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The CTR: 530 miles and 60,000' of elevation gain winding through
the Colorado Rocky Mountains from Denver to Durango. Approximately
300 miles of singletrack at elevations ranging from 5500' to a
gasping-for-breath 12,600'. The CTR is a monster! If the monster is in a good mood, you may experience
Colorado's beautiful sunny blue skies and wildflowers blooming as far
as you can see! But, be warned — the CTR's mood can change on a
whim, and you may just as likely find yourself getting besieged by
massive hailstones and lightning bolts. In short, don't come to this
race unprepared — no one will be there to rescue you.
The CTR is similar to The Arizona Trail 300, The Grand Loop, and The Great Divide Race. There is no entry fee, no support, no registration, and no prize money. It is an individual time trial: all that is provided is a route description, a suggested start time, and a list of results. However, all individuals participating are strongly encouraged to donate time or money to the Colorado Trail Foundation. Without them, we wouldn't have this trail! |
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Race Rules: Solo, self-supported. This is a very pure style of racing with a strict code of ethics. The guiding principles are "Do. It. Yourself." and "Equal Opportunity." If you are unsure of what this means, please refer to the CTR rule page. |
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Course Description: For the most part, the Colorado Trail is very well marked. However, you may want to purchase The Official Guidebook for a complete description of the actual trail segments and mountain bike detours. Any shortcutting or deviating from the course, intentional or not, will result in a DNF, so please study the route and know it well! You may, however, ride off course to resupply/sleep/eat as long as you return to the exact same spot you left. Much thought was given to choosing the CT detours, and the final decision was to make the inaugural CTR as rideable as possible. If you're worried that you won't get enough hike-a-bike, don't start complaining until after you've finished the race! Even though there are several detours around Wilderness Areas and segments with prodigious amounts of hike-a-bike, you'll still get around 300 miles of singletrack! The description given here is purposefully terse in order to highlight where the CTR deviates from the detours described in the guidebook. Also highly recommended for carrying en route is the Trailside Databook. The newest version (3rd edition) has updated elevation profiles in addition to information on mileage, where to find water, good campsites, etc. Here is a Googleearth .kml file! DISCLAIMER: CT data points acquired from here. Detours were drawn in by hand, and may be totally inaccurate! This is NOT a GPS track, nor should it be used to navigate the CTR!!! It is purely for your viewing pleasure. |
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| Waterton Canyon to Wellington Lake Road - Ride Segments 1, 2, and 3. |
| Lost Creek Wilderness Detour - From Wellington Lake Road, ride the long and circuitous Tarryall detour to Rock Creek Trailhead (mile 7.7 of Segment 5). NOTE: The CT guidebook detour map incorrectly highlights S. Buffalo Creek Road instead of Wellington Lake Road. Also, in the newest guidebook (7th edition), the full detour description was not printed. Find the entire text here. |
| Rock Creek Trailhead to Goldhill Trailhead - Ride the remainder of Segment 5, and then ride Segment 6. |
| Tenmile Range Detour - Detour around Segment 7 (prodigious hike-a-bike) along the Tenmile bikepath as described in the guidebook. |
| Copper Mountain to Wurtz Ditch Road - Ride Segment 8. Ride the first part of Segment 9 to Wurtz Ditch Road. |
| Holy Cross / Mount Massive Wilderness Detour - Detour around the remainder of Segment 9 and Segment 10 as described in the guidebook. |
| Halfmoon Creek to Clear Creek Road - Ride Segment 11. |
| Collegiate Peaks Wilderness Detour - Detour around Segment 12 and part of Segment 13 as described in the guidebook. NOTE: This includes following CR-371, NOT Hwy-24. |
| Avalanche Trailhead to Saguache Park Road - Ride the remainder of Segment 13, then ride Segments 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18. Leave segment 18 at Saguache Park Road to start the La Garita Detour. Note: The guidebook starts the detour at Cochetopa Pass Rd., and mentions this as an option for more riding on the actual CT. |
| La Garita / Coney Summit / Weminuche Detours - From Saguache Park Road, the CTR follows the mandatory and optional detours all the way to Molas Pass and the start of Segment 25. For more info, see the following detours described in the guidebook: La Garita Detour (starting at Saguache Park Rd.), Coney Summit Detour, Weminuche Detour. |
| Molas Pass to Junction Creek Trailhead - Ride Segments 25, 26, 27 and 28. |
| To whet your appetite... |
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Race Contact & Links: |
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MTBR thread - 2008 CTR Discussion Board MTBR thread - 2007 CTR Results and stories |
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2007 CTR Results: |
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5d05h30m - Jefe Branham 5d05h50m - Stefan Griebel 6d00h17m - Ethan Passant 6d04h51m - Jason Trimm 6d21h55m - Fred Wilkinson 7d05h15m - Matthew Lee DNF, ~475 miles - Mark Caminiti DNF, ~275 miles - Dan Montgomery DNF, ~100 miles - Dave Nice (Fixed gear) DNF, ~30miles - Jim Ishman (Singlespeed) |
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Complete Traverse, supported 1999 - Buzz Burrell runs/hikes the CT in 11d16h13m 2003 - Betsy Kalmeyer runs/hikes the CT in 9d10h52m 2003 - Hal Koerner runs/hikes the CT in 9d10h19m another link another link 2006 - Jonathan Basham runs/hikes the CT in 8d13h28m 2006 - Stefan Griebel hikes/bikes the CT in 7d20h Complete Traverse, unsupported 2004 - Demetri Coupounas hikes the CT unsupported (no resupply of any kind) in 20 days 2006 - Paul Pomeroy hikes the CT unsupported (no resupply of any kind) in 14d9h30m Biking with Detours, unsupported 2006 - Paul Hooge bikes the CT (detouring all Wilderness Areas) self-supported (resupply/sleep in towns) in 9d7h. Paul followed a slightly different route than the CTR. He used Hwy-285 instead of the Tarryall Detour, and then rode the CT Coney Summit segments instead of the Cinnamon Pass detour. Colorado Trail Race - Biking with Detours, solo, self-supported 2007 - Jefe Branham, 5d5h30m |