Race for a cause
Colorado Trail Classic set to make its debut in August

Three riders cross the cornice at the top of Rolling Pass during last year’s CT Jamboree. The benefit ride’s organizer recently got approval to stage the CT Classic – a 75-mile race between Molas Pass and Durango – in conjunction with the Jamboree on Aug. 2./Courtesy photo.

by Will Sands

he route includes 75 miles of demanding but classic singletrack. Riders face sustained elevations above 10,000 feet and top out at 12,500 feet. And if that’s not daunting enough, one of cycling’s mainstream glossies once deemed completion of the ride in one day “impossible.”

But times have changed since those fateful words were printed, and now a Durangoan who’s familiar with tackling the “impossible” is bringing racing to that 75-mile stretch of the Colorado Trail between Molas Pass and Durango. The Colorado Trail Classic – a new standard for endurance bike racing in Durango and a fund-raiser for multiple sclerosis – takes off Aug. 2.

Durango teacher Ian Altman has ridden from Molas to Durango in a 24-hour period not once, but twice. But unlike the others who have survived the slog, Altman faces a daily challenge – he suffers from MS.

First diagnosed 11 years ago, Altman has by no means succumbed to the debilitating disease. He is the director of arts and rock climbing at Colorado Timberline Academy and has summited Patagonia’s Cerro Fitzroy and the British Columbia’s Lotus Flower Tower as well as put up first ascents in the Bugaboos. Altman first rode from Molas to Durango over a 14-hour period in 2005 with the goal of raising funds for and awareness about multiple sclerosis. The next year, he started the CT Jamboree, a two-day benefit ride on the same route, which is now attracting riders from all over the state and raising tens of thousands for the fight against MS.

“I started the CT Jamboree with a group of friends,” he said. “We were dreaming of ways we could all ride that incredible section of trail and benefit MS in Colorado. In just two years, it’s grown to attract riders from all over Colorado and the fund raising has doubled. Last year, we raised $28,000 for Colorado residents suffering from MS.”

Since making that first Colorado Trail ride three years ago, Altman has also dreamed of staging a race along one the nation’s most challenging stretches of trail. When he first aired the idea, many responded, “yeah, right.” But Altman forged ahead and secured a Forest Service permit for the race.

The CT Classic is set to leave on the same day as this year’s Jamboree, Aug. 2. Unlike riders in the Jamboree, racers will be entirely self-supported, riding long stretches of trail in the dark and be lucky to turn in times under 14 hours.

“It’s going to be do-it-yourself,” Altman said. “It’s self-supported and along the lines of a shorter Continental Divide Race. We’ll have

one check-in with potable water, but besides that, you’ll be on your own.”

The race is currently capped at 50 riders. Given the demands of the venue and uncertainties of the weather, Altman is realistic about how the starting line will look on this, the race’s first year. But Altman also reminded would-be racers that

the CT Classic will be about much more than racing from Molas to Durango.

“‘Ride for a cause’ is what we say in the Jamboree,” he said. “It’s important that racers know that it’s a ‘.’ We’re raising money for people with MS.”

In past years, the primary benefici

ary of the CT Jamboree has been the Jimmy Heuga Center in Vail. Founded in 1984, the nationally known nonprofit is dedicated to helping people and families with MS live full, productive lives. Like Altman’s approach to the disease, the Heuga Center focuses on healthy living and fitness, as well as positive4

mental attitude in keeping the disease and its symptoms at bay.

Funds from the CT Jamboree also flow to the Southwest Colorado MS Society and the Rocky Mountain MS Center as well as the Colorado Trail Foundation and Trails 2000. Above all, the event is working to help Coloradoans stricken with MS and to raise awareness of the disease in the hopes of better treatments and even a cure.

Nonetheless, MS remains a disease cloaked in mystery with no apparent cause, cure or treatment. It is a chronic and unpredictable disorder of the central nervous system and takes place when white blood cells attack myelin – the sheathing around nerve fibers – and replace the protective coating with scar tissue. MS targets twice as many women as men and is most common among whites. It is also especially dominant in northern latitudes – and Durango, the Western Slope and all of Colorado are considered a MS hot spot. Approximately one in every 580 Coloradoans currently has the disease. In Southern states, it affects only one in 10,000.

The one thing all people who suffer from MS have in common is that the disease worsens. If untreated, it can become totally debilitating. Altman has experienced this first-hand. Immediately after his diagnosis in 1997, he opted for alternative and homeopathic remedies and was able to manage the symptoms. A year later, things had gotten progressively worse. He started noticing problems with his vision, had trouble walking and began experiencing vertigo. After a climbing accident, two broken heels and three months in a wheelchair, he decided to give drug treatment a chance.

“Right when I started the injections, it really started to take effect,” Altman said. “Even with these big moon boot casts on my feet, I could walk better than without the medicine. It was obvious that it was having a big impact.”

Altman still takes Copaxone and is a member of Team Copaxone, a group of athletes who are overcoming the impacts of the disease. Along with Copaxone, the drugs Avonex and Betaseron are being used to successfully treat the progression of the disease. However, more than half of people with MS are unable to use the costly therapy or choose not to.

Even with the advent of drugs, Altman said that living with MS remains a roller coaster ride. While he is on the top of his game right now, MS is never far away.

“I definitely had symptoms and had a pretty serious attack this winter,” he said. “But that’s also the way MS is. It comes and it goes.”

But with Altman, the disease seems to be going more often than not. Having just wrapped up another school year, he’s off to Alaska for an extended backcounty ski tour in the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. Plus, he is anxiously eyeing the CT Classic’s Aug. 2 start date.

“I feel really good right now,” he said in closing. “Plus, I’m really strong on the bike right now, and that’s always huge.”

More information on the CT Classic and the CT Jamboree can be found at www.ctjamboree.com, and racers and riders can also register at the website. Altman is also seeking sponsors and volunteers to assist with the rides. He can be contacted at 385-5643 or ianaltman@hotmail.com.