A friend and I have booked flights to Denver to ride the Colorado Trail in late August / early September...

I have a rigid Surly Ogre running Maxxis Ardent 2.4 EXO tubeless tyres. I made it all the way through France and Spain without any flats, and so am pretty sold on them. However, despite them being fairly voluminious, I'm worried how I'll fare on that trail, and am considering whether I should be putting on a set of suspension forks. Some advice is that the trail can hand out a bit of a battering...but of course it depends what you read/who you listen to!

If I had bigger tyres (eg 29+ tyres on something like an ECR or Krampus) then I think I'd not worry, but I don't really want to start looking at a new bike... My buddy will be riding with either front suspension or a full susser...

Has anyone ridden the Colorado Trail and have any advice on how painful it would be fully rigid...??

Can't help other than to say I'm very jealous! :)

johnnystorm wrote:Can't help other than to say I'm very jealous! :)

haha ;-) You may not say that when I'm a week in and can't grip a beer in the evening due to the battering my arms are taking!

See if you can track down Steve Wilkinsons race account on-line from a few years ago ... after reading it then talking to him it. was enough to put me off the CT forever

I've ridden a few sections of it mostly near Durango/Sedona. The bits I rode were definitely survivable on rigid but I was glad of my SID forks as there were rooty/gnarly sections on forest singletrack

s8tannorm wrote:See if you can track down Steve Wilkinsons race account on-line from a few years ago ... after reading it then talking to him it. was enough to put me off the CT forever

This one?

http://www.bikepacking.net/tripreports/a-british-ctr/

This one?

http://www.bikepacking.net/tripreports/ ... itish-ctr/

That's the one Nigel ... you only really need read the last paragraph

s8tannorm wrote:

This one?

http://www.bikepacking.net/tripreports/ ... itish-ctr/

That's the one Nigel ... you only really need read the last paragraph

That'll be this bit then....:

"I think every CTR finisher will tell you, the difficulty of this route can`t be grasped by reading, or even being told about it first‐hand. Distance and ascent data mean little. Only at the end of day‐one can you really begin to understand what’s in store for you. But my attempt to explain goes like this: I’ve climbed Mt. Aconcagua, been up and down Mt. Kilimanjaro in 72 hours, ridden across Australia into a head wind, ridden the Great Divide Race, the Tour Divide, and Alaska’s Iditarod Trail Invitational 350 mile winter race. If someone had asked me to design the hardest mountain bike race in the world, I'd have confidently given it a go. However my submission would have just been laughed at by anyone who had completed the Colorado Trail Race."

Hmmm.

But we're not racing, so it'll be much easier, right...?

Ahem.

*Clicks 'buy' on a set of RockShox Rebas*

Clicks 'buy' on week in Magaluf surely?!

I rode the Colorado Trail Race in 2012 and it was a fantastic but grueling experience. I used a hardtail with 100mm Rebas and a 2.4 tyre up front. If I were to do it again (and I'd love to) I would probably use my short travel full suspension bike, fully rigid would not be an option I'd consider for one moment. I rode the Tour Divide with a rigid carbon fork with no problems but the Colorado Trail is a very different proposition. Although there is a lot of relatively smooth, flowing singletrack there are also sections that will definitely give you a good battering on a rigid fork. This would be fine for a day or two but for 10-12 consecutive days maybe not so good. There are some long descents over there.
This summer you should go and ride the Highland Trail on your rigid bike. If you get on O.K. with that then maybe you'll be alright on the Colorado Trail.
If you are touring the CT for fun take a detour down to Salida from the Monarch Crest Trail via the Silver Creek and Rainbow Trail singletrack, this is a must do descent. Salida is a great place to hang out for a day or two with good cafes/restaurants, at least three bike shops and great singletrack trails on the hill next to town. You can get a shuttle back up to Monarch Pass to continue your trip.

Thanks Alan - thats really useful. I'm not buying a new bike, so suspension forks it is!

Good tip on the detour also - we should have plenty of time for that (although after having read that report above, I'm not so sure!!).

Cheers!

johnnystorm wrote:Clicks 'buy' on week in Magaluf surely?!

haha

'tis done... Thanks for the advice guys.

I'm planning on riding the ct next year. Unlikely to be racing it so will be looking forward to your reports.

I'll likely be on a hard tail too as it carries kit considerably better than my sus bike.

Nice one for finding SteveW's report. Read it years ago...worth a re-read before splashing out for next year.