Wednesday, August 31, 2016

snow

Thanks to all those who have reached out to me via all the various outlets.  Much appreciated. If you sent a private message and I haven't responded, please forgive me, life has been very hectic the last week or so.

It's still August but Pikes has received a massive amount of snow already.  I'm not a climate change denier, but I am disappointed in the slow pace of global warming.  I can't wait for the day that snow stops happening.  Fuller, you need to quit biking and start driving your hummer more.  These pics were taken during our walk this morning.





Love my backyard.


At least once a week the dog and I relax and watch The Road From Karakol.  Not sure why it resonates with me so much.  Turns out the guy in the film, Kyle Dempster, is in trouble.  I have a lot of not-so-good opinions on folks, especially the extreme athletes, who utilize the crowdfund thing to bail themselves out of jams, but today I didn't dwell on that when I gave a small bit of loot to his SAR efforts.



Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Tuesday update

I informed the RD of the Grand Traverse that I wouldn't be participating this weekend.  The cankle is getting better but just isn't there yet.  I can hike, but no running for a while.  Bummed, because I was looking forward to seeing that course, but I'm also relieved to have the running season done.  We already paid for the hotel in Crested Butte, so we're still going to go, and it's going to be an awesome weekend of dog hikes and mountain bike rides and pizza and beer.

Bob from Pennsylvania paid us a visit.  He brought a lot of good PA beer so we let him stay two nights.  Showed him some good trails and breweries.



Also took him to the purple castle and he earned the prestigious clean plate club sticker.


This was my breakfast yesterday.  Nothing beats an 8AM bacon cheeseburger!


In much shittier news, my dad unexpectedly passed away last week.  Here is his obituary

Monday, August 29, 2016

moe./mule

Quite possibly my favorite two bands, and they both killed it at Red Rocks last Thursday.  Such a great show!




It was our first trip in the new (used) van.  A 1999 Chevy Astro.  Good times ahead.



Wednesday, August 24, 2016

whiskey #32

Really good stuff from Austin, TX.  And a Watershed IPA, also delicious, that O'Day dropped off.


Brandon is getting some press about his recent exploits on Pikes.  He was even in the Gazette today.  Everyone always describes him as such a nice and humble guy.  But when I politely pointed out that sleeping in your vehicle is illegal in Manitou, he replied, "Sorry to hear about your DNF. One of our blind Achilles athletes, Jessica, finished but not everyone is as tough as her."  What a douche.

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

pics

This has to be the best pic from race weekend, taken by Jeff of the Little London Show fame.  He and Alicia continued the tradition of having a beer check during the race.  Jeff also had a beer for me on Sunday at treeline.


Michael Everson took this one of me, about 15 minutes before my day ended.


O'Day ran up the hill in a gorilla suit.  I once rode a bike from my house to the Emma Crawford coffin races (less than three miles) in a gorilla suit (it's the one you get if you do the gorilla run) and I was sweating my balls off after that.  Can't imagine what he went through.


I did have the second fastest up time from Pleasant Valley.  Some guy named Alex beat me by a few minutes.  Think he had a faster down time than I did as well.

Monday, August 22, 2016

cankle

Put up a short race report at Pikes Peak Sports.

Because I know everyone is wanting to see pics of the cankle.



It is what it is.  Think I was in line for a 5:09ish marathon (my PR there is 5:17), but we'll never know.  Can't complain as I realize things could be much worse.  For example, I could be French, and I could have shit myself on live TV.


that did not go as planned...

Had a really solid Ascent on Saturday (3:12) and another really good ascent on Sunday (3:17), and then my luck ran out.  I twisted an ankle about one mile back down the mountain which ended my day.  I did what I could to finish, but after taking almost two hours to get from the cirque to Barr Camp, and then another hour plus to get to Bob's Road, I took a ride down the mountain.

Same exact thing I had back in April when I twisted my ankle in Cheyenne Canon.  So I'm not going to panic and say I'm never running again.  But it sure does fucking hurt.

Shout out to my boy for having a decent race yesterday.  The US distance squad had quite the Olympics.


Sunday, August 21, 2016

Thursday, August 18, 2016

Incline #39

Got over Wednesday evening for my final Incline climb for a while.  Lots of Pikes Peakers ignoring their taper to get a few more steps in before it closes.

Woke up early on Thursday morning and took the fatbike over to the Red Rock Canyon singletrack for an hour.  Had a ton of fun and I plan to do this more often going forward.  Got to catch the sunrise from this place:


Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Hump Day

Monday - Easy day.  Walked the dog for an hour in the morning, rode to/from work, then did an hour of yoga in the evening.

Tuesday - Seven mile run on the Garden roads.  Had to work in Pueblo, so I took the Mariachi over to Lake Pueblo State Park for two hours of fun.  Love the trails there.


Wednesday - Easy four mile run followed by a two mile hike with the dog.

Looks like the weather for Pikes might be on the chilly side.


Monday, August 15, 2016

Chaffee County

After an easy ten miler up and down Barr Trail on Saturday morning, I took a trip down to Chaffee County this weekend for some good times.  Lots of drinking, hiking, and biking.  Loves me some Chaffee County time.

Not sure how I ever get anywhere with BLOS.  Already two hours behind schedule after getting the bikes on the car, we drove an entire half mile to start the fun at Fossil.  Caught the wife red handed though, she said she was going to clean all weekend but rolled up on her bike shortly after we arrived.

 Arrived in Salida early evening, too late to ride but lots of time for eating and drinking.




Still managed to get up fairly early on Sunday to head out for a hike for an hour (I don't even try to run while hungover anymore) and then ride for another hour.  Explored all those trails around S mountain.

Once everyone was awake we headed up to Buena Vista.  Lots of asses on the trail there.


Explored the Four Mile Rec Area for a bit, love that place!





Even got to hang with some of the burro racers after the ride, but I felt they were all looking down their noses at me as I didn't have a packet full of screwdrivers with me.

Friday, August 12, 2016

incline no-go

Dog and I were at the bottom of the Incline before 5AM this morning.  Unfortunately, so were two of Manitou's finest.  They weren't letting anyone up before 6AM.  We did Ute Pass/Intemann instead, which is fun but not worth getting up at 4AM for.  Thankfully, there were a ton of military folks hanging out all over the place, glad they were making more than enough noise to bother the douchebag complainers of Ruxton Canyon.



*I know this is missing an apostrophe or two.  I'm good with google, but not photoshop.

Monarch Crest

Went down to Salida to visit some Austin friends and we rode Monarch Crest on Wednesday.  If you live in Colorado and have any level of fitness at all, you need to do this ride.  Plus, it ends at Elevation Beer Company.  In a state full of delicious IPA, the First Cast might be at the very top of the list.  Just over 30 miles on the day, which followed an easy hour of running on the trails of Tenderfoot Mountain.




Monday, August 08, 2016

night outside #6

Got in night outside #6 up at Buff Creek on Saturday/Sunday.  $100, the dog and I kidnapped Meesha and headed up the pass, dropping by Bierwerks for a Hop Monster along the way.

Slept in the jeep, so instead of having to set up camp I was able to sneak in a quick ride.  Love the Nice Kitty climb.

Lauren showed up, so I got to have two women slave away in the kitchen for a dinner of spaghetti and beer.
After supper it started pouring, which wouldn't let up until Sunday at sunrise.  So it was an early bedtime, sleeping as well as two humans and two dogs can in the back of a Jeep Cherokee.

Got in a ten mile run on the Colorado trial on Sunday morning, returning to meet the Salsa guy who had a van full of new bikes to ride.


I will probably get a new mountain bike next spring, and I think I know what it will be.

The Timberjack was way too much fun on the loose-ish trails of Buff Creek, and I think it's the perfect bike for the Cheyenne Canon/Red Rock Canyon area, where I do the bulk of my riding.  Now I just have to figure out how to squirrel away $1400 without the wife figuring out my plan.  I will keep the Mariachi for the longer road/gravel stuff.  The El Mar even more special to me now that Salsa has discontinued the model.

Dogs had a great time, but they sure were ready to go home by Sunday afternoon.

Friday, August 05, 2016

WIDESPREADMUTHAFUCKINPANIC!

I'll be heading up to GZ country on October 29th to catch Widespread Panic.  Rumor has it they are done with the constant touring after this run, so this might be the last time seeing them live for me.


Oh yeah, and I get to catch this hottie (and the 18 dudes that are in her band, including her husband who can play the guitar somewhat better than me) tonight.  Feels like ten years since I've been to Red Rocks.


Good 5K hike this morning with the dog.