Vapor Trail 125 2010

Well at least I have something fun to do today. Aunt in NYC is remembering 9-11 again, Sister in NZ just had major earthquakes and their house will need some work...

Why did I sign up for this again?? The Vapor Trail is definitely the hardest race (probably) I've ever tried. As I write this, the race will begin tonight, 9-11-2010, at 10:00 in Salida, CO. It is 125 mi and climbs up into the mountains to the west over such passes as the alpine tunnel, Tomichi pass (followed by Canyon Creek singletrack trail topping out at 12600ft), then on to Old Monarch pass (a smooth road with a good 6-7% grade. Then onto the new Monarch Pass followed by the famous Crest trail to Marshall pass. At Marshall pass is a cruel joke to send us down 2000ft of the narrow and technical Starvation creek then back up the dirt jeep road to Marshall pass again. Now onto the Famous extension of the Crest-- the Rainbow Trail and back to Salida.... 18-20,000ft of climbing depending on who's data you use and most is above 10,000 ft.

So here's my bike for the adventure. The Superfly 100. Should be fast enough. I do have tires that are quite a bit heavier than for Leadville as there are many rocky sections. The Crest is notorious for flats. I mainly don't want to have to change one in the coooold at 12000 ft in the dark! Will be below 20F for a good while until the sun comes up.

Yes our tomatoes froze behind the bike. We took the cover off too soon a few days ago.

A week before now I had noticed a small crack in the seat tube.... The trek rep said it wasn't life threatening so I could ride it but they would send a new frame anyway. OK it won't break...
I rode Signal peak behind campus the other night to check out my lights I had borrowed from Mr Mountain Flyer, Brian Riepe. They are ridiculously bright but I still seem to get in a weird trans riding at night. So all was good going up the 1000 climb but then coming down near the bottom I hit a rock and blow out a side wall. then I notice my helmet strap has come loose from the helmet--still on my head just the back part that you tighten up is disconnected for good. Then I look up for a second almost at the end and hit a rock and crash really pretty hard. So now bruised knee, hip, and shoulder. Ouch... Hopefully the race will go better!

So at 6:00 I'll catch a ride over to Salida with Jordan Carr, who's done it a few times and I'll try to finish the race and maybe hang with the fast guys.

If you want to follow the race, they are hooking GPS trackers on us so there is live tracking click here at Trackleaders.com.

Here are my possible times (mountain time) that I could do on a good day. I'm kind of guessing on these....

Aid station 1 at chalk lake at 30 mi 1:30 am
Aid 2 at Snowblind Camp Gnd (Dave Wiens don't let me stop) 6:30
Aid 3 Top of Monarch pass 8:30
Aid 4 Marshall pass 1 9:40
Aid 5 Marshall pass 2nd time 12:00
Finish 2:30 (16:30 hrs)