Vapor Trail 125 Race Day Report
September 11 2011 the race started in the wee hours of last night at 10 pm with a waining 97% visible moon.
As bright as the moon was here at my house I'm sure the riders enjoyed the spectacle and the added illumination of the trail. Leaving Salida they had a few miles of pavement then several miles of forest service road till they hit the Colorado Trail. I've been following the riders on thetrackleader.com site since last night and noticed that not everyone has a spot tracker including some of the favorites. The trend lately has been to go stealth so that other riders won't have a advantage. Though it may not help on this type of course, and it could be that they just could not afford the trackers this year.
So it will be hard to tell who really is in the lead but as I type this Jonathan Davis is shown as the leader on the spot tracker site. My guess is that Kurt Refsnider is leading but by how much is anyone's guess. Jonathan is a very strong rider and trains with Jeff Kerkove who won the race last year. On the woman's side Eszter Horanyi has a strong lead as she crosses the Monarch Crest Trail. Becky Sears is the only other woman with a spot tracker and is just starting the climb up the old Monarch Pass road. Cat Morrison is in the mix somewhere but without a spot tracker and no updates on the Vapor Trail blog it's hard to tell where she is on the course.
Most riders seem to be spending a little extra time at the last aid station on Marshall Pass, most likely to warm up a bit and take on some fuel for the last long leg into Salida and the finish. Once the come down off Marshall Pass they have a fun single track descent on the Rainbow Trail, then a very fast roll down hwy 285 into Poncha Pass. From Poncha it's an easy spin to the finish line.
Looks like the front runners are setting a pace to finish around 1:00 which is a very good time.
Check back tomorrow for my race results report and I will try to get some comments and highlights of the ride.
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