bike commute 8/CityRock 8/incline 10

Not too shabby for a Tuesday.  Early morning ride to CityRock for a good climb, then the ride home followed by a trip up the Incline.  40:44 for the incline in the pitch black as there was no moon tonight.

Finished up Phish's Mexico run and I'm caught up on all the Mule and Phish shows.  No Mule shows until early March, and Phish is off for a while.  Think I'll use the time to stay on top of the Railroad Earth shows.

Mule has announced their annual Red Rocks show and it's smack between the Ascent and the Marathon.  Definitely in for the Ascent and the concert, I have some time to think on whether or not to do the Marathon.

Of course the big news in the Phish world was the announcement of the Baker's Dozen.  13 straight shows at Madison Square Garden!

incline 9

Went out and ran the fat ass course on Sunday, which will probably be my go-to long run until Pikes starts melting.  Struggled on the incline, but the rest of the run was good.  Don't think I've ever put in two 20 milers in January, even during my Hardrock days.

Not a bad day to spend outside.

incline 8

Friday night with $100.  41:25.  Followed by a dip in Sunwater Spa.

CityRock 7

Quick trip to the climbing gym over lunch on Friday.  Rumors are swiriling about my office moving back downtown, so getting to CityRock might become a lot easier.

CityRock 6

16F this morning so after the short dog walk I drove to CityRock.  Very committed to the rock gym the next two months as I've signed up to take a weekly class and I'm back in the Thursday night Adult Bouldering Series.

Railroad Earth, Leftover Salmon, and Keller at Red Rocks?  Yes please!  This time of year is always difficult on the budget as a lot of concerts and races go on sale now.

Bookface informed me that three years ago today the El Mariachi came into my life:

Leadman, Old Pueblo, GJOR, Bailey Hundo, Kanza, 11 of 12 Cup 'o Dirt rides, countless rides to work, maybe a trip to a brewery or two.  Lots of good times on this bike.  She shows no signs of slowing down, which is good since Salsa stopped making the El Mar this year.

Larry

Larry & His Flask are coming back to the Springs!  Easter Sunday!  Been a while since we've seen these guys.

catching up

Good 20 miler at the Fat Ass on Saturday.  Garden, Incline, Barr, Intemann, Red Rock Canyon.  Such an awesome loop, right from my front door.

Pretty beat up on Sunday, but I got out for incline #7.  Weather was great, so later in the day I took the fat bike over to Red Rock Canyon for 90 minutes.  After that ride I got to watch the Steelers get crushed.

Easy five miles on Monday morning, including some 200m sprints up on the track.  Followed up with bike commute five.

Tuesday morning I biked over to CityRock (five).  Then biked home just in time to see Pitt get absolutely destroyed by Louisville.  So one-sided it felt like I was watching a women's UConn hoops game.

Wednesday was a six mile run to work with some easy fartleks thrown in for good measure.  Run commute five.

cup 'o dirt

Finally got my Cup 'o Dirt Challenge schwag!

I had not planned on doing this again, but now I'm thinking I might sign up.  The challenge definitely motivated me to get out there on the bike to explore.  No bike races on the 2017 docket, but I do have some plans for some big rides once the weather warms up.

incline 5

Friday night trip up the Incline.  41:13 up.  Finished up the January 15 Mule show from Jaimica.

run commute 4

Missed the damn bus this morning, so my early CityRock climb was a no-go.  Caught the next bus but I had to head straight to work.

About a mile into my run home I ran into $100, Holly Human (Brooks' wife), and Holly Dog on the Santa Fe trail.  They were finishing up a 3.5 mile run.  I took the dog and ran another 4.5 miles with her home.  The dog is going to sleep for a while.

After the run I was able to get over to Pure Boulder for some climbing with Team RWB.

nice beaver

On my run home this evening I was crossing the bridge at Colorado College to go over Monument Creek.  Something down in the creek caught my eye, and no shit there were two beavers down there.  I had only seen a beaver in city limits once before, way back during the floods we had the year after the Waldo Canyon fire.

If that wasn't enough wildlife, two miles later after the sun had set I damn near ran into a raccoon.

Here you go, 90 seconds of wet beaver action.  I should be charging yunz guys for this!

bike commute 4/run commute 3

Back from Pittsburgh.  Long day of travel on Monday.  Biked to work on Tuesday, ran on Wednesday.

My "concert a day" streak ended over the trip as I listen to as much WDVE as possible when I'm back in western PA.  But I did listen to the first Mule show of 2017 - Jan 14th from Runaway Bay in Jamaica.  I've started trying to convince $100 to go to Island Exodus next year.  

Went to the Fossil Caveman club last night.  Good stuff.  I now have my own mug at the place.  20oz for the price of 16oz.  And a bottle from the place, the first non-growler beer to leave the brewery.  I keep hearing they are looking into getting cans and I hope that happens soon.

On that note I enjoyed this blog post.  My parents both ended their lives too early (mom is still here but the end is coming soon), much of that having to do with alcohol.  With the addition of an iPhone to my life, I have been tracking my alcohol consumption and it's been eye-opening.  Mostly due to the fact that I used to mentally keep track, counting one drink as one drink, regardless of the size.  Like last night, when I told myself I only had three beers, when the iPhone tells me I drank 60 ounces which is actually five beers.  Just collecting data, certainly not committing to cutting back.  I love drinking beer and whiskey, that's been an enjoyable part of my life since I was 13 (I started the same time I started running) and if the only reward of drinking less is a 10% improvement in running times than that's not even close to worth it for me.  But I also don't want to go out like my mom.

bike commute 3

Thurs AM - Easy five mile run on the Garden roads early Thursday morning.

15 miles to and from work on the El Mar.  They have routed the Sinton trail under Chestnut street, which makes my bike up to Pikes Peak Brewing much safer.

Thurs PM - Four miles up to Carson Pass and back, dropping by Fossil at the end.  The view of my village coming back down the pass:

Off to Pennsylvania early Friday.  Titusville on Fri and Sat, back to the 'burgh on Sunday to watch the Steelers crush the Chiefs.

run commute 2

Tues PM - Windy AF.  Ran up to Carson Pass, and the wind was blowing so hard it almost knocked me over a few times.  Wanted to go a few more miles but it started to feel unsafe out there so I bailed after 4.7 miles.  Daily concert was Dave Matthews Band live from Wrigley Field back in 2011.

Wed AM - Morning 2.5 mile hike with the dog followed by a six mile run to work.  Concert for today was Twiddle, December 31 from the Palace Theater in Albany.

bike commute 1 & 2

Lots of wind yesterday.  Trees down, tons of damage.  One of O'Day's huge trees toppled, luckily the direction it fell was probably the best of lots of bad options as it missed his garage and his house.

No running on Monday due to the hangover.  Did bike to work and got the dog out for some good hiking.  Nice to see Clemson take down 'bama last night.  Free beer to the first person to tell everyone who was the one team to beat Clemson this year... 

Tuesday was another good hike with the dog, followed by a bike to CityRock before work.

Incline 3 & 4

Good weather this weekend and I used it to climb some steps.  Saturday was a longer run that included a loop through the Garden.  15 miles, longest I've gone in a while.  Sunday was the quick 10K loop from Memorial Park in Manitou.  46:01 on Saturday and 40:33 on Sunday.

Been listening to a concert a day so far this year.  So far:

1 - Phish, Dec 29 from Madison Square Garden
2 - Phish, NYE from Madison Square Garden
3 - Phish, Dec 30 from Madison Square Garden
4 - Lettuce livestream from The Capitol Theater in Port Chester, NY
5 - Lettuce livestream from The Capitol Theater in Port Chester, NY
6 - Moe., NYE from Missoula
7 - Gov't Mule, NYE from The Beacon Theater in NY.
8 - Widespread Panic, NYE from Nashville
9 - Twiddle, Live at Nectars

Biked to a bunch of breweries yesterday, hitting Triple S, Bristol, Gold Camp, Iron Bird, and Fieldhouse.  14 miles total.

Crazy wind this morning.  The dog and I were dodging garbage the entire two mile hike.    

Friday

We've had a rare blast of real winter weather here on the Front Range.  So cold that the dog doesn't even want to go outside.  I didn't feel like putting up with the single digit temps so I recommitted myself to the gym.  Been to CityRock three times and Accolade twice already this year.  Supposed to start warming up so hopefully I can hit the Incline this weekend.

Red Leg has a new seasonal IPA and it's fantastic.  Found out today that they are canning it.  Woot woot!

Also used the shitty weather as an excuse to binge watch the second season of The Man in the High Castle.  Got kind of weird towards the end of the season.  Now I don't have to watch TV again (other than college hoops, of course) until the end of 2017 when season three comes out. 

$100 and I got tix to see The Brothers Comatose up in Denver in late April.

run commute 1/2017

Ended with 122 bike commutes to work last year.  Not too shabby.  But this year I'll be looking to add some running to that.  The goal is 50 run commutes and 50 bike commutes.

Ran to work on Tuesday.  Six miles there, four miles back.

Since I'm on the topic of new year numbers, here are some other goals I've laid down:

-Less than $10 per visit to CityRock.  In mid-December I threw down $536 for a one year pass to the local climbing gym.  I went 31 times in '16, and I want to up that to 54 times in '17.  Already went once this year.  The $10 goal also applies to Accolade, but that's a lot cheaper and will only require 34 visits, with visit number one coming this morning.

-Bike 3000 miles, run 2000 miles.  Last year those numbers were 3653 and 1890.  A far cry from what I used to do, but the times they are a changin'.  No bike races, but I do have an eye on come longer routes that I'll need to be in shape for.  And while I wasn't planning on zeroing in on Pikes, that looks to be the biggest race on my schedule.  No pressure, as just finishing will be a big improvement over last year, but I'd like to put together two good days there.  The goal at San Juan will be to get to the Packer Saloon with enough time before the cutoff to pop in for a brew.  I'm also going to try to go sub 18 in the 5K, though I think 18:15 is a bit more realistic.

-Hike 600 miles with the dog.  The miles only count if I have a pack weighing 25+ pounds on.

-Beat the 2016 count for nights outside (I count my van in this number).  Hit 15 last year.

-Beat last years Incline count.  41.  Every year I set a goal of 50 and I fall short.  So I'll change the game (note: this is a psychological ploy to get me on my way to 50).

-Listen to every single Phish and Gov't Mule show they play in 2017.  Luckily, their shows last roughly the time it takes me to do the Incline loop from Memorial Park...

2017.  Let's get 'er done!

couch tour

Lettuce!

Fat Ass

$100 and I will be hosting the start/finish for the CRUD Fat Ass again this year.  January 21 at 7AM.  Garden, Midland, Incline, Rocky Mountain, Barr Trail, Intemann, Red Mountain, Iron Mountain, Red Rock Canyon.  Probably 25ish miles, with lots of chances to make it shorter or longer.  I thank my lucky stars every day that I'm able to run these trails from my front porch. 

The course will not be marked, so everyone make sure they know where they're going!

incline 1 and 2

Starting off the new year right with two trips up the Incline in two days.  Maybe this will finally be the year I get to 50.

Pretty good weekend on the running front.  On Friday we loaded up the van and headed down to Lake Pueblo State Park for night outside 15.  Saturday was the annual Nature & Raptor Center 5 miler.  Due to a rough holiday season fitness-wise I was just hoping to break 40 minutes.  Ended up running 32:18 (course was a bit short at 4.8 miles).  After the run we headed down to Buelah for an awesome dog hike at Pueblo Mountain Park.

Sunday was the Rescue Run 10K.  Goal was slow, 50 minutes, due to a late night in OCC.  Ran 47:46.  Post-run breakfast at King's Chef and then it was over to the Incline for a very slow climb.

Moab

Awesome x-mas excursion to Moab.  Drove out on the 23rd, stayed two nights in Moab, one in Frutia, and then came back through Salida.  Hikes out to Fisher Towers, took the fat bike on a loop of Slickrock, and checked out the 18 Road trails in Frutia. 

On x-mas day we found a bar, JD's, that was open and had a few brews there.  But we couldn't find any open restaurants, so we had to go to walgreen's for supper.  Good times!