2024 North South Departs Fort Collins Friday

UPDATE 07/17/2024

Of the 26 riders who registered for the 2024 North South bikepacking race that departed Fort Collins on July 5th, 24 started, and eight finished. Seven of the starters were from Fort Collins or Wellington. Two of them finished. Zack Allison won the overall, completing the 600+ mile race in 3 days 5 hours 12 minutes (Trackleaders time, not official. Official results will be posted if/when available). Matt Fix finished in 5th place, arriving in Trinidad in 4 days 14 hours 21 minutes (Trackleaders time, not official. Official results will be posted if/when available). The other six NoCo racers either scratched or didn’t start. Their reports will be posted below when available.

ORIGINAL STORY

The North South Bikepacking race will start at 6 a.m. on Friday from Fort Collins’ Lee Martinez Park. It is a 609-mile self-supported gravel race (similar to the CTR) with roughly 52,150 feet of elevation gain and will end in Trinidad, CO.

Of the 26 riders currently registered, eight are from Northern Colorado. Be sure to cheer on Zack Allison, Devon Pia, Matt Fix, Tom Carter, Jon Ruble, Kevin Clark, Matt Erickson, and Travis Stuart. You can track them live via the Trackleaders map, below.

North South started in 2021 with 20 riders, continued with 39 in 2022, and 55 last year.

Highpoints-

• What: 609-mile self-supported gravel race
• When: July 5th, 2024. 6:00 AM
• Where: Lee Martinez Park. 600 North Sherwood Street, Fort Collins, Colorado 80521, United States
• More information- Website

• Zack Allison
  Second attempt. Scratched in 2023.
  FROM: Fort Collins, CO USA
  FORMAT: Grand Depart Men
  AGE: 35
  BIKE: ENVE MOG
  SPONSOR: Bike Sports
  LINK: www.bikesportsco.com
  Ride Report: Zack won the 2024 North South bike packing race. Full report to come.
  

• Devon Pia
  Second attempt. Scratched in 2023.
  FROM: Fort Collins, CO USA
  FORMAT: Grand Depart Men
  AGE: 31
  BIKE: Surly Krampus
  Race Report: Devon scratched in Idaho Springs. Full report to come. 

• Matt Fix
  First attempt
  FROM: Fort Collins, CO USA
  FORMAT: Grand Depart Men
  AGE: 57
  BIKE: Lynskey MTB Gears
  Ride Report: Finshed in 5th place. One of eight finishers.  Full report to come.

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• Tom Carter
  First attempt
  FROM: Ft Collins, CO USA
  FORMAT: Grand Depart Men
  AGE: 54
  BIKE: Carbon Warbird- SR/Suntour GVX
  SPONSOR: SR Suntour/FCCT
  Ride Report: Scratched in Grandby with GPS issues. Full report to come.

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• Jon Ruble
  Second attempt. Scratched in 2022.
  FROM: Fort Collins, CO USA
  FORMAT: Grand Depart Men
  AGE: 51
  BIKE: SalsaCutthroat
  SPONSOR: Neurotypicalwife
  Ride Report:

  When I entered North South Colorado in 2022 it was my first bikepacking event. I had set my sights on attempting the Tour Divide and thought North South would be a good test of my ability to do back to back long days over challenging terrain. That year, I scratched in Canon City, because I was running out of time. I admit that I underestimated the route and overestimated my abilities. I had the time of my life and definitely learned enough to complete the 2023 Tour Divide route in just over 36 days.

  I came into North South 2024 fitter, more knowledgeable, and ready to redeem myself, and assess my progress and abilities. At my age and being relatively new to cycling I try to be reasonable about my performance. Usually that means my goal is primarily to complete the route. However, I do desire to be competitive in the midpack at events where the route has a 50% rate of attrition. North South is the perfect event. It starts in my backyard and has all the elements, a mix of terrain, challenging climbs, crazy descents, beautiful scenery, and awesome participants, that make bikepacking so much fun.

  After faffing around in my garage all morning and riding to the start, I arrived at Lee Martinez Park with 5 minutes to spare. The rollout was pretty chill as we took the pavement towards Livermore. I got a chance to chat with a few other riders including fellow Northern Colorado rider Matt Fix before the pack spread out entering the dirt climbs through Cherokee Park. I was happy with my pace and felt good as I rolled steadily toward the Laramie River section.

  For those who haven’t ridden this route the Cherokee park section includes around 5,000 ft of gain over 40 miles of gravel with plenty of punchy sections. The Laramie River section is semi fast and rolling with punchy dirt climb before you reach a short descent to a paved climb up Cameron Pass topping out at 10,249 feet. I spent most of that first section leapfrogging and getting to know Trent Reptar and Logan Sica. On the Laramie river section I was passed by Hannah Bingham, who had missed the grand depart and was making up lost time through the field. Impressive.

  Camron pass is a very doable paved climb, however I found myself having to walk a little as my legs were feeling the fatigue of over 9 hrs and 8,000 feet of steady climbing. As I neared the summit, I was overtaken by Devon Pia, another Northern Colorado rider, as he rushed to get to the little convenience store in Gould before it closed. After the nice, somewhat chilly 5 mile descent off of Cameron I was relieved to see that the little store was still open. The patrons are very nice and, having been alerted to the event, were well stocked and more than happy to stay open a few more hours. I had enough calories to get to Granby, but I stopped and enjoyed a microwaved sandwich, chips, beverages, as well as some conviviality with Devon, Trent, Logan and another Northern Colorado rider, Matt Erickson.

  I rolled out of Gould with Logan and Trent and we continued leapfrogging over the chunky Calamity pass toward Rand. The three of us stealth camped together near mile 125 having climbed a cumulative 10,200ish feet for the day. It was that last chunky climb and descent where I noticed a slight niggle in my right knee.

  Anyone who has done multi day events like North South knows that pains come and go. Often, if you can keep moving, the aches and pains of long hours have a way of working themselves out. At least that has been my experience so far. As I started the next leg towards Granby on Saturday morning I kept that in mind as my knee was still painful. I managed the short paved climb up Willow Creek Pass and crawled over Stillwater pass as my knee continued to give me problems. Stillwater Pass is awesome, by the way, and despite growing concerns about my knee I enjoyed this addition immensely. The remaining 21 miles toward Granby is predominantly downhill, and other than some chunder descending stillwater, it should be a fast section. However, my knee was getting worse. Even the flat paved section was painful to pedal and I knew I was slowing down.

  I rolled into Granby before noon and though I was concerned about my knee, I was confident that I could continue, albeit at a dwindling pace. I hit up the City Market and purchased a compression brace and some ibuprofen. The singletrack and bike path towards Fraser was slow and painful and I ended up stopping again to eat and fiddle with a broken etrex mount which was a casualty from the first day. Nevertheless, the knee brace and Ibuprofen were helping and I held out hope that I could continue even if I had to accept a slower pace and less miles. I crawled up the first half of the Corona/Rollins climb determined to get to the 200 mile mark for the day. At the time I reasoned that averaging 100 miles a day and finishing the route was a good redirected goal. I had given myself a whole week to finish the route in case of contingencies such as mechanicals or foul weather.

  I Stopped for the night at around 8 pm. reasoning that a little more rest might help with my worsening knee. When I woke in the morning, my knee felt pretty good. In fact, I felt no pain as I packed up my bivy. Soon, reality set in as I resumed climbing toward the Rollins Pass summit. I could only pedal a few minutes at a time before the pain of pressing on the pedal was too much. Even walking was painful at that point. I found that if I stopped, straightened and messaged my knee I could pedal a few minutes before it got bad again. After about three miles of this ride, walk, rest routine, I made the decision to avoid further injury and scratch from the race.

  According to Ride With GPS, I averaged a moving speed of 8 miles per hour during the 38 hours and 201 miles I’d  traveled from Fort Collins to my camp on Saturday night. Considering that my pace Saturday afternoon was dramatically slower, I was still happy with my stats. If I could have kept that pace for the entire route I would have been more than satisfied with my performance. Turns out that my knee problem is a combination of tendonitis above my patella and my IT band. Having rested this past week it is already much better. I was  even able to do some moderate hiking a week after scratching from North South. For now I will slowly begin to start riding as I prepare for the High Plains Drifter in September. I would like to return to the Tour Divide next year, however, as that is challenging financially, I may just end up giving North South Colorado another try. After all, I really do love that route.

  I would also like to thank Mark Lendzion for organizing this awesome event. I’m always surprised it’s not on more people’s radar. I also want to thank all of the friendly riders I shared the trail with. Bikepackers are some of the best people out there. Happy Trails!

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• Kevin Clark
  First Attempt
  FROM: Fort Collins, CO USA
  FORMAT: Grand Depart Men
  AGE: 36
  BIKE: GR300
  Ride Report: Kevin had a family emergency and was unable to start in 2024.

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• Matt Erickson
  First Attempt
  FROM: Wellington, CO USA
  FORMAT: Grand Depart Men
  AGE: 39
  BIKE: Trek Sawyer
  Ride Report: Scratched in Fraser. Ride report to come.

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• Travis Stuart
  Second Attempt. Finished in 2022
  FROM: Fort Collins, CO USA
  FORMAT: Grand Depart Men
  AGE: 30
  BIKE: Canyon Grizl
  Ride Report: Scratched in Idaho Springs. Full report to come.

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