Ear to the

ground

“You been out of the country lately?”  

“Yeah, I was just in Texas last week.”

– An exchange over pints at a local brewpub

Classic suffering

The route includes 74 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.”

A Durangoan who’s familiar with tackling the “impossible” is once again bringing racing to that 74-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 in conjunction with the Colorado Trail Jamboree on July 26.

“It’s a one-of-a kind race through some of the finest alpine singletrack on the planet. It’s quite a stretch,” said Ian Altman, who suffers from MS and will once again organize and ride this year’s race.

Racers will be entirely self-supported, riding long stretches of trail in the dark and be lucky to turn in times under 14 hours. Travis Brown, native Durangoan, former Olympian and Mountain Bike Hall of Famer, won last year’s inaugural race in grand fashion. Brown “got lucky” and finished the “unique beast” in just under nine hours.

“There were opportunities for lots of things to go wrong, whether mechanicals or getting bucked off and getting injured,” Brown said. “In the end, I had lots of energy and the truth is that I got lucky.”

Registration is now open for riders interested in tackling the “beast” this year. More information on the CT Classic and its companion fund-raiser the CT Jamboree can be found at www.ctjamboree.com.

Bearly legal

An Oregon woman recently paid a high price for trying to adopt unusual pets. Last week, a judge ordered Karen Noyes, a 61-year-old resident of Yachats, Ore., to move out of her rural home for three years as punishment for feeding bears from the neighboring forest.

A restraining order was also issued to keep Noyes out of her neighborhood, which has become a haven for rogue bears seeking handouts from the woman. Oregon wildlife agents testified they had warned Noyes as early as 2003 that she should not be feeding the bears, the Oregonian reported.

“Bears are not your pets to do with as you please,” Judge Thomas Branford told Noyes.

However, the woman pled innocence, claiming she didn’t know the bears were a problem. Her neighbors disagreed. One testified that a bear tried to squeeze into his house through a dog door. Another was forced to shoot a bear “after it menaced his ex-wife.”