run commute 47

Thurs - easy day, 75 minute dog hike in the morning and CityRock 86 at lunch.

Fri - 70 minute AM dog hike.  Friday was the first night of Tedeschi Trucks at Red Rocks, and that show friggin' rocked!

Sat - despite the hangover and late night, I somehow managed a really good 8.5 mile run on the Garden trails before heading back up for night two of TTB.  Such a fantastic two night run by those guys!

Low numbers for the week due to life getting in the way.

Run - 23 miles
Bike - 22.5 miles
Hike - 23 miles
Two trips to CityRock

Sun - rode the Mariachi up to Pikes Peak Brewing.  On the way back I saw Amanda out riding and we headed over to Red Leg.  42 miles on that ride, then another five over to Fossil after a few beers.

Mon - run commute 46.  5.3 miles to work, 4.1 miles back home.  CityRock 87 at lunch.

Tues - run commute 47.  Five miles to work with some two on/two off thrown in for good measure.

Carpenter Peak

Had to head up to Denver for work on Wednesday and on the way home I dropped by Roxborough State Park to run up and down Carpenter Peak.  Ran pretty hard on the way up and broke 32 minutes, by far my fastest ever.  If I lived in the area I'd shoot for sub 30.

Relive 'Carpenter Peak'

       

Living The Dream on the way home.  They have a tasty hazy IPA, called Aloha from Colorado, on tap right now. 

From the recent Summer Roundup:

salida

We had the Wayfarer Van weekend on the docket and we decided to leave Thursday after work.  Stopped in at Florence Brewing before heading over to the Royal Gorge for the night.  Our area was experiencing a pretty decent heatwave and Canon City was not spared.  It was hot that night, and hot again the next day.  I got in an early morning run up Fremont Peak, then hiked the dog on the Gorge trails while $100 went for a bike ride.

Then it was off to Salida.  Lunch at Moonlight, then a stop at Woods, then out to the Hutchinson Ranch halfway between Salida and Poncha Springs.  Early enough to snag a nice shaded spot to spend the weekend. 

Most of the vans were pretty much the same setup.  I think most folks who get the Wayfarer kit do so for the simplicity, and adding anything takes away from that.  But we met a ton of great folks from all over the country, all using their vans for different purposes.

I did get out for a good ride on Saturday.  Rode up 175 out of Salida and returned via Cottonwood, Sweet Dreams, and Chicken Dinner.  Wanted to do more, but I could see weather moving in, and sure enough not five minutes after I ended my ride at Elevation Brewing it started pouring.  Got in just over 29 miles.

Relive 'Salida'

Kieren if you can find me one of these stickers I will pay you back and buy you a beer:

Up fairly early on Sunday so I could hike the dog while $100 rode.  Dog and I did five miles on the Salida singletrack, and she was pretty tired when we ended the hike at Woods.

 Fantastic weekend!  We haven't taken the van out much since we got her, but that will change soon.  

lulu's

Wed - had to go to Canon City for work.  Colorado Territorial Prison to be precise.  This facility sits on highway 50, between the heavily trafficked highway and Skyline Drive.  But make no mistake, there are some actual bad hombres housed there.  Murderers, rapists, arsonists.  And yeah, I got to go in there and talk to a bunch of 'em about what to do when they get released.  Good stuff.  Luckily that didn't last the whole day and I got to hit up Section 13 for an 80 minute run in what felt like 500 degree heat.

Wednesday evening $100 and I went to see Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker at the new Lulu's Downstairs.  Great show and I love the new venue.  Hopefully they can stay open and bring some better live music to our village.  Walking distance from the house as well.

Thurs - not much sleep last night so I took the dog out for 80 minutes and bummed around the house drinking coffee.  Rode straight to work, bike commute 46, and had a lackluster CityRock lunch. 

We are heading to Chaffee County this weekend for the Wayfarer Van shindig.  Should be a good time.  Royal Gorge tonight, then Salida tomorrow afternoon.

run commute 44

Monday - body was pretty beat up from the weekend so I took an easy day.  Long morning hike with the dog, then bike commute 45, straight to and from work, and CityRock 82 at lunch.  Later that evening $100 and I and a bunch of friends hit up the Rocky Mountain Vibes game.

Tues - run commute 44.  Five miles to work in 41 minutes.  Good session at CityRock over lunch.

weekend update

Fri - incline number 20 with $100.  Straight up and straight back down.

Sat - drove up to Devils Playground on Pikes with my buddy Austin.  Playground to the top, then down Barr Trail to the two mile sign, then back to the car by the same way we came.  Good couple of hours at altitude.

Relive 'Devils Playground/Two Mile Sign'

       

After the run $100 and I headed down to Blues Under The Bridge.  Great event.  Of course we were there for  family favorite Tab Benoit, but we caught Selwyn Birchwood and really loved him.  Nikki Hill was no slouch either.  And of course Tab crushed his set.

Somehow I still got up early on Sunday for the Summer Roundup.  Wasn't expecting much and only went because the race is part of the local triple crown.  Not my best race ever and I didn't have much over the second half of the course, but it wasn't the disaster I was expecting and I got in a decent workout.  Rallied over the final 1.5 miles to break two hours.

Relive 'Summer Roundup'

       

For the runners out there here's a pic of my friend Lauren showing off her gross knee.  Her kid ran into her at the wrong angle and this was the result.

run commute 43

Wed - 6.2 miles to work through Sondermann with some three minutes on/two minutes off work.  Four miles back home after work.

Our microsoft computers at work always throw up some nice photo when they go to sleep.  It's usually beautiful locations from around the world, rarely the USA.  But on Tuesday it was my back yard.

Thurs - on our morning dog hike we saw another bear!  Right on the path we take to get to the Garden from Rock Ledge Ranch.  We observed from a distance for a bit and when it seemed like he wasn't going to move we decided to take a different route. 

run commute 42

Sun - 2.5 hour mountain bike ride in Red Rock Canyon and Section 16.  Very slow.

Mon - super beat up so took it easy today.  Bike commute 43, straight to and from work.  CityRock 79 for some easy climbing.

Tues - run commute 42.  Five miles to work, slowed down by this guy getting in my way:

No trail etiquette whatsoever.  Dude was all like, "You got a problem?  Come at me bro!"  First bear sighting of the year for me.

week in review

Great week.  Had been building consistency without doing much long stuff, this week I got in both a ride and a run that were over six hours with some climbing and high elevation. 

run - 47 miles/11 hours
bike - 54 miles/8.5 hours
hike - 24 miles/9 hours
CityRock - two trips

varsity club

29

varsity club

28

elk park

Finally got in some higher stuff as I did the Elk Park/Barr Camp/Pikes summit out and back today.  22 miles in just over six hours, with the lowest point at Barr Camp, 10,200 feet.  My uphills were really solid.  The downhills, not so much.

Kudos to $100 who mooched a ride with me and rode her bike from Elk Park, down to Barr, then took the Lake Moraine/667 route back to Fossil Brewing.

Relive 'Elk/Barr/Pikes'

       

incline 19

Super easy Friday night incline with $100.

missing link

Rode the Missing Link loop on July 4th.  Two miles into the ride my rear tire on the Mariachi weirded out.

So I went back and switched to the fat bike.  I was a bit hungover from a Fossil/Trails End double the night before, and hauling the fattie up Barr Trail through all the Incline folks was quite the death march. 

But holy cow it was worth it.  The missing link, which is officially known as the Lake Moraine trail, is a fantastic ride.  You turn off Barr Trail just before Barr Camp and the trail takes you over to Jones Park.  We catch 667 which takes us to Captain Jacks and then it's just a long downhill to Fossil.  Such a great loop.  There's also the option of shuttling up to Elk Park and dropping down to Barr Camp, thus avoiding the traffic on Barr Trail.  Will definitely do this ride again soon.

Relive 'Missing Link'

       

Hartman Rocks

We headed out in the van Friday after work for Gunnison.  Rolled into town around 9PM and ended up pulling off our first stealth in-town night.  Parked on a side street next to the Gunnison River Fly Shop, conveniently located down the street from High Alpine Brewing.

$100 started off her fly fishing career with a guided trip up near Crested Butte.   Seems the trip was a success.

I was left to hang with the dog while she fished.  We hiked the in-town Van Tuyl loop before heading out to Hartman Rocks.  Stopping by the river along the way, of course.

Had a blast out at Hartman Rocks, a place well known but we haven't spent much time there.  We will definitely be back.

Good drive back on Sunday as we hit Elevation, Soulcraft, and Florence breweries, then ended the weekend over at Fossil.