The Self Powered Attempt The record I will attempt to establish is what I call the Self-Powered or attempt on the fourteeners. That name would differentiate it from a "Self-Supported" attempt. Self-Supported would mean that I had to carry all of my own gear, cook my own food, etc. I think this would be an awesome goal for the fourteeners. But this time, it is not what I will be going for. I am intrigued with the self-powered attempt because of the graceful way that it allows one to see the mountains of Colorado. Whereas in a self-supported version I would have to start and finish in the same place on many mountains (in order to pick up my bike and gear), in the self-powered version I can start on one side of a range, hike through the range, and pick up my bike and gear on the other side where my support crew was waiting for me. The self-powered attempt is simply an attempt to define the fastest way to climb the fourteeners without the aid of motorized technology. It allows me to use both road bike and mountain bike, depending on the road. And it saves me the trouble of having to tow a trailer full of camping gear, ice axes, crampons, ropes, etc. In essence, I think I will be able to climb all of the fourteeners in a surprisingly quick amount of time. The basic idea is that I have to power myself on all legs of the journey. I can bike, run, walk, kayak…but I can't be driven on any part of the route, towed, carried, or use any motorized technology to help me…You get the idea. However, my support crew can use cars to carry/transport my gear, they can cook for me, fix any broken gear, etc. When I go for the self-powered attempt I will not set any rules such as a 3,000 foot rule, instead choosing to follow 3 common sense guidelines mentioned by Buzz Burrell. · Announce your intentions in advance. Like a true gentleman, pay your respects to those who came before you, and tell them what you intend to attempt and when. · Be an open book. Invite anyone to come and watch or, better yet, participate. This makes your effort more fun and any result more believable. · Record your event. Write down everything immediately upon completion. Memory doesn't count. These three rules do not "prove" you have done anything. They just make it easier for a good person to believe you. Finally, I will start and finish in the same location. For me, this will be my front doorstep. However, anyone doing this in the future can choose whatever location they want as the starting and finishing location. I like starting from my front doorstep because although it will cost me a few extra hours, I like the idea of starting the clock when I really start (leave home) and stopping the clock when I can lay down in bed and sleep. Also, starting and finishing in the same location helps to remove any ambiguity about what is a legal place to start and stop the clock. You can start the clock wherever you want, only you have to stop it in exactly the same location. Let's keep this record as pure and simple as possible. No contrived rules. Just a basic goal of reaching the top of the fourteeners. Of course, it is impossible to prove anything, but following Buzz's rules we can make it reasonable for any person to believe that we did what we said we did.

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