After reflecting on my failed CTR I guess I have a few thoughts.
I must move to flat pedals and I need to install a much easier gear for slow-pedal spinning even if that is contrary to my usual riding/climbing style. I don't think my achilles are going to hold up any other way.
But mainly I've thought a lot about whether I should/could have continued on. My achilles hurt like hell in 2013, but I was halfway across Cataract/Coney and I didn't really have any choice but to keep fighting through it. Through that I discovered that after crunching through the pain each time I resumed hiking or riding, the pain would ease up and eventually I was able to cope with it.
Last year my achilles blew up into intense pain right as I rode the final stretch into Buena Vista. Maybe I could have persevered like the year before, but I could not convince myself to leave the comforts of civilization to face the very hard trek to Silverton. I convinced myself that the pain was much worse this year, but now I'm not so sure.
After finishing in 2013 it took a month of recovery before I could ride or hike again. I was severely hobbled for 3 days this year, but I was able to recover much quicker and was back on to fairly big adventures about 5 days after dropping out.
My situation calls to mind an important point that Mark Caminiti has repeatedly made about the necessary ingredients for CTR success, specifically his point #6 below regarding injury:
6. Injury. What happens when you have body issues? The will to continue the journey when dealing with pain is very important for all racers, not just fast ones. I had to deal with intense pain in 2012 in AZT and CTR. I ended up taking one aspirin in 25 days though I dealt with a heel/achilles injury in Arizona and a stress fracture in the lower leg in CTR. Do you have that drive to succeed? Even if it means your elapsed time sucks in comparison to others or your goal? Many folks quit because their final time would be not good enough or they cant break a record, etc.
People have correctly remarked that it was a slower field in the 2014, but personally I was having a great race. Aside from my achilles I felt fantastic mentally and in every other way. So I admit that knowing I would have to watch everyone I had been racing near ride away from me if I continued was another tough mental challenge to face.
I'm married this year and was feeling guilty about the possibility of ruining myself for months after the race when my wife had already made big sacrifices leading up so I could train so much.
Live and learn.... as I've said, I had a great time even if quitting leaves a very sour taste in my mouth.
But there was also a silver lining. My wife found out she was pregnant the day after I dropped out! So I am very glad that I was there to share and support her as she found out that great news. We are going to have a little baby girl sometime around April 1.
So there will be no bikepacking races for me in 2015, although I'd love to do some 1 or 2 nighters at a decent pace with any good folks training for the CTR or whatever else this summer.
As for me, I've picked out a few 1-day marathon races to focus on. I've built up a very nice endurance base these last couple years as I've been laser-focused on the CTR. I hoping to throw in a little speed training, interval-type stuff for the first time in my life to see if I can get sorta fast.
So I registered for the full Gunnison Growler in May, and then I hope to peak for the Firecracker 50 and Breck 100 in July.
Usually I get lazy and fat every November/December, but I have been training hard so I'm feeling great right now. Hoping to be in great shape when the baby comes and my sleep get cut way back.
I'm not done with bikepack races by a long shot though. I know I'll be back for the CTR again someday because there is nothing in the world that can satisfy my thirst for adventure like that thing can. Hopefully I will come back stronger, but mostly wiser.
Saturday, December 13, 2014
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
CTR Fail!
Spoiler Alert:
Had to bail in Buena Vista with Achilles pain that I was not tough enough to fight through this time. It was a disappointing result, but considering how much fun I had out there, I've mostly managed to get the sour taste out of my mouth already.
The toughest part of the decision was how quickly things went south on me. I was feeling good while filtering my last batch of water before exiting the singletrack and riding the wilderness detour to Buena Vista. But when I got back on the bike I noticed a little something different going on with my right ankle. I tried to deny it, block it out, and pedal on in to BV, but it quickly got much worse. I had to dismount twice around the railroad tunnels to try and get some relief, and by the time I finally rolled into town it was in severe pain.
So it was difficult to face those facts. I went ahead and bought my $50 of food for the trip to Silverton, and purchased a better water filter, thinking that if I completed these chores, then my Achilles would get back on the program and I could keep going.
I took an unhealthy amount of ibuprofen, taped it up, and tried to ride out of town twice, but it just wasn't happening.
So I made the call to drop. Maybe I could have fought through it, or maybe not, but having finished the race the year before, perhaps I just didn't have the will to deal with the pain.
So that is the end if the story, but what I actually remember from my 2+ days is the kickass fun I had out there.
It was a very different experience than 2013 when I had a slow start and spent most of my days on the trail solo and alone with my thoughts. This time I rode within a group of about five other guys and we just traded spots depending on who needed to filter water or eat and whatever time it was. It actually felt like a bike race.
So here's a recap of my too-brief time on the trail:
Day 1 - Waterton Canyon to a few miles past Kenosha Pass - 124 miles:
It was a smaller group than usual this year, with quite a few CTR regulars sitting out. Stefan said a few words and we all took off in a big group and chatted away during the six road miles leading to the singletrack. I got a chance to talk with Mark Caminiti and hear some about his Tour Divide run.
Once we hit the singletrack I just tried to climb at whatever speed would allow me to stay on the bike without spiking my heart rate.
Last year I lost my camera on day 2; well, this year I managed to lose it within the first two hours. However, I got lucky when I met Garrett Alexander for the first time and he was kind enough to pick it up for me. Garrett is one in the group that I would try to stick with for the next couple days. I cinched my stem bag tight and tried to refocus on keeping the rest of my gear along for the whole ride this time.
The storms were brewing as I crested mini Stony Pass, but I managed to mostly dodge the rain and lightning for about two hours until it started dumping on me at Goose Creek Campground. Heavy cold rain continued solid for the next two hours turning the road into a muddy mess, but it finally let up just as I reached the pavement at Tarryall Road. I noticed a bike leaning on the bridge guardrail, so I called out under the bridge so see if there was room for me to hide there as well and that's how I met Bryan Klahn for the first time. We shivered and bitched about the rain for a few minutes and then Bryan took off while I ate. But Bryan is another rider I would trade places with until he finally rode away from me out of Leadville.
About five miles from the Stagestop Saloon I ran out of water and bonked about as hard as I ever have in my life. I was numb and shaking when I crawled in, but I went straight for the gatorade cooler, ate an ice cream sandwich and a stack of oreos and recovered enough to go into the restaurant. Kept on eating.... cheeseburger, chips, pizza, and got back on my way at 8:30pm.
I hit Kenosha Pass at 11:15pm and decided to keep going as long as my progress was somewhat productive. Got about five miles, almost to Jefferson Creek Road before I started swerving off the trail and it was time to sleep. Climbed in to the bivy at 12:30am after 124 miles and an 18.5 hour push on day 1.
Day 2 - Sixty Six Miles of Singletrack to Tennessee Pass
I set my alarm for 4:30am, but of course I did not get up right away. Then I heard one rider go by... and then another... and so I pulled myself up and was riding again by 5:30am for the 2000' climb to Georgia Pass.
Enjoyed the climb, settling in to the CTR rhythm... gained the pass and met Aaron Boatman up there. I knew the Breck Epic would join the Colorado Trail at the bottom of the descent so I kept pushing in hopes of staying out of that traffic and I just barely managed to do so. I did get to watch the top 3 Pros blast through
the turnoff on Red's trail so that was cool.... took my one and only picture at that spot... CTR meets Breck Epic:
Weather turned out to be great this day, but I was still hustling to get over Tenmile just in case. I know lots of people hate Tenmile, but living here, I've done this climb or some other close variation tons of times and I guess I've gotten used to it. I just kept thinking about what I wanted to eat @ Copper and that pulled me along the trail.
Large Nachos and ice cream for dinner...... best part of the CTR is the gluttonous food you get to eat. We had a full-on dinner party @ Copper.... myself, Aaron, Bryan, Garrett, Josiah Morgan, and two other riders all ate and pulled out of town together around 5:30pm.
The climb up and over Searle & Kokomo Passes, down to Camp Hale, and back up to Tennessee Pass was possibly the best I felt during the entire race. Just a spectacular feeling when you are riding like that. I even entertained ideas of pushing into oblivion, but I settled for another bivy at Tennessee Pass @ midnight. Another 18.5 hours on the trail.
Day 3 - Tennessee Pass to Quit-town:
Aaron and I had crashed together and we got rolling at 5am, getting into Leadville for a breakfast burrito at 6. Aaron had some blister maintenance to do, but I was still feeling pretty good. No ailments to speak of at all really... I felt confident about keeping this 6-day pace up.
Once again I ran into Bryan and Garrett at the Loaf and Jug and along with Aaron, we all made our ride out of town together about 7am.
Still was making solid time around Twin Lakes where I took my first food break, but was soon pushing again with BV on the mind.
Aaron and I filtered water about 5 miles from Clear Creek Road and he asked me what physical issues I was dealing with.... I responded that I was pleasantly surprised that nothing was really bothering me yet..... but then I got back on the bike and the Achilles started jacking with me immediately. But I've already hashed out those sad facts.
Limped in to BV, made a feeble effort to convince myself to go on, and then I quit.
So that is my CTR 2014 story.... I have a few other themes I may delve into over time..... like how can I solve this Achilles thing? Which direction do I find tougher? How did the psychology of knowing I had already finished before contribute to my decision to quit?
Can I keep doing these bikepack races or is it just too much for my body?
Will I do the CTR again?
Sure would like to try CSTR some day too.... And the Moab Mountain Mashup..... Dixie 200????? Cococino???
Touring these route? Maybe kicking back, enjoying the towns and the associated beer?
I'll try to get down to the bottom of all this before CTR 2015 rolls around.
Had to bail in Buena Vista with Achilles pain that I was not tough enough to fight through this time. It was a disappointing result, but considering how much fun I had out there, I've mostly managed to get the sour taste out of my mouth already.
The toughest part of the decision was how quickly things went south on me. I was feeling good while filtering my last batch of water before exiting the singletrack and riding the wilderness detour to Buena Vista. But when I got back on the bike I noticed a little something different going on with my right ankle. I tried to deny it, block it out, and pedal on in to BV, but it quickly got much worse. I had to dismount twice around the railroad tunnels to try and get some relief, and by the time I finally rolled into town it was in severe pain.
So it was difficult to face those facts. I went ahead and bought my $50 of food for the trip to Silverton, and purchased a better water filter, thinking that if I completed these chores, then my Achilles would get back on the program and I could keep going.
I took an unhealthy amount of ibuprofen, taped it up, and tried to ride out of town twice, but it just wasn't happening.
So I made the call to drop. Maybe I could have fought through it, or maybe not, but having finished the race the year before, perhaps I just didn't have the will to deal with the pain.
So that is the end if the story, but what I actually remember from my 2+ days is the kickass fun I had out there.
It was a very different experience than 2013 when I had a slow start and spent most of my days on the trail solo and alone with my thoughts. This time I rode within a group of about five other guys and we just traded spots depending on who needed to filter water or eat and whatever time it was. It actually felt like a bike race.
So here's a recap of my too-brief time on the trail:
Day 1 - Waterton Canyon to a few miles past Kenosha Pass - 124 miles:
It was a smaller group than usual this year, with quite a few CTR regulars sitting out. Stefan said a few words and we all took off in a big group and chatted away during the six road miles leading to the singletrack. I got a chance to talk with Mark Caminiti and hear some about his Tour Divide run.
Once we hit the singletrack I just tried to climb at whatever speed would allow me to stay on the bike without spiking my heart rate.
Last year I lost my camera on day 2; well, this year I managed to lose it within the first two hours. However, I got lucky when I met Garrett Alexander for the first time and he was kind enough to pick it up for me. Garrett is one in the group that I would try to stick with for the next couple days. I cinched my stem bag tight and tried to refocus on keeping the rest of my gear along for the whole ride this time.
The storms were brewing as I crested mini Stony Pass, but I managed to mostly dodge the rain and lightning for about two hours until it started dumping on me at Goose Creek Campground. Heavy cold rain continued solid for the next two hours turning the road into a muddy mess, but it finally let up just as I reached the pavement at Tarryall Road. I noticed a bike leaning on the bridge guardrail, so I called out under the bridge so see if there was room for me to hide there as well and that's how I met Bryan Klahn for the first time. We shivered and bitched about the rain for a few minutes and then Bryan took off while I ate. But Bryan is another rider I would trade places with until he finally rode away from me out of Leadville.
About five miles from the Stagestop Saloon I ran out of water and bonked about as hard as I ever have in my life. I was numb and shaking when I crawled in, but I went straight for the gatorade cooler, ate an ice cream sandwich and a stack of oreos and recovered enough to go into the restaurant. Kept on eating.... cheeseburger, chips, pizza, and got back on my way at 8:30pm.
I hit Kenosha Pass at 11:15pm and decided to keep going as long as my progress was somewhat productive. Got about five miles, almost to Jefferson Creek Road before I started swerving off the trail and it was time to sleep. Climbed in to the bivy at 12:30am after 124 miles and an 18.5 hour push on day 1.
Day 2 - Sixty Six Miles of Singletrack to Tennessee Pass
I set my alarm for 4:30am, but of course I did not get up right away. Then I heard one rider go by... and then another... and so I pulled myself up and was riding again by 5:30am for the 2000' climb to Georgia Pass.
Enjoyed the climb, settling in to the CTR rhythm... gained the pass and met Aaron Boatman up there. I knew the Breck Epic would join the Colorado Trail at the bottom of the descent so I kept pushing in hopes of staying out of that traffic and I just barely managed to do so. I did get to watch the top 3 Pros blast through
the turnoff on Red's trail so that was cool.... took my one and only picture at that spot... CTR meets Breck Epic:
Weather turned out to be great this day, but I was still hustling to get over Tenmile just in case. I know lots of people hate Tenmile, but living here, I've done this climb or some other close variation tons of times and I guess I've gotten used to it. I just kept thinking about what I wanted to eat @ Copper and that pulled me along the trail.
Large Nachos and ice cream for dinner...... best part of the CTR is the gluttonous food you get to eat. We had a full-on dinner party @ Copper.... myself, Aaron, Bryan, Garrett, Josiah Morgan, and two other riders all ate and pulled out of town together around 5:30pm.
The climb up and over Searle & Kokomo Passes, down to Camp Hale, and back up to Tennessee Pass was possibly the best I felt during the entire race. Just a spectacular feeling when you are riding like that. I even entertained ideas of pushing into oblivion, but I settled for another bivy at Tennessee Pass @ midnight. Another 18.5 hours on the trail.
Day 3 - Tennessee Pass to Quit-town:
Aaron and I had crashed together and we got rolling at 5am, getting into Leadville for a breakfast burrito at 6. Aaron had some blister maintenance to do, but I was still feeling pretty good. No ailments to speak of at all really... I felt confident about keeping this 6-day pace up.
Once again I ran into Bryan and Garrett at the Loaf and Jug and along with Aaron, we all made our ride out of town together about 7am.
Still was making solid time around Twin Lakes where I took my first food break, but was soon pushing again with BV on the mind.
Aaron and I filtered water about 5 miles from Clear Creek Road and he asked me what physical issues I was dealing with.... I responded that I was pleasantly surprised that nothing was really bothering me yet..... but then I got back on the bike and the Achilles started jacking with me immediately. But I've already hashed out those sad facts.
Limped in to BV, made a feeble effort to convince myself to go on, and then I quit.
So that is my CTR 2014 story.... I have a few other themes I may delve into over time..... like how can I solve this Achilles thing? Which direction do I find tougher? How did the psychology of knowing I had already finished before contribute to my decision to quit?
Can I keep doing these bikepack races or is it just too much for my body?
Will I do the CTR again?
Sure would like to try CSTR some day too.... And the Moab Mountain Mashup..... Dixie 200????? Cococino???
Touring these route? Maybe kicking back, enjoying the towns and the associated beer?
I'll try to get down to the bottom of all this before CTR 2015 rolls around.
Thursday, July 31, 2014
Mindset Pre-CTR
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.
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.
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!
Thursday, June 12, 2014
Halls Creek Narrows - Capitol Reef National Park
Back in May I got to do a spectacular backpack trip to the Halls Creek Narrows in Capitol Reef National Park. These Narrows are three miles long and are touted as the best in Capitol Reef. The trailhead is about 50 miles from the visitor's center so it is a fairly remote route too.
I'd seen some pictures, but had never done a canyon / narrows type hike before so I was unsure what to expect. It turned out to be a spectacular trip that has gotten me excited about more backpacking desert adventures in the future.
Here are some pics and a few more details about the hike.
The trail starts at Halls Creek Overlook which is situated off the Notom/Bullfrog road. From the overlook you can get a decent shot of the double arch called the Brimhall Arch.
Brimhall Arch:
From the Arch you begin an 800' descent down the steep trail to begin your hike in the normally-dry Halls Creek:
We got out and back to our camp about 1pm and noticed a disturbing dark horizon and the sky began to spit an occasional raindrop here and there. After a short nap things looked even worse so we decided to hike back out to the truck that evening rather than camp a second night as we had originally planned.
I didn't want to tempt fate in a flood zone, and the thought of hiking back outside the river bank if it was running was not a good one, so we hustled out and got back to truck about 8pm.
..... only to find the battery dead and the trailhead deserted.
We had plenty of supplies so we just ate dinner and climbed back into the camper for some sleep in hopes that someone would arrive in the morning to give us a jump...... and then the rains and snow came in overnight.... turning the bentonite clay roads to mush and making the trailhead and access roads completely inaccessible.
Here is how it looked that day over the Waterpocket Fold:
Without any other options, I loaded up the hydration pack and set off for a 20-something mile run to Bullfrog Marina at Lake Powell. I hoped I'd thump a ride, but I did not see a single vehicle until I reached Highway 276 after exactly 20 miles on the run.
When I discovered Bullfrog was still 6 more miles away, I knew it was time for some hitchhiking; luckily my soggy butt was picked up by our guardian angel almost immediately. When this man (a maintenance worker at the marina) discovered that there was a damsel in distress back at the trailhead, he sprung into action and would not rest until we were totally out of that jam. All my love to Leon!
What a trip. I highly recommend the Halls Creek Narrows for a mind-blowing experience!
I'd seen some pictures, but had never done a canyon / narrows type hike before so I was unsure what to expect. It turned out to be a spectacular trip that has gotten me excited about more backpacking desert adventures in the future.
Here are some pics and a few more details about the hike.
The trail starts at Halls Creek Overlook which is situated off the Notom/Bullfrog road. From the overlook you can get a decent shot of the double arch called the Brimhall Arch.
Brimhall Arch:
From the Arch you begin an 800' descent down the steep trail to begin your hike in the normally-dry Halls Creek:
There are numerous cut-off trails that can shorten the meanders, but some recent pack horses had torn the sand up and we usually found it easier to just remain in the creekbed for the best route. As a result, a supposed 9-mile hike to the Narrows turned into about 10.5 miles.
Here is our first shot of the upstream entry to the Narrows. Our awesome camp was in that little patch of trees, but I would not recommend that if there is the slightest hint of rain in the forecast.
Our first evening we just explored this end of the Narrows as we were saving the big exploration for the next morning.
You can hike the narrows in a several different ways, but we decided to first hike over Halls Divide to the downstream entry to the canyon and then hike back upstream through the Narrows so that we would be right back at our camp when we finished.
The flowers were amazing and I just had to stop and take a whiff:
After hiking a couple miles over Halls Divide, we got a great overhead look at the entry we would use to access the Narrows:
The desert varnish on the thousand foot walls was beautiful!
I'd say you had to walk in the creek about half the time, but mostly it was just ankle or shin deep. There were a few deeper pools that could reach your waist though:
As well as a few narrow slots where you could reach out and touch both walls!
Only one pool required me to take off the backpack this time, but I've heard there are times when a little swimming could even be required.
We took our sweet time and spent over three hours to cover the three miles through the Narrows. I had my neck craned up about the whole time, speechless over this amazing place.
Towards the end we came to this gigantic undercut bank that the floods had chiseled out:
I didn't want to tempt fate in a flood zone, and the thought of hiking back outside the river bank if it was running was not a good one, so we hustled out and got back to truck about 8pm.
..... only to find the battery dead and the trailhead deserted.
We had plenty of supplies so we just ate dinner and climbed back into the camper for some sleep in hopes that someone would arrive in the morning to give us a jump...... and then the rains and snow came in overnight.... turning the bentonite clay roads to mush and making the trailhead and access roads completely inaccessible.
Here is how it looked that day over the Waterpocket Fold:
Without any other options, I loaded up the hydration pack and set off for a 20-something mile run to Bullfrog Marina at Lake Powell. I hoped I'd thump a ride, but I did not see a single vehicle until I reached Highway 276 after exactly 20 miles on the run.
When I discovered Bullfrog was still 6 more miles away, I knew it was time for some hitchhiking; luckily my soggy butt was picked up by our guardian angel almost immediately. When this man (a maintenance worker at the marina) discovered that there was a damsel in distress back at the trailhead, he sprung into action and would not rest until we were totally out of that jam. All my love to Leon!
What a trip. I highly recommend the Halls Creek Narrows for a mind-blowing experience!
Monday, June 2, 2014
May 2014 Training Wrap
Great Month, I put up some fairly big totals for me anyways.
Highlights...
Sweet backpack trip in Capitol Reef National Park ending with an unplanned 20-mile run to get help @ Lake Powell after my battery died in the backcountry and was inaccessible due to muddy roads. Trip to St. George / Hurricane, Utah to MTB Gooseberry Mesa, Hurricane Rim, and several other trails. Hiked Angels Landing in Zion NP one morning. First MTB ride in Eagle. First ride @ Hartman Rocks in Gunnison. Several big rides on the roads and rec path around Summit County to get some good miles in. Even hit the weights in the gym 4 times in the last 10 days. Several good days running to keep the soreness worked out.
Totals...
Hit 27 total days with a workout... 111.5 miles on feet, running, hiking, backpacking... 475 miles on the bike (330 on road, 145 MTB)... 50,600' climbing vert from all sources.... 81.5 hours
Got my weight down from 168 to below 163 during the month, so that was solid too. I might have a little trouble getting to my goal weight of 157.5 by the end of the Fat Cyclist Weight Loss Contest on June 21, but I'm not concerned.
I've dropped about 25 pounds since February 6th, so I'm extremely happy with that. I'll get these last few stubborn pounds off slowly as I need to fuel myself for some of these big rides I've been doing.
Goals and Cool Stuff for June???
I've penciled-in Friday June 20 for a Waterton Canyon to Frisco bike-packing dry run on the Colorado Trail. I'm anxious to see if I can reach the Stagestop Saloon in Park County in time to get a hot meal and resupply for the CTR.
Headed to Vancouver and Whistler and expect to ride the Comfortable Numb trail next Saturday.
May try to ski Quandary peak on the 11-13 weekend somewhere.
Its been warm lately, so perhaps the high trails will melt out soon and we can start doing some killer rides around home.
Highlights...
Sweet backpack trip in Capitol Reef National Park ending with an unplanned 20-mile run to get help @ Lake Powell after my battery died in the backcountry and was inaccessible due to muddy roads. Trip to St. George / Hurricane, Utah to MTB Gooseberry Mesa, Hurricane Rim, and several other trails. Hiked Angels Landing in Zion NP one morning. First MTB ride in Eagle. First ride @ Hartman Rocks in Gunnison. Several big rides on the roads and rec path around Summit County to get some good miles in. Even hit the weights in the gym 4 times in the last 10 days. Several good days running to keep the soreness worked out.
Totals...
Hit 27 total days with a workout... 111.5 miles on feet, running, hiking, backpacking... 475 miles on the bike (330 on road, 145 MTB)... 50,600' climbing vert from all sources.... 81.5 hours
Got my weight down from 168 to below 163 during the month, so that was solid too. I might have a little trouble getting to my goal weight of 157.5 by the end of the Fat Cyclist Weight Loss Contest on June 21, but I'm not concerned.
I've dropped about 25 pounds since February 6th, so I'm extremely happy with that. I'll get these last few stubborn pounds off slowly as I need to fuel myself for some of these big rides I've been doing.
Goals and Cool Stuff for June???
I've penciled-in Friday June 20 for a Waterton Canyon to Frisco bike-packing dry run on the Colorado Trail. I'm anxious to see if I can reach the Stagestop Saloon in Park County in time to get a hot meal and resupply for the CTR.
Headed to Vancouver and Whistler and expect to ride the Comfortable Numb trail next Saturday.
May try to ski Quandary peak on the 11-13 weekend somewhere.
Its been warm lately, so perhaps the high trails will melt out soon and we can start doing some killer rides around home.
Sunday, May 4, 2014
April 2014 Training Wrap
Had some ups and downs this month. Overall a solid month of training, but I had a stupid bike crash in Fruita on the 15th which bruised my ribs and forced me to dial back the intensity quite a bit for the last two weeks to allow them to heal.
Some highlights... won the Propinquity skinning race and set a PR... rode the Red Fleet trails in Vernal.... hiked the McKonkie Ranch Petroglyph trail..... rode the short version of the Holy Grail (Western Rim & Zion Curtain) in Fruita... and hit the Palisade Rim for the first time.
Totals:
25 total days with some kind of workout.
12 days skinning.
6 days on the bike
2 days jogging
80.5 miles on the feet skinning, hiking, and jogging.
114.75 miles on the bike
38,650' vert climbing so I missed my 50,000' goal, but that's all because the bruised ribs.
45 total hours of workouts.
Some solid mountain biking in Fruita, Vernal, Palisade, and decent climb through Montezuma on the rec path.
Weight only dropped from 171 to 168 so I have some work to do to reach my goal of 157.5 by June 21. I've had a good start to May and saw a 164.8 reading yesterday so hopefully I'm gaining some ground on that.
1st four days of May have been good with 3 days skinning and a 43.5 mile ride through Breck to Boreas Pass road until blocked by snow @ the Bakers Tank TH.
Today is closing day at Loveland so I need to try and weather the next few days of party season without blowing my diet too bad.
Goals for May.... lots of bike miles. I have a backpack trip in Capitol Reef National Park next week and then a scheduled trip to Gooseberry Mesa.
Got to keep it up!
Some highlights... won the Propinquity skinning race and set a PR... rode the Red Fleet trails in Vernal.... hiked the McKonkie Ranch Petroglyph trail..... rode the short version of the Holy Grail (Western Rim & Zion Curtain) in Fruita... and hit the Palisade Rim for the first time.
Totals:
25 total days with some kind of workout.
12 days skinning.
6 days on the bike
2 days jogging
80.5 miles on the feet skinning, hiking, and jogging.
114.75 miles on the bike
38,650' vert climbing so I missed my 50,000' goal, but that's all because the bruised ribs.
45 total hours of workouts.
Some solid mountain biking in Fruita, Vernal, Palisade, and decent climb through Montezuma on the rec path.
Weight only dropped from 171 to 168 so I have some work to do to reach my goal of 157.5 by June 21. I've had a good start to May and saw a 164.8 reading yesterday so hopefully I'm gaining some ground on that.
1st four days of May have been good with 3 days skinning and a 43.5 mile ride through Breck to Boreas Pass road until blocked by snow @ the Bakers Tank TH.
Today is closing day at Loveland so I need to try and weather the next few days of party season without blowing my diet too bad.
Goals for May.... lots of bike miles. I have a backpack trip in Capitol Reef National Park next week and then a scheduled trip to Gooseberry Mesa.
Got to keep it up!
Friday, April 25, 2014
Palisade Rim Trail
New trails are always fun, and I'd been meaning to check out the Palisade Rim Trail for a few years now. Last Tuesday I headed over with a friend to give it a look and I was very impressed. Not a ton of mileage there, but there is an upper and lower loop that could be repeated as much as you want.
Unfortunately, I have some bruised ribs from a minor crash the week before that I had stubbornly refused to rest and allow to heal. I was pretty sore from wrestling the bike around the trail so I was not up for multiple laps on this day.
The trail starts with a stiff climb through a canyon and up onto the mid-level of the rim. It is a reasonably technical trail, but its not as crazy as I'd heard it described in some places. I was riding pretty conservatively because I couldn't afford to crash on my ribs again, but I still was able to climb over most obstacles.
After the initial mile of relentless climbing it levels off for a second and gives you a little break before resuming a second climb to the higher rim level on the upper loop. We took a left away from the rim because it looked like the best way to get to the high point as soon as possible.
We topped out after about 4.5 miles and about 1600' climb.
Going clockwise on the upper loop means you get to do a high speed descent along the rim with some extreme exposure. I don't really get freaked out by exposure, but it was intense. It was a bit more difficult because we had some serious wind gusts pushing us around as well.
The descent was a blast... good mix of fast & flowy with some chunky tech bits thrown in to keep you on your toes.
A very nice ride even though my ribs are pretty screwed from the whole deal. Forcing myself to back off and let the damn things heal now.
Here's some GPS:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/486183491
Oh yeah... don't miss the petroglyphs!
Friday, April 18, 2014
Propinquity!
Yesterday was the 3rd Annual Propinquity Employee Uphill Skinning Race at Loveland and I was pleased to be able to pull out the victory over a really solid field.
The course is about 1.3 miles and climbed 1150' vertical feet to Ptarmigan cabin at the top of chair 2.
I also won this race two years ago and was third last year after being injured and not able to train for most of January, February, and about half of March.
This year I was surprised to open a little gap on the field right on the flat areas near the start. I was able to keep that gap for the remainder of the race, but I really didn't open it up too much more. I was hurting bad towards the end and looking over my shoulder a little bit. Thankfully, I could tell I had a pretty safe margin so I even let off the gas a little towards the end.
Mainly I'm just happy to know that my fitness is at a good level. My time of 30:42 is the fastest verified time I have ever done on that route.
Last year's winner was a little late to the start and he still managed to pull up into 3rd place, so he might have put some serious heat on if he had made it on time. I had about 3 minutes on him at the finish so I am pretty sure I was a minute or two faster.
Here is the GPS:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/482366591
The course is about 1.3 miles and climbed 1150' vertical feet to Ptarmigan cabin at the top of chair 2.
I also won this race two years ago and was third last year after being injured and not able to train for most of January, February, and about half of March.
This year I was surprised to open a little gap on the field right on the flat areas near the start. I was able to keep that gap for the remainder of the race, but I really didn't open it up too much more. I was hurting bad towards the end and looking over my shoulder a little bit. Thankfully, I could tell I had a pretty safe margin so I even let off the gas a little towards the end.
Mainly I'm just happy to know that my fitness is at a good level. My time of 30:42 is the fastest verified time I have ever done on that route.
Last year's winner was a little late to the start and he still managed to pull up into 3rd place, so he might have put some serious heat on if he had made it on time. I had about 3 minutes on him at the finish so I am pretty sure I was a minute or two faster.
Here is the GPS:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/482366591
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
One Million Feet!
I don't think I've ever looked at my "profile" on my Garmin Connect site where I upload my GPS tracks, but after returning from a good solid ride in the Fruita desert yesterday, I just happened to look at it today.
Yesterday's ride pushed me over 1 million vertical feet of climbing! That is over 189 miles into the air. I'm pretty sure that would be considered "Space" had I logged it all into one push, but alas, it has taken me several years and three different Garmin devices to reach that total.
Yesterday's ride pushed me over 1 million vertical feet of climbing! That is over 189 miles into the air. I'm pretty sure that would be considered "Space" had I logged it all into one push, but alas, it has taken me several years and three different Garmin devices to reach that total.
Lifetime Totals
Activities
Kinda cool milestone though.
Been doing pretty good so far in April. Have knocked out rides in Vernal and Fruita to get some MTB miles done. Also, lots of skinning at Loveland in preparation for tomorrow's employee race. I'm feeling pretty good, but as usual there will be some very formidable competition, so I expect to push deep into the pain cave for the roughly 30 minutes it will take to climb to Ptarmigan cabin.
The race tomorrow will be a good intermediate fitness check as we wrap up the ski season here at Loveland.
Saturday, April 5, 2014
Getting Fast???
Yesterday after work I put in an all-out effort skinning to the top of Chair 2 and reached the top in 32:50!
That is my fastest training time ever by almost 2 full minutes... also 1:30 faster than the Propinquity race time last year. Its definitely my lowest confirmed time, as the only other one that was supposedly faster was the 2012 Propinquity race where Doug and I broke 30 minutes. I did not see the watch myself on that one though, but that is what I was told my the timers. Sometimes I am skeptical that we went that fast because my fastest training time before that race was 35:30.
Last year my best training time got down to 34:45 and then I did the race in 33:30.
So regardless, I know that I am faster than last year right now, perhaps by a significant margin.
Its not like my legs were very fresh yesterday either since I had put in 6600' feet of skinning in the prior two days, plus woke up with a slight hangover after some beer and tequila.
So yeah, I think I'm getting pretty fast again.... hoping to give them hell in the race this year.
GPS Proof:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/473506592
That is my fastest training time ever by almost 2 full minutes... also 1:30 faster than the Propinquity race time last year. Its definitely my lowest confirmed time, as the only other one that was supposedly faster was the 2012 Propinquity race where Doug and I broke 30 minutes. I did not see the watch myself on that one though, but that is what I was told my the timers. Sometimes I am skeptical that we went that fast because my fastest training time before that race was 35:30.
Last year my best training time got down to 34:45 and then I did the race in 33:30.
So regardless, I know that I am faster than last year right now, perhaps by a significant margin.
Its not like my legs were very fresh yesterday either since I had put in 6600' feet of skinning in the prior two days, plus woke up with a slight hangover after some beer and tequila.
So yeah, I think I'm getting pretty fast again.... hoping to give them hell in the race this year.
GPS Proof:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/473506592
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
Two Laps at Keystone
Worked myself over pretty well this morning with my first ever 2-lapper skinning to the top of Dercum Mountain at Keystone. I went up River Run the first lap on the shortest route, but skied down to Mountain House base area and took Schoolmarm back up on lap 2.
Lap 1 was 1.75 miles up in 1hr06min.
Lap 2 was 2.5 miles in 1hr30min.
Total vertical climbed of 4600' is most ever skinning.
Good day, but my legs are feeling it.
Lap 1 was 1.75 miles up in 1hr06min.
Lap 2 was 2.5 miles in 1hr30min.
Total vertical climbed of 4600' is most ever skinning.
Good day, but my legs are feeling it.
Monday, March 31, 2014
March 2014 Training Wrap
Hell yeah, had a great month.
Weighed in at 171.6 this morning and I've weighed as little as 170.5 in the last couple days, so I think I lost 10+ pounds during the month. This is a full 10 pounds less than this date last year.
Also hit most of my workout goals.
Worked out on 25 of the 31 days:
20 days skinning, 2 days on the mountain bike (White Rim and Fruita), 2 days jogging, but I did not get into the gym and hit the weights even once.
53.25 total miles on the feet, either skinning (44.25) or jogging (9).
139.0 total miles on the mountain bike.
51,000 total feet of vertical climbing via feet (41,300) and bike (9,700)
45 hours and 15 minutes of training time.
Eight multiple lap efforts skinning and five other days knocking out the 2300' climb at Keystone.
So then, what about some challenging April goals....
I have an employee uphill skinning race on April 17th, so I'd like to have a fresh legs for that. So for the first 10 days of April I will keep the mileage, climbing, and general intensity of the workouts pretty high before backing off in the week before the race. Similarly, I'd like to keep strict attention on my diet for these first 10 days so I can lose several pounds during that time. I want to eat more and feel stronger during the week of the race so I won't try to lose much weight during that week. After the race is over I'll try to close out the rest of the month by losing a few more pounds.
So goal weight for the April 17th race = 168
April 30 goal weight = 164
Got to hit at least 50,000 feet climbing again via feet and bike.
Substitute more bike miles for skinning miles as well as some jogging and steep hiking to strengthen up my ankles and achilles.
And somehow find my way in to the gym to lift weights at least 2 times per week.
Weighed in at 171.6 this morning and I've weighed as little as 170.5 in the last couple days, so I think I lost 10+ pounds during the month. This is a full 10 pounds less than this date last year.
Also hit most of my workout goals.
Worked out on 25 of the 31 days:
20 days skinning, 2 days on the mountain bike (White Rim and Fruita), 2 days jogging, but I did not get into the gym and hit the weights even once.
53.25 total miles on the feet, either skinning (44.25) or jogging (9).
139.0 total miles on the mountain bike.
51,000 total feet of vertical climbing via feet (41,300) and bike (9,700)
45 hours and 15 minutes of training time.
Eight multiple lap efforts skinning and five other days knocking out the 2300' climb at Keystone.
So then, what about some challenging April goals....
I have an employee uphill skinning race on April 17th, so I'd like to have a fresh legs for that. So for the first 10 days of April I will keep the mileage, climbing, and general intensity of the workouts pretty high before backing off in the week before the race. Similarly, I'd like to keep strict attention on my diet for these first 10 days so I can lose several pounds during that time. I want to eat more and feel stronger during the week of the race so I won't try to lose much weight during that week. After the race is over I'll try to close out the rest of the month by losing a few more pounds.
So goal weight for the April 17th race = 168
April 30 goal weight = 164
Got to hit at least 50,000 feet climbing again via feet and bike.
Substitute more bike miles for skinning miles as well as some jogging and steep hiking to strengthen up my ankles and achilles.
And somehow find my way in to the gym to lift weights at least 2 times per week.
Friday, March 28, 2014
Fruita - 6 Laps at 18 Road
No powder day on Wednesday, so I left Summit County at 3:30am and headed for the North Fruita Desert to put some miles down on the super-fun trails there. A storm was moving into Colorado later in the day, but I started riding by 7:30am and got finished up right before the strong wind and rain showers moved in.
I had never ridden each and every downhill trail out there in one shot, so I figured I'd start with that and see how I felt.... ended up tacking on one more lap too.
Lap 1 - Climb Prime Cut to Chutes and Ladders
Lap 2 - Climb Prime Cut to PBR
Lap 3 - Climb Prime Cut to Kessel Run
Lap 4 - Climb Prime Cut to Joe's Ridge to MoJoe
Lap 5 - Zip-off to climb Western Zip to Zippety Do Dah
Lap 6 - Zip off to climb Western Zip to Frontside to Kessel Run.
Ended up at 36.0 miles in a total of 4 hours and 20 min.... probably had about 10 minutes of eating breaks in there.
Sweet ride... felt pretty good. I needed to get another decent one in before March ended so it was well worth the drive and $85 worth of gas I used up.
GPS:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/468429330
I had never ridden each and every downhill trail out there in one shot, so I figured I'd start with that and see how I felt.... ended up tacking on one more lap too.
Lap 1 - Climb Prime Cut to Chutes and Ladders
Lap 2 - Climb Prime Cut to PBR
Lap 3 - Climb Prime Cut to Kessel Run
Lap 4 - Climb Prime Cut to Joe's Ridge to MoJoe
Lap 5 - Zip-off to climb Western Zip to Zippety Do Dah
Lap 6 - Zip off to climb Western Zip to Frontside to Kessel Run.
Ended up at 36.0 miles in a total of 4 hours and 20 min.... probably had about 10 minutes of eating breaks in there.
Sweet ride... felt pretty good. I needed to get another decent one in before March ended so it was well worth the drive and $85 worth of gas I used up.
GPS:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/468429330
Monday, March 24, 2014
Sunday, March 23, 2014
WRIAD 2014
Completed my 4th White Rim in a Day last Tuesday, March 23rd. We had a total of five riders this year and it would be the first WRIAD attempt for two of them. None of us had ridden a bike more than twice since the snow started falling this winter.
Here is a recap of our prior efforts:
http://coloradotrailrace.blogspot.com/2013/04/wriad.html
The plan for this year was to drive down after work on Monday, set-up our camp at the usual spot down by Mineral Bottoms boat ramp, grab a couple hours of sleep, and get started under the full moon to wipe out the boring road miles in the dark. I had hoped to get rolling by 2am, but it was actually 3:30 before we all started the climb up the Horsethief switchbacks.
It seemed warm as we climbed up to the Island in the Sky, but once we got up there we all got very cold. My left foot was a frozen block. It felt slightly better to keep riding than it did to stop and complain about it so we gritted our teeth and kept moving. We had left a cache of water and breakfast burritos at the top of the Shafer trail and we reached that just as twilight began about 6:45am. We waited a little too long here, about 45 minutes, but we all wanted to feel the sun on our face before we descended down to the White Rim.
Even though the high for the day was only about 48 degrees, I warmed up nicely as soon as the sun rose. One buddy had to make a pit stop at the pit toilet at Potash Road, but I knew we better get serious about laying some miles down, so I chomping at the bit to get going.
We knocked out a little chunk and stopped to regroup at Point Ramsey (38 miles), a spot so designated because that is where we had to leave our sick buddy two years ago and come back (he continued on a few miles past Murphy's Hogback) to rescue him in the truck.
Point Ramsey would end up as a 45-minute break before everyone was regrouped and ready to go, so I knew we wouldn't be setting any records out there on this day. Getting over Hardscrabble and through the deep sandy section before dark became my goal.
We have gotten accustomed to using the same rest and regroup points, so the next spot was at 51 miles where there is a good little knoll that allows you to see back down the trail a good ways. I broke out some cheese and salami and actually got in a little nap before we were on the road again after an hour break.
The next section to Murphy's Hogback contains some of the harder miles. It has some sandy sections and generally climbs for the 17 miles. I didn't stop until the top of Murphy's, and then had a very long 1hr45min break before everyone was together and ready to continue on. I got a long nap in of at least an hour, but I'm not sure that really helped much. I felt groggy when I resumed and my ass was so sore I could not even think about sitting down. I applied a fistful of Okole Stuff and that helped a little, but damn that was painful.
The 21 mile section from Murphy's to Hardscrabble loses about 1000' down to river level, so it is always a morale boost to throw down some easier miles. I got a little concerned about 10 miles out from Hardscrabble when I took a drink and discovered I had run out of water. By the time I topped out I was getting pretty thirsty, but thank goodness it was cool enough out that it wasn't a serious danger. I got a couple sips of gatorade when one of my friends reached the top and told them I was going to continue to camp.
I rode the final 12 miles back to camp without sitting down. Besides the sandy HAB section, those miles are very easy next to the Green River, so I rolled back in about 7:15pm for a 15hr45min tour.
One of these days I'm going to time-trial this thing solo and see what I can do.
My legs and body felt fine this year, but I'm not going to roll off the couch again and do this thing without some serious butt-seasoning beforehand. Pain like that is just not fun. Last year I came out with some knee pain, but didn't have any this year. I'm sure all the skinning I have been doing has strengthened them up.
One other odd thing is about my weight. I remember last year expecting to have lost a couple pounds, but I actually had gained several pounds when I weighed as soon as I got home. Then those pounds rapidly fell off over the next couple days.
The same thing happened this year. I weighed 175.4 on the day before we left. Weighed in on Wednesday when I got home and was 184.5!!! How in the hell does your body do that??? Then, Thursday morning - 182.5... Thursday night - 180.0, Friday Morning - 178.5, Friday night - 177.2, Saturday - 175.0 and finally this Sunday morning - 174.6.
Very strange, but I'm glad to have shed them all off.
Didn't take a single picture, but here is the GPS profile:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/464366395
Here is a recap of our prior efforts:
http://coloradotrailrace.blogspot.com/2013/04/wriad.html
The plan for this year was to drive down after work on Monday, set-up our camp at the usual spot down by Mineral Bottoms boat ramp, grab a couple hours of sleep, and get started under the full moon to wipe out the boring road miles in the dark. I had hoped to get rolling by 2am, but it was actually 3:30 before we all started the climb up the Horsethief switchbacks.
It seemed warm as we climbed up to the Island in the Sky, but once we got up there we all got very cold. My left foot was a frozen block. It felt slightly better to keep riding than it did to stop and complain about it so we gritted our teeth and kept moving. We had left a cache of water and breakfast burritos at the top of the Shafer trail and we reached that just as twilight began about 6:45am. We waited a little too long here, about 45 minutes, but we all wanted to feel the sun on our face before we descended down to the White Rim.
Even though the high for the day was only about 48 degrees, I warmed up nicely as soon as the sun rose. One buddy had to make a pit stop at the pit toilet at Potash Road, but I knew we better get serious about laying some miles down, so I chomping at the bit to get going.
We knocked out a little chunk and stopped to regroup at Point Ramsey (38 miles), a spot so designated because that is where we had to leave our sick buddy two years ago and come back (he continued on a few miles past Murphy's Hogback) to rescue him in the truck.
Point Ramsey would end up as a 45-minute break before everyone was regrouped and ready to go, so I knew we wouldn't be setting any records out there on this day. Getting over Hardscrabble and through the deep sandy section before dark became my goal.
We have gotten accustomed to using the same rest and regroup points, so the next spot was at 51 miles where there is a good little knoll that allows you to see back down the trail a good ways. I broke out some cheese and salami and actually got in a little nap before we were on the road again after an hour break.
The next section to Murphy's Hogback contains some of the harder miles. It has some sandy sections and generally climbs for the 17 miles. I didn't stop until the top of Murphy's, and then had a very long 1hr45min break before everyone was together and ready to continue on. I got a long nap in of at least an hour, but I'm not sure that really helped much. I felt groggy when I resumed and my ass was so sore I could not even think about sitting down. I applied a fistful of Okole Stuff and that helped a little, but damn that was painful.
The 21 mile section from Murphy's to Hardscrabble loses about 1000' down to river level, so it is always a morale boost to throw down some easier miles. I got a little concerned about 10 miles out from Hardscrabble when I took a drink and discovered I had run out of water. By the time I topped out I was getting pretty thirsty, but thank goodness it was cool enough out that it wasn't a serious danger. I got a couple sips of gatorade when one of my friends reached the top and told them I was going to continue to camp.
I rode the final 12 miles back to camp without sitting down. Besides the sandy HAB section, those miles are very easy next to the Green River, so I rolled back in about 7:15pm for a 15hr45min tour.
One of these days I'm going to time-trial this thing solo and see what I can do.
My legs and body felt fine this year, but I'm not going to roll off the couch again and do this thing without some serious butt-seasoning beforehand. Pain like that is just not fun. Last year I came out with some knee pain, but didn't have any this year. I'm sure all the skinning I have been doing has strengthened them up.
One other odd thing is about my weight. I remember last year expecting to have lost a couple pounds, but I actually had gained several pounds when I weighed as soon as I got home. Then those pounds rapidly fell off over the next couple days.
The same thing happened this year. I weighed 175.4 on the day before we left. Weighed in on Wednesday when I got home and was 184.5!!! How in the hell does your body do that??? Then, Thursday morning - 182.5... Thursday night - 180.0, Friday Morning - 178.5, Friday night - 177.2, Saturday - 175.0 and finally this Sunday morning - 174.6.
Very strange, but I'm glad to have shed them all off.
Didn't take a single picture, but here is the GPS profile:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/464366395
Saturday, March 15, 2014
March 2014 - Midway Training Wrap
I'm having a strong March so far. The Fat Cyclist weight loss challenge is going well. I hovered in the 178's for a few days and was getting annoyed since I had been working hard and eating well, but the last couple days has seen a big drop all the way down to 175.9. It seemed to work like that last time I put in big weight-loss effort in 2012. I would plateau for a few days and then would see a big drop to a new lower plateau.
My goal for vertical ascent is 50,000' for the month and here on March 15th I've recorded 29,000' already. All of that was gained in 13 skinning sessions. I've hit the 2300' vert at Keystone 4 times and made 5 multiple lap efforts at Loveland to get my average day to almost 2000'.
The legs are starting to feel really strong and I am able to use the short but fast cadence up the steep slopes for the first time. Still have not broken any PR's but I'm getting very close. I suspect if I gave my legs a little break for a day or two and made a hard effort at a route then I could probably post some PRs, but that is gonna have to wait a bit longer as I continue to build my endurance base.
Me and 4 friends are making a full-moon WRIAD (White Rim in a Day) attempt next Monday/Tuesday. It would be the 4th time to complete the loop for 3 of us, but there will be 2 more WRIAD rookies along, so who knows how long it will take. It should be fairly easy cardio-wise, but I expect my legs and especially my butt to be pretty sore afterwards. Last year we did it in April and I made a point to stand and pedal as much as possible. Hopefully it all goes well for the crew.
Big-time momentum happening now so got to keep it going!
My goal for vertical ascent is 50,000' for the month and here on March 15th I've recorded 29,000' already. All of that was gained in 13 skinning sessions. I've hit the 2300' vert at Keystone 4 times and made 5 multiple lap efforts at Loveland to get my average day to almost 2000'.
The legs are starting to feel really strong and I am able to use the short but fast cadence up the steep slopes for the first time. Still have not broken any PR's but I'm getting very close. I suspect if I gave my legs a little break for a day or two and made a hard effort at a route then I could probably post some PRs, but that is gonna have to wait a bit longer as I continue to build my endurance base.
Me and 4 friends are making a full-moon WRIAD (White Rim in a Day) attempt next Monday/Tuesday. It would be the 4th time to complete the loop for 3 of us, but there will be 2 more WRIAD rookies along, so who knows how long it will take. It should be fairly easy cardio-wise, but I expect my legs and especially my butt to be pretty sore afterwards. Last year we did it in April and I made a point to stand and pedal as much as possible. Hopefully it all goes well for the crew.
Big-time momentum happening now so got to keep it going!
Monday, March 10, 2014
Five Chair Challenge
Completed my own little made-up skinning challenge at Loveland after work yesterday. Decided to skin to the tops of chairs 1 to 6 to 2 to 4 to 8.
I didn't go all the way to the base area each time because I wanted to maximize the vert and eliminate the flats. Also, that would be stupid.
Here's a GPS profile:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/458311376
I made a pretty conservative time estimate beforehand and that came out to a 3hr30min finish, but I was actually able to complete it in 2hr53min..... didn't even need the headlamp.
Felt kindof slow and crappy as I took off from the base area to the top of 1. I ascended Richards Run and took the Catwalk around to the top of 1. I had budgeted a very easy pace of 38min to the top, and despite feeling a little sluggish I still got up there in 32:25. I estimated 10 minute transitions for changing skins, skiing to the next start point, and reapplying skins. This one took 8:30, so I was already 7.5 minutes ahead of the plan. 1000' vert in the books.
Chair 6 was next and I started from the bottom of the lift and ascended Keno to Blackjack. I was starting to feel stronger, but maybe that's because chair 6 is so easy. Reached the top in 21:20 which was about what I thought it would take. Next transition to mid-way chair 2 was 8:08 so I was about 9 minutes ahead of plan now. Chair 6 is a 650' chair so total vert at 1650'.
Ate a couple Honey Stingers and headed up Drifter to the top of Chair 2.... starting to feel really good now, but I was not really pushing the pace very hard. I had guessed 30 minutes for this ascent to factor in some fatigue, but I got to the highest drop-in for South Chutes in a hair under 23min. Mid-way 2 to top is about 750' so my total was 2400'. Next transition was down the South Chutes to a big tree I like to change over at just above the bottom of chair 9.
I'd never skinned to the top of 4 before so I guessed it would take 30min from that point, but I was still feeling good and reached the top in 23:30. I was starting to think I could finish under 3 hours and get by without using the headlamp. Skiing was pretty shitty as the slush from the warm day had now frozen into death cookies, but this was more about the workout anyways. Transition to bottom chair 8 was 8:00. Lap vert was 750' for a total of 3150'.
I felt like I was just putting up Chair 8. It is pretty steep the whole way, but especially at the start. Still made it up in less than 30min and caught a spectacular sunset over the continental divide. Counted my blessings, changed my skins, and skied back down to the office to break 3 hours by a safe margin. Chair 8 is 878', so that's why I put my total vert at 4000'.
I'll give it a week or so and try this again with a little more urgency and see what I can do.
I didn't go all the way to the base area each time because I wanted to maximize the vert and eliminate the flats. Also, that would be stupid.
Here's a GPS profile:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/458311376
I made a pretty conservative time estimate beforehand and that came out to a 3hr30min finish, but I was actually able to complete it in 2hr53min..... didn't even need the headlamp.
Felt kindof slow and crappy as I took off from the base area to the top of 1. I ascended Richards Run and took the Catwalk around to the top of 1. I had budgeted a very easy pace of 38min to the top, and despite feeling a little sluggish I still got up there in 32:25. I estimated 10 minute transitions for changing skins, skiing to the next start point, and reapplying skins. This one took 8:30, so I was already 7.5 minutes ahead of the plan. 1000' vert in the books.
Chair 6 was next and I started from the bottom of the lift and ascended Keno to Blackjack. I was starting to feel stronger, but maybe that's because chair 6 is so easy. Reached the top in 21:20 which was about what I thought it would take. Next transition to mid-way chair 2 was 8:08 so I was about 9 minutes ahead of plan now. Chair 6 is a 650' chair so total vert at 1650'.
Ate a couple Honey Stingers and headed up Drifter to the top of Chair 2.... starting to feel really good now, but I was not really pushing the pace very hard. I had guessed 30 minutes for this ascent to factor in some fatigue, but I got to the highest drop-in for South Chutes in a hair under 23min. Mid-way 2 to top is about 750' so my total was 2400'. Next transition was down the South Chutes to a big tree I like to change over at just above the bottom of chair 9.
I'd never skinned to the top of 4 before so I guessed it would take 30min from that point, but I was still feeling good and reached the top in 23:30. I was starting to think I could finish under 3 hours and get by without using the headlamp. Skiing was pretty shitty as the slush from the warm day had now frozen into death cookies, but this was more about the workout anyways. Transition to bottom chair 8 was 8:00. Lap vert was 750' for a total of 3150'.
I felt like I was just putting up Chair 8. It is pretty steep the whole way, but especially at the start. Still made it up in less than 30min and caught a spectacular sunset over the continental divide. Counted my blessings, changed my skins, and skied back down to the office to break 3 hours by a safe margin. Chair 8 is 878', so that's why I put my total vert at 4000'.
I'll give it a week or so and try this again with a little more urgency and see what I can do.
Friday, March 7, 2014
Fat Cyclist Weight Loss Contest
I enjoy reading Fat Cyclist and I could whole-heartedly relate when he recently wrote about his weight loss grace period. Basically, just like me, he had put on a thick winter coat and was having trouble facing the numbers on the scale. So he would give himself some time for stealth weight loss before publicly facing the facts on March 1..... hence, a weight loss grace period.
I was doing the exact same thing through January and February, after some horrific slacking and subsequent weight gain. I first weighed somewhere around Feb. 5 or 6th and I was within a range of 187-188. Truly disgusting.
On March 1 I weighed-in between 181-182, so I lost about 6-7 pounds without even trying too awfully hard. I just increased my workouts, ate a little better, and tried to drink a little less beer. But those were some lard-ass easy pounds to lose.
Fat Cyslist warned about an upcoming weight loss contest that would entail some serious commitment. I think I need a challenge like that to really accomplish my goals, so last night I joined up.
Here is my chart:
Shirey's Goal Page
The contest runs from March 11th to June 21st. I set a goal weight of 159.9, which would be the lightest I've been since college most likely. My lowest adult weight that I can remember is 161. So I have set a difficult goal.
I weighed last night after dinner and was 182.4 according to my wal-mart digital scale. I chose that as my starting weight in the contest. Then this morning I weighed either 180.0 or 179.6, so I'm a little conflicted about what to report today. I know I fluctuate about 3-4 pounds, but that is a pretty big change when all I did was sleep all night and piss a couple times.
I think I'll smooth that out and report 181.5 for today.... the contest doesn't really start until March 11th, so that will give me a few days to figure out the actual starting weight.
Excited to see what happens.... got started this morning on the right track with a 2-lap skin at Loveland... top of 2 & top of 9; 2.5 mile ascending, 2400' vert in 1hr22min skinning time.
I was doing the exact same thing through January and February, after some horrific slacking and subsequent weight gain. I first weighed somewhere around Feb. 5 or 6th and I was within a range of 187-188. Truly disgusting.
On March 1 I weighed-in between 181-182, so I lost about 6-7 pounds without even trying too awfully hard. I just increased my workouts, ate a little better, and tried to drink a little less beer. But those were some lard-ass easy pounds to lose.
Fat Cyslist warned about an upcoming weight loss contest that would entail some serious commitment. I think I need a challenge like that to really accomplish my goals, so last night I joined up.
Here is my chart:
Shirey's Goal Page
The contest runs from March 11th to June 21st. I set a goal weight of 159.9, which would be the lightest I've been since college most likely. My lowest adult weight that I can remember is 161. So I have set a difficult goal.
I weighed last night after dinner and was 182.4 according to my wal-mart digital scale. I chose that as my starting weight in the contest. Then this morning I weighed either 180.0 or 179.6, so I'm a little conflicted about what to report today. I know I fluctuate about 3-4 pounds, but that is a pretty big change when all I did was sleep all night and piss a couple times.
I think I'll smooth that out and report 181.5 for today.... the contest doesn't really start until March 11th, so that will give me a few days to figure out the actual starting weight.
Excited to see what happens.... got started this morning on the right track with a 2-lap skin at Loveland... top of 2 & top of 9; 2.5 mile ascending, 2400' vert in 1hr22min skinning time.
Saturday, March 1, 2014
February 2014 Training Wrap
Progress!
Weighed in this morning at 181.2..... not great at all and still a good ways from where I need to be, but I did lose between 6-7 pounds since I last weighed in on February 6th. I still drank a decent amount of beer, but I cranked the workouts up another notch and managed to overcome that.
For the specifics...
Worked out in some way on 24 of 28 days:
Skinning - 16 days including 8 days of multiple laps.
Shoveling Snow - 2 big days in early February digging out the driveway.
Skiing - lift-assisted skiing on 4 days that were intense enough to qualify as a workout.
Mountain Bike - 1 day at Oil Well Flats in Canon City for 13.5 miles and 1350' climbing.
Jog - 1 six-miler around the neighborhood
Gym - 1 day of weights and 1 hour on the spin bike.
Totals:
36.25 miles skinning & jogging.
28.5 miles on the MTB & spin bike.
31,900' vert climbing.
28hours & 30min time pushing it.
Lifting weights has definitely been lagging. I like doing that in the morning and its hard to motivate for that when there has been as much snow for POW skiing. If there is new snow of any measurable amount, I almost always prefer to take a few laps skinning and skiing POW. Maybe when the time changes on March 9th and the mornings go dark again for awhile I'll start doing some gym in the mornings.
GOALS for MARCH 2014:
At least 50,000' of climbing vert via all sources.... skinning, hiking, mountain biking, jogging.
Lose at least another 6-8 pounds to get down below 175 by the end of the month.
More time on the mountain bike.... planning another White Rim go-round for the full-moon on March 17th. Sounds like the whole crew is going this year so it won't be a particularly hard effort, but just getting 100 miles done on the bike will be good enough. Must get in at least another desert trip to put down a couple days of good miles.
Weights????? Well, cardio and weight loss will probably continue to be a priority, but I need to figure out a way to get in there 2-3 times a week at least.
Weighed in this morning at 181.2..... not great at all and still a good ways from where I need to be, but I did lose between 6-7 pounds since I last weighed in on February 6th. I still drank a decent amount of beer, but I cranked the workouts up another notch and managed to overcome that.
For the specifics...
Worked out in some way on 24 of 28 days:
Skinning - 16 days including 8 days of multiple laps.
Shoveling Snow - 2 big days in early February digging out the driveway.
Skiing - lift-assisted skiing on 4 days that were intense enough to qualify as a workout.
Mountain Bike - 1 day at Oil Well Flats in Canon City for 13.5 miles and 1350' climbing.
Jog - 1 six-miler around the neighborhood
Gym - 1 day of weights and 1 hour on the spin bike.
Totals:
36.25 miles skinning & jogging.
28.5 miles on the MTB & spin bike.
31,900' vert climbing.
28hours & 30min time pushing it.
Lifting weights has definitely been lagging. I like doing that in the morning and its hard to motivate for that when there has been as much snow for POW skiing. If there is new snow of any measurable amount, I almost always prefer to take a few laps skinning and skiing POW. Maybe when the time changes on March 9th and the mornings go dark again for awhile I'll start doing some gym in the mornings.
GOALS for MARCH 2014:
At least 50,000' of climbing vert via all sources.... skinning, hiking, mountain biking, jogging.
Lose at least another 6-8 pounds to get down below 175 by the end of the month.
More time on the mountain bike.... planning another White Rim go-round for the full-moon on March 17th. Sounds like the whole crew is going this year so it won't be a particularly hard effort, but just getting 100 miles done on the bike will be good enough. Must get in at least another desert trip to put down a couple days of good miles.
Weights????? Well, cardio and weight loss will probably continue to be a priority, but I need to figure out a way to get in there 2-3 times a week at least.
Friday, February 7, 2014
January 2014 Training Wrap
Well, I managed to somewhat shake-off the holiday beer-drinking season that always seems to take hold of me once Loveland opens for the ski season. Its tough for willpower, having a bar at work that all your friends visit every day.
Then every year about January I start noticing the beer gut I've established and I start to get serious about training for the upcoming summer.
My plan for this January was to get my cardio back, so mainly I just skinned up the mountain here at work. I got in 20 days skinning during January and managed to tie my all-time best time to the top of Rookie Road on the Continental Divide.
That PR of 51:45 that I tied was from April 2012 when I was getting into the leanest and best shape of my life. I have lighter gear now, so it doesn't mean I've reached that fitness level yet, but its a good start to be anywhere near that fast again.
I even got on the mountain bike in Moab one day this month for a 15-mile ride up Amasa Back and out to Pothole Arch.
The final January 2014 totals:
Worked out 25 of 31 days:
20 days skinning uphill.
2 hikes.
1 mountain bike ride.
1 day of weights in the gym (need to step this up).
36.25 miles on foot or skinning uphill w/skis.
15 miles of semi-technical mountain biking.
30,000 feet of climbing via feet, skis, or mountain bike.
Decent start, but I was still pretty disgusted with my February 1 weigh-in.
So kicking it up another notch. More miles, more vert, less drinking, counting calories, and craploads of snow-shoveling so far...
Thus February has seen a good start. Got to keep it up!
Then every year about January I start noticing the beer gut I've established and I start to get serious about training for the upcoming summer.
My plan for this January was to get my cardio back, so mainly I just skinned up the mountain here at work. I got in 20 days skinning during January and managed to tie my all-time best time to the top of Rookie Road on the Continental Divide.
That PR of 51:45 that I tied was from April 2012 when I was getting into the leanest and best shape of my life. I have lighter gear now, so it doesn't mean I've reached that fitness level yet, but its a good start to be anywhere near that fast again.
I even got on the mountain bike in Moab one day this month for a 15-mile ride up Amasa Back and out to Pothole Arch.
The final January 2014 totals:
Worked out 25 of 31 days:
20 days skinning uphill.
2 hikes.
1 mountain bike ride.
1 day of weights in the gym (need to step this up).
36.25 miles on foot or skinning uphill w/skis.
15 miles of semi-technical mountain biking.
30,000 feet of climbing via feet, skis, or mountain bike.
Decent start, but I was still pretty disgusted with my February 1 weigh-in.
So kicking it up another notch. More miles, more vert, less drinking, counting calories, and craploads of snow-shoveling so far...
Thus February has seen a good start. Got to keep it up!
Friday, January 3, 2014
Skinning to the Continental Divide
Chair 9 at Loveland is finally open for the season so that means we are allowed to skin to the "Ridge" now, otherwise known as the Continental Divide.
My route is right at 1.75 miles and the ascent from the base area is roughly 1700 vertical feet. It starts pretty easy and gets tougher as you move along.
Today I put in a pretty hard effort and got to the top of Rookie Road in 54min45sec.
Here's the Garmin profile:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/423855956
Looking back through my records, this is the 4th fastest time I've ever made it to the top of Rookie Road.
Last year I managed a 54:00, but that wasn't until late March.
In 2012 I was in the best shape of my life, and I had two efforts at 51:45 and 52:45. That was with a heavier set-up than I use now, but that was also in late March before I got ever that fast.
So I have some weight to lose, but I'm pretty encouraged by my endurance and speed right now.
Bout to come up with some intermediate goals leading up to the CTR 14 starting on August 10th.
My route is right at 1.75 miles and the ascent from the base area is roughly 1700 vertical feet. It starts pretty easy and gets tougher as you move along.
Today I put in a pretty hard effort and got to the top of Rookie Road in 54min45sec.
Here's the Garmin profile:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/423855956
Looking back through my records, this is the 4th fastest time I've ever made it to the top of Rookie Road.
Last year I managed a 54:00, but that wasn't until late March.
In 2012 I was in the best shape of my life, and I had two efforts at 51:45 and 52:45. That was with a heavier set-up than I use now, but that was also in late March before I got ever that fast.
So I have some weight to lose, but I'm pretty encouraged by my endurance and speed right now.
Bout to come up with some intermediate goals leading up to the CTR 14 starting on August 10th.
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