Memorial Day

Awesome long weekend.  Had some Austin friends come up to visit, they are mountain bikers so I spent more time riding than running.  Did make my first trip up to Barr Camp, so it wasn't all biking.  And despite being terribly hungover, I did make my 25th trip up the Incline on Monday.

Rode Buckhorn for the first time in a while on Saturday.  It was snowing.  Ran into Brooks and Josh while I was drinking beer up there:

Got in a great five mile hike with the dog and Meesha on Monday morning as well.  2.5 miles up Bear Creek Canyon/666 and back down.  The dogs had a blast.

Little bit of activity, but mostly the weekend was eating and drinking.  Lots of breweries and bars.  Good times!

run commute 22

Wed - six miles to work, four miles home.  Also got in an awesome eleven mile ride in Red Rock Canyon, lots of great new trails back there.

Thurs - had to drive since I had some shit to get done during the day.  In the evening I ran my 7.2 Garden trail loop.  I feel like I'm in good shape if I can go 1:15 on this, really good shape if I can go sub 1:10.  Yesterday I went 1:06:39.  $100 and I then biked to/from Bristol Brewing for the WMBA kickoff.  She has been improving on the bike lately and as a result we were able to get from Bristol to Fossil in time for a beer at last call.

No Incline on Thursday due to time constraints.  I was just thinking whether or not I should really try to get to 50 this year, as I thought I had to decide soon due to the upcoming closure.  But now it appears the steps won't be closed off this year.  I have nothing on the schedule after Pikes so I have no excuse not to finally hit that number this year.

bike commute 35

AM - quick ride to CityRock before work.

PM - Rode up Cheyenne Canon.  Last year at this time I was two weeks away from Dirty Kanza and I would crush the Canon.  Not so much this year.  Only one way to describe my climb on the fat bike yesterday: OOF!

Wiley was in town and we were going to meet up at Cerberus, but I thought I had enough time to get to the top parking lot and just shoot down Gold Camp Road.  When I got there there was a cop blocking the road.  We joked a bit about me not wanting to climb High Drive, but that was the only answer.  Up High Drive, down Capt Jacks, then back onto High Drive.  Still had enough time.  Then, just when I got to the top of the Chutes, there was a dead body in the road.  Surrounded by police tape and cop cars.  I had to drop down the Chutes, making me late, but obviously my problems seemed tiny at that point.  The Gazette reports that the guy was only 28.

So gloomy.  Want happier, awesomer shit?  This happened today a few miles up the road:

I wasn't at the graduation, but I got a good view of the Thunderbirds practicing yesterday.  The pilots also ate at King's Chef yesterday.

run commute 21

Six miles to work, 5.7 miles home.  Trying to throw a bit 'o quality into these commute runs now that Lake City is approaching.  A few miles at a bit of a quicker pace on the way to work, and half an hour of one minute on, one minute off on the way home.

Bit of a blast from the past for today's music choice, as Widespread Panic released an old show from the Metropol  in the 'burgh.  Long closed, but I went there often back when I was at Pitt.  Bummer I wasn't a Panic fan back then.

incline 24

Spent the weekend down in Salida not doing much of anything physical.  I did get to raft Browns Canyon, and on Sunday I got in a hungover two hour bike ride on the sweet Salida singletrack.  Felt better when I got home and knocked out my 24th incline of the year.

Finished up Mule's May 19th show from Philly.  They sang Fell On Black Days.

bike commute 33/incline 23

Friggin' snowing this morning when I left for work, though that quickly turned to rain the farther east I got.  Headed up the Incline after work, can't believe I'm still wearing lobster gloves in late May.

Sunburn is healing nicely and the pain is almost manageable now.

run commute 20

$100 is fine, and the subaru was deemed repairable and not totaled.  But until the car gets fixed, we are suffering from the very first world problem of being a two person family with only two vehicles.  The van is not something that does well with city driving though.  So I ran to work, and suffered through the pain of sunburn.

The Bros Comatose dropped their latest video:

feel the burn

Apparently I missed some rather large spots with the sunscreen on my Saturday bike ride, and I am paying the price for that.  Been a long time since I've been burned so bad, and running or biking currently causes pain so terrible that I become nauseous.  So hey, I'm not going to bike or run until it goes away (though I did run up to No Name on Sunday, and biked to work today, almost throwing up on the Santa Fe trail).

Some dude ran a stoplight this morning and hit $100.  She is fine, but I fear it's the end of the Subaru.  She blames early morning exercise for the whole incident and says she will never make that mistake again.  The dog and I were already making retirement plans but the wife wouldn't let us lawyer up.

camping

Got the van running again and we spent Friday and Saturday nights down at Oil Well Flats.  Nights seven and eight.  Had a great time hiking the dog, riding bikes, chilling around the campfire, and visiting Florence Brewing for their one year anniversary.

As much as we love Canon City we might need to find campsites closer to water for the dog.  She was suffering in the heat.

bike commute/CityRock 31 and Incline 22

Up early for a short dog walk then rode over to CityRock before work.  Easy ride home.

Good workout with the Incline Club in the evening.  One minute on, one minute off up the Incline.  Hard shit.  Came straight back down the Incline as well, doing that still feels like I'm walking for the first time as I'm slow and clumsy and everyone else just blows by me.

$100 and I then went over to Bristol for the Cheyenne Canon Ale release.  Support your local trails!  Especially when you can do that by drinking beer!

run commute 19/the van is back baby!

A buddy of mine brought over a super fancy high powered battery charger and got the van up and running.  And it started this morning.  Was worried I would have to drop a ton of coin on a very inexpensive van, but all he charged me was a cigar and a couple of beers.

Run commute 19 on Wednesday.  Still a bit sore from the 50K so I took the direct four mile route there and back.

Not normally a hockey guy, unless it's playoff hockey and the Penguins are playing.  And they came through big last night!

Cimarron

The weekend started off with a disaster as we couldn't get the van to start.  Zero power.  Tried to jump the battery but that did nothing.  No idea what's going on, and if anyone has any ideas I'm listening.

But instead of feeling sorry for ourselves we threw all our stuff into the jeep, grabbed the tent, and took off.  Friday night was spent over near the Royal Gorge, chilling around a fire and drinking some cold beers.

On Saturday, after a nice hike on the great trails overlooking the Gorge, we left for Montrose.  Too early for Moonlight so we stopped at High Alpine Brewing in Gunnisson instead.  After beers and pizza we headed up to the Cerro Summit Rec Area to set up camp.  Hung out with Justin and a few other runners for a while, and even got to try the IPA from the yet-to-open Lost Friend Brewing Company.  It was really good and I can't wait to visit that place when they open this summer.

Saturday was the race and it was a pretty uneventful 50k.  Course is just 15.5 miles out a dirt road and back with minimal aid.  I ran 2:18ish out and finished in 4:57.  Nothing great but it does give me some more confidence that I'll be able to finish Lake City.  The biggest family news on the racing front is that $100 and the dog jumped into the five miler and won the damn thing!  We are still waiting on the huge check from Mad Moose Events for the win.

We hung around for a while, drinking some more beers, before heading back east for another night of tent camping.  $100 made me stop at the Blue Mesa Resevoir to jump in, apparently I stunk pretty good.  Then we drove straight to Salida and paid visits to three of our favorite places, Elevation, Moonlight and Woods.

Before we drank too much we set off to find one last camping site.  We drove east on highway 50 and ended up finding a killer site along the river.  Check out the fire pit we had:

Love that spot and we can't wait to get back.  Not sure if it was empty because it's a well kept secret (doubtful) or because we showed up on a Sunday evening.

We had lots of time on Monday so we headed back to hike the Columbine Trail out to where it hits the Rainbow Trail.  Four miles.  Got us thinking about a potential overnight hike to test out our gear and setup for the Colorado Trail.  Hopefully we can make that happen.

The weekend got me up to six nights outside for the year.

One last post-hike stop on Monday, we headed up to Eddyline for lunch.  The Crank Yanker doesn't get much love, but it's one of my favorites.

bike commute 30

30th ride to work for the year on Tuesday, with the bike home through a fairly heavy rain.  Yearly bike mileage stands at 999, and yes I would have rode a few extra laps around the block had I known that at the time.  I've been slightly behind pace on my 2017 mileage goal all year long, though I'm hoping to finally move ahead with a big weekend in Canon City, including the Gold Belt 100K loop.

For those following along on the bathroom remodel, the project is finally finished.  The wife seems happy with everything, so at least there's that.

Red Rocks

Before leaving Denver we headed over to Morrisson to check out Red Rocks.  I have been there many times, but only for concerts.  It was cool to check out the place when it was empty.  And I had no idea they would let you get on stage!  Goofed off in the park for an hour or so and got so thirsty we had to make PG take us to Green Mountain Beer Company afterwards.

Lots of snow for late April.  They had to cancel Joe Russo's Almost Dead and move that show indoors.

Denver

$100 and I took a weekend and headed an hour north up to the big city recently.  Got to see some friends, visit some of my favorite Colfax dives, check out some new breweries, and see one of our favorite bands.  Had a blast up there and I can't wait to get back (my next trip will be for this).

incline 21

Had dinner plans with the wife on Thurs evening so I couldn't make the Incline Club workout, but I did sneak in my 21st trip up the steps.  I'm not aware of the time while I'm climbing, but strava tells me I went 30:30, my fastest time in a while.  Had I known that I would have pushed a bit harder to go sub 30. 

Easy hour on Friday morning, followed by bike commute 29.

Taking the van out this weekend.  Royal Gorge tonight, Cimarron tomorrow, then Salida-ish for Sunday night.  Justin is going to let the dog run his five miler on Sunday!

new local pub!

I had heard some strong rumors about a new bar opening at the Red Rock shopping center, home of the Red Rock Lounge.  The source was good, and there was construction going on, and there's a new sushi place that has been drawing tons of people in.  So I figured it was only time until the official word came out.

The Trails End Taproom will open this summer.  Looks pretty awesome.  We are getting quite the collection of adventurey themed pubs on the westside.  Kinfolk's has always had an outdoors theme, Manitou Brewing is a favorite of lots of local trail runners, Fossil is popular among the mountain biker and hiker crowd, the new Buffalo Lodge caters to bicycle peeps.

run commute 18

Early morning 2.5 mile hike with the dog in the Garden.  She is TIRED from her 15 mile trek to Barr Camp yesterday.  Then I ran to work.  Six miles in 50 minutes.  Quick four mile run home and then $100 and I tooled around on the bikes over in the Garden for a bit before heading to Fossil.

An update on my live music goals of 2017:

Phish and Panic haven't been touring as of late and I'm caught up on their shows, but Mule has been on the road and I've been keeping up.  Their shows have been amazing and some of their new stuff is solid.  Their new album comes out on June 9.  They took a break after I saw them live in Phoenix, but since April 22 they've played six shows.  Started to listen to their late night jazzfest gig from April 28th on my run this morning.

Phish isn't touring much this year and doesn't play again until July 14.  It will be a challenge to keep up with the Baker's Dozen shindig, though I'll probably be able to get through at least two shows at San Juan.  I have been keeping up with Mike Gordon and the Trey Anastasio Band as time allows.

Panic plays a few shows this weekend and then is off until their Red Rocks run in mid June.  Also a light touring year for these guys.  We will be camping in Canon City in mid May and I'll use that time to listen to the latest shows.  I'm sure the wife will be psyched.

bike commute 28/CityRock 29

Up early to walk the dog, then rode over to CityRock for a bit.  Biked home, then ran six miles on the Garden roads.  Skipped the track tonight as the peak bagger thing has me pretty tore up.

$100 had the day off so she took the dog up to Barr Camp.

Pearl

Tom does a good write up on the adventures of Pearl over here.  I've seen Pearl quite a few times now and she's a great dog.

run commute 17

4.5 miles to work, 5.5 miles home.  Then ten miles on the bike to/from Marc's house for some brews.  Also did day two of the peak bagger program over lunch, gonna be sore for a few days.

15/April

Went out to help with the Cheyenne Mountain 50K  25K on Saturday.  Lousy weather for the end of April.  Snow, ice, and cold temps made for a pretty shitty day.  But I got to sweep, so at least I was moving and thus somewhat able to stay warm, unlike all the aid station peeps.  Ended up going 15+ miles in just under five hours.

Pretty good April in the books.  185 miles running, 371 miles on the bike, and 52 miles hiking.  And lots of time in the gym.