About a month before the start of the Colorado Trail Race (CTR) I got word that most of the top racers from last year were not participating this year due to a number of respectable reasons. I was however a bit upset, why you ask? Because competition is good, hearing about Jefe and Jesse up front last year made me excited to play my cards in their position this year. If anything it would give me some company, someone to give me a kick in the butt. In any event, I would be the only top 5 finisher from last year.
A few weeks in advance I was ready to take on the beast of the Colorado Trail, I had been riding with some variation of a loaded rig for roughly 3 weeks before the CTR, and I felt confident with my set up, which is very important to me. That is half the battle, if you’re off your bike all the time it takes you out of your groove and sucks up time.
After more waiting than the previous year, Sunday, August 10th arrived. The storms from the previous week had subsided and conditions were nice. However, rain was in the forecast again, it would prove to play a very large roll not only for me but many other racers. Roughly 54 racers lined up at Waterton Canyon to listen to Stefan Griebel’s simple rules…Do.It.Yourself! The clock struck 6:00am and a bunch of us crazies set off to Durango.
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