North Star

Fantastic time over the weekend with the CMC alpine climbing school folks.

A few beers at Fossil on Friday, dog park and a run up to No Name Creek early Saturday, then I made a solo trip in the van up to Hoosier Pass.  

Set off to hike North Star Mountain at 6AM on Sunday.  Awesome hike.  Not something I'd normally do this time of year, as there was still a lot of snow, but the day went well.  Straight there on the way out, then on the way back we took a detour to do some legit (for me) snow climbing.  We weren't roped up and there were a few points where a fall would have been fatal, but the snow was solid and I didn't find myself fighting off panic like I often do while rock climbing.  Great mountain views and travel all day long.  Eight miles on the day.  I'll definitely return here in the summer to run/scramble this route.

South Park Saloon for the apres.  Love that place.

Some random pics of the day, mostly stolen from some classmates:

bike commute 27

Mon - early morning run through Red Rock Canyon, ride on the COVID loop at lunch, Red and Iron Mountains in the PM.  Going to start adding Iron to the run on Monday evenings now that spring is kinda somewhat here.

Tues - bike commute 26.  Ten there, eleven back.  CityRock at lunch.  

Wed - the rare zero day.  No pack to hike the dog, no running or riding or climbing.  Could tell my body was trying to fight off some minor non-COVID crud thing, so I rested as much as possible.

Thurs - run commute 23.  5.2 there in 47 minutes, 5.5 back through Sondermann in 55 flat.  

Fri - bike commute 27.  Miserable ten miles to work.  Looked nice outside, and I dressed for that, but it was cold and windy.  Ugh.  Decent CityRock session at lunch.

Heading back out in the van this weekend, up to Hoosier Pass.  Doing my CMC snow ridge climb on Sunday.  North Star Mountain.  At 13,614 feet above sea level she is the 187th tallest peak in the state.  Still significant snow up high, though it is melting quickly and this is a peak that minimizes the kind of dangers you can deal with on winter climbs.  Pretty excited for this.

St Mary's

Fantastic weekend up north.

We left Friday afternoon for St. Mary's Glacier.  We checked out Guanella Pass Brewing first, then headed up to the parking lot for the glacier.  Great spot to park the van overnight.  

Also hit Cabin Creek Brewing up.  No shit, this chick tried to sit next to me with that garbage hat on.  I made her move.

Up early on Saturday to meet the CMC peeps.  Had a big training day - snow travel, self arrest, snow climbing.  All new stuff to me and I had a lot of fun.  

We do our first trip this weekend and I'm looking forward to it.  North Star Peak, a low 13er near Hoosier Pass still covered in snow.

After the training we headed to Idaho Springs for beers and burgers at Westbound & Down.  Solid IPA.  Then we headed up the Mt. Evans road, spending the night at a lot across the street from the Echo Lake Lodge.  Two nights in a row sleeping above 10k feet.  

On Sunday we headed back to Idaho Springs, allowing $100 a few hours to fish Clear Creek while the dog and I explored town.  Then we decided to drive back the long way, heading over to Broken Compass Brewing in Breck.

Red Canyon Park

On Saturday I got in a good 17 miler, just over 2.5 hours, before we decided to head down to Canon City for the night.  Tried out Red Canyon Park, which we hadn't been in a while, and we had a great, lazy evening.

For the week:

run - 46.7 miles/8 hours

ride - 17 miles/2 hours

hike - 22.7 miles/9 hours

I think (hope) we're in the final stages of cold winter weather, so I'll start picking up the bike miles soon.

Made a quick run up to Rails End Brewing on Sunday afternoon to hang out with some old folks.  Shad, Donnie, and GZ.  Always a good time seeing those guys and it needs to happen more often.

Not much going on this week.  Had some bitterly cold mornings.  On Tuesday I swore I was going to lose some fingers and toes on the ride to the office.  It's been freezing in the morning, but super warm in the afternoon.  

We are leaving Friday for St. Mary's Glacier.  My snow travel class is Saturday, the rest of the time we'll just be hanging out.  $100 is going to do some fishing, the dog is going to do some hiking and napping.  Weather is looking fantastic and I'm psyched to get out there.

Marc's annual drunken hobo bike pub crawl is a go for April 16-18.  Colorado Springs to Lyons.  Up to Living The Dream, over to Golden, up to Boulder, then out to Lyons.  Hopefully some of you northern peeps will come out and say hello.

new guitar day!

In another week I will have officially been playing guitar for one year.

I have always been a huge fan of the instrument, chasing the sound at live shows ever since high school.  I always thought it would be cool to play.  But that was always followed by "I wish I had started playing in high school."  Or college.  Or when I moved to Austin, the live music capital of the world.  Always sometime long ago.

As COVID hit and I slowly realized things were going to change for a bit, I thought it might be a good time to pick up a new habit rather than just increase my booze intake.  

The goal had always been to play a Fender Strat.  I had a crappy $30 Suzuki left over from who knows where in the basement, and I made a deal with $100 - if I could play 30 minutes a day, five days a week, for a year, I'd get the green light to buy a cheap-ish electric guitar setup.  

I kept that schedule, playing for half an hour in the morning after the dog walk.  Super basic stuff from the Fender Play app.  Struggling with cord changes.  Kinda sorta playing Louie Louie and Bad Moon Rising.  Quite often I'd get in another practice session at night before bed.  After a month of this I walked in to Moondog Music, located in the same building as Benny's, and signed up for weekly lessons.

Through some creative loopholes, the wife allowed me to upgrade the acoustic guitar long before the year mark.  I was the proud owner of a beautiful Seagull Entourage.  A fantastic guitar that I have loved playing these past few months, though at $550 it's way more expensive than I deserve at this point.

About a month ago it became clear that, for better or for worse, this wasn't a habit that was going to go away anytime soon.  So I started talking to a few guitar playing friends and searching around the interwebs.  I wanted to keep the total price for guitar and amp below $1500, which is a bit much for a rookie in his mid-40s but is still fairly affordable once you go down the guitar prices rabbit hole.

And boom, there she was.  Exactly what I wanted, but used.  Same with the amp.  A Fender Player Stratocaster and a Fender Champion 50XL amp.  $806 after taxes and shipping to the local guitar center.

So I'm pretty excited to tear into this thing.  I can even kinda/sorta play a Hendrix tune - Hey Joe, though my solo would be a bit less than Jimi would offer up.

snow

Completed the CMC land nav course on Saturday.  I used to be good at using a map and compass, I helped guide General Washington across the Delaware River back in my Army days, but I hadn't really done any of that stuff since then.  It's just too easy to pull out your phone nowadays.  But it was good to get out there for a little refresher.  Buff Creek had a ton of snow, and I assume they got a ton more since I was there.  Up next in the CMC alpine climbing school is snow travel, including a trip to St. Mary's Glacier in a few weeks.

We had planned on staying the night up there, but the place was just a mess of snow and mud, and with freezing temps on the way we were afraid we'd get the van stuck.  So we bolted back home and hit Fossil Brewing.

Decent run on Sunday around my COVID loop.  13.7 miles in 2:09, coming right after a 90 minute loaded dog hike.  Warm and sunny for the run but you could see the weather moving in.

Monday morning was devoted to snow removal.  Probably had seven to eight inches in the yard.  Did get up Red Mountain in the evening, followed by Manitou Brewing.

Tues - bike commute 22.  My biking is pretty much dead right now due to the sloppy conditions on the trails.  But hopefully soon I'll be taking Cheyenne Canon or Red Rock Canyon on the return home commute.

Haven't posted a pic of my dog in a while, so here you go:

lazy

I did get in a good run on Saturday in lieu of the Salida marathon, but since then I haven't done much.  Ice and snow, shitty weather, some stuff for the CMC alpine climbing class I'm taking, and, of course, just being fairly lazy has made this a pretty low mileage week.

Good dog hike on Monday in Salida, and another good walk in Florence on the way home.

Tues - bike commute 19.  Through Sondermann there, straight back home.  CityRock 31 at lunch.  Renewed my annual pass at the climbing gym today.  I was still feeling a slight hangover when I went to bed.

Wed - run commute 19.  Not too bad there, as I hit miles two, three, and four in 7:11, 7:02, and 7:55, despite having a fairly heavy pack on.  Five miles there, 5.6 back through Sondermann.

Thurs - another quick bike commute and CityRock day.

Fri - bike commute 21 and a decent climb at lunch.

We are headed up to the Buffalo Creek area this weekend.  I'll finish up the land nav portion of my current CMC class while $100 and the dog hang out.  We'll have to get back early on Sunday as we are expecting another significant snowfall.

Salida weekend

Bummed to miss the race but we still had a great weekend down in Salida.  I got a good 90 minute run in on Saturday morning, and lots of good dog hikes in, but the bulk of the weekend was spent either at Tres Litros or Benson's, with a little Moonlight and Wood's thrown in for good measure.  It's going to take my liver a few days to dry out.  The hazy IPA at 3L is dangerously good.

The weather in Salida was fine until Saturday evening, though lots of other parts of Colorado were getting some major snow.  More snow coming this evening, and possibly some heavier stuff early next week.  I'm ready for Spring.

my first Salida DNS!

On Tuesday afternoon I finally felt some aftershocks from shot #2.  Just some lethargy.  Being hungover all the time trained me well, but by the end of work I could only manage to bike the quick way back home, watch a movie, and head to bed for a good nine hours of sleep (I usually get seven).  Woke up feeling fine today (Wednesday) though.

Wed - run commute 17.  Five miles to work in 43 minutes.  They are making big progress on the new bridge to the olympic museum, I should be taking that route soon.

Another thing they are making progress on - the new Weldwerks tap house that will be opening by my house.  Perhaps by the end of summer???

The Salida marathon was postponed today, to next week.  I am out of town, so this will be the first year I miss the race.  Hopefully none of the whiney front range trail runners get their decked out Pathfinders dirty on the drive down.  It was too late in the game to cancel the VRBO so we are gonna head down this weekend anyways.  

Nielsen

Thurs - run commute 16.  5.4 there in 51 flat, 5.6 home through Sondermann in 69 minutes.  Good climb at lunch.

Fri - bike commute 17.  10.7 miles there.  After work I met $100 at the new Red Swing Brewery in the old Fieldhouse Brewing building.  Later that evening I had the first zoom call of the Colorado Mountain Club Alpine Climbing School.  Looking forward towards getting that rolling.

Sat - Nielsen Challenge slog.  I can tell it had been A LONG time since I tried to race.  The goal was not aggressive, wanting to go sub 13, but I couldn't even get that.  13:05 officially.  Ugh.  Later that day $100 and I did a fantastic bike pub crawl.  Red Leg, Goat Patch, the new Mash Mechanix, the Triple Nickel, and Smiling Toad.  Good times.

The numbers for the week:

run - 34 miles/six hours

ride - 53 miles/5:15

hike - 21 miles/8.5 hours

Sun - bit hungover, but did get out for a nice 27 mile bike ride, heading south on the Santa Fe trail.  4.8 mile run on the Red Rock Canyon trails, ending at Fossil Brewing for my sixth brewery of the weekend.

Mon - easy ride on the COVID loop, 14 miles in 80 minutes.  

Tues - bike commute 18.  10.75 miles to work.  Great day.  And the weather has been fantastic.  Hard to believe we have major snow coming along this weekend.

I received my second COVID vaccine shot on early Monday morning.

birds

Bailed after work on Friday for Oil Well Flats.  Nice 4.5 mile family run on those trails on Saturday morning.  Didn't think twice about hitting The Owl for breakfast.  Yes, I ordered three double cheeseburgers at 9AM, van life is the best.

Then it was off to Monte Vista.  I had always heard about the sandhill crane migration and that gave us a good excuse to spend a weekend in the Valley.  It was pretty impressive, there were probably at least 10,000 birds just hanging out there.  

Spent Saturday night at the town park in Del Norte.  They are nice enough to allow one night of vehicle camping in their park right by the river.  Luckily it's also a two minute walk to Three Barrel Brewing.

Back home on Sunday, dropping by Moonlight and Tres Litros.  Can't wait to spend a long weekend there for the marathon.  Florence Brewing ended a great weekend trip.

Monday - track.  I've probably been doing only MAF paced stuff for the last 15 months, thought it was maybe time to up the effort a bit.  Alas, the track was still covered in ice and snow.  Still ground out 6 x 400m with 200m RBI.  Untimed, but slow, luckily I can blame that on the conditions.  Red Mountain in the evening, hitting up Manitou Brewing for their seventh anniversary after that run.

Tues - bike commute 16.  Ten there, eleven back.  Spring weather FTW.  Good climb at lunch, once again tackling some 5.9s.  

Wed - run commute 15.  Five there, four back.  Mediocre bouldering session at lunch.  Guitar practice in the evening, working on Neil Young's Harvest Moon.

bike commute 15

Mon - 5.4 miles on the Garden roads in the AM.  Red Mountain in the PM.

Tues - bike commute 14.  Eleven there, eleven back.  CityRock 23 at lunch.  Another 5.9.  Starting to get that grade fairly consistently.

Wed - run commute 13.  Five there, four back.  Some bouldering at lunch.  While at my guitar lesson it started to snow.

Thurs - run commute 14.  This came after taking all morning to dig out of a pretty big snowstorm for us.  We had eight inches at my house.  Thursday nights are now big at our house as we get pizza from Roman Villa, watch the Tedeschi Trucks show, and Andy Frasco is back with his shitshow.

Fri - bike commute 15.  Eleven to work.  Bike path was still a bit sketchy but not too bad.  Everything should melt out this weekend.

Headed down to Canon City in the van tonight.  Tomorrow it's off to the San Luis Valley for the rest of the weekend.

The week that was...

We seem to have survived the arctic blast.  Much warmer over the weekend.  Mileage was down due to the low temps but it was a good run week.

Run - 44 miles/7.5 hours

Ride - 8.4 miles/one hour

Hike - 17.2 miles/seven hours

And another good week at CityRock.

Easy six miler on Sunday AM on the Garden roads, then $100 and I jumped on the bike and rode over to Metric Brewing.  15 miles total.

20

It kind of warmed up on Saturday and I took advantage of it with a good long run.  20 miles on the Midland, Santa Fe, and Sinton trails.  3:09:26.  Still some ice out there on the trails but otherwise it was a good day to be outside.  My first twenty miler in a long time.  Maybe I'll beat the cutoff at Salida.

-16

I think we have made it through the cold.

Early Monday morning we got down to -16F, breaking a record that had been around since 1895.  Had a few days in a row where we didn't even reach 0F.  And then we got significant snow on Wednesday.  But hey, we had power, so things could've been worse!

Mon - 6.7 miles in the Garden, wearing all the clothes I own.

Tues - bike commute 13.  Straight there and straight home on the fat bike.  CityRock 19 at lunch, for the first time ever I climbed 5.9 on the first attempt.

Wed - run commute eleven.  Five there and four back.  The snow started around 2PM so the run home was nice.  CityRock 20 at lunch.  Solid hour of guitar lesson followed by Benny's, followed by some late night sidewalk shoveling.

Thurs - early morning sidewalk shoveling followed by run commute 12.  Four there and four back.  Lots of ice and snow, making these combined walk/jog suffles.  CityRock 21 at lunch.  Hit up Fossil in the evening for Shelby's last shift, good times there.

Fri - today was the light at the end of the tunnel, the beginning of the thaw out.  But when I got up to walk the dog it was 5F.  I made some coffee, took the dog out just long enough for her to shit, then played guitar until it was time to catch the bus.

40s for the weekend, which is going to feel downright tropical.  Hoping to get in a good long run on Saturday and a good long ride on Sunday.

Seems like the COVID bullshit is finally, maybe starting to take a turn for the better???  I'm optimistic enough that I bought tix today to see Tedeschi Trucks at Red Rocks for their two night run in late July...

still cold

Not much going on over the weekend.  I went to CityRock on Friday.  The temps have remained significantly below zero so I just hunkered down indoors.  Got some shit done around the house, did some reading, but nothing active.  Yeah I could have bundled up in five layers and went out and crushed some ten minute miles but I just didn't have the motivation.  I'm pretty sure this is the coldest stretch in COS since I've lived here.

For the week:

run - 28 miles/5.5 hours

ride - 62 miles/6.5 hours

hike - 16 miles/6.5 hours

I did have a good week at the climbing gym, so at least there's that.

colder

Thurs - run commute ten.  Was thinking about getting after some faster stuff, but it was 11F when I left the house.  Wasn't much warmer on the way home.  Ugh.  CityRock at lunch.

Fri - I purposely slept in, until 4:45AM, hoping it would magically be warmer out.  Nope.  5F while I was out shoveling the walks.  Dog wasn't having anything to do with going outside.  3F when I left the house at 7:30AM to catch the bus.  Gonna be a rough weekend as things won't start warming up until Tuesday.  The current predicted high for Sunday is 5F.  Yay.  We sure have had a lot of days under 20F this year.

So mostly indoors this weekend.  Highlight will be watching the Pearl Jam show that starts streaming tonight.  Lots of guitar practice as well.

$100 has had both her vaccine shots.  I've had one and will get my second one in early March.

cold

Sunday - good ride up to Pikes Peak Brewing and back, just over 40 miles as I ended up at Trinity Brewing.  Longest ride of the year so far.

Mon - pretty sore from the weekend, but still wanting to start hitting the track again, I headed up for 5 x 200m super slow.  Seven mile ride at lunch on a new trail in Red Rock Canyon, then Red Mountain in the evening.

Tues - bike commute 12.  6.9 miles through Sondermann there, 4.9 miles back home.  Really good climb at lunch.

Wed - run commute nine.  Five miles there in 45 minutes, 5.7 super slow miles back home via Sondermann.  CityRock 16 at lunch.  

It has been trending colder each day for a while.  Culminates on Sunday where the current predicted high temp is 8F.  Yay.  Glad I got in some miles this past weekend, 'cuz ain't much happening this weekend.

18

Good day on Saturday.  Nice 2.5 mile hike with the dog over in Williams Canyon to start the day.  Always forget how awesome that place is.  Followed that with a solid 18 mile run on the Santa Fe trail, all at MAF pace.  Headwind most of the way, but the run felt great.  2:47:23.  After that I was lucky enough to get in a second dog hike, hanging out with my boy Moose and Amanda’s new dog Milli Vanilli.  

Manitou Mardi Gras is cancelled this year, but we celebrated on Saturday.  Trails End, then the bus to Manitou for the Royal and Manitou Brewing, then back to Fossil.  Good times.

It was like a dog park at Fossil.

run commute eight

Wed - run commute seven.  Five miles to work along the Midland and Santa Fe trails.  Pushed fairly hard the middle three miles, hit them in 7:07, 7:06, and 8:03 (some of that was at a red light), which is as fast as I've run in a long time.  CityRock 13 at lunch, and a very easy four miles back home.  Guitar practice in the evening, where we worked on Tom Petty's Wildflowers.

Thurs - bike commute eleven.  Ten there, eleven back.  CityRock 14 at lunch.  Started up the garage gym sessions this week, lots of sandbag get ups and leg blasters.  Good stuff.  

Fri - run commute eight.  Legs were toast from all the leg blasters.  Five miles to work in 48 minutes.  Not on social media anymore, including Strava, so I am now able to run different routes to work instead of defending my stupid local legend status on the Midland Trail.  Today I took a different route that runs on a long overpass over highway 25.  Pretty cool section that isn't well known. 

Recent piece on the Roman Villa, where we have eaten once a week since this COVID thing started.  I climb once a week with one of the owners, and they throw in two meatballs each week for our dog.   

Not much on deck for the weekend.  Long run on Saturday.  Ride on Sunday.  We'll see whatever else comes up.  

A lot (three, plus a Colorado resident who was killed in an avalanche in Alaska) of avalanche deaths in Colorado over the past few days, including the owner of Bonfire Brewing.

airplane

Pretty lazy this weekend, which I justified by saying I was trying to get ahead of this hip discomfort.  

Finished the land nav course on Saturday, kind of a refresher from my Army days.  Got to play around North Table Mountain in Golden so that was cool.

On Sunday we all headed down to Canon City so $100 could fish the Arkansas.  Hiked the dog for an hour before heading over to Brothers.  Then hit Florence Brewing on the way back.  Good, lazy day.

On the way there, we came upon some weird traffic.

This plane had to make an emergency landing.  On the highway.  Then get towed to the local airport, very slowly.  

For the week.  Low numbers due to the shitty temps and nagging injury:

run - 19 miles, four hours

ride - 58 miles, 5:44

hike - 19 miles, eight hours

For the month:

run - 25 runs, 141 miles, 26:15

ride - 25 rides, 236 miles, 23:11

hike - 41 hikes, 109 miles, 42:45

Right on the money as far as the yearly distance goals go.

Mon - just gonna try to manage this hip thing.  It's not bad, and I'm hopeful it goes back to 100% from it's current 85% soon.  Still got out for a good 14 mile gravel ride in the afternoon, then hit Red Mountain after work.  Got two summits of Red as I ran into Marc on the way down the first climb.

Tues - bike commute 10, CityRock 12.  Trying to get in the bike miles before the shitty weather rolls in later this week.

hip to be square

Currently dealing with a weird douche grade hip/hip flexor/quad injury type thing.  Nothing serious, just a pain in the ass.  No idea what caused it, or when it will go away.  Getting old sucks.

Wed - nothing.  It was 4F at 5AM, and at 6:30AM it had dropped another degree.  Took the dog out just long enough for her to shit and played guitar all morning.  Then took the bus to work.  Did get to CityRock for lunch, so it wasn't a completely lazy day, but it was close.

Thurs - the hip thing only really hurts when I've been sitting down and then get up.  For some reason I thought I'd rest it by biking to work instead of running.  About halfway through my ten mile ride to work I realized that the biggest sitting related activity I do is biking (I have a stand up desk at work).  Still got in twenty miles on the day though.

Fri - normally a bike day, but decided to run, which feels fine.  Quick 3.6 miler each way.  Run commute six.

Off to Golden early Saturday to complete the CMC land nav class.  Meeting Shad at Over Yonder at 2PM if anyone is thirsty.

RIP to former Temple hoops coach John Chaney, one of the legends of the sport.

bike commute 8

Sat - quick 5.8 miler over in Red Rock Canyon followed by a 25 mile ride up to the Air Force Academy.  Then it was a ton of beers and the hash to close out Saturday.

For the week ending January 23rd:

run - 30 miles/5.5 hours

ride - 48 miles/five hours

hike - 27 miles/10.5 hours

Three trips to CityRock.  Need to get back to the garage gym.  And the yoga streak ended this week, but I'm still doing more yoga than ever for me.

Sun - ran up to the Top of the W's, 6.5 miles, then biked the COVID loop, 14.5 miles.

Mon - got some early morning snow.  After shoveling the walks I headed over to the Garden since they plow there early.  5.5 miles.  It warmed up later on and I was able to get 13.7 miles on the bike.  Online avalanche awareness shindig in the evening.

Tues - more snow and cold as balls, but I took the fat bike to work.  Four there and four back.  Bike commute 8.  18F on the way there, 16F back.  No thanks.

bike commute seven

Can't put my finger on why but it's been a very meh week.  Every commute was basically straight there and back, every climbing session was mediocre to poor.  Had started ramping up the effort this month and I guess it finally caught up to me.  Hopefully after a few lower mileage days I'm back to normal next week.

Tues - run commute four.  4.3 there, 5.6 home.  CityRock seven at lunch.

Wed - bike commute six, CityRock eight.

Thurs - run commute five, CityRock nine.

Fri - bike commute seven.  

Pitt hoops took down Duke this week, so it wasn't all bad.

So Many Roads

Jan 16 - behaved myself on Friday night, staying in to complete an online land nav course offered by the CMC.  That allowed me to get up early on Saturday for a dog hike followed by a 15.8 mile loop on the COVID route, 2:23, all at MAF pace.  Best run in a while.

For the week:

run - 42 miles/seven hours

ride - 60 miles/six hours

hike - 25 miles/just under ten hours

Saturday afternoon I headed up north to check out So Many Roads brewing, which caught my attention as they bill themselves as a Grateful Dead museum.  It's owned by the same guys who own Sancho's, and it didn't disappoint, though I want to return if this COVID bullshit ever subsides.  Saw Shad and Kircher up there, first time seeing those guys in a long time.  Quick trip to Sancho's as well.

Didn't drink much as I was driving, but that ended once I got home and hit Fossil.  Few too many, which ended up wrecking my Sunday motivation for riding or running.  No worries, as me and the dog loaded up the van ($100 was out of town) and headed down to Fremont County.  Spent some time at Florence River Park, hit up Florence Brewing, then headed out to Oil Well Flats for the night.  A little reading, some guitar, and an early-ish turn in to bed.

Woke up on Monday and headed out for what I thought would be a four mile hike.  Quickly turned into a 6.5 miler, the dog's longest in a while but she loved it.  She's been sleeping hard since that hike ended though.

Less than a day and a half until this guy hits the road.

Into The Wild

Jan 13 - bike commute four.  Ten miles there, 4.2 back.  Busy Wednesday night as I had guitar practice, a return trip to Benny's (now open again after reduced COVID restrictions), and Amanda's 40th b-day party.

Jan 14 - run commute three.  4.2 there and 4.2 back.  Not very fast (see: last night).  CityRock at lunch but not much to write about there.

Jan 15 - bike commute five.  Straight to/from work.  $100 is out of town this weekend so I have extra dog duty the next few days.

Wanna feel old?  This book came out 25 years ago.

bike commute 3

The weekend was kind of a bust on the physical activity front as I spent most of the time supporting local breweries.  Visited Fossil, Red Leg, Lost Friend, and Metric.  Evan paid a visit to the Skybox Lounge.

Jan 11 - Monday is now a work from home day for me, and will remain so for a while.  Want to get back to the track, but due to recent snow Holmes is a mess.  7.5 miler on the Garden roads.  15 mile gravel ride at lunch.  3.6 miles up and down Red Mountain after work.  

Jan 12 - $100 got a new sauna for xmas.  So I found myself doing some yoga in the early AM, and the temp in there hit 130F.  Then I jumped on the bike to head to work and it was 18F.  Ouch.  Ten miles there, eleven back.  Still a bit icy on the Santa Fe/Sinton bike paths.

the week that was...

Fairly decent first full week of ‘21.  Increased the intensity a bit and I definitely felt it, especially the garage gym stuff.

Run - 38 miles/7.5 hours

Ride - 54 miles/just under five hours

Hike - 24 miles/9.5 hours

And four good CityRock sessions.

yoga

Jan 5 - bike commute one.  Ten there, eleven back.  CityRock one at lunch.  The gyms here are also open at a greater capacity so that makes things a bit easier schedule-wise.

Jan 6 - run commute one.  Five there, 3.5 back, the time in between spent with my jaw dropped watching the crazy shit go down over in DC. 

Jan 7 - run commute two.  4.8 there in 42:20.   4.2 back in 42:34.  Good bouldering session at lunch.  Actually made a few moves on a V4.

I am currently on a yoga streak.  I stumbled across Yoga15 and signed up for their 28 day challenge.  The 15 minute sessions, which cut out all the spiritual and mindfulness stuff I don't care about, are perfect for me.  I'm able to squish the session in between my morning dog hike and guitar practice.  So we'll see where this goes.

bike commute 1

Might have let myself relax a bit too much over x-mas as my weight increased quite a bit.  Back at it with the new year though.

Jan 1 - 10k over in Red Rock Canyon.  Might have been horribly hungover.  But still had to knock out the annual Rescue Run miles.

Jan 2 - 5.5 mile Garden run followed by a 15 mile ride on the 'ol COVID loop.

Jan 3 - Incline Club.  Ran up the new incline bail trail, connected to the steps around 1/3 of the way up, and climbed.  Back down and up Red Mountain.  Ten miles total, just over 3k of vert.  21 miles on the bike in the evening.

Jan 4 - nice seven miler on the Garden roads in the AM, 3.6 miles up and down Red Mountain in the evening.  We are back to level orange so the post run beer at Manitou Brewing was my first drink inside a brewery since before Thanksgiving.

20/21

2020, get the fuck out of here.  '21 is the jersey number of The Great One Roberto Clemente so this is guaranteed to be a fantastic year.

The final numbers:

run - 289 runs, 1611 miles, 314 hours.  73 days of run commuting.  I did get two marathons in, Salida and Pikes, and an ultra, Cheyenne Mountain.

ride - 289 rides, 2633 miles, 265 hours.  91 days of bike commutering.  And finally crossed the Alpine Loop of the bucket list.

hike - 487 hikes, 1204 miles, 460.5 hours.  Got way ahead of my 1000 mile goal back in March/April when CityRock closed down and I used those lunch hours to hump out some miles.  

To-do for 2021:

-I'm signed up for the CMC Alpine Climbing School which runs from March through mid-May.  That was a fairly significant cost ($600) so I'll devote a lot of time to learning and doing everything that throws at me.

-Climbing: 71 trips to CityRock on the year.  I'll continue to push on with last years goal of getting to 5.9/V4 in the gym.  I'm pretty much there with 5.9, and have a long way to go for the V4.  CityRock is a bit wonky right now with the COVID restrictions so I'll just keep plugging away at whatever gym time I can get.  We'll see where the CMC class takes my outdoor climbing, which was mostly absent in '20.

-As far as races, if they happen, I'll do Salida, the Garden to Peak Challenge with the Pikes Double, and the Rut.  And Chicago.  Goal for Chicago will be to run a BQ, which I happily found out is no longer 3:10 for me, but 3:20.  Not opposed to jumping into some local races but I'm not going to put them on the calendar to give me more time to explore some parts of Pikes I have yet to visit and to continue to work on that 14er list of mine which I should have finished a decade ago.

-On the guitar front, Jan 1 was my nine month mark.  I shoot to practice half an hour, five days a week, and I almost always play more.  Songs I can currently play: Bad Moon Rising by CCR, and Mad World by Tears For Fears.  Songs I am getting close to being able to play: Norwegian Wood by the Beatles and Ooh La La by Faces.  I am starting to work on the F chord, which will be super difficult and take a lot of time to nail down, but I think it will really open up some shit for me.  My guitar playing is bad, but my singing is on another level of terrible as I have a pretty monotone voice.  Will never rise above campfire playing for $100 and the dog and I'm fine with that as I'm having fun learning, and it has made the live music I've been watching even more enjoyable.  $100 has green lighted an electric guitar once I hit the year mark and I've been squirreling away some cash, and I'm starting to get pretty psyched for that.  Look for some kind of Fender strat to make an appearance in '21.

-Vanlife: the big trip will be based around the Rut.  Shoot up to Montana and get the race out of the way, then meander our way back home.  No route set yet, but some highlights will include the Mint Bar, Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, and Lander city park.  Other than that, lots of Fremont County, and some more exploring of the San Luis Valley.

And then just some other shit I've been bouncing around: the Ten Mile Traverse, my house to Living The Dream via Rampart Range Road, and Rumdoodle Ridge to name a few.

xmas in the valley

$100 and I found ourselves with a long weekend so we packed up and took off to the San Luis Valley. 

Left early Thursday at a strategic time that put us at Moonlight Pizza just as they opened.  Then it was up and over Poncha Pass to the Zapata Falls campground.  I expected the place to be completely empty but to my surprise there were two other people there!  Hiked over to Zapata Falls before holing up in the van for the night.

Temps were frigid.  The temp in the morning when I woke up each day was never over -3F, and it was cold enough inside the van to freeze our water bottles each night.  Dog spent a lot of time covered in down.

On Christmas day we went down to the Sand Dunes for one of our favorite hikes.  We head out Medano Pass Road for 2.5 miles, then cross the frozen creek over to the Dunes.  The scenery is unbeatable.

The hike is a tad bit sketchy when entering the Dunes (for humans, anyways, the dog crushed it).  You can see $100 in the upper left corner here, crossing a steep face of sand on her way to level ground.

Once that initial climb and traverse is out of the way, it's just fun hiking.

After the Dunes we headed in to Alamosa.  Nothing was open except the gas station.  My xmas feast:

From the gas station it's a straight shot up highway 17 to our next campsite, the UFO watchtower.  We love this place and visit often, but we hadn't spent the night since we were on our way to Vegas to get married.

Had a few beers on the sketchy but stable patio while looking for aliens, then it was back to the van to escape the chilly temps.

On Saturday we headed over to Monte Vista and hiked the wildlife refuge.  a nice 3.5 mile dirt road mosey around some wetlands.  Then it was off to Del Norte for pizza and brews at Three Barrel.  Rio Grande County has less restrictive COVID rules right now than El Paso County (where Colorado Springs is) or Alamosa County (where the Dunes are) and it was nice to be able to eat inside.  It's still easy to do the social distance thing in the Valley as there just aren't very many people there.  FYI, Chaffee County (Salida) was open and our Moonlight lunch was the first time eating inside in a long time.

After Del Norte it was off to the Sand Dunes Hot Springs for the night.  We enjoyed a two hour block in the grown up room, drinking some Eddyline beers while soaking in the hot pools.  Early night to bed, then it was back home the next day.

We did try a new burger joint on the way back.  Had seen this place for years, but had never stopped in.  Located on HWY 50 as you're entering Canon City.  Super good.

Of course, we ended the trip in style, dropping by Florence Brewing to day hello.  Just over 600 miles on the weekend.

red

Marc and I made the trek up Red Mountain to bring celebrate the winter solstice by sleeping on top of a hill.  Great night for it as the temps didn't drop below 30F.

Hopped on the bus near my house and got out at Manitou Brewing.

Then the quick hike up to the summit in the dark.  Few beers up there before crashing for the night.

Hoping to get out again next week for the bikepacking.com Good Night 2020 overnighter.

Heading down to the San Luis Valley for the long weekend.  Canon City on Wednesday after work, Zapata Falls/Sand Dunes on Thursday to Saturday, hot springs on Saturday evening, then back home on Sunday.  Could be some serious low temps but we'll be prepared.

1600

Fri - run commute 73.  4.2 miles to work.  Ended up taking the bus home as I didn't feel like dealing with the cold.

Sat - six miles over in Red Rock Canyon.  Then we hosted one of the booze checks for the Kimchi hash 12 down downs of x-mas.  Good times.

For the week:

run - 46 miles, 7.5 hours

ride - a big fat zero - too cold

hike - 24.5 miles, just under ten hours

Sun - nursing a hangover but got out for an easy four miler on the Garden trails.  Towards the end of the run I hit my '20 running mileage goal of 1600 miles.  Done with my distance goals for the year.  1000 miles hiking, 2600 on the bike, and now the run.  Will probably keep the same goals for next year as the distances keep me in decent shape and allow time for other stuff.

run commute 72

Tues - 7.5 mile run on the Garden runs sandwiched between some good dog hikes.  

Wed - run commute 71.  4.1 miles there, 3.5 miles home.  

Thurs - run commute 42.  4.1 miles there.  If nothing else, this lower mileage I've been doing during the darkest time of the year has cemented my local legend iron grip on the 21st to 8th street portion of the Midland Trail.

It has been unseasonably cold in the mornings here.  20F or lower every day for what seems like decades but is probably closer to a week.  Somehow the dog can sense this and it's getting harder and harder to get her out of bed in the temp is below 25F.  

Really digging the new Sancho's shirts:

incline 23

Another early morning trip up the Incline on Saturday.  If you go before 6AM you don't need a reservation.  Super cold, with recent snow, but as usual it was a good day to be on the mountain.

On Saturday evening we all jumped in the van, dog included, and went to the annual 12 beers of x-mas party at Marc & Amanda's.  Hardly any people this year, but we still wrapped a ton of brews for people.  Drank way too much and slept in the van out in front of their house.  Good times.

Hungover on Sunday but I managed to get out the door for 4.2 miles around the neighborhood.  Roads and sidewalks are a hot mess right now.  Not nearly the hot mess my beloved Steelers have been lately though.

Monday - run commute 70.  42 more miles to go to meet my '20 distance goal (1600 miles) and I'm gonna try to knock that out during this current arctic chill.

Thinking of heading down to the Sand Dunes over x-mas this year.

2600

Tues - bike commute 87.  6.7 miles through Sondermann there, 11.5 back home on the COVID loop.  CityRock 65 at lunch.

Wed - run commute 68.  4.4 miles  there. 4.1 back home.  CityRock 66 at lunch.  My usual run commute will be undergoing a major route change in early '21.  Once this pedestrian walkway is complete, I'll jump on it at America The Beautiful park and cross the railroad tracks over to the new Olympic museum.

Guitar lesson in the PM.  My cadet's boyfriend left some of his stuff at our house while they are all home on winter break.  Including his Taylor mini.  So that's what I'll be playing for the next few weeks.

Thurs - bike commure 88.  10.7 there, 11 back home.  Went over my 2020 bike mileage goal of 2600 miles on the way back home. 

incline 22?

Sat - my first incline in over two months.  Think it was my 22nd time this year.  Very slow as I am not in climbing shape.  But I'm starting to work on that.  Later in the afternoon I once again tested the defective bike tire by riding from Fossil to Goat Patch.  Tire still going strong.

Pretty decent week.

run - 30 miles/six hours

ride - 75 miles/8:20

hike - 20 miles/eight hours

Sun - signed in with the Incline Club, then headed up Barr Trail to No Name Creek.  Did I mention I was not in climbing shape?  Quite a bit of hiking to keep my HR below MAF.  Which for me is 140 bpm.  After the run $100, hollydog, and I headed up to Teller County to cut down our Charlie Brown christmas tree.

Mon - up early for a four mile dog hike followed by a seven mile run on the Garden roads.

New political movement happening here in Old Colorado City.  I'm behind it 100%.

bubble

Thurs - bike commute 85.  Started down the alley on the Mariachi and noticed the alley was really, really bumpy.  Looked down, and I found that it wasn't the alley but my tire.

This has happened before, and the tire is shot, so I just changed out bikes and got to work.  Seven there through Sonderman, eleven back home via the COVID loop.  CityRock 63 at lunch.

Fri - awesome early morning family hike over in the Garden.  Heard a bunch of coyotes howling, first time I've heard that in the 'hood in a while.  Later, as I went out to grab a bike and head to work, I noticed the bubble on the Mariachi tire was magically gone!  I know I'm on borrowed time until that tire explodes but I did make it the quick four miles to the office.  If it blows going to/from work I can just jump on the bus to finish the trip.  CityRock 64 at lunch.

Wednesday early afternoon football

Mon - good step back in the right direction.  Sixty minute run in Red Rock Canyon in the AM, ten mile ride in RRC for lunch, Red Mountain after work.  Due to current code red restrictions Manitou Brewing closed at 6PM so I was unable to get my weekly pint of High Ground IPA.

Tues - bike commute 84.  Ten miles there, a quick four miles back home as the temperature plummeted during the day.  CityRock, now reservation only and only allowing twenty folks in at a time, for lunch.  Got in a good garage workout after getting home.

Run commute 67 on Wednesday morning.  4.4 miles in 37 minutes.  Wanted to go further but it was still below 20F when I left.  Will run straight home after work in order to get to guitar practice on time.  No Benny's tonight as they are closed down due to COVID restrictions.

In case 2020 wasn't weird enough I will get to watch my beloved Steelers this afternoon at work.