Montana

The van is packed and we're off to Montana.  Don't even have the full route picked out yet, but we'll figure something out.  I might get a few pics up here but for the most part this blog will go dark for a few weeks.

new ride

First, as always, my other ride is your mom!

I had been lusting over one of these bikes for years from following various bikepacking blogs and websites.  But the somewhat affordable ones had been sold out forever.  But while on our way to the Flyathlon, I got an e-mail, conveniently right before we hit Soulcraft Brewing, that the bikes were back in stock.  Ordered an x-ray IPA and then ordered a new bike.

Two weeks later this arrived:

And I immediately tried to cut my thumb off while getting the bike out of the box.  So for ten days I had an incredible new bike, but I had to ride her one handed.

But now I've been able to get her outside.  Loving the ride so far. 

I have some big plans for this bike.  First solid ride was from our hotel in Dillon, CO, up and over Hoosier Pass to the South Park Saloon.  The bike is heavy and I'm not going to win any races on her, but I'm not concerned about time with this one.

Gov't Mule/Trombone Shorty

Can't go on vacation without mentioning how awesome it was seeing Gov't Mule and Trombone Shorty at the Dillon Amphitheater.  Both bands were outstanding and I really liked the venue.

recovery

Pikes left me a bit more beat up than normal.  Had trouble walking until Tuesday, and was still a bit sore on Thursday.  So it was a lot of riding this week and not a lot of running.

Saw Chris Duarte last night at Stargazers.  Tonight and Saturday it's the Trombone Shorty/Gov't Mule show at the Dillon Amphitheater, my first show there.  Might visit a brewery or two as well.

Wanna feel old?  Pearl Jam's Ten was released 30 years ago today.

double

3:32:11 for the Ascent on Saturday.

5:49:32 for the round trip on Sunday, with a 3:38:34 up.

About what I expected.  Pushed hard, happy with the effort, would have liked a sub 3:30 on either day but it just wasn't to be.  With a bit better weather on Saturday it might have happened, but we'll never know.

I think of myself as a climber, but on Sunday I had the 150th best ascent, and I ran pretty hard.  My downhill, which I purposely didn't go all out, was the 57th fastest (2:10:58).  

Got a rare win over Gerald.  He was a good sport about it.

Really great seeing so many awesome people out there.  Let's do it again next year!

shorter days

One of the downsides to walking the dog so early every day is that we can see the days are already getting significantly shorter.

Still struggling with the hand, but the stitches come out this Friday.  It's healed up, but I have to wrap it which takes any use of the left hand away.  Just a pain in the ass.

Bob was in town on Sunday and we did a nice tour of some local breweries.  Red Leg, Goat Patch, Mash Mechanix, Smiling Toad, and Fossil.  Good times.

Did get in a decent incline on Monday.  Bike commute 62 on Tuesday.  Riding is awful as I basically have to ride one handed.  Run commute 46 on Wednesday.

Not expecting much at Pikes this weekend.  No worries about finishing, just not sure how fast it will be.  A great day for me would be 3:30, but I could see me going up in at least 3:45.  Probably at least 2:15 down on Sunday.  Just haven't put in any work towards running fast there.  Just a good long run for the Rut which is only two weeks away.

I have nothing to base this off of but I'm starting to wonder if Chicago will happen this year...

Aloha Mr. Hand!

I probably shouldn't be allowed to handle sharp objects anymore as I damn near cut off a thumb on Tuesday.  Twelve stitches later it finally stopped bleeding.  Gonna mess up my climbing for the next ten days, and it's quite a pain in the ass to ride a bike right now.

Needle

Success!

Took the van down Friday evening to the lower lot of the South Colony Lakes trail.  Got to watch a pretty impressive storm roll by.

The climb went well.  A long slog, 20 miles on the day, with some pretty technical sections.  Climbed some class 4/5 stuff in the Sportiva Wildcats and didn't get spooked.  All in all a really good day.  I will return to climb Broken Hand Peak someday.  Still lots of smoke here in Colorado.

Dropped by Florence Brewing on the way home in time to watch the GOAT Kipchoge dominate the marathon.

I have made a goal of climbing a 14er every month.  Most of those will be Pikes, but the option is there to nab others.  Hoping for 18 months, which would get me some winter experience and get me a calendar year streak.  I'm currently at three months.  June (Longs), July (Humboldt), and August with the Needle.  Current plan is to do Sneffels in September on our way to Telluride Blues and Brews.

Needle attempt

Tedeschi Trucks was fantastic.  Even with the crazy rain/hail on Friday that caused a long delay.  The steps inside Red Rocks were waterfalls.  But the band came back out and played until 11:30PM.  

Getting back into the routine.  Good incline on Monday.  I'm currently at run commute 45 and bike commute 60.  Raising the effort a bit at CityRock as well.

Heading down to Westcliffe tomorrow to stage for an early Saturday morning attempt of Crestone Needle.  Might try to hit local peak Mt. Rosa on Sunday, which apparently I haven't done since 2007.