-by Miss Defy
When my husband and I married in early 2019, we decided we wanted to defy convention and take a year off to follow pursuits outside of work. So naturally, we decided to start with a grueling, 20 day bikepacking trip through the Rocky Mountains of Colorado in late September 2019. Due to timing, I guess it could be considered a honeymoon, although that was not the initial intention. Let’s just say, there is nothing better to test your marriage than a 540 mile, 75,000+ft of elevation gain beast of a ride. We spent every second of 3 weeks together either hiking a bike, riding a bike, eating, cooking or sleeping.
Why would we do such a thing, you ask? Well, when Mr. Defy first brought up the possibility of bikepacking the Colorado Trail(CT) as part of our year off, my initial thought was that he should do it alone. He prefers steep downhill and jumping features (think double black diamond trails), whereas I love any trail with great views and just enough large rocks to be technical but rideable (think blue to blue/black trails). The CT seemed too arduous of a ride to be fun and I was hesitant to jump in. However, over the next few weeks my idealism got the best of me. I began to envision breathing in the crisp mountain air, riding flowy singletrack, and relaxing by a campfire with warm hot chocolate under a starry sky… So I said: “Sure, I’ll bike the Colorado Trail with you.” And with this flippant statement, I had unknowingly signed us both up for one of the most physically and mentally challenging tasks I could’ve imagined.
We are both all-in people, so once we agreed we were biking the CT, we were biking the CT. After reading some bike forums, we set our goal time at about 15 days. We figured, hey, if someone can do this in less than 4 days (the speed record for the CT is 3days, 20hrs, 44min), and the internet says slow people take 20-25 days, then we should definitely be able to finish in 15 days, right? Well, not so much.
After completing our trip, I debated how to write this article many times. I kept a journal, and to write my full experience would likely be way too long for anyone’s attention span (including my own). There are plenty of mountain bike forums online discussing each section of trail, just Google “biking Colorado Trail” and you will get plenty of opinions on difficulty, time, and distance. Maybe someday I’ll make my own realistic “how-to” bike the CT for recreational mountain bikers, but for now here are the top 6 things I learned on the Colorado Trail:
- You may think you’re fit, but you’re not
Both my husband and I have extensive experience being active and outside. I played soccer in college and now enjoy biking, backpacking, and climbing. My husband is great at any sport he picks up, loves hiking 14ers, and once kayaked a river from source to sea for 5 months straight. We are no couch potatoes. However, if ever we needed a slice of humble pie, then this was the trip to do it. In fact, it was more like humble pie took its ooey gooey self and smashed it all over our faces. The physical demands of biking with loaded bags every day, in any form of weather (hail, snow, hot, freezing, sleeting, winds at 60+mph), for hours at a time…it was plain tiring.
And just as you are struggle-busing your way up the mountain, pushing your heap of metal on wheels up another incline, some other bikepacker just pedals past you with a smile and a wave as if they are on a casual day trip. Then a hiker (sans bike) speeds past you on an uphill and you curse that you must keep pushing. Even more, the first question on the trail seems to be “What day are you on?”, and if the answer is anything less than an average of 50-60mi/day for a bike, then you get a certain response of “oh, so a leisurely pace?” This always made me laugh a bit, as it was far from leisurely, but I had to realize there are way more hard-core athletes out there. After a few days of feeling inadequate, we both just decided to stop comparing ourselves to others and do our own trail. We were busting our ass and that is all that mattered.
2. There will be lots of pushing
Did I mention there will be lots of pushing? Pushing your bike, pushing your mind, pushing your body. The trail had much less of that dream-like flowy singletrack I had envisioned, and instead consisted mostly of rocky, loose, steep, muddy, or dug out sections that did not see much biking from me.
Albeit, it was not all bad. There were some sections of enchanted aspen forests that had me feeling as if I was biking through a secluded island, a single-track downhill section near Breckenridge that had an ethereal quality after days of trudging up and down, and the breezy feel of your wheels hitting back on dirt after miles of pavement and gravel bike detours. One morning, we spotted a family of moose and a lone mountain lion (yes, we saw a mountain lion crossing the road one morning!) which was enough to feel like we were on our own bike safari. The online forums will tell you the trail is 87-92% rideable… but when you are in the thick of it, the actual feel is more like hike-a-bike for 50+% with a side of riding here and there. As we tried to commiserate with other bikepackers regarding the worst hiking sections, we found that most people just skipped these difficult parts by biking around or hitching rides past the climbs. After learning this, we regained some of our pride knowing we rode the entire route without cutting any corners, but this was always short-lived until the next inevitable uphill.
3. Type 3 fun does exist
Everyone has different versions of fun. I talk frequently about Type 1 and Type 2 fun when approaching an outdoor adventure, but this trip made room for another type of fun- type 3. Type 1 fun is just plain fun; you are enjoying it while you are completing the task. There is a certain level of challenge to keep it interesting, but you can be caught laughing and smiling. For most day adventures, this is the fun I strive for.
On the other hand, Type 2 fun is a bit different. In the moment, it’s more of a challenge than it is fun. These are things like climbing 14ers or running a marathon. For this type of fun, the true “fun” comes when you complete the task as a sense of accomplishment, but you know the reward is coming. Mr. Defy prefers type 2 fun for most activities.
On this trip I discovered a new type of “fun” which I’m calling Type 3 fun. This is the activity that is not fun at all while you are doing it, but somehow when you look back your brain creates a sense of amnesia and you feel like you must have had fun. Maybe this is the same part of the brain that allows women to give birth more than once? Personally, I had never experienced type 3 fun because I would normally just stop an activity if it was resulting in no possibility of fun. But, when you are 100 miles in on a bikepacking trip, where the options are quit or keep going and you must get up this steep incline, then you discover type 3 fun. It was a surreal revelation about 2-3 weeks after the trip ended that I could swear I had fun on parts of the trail where I was pushed to my physical and mental edges. I’d say, for me, overall the CT was a solid mix of type 2 and 3 fun with small bits of type 1 fun mixed in. My husband may go more with type 1 and 2 fun with a small mix of type 3. Anyway you classify it, I guess we both had some semblance of fun after all.
4. It doesn’t take much to make me happy
Of things I learned about myself and my relationship on this trip, the main idea is that I don’t need much to make me happy. When shit hits the fan, you tend to appreciate the small things in life. You rely on the simple things… Is it raining? Is it freezing? Is the wind pushing me off my bike? Am I or my partner injured? Is my bike malfunctioning? Am I out of snacks? If the answers to these questions were “no” then I was having a good time. If the answer was “yes” to one or more, then you tried to focus on the remaining “no”s. If the answer was “yes” to all of the above (a frequent occurrence), then I just tried to be thankful I had the opportunity to be outside instead of at work.
There were plenty things to be negative about: you were wearing the same bike shorts for weeks on end, had bug bites, ate freeze dried dinners with insufficient calories, multiple bike mechanical issues, biking in painful hail, getting caught in gusty wind at 13K+ ft high, and the list goes on. Biking for hours a day resulted in some really terrible thought patterns. To combat this, I would wake up every morning and say to myself…”I should find the positive today. No complaining.” I would be tested… there would be the inevitable long-haul uphill climb (AKA hike-a-bike) that would push me to the brink. Every. Single. Day. Thus, I relied heavily on my grit and thinking back to the positive affirmations of the morning. And if thoughts weren’t enough on their own, we had full-size Snickers bars and a jar of peanut butter for calories. If a peanut butter-dipped Snickers doesn’t put a smile on your face, then I’m not sure we can be friends.
5. If you want to test a relationship, do the Colorado Trail
I love my husband. He has big ideas and he makes them happen. Prior to the trip, I’d say between the two of us we could pretty much handle anything- and this trip solidified this sentiment. I can confidently say that this trip made our relationship better. Don’t get me wrong- it was rough at times. One day, when I was at the brink of crying and just throwing in the towel (and I’m not a crier), my husband asked if I wanted to quit. Ugh. The “Q” word. Did he know he just triggered my fight or flight response with that one word? Likely so. When you are with another person for 24hrs a day you start to read each other and know what (and what not) to say. It worked. I became defensive as to why he thought I would want to quit, and decided to continue on.
We had times when I wanted to talk and he wanted quiet time, when one or both of us was frustrated with our bike, debates on whether or not to stop in a town or keep going, frustrations over injuries or sore muscles, and daily collaborative decision-making for two fiercely independent people. I mean, the trail is not sexy- having no shower for weeks on end and trudging up mountains until you’re physically exhausted is not a good set-up for romance. However, what the CT did accomplish was that it brought us closer together as partners. We have seen each other push our limits and collectively worked together to accomplish a goal. We lifted each other up and found ways to positively encourage each other. These are relationship tools that we can use for a lifetime, and the CT reaffirmed my appreciation for my partner and our ability to create and reach goals together.
6. You don’t need stuff
We brought too many things with us on the CT. While powering/pushing/trudging up a hill for hours, you start to wonder if you really need those flip-flops for camp later. You start to think about how you can shed the weight.When we were close to the first big town (Breckenridge), we found a UPS store and started packing up a large box to mail back home. We threw in a couple books, hat, toiletry bag, extra shirts, sandals, and a couple bike bags. It was liberating. Mr. Defy kept one book, but began ripping pages out as he read and would throw them away at trashcans as we saw them. Although we may have slightly increased our snack load with the extra space we created, we felt lighter than ever after the purge.
CONCLUSION:
In exactly 20 days (480 hours), we completed a ride that is usually only tackled by the most elite of mountain bikers. In the end, we biked for an average 27 miles a day with between 8-11 hours in the saddle and 9 hours of sleeping daily. A far cry from that speed record of just under 4 days (averaging almost 140 miles/day!), but I’m sure you’ve figured by now this speed-record superhuman didn’t sleep or rest much on their journey. We biked our own pace, probably carried too much food, and maybe should have taken a bike repair class before riding- but we finished. I’m proud to say it is over, and I’m looking forward to the beachy, relaxing part of this year off.
-by Miss Defy
Bonus- Fun CT facts:
Where: Continuous trail from Denver to Durango in Colorado, USA
Length: 486 miles, but with 5 bike detours is 540 miles (Bikes are not allowed in wilderness areas, thus the added detour mileage to bypass these sections)
Elevation gain: +75,000ft
Elevation loss: -72,000ft
Lowest point: 5,500ft (Denver/Waterton Canyon)
Maximum altitude: 13,271ft (High Point in San Juan Mountains)
Maximum grade/steepness: 49% (AKA Steep AF)
Average grade/steepness: 4%
Difficulty: Black and Double Black Diamond/expert (92%), Blue/intermediate (8%)
*SHOUT OUT to all the local bike shops that helped us on our journey. Many gave us free repairs, encouragement, and education on how to fix things on the trail. If it weren’t for them, we would likely still be out there.
Elevation Ski and Bike & Carver’s Bike Shop (Breckenridge), Cycles for Life (Leadville), and Boneshaker Cycles (Buena Vista)
