Tuesday, September 12, 2023

ruck

Took the liver a bit to recover from the Minnesota trip.  Good times.

Mon - easy ten miler on the Garden roads.

Tues - bike commute 78.  Bob was in town so I met him at Goat Patch after work, then we headed to Fossil.  

Wed - early morning Red Rock Canyon hike with Bob and Mookie.

Thurs - run commute 30.  Six there, 5.3 back home.  CityRock 75 at lunch.

Fri - bike commute 79, ten there and eleven back.  Easy four mile run after all that.

Sat - 2.5 hour run over in Red Rock Canyon.  Hot.  Possibly the last day of summer.

Sun - Travis Manion 5k up in Denver.  I wore a 50 pound pack and went 27:22.  That shit was hard.  I can't even fathom how some dude ran in his EOD suit.  Hit So Many Roads on the way home, I'm guessing they go the way of Sancho's soon.





For the week:

run - 41 miles, 7.5 hours

ride - 35 miles, three hours

hike - 25 miles, ten hours

Fall weather has arrived.  Haven't had many chances to see the Peak due to cloud cover, but yesterday morning on my dog hike I got a glimpse.  Race weekend could be interesting.

Wednesday, September 06, 2023

pearl jam

Incredible time up in Saint Paul.  Got in some good hikes and runs along the Mississippi, visited lots of great dive bars and breweries, and Pearl Jam put on two fantastic shows.












Gonna take a few days to recover from this trip.

For August:

run - 137 miles, 28 hours

ride - 235 miles, 25 hours

hike - 98 miles, 41 hours

Tuesday, August 29, 2023

alpine 50

Mon - Rocky Mountain in the evening.  2.5 hours.

Tues - bike commute 76.  Ten there, eleven back.

Wed - run commute 27.  Seven there, four back.

Thurs - run commute 28.  Five there, four back.  Jumped in the van after work and headed down to Canon City for the evening.  

Fri - nice hour run at Oil Well Flats with Mookie before heading out to Lake City for the annual Alpine 50 bike ride.  Been quite a while since I've been to the Lake City Brewing Company.


The ride went well.  I finished a little slower than I wanted in 6:39, most of the extra time being blown by trying to descend on a rigid bike.  But I had a good time and it wasn't quite as hard as I was expecting.  I'm not a big fan of bike races, but this is one I'll most likely return to.


On Sunday morning the dog and I got in a nice early hike in Lake City before heading up to Crested Butte.  Always tough to find a van spot there, but we were headed in when everyone else was leaving.  Got a great spot out on Gothic Road.  Even got to see some mooses.


And, of course, some eats at Secret Stash.


For the week:

run - 38 miles, eight hours

ride - 71 miles, 8.5 hours

hike - 20 miles, 8.5 hours

Finally rolled back into town on Monday afternoon.  Unpack, recover, and get as much shit done in the next two days before it's off to Minnesota for the Pearl Jam shows.

Monday, August 21, 2023

sexbruise?

Nice van trip in the books.  Left Friday morning after a nice run with Mookie in the Garden, headed to Hotchkiss.  Caught the Sexbruise? concert and then headed to Longmont the next day to see the same band at Oskar Blues.  Lots of hiking and breweries and dog parks along the way.




For the week:

run - 33 miles, seven hours

ride - 47 miles, 4.5 hours

hike - 21 miles, eight hours

Tuesday, August 15, 2023

Baldy/Almagre

Real good long run on Saturday.  Started at the high parking lot in Cheyenne Canon and went up to tag Baldy and Almagre, two of the taller non-Pikes peaks that tower over the Springs.  21 miles, six hours, just shy of 6k of climbing.  Good times.

Pikes from Baldy:

Pikes from Almagre (Baldy is the second highest peak in this pic):

For the week:

run - 47 miles, 10.5 hours

ride - 63 miles, 6.5 hours

hike - 23 miles, 9.5 hours

Caught Black Joe Lewis over at Lulu's on Saturday eve.  Solid guitar player.

Got over to Manitou on Monday and slogged up Rocky Mountain via the Incline.

Friday, August 11, 2023

Mule

Monday - easy 60 minute run over in Red Rock Canyon in the AM.  No idea GZ was at the Mule show but I was apparently sitting pretty close to him.




Tues - 15 mile ride at lunch, 7.5 miles on the Garden trails in the evening.

Wed - bike commute 73.  Ten miles in the AM, seven in the PM.  Guitar lesson in the evening, I'm still not quite playing Warren Haynes level stuff.

Thurs - run commute 24.  Solid seven miles in the AM, 5.3 miles back home through Sonderman.  CityRock 70 at lunch.  Have a good routine going there of some good, quick climbing followed by a series of push ups and sit ups and some stretching of my old man lower back.

Fri - bike commute 74.  Ten there, ten back.  

Laid back weekend coming up, hopefully.  Long run on Saturday, long ride on Sunday.  Black Joe Lewis on Saturday evening.

Monday, August 07, 2023

Sherman/Sheridan

Another Brothers Comatose show on Friday.  So good!


On Sunday Amanda and I took the dogs over to hike Mt. Sherman and Mt. Sheridan.  My fifth time up Sherman, including a winter ascent, but my first time up Sheridan.  My sixth 13er, only 578 to go!  It's a fun hike and only takes another half hour, so I'll probably tack it on whenever I head out to tag Sherman.  Dogs had a great day.


Friday, August 04, 2023

BroCos

Lots of dogs lately.  Love it.


Got out to Buena Vista on Wednesday to see the Brothers Comatose.  Great venue at River Runners.  Right on the river, and van and dog friendly.  Very small, so we got to hang with the band for a bit.  Mookie's second favorite band ever, only behind Pearl Jam of course.


The BroCos keep it rolling tonight with a show right down the street at Lulu's.  

Monday, July 31, 2023

PPU/Ouray

It had been a while since I had a good long run so I decided to jump into the local Pikes Peak Ultra, starting not too far from the house over at Bear Creek Park.  Ran the 50k, which had just over 8100 feet in elevation gain, toping out at the summit of Mt. Rosa.  I was slow but steady, finishing in 7:34:47.

I hit Goat Patch Brewing right after the race to help them celebrate their six year anniversary.  Then it was off to Salida.  On Sunday morning I hiked off the Tres Litros hangover and bagged the summit of Mt. Ouray with $100 and Amanda and a bunch of dogs.  Not quite a 14er, but at 13,971 she's one of the centennial peaks, ranked as the 58th highest in the state.



For the week:

run - 50 miles, 11.5 hours

ride - 21 miles, 2.5 hours

hike - 23 miles, 12 hours


For July:

run - 30 runs, 189 miles, 39 hours

ride - 21 rides, 152 miles, 16 hours

hike - 31 hikes, 113 miles, 51.1 hours

Friday, July 28, 2023

Yale

Mon - easy incline/infinity loop.

Tues - quick five miler in the morning, ten mile ride on the Red Rock Canyon trails in the evening

Wed - bike commute 70.  CityRock 65 at lunch.  Went up to Pikes Peak Brewing after work to see Kircher and pick up his pup Ollie, who we'll be hanging with for the next week or so.

Thurs - run commute 22.  3.5 there, 3.5 back.

Fri - nada.  The rare rest day.  Good hike with Ollie over in the Garden, then hung out with him late enough that I had to drive to work.  Went home over lunch to let him out so no CityRock.

$100 and Mookie got up Mt. Yale today.  His fourth 14er (Elbert, Quandary, Pikes, and Yale).


Long run for me on Saturday morning then I'm off to join the fam down in Salida for a few days.  Hope everyone gets after it this weekend!

Monday, July 24, 2023

Pikes

Good climb up Pikes on Saturday, my 36th summit and Mookie's first.  We also tagged Little Pikes on the way back down.  14.5 miles total in just under six hours.


Mook crushed it but was pretty tired and wasn't happy that the stop at the Mad Hatter Saloon on the way home kept him from a nap.


Easy Garden road run on Sunday before heading down to River Runners in Chaffee County to catch DeadPhish Orchestra.  Great show and great venue.


For the week:

run - 45 miles, 11.5 hours

ride - 52 miles, five hours

hike - 23 miles, 9 hours

Friday, July 21, 2023

Crags

Mon - AM track, 6 x 800m, all in the 3:20 area.  After work I biked over and went up and down the incline.

Tues - bike commute 68.  Ten there on the usual COVID loop, ten back home through Bear Creek Park and Red Rock Canyon.

Wed - run commute 20.  Seven there.  Four back.

Thurs - bike commute 69.  Four there and four back, stopping by Fossil Brewing on the way home.  Would have stopped on my way there but they weren't open yet.

Fri - bit of a hangover, punished myself by upping my ruck to 50 pounds for the morning Mook walk before run commute 21.  

Taking Mookie up Pikes tomorrow via Crags.  Thinking of starting another monthly streak.  Whether that's Pikes, any 14er, or any 13er will be given some thought until August starts.

Monday, July 17, 2023

Mt. Hope

Mon - solid 7.8 mile run over in Cheyenne Canon, ten mile road ride up Gold Camp road in the evening.

Tues - bike commute 66.  Seven there, 13 back.

Wed - run commute 19.  6.7 there, four back.  Guitar lesson in the evening.

Thurs - bike commute 67.  Four there, 13 back.

Fri - run commute 20.  Four there.  Got picked up in the van to head out of town.

Took the van out over the weekend.  Friday night we stayed at the VFW in Buena Vista.  The last place to drink cheap beer in Chaffee County.  Good two hour run on Saturday morning before heading out towards Winfield, stopping near the Sheep Gulch trailhead.  On Sunday morning we headed up to Hope Pass to hike Mt. Hope.  At 13.933 it's the 64th tallest peak in Colorado.  Saw a ton of people - thru hikers and Leadville runners - going up to Hope Pass but only a few folks once we turned off the pass.  Got a little hairy for Mookie up near the summit but everyone survived.  Good day!




For the week:

run - 30 miles, six hours

ride - 50 miles, 5.5 hours

hike - 25 miles, 14 hours

Tuesday, July 11, 2023

blue monsters

Wed - little bit hungover after the Red Leg anniversary party.  Bike commute 64.  Six there, four back.  CityRock visit number 60 at lunch.  Guitar in the evening.

Thurs - run commute 18.  Four there, four back.

Fri - bike commute 65.  Caught Blues Traveler and Big Head Todd & The Monsters in the evening.  Fantastic show, both bands still bring it.

No Mookie this weekend, as $100 took him along on a girl's trip to do the Rito Alto hike.  Mook's first big overnight hike and first time sleeping in a tent.  I heard he crushed it.

Sat - ten mile run on the Garden roads.  Been a while since I've hit double digits.  

Sun - 7.5 miles on the Garden roads.  Want to be running more trails but it's been raining like crazy lately.  Trails are a mess.

For the week:

run - 43 miles, seven hours; back to back 40 mile weeks for me

ride - 30 miles, three hours; biking is not really high on my list right now, but I do have the Lake City 50 and Trinidad coming up, so I should probably get back on the horse at some point

hike - 28 miles, eleven hours; I've upped my ruck weight to 40 pounds

Wednesday, July 05, 2023

beer mile PR

Sat - easy 7.6 miles on the Garden roads.  Got out a bit later and there were approximately 4 billion people driving around the Garden.

Sun - easy seven miler in Red Rock Canyon.

For the week:

run - 40 miles, 8.5 hours

bike - zilch

hike - 28 miles, 12.5 hours; Mook is getting a lot of outside time as I've been off work

On Monday evening I went over to Fossil for the beer mile.  Ran a decent 7:47, though it doesn't really count as we used plastic cups instead of cans.  

Then managed to get up early on Tuesday to head up to Palmer Lake for their annual four miler.  Wasn't expecting much and I was surprised to run just under 27 minutes.  You can see me unleashing my finishing kick against some rando four year old kid here.  46th overall and 6th in the 40-49 age group.

Mookie turned two on the 4th.  Happy to report he had a good birthday.

Saturday, July 01, 2023

back at it

Time to quit crying in my beer and get on with life.  Pikes is looming.

Mon - half the incline.  It was approximately 8000 degrees and I just wasn't feeling it.

Tues - Muscoco Mountain with the pup and my 35 pound pack.

Wed - two five mile runs today.  One was on the Garden roads for the motorless morning, and an evening run on the Red Rock Canyon trails before hitting Fossil.

Thurs - finally got my ass out to climb Pennsylvania Mountain.  One of the lowest 13ers in the state, pretty easy stroll not too far off highway 9 outside of Fairplay.  Mookie loved it.  Met up with Shad for lunch at the South Park Saloon after the hike.



Fri - top of the W's.  I have some work to do before Pikes.  Caught the Magic Beans at Lulu's last night, solid show.


Debating on what to do with the failed attempt at biking the Divide.  The route is divided into six sections by the maps offered by the Adventure Cycling Association.  I've finished map one, Antelope Wells to Grants.  Might take a week next year to ride the next map - Grants to Salida.  Maybe one map a year?  That might be more in my wheelhouse.  We'll see.