{"id":45291,"date":"2021-08-09T23:12:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-10T05:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/bodewes-overcomes-hallucinations-to-finish-second-in-colorado-trail-race\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:24:39","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:24:39","slug":"bodewes-overcomes-hallucinations-to-finish-second-in-colorado-trail-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/bodewes-overcomes-hallucinations-to-finish-second-in-colorado-trail-race\/","title":{"rendered":"Bodewes overcomes hallucinations to finish second in Colorado Trail Race"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Scott
Scott Simmons of Durango Sunday on the Colorado Trail. He is the father of Quinn Simmons, who is racing in Europe, and Colby Simmons, who recently won a USA Cycling Amateur Road National Championships road race in Florida.<\/span>Eszter Horanyi\/Special to The Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Two cyclists from Durango finished in the top-four of the Colorado Trail Race recently, both riding the 526 miles from Durango to Denver in about 4\u00bd days.<\/p>\n

Will Bodewes said he was so tired he had an out-of-body experience and, at a different time, fell asleep while riding his bike. He still managed to finish second in four days, 11 hours and 30 minutes on his brother\u2019s hardtail bike.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was pretty gnarly,\u201d Bodewes said. \u201cIt really was a challenge to accomplish it, so doing well was a bonus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scott Simmons said he was planning on riding his gravel bike up near Estes Park to do some Fourteeners with his wife, Holly, but when he saw the trail race was happening, he decided to ride the Colorado Trail up there. Despite the spontaneous entry, Simmons tied Bryan Klahn for fourth in four days, 17 hours and 58 minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe race went pretty good for me,\u201d Simmons said. \u201cThere were some hiccups for sure but nothing drastic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam Haughey of Durango finished 15th in 6:21:21, and Jesse Mogler of Durango placed 21st in 7:10:56.<\/p>\n

Neil Beltchenko of Minneapolis, racing under the psudonym \u201cNad Bachanko,\u201d won the race in 4:03:09. Alexandra Houchin of Cloquet, Minnesota, was the first female to finish in 6:09:05.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe course is equally brutal and beautiful,\u201d said race organizer Jefe Branham, who completed the challenge for the ninth time and placed third in 4:16:08. \u201cI love it and so many others do too. Those that have experienced the Colorado Trail know how hard it is and how much it gets in your blood.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to the challenge of the trail, the riders also had to overcome sleep deprivation, hunger, mechanical issues and thunderstorms.<\/p>\n

After jostling for position in the beginning of the race, Bodewes said he moved into about 10th. On the first downhill, however, one of the screws on his bike shoe fell off, preventing him from being able to click out. He said he fell about 30 times because of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey weren\u2019t hard falls, but it was so frustrating,\u201d Bodewes said.<\/p>\n

A rainstorm began while he was riding in the Molas section, so he found a bathroom and was able to fix his shoe. Then he rolled into Silverton, hoping to resupply. Unfortunately for Bodewes, the gas station was closed. He ate some pizza and then, with most of the bikers waiting out the storm, he pedaled on.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was feeling OK so I kept going,\u201d Bodewes said. \u201cThat was one of the best moves I made in the race.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bodewes and Beltchenko were the only two bikers who made it through Silverton that night.<\/p>\n

Simmons also had some issues early on that he had to push through.<\/p>\n

\u201cI flatted twice the first day and then lost my food,\u201d Simmons said. \u201cRiding on empty, I got pretty disoriented and took a wrong turn on Rolling Pass and went about 45 minutes out of the way. These three mishaps caused me to not make it to Silverton before the downpour started, so by the time I got to Silverton, I was wet and very cold, overall in bad shape and definitely considered quitting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bodewes, meanwhile, rode until 1 a.m. then went to sleep. He said he woke up three hours later when a trio of bikers went by him and figured it was time to go.<\/p>\n

The three hours was the most sleep he got during the race. He said he slept two hours the next night, then one hour and then tried to do the last day with only 15-minute naps to reset his brain.<\/p>\n

Simmons slept a little more than Bodewes, allowing some competitors to pass him and then chasing them down.<\/p>\n

\u201cI slept about four to five hours a night, so I went to bed in third place each night and then would start the day in fifth or sixth,\u201d Simmons said. \u201cOthers were sleeping less I guess. However, I think if I had slept less, I would not have finished as I was pretty sleep deprived. I really enjoyed being four days into the race and still battling for positions between third and fifth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Will
Will Bodewes replenishes himself with some watermelon after pedaling the Colorado Trail Race in 4 days, 11 hours and 30 minutes. He finished second. (Courtesy of Holly Proulx, via Will Bodewes)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Bodewes said the second day was \u201ca grind,\u201d adding that he didn\u2019t have anything that he wanted to eat, just peanut butter, Nutella and salt burritos.<\/p>\n

After two hours of sleep that night, however, he said he felt \u201creally good\u201d and \u201cstrong\u201d on his bike and made it to Buena Vista where he was able to get some more food.<\/p>\n

He said he was concerned a biker behind him was going to pull an all-nighter and pass him, so he slept only one hour before continuing on.<\/p>\n

\u201cI woke up confused where I was, like I was dreaming,\u201d Bodewes said. \u201cI thought I had to pay someone to camp there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Struggling to stay awake, he said he had two different conversations going on in his head and saw a lot of weird animals that ended up being tree stumps.<\/p>\n

Despite the disorientation, the limited sleep helped him hold on to his second place.<\/p>\n

\u201cSleeping only one hour, I gained a bunch of time,\u201d Bodewes said. \u201cI put 30 miles on the third-place guy and was living on that stoke.\u201d<\/p>\n

Near Breckenridge, Bodewes said he fell asleep on the side of the trail with a granola bar in his mouth. The 15-minute \u201cfactory reset nap,\u201d however, stopped his hallucinations, he said. At least for the time being.<\/p>\n

Later, he said he had a completely \u201cout-of-body experience,\u201d where he felt like he was watching himself race. He said he then fell asleep going downhill, but fortunately woke up a few feet in front of a cliff.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was one of the craziest experiences I\u2019ve ever had,\u201d he said, \u201cbut it saved me.\u201d With a jolt of adrenaline, he decided to keep going so no one would catch him.<\/p>\n

About 70 miles from the finish, Bodewes\u2019 derailleur broke. After banging on it for over an hour with a spork and a rock, however, he got about half of his gears working and was able to finish the race.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a little underwhelming; just my girlfriend was there (at the finish),\u201d he said. \u201cBut I got tons of texts and calls.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simmons, meanwhile, said the section near Sargents Mesa was the toughest, while the smooth singletrack that went on for miles on the east side of Breckenridge was his favorite.<\/p>\n

Not having a Garmin, however, hurt Simmons with navigation, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI actually finished fourth, but I had lost my tracker so I just got the same time as Bryan (Klahn), the fifth place guy,\u201d Simmons said. \u201cBelieve it or not I came off the trail just a few seconds before him. I didn\u2019t even know it was the finish, my light was almost out and I never saw the Colorado Trail sign. We cruised down the road to the parking lot together it was a good way to finally be done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simmons then climbed a pair of Fourteeners on Friday and Saturday with his wife.<\/p>\n

Neither Bodewes or Simmons, however, is certain if they\u2019re going to do the race again.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was definitely telling people during the race that this was crazy and I would never do it again,\u201d Simmons said. \u201cHowever, I have been thinking about things I could do differently.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bodewes called it an \u201cenjoyable mountain bike ride,\u201d but said he didn\u2019t know if he\u2019d do it again. He said some sponsorships could sway him to do it again.<\/p>\n

Bodewes, however, isn\u2019t a huge biker, he said. In fact, this was only his third bike race. In college, he was a cross-country ski racer for the University of New Hampshire.<\/p>\n

With challenges like this, Bodewes said gear doesn\u2019t matter too much and planning doesn\u2019t matter too much either.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat matters is going out there and pushing through,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Jefe
Jefe Branham of Gunnison climbs a section of the Colorado Trail recently. Branham, a longtime competitor and repeat winner of the race, finished third. (Courtesy of Eszter Horanyi)<\/span>Eszter Horanyi\/Special to The Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

As of Monday, 45 competitors finished the race, 43 scratched and one was still active.<\/p>\n

Locals Nick Armano, Todd Koskinen and Liz Carrington all started the race, but did not finish.<\/p>\n

One notable finish was Chris and Marni Plesko \u2013 they became the first duo to complete the race on a tandem bike (10:13:13).<\/p>\n

colivas@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Simmons ties for fourth and then hikes Fourteeners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45292,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,977],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-45291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-mountain-biking"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45291"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45291\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86434,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45291\/revisions\/86434"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45291"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=45291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}