, but time was burning and time was the only thing that mattered. I wanted that 6 day goal, we were on Sergeants Mesa still and a big day ahead of us. I grabbed two starburst candies and Hunter grabbed some tape and proceeded to make a letter ‘B’ on a large rock onto which I placed the two starbursts in the open circles.

Brett did indeed find the starbursts and cried when he saw them as he knew exactly what it meant and how hard it was for us to carry on, but the weather was good, the time was getting away from us. He knew.

Brett would hold onto these two starbursts for the rest of the time, only to let me pick on in Waterton Canyon at the very end. Fuckin amazing.

Hunter and I got over Sergeants Mesa and onto Monarch Pass. The skies were starting to get a little darker over Monarch but we kept moving.

I was in the front of the group, pushing up when a crack of thunder overhead had me whip a 180 and head back down to tree line. Hunter, who was behind me, yelled my name as loud as he could as he thought I might have been hit. All was good and we regrouped once again. Artec and the Salsa fatbike caught up to us and after 20-25min with no activity we pushed up and over.

Once over the other side, we saw hiker after hiker drying out clothing and gear. TurnsWe out the storm dumped massive rain and hail (all over the side of the trail) while we hung out on the other side. HERO dirt and lots of puddles.

I decided to turn on my phone while descending to pick up any messages that may have been sent. My phone makes a Mario Brothers ‘coin’ sound for every message received and the entire way down was like playing a video game with the phone making coin sounds as I shredded some trial. Hilarious.

We made it to Fooses and dropped down. My left foot tendons (on top) were killing me at this point and I could barely descend on my pedal as the pain was too intense. The others got away from me and I made the decision to stand in Fooses creek to help with the inflammation in the foot. BEST DECISION EVER.

That solved my foot pain. I made a video and ate something before heading out to Hwy 50. After crossing 50 I found Hunter snacking on food and we hung for a bit. Pushed up and into Seg 14 with nice cloud cover and cool temps.

Kept riding 14 into the night and had THE MOST INCREDIBLE night ride ever through the smooth singletrack in the middle of Seg 14. So good!

After a while I realized Hunter was slowing down with his rib and bum getting sore. I decided I wanted to make coffee around 9:30 to get ready for a long night push. Hunter was down so we make hot coffee at Chalk Creek and pushed on into the night.

Eventually I told Hunter I needed to keep moving, fast, and that I was going to try to make it to Mt.Princeton hot springs that night.

He told me to keep the flame of stoke burning bright and that he’d try to keep my wheel. I eventually pushed harder and harder and lost Hunter somewhere behind me.
Made camp at the Chalk Creek trailhead about 6 miles from Mt. Princeton and made miso soup before laying down.

Totals: 83.8 miles 7713’ elev

Day 4:

          I awoke early in the morning, made a coffee and got rolling before the sun arose. Made it to the store at Mt. Princeton hot springs, around 6am but they don’t open unitl 8am. Threw away my trash and filled up on water from the outdoor hose.

Started the ride up to singletrack as the sun started to rise. Nice cool morning to start.

Burned through the 17 miles of trail to Cottonwood pass and b-lined it to BV for breakfast. Went straight to Jans for a ginormous burrito and biscuits and gravy. After that massive meal I went for coffee at the coffee shop and ran into Carey Kreiger (sp) and we chatted for a bit. Grabbed some stuff at Trails Ends and I was off. Less than 2 hours in BV and I was stoked!

Stopped at one of the boat ramps and refilled water, ate and called into MTBcast. Partly cloudy and comfortable I made my way to the reservoir and took another break/video before climbing up to Twin Lakes. Nice climb, easy riding and I was overlooking Twin Lakes before I knew it. Ran into Collin who also bummed into Kristen at Kenosha Pass. We had a nice chat before parting.

Motored around Twin Lakes and started the climb up towards Mt. Elbert. Lots of good memories in that area with Brett, Craig and Kristen.

Took time to cool off in the stream and refill water. Priceless.

Made my way up to and past the Mt.Elbert trailhead and headed onto Leadville. I opted out of the shortcut in order to get pizza and batteries at Saturdays gas station. Well, they didn’t have any pizza and the pizza truck had broken down. Damn. Batteries, drinks, snacks and time to leave.

Headed through town with an eye for something else to put in my stomach. Spotted Pizza Hut right on the edge of town and made a last minute decision to stop in for breadsticks. 140Cal each x 5 breadsticks was totally worth it.

Headed out into the dark for the detour around the Mt. Massive wilderness, on the road, and got to the Tennessee pass trail around 10pm. Pushed through Tennessee pass and took a nice break atop the bench with another crystal clear sky.

Kept pushing through Camp Hale and onto Kokomo Pass. Pushed up and over Kokomo around 2:30 am with absolutely calm air. Lit a lighter and the flame didn’t even flicker. So, so calm it was eerie. Smoked my last joint that was meant for a group summit, but now I was by myself and my posse had disbanded so I took the time to reminisce on the experience so far and push hard for my friends that couldn’t be there.

Moved on to Searle Pass and found an ankle deep mud puddle between the two passes and subsequently soaked my feet and coated them in slimy mud.

Made Searle Pass around 3:30 am and enjoyed another calm summit. Dropped down a few miles to a perfect campsite around 4am. Made a miso soup and crashed hard.

Totals:

Day 5:

          Awoke around 6am and fought hard to get going. I had a cinnamon roll I had carried from BV and made a cup of coffee as I got going and enjoyed the two before getting going. Passed Jimmy and Jason on the way down to Daylight donuts.

Met up with Greg Goodman, enjoyed a burrito and multiple iced coffee’s.

Rain had started and kept the other two inside, but I grabbed my stuff and got going towards 10mile in hopes the weather would break. After about 30 min the skies broke and I enjoyed blue skies and perfect temps. Summited alone and began the descent. Started to rain/grapple for a few minutes, but didn’t hinder the descent.

Opted out of the gas station in Breck (mistake) and started pushing towards Georgia Pass in hopes of getting up and over and to Stagestop before closing.

The heat, sun and climbing got the best of me. Slow going. Ran into Levi Lester and had a nice chat before continuing on Seg 6.

Finally made the summit of Georgia around 8pm and called Pat at Stagestop to ask how late he would make me a pizza. Not positive I would get there in time I hustled as hard as I could to move forward but time kept getting away from me.

Found a trail angel stash of Mt.Dew and Coke’s at the Kenosha trailhead. Slammed a Mt.Dew like a 13 year old, with the soda pouring all over me as I chugged hard. Grabbed one more for the road and kept going.

Finally made camp at 11pm above Johnson’s Gulch in hopes of getting some sleep and making Stagestop in the morning.

Totals:

Day 6:

          Got to SS around 7:00 and Pat made me a coffee and I bought all the sugar candies I could carry along with a redbull.

Chatted with Pat for a bit and hit the road knowing it was going to be a hot, hot day and I was later than I wanted. Tarryall was brutal. Clear skies, blazing sun and barely a breeze. Mounted the helmet to the front of my H-BarPak and slugged it out with the heat and miles. Was offered a ride multiple times and lots of people stopped to ask if I was ok. I must have looked like hell…

Finally got to Seg 3 mid afternoon. Took a break to put my legs up and assess my evening. I really, REALLY wanted to beat the sun to Waterton canyon.

Got moving and the trail was beat to shit. The recent rains had eroded everything, leaving a path or perpendicular roots both up and down the first part of Seg 3.

Took plenty of breaks and stopped at Redskin Creek to dowse my hat and bandanna. Met a couple who had just gotten engaged an hour before, in Buff Creek. That got me stoked! I enjoyed a few miles of stoke after that.

Finally got through Seg 3 and made it to the fire station for water. Time was burning fast and I needed to move to beat the sun.

I think I rode Seg 2 faster than I ever have before. I maybe took one break but the shadows were getting longer and the air cooler so I was finding a bit of a groove after the kryptonite of a sun all afternoon.

Finally got to the S Platte around 6:30/7 pm. Got water fast and got moving.

One more segment left. Our segment.

Was able to ride some of the switchbacks up and pushed the rest at an aggressive pace.

I had intentionally taken the batteries out of my headlamp for the weight loss as well as not having to ride in the dark the final night.

Well, I had to stop and throw them in because that sun was beating me to the horizon.

Rode some, pushed some up the 20+ switchbacks to the top of Seg 1. Had the trail to myself and the temps were starting to drop, but I still struggled with the slightest incline. A mixture of HAB and actual riding was had.

The sun disappeared and I clicked the headlamp on. Damn.

The rest of Seg 1 went pretty quick, I walked through the upper waterfall and rode the lower sections. Finally got to Bear Creek and I knew this would be the last of the climbing up to Lenny’s rest.

I made myself ride this final part to finish off the CT. Made it to the bench and Svarre and his son were out on his first night ride. They congratulated me and he noted how he followed me on Strava. Small world. I let them roll, took a few moments to soak in the feeling of actually seeing my 6 day goal through.

Started tearing down the switchbacks, caught the father/son duo and they let me pass. We hooted and hollered the whole way down.

Once I hit the road, I tucked in, clicked down a few gears and hammered that last 6 miles out. It didn’t feel like I thought it would. I thought I would have been shedding tears of joy, flooded with the emotions of finishing something so grand but I wasn’t crying. I was smiling, cheering out loud and relishing in the feeling of being a CTR completer.

I started to hear the voices of friends just as I rounded the last corner to the parking lot and was greeted by way too many flashes and camera lights, but it was over!

Kristen and a group of about 15 friends were camped out in the parking lot with chairs, food, drinks, change of clothes, SANDALS! And lots of hugs.

It was a fantastically cool way to finish. Friends, loved ones, high-fives, hugs and the waves of emotion that come with finishing something so huge. We stayed in the parking lot talking, drinking, eating until 1:30 in the morning when Kristen finally drove me home. It was finally, really, actually over.

Totals: 545 miles / 85k elevation