Singletrack/MTB
Gravel/All-road
Dirt-road Touring
Fat-bike
Rigs of the 2024 Colorado Trail Race Stats Analysis
We compiled data from more than 40 submissions for the Rigs of the 2024 Colorado Trail Race into a spreadsheet to gain insights into the bikes and gear featured in this year’s event. In this article, we explore the data and reveal some intriguing statistics, such as the most popular tires, drivetrains, types of bags, pedals, lights, and more. Dive into our Rigs of the 2024 Colorado Trail Race stats analysis here…
PUBLISHED Aug 13, 2024
The Colorado Trail Race is hands down my favorite race of the year, not only because it’s my favorite race I’ve personally participated in and is close to home for me, but because it offers one of the best dot-watching experiences for a solid week. I had a lot of fun looking at the rigs submitted by racers for the Rigs of the article, so in this video, I went a bit deeper into it in hopes of finding some trends and surprises. I plugged in the first 40 rigs we received into this spreadsheet, which helped me get this data. It’s not everyone in the race, but it’s a good representative data set. Dig into the details in the video below, followed by a written version with charts.
The 18th annual Colorado Trail Race started on Sunday, August 11th. The singletrack-heavy, self-supported race is roughly 530 miles with 75,000 feet of climbing, featuring many rough stretches and sustained hike-a-bikes, all at high elevations; the route elevation averages above 10,000 feet, with many mountain passes at or above 12,000 feet. Being an even year, the race starts in Denver, and the finish line is in Durango. It’s been a wet start to August, and that monsoonal moisture looks to continue, which should make for some exciting conditions out there but nothing out of the ordinary. Now, onto the data.
Bikes
Events like the Colorado, Arizona, and Highland Trails Races are much more singletrack focused, so we tend to see more mountain bike-oriented rigs, and that shows here with 22 complete full-suspension bikes, 17 hardtails, and only one rigid bike. Of the 39 bikes with suspension forks, the most popular size was 120mm travel among hardtails and full-suspension bikes, as seen in these two graphs. But there were some pretty big bikes in the group, like three 150mm hardtails, and even one 160/160 full-suspension bike. That said, I’m surprised there are not more trail bikes, seeing how fast they have become over the last few years.
There was a wide range of bikes in this group with 23 brands represented and 26 different types of bikes. The most popular bike brands were Specialized and Santa Cruz with four each, followed by Esker, Pivot, Salsa, and Transition, with three each. The most popular bikes were custom ones, followed by a five-way tie with three each of Esker Haydukes, Pivot Trail 429, Specialized Epics, Transition Spurs, and Salsa Timberjacks.
Half of the bikes were carbon, with most of them being full-suspension bikes, except a Starling Cycles Beady Little Eye; what a beaut! The other half were metal, with eight being steel, seven titanium, and five aluminum bikes. Oh, and it’s worth mentioning that there are 39 flat-bar bikes and, yes, you got it, one drop-bar bike.
Drivetrains
Just like the Tour Divide and the other three rigs stats videos I’ve done, I won’t surprise you with anything here. The most popular drivetrain brand was SRAM, with 60% of the bikes using it, followed by 20% using Shimano and the remaining 20% using a single-speed setup. In total, 30 bikes were set up with 1×12 drivetrains, two with 1×11, and eight one-speeders. Of those single-speeders, the most popular gearing was 32×22 with three rigs, but there were a bunch of different ratios out there, as you can see below.
Of the geared bikes, 33 were mechanical and only seven electronic, all of which were SRAM AXS. That’s over 80 percent using mechanical versus 69% using mechanical on the Tour Divide, something interesting to see. And of the 1×12 and 1×11 setups, the most popular chainring was 30t, with 12 bikes sporting that, followed by 32t with 10 and the tiny 28t with 8. Surprisingly, there were zero Pinion, Rohloff, 2x, or 3x setups.
Wheels and Tires
Among ultra riders, wheels and tires are perhaps the most talked-about components, outside of maybe chainring size. They are easily replaceable and can make a world of difference, especially on the Colorado Trail. This trail features a mix of really fast wilderness detours and rough, technical sections, so the goal is to find a nice, balanced tire. While there is some debate about tires, there is little debate about wheel size, as almost all the rigs went with 29-inch wheels. Only one rider chose 27.5-inch wheels but used plus-size tires, essentially making it a 29er at heart.
Over half of the racers opted for 2.4″ tires, followed by 11 racers choosing 2.6″ and six racers going with 2.3 to 2.35″ tires. Various other sizes followed. This is refreshing to see. Unlike the Tour Divide, where Vittoria tires, particularly Mezcals, were dominant on about 50% of the bikes, Maxxis tires are the favorite for trail races. Approximately 70% of racers used Maxxis, with the remaining 30% spread across eight other brands. Among Maxxis tires, the Rekon was the most popular, used by 15 racers. Sixteen other tire models were mentioned, but none came close to the popularity of the Rekon. And it’s worth noting that the Mezcals did not appear in any of these rigs.
Cargo
There has been a growing trend with folks using racks on big rides like the Tour Divide recently, which makes sense, but they are still not widely adopted in trail races. Of the 40 bikes, only five had a rack, with a few using the Tailfin Aeropack, a few using Elkhorn racks, and one using an Aeroe spider rack. More surprising was that there were only 24 seat packs, leaving 11 bikes without any rear system. Many of these bikes were full-suspension models with dropper posts, which helps provide clearance to run your full dropper without anything hitting the rear tire. Speaking of dropper posts, nearly 90% of racers were using them, leaving only five without. Personally, I couldn’t imagine riding that route without a dropper, as it would lead to a lot of walking downhill, which is not fun.
Regarding bags, there wasn’t much brand loyalty, with only a few sponsored athletes showing preference. However, Dispersed Bikepacking bags are doing really well in the ultra-race scene, with many bikes equipped with their custom frame bags and other gear. Finally, most riders had no cargo on their forks, with only four bikes using fork cargo, all of which were just for water bottle storage.
Pedals
Most racers prefer the clipless system, with 28 using it, 11 using flats, and 1 using a mixed pedal. Interestingly, 5 of the 8 singlespeeders used flat pedals.
Dynamo Hubs
Only 12.5% of racers used dynamo hubs, with the rest carrying extra cache batteries to charge devices like GPS units or lights. I used a dynamo one year, but it didn’t provide the desired output at such a slow average speed, which explains the limited use in this race.
Navigation
This year, we asked racers about their navigation devices. Garmin head units were very popular, with a total of 27 Garmin devices in use. This included 11 solar edge units, 9 eTrex units, 6 standard Garmin edge units, and one Fenix watch. Additionally, 11 racers used Wahoo devices, with a collection of other brands filling in the rest.
Lights
Regarding lights, Fenix was a popular choice, with half of the bikes using at least one Fenix light, mostly the Fenix BC26R. This light is favored because of its removable rechargeable batteries, which eliminate the need to charge the light itself. I own two and love them! There were also a variety of other dynamo and non-dynamo lights in use.
Sleep Systems
Although not specifically asked, many racers shared their sleep systems. A sleeping bag or quilt combined with a bivy was the most popular option, used by half of the racers. Bags and tents were also very popular. I’ve used various systems, but in my experience, the bag and bivy combination was the most comfortable and quickest to set up at night.
Participants
As of Thursday, August 8th, 91 participants had signed up on the Trackleaders page. Two of these are the out-and-back return foot travel dots from Alexandera Houchin and Hunter Hamilton. This leaves us with 89 individuals—78 men and 11 women—participating in the race.
The age distribution of racers is quite interesting, with a generally younger group than the Tour Divide. The most popular age group for this ride is 30-39, representing 40% of the participants. This is followed by the 40-49 age group at nearly 30%, and the 20-29 age group rounding out the top three at almost 15%. Notably, there is a 72-year-old participant, which is truly inspiring.
In terms of geographic representation, there is less of a worldwide presence than other races, though it’s still notable. Seven countries are represented: Spain, Lithuania, Belgium, Ecuador, New Zealand (with two participants), Canada (with three participants), and the USA, which dominates with 79 participants.
Within the USA, 20 states are represented. As expected, Colorado leads with 41 participants, followed by Arizona with five, North Carolina with four, and several states with three racers each.
Given that the finish line is in Durango, it’s no surprise that this town has the highest representation, with eight racers getting to pedal home—what a great feeling. The start location, Denver, is the second most popular, followed by Gunnison, my home, with four racers. Boulder and Louisville round out the top five, each with three racers. Overall, 55 different towns or cities across the United States are represented.
So, there you have it, lots of fun info from racers participating in this year’s Colorado Trail Race. Now, you tell me, does anything stand out? Let me know in the conversation below.
Check out the 2024 Colorado Trail Race Tracker page for updates and to follow along on the live tracking map, and stay tuned in for more event coverage. Find it here.
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