Monday, August 9, 2010

Colorado Trail

Went out early on Sunday morning to preride some of the Rico Run Enduro ride course that is scheduled for September 4th. Went solo. Just as well as my legs weren't exactly fresh so I did a nice casual pace with the 32x22 on the Airborne. It rained most of Saturday afternoon and as well during the night. So it was expected to be pretty wet with all of the recent rains. I started early and soon the clouds burned off as I climbed Scotch Creek at a leisurely pace enjoying the cool wet morning and soon blue skies prevailed. Scotch Creek was pretty muddy with the red dirt as usual. The CT was pretty decent with some soft muddy sections where the cattle hang out but overall not terrible. Just not fast. Once I was up and over Blackhawk I soon saw ran into a few of the CT racers one being Cat Morrison at Celebration Lake. I also saw John Fettis from New England near the East Fork Trail/CT intersection and he was cooked. I gave him directions on how to bail to highway 550 and looking at the SPOT tracker later it looks like he bailed on the race. Tough to bail with 53 miles to go but when you're done you're done. Great effort nonetheless. Cat was looking pretty happy and wanted to finish that day. She was riding her new Ti Voodoo single speed. Turns out she finished in the middle of the night on Sunday. Great job Cat!!! The weather in the last week has sure hammered these racers and for the ones that have pushed on though those conditions I commend them for their perseverance.

Back to my ride........I wanted to get a feel for the times to get to East Fork TH at HWY 145. I was up Scotch Creek in 1 hour 8 minutes from Rico and atop Blackhawk in about 2.5 hours. This all at a slow leisurely pace with some hike-a-biking. I stopped a few times and talked to hikers and the CT racers so my time isn't racing times. I'm guessing it will take about 3.5-4 hours to get to the Eastfork TH @ highway 145.




Atop Blackhawk Pass.

The views are awesome at 12k.



Blackhawk.



Cat Morrison looking chipper with 53 miles to the finish of the CTR.



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