Joe Grant's Tour de 14er

[justiner]

It's my pleasure that I announce to you this year's Tour de 14ers challenger, Joe Grant, who starts out on Tue, July 26th @ 5:00 am on his self-powered and self-supported trip. Here's some background:

http://alpine-works.com/2016/07/the-tour-de-14ers/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Tracker to follow him:

http://trackleaders.com/tour14er16i.php?name=Joe_Grant" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Some social media links:

https://www.instagram.com/alpineworks/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

https://twitter.com/AlpineWorks" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Joe has a history of being a very strong and competitive ultra trail runner, and recently has surprised everyone in being an incredibly talented bikepacking racer as well. His level of fitness is leagues beyond mine. Good looking beard, too.

Wish him good luck, safe travels, and give him a hearty hello if you see him blaze across the state.

As I'm holed up with injuries, I'll be keeping a close eye on him, to keep my stoke running.

[Oldskool70]

This is cool! Love the tie to his Grandfather. Is he going for a FKT or just doing it? I'm sure there would be all kinds of different 'rules' to capture the bikepacking aspect. Just curious as he started so far away from Longs.

[justiner]

The idea is that you complete the trip by coming back to your original starting point, so you can start wherever you'd like. I started in Golden, at the Museum of Mountaineering just cause I thought that was a cool place to do so. Joe decided to just start from his house, which I guess is also a pretty reasonable idea I think Joe is looking to set a pretty solid pace, and I'm readying myself to be completely blown away at his progress. He could take days off my time just by not making the same mistakes I did. Most likely he'll be able to do that, as well as take the most aesthetic line he can think of, as he's got quite the artist streak in him, himself.

Looks like he's coming up to the TH of [strike]Grays and Torreys[/strike] Bierstadt/Evans at the moment.

[Tory Wells]

Just curious as he started so far away from Longs.

He's starting and finishing at his house in Gold Hill. Looks like he's saving Longs for last.

Justin: Did you ride your bike up Evans and Pikes, or is that not allowed in this event?

Anyhow, I'm excited to follow his progress. Super cool and unimaginably tough event!

[justiner]

Justin: Did you ride your bike up Evans and Pikes, or is that not allowed in this event?

I didn't - it just didn't make logical sense for the route: after Pikes, you would probably want to go to the Sangres, which I did through Cripple Creek/Shelf Road/Cañon City/Oak Creek Grade Road. If you rode the Pikes Peak Highway, you'd probably want to instead take the front range corridor instead, including riding through Colorado Springs. That didn't seem very appealing! Take the Cripple Creek route is just a fantastic bike route IMHO, rivaling anything on the GDMBR.

Similar story with Mt. Evans - just getting to the start of the Mt. Evans scenic byway burns up a lot of time/mileage in the wrong direction and probably makes the hiking harder as you have to do the Sawtooth twice, or do a Tour de Abyss type of jaunt.

In my rules, I threw out the 3,000 foot rule, since it was mentioned in Cave Dogs rules that it probably didn't make sense for a self-powered try. But, when I did my trip, I tried to abide by the 3,000' rule, which proved to be unrealistically awkward. For example, on Princeton, I stopped cycling at the 3,000' mark, which was just somewhere on the road, and started hiking up. I had like, dental floss for a bike lock, so there was just this bike hanging out in the middle of nowhere. Same thing on San Luis, where the 3,000' mark is maybe 1/2' mile from the end of the road, with nowhere to stash a bike. I ended up just pushing the bike up somewhere a bit better covered so I had a bike to come back to. Think there's camping @11,000-ish feet on the Lake Como Road?! Not much Lots of thing to take into consideration when there's no one there to watch over you bike for hours/days. Stopping the ride at a trailhead starts making a ton of sense.

So, I allow it, as it gives a bit more freedom and creativity to craft your route. Joe hasn't specifically said he's following my rules or going for my record, but Joe is also now a bikepacking self-supported race veteran, so he knows how the rules work. I can't wait to have a chat with him when he gets back.

[CreekRunner]

Honestly, watching these attempts, records aside, is really motivating. It makes me want to stop everything and get moving...but I can't . Way to go Joe!

[Cruiser]

^^^ For sure! When I was younger these sorts of things made me jealous. Now I'm in awe. Go get it, Joe!

[pbakwin]

Justin's record on this is 34d12h27m. Joe will need to finish back at Gold Hill before 5:27pm on Aug. 29 to beat this time (if I did the math right.) Great stuff! Go Joe!

[14erFred]

Wishing you great weather, physical resilience, good luck, and lots of joy on this extraordinary adventure. May the Force be with you, Joe.

[Sean Nunn]

Only in a great sport like this would a current record holder both root for and publicize for someone attempting to break his record. Shades of CaveDog congratulating Andrew last summer. Hopefully we can keep mountain at such an exalted level, and not let it degenerate into what our political process is like.

Best wishes on a great attempt.

[justiner]

Looks like Joe decided to cross Guanella Pass and is currently in Grant after doing Evans. My guess is Pikes is next? Joe took part in the Colorado Trail Race not too recently, so he'll know about Tarryall Road that heads South from 285 towards Deckers. He can access it via the CO Trail as it crosses 285 on top of Kenosha Pass. Or he may opt to take 285 E to Bailey and grab the CO road system that turns essentially into Stony Pass Rd. Both are great dirt trails that straddle the Lost Creek Wilderness area.

[Tory Wells]

...and is currently in Grant

We should have seen this one coming.