High Drive Challenge

Back to racing on Saturday with the High Drive Challenge.  Ten mile race, straight up to the top of High Drive and back.  I stayed a bit too late at Fossil which definitely slowed me up a bit, but it was still a solid effort.  Wanted to break 90 minutes and I finished in 1:27:58.  You can see a map of the run here.

bike commute 69

Monday - eleven mile run in Red Rock Canyon, two hours.  DIM hash in the evening.  If you hadn't  noticed, the days are getting much shorter.

Tues - so the dog and I head out for our early morning walk and about two blocks down the road we come up on a guy trying to get into his car.  I say "good morning," hoping not to startle him.  But I do startle him, and it is clear he is breaking into the vehicle.  I loudly announce, "hey, is that your car" and the dude takes off running.  We go on our way and half an hour later we see a bear in Pioneer Park.  About as action packed as you can get before 6AM on a Tuesday.  Bike commute 68 and CityRock 53 as well.  My climbing fitness has definitely taken a hit from the break.

Wed - run commute 56.  Five miles in 42 minutes to work, four miles easy and slow back.  CityRock 54 at lunch.  Guitar lesson after work, followed by a quick trip to Benny's.

Thurs - bike commute 69.  No climbing at lunch because the Purple Castle has returned!  Currently only the castle is open but there are rumors of a downtown place opening soon-ish.  Hot damn that burger was delicious!

home again

 Back home after the 3104 mile road trip.  Had a great time.  I'll get pics posted soon.  

rollin' west

Finally some good news starting to leak out during 2020.  

We got word yesterday that Yuengling is coming west!  Gotta assume that Colorado will be one of the first places to get it, but regardless it will be much easier to get in about a year.

Concerts are slowly starting up again.  Noticing this on my nugs app.  A few Red Rocks shows are even scheduled (for Andy Frasco and the UN they are only selling 175 tickets, place seats around 10,000).

I am suddenly signed up for a bunch of races.  High Drive Challenge, Salida 'thon, the PPRR Fall Series, and the Rock Canyon half marathon.

We are off on the big van trip Thursday afternoon.  Highway 50 to Reno.  395 down to Death Valley.  A loop around Area 51.  Potential day in Vegas.  Or not.  And then home somehow.  Ten days.  The trip is subject to change due to fires or diseases or aliens or us just deciding to go north instead of south.  

HAIL TO PITT!

 Pitt is in the top 25 this week!  Sure has been a while.

Oh, and this:

long run

Thurs - bike commute 64.  Ten there, eleven back.  CityRock 52 at lunch.

Fri - easy bike commute 65, straight to work and back.  Lazy day but I got in 90 minutes of guitar practice after work before heading over to Fossil.

Sat - good trail long run through the Garden, over to Manitou, and back home via Intemann and Red Rock Canyon.  17 miles in 3.5 hours.  Met up with the hash afterwards and drank some Old English, which was a very poor decision.

Also watched Pitt destroy Austin Peay on Saturday.  And the Steelers play Monday night.  Woot!

For the week:

hike - 21 miles, eight hours

bike - 96 miles, nine hours

run - 46 miles, 8.5 hours

catching up

2020 keeps rolling right along...

Got incline 21 done last Friday.  Biked over, straight up, then down to the new bail trail which is on the north side of the incline, opposite of Barr Trail.  Good trail and a great way to sneak around the new reservation system.

On Saturday $100, hollydog, and I took the cadet up her first 14er, Mount Sherman.

Later that evening I tried my hand at some gourmet cooking.  Don't mean to brag but it was pretty delicious.

Good eleven mile run on Sunday then spent the remainder of the long weekend riding bikes and drinking beer.  Trips to Fossil, a ride up to Pikes Peak, some Red Leg thrown in for good measure.  Great weekend but I should probably dry out for a little bit.

On Monday we hit 93F and it was probably the worst smoke I've seen here (big forest fire up above Fort Collins).  Tuesday evening we got significant snow.  The early Wednesday morning dog hike:

Had Wednesday off so I got in a good ten miler through the Garden.  Nothing beats that place after a fresh snowfall.

Was hoping to get down to the Crestones for another 14er or two this weekend, but it doesn't look like the snow they got will be melting anytime soon.  I'll stick around here and get in a good long run instead.  Which I need, since I have Salida and Cheyenne Mountain coming up.  

Less than ten days until we leave on our big road trip to Area 51!

Alpine Loop

The Alpine Loop has been on my to-do list for over a decade now, and I finally knocked it off on Saturday.  50 miles, just over six hours, with some shitty (cold and rainy) weather for the first four-ish hours.  Great ride though and I highly recommend it.  I'll be back to hopefully enjoy better weather. 

Here is the link to the relive map of the ride.

Hung out in Lake City on Friday and Saturday, then headed over to Salida.  $100 actually rode more than I did this weekend, riding Monarch Crest on Sunday morning, then Cottonwood on Monday morning.  I got in lots of quality hiking with the dog.

bike commute 61

I was a physical mess up through Wednesday.  Recovered enough to go crush myself on the Alpine Loop on Saturday.  Good times.

Mon - 5k  hike with the dog on the flattest route I could find.

Tues - bike commute 60.  Six miles to work, eleven back home.  Easy climb over lunch.

Wed - run commute 51.  Four miles there, 3.5 back.  Still sore as fuck.  CityRock 48 at lunch.

Thurs - bike commute 61.  Ten to work, eleven back.  CityRock 49 with $100 at lunch.  Finally starting to feel normal again.

Four day weekend, taking the van down to Lake City through Sunday morning, then Salida Sunday and Monday.  I'll finally get to ride the Alpine Loop, $100 will get in some fly fishing and a ride on the Monarch Crest.  The dog will do a lot of napping and hiking.

6:00:37

I mean, at least we got to run, right?

Not a bad day on the mountain.  Smoky and hot, but not as bad as it was on Saturday.  Weird at the start for sure, but fitting for 2020.  Disappointing at the finish, with no beer garden and no real chance to see a ton of friends.  But it is what it is, and the run itself was a lot of fun.

The splits:

No Name - 60:51

Barr Camp - 1:45:15

A Frame - 2:35:24

Summit - 3:51:51

Descent - 2:08:46

Little slower than I wanted to the top, just couldn't get much going from treeline to the top.  Can't complain too much as this was the fitness I had coming into the race.  As the legend-in-his-own-mind Keith G once said, "never let a poor performance stop you from talking shit to your friends," and luckily for me a ton of my friends also had mediocre days and I ended up beating a lot of them.  I stopped to chug a beer with less than a mile to go, without that I may have cracked six hours.  The beer was worth it though as I believe it was approximately 250F coming down Ruxton canyon.  My legs are still wrecked two days after the race, so I ran as hard as I could.

Hopefully next year the new Garden to Peak Challenge (Garden 10 miler, Barr Trail Mountain Race, and Pikes) goes off without a hitch, I'd like to concentrate on that, including the Pikes Double.

I'll try to keep the running fitness around as I have two long ones in October - the rescheduled Salida Marathon and the Cheyenne Mountain 50k.

64

Picked up bib 64 this morning.  You can usually see Pikes from that view above.

Socially distanced shitters this year.

run commute 50

Thurs - bike commute 59.  Ten miles to work, eleven back home.  CityRock 46 at lunch.  Been getting on the wall a lot more (vs. bouldering) lately.

Fri - run commute 50.  Easy four miles to work.  Was almost mauled by a homeless guy's dog over near Benny's.  Yay.  

I have a downtown office and could not see Pikes today due to all the smoke.

track

Sun - nice ten miler in the heat of the afternoon, five miles up Barr and back down.  Caught the Joe Johnson show at Pioneer Park in the evening.

Mon - track.  6 x 400m, none of them anywhere near 12:35 5k pace.  Loving my shitty Holmes track even more after this:

Tues - easy day.  Dog hike and guitar practice in the morning, CityRock 45 at lunch, some trail work in Red Rock Canyon with Medicine Wheel after work.

Wed - run commute 49.  Easy 41 minute five miler to work.

I have not put in the work for Pikes on Sunday and I will suffer as a result.  I'll be shooting for a sub six, roughly 3:45 up and 2:15 back down.  Could probably still manage a 5:30 had I been a bit more focused on hills and longer distance, but it's too late to worry about that now.

Lindsey

Bagged 14er number 39 for me on Saturday,  Mt. Lindsey.  Hiked with my CityRock buddy Mike and a guy I hiked Sherman with a week earlier at the Pitt climb, Steve.  Awesome route with some solid rock scrambling towards the top.

Drove down Friday evening after work and slept in the van.  Stepped off at 5:15AM.  The hike ended up being 13.8 miles and took just over 7.5 hours.

Hoping to sneak in a weekend down to the Sangres in September for an attempt on number 40.

 

run commute 48

Thurs - nice 7.4 miles to work through Sondermann.  5.8 miles back home.  Pizza and Umphrey's that evening.

Fri - nice three mile family hike in Red Rock Canyon.  Took us significantly longer than 12:35.  

Off to the Sangres.  Tackling Lindsey on Saturday.

run commute 47

 Wed - run commute 47.  Good five miles there, four miles back.  Got to spend a chunk of my day crawling around a big homeless camp next to a landfill transfer station.  Fun.

From the Pitt Sherman hike.  At the bottom:

At the top:

track

Sun - easy evening five miler.  A hangover and Moose watching crushed me.  Did get through almost all of Dishwasher by Pete Jordan.  Awesome book.  My first ever job, at the age of 13, was a dishwasher.  Not surprisingly, that's when I started drinking.

Mon - track.  Windy up on the mesa.  2 x 1 mile, 600m RBI.  6:09, 6:01.  Hard effort, but not all out.  I recently entered the 45-49 age group, so these were more impressive today than had I ran them last Wednesday.  Also did 4 x 200m untimed.  Good evening bike ride in Red Rock Cayon and up High Drive.

Tues - bike commute 58.  Easy ten miles to work on the COVID loop.  CityRock 43 at lunch.  Really good session, think I'm close to making a breakthrough on the wall.  Good ride home, up Cheyenne Canon and High Drive for the first time in a while, then the Chutes, over to Fossil.  17 miles in two hours.

My cadet got me a killer gift for my b-day.  My first Space Force shirt.  I'm not a trekkie by any means, but I swear this was the same logo used in Star Trek.

Sherman

Bolted right after work Friday for the Mt. Sherman trailhead.  Quick stop at South Park Brewing for a beer and some eats, then found a pretty sweet place to park the van for the night.  Strummed the guitar for a bit before turning in early.

Met the Denver Pitt Club at the start of the hike.  We ended up getting 30 Pitt grads on top of the mountain that day.  I was one of the old farts there so I enjoyed telling stories of the good 'ol days of Zelda's (now a five guys burger place) and CJ Barney's (now a dunkin' donuts) and Peter's Pub (now closed, probably becoming a chain coffee shop).  Sherman is one of the easier 14ers, and with some great weather we made quick work of the hike.  My third summit of that mountain.

 

Apparently there are over 1000 Pitt grads in Colorado.  I know of three others in COS.  This was the first Pitt alumni event of any kind since the COVID started, which seems like 100 years ago but I count it from Salida marathon weekend in mid-March.  (Yes, the virus was here much earlier and in hindsight we should have all acted a lot earlier than we did, but mid-March was when most people realized shit was going to get shitty for a while).

Had to get back to the house after the hike as we were Moose-sitting and he is a lot for $100 to handle on her own.  Spent a lot of time this weekend at the dog park.

bike commute 57

 Lot going on this week so the workouts suffered.

Annual Jerry Garcia hash on Monday was a blast.  Had a buddy from El Paso up for that.  Made for a hungover and lazy Tuesday. 

Did get a run commute in on Wednesday.  Solid effort on the way to work.

Bike commute 57 on Thursday.  That evening we took the dogs (we're currently watching Moose) over to a local park for a socially distanced blues show.

Headed out to Mt. Sherman for the annual Pitt 14er hike after work.

Signed up for the Cheyenne Mountain 50k.  Should probably start putting in some work for that.

incline 20

Friday - bike commute 56, then I rode my bike over to the base of the incline for a quick up and down.  Then biked back to Fossil.

Sat - nice twelve miler through Red Rock Canyon and Section 16.  Hit the hash Saturday afternoon.

Decent week.

run - 43 miles, eight hours

ride - 69 miles, 6.5 hours

hike - 17 miles, 6.5 hours

Sun - a bunch of biking.  Did the COVID loop in the AM, then biked over to Red Leg that afternoon.  Joe Johnson show up in Pioneer Park Sunday evening.