Well, the training is complete for the 2011 Colorado Trail Race CTR. No benefits and only negatives from any hard riding efforts now. Nothing to do except hope that my training was enough to make it through the race and to fine-tune my setup. Thanks to Kiviok Hight and Lynda Wallenfels for the great preparation and training advice for the CTR!
When it's nice out I want to take everything out of my packs and leave it at home and when it's dumping rain and hail out all I can think is "that would suck to be out in that" and it makes me want to pack a lot more.
Kiviok who has tons of experience in the multi day Adventure racing world (Primal Quest, etc.) has given me great advice on what to bring which is basically nothing except minimalist survival gear. After going over my setup with him several times he has successfully talked me into eliminating any kind of comfort. Apparently, if you’re not miserable you have to much stuff, your sleeping too much and you’re eating too much. I guess it takes a little time to convince myself that I really don't need things that seemed vital at the beginning.
The bike itself is ready to go except for a fork rebuild which I'm waiting on a new fork stanchion. New Schwalbe Nobby Nic's are mounted. I switched out a bunch of the light weight components with heavier duty ones to handle the additional weight and punishment during the ride which added 2 pounds to my bike. I picked out the pack I thought would work the best. I tried a variety of different packs before settling on an Osprey Pack. Thanks Osprey!
I'm still debating on the water filtration method (Steripen, Filtered water bottle, tablets). Probably will end up being tablets and maybe one of the other methods.
Now I'm figuring out the ride logistics and making sure I have all the right maps and instructions to navigate the route.
I'm doing this race to help benefit The NEST which helps abused kids. Please check out http://www.bigloopmaps.com/theme_Racing_for_Charity_01.html for more information.
The clock is ticking. Can't wait to start!
