It was a cool Sunday morning on August 9th as riders started the Colorado Trail Race (CTR) at 4 a.m. from Waterton Canyon near Denver. This year would be my third time shooting the CTR and second time shooting the east-to-west version. I wasn’t sure what to expect other than some great singletrack in some of the prettiest mountains around.

Jefe Branham has the whole CTR in his hands.

Part of my plan for shooting this race was to go to some slightly different locations than in previous years, knowing full well that the weather and race flow would dictate the daily decisions. After leaving Waterton Canyon, I headed up to Buffalo Creek, where the burn scar from the 138,000-acre Hayman Wildfire of 2002 cleared the landscape to reveal an interesting landscape for photos, with some quality singletrack.

Twenty-one-year-old Jacob Hora, above, who would go on to finish fourth.

Matt Anabell was continually stoked and going fast on one gear.

Nicolette Jones on her third run and faster than ever.

Cruz Blue rounding out his triple crown ride.

Leila Hussain was the second woman to get to the Buffalo Creek section.

Torin Lackmann traded places with Leila throughout the race. Ultimately, she was the second and last woman to finish the CTR grand depart this year.

Alex McCormack on the CT just before Kenosha Pass.

After photographing most of the grand depart riding through Buff Creek, I changed plans and skipped the entire Tarryall reroute section to avoid the extreme heat, dust, and washboard dirt roads. I’ve driven it before, and it was long when the conditions were good. I stuck to the pavement and rerouted back to Hwy 285 all the way up and over Kenosha Pass to rejoin the route just off Lost Pass Rd, where I could photograph the racers on the trail instead of the dirt road. After all, despite the dirt road sections, the CTR is known for its mountain biking. As is so often the case, the light comes and goes, and just before Alex got to me, a cloud moved in, leaving me scrambling to reset my exposure.

Brian Elander was on a heater of a ride and eager to complete a triple crown this year.

By the time the lead trio of Alex McCormack, Brian Elander, and Xavier Chiriboga got to Georgia Pass, the day’s heat had started taking a toll on the field. By the end of the day, the scratch list started growing dramatically, and I knew the alpine was the place for me to find some respite from the heat. I also happened to know this area well from shooting the Breck Epic mountain bike stage race and riding the Kenosha Pass to Georgia Pass section for fun. Accessible from Jefferson by dirt and then 4×4 road, it’s a short hike to gain some great views of Mount Guyot.

Literally shooting from the hip while spinning on the back foot; it never fails that timing is off just when you least want it to be. I sprayed and prayed to capture this shot of Alex riding by Mount Guyot.

Brian Elander in a more intentional and planned photo. He was straight up shredding to catch Alex McCormack and nearly reeled Alex in by the Tenmile Range on downhill sections he’s raced and knows well.

Xavier Chiriboga, on the flip, was climbing with a second thought of also reeling in Alex on the climbs. He eventually decided to race his own race with an ultimate goal of completing the Triple Crown this year.

Rocky Gingg on the fun downhill from Georgia Pass (left) and Jacob Hora enjoying the last rays of sunset and a long downhill (right).

I was hoping to photograph more racers up on Georgia Pass, where it was nice and cool, but it would be dark before any more racers got there, so I headed back down. It was an easy decision to next go over Boreas Pass to find a place to sleep for the night high up on the Breckenridge side.

In the morning I made coffee, checked trackleaders and headed up Tiger Road to catch the second through fourth-place women. There was no telling when I’d see them again, so it made sense, but it came at the expense of getting to ride up to Kokomo Pass for alpine photos. It’s all a matter of decisions out there. Some work out, some don’t, and as the wildfire smoke got worse, so did the views. By this point, it was obvious that the scenic alpine views of the Colorado Trail would be in short supply for this edition.

Leila Hussain.

Celeste Carmignani.

The next destination was Camp Hale for a hike up the south side of Kokomo Pass. Riding up was right out with a gaggle of racers coming down that fun singletrack. With camera in hand, I hiked up, constantly keeping an eye up the trail and looking to be quick and capture everyone riding down wherever I crossed paths with them. It would yield a lot of photos, giving me leeway to pursue riskier and possibly less successful photo endeavors later in the race.

Always good to see Jefe out there. He’s in full dad mode these days and loving it. Fortunately, the timing was right for him, and he got out for another successful run at the CTR for his 10th finish.

The Willow Fire forced a reroute through the Leadville section while also filling the Arkansas River Valley with smoke. It was just the beginning of wildfire smoke getting to unhealthy levels.

Nicolette Jones on the Twin Lakes levy with a mouthful of food. It’s one of the few straight, flat sections of the entire route, so of course it’s a great place to eat and ride.

I’d planned to ride from Monarch Pass on the Monarch Crest Trail to Fooses Creek to capture racers on the notorious section of the route, but when I woke up the next morning, the smoke was even worse. My sinuses and lungs were not liking it, so again I scratched the main plan and came up with another that had me heading over to Half Dome to catch Alex leading the racer on the long dirt road section to Slumgullion Pass.

Alex McCormack, determined to reach the finish.

It wasn’t an ideal plan, but it worked enough and facilitated the next plan to visit the Soldierstone Vietnam soldiers memorial on Sergeants Mesa, which is within a few hundred yards and in plain sight of the Colorado Trail. I was born when the Vietnam War was in full swing, and have known many Vietnam vets, some family and some friends. On the way there, I thought about my uncle Larry, who did two tours, and my friend and old co-worker Perry, who saw and did things as a Marine Corps infantryman that no person should have to endure. The memories those men carried never went away, and this was a mission for me to honor them in my own way.

Matt Annabel with Soldierstone behind him and to his left. Matt went on to finish the CTR with an amazing singlespeed sub-five-day ride.

I had some great light to work with in hopes of catching Nicolette Jones on this Sergeants Mesa section, but I ran out of light, and this smoke-tinged sunset was the next best thing to photograph before hiking back to my truck in the dark.

Tracks in the road, in the middle of nowhere, are a sure sign of a bikepacking race in progress.

Cathedral Valley in black and white.

The Elk Fire outside of Lake City. The leaders squeaked by it just before it really blew up and filled the valleys below with smoke. This fire would lead to over half of the grand depart starters scratching from the race, which was one of the higher attrition rate years of the CTR.

The thing about shooting the CTR from Denver to Durango is the coveted San Juan Mountains are a lot harder to photograph racers on. By the time the leaders get to Slumgullion Pass, the entrance to the San Juans, the gap between racers is big. Such gaps mean it can be hit or miss on a long mission to get into a prime photo spot in those mountains, which represents practically an entire day’s work for possibly no race photos. That was my dilemma. I chose to take the Alpine Loop from Lake City to Cinnamon Pass to get to Silverton. From Silverton, I went to Little Molas Lake to rejoin the old CTR route, hoping to get to the new Bear Creek section, but there was nobody to photograph as I was in no man’s land—the gap between racers.

Sunset over the San Juans with the Bear Creek singletrack/hike-a-bike in the shadows.

A Denver-bound view of the old route looking south toward Durango.

Silverton turns into a sleepy little town with no food or much else available for racers after 9 p.m.

I spent the night south of Coal Bank Pass in a spot where I finally got a signal to check Trackleaders for Alex’s location updates. With my alarm set for 2:30 a.m., I got a few hours of sleep before waking up to see him on the move, which meant it was time to get to Junction Creek and the terminus of the Colorado Trail. I spent the remaining early-morning hours sleeping for 30 minutes at a time to ensure I would not miss his arrival. It worked.

Alex McCormack took the 2026 CTR win with a time of 4 days, 2 hours, and 49 minutes. He said he had no flats or mechanicals for his entire ride. Suffice to say, it was a very impressive performance!

Xavier Chiriboga near Kennebec Pass.

Xavi was super elated to finish this race. He got three flats, with the last one eight miles before the finish, which had him running his bike those last miles to finish. Next up is the AZT for his Triple Crown pursuit.

Time for new shoes before the AZT for Xavi.

A proud papa moment for Rocky with his third-place finish.

Looking back, this year’s CTR was a whirlwind, to say the least. Extreme heat and wildfire smoke set the tone for one of the harder races I can recall. Spending time at the finish with racers made it clear just how hard this route is, and it’s even harder when the conditions are rough like this year. Strikingly, though, it’s beautiful and hard in a special way that has to be seen and experienced to be understood, and if riding bikes in places like this with its challenges and reward is appealing, then you better put it on your bucket list.

Check out the 2026 Colorado Trail Race Tracker page to follow along on the live tracking map, and stay tuned in for more event coverage. Find it here.

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