Hello everyone in CTR land.

The 2026 CTR Group Start will be Sunday, August 2nd, 4:AM, Waterton Canyon.

Group Start limited to 70 riders. There is no formal sign up as this is not a formal race. Trackleaders sign up will occur one month before go time and will serve to hold a rider’s Group Start slot. ITT’s are welcome anytime outside of 24 hours of the Group Start.

There will be a “mandatory” $50 donation to the CTF trail crew fund, link here: https://coloradotrail.org/ctr/ Support the love and care of this trail!

The CTR is a self supported ride through the mountains along the prescribed route with riders attempting to be as fast on route as possible. Riders share the route with numerous trail users of many types and backgrounds and are expected to be safe, polite and courteous. Riders are 100% responsible for themselves when out there, that includes nutrition, hydration, navigation, documentation, self care, self rescue, etc. Do It Yourself, all of it.

Know the rules! Link:https://jwookieone.com/colorado-trail-race/colorado-trail-race-rules/

If you aren’t sure you are up for “racing” for any reason, touring the route is a wonderful way to enjoy the Colorado Trail. Speaking from personal experience, hiking and touring before racing is 100% recommended

Reminders and Announcements!

There is no sign up of any sort till a month out from start time. Look for announcement here sometime in June, but nothing happens till July 2nd!

The 2026 CTR route has been changed for this year. All changes were done to get the route off of busy pavement for the safety and experience of the riders. In the past the CTR chose the route based on riding as much of the CT as reasonably possible. With the 2026 version, the idea is to choose the “best” route, sometimes skipping small sections of the CT to do so. Two of the changes skip some fairly “meh” trail, prob not anyone’s favorite sections and end up making the route a bit faster and shorter, not the goal here but the result. The other two changes cut some decent trail, never an easy thing to do, but both also remove significant hunks of the busy highway sections. All said it looks like the new route is 528 miles, 75,377′(both unconfirmed), old route is about 541 miles, 74,406′. Times should be pretty close in the end??? These changes mean new records will be on the line!

Preliminary GPX track in two formats:

https://www.plotaroute.com/mobile/routeplayer/3133461

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/course/452270093

This is not the final track. This is for research and planning purposes. Final track will be out soon and shouldn’t vary significantly from this.

Route changes, (starting from Waterton/East to West):

1: Tennessee Pass; instead of traversing the CT to Wurtz Ditch, cross Highway 24 at top of pass, to east Tennessee pass road, decent road to light 4×4, descend, merge with 24 just outside Leadville. Removes 4.2 miles of busy pavement and 2.6 miles of the CT. Adds about 1 mile and 200′, prob a touch slower.

2: Cottonwood Pass Road; new route takes Chaffee CR 343 to the CT, rather than continuing up cottonwood pass road past rainbow lake to gain the CT across from Avalanche TH. This avoids 4 miles of pavement and drops roughly 2.6 miles of CT from the route, while this is subtraction of CT miles, it is not a “great” section of trail in either direction. Overall 4.1 miles shorter, less vertical. Should be quite a bit faster in both directions, as well as safer.

3: Slumgullion Pass reroute: Mainline to Rambouillet Park Rd. New route turns left/east onto an unmarked logging road just before hitting Slumgullion Pass; contour below 149/pavement, kiss 149 at gravel parking spot at the top, stay on dirt, descend on improved B road, turn right onto Mainline Rd, turn left on 149. Ride less than a mile (.75) of 149, turn right onto Rambouillet Park Road/473, climb steeply, then traverse, gorgeous views, at least three decent water sources. Seven miles from 149 merge with the CT, turn right/west. Overall 3.6 miles shorter, 600′ less vert. Drops 6.9 miles of pavement, also 2.7 miles of dirt road and a 2.8 miles bit of meh singletrack that is the CT. Should be a wee bit faster in both directions, less pavement and potentially more water.

4: Bear Creek: New route leaves Silverton on the Rainbow Trail to Bear Creek Trail and merges with the CT above Molas Lake. Bear Creek is not a highway and will be slow going, think hike a bike, it is the CTR so don’t complain. Still might be close time wise, as the new route is about 7.1 miles and 2600′, old route is 12 miles and 2700′. While this misses a bit of fun, decent trail and some sweet views, it avoids 5 miles of sometimes sketchy highway and currently there are no other good options to get off 550. Trail over highway no apologies!!! Might add a bit of time for some going up, bet it is close time wise going down. Pretty good water crossing at bottom. A wilder route with almost no pavement, it is going to be hard especially going up, but it’s the CTR, so yeah we doing it!

The CTR Route hasn’t had any major changes since 2013 and getting off of pavement has been an important goal for years. While losing a bit of CT in a couple spots is a hard price to pay, mingling less with roaring autos is more in line with the CTR and this current route cuts about 20 miles of pavement out from the previous version. The evolution doesn’t stop and the route will continue to change. There is talk of creating better cycling routes around the wilderness areas, so who knows what the future holds!?

Stay resilient and strong out there, protect yourselves and your communities and love your mother earth!