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.

junk

The month of the sloth continues.  I'm getting out to get outside, but not much else.  A few miles via foot and bike as the end-of-the-year goal numbers are due soon.

But, as usual, the annual "the incline club will start this week" e-mail has reminded me that I cannot be a drunk, fat slob all year long.  So I'll probably start getting back on a regular workout schedule from now until the winter solstice, and then I'll increase the mileage as daylight slowly sticks around longer.

Colorado Springs went to some bizarre new level on our COVID color dial on Friday.  I spent Thanksgiving night at the Royal Tavern, and they are now closed until our Gov decides to turn the dial to some other color.  Benny's is closed as well.  Breweries are currently able to serve you if you drink outside, somewhat challenging in Colorado this time of year, or get your beer to go.  Made a quick ride over to Cerberus on Sunday to pick up some crowlers, and they have a big tent set up.  Which is apparently different than being inside as tent was pretty crowded.

On Saturday afternoon we grabbed Moose and took the dogs down to the Shelf Road camping area in Canon City.  Just a quick overnight to get out.  Good hike on Sunday morning before returning back.

I am in for the '21 Chicago Marathon if it happens.  So right now the race schedule is:

March - Salida

June - Garden Ten Miler

July - Barr Trail Mountain Race

Aug - Pikes

Sept - The Rut

Will probably keep it at that as there are some local bike/hike/run routes I want to do in '21, as well as a few more 14ers.  The big van trip will be based around The Rut.

Kindergarten Rock

A while ago I made a silent goal of leaving my house, getting to the summit of Kindergarten Rock, and hiking back home.  Most of the routes up that rock are technical climbing routes, but there was an exposed scramble.  I didn't want to try it myself, but on Sunday I got an opportunity to join some more advanced climbers on a route.  

And it was fantastic!  It's definitely a scramble, not a climb, but there's some exposure and a fall at certain places wouldn't be very good.  Incredible scramble with some great view of the Garden and Pikes.  Posted some stuff on my Pikes blog, and here are some others (a few of which were stolen from my climber buddy Mike):

 

the major announcement...

 ...is nothing.

We drove out to the Ark Valley Humane Society in Buena Vista on Saturday to meet an Australian Cattle Dog mix.  It did not go well and it was decided that he needs to be an only dog.  He seems like a great dog if anyone is looking, he just needs a home to himself.

We are now 0-4 in our search for a second dog.  We've decided to remain a one dog family for now.  Holly is cool with that.

detraining

Monday - evening run up Red Mountain.  Took forever to get down as Marc lost his key and we had to find it.  Manitou Brewing after the run.

Tues - 5.6 mile run in Red Rock Canyon in the AM, followed by bike commute 80.  6.7 miles to work through Sondermann, eleven miles back via the COVID loop.  

Wed - run commute 65.  Four there, 3.5 back.  Guitar lesson in the evening, I'm currently learning a very watered down version of Blackbird.  Weekly PRB at Benny's after the lesson.

Thurs - bike commute 81.  Four miles there, 3.5 back.  We all dodged a bullet here on the Westside as a fire broke out over near the Bear Creek Dog Park.  Could have been disastrous to the Cheyenne Canon and Red Rock Canyon areas.  Luckily the CSFD was able to get it under control pretty quickly.

Fri - bike commute 82.  

Right now I'm just getting out to get out.  Easy efforts all around, and I'll probably keep it that way until the end of the year.  Did get an e-mail about Chicago and $100 and I are gonna sign up to run that in October '21.

Could possibly be a major announcement about the family in the next day or two...

Air Power!

This thing flew right over my house on Monday afternoon.  First time I've ever seen one (insert joke about how you're not supposed to see a stealth jet here).

Phantom Canyon

Another quick van trip down to Fremont County.  

Left Friday after work and went straight to Oil Well Flats.  Already dark when we parked, so it was a quick hike with the dog followed by some beers in the van before turning in early.  Windy AF, which would be a theme for the weekend.

Up early Saturday for a good 90 minute dog hike, then I went for an hour run.  It was already pretty warm and sunny for 8AM when $100 and I tagged off on dog duty and she took off on her bike.  I made some coffee and got out the guitar.  Not sure how long I had been playing, but I looked out the window and it was snowing.

$100 had planned on getting in some fishing on the Arkansas, but the wind made that difficult so we just went to The Owl for lunch.  So damn good.

Hung out in Canon City for a bit before heading over to Florence Brewing to waste some time.  Canon seemed dead, I guess everyone had gone to the million MAGA march.

Fremont County really nailed my current opinion on the whole mask thing:

We decided to head straight up the road to Phantom Canyon to spend the night.  We've both biked that road but never slept there.  Great place with lots of campsites.  Some more dog hiking, some more beers, and retreated to the van pretty early as the wind was still nuts.  

Up early on Sunday, drove up Phantom Canyon to Victor and returned through Woodland Park, stopping for a healthy breakfast at The Donut Mill.  Hard to see in this pic, but on the way up the Canyon we saw a bobcat.  He seemed just as curious about us as we were towards him.

Another quick weekender trip in the books.  Lots more of these shorter trips coming up.

21!

Wed - run commute 64.  Four miles there, 3.5 miles back.  Our cadet turned 21 on this veterans day.  USAFA kids are currently not allowed off base, but they are letting folks onto base.  So we took her dinner and, for her first legal alcohol ever, a Wild Weasel IPA from Red Leg.

Thurs - it's been cold as balls in the morning.  19F to walk the dog and still that cold to bike to work.  Bike commute 79.  Four miles to the office, eleven back home.

The commutes will fall off the rest of the year, as my office has had a COVID issue and I will be mostly working from home until at least January 1.  The dog is stoked.

ramble on

2020 just rolling right along.

The period between the time change (November 1st) and the shortest day of the year (December 23rd) is by far my least favorite time of the year.  The lack of darkness and the introduction of cold weather always saps the motivation.  Then, starting around Wednesday, I came down with some crazy non-COVID sickness that left me physically weak.  And we had to watch Moose for four days.  And the election and ongoing debacle afterwards.  And some issues at work that have left us short staffed.  And Fossil and Benny's having to close down for a few days.  And the Pueblo Half going to a virtual only format this year.

OK life isn't that bad if this is the worst it gets for me this year.  I'm sure there are others out there who have it much worse.  But I have allowed all that shit to basically put an end to the workouts.  Which is weak as fuck, but I guess if there's ever gonna be a good time to sit on my duff and drink beer and get fat it's now.

Did get out to Red Mountain on Monday night.  Forgot how great a run/hike that route is.  I hadn't been to Manitou in a LONG time - I've had no reason to go there ever since Manitou and COS started punishing incline climbers in their pissing match.  But after being reminded how delicious the High Ground IPA from Manitou Brewing is, I'll probably start returning on Monday evenings for the Red climb.

COVID seems to be blowing up here in the Springs.  I thought it was super weird the last time the thing exploded, maybe March through late October, I didn't know a single person personally who tested positive.  This time seems a lot different.  In the past week a whole bunch of peeps I know have officially come down with the 'VID.  

Bike commute 78 this morning on the fattie.  Four miles straight to work as it was pretty cold out.  It's been warming up all day so hopefully I can take the longer route home.

still here

Haven't been doing a whole lot since Cheyenne Mountain, besides drinking a lot of beer.  During the week after the race I ran once and made a few very short trips via bike.  The following weekend we took the van down to Canon City after work on Friday and hung out there until Saturday afternoon.  Great time hanging out at Oil Well Flats.  We came back on Saturday due to Fall Series III on Sunday AM, which we ended up missing because I completely spaced the new starting location.

As of today I do have the Rock Canyon half down in Pueblo coming up in a month and I'll start training for that.  Thinking 1:35 would be good.  Enough to make me sweat, but not enough to have to completely commit to painful training.  Of course, these parts are seeing some major COVID issues, so who knows if there'll even be a race.

2020 has been quite the shit show, but at least the election BS gets put behind us after today(ish).