Chap I rode with a bit on Tour Divide, Brett Stepanik is riding, it's the last part of his Triple Crown attempt this year. He's done AZT and Tour Divide already on rigid, singlespeed!

Kurt scratched, Plesko stretching his lead.

Will be very interesting to see how fast he can go as he's been training like a loon since last years TDR run.

Worth noting how little Plesko is taking:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BW4kTbUl79U ... -by=pivvay

That route on a rigid bike is hardcore. As if singlespeed didn't make it hard enough already! The weather has been very wet so his light weight set up must be at the limit, he probably has no option other than to keep riding/pushing.
Anyone know why Gunther has bailed?

Yeah, I suspect Plesko is out in a full Alpine disaster style effort to get around as quick as possible.

Not sure on Gunther, I was surprised when he dropped,and then went for a long road diversion. Maybe something physical rather than mechanical?

CP must be so deep in the hurt locker, it's a choice between pedalling or lie down and die!

Surprised to see he trains using power analysis - I would have thought that was total futility on SS (other than just logging TSS)

Alan,

I was asking about this on bikepacking.net and the thought was either FS geared or rigid SS. The worst options were considered to be geared HT or rigid.

There are comments that Plesko went for some time without any food. If true and in the reported conditions that's very close to suicidal.

I did it on a geared HT in 2012. Not sure why rigid SS could ever be a better option!
Geared FS next time. Would only go when it is Denver-Durango.

ZeroDarkBivi wrote: I would have thought that was total futility on SS (other than just logging TSS)

Not in the least. You can always quantify a lot when riding any bike geared or not. My road and MTB SS's both have power meters. As did my track bikes.

whitestone wrote: that's very close to suicidal.

Pretty much what disaster style is.

Good old Kelly Cordes and his near perfect wording.

GregMay wrote:

whitestone wrote: that's very close to suicidal.

Pretty much what disaster style is.

Good old Kelly Cordes and his near perfect wording.

I'd not actually heard the term before, but I'm just reading, and having been stricken with anxiety for a lot of my life it both utterly horrifies and thrills me. :)
Kelly Cordes on the subject: http://www.elevationoutdoors.com/the-ar ... ter-style/
another interesting article https://www.climbing.com/people/168-hou ... adventure/

Kelly is an utter legend in Alpine circles. Wonderfully self contained machine with little to no ego. Excellent writer to boot. The Tower is a piece of Alpine writing that is up there with the best.

Also, his commitment to the mullet is inspiring.

The Tower is the last climbing related book I've read, a great piece of writing. I always wanted to climb Cerro Torre, it's the reason I started climbing in the first place - I remember seeing a Leo Dickinson film in the late 1960s about one of the first British attempts to climb it.

Back to the topic in hand.

Chris Plesko and Jonathan Basham have both scratched http://bikepacker.com/2017-colorado-trail-race-news/, they were in 1st and 2nd place. No reasons seen so far as to why.

Chris has injured his wrist
https://www.instagram.com/p/BXEQmXolCGo ... -by=pivvay

mountainbaker wrote:Chris has injured his wrist
https://www.instagram.com/p/BXEQmXolCGo ... -by=pivvay

How unfortunate, if not remotely surprising, riding that terrain rigid.

Seth Michael has finished in 5d5hrs43mins

Something I never thought I'd see. An article on Pinkbike about the CTR - good too:
https://www.pinkbike.com/news/colorado- ... recap.html

Don't know why Gunther packed but he has just posted these photo's on his ride to the start:

https://guntherds.exposure.co/pre-colorado-trail-race

He told me some time ago he wanted to do the triple crown of TD / AZT / CTR and this was the last leg. Usually triple crown is same year but he was happy to complete over a number of years.

2018 edition started.

Rich Rothwell sitting in 5th currently.

Assuming Plesko isn't tracking correctly due to where his last ping was.

EDIT: Just as I type that, he resurfaces in 2nd. Which is one place shy of where I expected him. And Rich is in 1st.