Blowing in the wind

Got back on the Psychlo-X recently and hit up some dirt roads out near Igancio.  It's going to be an interesting challenge right now, as I have been running 60+ miles a week, but the pull to get back on the bike is there.  I've got to keep the running up in the short term, but will need to transition back to the bike soon enough because, believe it or, mountain biking season is within relative sight right now.  Amazing how this winter has rolled relatively quickly.

I upload Dylan and The Dead to the iPod, which was music definitely ahead of it's time.  There must be a reason Bob Dylan hates most of his so called "fans" which would be the same set that booed him when he went electric, and derided the collaboration with The Grateful Dead.  For a band that made a good name off of covering Dylan tunes, it's pretty wild to hear the man himself belting out the lyrics with the band behind him.

Keep on rolling....

Pimp my Chariot

So bad it even has tread on the sidewalls.

Tectonic Tribulation

Riding in January?  You betcha.

Time for a celebration.  Enjoy the Blarney Stone, sharpen your boots, and bludgeon your eye.

And speaking of a good bludgeoning, we got great news on the Durango Double.  October 6/7, 2012 - a 50k trail race one day, and a road marathon the next.  Race website here.  Man the local calendar is looking awesome this year.

The Big Toe

Sgt. Hulka is taking a pounding from the increase in running.  I'm thinking I may lose the nail, and apparently that is normal.  64 miles last week, and 36 already this week - I'm hoping to break 60 again if the toe wants to come along and not act up.   Lighten up Francis!  If not the cross bike is ready to lead me to adventure.  But the difference between going for a run vs. a ride in the wintertime is huge, given the extra clothing, shoe covers, helmet warmers, etc.  I can take off so quickly for a run, and this time of year it seems to take forever for me to get ready for a ride - and sometimes I return back to the house either too warm or too cold.  Running has it's place and I'm liking it this winter in lieu of the skiing.

We finally got some snow this week, and I spent a good hour clearing that up on Monday.  But it is all melting now, and should be gone in town soon.  The muddy trails got a nice layer over them and the icy ones got some traction, so I ran over at Animas and all around the college.  I like the snow trail running, but it is slower than pavement as you have to pay attention to where you plant your feet.  Perhaps we will get enough snow to open up Hillcrest for some skiing, and they did groom a track early this week, but grass shows through some of now.

Rest Day

Well it was supposed to be at least, but with weather like this sometimes you have to just say eff it.  I thought about riding, but that didn't pique my interest, so instead, I put on my running shoes and loaded up the Dakine pack and then took off on a route unknown.  Before I knew it I was headed out on Junction with thought of going over to Fall Creek.

 Steve rolled up on his cross bike with plans for a similar ride and we chatted for a bit.  I thought about just turning around at the CT/Falls Creek junction, but just kept running.  When I saw the Falls Creek single track, I couldn't stop here either, so on I went.  

 I took the fun and narrow singletrack down to the Zink Waterfall Trail or whatever it is called.  There was some ice, but it was cool to be on that trail in January.   When it merged into the old road things got better and no ice at all.

 So from here a few more miles back into town, over to 32nd street and man I was tired.  So I headed over to Bread and got a coffee cake and some coffee.  Man that hit the spot.  From here it was onto Bread Express and a run back home.  A nice 19-miler to close out the week. 

I'm afraid to say it, because I do like the snow - but this is turning into an awesome January.  I guess enjoy it before the dry summer comes.  

Big Friday Run

The Big Friday run this week was out to Edgemont via Bread Express and the dirt shoulder of Florida Road.  I should have ran around Edgemont, but ran through it to Rim Ridge road, which is really singletrack, not road.  The lower part was dry, but the upper was a disaster as the packed down snow that has gone through a melt/freeze cycle that turned it into an ice skating rink with a 30-degree incline.  I sat on my heels and slide down, but still almost tipped over.

Then in was on the paved road that goes over to Elmores corner, but I turned at the county road that eventually runs into Horse Gulch road.  This was perfect for running, and I took that back all the way into town.  Back up Gueglein/South College and a nice 14-mile loop.

It is so cool to have what seems like limitless option right out the front door.   The Element has only been driven one time since the trip down to Otero/Cedro in November, and the Escape has not left the city limits since then either.  I've only left town via my feet or Moots cross bike.  Cool huh?

People are riding singletrack here in town, and I've seen a few mountain bikers out.  I've debated giving it a try, but it is best right now to continue the long running.  Forcing a mountain bike ride now either means expending gasoline, wasting drive time, or if in town doing repeated routes, out-and backs, and you are still subject to intermittent mud bogs.  The cross riding is another story, and it has a serious pull to me right now - but I know better (or at least I pretend to) as it is very easy to get burned out on riding by May piling the miles up on lonely dirt roads all winter.

I got an invite to head down to Chama for an xc-ski race, but it looks like this year I may not ski once if conditions continue.  However, I did get wind of the Sneffels Half-Loop Race in March, and wow, this sounds amazing!  I made the decision last season to forgo a pursuit of Randonee skiing, and this years conditions only reinforced that - but it looks like they open this course to classic nordic skiers as well.  Although the 35-miles, 6600-ft of climbing sounds epic - I'm not sure the 9k of descent on classic nordic skis is too smart of a decision.  I'm sure I've attempted dumber thing though.  You can bet the farm on that one.

Run Forest, run!

A big congrats to my alma mater.  (again)

Missionary Run

Jeni and I have been covering for one another with the new addition in the household, and both of us have been able to have a pretty effective and fun exercise routine.  When Friday came around it was Jeni's rest day, and I weighed driving to Cortez to ride Phil's World or doing a big run in town.  

The run won out, and it turned out to be quite epic.  

I had recently wanted to run up to the top of Missionary Ridge from my house, and this side of the ridge looked clear enough.  So I took off down the street and descended Bread Express to Florida Road and ran that out to the Pioneer Trail.

 Pioneer was a great shape and quite a few people have been on it recently.  From here it was onto Silver Ridge Road, FR 071 right into the USFS land.  Once past the gate the normally closed road had a semi-groomed snow path - someone took an ATV and dragged a snow rake behind or it looked like it at least.  This made the running really easy as I did not punch through the snow, and there were some other runners up there as well.  From there, I took the veer off to Missionary Ridge Trail, which had a nice path cut in from snowshoes and hikers.

 When I got to Haflin Creek Trail, it was clear that no one yet had taken the upper part of the trail.  However, I knew that people hiked from the bottom, so eventully I would find a beaten path.  

 The trail descends about 2500-ft vertical and it is usually full of dead fall from the Missionary Ridge Fire.  There was a lot of snow post holing at first, which was not bad as it was only upper calf deep.  However, I was running in knickers with calves exposed so it stung.  The dead fall was pretty bad so I ran on logs, climbed over them where possible, etc.

 Haflin was much longer than I remembered, or at least the post holing and tree climbing slowed things down.  The middle part was deep in the canyon and out of the sun so it had a lot of snow and was a bit cool.  Eventually I made it back into the warm sun, albeit at near sunset.  The red earth section of this trail is so pretty.

 This photo shows the contrast of sunny side vs. shady side.

From here I had to run back to town on CR 250 and then up North College.  The sunlight disappeared and fortunately the full moon popped out to guide me home.  I started this one a tad too late, but the adventure turned out to be worth it.  The running loop ended up being a nice 20-mile, 3600-ft of climbing route.  Jeni cooked some awesome pizza and along with some New Belgium beer this capped a nice day.

The dry winter has yielded some amazing adventures right out the front door.  We were in the 50s all week with nothing but sunshine.  Lets hope though we get some moisture sometime, because the 2002 Missionary Ridge Fire was the result of a very dry winter.

Global Warming is Grand

Just two years ago on nearly the same day, Jeni and I were shoveling this in epic proportions.

Today I took off from my house (up on the mesa off in the distance of the photo below) and ran over through town and climbed Animas peak.  The lower trails were dry, and the BLM have not shut down the upper trails as they usually do when the Elk make it their winter home.

 Animas is my go to mountain bike ride, and the plan here was to just run through Sailing Hawks, but when I saw the upper trails were open, I did not hesitate.  When the opportunity is there for an epic, you take it - and make the rest of the day conform. 

 My prediction for this year is that we will get late snows, very late snows - like the big one we had last May.  So if that is in the future, hit the trails and don't look back.  Rumors are abound that Phils World is dry, and all of Farmington/Aztec.  Not sure if I am willing to drive just to ride a mountain bike right now, when I can hit the cross bike and find epic dirt roads, or run on some fun singletrack all from the doorstep.

The run up to the top of Animas and back ended up being 15-miles and 2600-ft of climbing.  I was fortunate that I actually packed water and food this time, as I usually run without either.  It made a big difference and the thought of running up on Raiders after this flashed through my brain.  Enduro junkies always think of the next hill.

The road ahead

2011 has reached it's conclusion and what a year it has been.  Jeni and I became parents after nearly 20 years of marriage and we are moving forward with that challenge.  Our little daughter is a bundle of joy and it is amazing at how many friends have had their first all within a few months of this.  Loads of house chores have been either completed, identified for future projects, or outright ignored because sometimes it's better to leave trouble alone.

I traveled far and wide for both work and also for adventure and it got to a point to where I just didn't want to leave town any more.  I was able to complete my first ever xc-ski marathons in Steamboat Springs and also Crested Butte, with Crested Butte being a challenging, but ultimately fun endeavor skiing right through the alley ways in town.  Mountain bike season rolled around and I just needed a break from multi-lap races the years prior, so I set out to hit as many 100-milers as I could - and that got me into my first Bailey 100 and also High Cascades 100 with my first ever trip to Bend.  I went to Breckenridge for my 6th showing there, and made my 5th visit at Vapor Trail 125.  The Durango Dirty Century was another highlight as the crowds made it all the more fun even with the snow challenge.  Finally, I was able to race in the Sage Burner 25k, Lead King 25k, and ultimately Moab Trail Marathon for running events, completing my first ever running marathon in the process.

What I learned this year was that I do enjoy the race events, regardless of the format - be it skiing, running, or cycling.  Conversely, I did not enjoy the travel, and the 18-hour drive Bend (one-way) overshadowed what fun I should have retained from the adventure.

The plan is set for 2012, with all mountain bike races in Colorado, but the running ones extended to nearby Moab.  Jeni and I have an interesting year coming up both with the family and professional challenges as additional items to juggle.  Can't wait to get started!

Ride on

Got the cross bike ride in and the hit the ridge last day of the year for an epic run.  Decided to go up the usual skyline, full ridge run, and then down into town and back up Florida and North college.  A bit muddy in spots, and lots of ice on skyline (should have brought a pack and put in the trax spikes), but once up on top the views were amazing.

It back to the cross bike again, and even though it's mostly pavement, it just feels better than the road machine right now.  Keep on rolling on down the line.