Last year I didn't even know if I could finish the CTR or not. Hell, by the time I crawled into Silverton I was still having grave doubts. Thankfully, I learned some things and caught my rhythm after leaving Silverton and finished in a sorta decent time of 7 days & 22 hours.
So going into this year, I know I can finish this thing because I've done it once already. I wasn't even in that great shape after coming out of ski season fat and injured and unable to really train until April 1st. I just didn't want to miss another year so I took a leap of faith and it worked out.
This year I aim to actually race the course, and that is exciting but also a little scary.
I'm not going to articulate an exact goal, and despite Jefe (& Jesse?) sitting out this year, I have no delusions about winning or racing near the front at all, but I'd like to chop 24 hours off and have a 6 day & change finish if I can.
There are many things in my favor for that.
I weigh about 10-12 pounds less this year. I'm riding a 29-er carbon hardtail that comes in at least 7 pounds less than the Yeti SB-66C I rode last year. And with more packing & gear experience I should be dropping 3-5 pounds there pretty easily. So I'll be chugging 20-25 pounds less along the trail this year and that's bound to count for something.
I know I'm in better shape and significantly faster on the bike as well. I've crushed all my local-ride PRs on this hardtail this summer and beat my best Firecracker 50-miler time by 21 minutes.
I've done lots of evil HAB training in an effort to prevent the achilles problems that plagued me last year starting day 2 and all the way to the finish.
Plus I have much more actual bikepacking experience. Last year I had only done one loaded overnighter in my life. Now I've got one CTR under my belt plus many other training rides and bikepack fun rides that I've been able to learn from.
I'm even using a cue-sheet with splits to guide me along towards my goal.
I'm so freakin' excited to start and I feel confident that I can reach my goals if I have a smooth run and most things go right.
Ahhhh..., but that's the big wildcard we face. What if things don't go right?
Last year my bike was flawless and I only had to rinse and lube the drivetrain the entire way. Bike maintenance and repair is a weakness of mine, and although I'm somewhat crafty in the field, this weakness could pose a problem.
I've only got 2 months on this hardtail, so I'm not totally sure how my body will react after taking the beating day after day. My Yeti wasn't the best climbing tool last year, but it sure was a plush descender. My body came out of the race pretty good; well, everything except my thrashed achilles tendons.
But there is no sense on focusing on any of that stuff. If I have a set-back, I will deal and move on. If I have a mechanical disaster that I can't repair then I guess I'll find a way to a bike shop somehow and get some help. If I have to relegate myself and continue on with a tour then I know I will have fun with that.
This is just a big excuse for Adventure anyways.
Good luck to everyone lining up this year. May you all have a beautiful time on the trail and I look forward to meeting and riding with as many of you as I can.
Thursday, July 31, 2014
Saturday, July 26, 2014
Last Big Stuff Weekend
I suppose this is my last weekend to put down some really big mileage and hard training before the CTR. By next weekend I'll be resting more and dialing the intensity back quite a bit. I've already done a fair amount of HAB training, but I wanted one more wild one to harden my mind for the many miles soon to come.
I've also been eye-balling the South Park Trail that leads from near the Guanella Pass summit to Red Cone Jeep trail over by Webster Pass for several years. A few years ago I actually climbed over Webster and drug my bike up higher over Red Cone Peak to grab SPT's western end to see how far I could take it. Turned out not too far as I missed a turn and dumped myself down into Bruno Gulch just a few short miles into the trail; decided to loop Burning Bear and back over Webster at that point. But I knew I'd be back.
This time I would catch it from the eastern end at the top of Guanella Pass.
July 24 - Argentine Pass to Guanella Pass:
Thursday after work I packed my gear and started riding a little after 8pm under the lights. There was no moon out and it promised to be a very dark night. And believe it or not, 13,200' Argentine Pass seemed to be the best way to loop this thing. I planned to ride over Argentine and then climb up to Guanella's summit for a bivy so I could attempt to navigate the SFT early morning and get back over Webster before any storms hit.
Silverthorne to Argentine Pass went a little faster than I expected. I was just over an hour to Peru Creek Rd and 2hr05min to the Argentine Trail HAB. I had descended this side, but never climbed it before, and I think I like it better from this side. It was so dark out that I could see nothing outside of my light beam, so I just put my head down and hiked. If I looked off to my left I just saw scary cliff dropoff to oblivion. As I neared the top I couldn't even see shadows or anything giving away the pass, so I was a little surprised when I crested after 3hr40min from the house. My crappy Garmin GPS watch always screws up elevation and had me thinking I had another 300 vert.
Just after midnight... the lights of Denver looked pretty cool, but cold wind and late night weirdness made me want to get down to Waldorf Mine at least before breaking. I know this area well during the day, but in the pitch black night I missed the easy railroad grade down and took a sketch-ball mining road a good ways before finally linking back in to Leavenworth Road. Late night has a way of making you doubt your route choices so I kept on pushing until I was safely back to Guanella Pass Road a little after 1am.
Still had a paved 2000' climb so I put on the tunes for that and slowly made my way up. Ate a bit up top and climbed in the bivy about 2:30am.
Argentine Pass to Guanella Pass
Despite being tired, I didn't sleep very well at that 11,700' elevation. Wasn't very long, but I stayed in the bag until the sun crested directly over Mt. Bierdstadt and quickly warmed up the morning.
I took care of a couple morning chores and took off down the South Fork Trail at 7:15am. I knew the trail would be decent until after the split-off for Square Top Lakes. Beyond that my recon told me to expect some cairn-to-cairn riding and I would not be disappointed:
South Fork Trail a couple miles after Guanella Pass Trailhead:
I've also been eye-balling the South Park Trail that leads from near the Guanella Pass summit to Red Cone Jeep trail over by Webster Pass for several years. A few years ago I actually climbed over Webster and drug my bike up higher over Red Cone Peak to grab SPT's western end to see how far I could take it. Turned out not too far as I missed a turn and dumped myself down into Bruno Gulch just a few short miles into the trail; decided to loop Burning Bear and back over Webster at that point. But I knew I'd be back.
This time I would catch it from the eastern end at the top of Guanella Pass.
July 24 - Argentine Pass to Guanella Pass:
Thursday after work I packed my gear and started riding a little after 8pm under the lights. There was no moon out and it promised to be a very dark night. And believe it or not, 13,200' Argentine Pass seemed to be the best way to loop this thing. I planned to ride over Argentine and then climb up to Guanella's summit for a bivy so I could attempt to navigate the SFT early morning and get back over Webster before any storms hit.
Silverthorne to Argentine Pass went a little faster than I expected. I was just over an hour to Peru Creek Rd and 2hr05min to the Argentine Trail HAB. I had descended this side, but never climbed it before, and I think I like it better from this side. It was so dark out that I could see nothing outside of my light beam, so I just put my head down and hiked. If I looked off to my left I just saw scary cliff dropoff to oblivion. As I neared the top I couldn't even see shadows or anything giving away the pass, so I was a little surprised when I crested after 3hr40min from the house. My crappy Garmin GPS watch always screws up elevation and had me thinking I had another 300 vert.
Just after midnight... the lights of Denver looked pretty cool, but cold wind and late night weirdness made me want to get down to Waldorf Mine at least before breaking. I know this area well during the day, but in the pitch black night I missed the easy railroad grade down and took a sketch-ball mining road a good ways before finally linking back in to Leavenworth Road. Late night has a way of making you doubt your route choices so I kept on pushing until I was safely back to Guanella Pass Road a little after 1am.
Still had a paved 2000' climb so I put on the tunes for that and slowly made my way up. Ate a bit up top and climbed in the bivy about 2:30am.
Argentine Pass to Guanella Pass
Despite being tired, I didn't sleep very well at that 11,700' elevation. Wasn't very long, but I stayed in the bag until the sun crested directly over Mt. Bierdstadt and quickly warmed up the morning.
I took care of a couple morning chores and took off down the South Fork Trail at 7:15am. I knew the trail would be decent until after the split-off for Square Top Lakes. Beyond that my recon told me to expect some cairn-to-cairn riding and I would not be disappointed:
South Fork Trail a couple miles after Guanella Pass Trailhead:
Fun adventure cycling for sure, but it would be awhile before I got back on a consistently rideable trail. The steep descent off this ridge to treeline was a hike, and would truly suck to hike up, so taking this section from Guanella summit is the way to go. I would never come back to climb this section.
Once in the trees, it mixed between great trail that got you smiling and chunky fall line walky stuff. A lot I would normally ride with friends, but back in there alone I was more cautious. I made it to Geneva Creek Road and a few miles beyond before I screwed up again, took a left down some good trail that spit me out in Bruno Gulch again... same place I wound up last time on the SFT but from the other side.
I knew how to get back this time though so I climbed Bruno Gulch back to the South Fork Trail. I missed the middle Kirby Gulch section, but it may have to remain unexplored... not bummed though because the wrong trail I took down to Bruno Gulch was the best and most continuous riding of the day.
SFT would end at Red Cone Jeep Trail & 11,750'. Some riding and lots of hiking.
Red Cone broke my heart. My map has a survey marking of 12,400' near Red Cone, but I somehow forgot about its true evil even though I have experienced it before.
Red Cone Peak is actually 12,801' and then you get to hike down at least 75% of the 700' descent to Webster Pass.
Here's a shot of Red Cone from 12,100' Webster Pass:
To this point I had covered around 15 miles on the day in a hair under 6 hours. Be ready for something similar if you ever decide to get some South Park Trail.
Got home about 2:30pm with a total of 77 miles and around 11,500' climbing.
July 26 - Silverthorne to Fraser Roundtrip:
Pleased to say I did not hike my bike even once today. I took a backroad, semi-dirt route to Fraser that turned out great..... decent climb but spread out over a lot of miles so I ended up with 85.5 miles and 6000' vert on the day in a solid time of 7hr15min. Legs felt better and better as I went along so perhaps we are getting ready for the CTR.
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
CTR Training
The Colorado Trail Race begins in eighteen short days on August 10th and I'm pleased to say that I've been training well and with good intensity. I'm going to continue the punishment for a few more days... probably up though Sunday, August 2nd, and then I'm gonna kick it back and rest until the start.
Here are a few highlights of the last couple months...
Comfortably Numb in Whistler:
I skipped the bike park and opted instead for the famous, infamous, and notorious Comfortably Numb Trail that snakes through the valley from north of Whistler and back into the Village. I rented a decent XC/Trail hybrid kinda bike and took off up the Sea to Sky Highway to find the trailhead and a loop back to my hotel.
Comfortably Numb was a technical MMA-like fight on the bike. I enjoy technical riding so I'm not complaining, but I had to be cautious and walk some of the more extreme sections. I loved the rocky, rooty, XC sections... there is nothing flowy or fast on that entire trail, but its fun if you like to try and limit your dabs.
I think it is supposed to be about fourteen miles from trailhead to trailhead, after an 8-mile highway ride to get there. I was getting my ass kicked, but perversely enjoining it all the way through my lunch spot on a knoll overlooking Whistler Village. Seriously, I was sitting on a rock looking down towards the Village and my hotel.
Alright, lunch down, about 3 miles to get out so I was feeling completely worked but happy. But the trail kept going.... and going.... until finally I wound up back at the Al Grey Memorial Bridge just a few miles from where I started that morning! Somehow I became completely turned around and didn't even notice I was riding back on the same trail I had come in from. I was out of water and totally bummed for screwing up the track, but thank goodness I could take Young Lust trail out to the highway rather than beating myself up on the first miles of Numb again.
That was my only planned ride day, but my wife could sense my angst at dinner over screwing it up.... she said... you should rent another bike tomorrow morning.... isn't there a way to finish that thing off???
Well, in fact there was... a climb from Whistler Village called Yummy Numby that would link right back in to near the spot I had gotten lost.
So the next morning I did. And I walked a ton of that hellacious final descent. But I did see the whole trail and it was amazing. Finished up with several miles on the beautiful Lost Lake trails before cruising back to the hotel a happy man.
Comfortably Numb / Young Lust
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/517837965
Yummy Numby / Comfortably Numb / Lost Lake:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/517837997
Bikepacking - Colorado Trail - Waterton Canyon to Kenosha Pass:
For my CTR prep, I've been very curious about how I can ride this first section, so I decided to break it off on a 2-day bikepack trip starting at 6am, just like the CTR.
I had two fellow travelers along but we made a pact that we were independent and responsible for ourselves, so while we started out riding together for a couple hours, we soon split off to enjoy our own pace and plan.
I intentionally took it very easy at the start. If I have some setback during the CTR, I don't want to be comparing myself to some all-out preride from months back. I discovered a broken spoke merely 5 miles into the singletrack and I started to panic for a second since I didn't have a spare. I considered riding back out and finding a shop, yada yada... until I remembered a wonderful thing about bikepacking.... I had plenty of food and full camping gear and a blank slate on my schedule for that weekend.... so if the bike broke then it broke and I would deal with that if I had too. Turns out the wheel held up and I soon forgot all about it.
Completed section 1 to the South Platte in 2hr30min.... railed that descent on my Yeti SB66c (not my CTR bike this year though) and was feeling good.
Section 2 to Buffalo Creek was nice. I was getting in my groove and reached the start of section 3 @ 5 hours even.
I think I was picking up the intensity through section 3 because I really wanted to know when I could reach the Stagestop Saloon to see if a hot meal and any kind of decent resupply was available. I hit Wellington Lake at about 7 hours, ate a big meal and continued on....
Reached the pavement at Tarryall Road at 11hr45min.... filtered water and pushed on....
And then finally, just a little more than 2 hours later I reached the Stagestop Saloon and ate a fat cheeseburger and wings. So that was a little before 8pm.... good news for sure. I left there about 8:45 with intentions of riding to Kenosha Pass, but a flat tire soon convinced me to make camp and chill. I'd learned what I wanted so no big deal... I figured I'd practice getting up before dawn and continue on.
Set the alarm for 3:45 am.... didn't get up until 4:40 and was riding at 5:00.
Riding time from Stagestop to Kenosha was 3 hours so I'm hoping I can duplicate that at least during the race to reach Kenosha by midnight on Day 1.
This ride was mid-June and the snowpack still had Georgia Pass on lockdown, so I took highway 285 west to Boreas Pass and used that to get home in Silverthorne about noon the next day. Total about 160ish miles (gps died) in about 30 total hours so I was very happy.
Waterton Canyon to Stagestop Saloon
Firecracker 50
I don't race a whole lot, but almost every year I suit up for the Firecracker 50-miler on the 4th of July in Breckenridge. My first year living in Colorado, this race took me way over 6 hours to finish. Then 3 years ago, after adapting to these mountains and training harder, I managed a 5hr09min which got me 9th place in 40 year old Sport Class. Then came last year and my horrific going-blind experience and another 6+ hour finish.
So I wasn't sure what to expect for this year. I knew I'd been training hard, but at age 42+ I'm not getting any younger for sure.
Yet I somehow managed a 4hr48min and 3rd place (Sport Class) podium finish. Its been a while since I got to stand up there!
Very happy! Its nice to know I'm getting faster with age. Just hope to keep the improvement going.
Bikepacking - Colorado Trail - Tenmile Range to Marshall Pass
Mid-July I did a 3-day bikepacking trip on the Colorado Trail. I had a company golf tournament in the morning so I couldn't start until 5pm on Friday with the intention of reaching Marshall Pass in the early afternoon on Sunday.
This was the July 12 full moon weekend and the key for reaching these goals was an all-night sleepless push on Friday night.
This trip started right off with the Tenmile Range. The weather had been pounding rain all day, but as I started my climb from Frisco (using the Peaks trail to access the CT) the skied let up and continued to be non-threatening the whole way to the top of the pass.... until I got a look over the other side!
Huge sheets of windy rain and sleet raking the mountain. I threw on my rain clothes, losing my sunglasses in the process, and made a mad dash down to Copper. I was freezing cold so I skipped the annoying golf course traverse and rode straight to Endos Restaurant in the Village. Still, I had budgeted 5 hours for the Tenmile crossing and I completed it in 3hr15min so I was happy. I know I will be slower in the CTR so hopefully 5 hours is realistic after all.
I spent about an hour and a half at Endos eating about 2000 calories and drying my gloves in the bathroom. Finally about 9:45pm I started my climb to Searle Pass.
As I mentioned, I skipped a mile or two from highway 191 to the Copper summer road, but I got to Searle about midnight under a spectacular full moon. I was feeling great; not tired at all so I continued on over to Elk Ridge and Kokomo Pass. As I made the alpine crossing I noticed the clouds closing back in and the rain soon began to fall. I was mentally bummed to miss out on a full-moon ride, but what can you do other than put on the rain gear and keep going.
It was dark, late, and details are hazy, but I think I reached Tennessee Pass at about 4:30am.... ate a bit, regouped, and arrived in Leadville at 6am for a breakfast burrito at the bakery there. Drank coffee and kept it moving...
I love the singletrack near Twin Lakes... I got a second wind and busted that out pretty quickly.... rolled in to Buena Vista about 1pm. Huge Chocolate shake, giant cheeseburger and corndog and it was finally time for a little sleep. I took a 2hr nap in the park and woke up rejuvenated and feeling great.
It was 4:45pm Saturday when I left Buena Vista with very obscure goals about how far I would get before camp. I could not remember much about the two sections between Buena Vista and Highway 50. I would soon learn that the first was relatively easy, but the second from Mt. Princeton Hot Springs to Highway 50 is an ass-kicking, rocky technical hike-a-bike for the most part.
Looking at my map... I planned to camp at Mt. Shavano Trailhead, but upon reaching there, all ground was saturated and wet. I couldn't find anything resembling a campsite. After consulting my databook and fighting back tears, I knew I had to continue on to Angel of Shavano Trailhead for a good nights sleep. Thank goodness it was almost completely downhill. I finally crawled in to my bivy at 1am Sunday morning. Blessed Sleep!
Dawn came quick and I had food and water chores to do so I wasn't riding again until 7:15am.
Still, I was highly motivated to finish. My wife was going to meet me at Marshall Pass and I didn't want her waiting on me.
Hit Highway 50 just after 8am and began my final huge climb up the Fooses Creek Trail. It was surprisingly rideable for several miles and then so steep that I doubt any human can ride it except perhaps Jefe. Last part was brutal for sure, but I got there by 11:00am..... skies getting scary so after a quick bite I beat it down to Marshall Pass and got there at 11:45 am.
Overall, pretty happy with that. My kinda arbitrary splits had me getting there about 2pm, so I guess I was early???
I suppose we will find out soon during the real deal, the 2014 Colorado Trail Race!
Here are a few highlights of the last couple months...
Comfortably Numb in Whistler:
I skipped the bike park and opted instead for the famous, infamous, and notorious Comfortably Numb Trail that snakes through the valley from north of Whistler and back into the Village. I rented a decent XC/Trail hybrid kinda bike and took off up the Sea to Sky Highway to find the trailhead and a loop back to my hotel.
Comfortably Numb was a technical MMA-like fight on the bike. I enjoy technical riding so I'm not complaining, but I had to be cautious and walk some of the more extreme sections. I loved the rocky, rooty, XC sections... there is nothing flowy or fast on that entire trail, but its fun if you like to try and limit your dabs.
I think it is supposed to be about fourteen miles from trailhead to trailhead, after an 8-mile highway ride to get there. I was getting my ass kicked, but perversely enjoining it all the way through my lunch spot on a knoll overlooking Whistler Village. Seriously, I was sitting on a rock looking down towards the Village and my hotel.
Alright, lunch down, about 3 miles to get out so I was feeling completely worked but happy. But the trail kept going.... and going.... until finally I wound up back at the Al Grey Memorial Bridge just a few miles from where I started that morning! Somehow I became completely turned around and didn't even notice I was riding back on the same trail I had come in from. I was out of water and totally bummed for screwing up the track, but thank goodness I could take Young Lust trail out to the highway rather than beating myself up on the first miles of Numb again.
That was my only planned ride day, but my wife could sense my angst at dinner over screwing it up.... she said... you should rent another bike tomorrow morning.... isn't there a way to finish that thing off???
Well, in fact there was... a climb from Whistler Village called Yummy Numby that would link right back in to near the spot I had gotten lost.
So the next morning I did. And I walked a ton of that hellacious final descent. But I did see the whole trail and it was amazing. Finished up with several miles on the beautiful Lost Lake trails before cruising back to the hotel a happy man.
Comfortably Numb / Young Lust
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/517837965
Yummy Numby / Comfortably Numb / Lost Lake:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/517837997
Bikepacking - Colorado Trail - Waterton Canyon to Kenosha Pass:
For my CTR prep, I've been very curious about how I can ride this first section, so I decided to break it off on a 2-day bikepack trip starting at 6am, just like the CTR.
I had two fellow travelers along but we made a pact that we were independent and responsible for ourselves, so while we started out riding together for a couple hours, we soon split off to enjoy our own pace and plan.
I intentionally took it very easy at the start. If I have some setback during the CTR, I don't want to be comparing myself to some all-out preride from months back. I discovered a broken spoke merely 5 miles into the singletrack and I started to panic for a second since I didn't have a spare. I considered riding back out and finding a shop, yada yada... until I remembered a wonderful thing about bikepacking.... I had plenty of food and full camping gear and a blank slate on my schedule for that weekend.... so if the bike broke then it broke and I would deal with that if I had too. Turns out the wheel held up and I soon forgot all about it.
Completed section 1 to the South Platte in 2hr30min.... railed that descent on my Yeti SB66c (not my CTR bike this year though) and was feeling good.
Section 2 to Buffalo Creek was nice. I was getting in my groove and reached the start of section 3 @ 5 hours even.
I think I was picking up the intensity through section 3 because I really wanted to know when I could reach the Stagestop Saloon to see if a hot meal and any kind of decent resupply was available. I hit Wellington Lake at about 7 hours, ate a big meal and continued on....
Reached the pavement at Tarryall Road at 11hr45min.... filtered water and pushed on....
And then finally, just a little more than 2 hours later I reached the Stagestop Saloon and ate a fat cheeseburger and wings. So that was a little before 8pm.... good news for sure. I left there about 8:45 with intentions of riding to Kenosha Pass, but a flat tire soon convinced me to make camp and chill. I'd learned what I wanted so no big deal... I figured I'd practice getting up before dawn and continue on.
Set the alarm for 3:45 am.... didn't get up until 4:40 and was riding at 5:00.
Riding time from Stagestop to Kenosha was 3 hours so I'm hoping I can duplicate that at least during the race to reach Kenosha by midnight on Day 1.
This ride was mid-June and the snowpack still had Georgia Pass on lockdown, so I took highway 285 west to Boreas Pass and used that to get home in Silverthorne about noon the next day. Total about 160ish miles (gps died) in about 30 total hours so I was very happy.
Waterton Canyon to Stagestop Saloon
Firecracker 50
I don't race a whole lot, but almost every year I suit up for the Firecracker 50-miler on the 4th of July in Breckenridge. My first year living in Colorado, this race took me way over 6 hours to finish. Then 3 years ago, after adapting to these mountains and training harder, I managed a 5hr09min which got me 9th place in 40 year old Sport Class. Then came last year and my horrific going-blind experience and another 6+ hour finish.
So I wasn't sure what to expect for this year. I knew I'd been training hard, but at age 42+ I'm not getting any younger for sure.
Yet I somehow managed a 4hr48min and 3rd place (Sport Class) podium finish. Its been a while since I got to stand up there!
Very happy! Its nice to know I'm getting faster with age. Just hope to keep the improvement going.
Bikepacking - Colorado Trail - Tenmile Range to Marshall Pass
Mid-July I did a 3-day bikepacking trip on the Colorado Trail. I had a company golf tournament in the morning so I couldn't start until 5pm on Friday with the intention of reaching Marshall Pass in the early afternoon on Sunday.
This was the July 12 full moon weekend and the key for reaching these goals was an all-night sleepless push on Friday night.
This trip started right off with the Tenmile Range. The weather had been pounding rain all day, but as I started my climb from Frisco (using the Peaks trail to access the CT) the skied let up and continued to be non-threatening the whole way to the top of the pass.... until I got a look over the other side!
Huge sheets of windy rain and sleet raking the mountain. I threw on my rain clothes, losing my sunglasses in the process, and made a mad dash down to Copper. I was freezing cold so I skipped the annoying golf course traverse and rode straight to Endos Restaurant in the Village. Still, I had budgeted 5 hours for the Tenmile crossing and I completed it in 3hr15min so I was happy. I know I will be slower in the CTR so hopefully 5 hours is realistic after all.
I spent about an hour and a half at Endos eating about 2000 calories and drying my gloves in the bathroom. Finally about 9:45pm I started my climb to Searle Pass.
As I mentioned, I skipped a mile or two from highway 191 to the Copper summer road, but I got to Searle about midnight under a spectacular full moon. I was feeling great; not tired at all so I continued on over to Elk Ridge and Kokomo Pass. As I made the alpine crossing I noticed the clouds closing back in and the rain soon began to fall. I was mentally bummed to miss out on a full-moon ride, but what can you do other than put on the rain gear and keep going.
It was dark, late, and details are hazy, but I think I reached Tennessee Pass at about 4:30am.... ate a bit, regouped, and arrived in Leadville at 6am for a breakfast burrito at the bakery there. Drank coffee and kept it moving...
I love the singletrack near Twin Lakes... I got a second wind and busted that out pretty quickly.... rolled in to Buena Vista about 1pm. Huge Chocolate shake, giant cheeseburger and corndog and it was finally time for a little sleep. I took a 2hr nap in the park and woke up rejuvenated and feeling great.
It was 4:45pm Saturday when I left Buena Vista with very obscure goals about how far I would get before camp. I could not remember much about the two sections between Buena Vista and Highway 50. I would soon learn that the first was relatively easy, but the second from Mt. Princeton Hot Springs to Highway 50 is an ass-kicking, rocky technical hike-a-bike for the most part.
Looking at my map... I planned to camp at Mt. Shavano Trailhead, but upon reaching there, all ground was saturated and wet. I couldn't find anything resembling a campsite. After consulting my databook and fighting back tears, I knew I had to continue on to Angel of Shavano Trailhead for a good nights sleep. Thank goodness it was almost completely downhill. I finally crawled in to my bivy at 1am Sunday morning. Blessed Sleep!
Dawn came quick and I had food and water chores to do so I wasn't riding again until 7:15am.
Still, I was highly motivated to finish. My wife was going to meet me at Marshall Pass and I didn't want her waiting on me.
Hit Highway 50 just after 8am and began my final huge climb up the Fooses Creek Trail. It was surprisingly rideable for several miles and then so steep that I doubt any human can ride it except perhaps Jefe. Last part was brutal for sure, but I got there by 11:00am..... skies getting scary so after a quick bite I beat it down to Marshall Pass and got there at 11:45 am.
Overall, pretty happy with that. My kinda arbitrary splits had me getting there about 2pm, so I guess I was early???
I suppose we will find out soon during the real deal, the 2014 Colorado Trail Race!
Catching up on Life
Well, its been a good while since my last post, and a lot of cool stuff has gone down.
First and foremost, I got married to my longtime sweetheart on June 3rd. The State of Colorado is kind enough to allow consenting adults to handle that all on your own, so that's what we did. We celebrated with a fun trip to Vancouver and Whistler and here is a pic of the beautiful couple on honeymoon...
We've kept a pretty good pace of Random Adventures since we returned. Lots of local hiking and biking, but here's a quick recap of some of the more memorable escapades...
Ski & Ride Quandary Peak 14-teener:
Both of us had climbed Quandary before and I had skied it once, but Talai had not snowboarded it yet, so we decided that would be a fun goal. We needed the snow to soften up before the descent, and we figured that to be around 11am, so we kicked off the hike around 7am. We did a combination of hiking, skinning, and bootpacking and reached the summit about 10:30.... right on time...
A couple shots of the ascent:
The Chinese Wall Trail...
Finishing up on the Devil's Causeway...
First and foremost, I got married to my longtime sweetheart on June 3rd. The State of Colorado is kind enough to allow consenting adults to handle that all on your own, so that's what we did. We celebrated with a fun trip to Vancouver and Whistler and here is a pic of the beautiful couple on honeymoon...
We've kept a pretty good pace of Random Adventures since we returned. Lots of local hiking and biking, but here's a quick recap of some of the more memorable escapades...
Ski & Ride Quandary Peak 14-teener:
Both of us had climbed Quandary before and I had skied it once, but Talai had not snowboarded it yet, so we decided that would be a fun goal. We needed the snow to soften up before the descent, and we figured that to be around 11am, so we kicked off the hike around 7am. We did a combination of hiking, skinning, and bootpacking and reached the summit about 10:30.... right on time...
A couple shots of the ascent:
The descent was perfect, slushy, hero corn snow, but we were having too much fun to take any pictures. There was one lady so amazed that we would drag our equipment up there that she insisted on taking a summit pic so we obliged:
Slacker Relay - 3rd Place Baby!
Late June we teamed up with our buddy Mike for a half-marathon relay race from Loveland Ski Area down to Georgetown. As the name implies, there was nothing terribly difficult about the race, but it was fun to bring home a little hardware for our efforts!
Later that day Talai and I booked down to Creede and got a room before an early morning climb of San Luis Peak. San Luis was a beautiful hike along a section of the Colorado Trail that I'd never seen since its located inside the La Garita Wilderness and bikes aren't allowed in there. Its one of the easiest 14-teeners, but it was the first this season for both of us so we considered it a nice warmup for future adventures. I'm not sure of the exact figures, but this was over thirty 14-teener summits for both of us:
Finally, just this past weekend we did a spectacular 2-day, 23-mile backpack trip through the Flat Tops Wilderness. On day 1 we hiked over the pass near the Devils Causeway but continued on the East Fork Trail to pass a great number of gorgeous lakes before finally settling on a campsite at West Lost Lake.
While day 1 was a foresty lake and creek hike, day 2 spent virtually the entire day above 11,500' in the alpine tundra. I have no words to express the beauty on this hike, so I would only suggest that you do it yourself if you have the chance. The wildflowers were just amazing.... take Deat though, because so were the mosquitos...
Some pics:
Max relaxing after a long hike to camp...
The Chinese Wall Trail...
Finishing up on the Devil's Causeway...
What else can I say... its been one hell of a summer so far!
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