This years vapor trail race was looking to be a literal wash, as we sat in absolute bikes in Salida waiting for the 10PM launch of the Vapor Trail the rain was coming down extremely hard looking to derail things. Cooler heads did prevail though as the promoters decided to postpone the start to midnight as the storm was looking like it would be over by then. Sure enough by about 11 the rain had stopped and things were looking good.
The role out was a controlled start for about 5 miles until the first dirt section and climb began to the Colorado trail I was looking to start riding so I put the pedal to the metal and got things going after about 5 minutes I was by myself, and this would be the case till the end.
When I got to the Colorado trail it had been raining for about 10 minutes, long enough to get you wet but it was starting to let up and this section was incredible the dirt was nice and tacky and the flow was on, I was having a blast. This section dumped us out on 162 thus starting the 90 plus minute climb to the alpine tunnel then on to Tamichi pass the high point of the night.
The sun was just coming up as I came to the bottom of old Monarch Pass and I was looking at a bit over an hour to the top and then some of the best single-track in the world. The energy was definitely renewed by this point the sun was up and the view was incredible the peaks were snow caped and there was a dusting on the very top of the monarch crest trail. The crest trail, Silver Creek and the Rainbow trail finish the ride off in fine style I cant say enough about these trains pure ecstasy is all I can say even after 9 or so hours. The Absolute Bike crew and all the volunteers did an incredible job making this the most fun event of the season.
I finished up in a time of 10:43 with second place almost 2 hours back; it really didn’t come down to racing everyone else. In this kind of event it comes down to defeating the course, the elements and finding something out about yourself, it’s about living; everyone who finished is truly alive.