WRIAD

...White Rim in a Day

Knocked out my 3rd White Rim in a Day tour yesterday. We finished before dark for the first time ever. Awesome.

I did it with two other WRIAD veterans and one rookie.

First time I did the WRIAD was 5 years ago and it was in Fall after a good season of riding. Even though it was very hot out, and we stopped a lot to gawk, take pictures, and hide behind the rare shady rock like a lizard, I think I finished the 103 miles in somewhere under 13 hours.

We skipped a couple years, but we always kept mentioning the White Rim. Last year, the high country was melting out months before schedule. I had gotten into decent riding shape by March already, so I talked a couple buddies into an April 10 WRIAD. On this trip, our rookie buddy wasn't feeling it and we got way back into the point-of-no-return before realizing that he wasn't gonna make it all the way back to camp. After much deliberation, my WRIAD-vet buddy and I carried on to camp and promised we'd be back to rescue him in the truck, whenever that might be. We finally rolled back into Mineral Bottoms camp after 15.5 hours, and then had to drive back, over Hardscrabble, and 10 more miles before we found him lying next to the trail and sleeping under a space blanket.

So even as it has snowed A LOT this Spring, I've been thinking that an April WRIAD needed to go down. And to kick the zero-preparation theme up a notch, my three buddies (2-2x vets & 1-rookie) decided they would make it their first bike ride of any kind in five months, since the snow first covered the high country last Fall.

We left at 6am from Mineral Bottoms and made solid time all the way to the top of Murphy's Hogback. I think I got up there in 8 hours. We had to wait a bit for our rookie bud, because he made an unintentional side-trip out to White Crack and needed some time to ponder and regroup before making his way back to us.

Our pace slowed dramatically as we needed to regroup every 7-10 miles. We made it back before dark though! I rolled back in right at 8pm for a 14-hour ride.

I wonder how fast I could WRIAD. I think the fastest ever is around 6hr30min. Well, that is just ridiculous. But I would bet I could break 10 hours if I was solo and had limited mechanicals. Maybe quite a bit lower.

I have a weird thing in my brain trying to convince myself to go find out next Tuesday. Hmmm. Let's see...

Might the CTR Become Even Longer and More Difficult??? Yes, Please

A very interesting development happening on Bikepacking.net.

Stefan, the underground race organizer posted a poll asking how riders would prefer to skirt the Lost Creek Wilderness not soon after starting the race. So far in the Colorado Trail Race history, the race has used Highway 285 from Bailey to Kenosha Pass because it is the shortest route to regain the trail, even though it is not the official Wilderness Bike bypass.

That section of 285 has a tiny shoulder and is very busy with Denver traffic heading into and out of the mountains. CTR riders seem to fear this section more than any other. Although you have to skip a few miles of sweet singletrack this way, it is many hours faster than the alternative, despite the danger.

The official Colorado Trail MTB Wilderness Bypass uses the Tarryall detour, and its over 50 miles of dirt roads longer than using 285 to connect to Kenosha Pass.

For me its an easy decision. I hate riding alongside cars even worse than I hate getting peppered with lighting. If I miscalculate and tumble off a cliff then I can live or die with that, but getting run over by some sleepy truck driver is my worst nightmare. 

So far the vote is a blow-out for the much longer Tarryall detour. Considering that the mass start will run East / Northbound and 285 will be all downhill and over quickly, I find the vote an even greater indictment of the needless danger on 285.

I wasn't expecting this issue to come up. Even months out I've been thinking of the relief I will feel after climbing for 2 hours on the 285 gauntlet and hopefully getting through safely. I'll be rooting for decision to come down for Tarryall and I'll be happy to spend that extra 8-12 hours marveling at the beauty of a very remote area rather than inhaling exhaust and praying for safe passage to Kenosha.

Plus, if we do Tarryall, we get more singletrack. Like this:

Propinquity and the Week 1 Weigh-In

Today was the 2nd annual Propinquity Challenge, an employee uphill "skinning" ski race at work. Last year I won this race by 12 seconds over a very formidable challenger. I knew I wasn't as fast this year because of the 2-month knee injury layoff, but I figured I owed it to try and defend my title.

The race covers about 1&1/3 miles and 1150' of climbing. I had heard that there were a couple Ski Patrolers who were bent on beating me this time, and though I tried to hold on to them as long as I could, eventually they pulled away and dueled to a near photo-finish. I finished in 3rd place about 1 minute behind, but I was 4 minutes slower than my winning time last year.

It sucks being behind my fitness level from last year when I was probably in the best shape of my life. I'm not discouraged though because there is still time to catch up and I have a way of focusing (obsessing?) on a goal until I get there.

So as I said, I know my fitness is worse right now. I know I weigh a lot more. Last year at April 1, I weighed 161 pounds; this year 181, a full, demoralizing 20 pounds more. So I made a pact with myself to eat healthy and lose the weight as quickly as possible in a healthy manner.

So I counted calories consumed and burned all week. I've decided to weigh-on once a week each Monday. My conservative goal is to lose 1.5 pounds per week which would get me back down to 161-ish by July 1st.

So how did I do in week 1?

Down to 176.6 for a 3.5 pound loss. YES!!!

I'm very motivated to keep this up, so let's see where I'm at at the next weigh-in on April 15.

Out West Again

For my 4th consecutive "weekend," I headed out West, to Rabbit Valley this time, to put some miles down. I've probably been to Rabbit Valley about 10 times, but I've never been able to get the campsite at Castle Rocks. It was vacant when I rolled in about 11pm on Monday night, so I pulled in and set up camp.

I wasn't sure what I was going to ride. All week I had planned to go on to Moab, but I think it was a major jeep jamboree gathering out there, so I decided to avoid that and save myself another hour and a half of driving.

After breakfast I mounted up and headed for the best trail there is at Rabbit Valley, The Western Rim. It sprinkled rain as it would all day and that made the sandy trails nice and tacky. After the Western Rim I took the moto-trail connecter up and rode Westwater Mesa, The Arch Loop, and the Overlook Trail.

I tried to find the energy to continue with the "Holy Grail" by finishing on the Zion Curtain, but tired legs and a steadier rain forced me to hang a right on the Kokopelli Trail for a 9-mile cruise back to camp. Still hit 36 miles and about 4000 feet of climbing in 5hr10min.

I woke up this morning for day 2, made some coffee, and set out for a hike with my pup while trying to think of a good ride before heading home. It'd been a while since I'd ridden Horsethief Bench, so I decided to break camp and get a few miles in at the Kokopelli trailhead.

I did a hot lap on the easy, but very fun Rustler's Loop before continuing to Mary's Loop > Horsethief Bench > Mary's again > Steve's Trail to Handcuffs and took the dirt road back to the parking lot. Total 19 miles and 1500' climbing.

Solid weekend. Couple times I felt a little power in my legs and my butt is finally seasoned for bike season. I heard Buffalo Creek is "mainly" dry now. Perhaps I'll be able to head East for a change next week.

Nice sunsets out there in Fruita: