The Vapor Trail 125 Article I wrote for US Cycling Report

 

Vapor Trail 125 - Salida, Colorado - September 10 - 11, 2011 The Vapor Trail will start in downtown Salida on the F St. bridge at 10 pm. Most riders are expected to finish some time on the 11th but some may finish in the wee hours of the 12th.  This is a benefit ride that travels over the Continental Divide multiple times and reaching altitudes over 12,000 feet. The bulk of the proceeds will benefit local trails in the surrounding Salida area.   "The Vapor Trail 125 will give us a chance to showcase some of the best trails in the area" said Shawn Gillis owner of Absolute Bikes in Salida. Absolute Bikes is hosting the ride and providing aid stations and support along the route. There are 4 aid stations manned by different groups, aid station #1 is always manned by Dave Wiens and his group of volunteers. The Monarch aid station is manned by the Salida High School MTB race team with about a dozen volunteers. This is definitely a community event with community support. So far there are roughly 42 riders entered in the ride with ages ranging from the mid 20's to mid 50's and about 4% women riders making up the field. Kurt Refsnider, the Tour Divide 2011 winner, has committed to riding as well as a couple of very strong women contenders, Eszter Horanyi from Crested Butteand Cat Morrison of Grand Junction. Shawn said that he expects a few last minute entries and I'm hoping that maybe a few well known Singlespeeders will show, like Jefe Branham or Kevin Thomas of Salida who won the CTC this year. The course is a very challenging one with over 20,000' of climbing.  As they say on the entry form 'you need to bring an extra lung if you have one'. The riders will take the Colorado trail up to Blanks Cabin then over the Alpine Tunnel, on over to the old Monarch Pass Rd and climb up to the top to connect to the Crest trail. Then descend over to Marshall Pass connecting to the Rainbow Trail and on back into downtown Salida. This is a very demanding course and a ride/race resume is required to enter with recent ride/race finish result simialur to the Vapor Trail course. If you would like to see the course or keep track of the riders through the night and next day you can head on over to www.trackleaders.com/vapor125, most riders will have spot trackers with them. This is a very good resource for keeping track of long distance remote events but it does cost money. So you may not see every rider on the course due to the expense of renting the spot trackers. There is a "donate" button on the trackleader site to help off set the cost so if you have some extra cash and feel generous you know what to do. US Cycling Report will have a race day report and list the results of the ride as soon as we get full results. Most likely the following Monday or Tuesday so wish the riders luck and check back for more info on ride day.