Colorado Trail record broken
Ultra cyclist Timon Fish completed the 870km mountain bike route in 3 days, 16 hours and 15 minutes
James Howell-Jones
Junior Writer
Photo Courtesy of Stephen Fitzgerald
The high alpine tundra of Colorado. The CT is known for miles of high altitude singletrack and jeep roads in the Rocky Mountains
After five unsuccessful attempts to claim the record, ultra-endurance cyclist Timon Fish has finally conquered the Colorado Trail record. Fish averaged 217km a day over the course of the record, impressive given the trail is mostly singletrack and covers 22,000m of vertical ascent.
In his Strava post for the ride, Fish wrote: “My brain is still mushy from lack of sleep and the energy and emotion that effort took. Putting down the fastest CT [Colorado Trail] time I'm capable of has been my personal goal since 2018 when I first attempted it on a single speed. It took an unbelievable amount of training hours, careful thought, planning and four failed attempts to end up riding down Waterton Canyon sobbing and freezing and wet and barely able to stand up from exhaustion...but knowing I finally did it.”
Speaking to Bikepacking.com, Fish spoke of the effort it takes to achieve a record time: “I read an interview years ago where Jesse [Jakomait] said you have to get to a point where you’re willing to die to do the CT that fast. He wasn’t lying. The trail pushes you to that edge mentally and physically… and you either have to keep moving or you fail again.”
This isn’t the first record to Fish’s name. He is a long-distance mountain bike specialist, with the fastest known times for both the Kokopelli Trail and the Arizona Trail Race 300.
The question now is how long the record will stand. Fish told Bikepacking.com, "I still made plenty of mistakes, and it was far from a perfect run". This Sunday is the grand depart of the Colorado Trail Race, in which many more elite ultra-distance mountain bike riders will try their hand at the trail. Time will tell whether Fish's record will stand against this new wave of competitors.
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