new ride

Mon - it's been raining a ton here and the track was a hot mess, so I just did a nice loop on the Garden roads.  6.5 miles.

Tues - more rain.  14 miles to/from work on the bike. 

Wed - run commute 15.  Five miles in just under 40 minutes to work.  Easy four miles back home.  Guitar lesson in the evening, followed by my weekly trip to Benny's.  Benny's got a nasty letter from the health department and you can't sit at the bar anymore.

Thurs - bike commute 55.  Ten miles to work on the bike path.  13 back home on the world's greatest commute through Bear Creek and Red Rock Canyon.  On the new bike.

My brother recently got a new bike and was going to get rid of his old Kona Unit X.  So I had him send it to me.  Loving it so far.

Salida/BV/Leadville

Had you asked me I would have predicted a really good Classic 10k followed by a shitty Salida 5.5 miler.  Just guessing based off the work I've been doing lately.  And after choking at the Classic I just assumed I'd have two bad races.

But the thing in Salida went pretty alright!  Started off strong, climbed well, and held my own on the descent.  And I ended up outkicking this eleven year old girl at the finish.

I finished 27th overall in 41:05 for the 5.4ish mile course on the S mountain trails.  Really happy with the effort.  My last race in the 40-44 age group.

After my race I played some guitar in the van while the wife went for a run, then we headed north.  Dropped by Buena Vista to visit some old Austin friends - Paul and Meredith - before heading up to Leadville to see another old Austin friend - Mr. Sharp.  Need to note here that on Saturday for breakfast I had Moonlight Pizza, lunch was the Buena Viking, and dinner was High Mountain Pies.  Quite the day of food.  We also hit up Leadville's newest brewery, Two Mile Brewing.  The Camp Hale Pale wasn't half bad.

Rained damn near the entire weekend, so nights were spent just chilling inside the van.  Sharp and I did meet up to run the Leadville Mineral Belt loop, a 13.1 mile loop if you start from the start line of the Pb100.  Surprised they don't have a half marathon race there.

We ran into Bigfoot over near the Colorado Mountain College

It's been a while since I've been to Leadville so this might be old news, but there are two memorials to Super Dooper at City on a Hill coffee.

Took the long way back home, dropping by Outer Range and Broken Compass.

climb

Mon - track.  8 x 200m.  Very uninspiring.  Like my 10k, but at least today didn't have a ton of people getting to witness me shitting the bed.

Tues - bike commute 53.  Four miles to work as my AM guitar practice went long.  Four miles home as it looked like it was going to flood.  CityRock 37 at lunch.

Wed - run commute 44.  4.2 miles to work.  Short as once again my guitar practice was longer than planned.  Back home was an easy 5.5 miles through Sondermann.  Added a new buckle to the collection:

Thurs - nice ten mile run on the Garden roads, which has yet to be uploaded to Garmin due to their hack.  The wife and I then went over to Red Rock Canyon for our first climb in a long time.  The route we wanted to do was occupied, so we found a new-to-us route and made it happen.  A few sketchy moments while I was trying to set up the toprope but I'm still alive.

Classic 10k

Thurs - bike commute 52.  10.9 miles there, 14.6 back home.  CityRock 36 at lunch.

Fri - rest day.  Nice 5k Garden hike with the pup in the early AM.

Sat - CMC anchors class up at Cottonwood Canyon state park.  Learnin' shit.  Hit 105W Brewing on the way home.

For the week:

run -22 miles, 3.5 hours
ride - 56 miles, five hours
hike - 23 miles, nine hours

Sun - hey, I ran a race!  The Classic 10K.  It is usually a fast course and my original goal was sub 40.  They changed the course due to COVID, it was not a much slower out and back.  Changed my goal to 42 due to the harder course.  But it didn't matter, I still sucked.  45:31.  Went out a touch too fast and was just done by the turn around.  I was actually slower coming back, which was downhill.  The race was waves of five runners every 30 seconds.

After the race a bunch of friends and I rode up to Pikes Peak Brewing.  49 miles total, it finished up my virtual Colorado Trail bike ride.

Dinner on Sunday at Colorado Mountain Brewery with the cadet, her boyfriend, and her parents.

Big topic of discussion was the starting QB currently listed as "no longer a cadet in good standing."  Not sure what he did, but apparently there has been quite a bit of cheating as everything has switched to online classes.  No idea if that's what happened.  It would really suck to get booted from the Academy your senior year.  No college degree and you owe the gov't a cool quarter million.

CityRock 35

Mon - early AM uninspiring 8 x 200m at the Holmes Middle School track.  Did a 13 mile ride later in the evening.

Tues - bike commute 51.  Eleven miles to work, 4.8 back.  We've been having some crazy but short storms here, and I tried to beat one home.  It didn't work.  After ten seconds I was soaked to the bone.  Good climb over lunch with my buddy Mike.

Wed - run commute 43.  5.1 miles in 39:19.  Good climb at lunch.  Easy run home, 2.5 miles to meet up with $100 at Smiling Toad.  We got beers to go from Front Range on the walk back home.

PowerStop/Chicago cancelled

Friday - a rare rest day.  Was hoping to bail from work early to meet $100 down on the CO trail.  I was unable to pull that off, so I just picked up Moose and we chilled at the house.

Sat - another zero.  Left at 5AM to drive to Eddysville.  Saw Connilee and Amanda finish up a solid chunk of the Colorado trail.  They should finish the thing next year.  Then $100 and I drove into Gunnison for lunch.  I highly recommend the PowerStop Gas Station in Gunny.  Great burgers.

We picked up a hitchhiker as we were leaving Gunnison.  Figured he was a hiker needing a lift back to the trail.  But it turns out he was a homeless kid out traveling and he was heading to Salida.  We parked at Soulcraft and pointed him towards Tenderfoot Hill.  $100 and I hit Soulcraft and Tres Litres and camped up near the Cottonwood TH. 

Sun - left Salida fairly early and I got in a good run on the Garden roads.  Nine miles.

Another week in the books.

run - 26.6 miles, four hours
ride - 86 miles, just over seven hours
hike - 23 miles, 8.5 hours

Should finish up the Tennessee run this week, as I type this I have less than ten miles to go.

I have two races coming up.  The Classic 10k on Sunday, and the National High School Trail Champs 5.5 miler on July 25.  I'm in the citizens race obviously.  But I'm not the oldest guy running!  My endurance is shit but I think I'm in decent shape for some of this shorter stuff.  That being said, Chicago just cancelled.  Instead, I'll spend that weekend in Salida buying Kieran some pizza.

KOM fail/bike commute 50

Sunday - easy 7.4 mile run on the Garden roads followed by a nice 28 mile bike cruise around the local paved trails, ending at Fossil.  Pretty tore up from the long mountain days on Fri and Sat.

Mon - 5.4 mile Garden road run in the AM, 14.6 mile COVID loop bike ride in the PM.

Tues - bike commute 49.  10.7 miles to work, 11.2 miles home.  Good CityRock session over lunch.

Wed - run commute 42.  I have never had a strava KOM in my life, but there is a segment on my usual run to work, on the Midland trail from 25th (Smiling Toad Brewing) to 8th.  I decided to go for it.  I went as hard as I could.  Literally thought I might pass out while crossing 8th street.  And I fucking whiffed.

I'll keep trying but I'm not really sure how to get those seven seconds.  I ran as hard as I could.  It's only a 1.1 mile section and I was running 5:34/mi pace.  And I was lucky enough to have zero traffic at the street crossings.

When I use my strava douchebag filter I feel much better about myself.

I was a hot mess for a while at the office after the effort.  Did run home but it was super slow.

Thurs - $100 and the dog are down helping out some friends on the Colorado Trail, so this morning was an easy (I was still sore) 4.5 miles in the Garden, some guitar practice, and bike commute 50.  And another lunch hour at CityRock.

San Luis/Challenger/Kit Carson

Finally got a few more 14ers done over the long weekend.  Solo trip, I left right after work on Thursday and made it down to Dome Lakes State Wildlife Area for the night.  Up early on Friday to finish the long drive and finally bag San Luis Peak.  14 miles in just under five hours with 3497 feet of climbing.

On my way out I decided on a whim to head up to Cochetopa Pass.  Had no idea of how the dirt road was, which is taking a chance with a low clearance vehicle.  But it was a great drive and a cool part of Colorado I'd never been to.  Saw more bikepackers than cars.  Also went over a milestone in the van.

Hit Three Barrel Brewing for beers and pizza.  Desert at Square Peg in Alamosa.  Then it was off to Crestone to rest up before a big day on Saturday.

Alpine start, up at 4AM and running by 4:30AM.  Knew this was going to be a long day and it didn't disappoint.  But I was able to bag the Challenger Point/Kit Carson double.  I'm now up to 38 Colorado 14ers.  And one California 14er if you're keeping score at home.

On the ridge leading to Challenger, Kit Carson behind that:

Taken from the Challenger summit, this is the route over to Kit Carson.  Can't find a pic that doesn't make this look sketchy, but it's actually not that bad.

That section after I completed it:

The summit of Kit Carson.  Hard to find a bad view when you're in the Sangre de Cristo range.

Didn't see this sign on the way out, maybe a good thing.

Willow Lake, five miles from the trailhead.  A lot of people do this as a two or three day hike, setting up camp at this lake.

Very long day, 16 miles and 9.5 hours. 6362 feet of climbing.  Made for a great weekend in the mountains for sure.  I skipped Salida on the drive back because it was so busy, but Florence Brewery made room for me to enjoy a few celebratory beers.

Awesome couple 'o days in the mountains, and I even made it home in time to watch some rock and roll livestreams.

The peaks capped off a solid week.

run - 37 miles, 15.5 hours
ride -  57 miles, 5.5 hours
hike - 18 miles, seven hours

Tennessee virtual run - 556.5 miles down, past the town of Chuckey.  87.7% finished.  78.5 miles to go.

CO Trail virtual ride - 371 miles down.  178 to go.  I have until the end of September to finish this so I'm not in a big rush.  Plus I got word that the Lake City Alpine 50 will be happening, so at some point I'll have to start riding more miles.

2020 is halfway over!

Halfway through 2020, here are the numbers:

run - 824 miles, 154.5 hours
ride - 1433 miles, 144 hours
hike - 653 miles, 244 hours

All of those put me a little ahead of the number goals I set at the beginning of the year.  Plus I've been fairly regular at the garage gym thing, hopefully making up for the lack of climbing.

I should be done with all my virtual stuff in July - Tennessee and the CO Trail.  I fully expect Chicago to cancel one of these days.

Bob's

Ran up to the Bob's aid station on Saturday, my first solid hill run in quite some time.  My MAF pace is pretty weak on the climbs right now and I have some work to do before late August.  11.5 miles total.

Hit Fossil after the run for a parking lot party.  This was the first live music I've seen since mid-March.

Pretty good week.

run - 40 miles, 7:15
ride -  70 miles, 6:21
hike -  32 miles, 12 hours

My great virtual run across Tennessee is slowly winding up, I'm at 500.9 miles, in lovely Talbott, TN.  78.9% done.

A little over halfway on the Colorado Trail bike ride, 312 miles (out of 549).

CityRock 30!

Run commute 41.  Four miles there, 5.5 miles back home.  On the way home I got to watch a bobcat climb a six foot fence which was pretty cool.

But the big news was my first trip to CityRock to climb since March 10.  The gym is open, though pretty much empty besides me and a few bazillion bottles of hand sanitizer placed everywhere.  My climbing is super weak, as was expected, but it was nice to get back there.

Knoxville

Mon - track.   8 x 200m, untimed.  Good effort.  Also got out for an hour ride later in the day.

Tues - bike commute 46.  Ten miles to work, eleven miles back home.  The wife and I also went to an hour session of yoga at CityRock.  We were the only two in the class.

Wed - run commute 40.  Good five mile effort to work, easy four miles back home.  Guitar lesson in the evening.  The F chord is ruining life right now.

Wednesday AM was also a motorless morning in the Garden.  $100 and I took the dog over for a nice, long road march.

I'm approaching Knoxville on my Tennessee run.  464.7 miles, 73.2% done.

incline 19

Had a great trip down to the San Juans last week.  We tried San Luis Peak but the wind was horrible once we got up to around 13000 feet, so we turned around.  I'll go back there for a solo attempt over July 4 weekend.  Rest of the weekend was spent in Chaffee County and we had a blast.  Hit up two new breweries over the trip - Irwin Brewing in Crested Butte and Tres Litros in Salida, both were good.

On Saturday a friend and I headed over to the Incline.  It's still closed, and there was a protest hike that morning.  We were a bit early for that, but on our way down we saw quite a few folks hiking.  The closure has nothing to do with public health and has become a pissing contest between Manitou and COS, so I'll start up weekly hikes up the thing again.

For the week ending June 20:

run - 30 miles, 5 hours 45 minutes
ride - 54 miles, seven hours
hike - 25 miles, 9.5 hours

For my Tennessee run I'm 431.6 miles in, 68% completed, just past Philadelphia, TN.  For the Breck Epic virtual CO trail ride I've gone 266 miles, almost halfway. 

Shit continues to slowly but surely open up here in Colorado.  I have reservations for yoga and climbing at CityRock this week.  The Pikes Marathon is a go.  The Classic 10k is taking registrations. 

My dog got me a pretty sweet fathers day present:

bike commute 44

Thurs - run commute 38.  5.25 to work, 5.71 back home.

Fri - bike commute 44.  Ten miles to work, six back home.

Taking the van down to the San Juans this weekend.  Been a while since I've been down there.  Buena Vista on Fri night, two day hike of San Luis Peak, some down time in Lake City, then 1.5 days to get back to Colorado Springs.

bike commute 43

Twenty miles total, on the bike, to and from work.

I am 341 miles through Tennessee.  Not competing with Dr. Slow Ride but if this was a real life race I could probably yell at him and he would hear me.  53.8% finished.

I also got suckered into doing a virtual Colorado Trail bike ride that started when the Breck Epic cancelled.  Doing even less inspiring there than Tennessee, as I sit at 159 miles (29% done).

We were originally planning on heading out to Fruita this weekend, but the dog pointed out that she does not enjoy temps in the mid 90s.  So we're gonna go hike San Luis Peak instead.  A 14 mile round trip at altitude is a bit much for a senior pup, so we're gonna overnight it.

run commute 37

Monday might have been a little rough on the hangover front but I did get the dog out twice for a combined five miles and did a 12 mile ride in Red Rock Canyon.

Tuesday was run commute 37.  Four miles there, four miles back.

I have doubled down on my lockdown musical education and am now learning to play two instruments.

Not sure if the ukulele is similar to playing a guitar, as I don't know how to play a guitar.  Yet.

Holly is now an internet superstar.

incline 18

On Saturday I headed over to the incline.  It's still closed, but that seems to be due more to a pissing match between COS and Manitou more than any pandemic precautions.  They put a high school kid who should be working her summer job at the local pool at the base of the incline at 6AM to try to turn away hikers.  I was at the bottom tie at 5:15AM as to not have to deal with some 15 year old kid.  Great hike up, then dropped down Barr and ran the new-ish Ute Pass Trail that also starts at the base of the incline.  As I ran by that kid was sitting on a bench staring at her phone.  Got in nine miles total.  Hit Benny's later in the day with an old hasher buddy, becoming quite the regular there now that they're back open.

Our Air Force cadet returned on Saturday.  She headed back to the hill Monday morning.  She has to quarantine for 14 days and then she will help run basic training for the next wave of cadets. 

Kircher picked me up early Sunday and we went up Pikes via the Crags route.  Hot damn was it windy.  But we made it and it was my first big day in the mountains in a long time.  14 miles, just over five hours.  The first 14er for Ollie the dog.  Took a nice digger shortly after starting down the hill, my left hand and right knee are banged up pretty bad.  Should heal quickly though.

Another lackluster week in the books.

run - 35 miles, 6.5 miles
ride - 62 miles, six hours
hike - 38 miles, 13 hours

CityRock is showing signs of opening.  They're doing some weird reservation system now, but at least it's a start.

Winchester, TN

Wed - run commute 35.  Good five miler to work.  Home was a bit different, as I got word that Benny's was going to re-open.  So the run home included a long stop at Benny's followed by another long stop at Smiling Toad.

Thurs - morning was a 6.7 mile run over in Red Rock Canyon.  Evening was 7.6 mile fatbike ride in RRC, stopping by Fossil for a few mugs of Mammoth IPA.

Fri - run commute 36.  Little hard getting out of bed this morning but still got the dog out for a good hike before jogging 3.4 miles to the office.

Looks like CityRock will be opening back up soon.  I've been using my lunch hour since the gym closed to hike, getting good mileage towards getting across Tennessee.  I'll need to up the running mileage once CityRock is open again.  Currently 285 miles into the state, near Winchester.  44.9% done!

Crestone

Quick trip over the weekend and on Saturday morning we headed down to Crestone.  Love that place.  Just an overnighter but got in some good hikes with the dog.  Hit the Salida triple crown of Soulcraft/Moonlight/Elevation and they are all open for business.  Tried 14er Wiener on the way back home and that place is delicious!

Holmes track on Monday morning for 6 x 400, all in the 89-91 range.

Tuesday was bike commute 42.  Ten miles to and from work on the fatbike.

I'm currently 260 miles through Tennessee.  41% of the way there, near Crowley Hollow.  Projected finish of July 18, but I hope that date moves up as my wonky knee is starting to return to normal.

road trip

We finally decided to hit the road and we had a pretty good time.

Our first stop was Scottsbulff, NE.  Flyover Brewing, which I had been to way back when I ran the Monumental Marathon.  First time sitting down and eating inside a restaurant since Salida weekend in Mid March.  It was kind of weird but awesome as well.

After lunch we made the trip over to Carhenge to view the greatness there.

Then it was off to the Black Hills of South Dakota.  There were some tourist towns near Mt. Rushmore and they seemed pretty packed, and in general SD was open for business with very few rules.  We found two breweries in Hill City, where we would end up camping for the night.

Practiced a little every day.  I have now "played" guitar in four states.

My one fan was totally into the performance.  Need to teach her to hold up a lighter.

On Sunday we drove north to White Butte, North Dakota.  Definitely on the outskirts of the middle of nowhere.  Pleasant 3.7 mile hike from the small parking spot to the peak.

Then it was back to Spearfish, SD.  Three breweries there.  Spearfish, Sawyer, and Crow Peak.  I know I'm spoiled living on the Front Range but I didn't have a single local NE/SD/WY beer that was any better than mediocre on this trip.  The burger at Spearfish was pretty fantastic though.

Great spot along a creek just outside Spearfish.  Woke up Sunday morning and made the short drive over to Devils Tower.  Great place to check out and it really made me miss climbing.

Headed down to Laramie after that.  Kind of weird there - it was sort of open but also wasn't open.  Definitely kept the mediocre beer theme going though.

Parked for the night at Vedauwoo.  Another great climbing place.

On Tuesday it was time to head home.  Dropped by Fort Collins to see a buddy, then continued south.  105W was open for business.

As was Pikes Peak Brewing.

Happy to get the van out after sheltering in place for so long.  Will probably head out again this weekend.