Friday, May 31, 2019

bike commute 33

Mon - finally starting to get better.  Ran five miles over to Red Leg in 39 minutes, had a beer, then ran their memorial 5k (3.5 miles in 24 minutes), then had a bunch more beers.  Also got in a four mile Garden hike with the pup.

Tues - 80 minute dog hike followed by bike commute 32.  6.5 miles to work via Sondermann, 11.3 miles in 1:36 home through Bear Creek Park and Red Rock Canyon.  CityRock 62 at lunch, including some leg blasters.

Wed - run commute 34.  Five miles in 40 minutes to work, 5.5 miles in 52 minutes home.  Good climb at lunch, I am making some progress on a few V4's at the gym.

Thurs - had to drive so I hit CityRock for an early climb.  Was hoping to catch the Thunderbird show but traffic was a hot mess due to POTUS being in the area.  You could not go anywhere near I-25 for quite a while.  Not sure how anyone in DC deals with this kind of stuff on a much more frequent basis.  Also, if you ever happen to be president and come to visit, take a damn helicopter.

Fri - easy 4.8 miles to Carson Pass and back, 42 minutes.  Then bike commute 33 to work, eleven miles on Garden/Sinton/Santa Fe.  CityRock 65 at lunch.

Taking the van up to Buff Creek this weekend, helping Kircher run an aid station for the North Fork 50 but also hoping to get a good two hour run in.  Then Bob is here Sunday/Monday and we will try to visit all the breweries in Colorado.

Monday, May 27, 2019

7.8 sign

I have finally beaten that cold but it completely wrecked my body.  I'm actually physically sore from all the coughing and shivering.

I did get out to Barr Trail on Sunday.  I've been doing mostly MAF stuff since I got my new fancy watch back in early March.  I try to keep my heart rate at 140, and given the physical state I was in that meant this "run" was mostly a hike.  But it was nice to get outside and join the approximately 1.4 billion people enjoying the mountain on the holiday weekend.  Ended up covering 11.4 miles in 2:49.

I cut the run half a mile short so I could grab some custard and chat with a local legend.  Matt said that over the past 6.5 years he hasn't run less than an hour a day.  Every day, no rest days.  Of course I asked him about a return to the race and he said "never say never, but probably not."  Dude seems really happy just going out and running.  I see him running from time to time, and he is still fast as fuck on the trails.  And the chocolate avalanche with cookie dough he made me was fantastic.

On another note, my diet since Thursday has consisted only of ice cream and sunkist soda.  I should probably start eating some food at some point.

My wife had no sympathy for me and my lameness this weekend and she went out and crushed it:


Sunday, May 26, 2019

High Drive Four Miler

I think that run in the rain on Monday evening gave me a death cold, which really wrecked me on Friday and Saturday.  I had to go finish the High Drive four miler to make sure I finish the Grand Prix, but it was a terrible race.  Jogged it in in 35:31 (I had the course at 3.7 miles).  Bummer, because it was a course that would have been fun to actually race and I think I could have done well there.  

Was hoping for a bigger week, but that cold set me sideways.  Slight setback for my Pikes work but there is time to rebound.

Run - 30 miles
Bike - 35 miles
Hike - 15 miles

Thursday, May 23, 2019

4th annual hobo brewery bike tour

Once again a few of us decided to ride north to a beer festival.



We all met at Red Leg Brewing on Friday morning, had a few beers, and rode up to O'Malley's.  Somehow we talked the owner of 300 Days of Shine into letting us in for drinks on that leg.  Then it was the trek on CO 105 to Bud's at Sedalia.  Then the only highway section, riding a few miles on HWY 85 to Living The Dream.  Then the long bike path along 470 to Green Mountain Beer Company.






Wadsworth somehow always seems to play a role in the weekend, and as I was crossing that road I felt a stinging pain in my back.  I might have been a little drunk at this point, which helped deal with things, but I couldn't figure out what was going on.  Then I looked to my left and saw some little shit high school dropout kid laughing at me, holding a pellet gun.  Fucker had shot me.  I flipped him off and said some nice things about his mother.


We drank as much as we could at Green Mountain before leaving that establishment for the grass field next to the brewery.  Second year in a row we slept at this place.


Sat morning we got a late start and made it to Coors around 9:30AM.  We were first in line for the short tour.  The tour is now $5 for Colorado residents and $10 for out of staters, but they let veterans in for free.  Woot!



After Coors we hit up Cannonball Creek, then Holidaily, then the trek up to Southern Sun.  Then off to the Upslope Get Down festival.





Lots and lot of beers, lots and lots of fun.  On Sunday we woke up and headed back to Golden, dropping by Golden City, Mountain Toad, and New Terrain.  $100 picked us up in Golden and we were able to talk her into one more stop, hitting Living The Dream one last time for the weekend.


Tuesday, May 21, 2019

run commute 32

Fri - nice 7.5 mile run on the Garden roads in 67 minutes.  Afterwards we packed up the van and headed down to the Royal Gorge in Canon City.  Good afternoon hike with the dog exploring that area.

Sat - rode the JV event of the Royal Gorge Six & Twelve.  Ended up getting a 50k in before pulling the plug.  Doesn't sound like much, but I was pretty beat up mentally and physically.  Had I gone all balls out I probably could have squeezed in four laps, but after stopping at the beer tent after each lap there just wasn't enough time left for me to squeeze in another lap.  Really enjoyed the vibe of this race and there's a good chance I'll head down to Taos for their South Boundary BigRide in August.

Sun - pretty beat up but I still got a good run up to No Name Creek on Barr Trail.  8.7 miles in 1:43, hitting No Name in 65 minutes.

Mon - run commute 32.  Five miles to work in 43 minutes.  Then some shitty weather blew in.  I wasn't ready for it on the way home and I endured a very shitty 30 minute run home in freezing temps and a snow/slush mix in shorts and a short sleeved t-shirt topped by an old cotton Pb100 sweatshirt.

Tues - not looking good today.  Only took the dog out for 30 minutes due to weather.  Then I had to shovel the walks.  WTF???  Bike commute 31 was quite the pain in the ass.


Super heavy, wet snow.  Lots of downed trees.  The view from my office when I arrived:


Thursday, May 16, 2019

bike commute 30

I'll try to get a post up about our annual hobo bike tour.  Had a great time riding up to Boulder for the Upslope Get Down.

Mon - hungover as hell but I still got the dog out for 70 minutes in the AM and ran up Red Mountain, four miles in 53 minutes, after work.  In between was bike commute 29, straight to/from the office.

Tues - feeling a little better for run commute 31.  Solid morning run, five miles in just under 40 minutes.  CityRock for lunch.  The run home was terrible for whatever reason, 5.7 miles in 63 minutes.

Wed - 5k AM dog hike.  Had to drive today as I was on cadet duty to get her ass to the airport just after lunch.  She informed me she passed all her classes and plans on returning for her sophomore year.  USAFA doesn't have classes during the summer but they do all kinds of military training.  After work I hit up the weekly Trails End Trialblazers shindig, covering eight miles at a good clip over in Red Rock Canyon.  Followed by pizza and beer.

Thurs - seven mile ride over in Red Rock Canyon, then back to the house after I got a flat.  Switched bikes and rode to the office.  Really good CityRock session (59) at lunch.  Quite a few V4's I have a decent shot at right now.

Thursday, May 09, 2019

red rock canyon

Was in Denver all day for boring work meetings.  Had to leave at 6:15am, so I just slept in and didn't bother with a run or ride.  Even had $100 take care of the dog.  All day meetings usually mean lots of junk food and coffee, translating to a shitty evening workout.  But for whatever reason, as soon as I got home I took off for red rock canyon and had a great run.  9.3 miles in 1:27, ending at Trails End for some pizza and brews.

Wednesday, May 08, 2019

bike commute 27

Monday - Woke up a bit early and instead of going back to sleep I took the dog out for a bit longer, 3.4 miles in 80 minutes.  Then run commute 30.  Five miles to work in 41 flat along the Midland trail, 5.4 miles back home through Sondermann Park in 47 minutes.  CityRock 54 at lunch.

Tuesday - Easy hour hike with the dog, then jumped on the bike through the rain to work.  Decided to take the route that passes our local homeless shelter and it paid off - I found $6 in the middle of the road.  Second highest dollar amount I've found in almost 30 years of running/biking.  Those bums need to be more careful with their money!  After work, my buddy Mike and I were supposed to hit Red Rock Canyon for some climbing, but due to shitty weather (which is becoming a theme on this blog) we had to take things indoors.  Great workout on the plastic though.  I ended up blowing my six dollar windfall at the Ute & Yeti after the climb.

Monday, May 06, 2019

New Mexico

After the race we jumped in the van and headed south.  Just across the state line there is a New Mexico state park called Sugarite Canyon.  I found it on the intergoogles, and we decided to go check it out.

But not without stopping by some breweries first.   Crafty Canary in Walsenburg, Dodgeton Creek in Trinidad, and the Colfax Ale Cellar in Raton.  None of them were worth writing home about.





Then it was off to the park.  We got our spot and took the dog for a nice hike.  Then drank some beers by the fire.  Then drank some beers in the van.


We got up on Sunday and took the dog for another hike.  Should have taken more pics as the loop around Lake Maloya was super cool.  Close enough to Colorado that we went across the state line and back.


take 5

Ran the JV race (5k) at the Mad Moose Take 5 In The Garden on Saturday morning.  Really hard effort and I'm pleased with the race, despite the slow official time of 19:30 with splits of 7:00, 5:47, and 6:18.  Uneven miles but such is running in the Garden with all the uphill and downhill.  Another cheap win, with second place overall a female and fourth place overall was a ten year old.  In my defense, the chick in second place usually beats me.


Thursday, May 02, 2019

run commute 29/April

Sat - saw a cover band called Steely Dead at the Sheep on Friday night, needless to say I was a bit hungover on Saturday but after a 5k hike with the dog I got in a good two hours (14.6 miles) on my Midland/Santa Fe/Sinton/Garden loop.  After that I hopped on a bus to downtown, where I hopped on another bus to get to downtown Denver.  $100 was working up there, so we met up for some Sancho's time and then caught the Bluegrass Generals at Cervante's.  Such a great show!  After the show I still had enough left in the tank to close down Sancho's.

Sunday Funday - we spent the night in Denver and got breakfast at Tom's.  Then I dd'd a brewery tour as we hit Burly, Pikes Peak, Red Leg, and Fossil.  Good times.

Mon - recovery.  Bike commute 25. 

Tues - still a bit off from the weekend.  Did manage a good lunch session at CityRock and a 5.5 mile garden run after work.

Wed - run commute 29.  Found $1 on the run to work, so there's that.  CityRock 53 at lunch.

Decent month for April.  Highlighted by the sub 90 at Platte River, two decent Barr Trail runs, and quite a few good mountain bike rides.

Run - 164 miles, 28 hours
Bike - 200 miles, 24.5 hours
Hike - 70 miles, 28 hours
Climb - eleven sessions at CityRock