Green Man

A while ago, back when all I was hearing were rumors, I posted something about the Green Man taproom.

I have been there a few times, and I've never really said anything bad about them.  I really, really wanted them to succeed.  But even after several months the service was shoddy at best and the average wait time to get a drink, no matter how empty the bar, was still way too high.  It's fairly obvious that the folks there aren't quite ready for prime time.  But hey, it's a bar that used to be a church, and in the Springs I think that's pretty awesome!

But then I got word that there was a cease and desist letter sent to a local beer blog, Focus On The Beer.  I'm not the biggest follower of that blog, as I don't use words like "nose" and "palate" when talking about my beer drinking.  But the guys are cool and they do great things for the local beer community.

Here's the article that prompted the lawyers.  Remember kids, when you post something on the interweb, it's there forever!

It's actually not that bad of a review.  And everyone you talk to down here says the same thing about Green Man.  "I really, really want them to succeed, but...."  You would think the folks in charge might listen to some constructive criticism.  Or maybe use some of their legal moolah to hire an extra bartender.  But I guess not.  Of course, when you steal your name and logo from another brewery, you probably need all the lawyers you can get.

This is the last straw though, I won't be back to Green Man.  Lawyers chasing after local beer swilling bloggers?  Bush league.  If I want a downtown taproom experience, I'll go drink my beers at Brewer's Republic. 

FYI, this review of Green Man was spot on!

Hump Day

Watched this a few times yesterday.  Great stuff.



Inspired by the video, today I did a little bit of everything.  Nice 45 minute hike with the dog this morning, followed by a quick bike ride to work.  Lunch was a pretty intense half hour of bouldering at CityRock.  70 minute hard ride home through Bear Creek Park, immediately followed by a great 45 minute run in Red Rock Canyon with $100 and the dog.

But it's not all health and fitness.  Right now I'm enjoying a growler I got on Sunday after some slave labor at the Bear Chase races.  Our Mutual Friend has some pretty solid brews.  OMF is actually the name of the brewery, not some inside joke on the guy we go to see to buy our PED's.  Try the Fresh Hop IPA, it's tasty.  I'd offer some of my growler to try but it's unfortunately empty now.

Also went to Epic Brewing.  HQ is in Salt Lake City, but they have a tap room in Denver now.  Meh.  Brings my total number of Colorado breweries visited up to 88 though.  Will get to 89 sometime this weekend in Pagosa.

Hope to hit a bunch of the Boulder breweries the weekend of November 9th.  I'll be in town for the Boulder IPA fest (believe it or not, I've never been to Avery) and I hope to hit a few other joints while I'm there.

I mentioned the Green Man Taproom & Beer Garden that will be coming to the Springs.  Here's the logo:

I sure hope they're in cahoots with the Green Man Brewery in Asheville, NC.  Mostly because I LOVED the beer there when $100 and I visited, but also because if they're not, they're probably going to get sued for copying the name and logo.

Word on the streets says this new pub is the work of Scott Simmons of the American Distance Project.

beer 210

Easy five on the Garden roads on Tues AM, easy seven on those same Garden roads in the PM.  10K on those roads Wed AM.  The Garden never gets boring.

Rumor has it that Green Man here in the Springs has been contacted by lawyers from Green Man in Asheville.  To be continued...

The Springs brewery scene continues to grow.  Iron Bird will open on August 16, and Gold Camp Brewing will open a few months after that.  Read about them here.  Both breweries are walking distance from my office and a quick ride down the bike path from my house.

Toadies tonight at the Black Sheep.  Gonna party like it's 1994!

hump day

Tuesday PM - Took off on the bike after work and it was a glorious day for Cheyenne Canon.  My strongest climb this year, which included adding on the extra mile up High Drive, returning via Cap't Jacks.  20 miles, 2.5 hours, convenient ending at Fossil Brewing for some Mammoth IPA.  FYI, Fossil is currently out of the Elevation Ale but are working on that.

Wednesday AM - Incline #12 with the dog.  Dog sure is loving the early morning hump day trips up and down the mountain.

I have mentioned (with disgust) Green Man tap room here before, and there will be no more of that now that they are closed.  The owner got evicted, then trashed the place as he was on his way out.  Classy.  He says he will be back with a new bar, hopefully it's somewhere far away from Colorado.  I've heard lots of rumors about how shady the owners are, so this situation isn't much of a surprise.  Sad that such a great idea could go to such shit though.  Fun fact: the owners were actually kicked off yelp for writing too many reviews about themselves under fake names.

Headed to the east side tonight, to Library 21C for a meeting about the bike master plan for the city.  While I'm over there I'll hit up Nano 108 to see what's on tap there and to make up some ground on Timko in our passport challenge.  Last one to fill up their passport buys the winner a passport next year.

beer #60

Manitou Mardi Gras.  One of the best days of the year!  Made even better this year by the late breaking news that the long awaited opening of Manitou Brewing was going down.  After Friday night at Green Man I was pretty skeptical of any so-called "soft" openings, but MBC nailed it.  Great beer (though they only have two of their own on tap right now, more is coming soon), great bar.  Definitely check the place out next time you visit Manitou.  They have some great guest taps, but the beer for today was their Manitou Pale Ale.

In other Manitou drinking news, there is now a sign at Kinfolk's that says they will be back soon.  Hopefully that's the case, Kinfolk's is a great place to finish up a long workout on the Peak.  And it's the only bar in Manitou I can take my dog to.

There is also a new  bar coming to the space formerly occupied by the Dulcimer Shop.  Pikes Peak Pub.  One of our favorite Manitou bartenders, Jason, is in charge of that show, so expect great things.

Brewer's Republic

Went to Brewer's Republic after work yesterday for a Telluride Brewing Company tap takeover.  Great beer, and it's now available here in the Springs.  Met both brewers, as well as the new brewer from Manitou Brewing.  The Manitou brewer assures me that while they will have stuff like sour beers, they won't forget that there are still some folks out there who enjoy drinking beer flavored beer.

Picked up the new brewing map and hell if there weren't two places from Colorado Springs that I've never heard of.  Nano 108 Brewing way out on the east side near Kansas, and the Green Man Taproom & Beer Garden.  Neither of these places are open, but I have coupons for free beer when they do.  My extensive research on the topic led me to this list, which hints that in the not-to-distant future we could have more than 230 breweries in Colorado.  That's a lot of growlers.

Need to get back on some kind of normal workout schedule, I'm definitely starting to feel a difference as I slowly lose all that fitness I spent the first eight months of the year building up.  Will have to get on that tomorrow, as I'm headed to Reel Rock tonight.

Volunteering at the Bear Chase on Saturday.  I'll be out there all day if anyone wants to come say hello.

Good luck to everyone running this weekend.  The Bear, Bear Chase, Mt. Taylor, and of course the Zombie Run right here at Fox Run Regional Park.

beer #51

AM - Slept in.  Snow and cold temps.  Winter has defeated me and I'm just biding my time until we start seeing temps in the 60s  or higher every day.  Did take the dog out for a walk and biked to work though.

Lunch - Half hour at the gym.  Saw Vega at the 7-11 on the way back to the office.  He tried to steal my wallet.

PM - Half an hour ride home, followed by a five mile run on the Garden roads.

Short article on my friend Katie who designed the Smokebrush label.

Looks like the Green Man Taproom will be opening soon.  Still can't figure out how they're not getting sued, but the place is super close to my office and downtown CS needs more cool places, so I hope the joint rocks.

Back to Stout month.  One of the classics.

beers 99, 100, & 101

Still here.  Nothing on the workout front this week due to work and booze.  Probably a good thing, I was pretty wrecked after last weekend.  Hope to get back at it this weekend with a long ride on Saturday and a long run on Sunday.

Signed up for the Cheyenne Mountain 50K.  Also on the waitlist for the Oil Creek 100K.  Even debating on jumping into RnR Denver since you can get in this Sunday for $86.

99.  Raging Bitch IPA from Flying Dog.  Had this at Green Man with Fast Eddy, who was in town for his movie showing.

100.  Up in Denver for the Hops For Heroes fundraiser.  Loves me some Hop Abomination from Dry Dock.  Let's just say Friday wasn't my the most productive day at work for me.

101.  Small Batch 471 from Breckenridge.

beer 166

Felt like shit after the marathon on Saturday, so we bailed on staying in Leadville another night.  Did get out the door on Sunday for a 50 mile ride up to Pikes Peak Brewing and back.  Took me just under 4.5 hours.  I know I need to ride the Pb100 bike course but on Sunday I just would have been pushing my bike up and down Powerline and I didn't feel up to that.  But on the Santa Fe trail I was so fast the Air Force guys didn't even have time to wake up from their afternoon naps to come catch me.

$100 and I hit Green Man before the Tab Benoit show and I finally got to try the Stone Enjoy By 7-14-14. Was not disappointed.

As usual, Tab killed it.  So happy he includes Colorado Springs when he tours.  He should let his buddy Anders know how appreciative the crowds here are.

beer #59

Easy bike ride to work on Friday.  Ended up getting 22 hours on the bike in February.  Not as much as I wanted, but with the crappy weather I'll take it.  Definitely the most I've ever ridden in one month.  Also got 32 hours running in.  I'll be shooting to get 32 hours of each activity in March.  If the weather holds I'm going to bike down to Salida for the marathon, and that might take me 32 hours right there.

Green Man Taproom has finally opened their doors.  Definitely mixed reviews on the place.  They should have definitely waited another week or two before letting folks in.  But I had some New Belgium Firkin as the beer of the day, and they had quite a few Colorado IPAs on tap, once they finally got the taps flowing.  Place definitely has potential, hopefully they can live up to it.  Rumor has it that Marc got so drunk he tried to sleep in the front yard.

Jemez Mountain 50 miler

The big mistake of the race came on Friday afternoon. While filling up on gas and coffee in Walsenburg, somehow I managed to lose my right contact lens. This is OK for driving, but it does mess up your depth perception, which causes all kinds of problems if you’re trying to run on technical trails. So as if running 50 miles up and down mountains wasn't hard enough, I was not going to do it half blind. Oh well, as I always say, I love it when it sucks!

Part I: Start to Mitchell Trailhead, 4.9 miles
Did what I could during this section, running at night with messed up depth perception. Just did my best not to trip on all the rocks and roots. After about 40 minutes the sun was up and I could ditch the flashlight, which helped things a lot. Came into the aid station right around 52 minutes. They had 120 people start the race, I was somewhere in the middle of ‘em at this point.

Part II: Mitchell TH to Guaje Ridge, 2.2 miles, 7.1 miles total
First major climb of the day. Lots of switchbacks up the side of a big hill, but nothing too bad for a Manitou resident. I settle in with a pack of four and maintain a decent pace up to the aid station.

Part III: Guaje Ridge to Caballo Base, 3.0 miles, 10.1 miles total
After the climb the trail drops pretty quickly here. Eventually we hit a concrete dam and climb a ten foot ladder to continue on. Really nice singletrack here, through a beautiful green forest. It’s chilly, as the canopy is blocking out the sun, but I wore the Moeben sleeves I stole from Pete and they’re working fine (though I may have to contact the company about making a custom pair of lightweight titanium sleeves - it's pretty hard to contain my guns!).

Part IV: Caballo Base to Caballo Summit, 2.0 miles, 12.1 miles total
Climb number two. Up to the summit of Caballo Mountain (10,496 feet) and back down. Pretty steep, I get into a fast hike and make my way up. About halfway up I see something moving in the bushes. A bear? A mountain lion? An alien (Roswell isn’t too far away…)? Nope, it’s a chick taking a dump. Stupid contact lens. I’m sure the gal thinks I was watching her drop her deuce and thinks I’m a pervert.

Part V: Caballo Summit to Caballo Base, 2.0 miles, 14.1 miles total
As I’m at the summit of Caballo the lead runner for the 50K passes me (50 milers had started an hour earlier than 50Kers). I begin the trek down the mountain at a decent clip, though that’s hard to maintain due to lots of rocks and roots, as well as all the runners coming up. It’s a fun out and back, as I get to see a lot of friends, including all the Texans who have made the trip to the mountains.

Part VI: Caballo Base to Pipeline, 2.8 miles, 17 miles total
Fairly uneventful stretch. I’m still running well here, though not feeling great. But instead of a feeling of impending doom, I have an idea that things are going to get better soon. I continue on and soon hear Robert H talking smack. He’s volunteering at the Pipeline aid station and has my drop bag ready for me. I drink a ton of coke, eat some turkey, and dig my iPod out of my bag. Robert tells me, “jt, you’re literally going to run off the side of a cliff to start this next section.” Whatever. Crazy Texans, always exaggerating stuff…

Part VII: Pipeline to Valle Grande, 4.0 miles, 21.0 miles total
“Seriously, I hafta go down this? Where’s the rope?” Guess Robert wasn’t exaggerating after all, leaving Pipeline you take a straight drop down a cliff. You just kinda go and try not to kill yourself in the process, reminded me a lot of some of the sections of Hardrock. Once I finally reached the bottom I fired up the iPod and was energized by the tunes. I ran a great pace the rest of the way to Valle Grande, mostly jeep roads, and passed quite a few people, including Shannon.

Part VIII: Valle Grande to Pajarito Canyon, 7.8 miles, 28.7 miles total
Time for the big climb, to go along with the longest section between aid stations. The early part of this section is pretty cool. You’ve been running on singletrack and jeep roads through the forest for most of the day and here everything opens up and you head across a field through the Valles Caldera National Preserve. The first mile or so was slightly uphill, nothing too steep, and I was still running while most people were walking. Did a great job of not breaking an ankle here. Again, I passed quite a few runners. Eventually things got a lot steeper and I was forced to hike, but I kept a good pace. Even got to do a little bit of class IV scrambling through this section, reminded me of hiking a Colorado 14er. Soon I caught up to a runner who made a wisecrack about my young age (compared to him, anyways) and we got to talking. Turns out the guy had spent time in central Pennsylvania and knew the area, including Sunbury and even Kratzerville, very well. As we finally got to the top of the climb I told him “can’t believe I let an old fart hang with me.” We would continue this banter the rest of the day. Soon after, right around 25 miles, Shannon caught up to us. She said to me, “hey, I remember that hat from Fruita.” I had run behind her for several miles out there, and I was afraid she’d slug me if I told her what I remembered about her from that race, so I just congratulated her on her strong finish out there. I ran down the hill with those two for a bit, but eventually hit a rock wrong and wrecked my right ankle. I stopped to walk while those two took off. My ankle didn’t hurt for long, but for some reason that slip up had taken all the gas out of me. I was suddenly dead tired and had to walk for a while. But good times and bad times come and go in races such as these, and after about two miles I got a surge of energy and took off once again. I started running very well, quick enough that I thought I’d catch the old man and Shannon within no time. I was running so strong here that I started to think I could rally over the second half for that 11:09 I needed to win a six pack of beer. Guess I was thinking way too much at this point, because I soon realized it had been a while since I saw a course marker. FUCK ME! A conservative guess was that I had run a mile straight through an intersection where I shoulda made a left turn. Made even worse by the fact that I had to climb back up to the intersection. While it may not sound like much, what’s running two more miles if you’re already running 50?, psychologically this was a killer for me. Instead of being two more miles closer to the finish, I had run two miles and made it no closer. I was crushed. I found the intersection, which was very well marked, and slugged my way to the aid station. The longest 7.8 mile stretch made almost ten miles due to my own stupidity. I pretty much gave up after this point. Once I saw they had Fat Tire at the aid station, I took a seat against a tree and enjoyed a cold brew.


Part IX: Pajarito Canyon to Townsite Lift, 3.9 miles, 32.6 miles total
After sobbing in my beer for what seemed like hours, I finally left the aid station to continue on my way. Mentally I was defeated after the extra distance, but physically I felt decent enough that I thought about walking it in from here just to get the finish. But that’s a long way to walk, so I settled into my usual airborne shuffle. This entire section is a climb, but nothing too rough. I run some, I hike some, I stumble over some roots and rocks like the half blind half mind I am. I’m very tired by now, but as much as I’m suffering I’m having a good time, enjoying the beautiful scenery and exploring new trails. I soon come upon the aid station at the bottom of a ski lift.


Part X: Townsite Lift to Ski Lodge, 3.6 miles, 36.2 miles total
Time for the final climb. Back and forth across a ski run to the top of Pajarito Mountain (10,441ft - the 149th highest peak in New Mexico). Shortly after leaving the aid station, my mouth and both hands filled with food, I pass a guy barfing out a lung along the trail. “Dude, that’s pretty epic, you gonna be OK?” I ask. And in the most polite voice ever, he replies, “Oh yeah, I’ll feel much better after this.” A few switchbacks later I’ll look down the hill and give a yell of encouragement to the guy, who would continue on (unfortunately, I would find out later he dropped at the next aid station). Anywho, wow, did this climb ever suck the life out of me! I knew I was well ahead of the cutoff so my pace continued to slow down with each step. The climb reminded me a lot of the final climb at San Juan, not really that bad but it just knows the perfect time to come at you. And the whole time I was being taunted by the ski lift, making me wonder if I should take up another activity that requires no physical effort to get to the top of a mountain. To make things even worse, this part had quite a few false summits. Sheesh, I was tired. Eventually I did make it to the top, only be greeted by the one thing I hate more than climbing – a retardedly steep descent. I could see the Ski Lodge from the top of the mountain, but in between was a straight shot down a double black diamond ski slope. Too steep to run. Too rocky to slide. This was gonna take a while. But I trudged on and eventually got to within earshot of the deck at the Ski Lodge, where Robert was waiting and yelled out, “JT, you run like a girl.” That didn’t sit too well with the dozen or so females hanging out at the lodge.


Part XI: Ski Lodge to Pipeline, 2.9 miles, 39.1 miles total
Only 14 miles to go, once again I’ve come to peace with the fact that I can walk it in and still finish. But this is a short, flat section, so I begin my shuffle. Lo and behold, I pass a few people – one of them being the Old Man! “Where the hell have you been?” he asks. I put on a fake game face and say, “I don’t wanna talk. Where the hell is that chick?” “HA! She’s finished by now!” The old guy and I come into the Pipeline aid station together.


Part XII: Pipeline to Guaje Ridge, 3.7 miles, 42.8 miles total
I chug what has to be two liters of coke, eat a few turkey wraps, and begin to head out. The old man waves me on, saying he is taking a break. About two steps later some of the aid station volunteers point to a blow up sheep and tell me I can’t leave the aid station without having my picture taken with the sheep. Of course, being a hasher, I immediately begin molesting the poor thing, and the riotous laugh from all the volunteers leads me to believe this will be the photo of the day. There are two small climbs on a jeep road along this section, and they reduce me to a crawl. The old man rallies and passes me on the second hill. I’m now dueling with a runner wearing a UCLA shirt, and we’re going into an extensive history on the life and times of Ben Howland. Eventually the road turns to singletrack and I’m forced to slow down, a victim of my physical fatigue and poor eyesight. Eventually I hit the Guaje Ridge aid station. God bless those volunteers, they’ve been sitting on top of a ridge all day, enduring the dropping temperatures with no shelter from the wind.


Part XIII: Guaje Ridge to Rendija Canyon, 5.3 miles, 48.1 miles total
Leaving Guaje Ridge I decide to walk the final five miles to the finish, and this time I mean it. My legs are cooked from the past six weeks of huge mileage, I’ve been having trouble staying upright all day due to my vision, and frankly, I didn’t feel like running anymore. About two miles later I get passed by someone. And for some reason, this lights a fire under my ass. I begin running, pass the runner, and continue on. This section is somewhat technical, but for some reason I’m not having any problems anymore. I continue running and even pick up my pace. I begin to pass other runners. And there, up ahead, it’s the old guy! And he’s walking! And he hasn’t seen me! I pick up the pace yet again, and at this point of an ultra I feel like Usain Bolt, even though I’m probably running ten minute miles. I pass the old guy shortly before the final aid station.


Part XIV: Rendija Canyon to Posse Shack (finish), 1.9 miles, 50 miles total
The final aid station has a Christmas theme. As I run through without stopping someone asks, “you need anything?” “Yeah,” I reply, “where is the eggnog with booze?” Less than two miles to go and I’m now running like a madman. I run through a tunnel that we had passed about 48 miles earlier and now realize I’m within the final mile. I see someone ahead and go after him. After I get him, I see someone else and get him. I actually passed five people in the final mile, pretty hard to do in an ultra where people are usually spaced out. Soon enough, I round the corner near the horse stables and I’m at the finish line, crossing the in 13:37:58.

Part XV: Conclusion
Definitely not my best race ever. But after completing three 50 milers and a Grand Canyon double crossing in less than six weeks (and, let me remind you, also winning a 5K race in a course record time!), it’s about what I expected. My body is completely broken down right now, though that was the plan all along as I have plenty of time to get healthy again before Hardrock. Learned quite a bit from this race, like to remember to bring extra contacts to the next race, that I can go ten miles just using the two water bottles from my Nathan pack, and that I can’t tell the difference between 10,000 feet and 6,000 feet. It sure has been one helluva stretch and I will be getting to Silverton this year in much better condition than last year….

And for the record, this course is nothing compared to the San Juan Solstice!

St. Ed's and this weekend

Nice night run along Bull Creek at St. Ed's park last night. Perfect weather. Don't know the trails too well out there, especially when it's dark. Only ran about 45 minutes, but got in some good technical stuff using the green lantern to light the way. Hoping to not need a light at Sunmart, but will definitely need one for Bandera, so the practice was good. Still a bit sore in the left achilles from the Challenge, but that should be all better by Saturday.

Saturday it's off to Inks Lake State Park for the Rocky Trails marathon. My first trail marathon, looking forward to it. Was planning on going out on Friday to camp, but I'm in the running for Nickel Creek tix so I might just drive out Sat morning.

And what would a weekend be without getting a good drunk on? After the marathon on Sat it's off to La Grange for Slut Slinger's 15th hashaversary campout. Kick some ass in three man, drink some jager, the get up the next morning for a ride at Bluff Creek Ranch in Warda! Woohoo!