The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“You kind of get addicted to it”
What can you do on four hours’ of sleep total over the course of four and a half days?
Team Griggs Orthopedics rider Jefe Branham can ride his bike 562 miles with more than 65,000 feet of climbing, most of it on the Colorado Trail.
Branham won his second Colorado Trail Race (CTR) title in a row, third title total, covering the course in four days, 14 hours and four minutes.
The CTR is a self-supported mountain bike race that follows the Colorado Trail between Denver and Durango, with the only course deviations in place to accommodate wilderness areas. In the end, more than 300 miles of the entire course.
Branham has a long and storied history with the race. He won in 2007 and took third in 2009 and 2010 riding a single-speed. Last year, he opted for gears and set a new course record of three days, 23 hours and 38 minutes for his second CTR title.
This year CTR organizers switched things up for racers. In the past the race has always started in Denver and finished in Durango.
This time around, 70 people lined up outside of Durango on Sunday, July 21, to ride—and undoubtedly take a long trip into the pain cave—the course backwards, finishing outside of Denver including a reroute that added approximately 50 more miles to the race.
Last year, Branham went into the race with a singular goal in mind, to sleep as little as possible in an effort to set a new course record.
He did that but yet, for some reason, wanted to do it all over again this year.
“Basically, I wanted to do the same thing. You kind of get addicted to it,” explains Branham. “The new course made me want to do it all over again.”
The new direction, while offering a different perspective for riders, made for a brutal opening day.
“In the first 25 miles we climbed 4,440 feet and then we were between 11,000 and 13,000 feet, which made it really hard to recover,” says Branham. “The first day whupped everyone’s butt. Silverton was the low point the first 140 miles.”
Branham added a little more effort to the already brutal start when he made an impromptu bathroom break at the very start of the race, dropping him toward the back of the pack for the initial push.
Nevertheless, Branham made his way through the mass to pull himself into second place by Silverton and when the leader, veteran CTR rider Jesse Jakomait, laid down to sleep around mile 115, Branham took the lead.
The two proceeded to trade off in front and were neck-and-neck through the notoriously brutal Cochetopa Hills section.
The area is reportedly haunted at night but with the new course direction, Branham and Jakomait were suffering through it in the heat of the day and pushing each other.
“We were working our asses off and we were still just averaging three and a half miles per hour,” says Branham.
After 44 hours straight of riding, Branham laid down for his first sleep of the race and woke up to then play through and put in a massive effort enroute to Leadville and hopefully build a gap on Jakomait.
Unfortunately, the plan did not play out as hoped as Branham cracked on his way into Leadville and then received some disheartening news.
“I blew up around Twin Lakes, cooked by the sun and I ran out of water,” says Branham. “I was crawling into Leadville and these guys in the bike shop said Jesse was only 15 minutes back and I was like f***. I already played my no-sleep card and didn’t have any tricks left up my sleeve.”
At that point, Branham resigned himself to second place and kept riding, still ascribing to the no-sleep regimen.
After a blink while riding turned into full-on sleeping on his bike, Branham laid down for a 10-minute sleep and then a little later a 30-minute sleep and kept plugging along.
It wasn’t until the final descent toward Denver that Branham discovered, at some point, he had ridden back into the lead and he crossed with his second title in a row—only 45 minutes ahead of Jakomait.
“I guess I was able to sleep a tiny bit less,” says Branham.
While Branham notes the flowers, sunrises, moonrises and the beauty of the Colorado Trail as highlights, he admits that there’s little room for enjoyment over the entire race.
“To go at that pace the whole time, there’s not a whole lot of good times,” says Branham. “I definitely spent a lot of time in the pain cave.”
He admits the thought of riding the CTR again next year is a bit hard to fathom just a week after finishing it, but Branham knows he’ll be back out there.
“I’m sure I’ll be out there again,” says Branham. “There’s something about the Colorado Trail.”
And while his gear was nearly flawless this year with his only work lubing the chain, he will make another change to his ride of choice, switching from a 29-inch hard tail to full suspension.
“After the first day and a half I was just beat up,” says Branham.
