Jefe Branham blazes course record in Colorado Trail Race

“I spent a lot more time in the pain cave”

Jefe Branham of Gunnison slept a total of three and a half hours while riding, and pushing, his bike for 470 miles to win the 2012 Colorado Trail Race (CTR) and set a new course record of three days, 23 hours and 38 minutes.
Alpine Orthopaedics rider Ethan Passant finished three hours later in second place and Chris Miller was another Gunnison Valley rider to break top ten coming in seventh place.
The CTR is a self-supported bike race from the outskirts of Denver to Durango tracing the Colorado trail whenever possible, with detours around wilderness areas. Therefore, participants are thrown a mixed bag of surfaces from some of the sweetest singletrack in Colorado, to dirt road to some of the gnarliest hike-a-biking through some serious desolate territory—all the while climbing over 65,000 vertical feet when all is said and done.
It was Branham’s fourth finish in the CTR. He won in 2007 and took third in 2009 and 2010 riding a singlespeed.
This year, he opted to go with gears.
“I wasn’t feeling that good earlier this year and so I was mostly just riding gears,” says Branham. “I think it made a difference. When you’re not feeling as good as you could, it makes it a little easier to get back on the bike.”
In addition, he spent more time on his feet hiking than he typically does prior to the race.
As a result, he came into the CTR more rested than ever before and had his sights set on a significant goal.
“I came into it wanting to go as fast as I could,” says Branham. “I was a little more focused this year.”
Looking over the splits from the previous record holder and comparing them to his pace in past races, Branham realized while he finished strong, he started slow and decided to amend that.
He also realized that he would have to cut down on his sleep, trimming it to less than four hours total for the entire race.
Branham and Alpine Orthopaedics rider Ethan Passant, who has two CTR titles to his name, were off the front and battling back and forth, with sleep making the difference between who was in the lead.
“I would pass him while he was sleeping,” explains Branham. “Then he would get up and pass me. One time before Buena Vista he just blew by me—he was flying.”
The weather, which is always a factor on the CTR, was somewhat cooperative for Branham.
“It wasn’t terrible. I’ve seen it worse on the race, but it was raining,” says Branham. “There was definitely a lot of lightning.”
One night near Leadville stands out, when the sky was erupting with lightning but fortunately, far enough from Branham that he was able to continue on his sleepless pace.
Drifting between the conscious and sub-conscious worlds, Branham kept an eye on his time, gunning for the record time.
“I knew I was close for sure,” explains Branham. “I thought about it constantly. I was definitely watching the clock, that’s why I only slept 15 minutes the last night.”
Sleep deprivation took its toll on Branham as he endured numerous sessions of visual and auditory hallucinations along the way.
“I was pushing it for sure,” says Branham. “I thought I saw Ethan 100 times and it was a road reflector.”
Branham avoided the lure of a cheeseburger meal at any one of the restaurants along the way, subsisting instead on “anything, a decent amount of power food, a lot of salami, gummi bears and cold cereal.”
The crux of the race comes in the Cochetopa Hills as riders turn off into a completely desolate area far from anything and everyone and long stretches of dismal trail.
“The Cochetopa Hills are always brutal,” says Branham. “The trail is crappy and you just try to stay focused and not think about how much you’re pushing your bike. Just try to stay positive and not get pissed off.”
Passant took the lead into the Cochetopa Hills but Branham came across him asleep in the middle of the trail, following the Cochetopa chaos along a high section of the Indian Hills portion.
Passant was cold and barely coherent and while Branham could have easily just slipped around him and continued on, he decided to stay with Passant and the two rode down together. Once they were at the base of Kennebec Pass, Passant had to stop for more sleep as Branham continued on to the finish.
“I felt bad leaving him but at least he was down at 9,000 feet,” says Branham.
Branham admits that focusing on going as fast as possible took most of the enjoyment out of the CTR though he did have a moment on the Cataract section, sitting at 12,000 feet watching the sun rise with the moon still up.
Other than that, it was pretty much a suffer fest.
“I had a good experience out there but I wouldn’t say it was fun,” says Branham. “I spent a lot more time in the pain cave.”