Can we go back to Christmas?

... OK, so not really go back to Christmas and start over or anything.  But maybe go backwards from today on the SD card in the camera and see what's been going on.  Sort of like a photo dump with commentary.  Aside from a few periods of Old Man Winter showing his mug, it has been extremely non-winter weather here.  While this is premium for outdoor enthusiasts (except skiers) who need their weekend fix in the great outdoors, it is really, really super uncool for our heinous drought scenario. However, since we are in no way able to control the climate, might as well capitalize on the bodacious weather and maximize the outdoor time!  Beside that - and without mentioning any names of people in Vermont or Oklahoma - we have been under a bit of outside pressure to get some stinking pictures up - so here we go!

Sweet Ride on Falcon Trail

So we have been mixing it up with trail running and mountain biking, and it has been working out really well.  Today, with highs forecast in the upper 50's, we headed over to the Air Force Academy to do some riding on the Falcon Trail.  We were hoping that a bunch of the snow from our last trip over there was gone, and sure enough it was.  We started at the stadium and headed clockwise.  Instead of riding it as a loop, we had a plan today to get some extra mileage in.

Kathleen climbs out just below the BX and Community Center

 New display at the Chapel Overlook

 The Chapel and cadet commons

So we rode clockwise around to the Chapel overlook, which is at mile marker 0, the official trailhead.  However, for us it was already mile 8.  We turned around here and headed back the way we started.  We were hoping to avoid the last remnants of snow on the north end, extend our riding mileage beyond the standard 13 mile loop, and cash in on the super sweet descent off the back side - the one we had just grunted our way up a half hour earlier!

Brilliant sunshine on Falcon Trail

As expected on an awesome day like this, traffic on the trails was quite heavy.  In fact, there was more traffic today than any time I remember on Falcon Trail during all of last year!  By the time we circled back to the stadium lot, it was in the upper 50's and just fantastic outside.  (Sorry east coast frozen people...)  We just couldn't stop, so we rode past the lot and headed around the trail past the golf course and around to the first road crossing on the north side of the course.  We turned around here and had a blast flying through the singletrack in wide open meadows to the east of the course - which by the way had plenty of activity today!  We rolled up to the truck after 21 miles of sweet trail riding with big grins on our faces.  Yep - this weather is bogus for January in the mountains - but man are we enjoying it while it lasts!!  Between today's ride, a Monday ride (and run = brick), and last Sunday's ride at Cheyenne Mountain State Park (sorry, no camera), Kathleen got in over 60 miles on the mountain bike - 3 technical trail rides in a week - sweet!

Saturday Run at Garden of the Gods

Kathleen cruises past the Giant Footprints

  

Yesterday, I headed out the door for the Garden of the Gods, with Kathleen planning to meet me at the park to start her run.  This allowed me an extra 5 miles without Kathleen having the pressure to go too long on the run.  While it was not too cold out, it was pretty gray most of the day which wasn't real fabulous for the motivation.  But 50's in January is what it is, so quit whining and run, right? 

 And why would you NOT want to run here???

Steve cruising the Strausenback Trail

Oddly, trail traffic was light and we were able to cruise at will, circling all of our favorite spots in the park.  Kathleen was shooting for 10 or 11 miles, which was perfect as 15 or 16 is about my top end at this time of year.  While we were both tired, it was again hard to peel off the trails with such unbelievable temps in winter.  We stopped in to see our favorite crew at the neighborhood Starbucks and then kicked it for the rest of the day.  With a boatload of people sick around here, we made certain to stay out of crowded (aka germ factory) areas as much as possible this weekend!!

Back a couple weeks

 The previously mentioned ugly stuff

Just so you don't think we're getting all cream puff weather this winter, we did have this spell a couple weekends back - can you say "ride the indoor trainer"?  Two words - butt cold.  Glad it's over.  For now.....

Ride at Pueblo Reservoir

 Kathleen riding out the mesa on Voodoo Loop

Back a few weeks, we took advantage of some sunny weather to get some time in at Pueblo Reservoir.  New Years weekend, we spent a couple days down at the desert oasis mountain biking with friends (just over 50 miles on Sat/Sun) and going for a long run on dry trails after some quick snowstorms left the home trails a little snowpacked.  So the next weekend, we were itching to ride again and headed back.  The quick 1 hour drive is easily justified when dry singletrack - miles and miles of it - await your tires and/or trail shoes.

 Western end of the trail system ... for now

We have been to Pueblo quite a few times for a winter get away but had never been on the newest loop - Voodoo - which is the farthest trail loop to the west.  From what we hear, there is yet another loop in the works for the next mesa west of Voodoo - holy trail stash Batman!  So we made a point to head straight for Voodoo to start the ride and it is an absolute blast.  It has some fast, open stretches that are really made for the bike, but might be a bit "out there" for running.  We'll report on that the first time we get back there to run the loop.  It is awesome riding - long wide open stretches of twisty singletrack, punctuated with typical desert riding in and out of drainages and arroyos.  There really are no long climbs at Pueblo, just a lot of punchy, leg draining ups and downs - hardly any flat areas. And lots of loose, broken shale - can be a bit tricky to ride or run.  The shale is noisy, too.

Steve on the Outer Limits Trail

Looking north across the reservoir, with Pikes Peak 50 miles to the north

  Our route for the day - we covered less than half the trails available

We had a blast riding our legs off, eventually calling it quits after 28 miles of splendid desert trails.  While there are several mountain biking races held here, we are really surprised that there are not any ultra trail races held here.  It would seem to be a great early season ultra with the mild weather Pueblo generally receives.  Anyway, we had a great ride and really enjoyed the dry trails in the middle of winter.  There is a pretty good chance we'll be back down before it gets blazing hot - both to run and ride these awesome trails.

Christmas in the Park

 Group photo in Beaver Meadows

And now for that whole Christmas thingie - We generally do not go anywhere at Christmas, as in years past we have had limited time off work and most often also have family in town.  This year, no family in town and 10 days off between Christmas and New Years holidays meant we had a little freedom to roam.  So we booked our favorite spot in Estes Park and spent Christmas in the quaint little town at the east portal to Rocky Mountain National Park. 

 Kathleen running the park service road above Beaver Meadows

We were unsure of how much recreation we wanted to plan while in Estes Park.  We did not even bring snowshoes due to the poor snowpack so far this year.  Christmas Eve, we headed over to the park to get in a little trail run.  Little being the key word since it was 17 degrees and windy - well, it is always windy in Estes Park...  We started at the visitor's center, took the service road out to the trail junction, and ran the trails in Beaver Meadows.  While there were some nice stretches of dirt, there was also a fair amount of running on crusty snow and a wee bit too much post-holing through windblown and drifted sections.  It was good to get out and stretch the legs a bit and we rolled up 9 miles before calling it a day.  With snow in the forecast for Christmas Eve night, it was looking like a white Christmas for the first time in many, many years.

 Finishing up the run with weather moving in

Christmas Day - 6" of fresh powder - Fall River entrance

Sure enough, the weather moved in and delivered 6" of fresh snow, leaving behind brilliant blue skies and numbing temps to start Christmas Day.  We decided to get out and enjoy a drive in the national park to check out the freshies - it was magnificent.

  Old Fall River Road

 Horseshoe Park, looking out toward the Alluvial Fan area

 Group mug - loving the White Christmas!

Windblown snow crystals add highlights to Longs Peak

Thanks for checking out the time capsule - Happy Trails!

Merry Christmas and some trail RIDING

What, you say, TWO biking posts in a row???  Well, the day after the week after the last post, Kathleen was riding in Ute Valley Park and descending a series of root steps that we have ridden and run down a thousand times over the years.  For whatever reason, at that moment, Ole Bessie snapped a chainstay - see below (probably had something to do with that "thousand times" thing):

 R.I.P. - 12 years of good service from that frame!!

Now, we had been itching to get back to some off-road riding, so the plan was to start perusing new bikes in the spring.  However, this incident left us in a quandary and had us looking a little sooner.  Lo and behold, we found a sweet deal on a couple of gently  used 2011 Santa Cruz Superlight's and snatched them up.  Merry Christmas to us :))  Back.In.Business.  Now we haven't had much winter yet, so we were hoping to get some riding in this weekend.  Thanks to a nice little storm mid-week, we had just enough snow to be a nuisance but decided to head out anyway.  We took off on Santa Fe from Woodmen Road, cut over from Ice Lake to the Falcon Trail, and rode that awesome loop before heading back.

 Breaking in the new machines

Cruising out one of the dry sections

While the snow on the north side was pretty chunky and made a mess, the ride was awesome and we ended up with a nice 25 miles of trail for the day.  For Steve, it was the first significant off-road ride in years, but the feel for the bike was back within the first hour.  All in all, a great day and lots of fun.  And if you're in to bikes at all, we have a couple super sweet sets of Stan's tubeless wheels on the way to lighten up the ride - nice!  Rest easy, though, we are now off to do a nice trail RUN.  Happy Trails!

Have a Merry Christmas!

Long Run: Doubling up on Falcon

Here's the Cliffs Notes report - Craig tried to run me to death.

If you want to know more about the run, keep reading. 

 From the Falcon Trail, looking southwest to Blodgett Peak

I met up with Craig over at the US Air Force Academy Saturday morning for his long run leading up to Pikes Peak Marathon.  Quite a few weeks back he showed me his top-secret training plan for shaking things up at PPM.  When I saw the Long Run - 2 laps at Falcon for time on feet, I was intrigued to say the least.  While I have no interest per se in marathons, or for a large part racing in general, I have often thought about a double loop of Falcon.  Number 1, I really like the loop - great terrain, lots of variety, good climbs, etc.  Second, it is one of few places locally where you can do a long, continuous loop - 13 miles to be exact.  The only problem I saw was doing it solo.  I guess now I had that part checked off the list also.  So I told Craig I would at least hang for the first loop and see where everything shook out for a second.

 The Knuckledragging Runner himself - still sporting "battle bandages" from the last time we ran

Now there was a secondary issue, which I did not share until we were already running.  I had only run up to 21 miles previous, and my longest run this calendar year was 19.  It did not seem to phase my running comrade, so we were off and running - clockwise on lap 1.  While it was warming quickly, there was a strong breeze that really saved our bacon throughout the day.  It was, however, a bit of a Catch-22 - when we were in the trees and shaded from the sun, there was no breeze.  When we were in the breeze, we were fully exposed to the overhead sun.  We managed pretty well though and the first lap rolled very well.  OK, maybe too well.  We were hitting some time checks a fair amount earlier than Craig's goal pace.  Now that is good in one sense if it was a "one and done" event, but there was that whole second lap conundrum looming on the horizon. I let Craig lead out, so it was his fault...

 The Chapel overlook - beautiful day to be on the trails

We didn't get too concerned about making decent time, figuring it never hurts to bank some time for the next lap.  It was a great day to be chatting about trails, races, family stuff, life in general, etc., although we never got around to solving the problems of the world.  Maybe next run.  We did get in a great first lap - I logged 2:13 moving time for lap 1, about 45 seconds per mile under goal splits.  With the loop nature of the trail, finishing the lap put us back at our vehicles for an unmanned aid station, which is quite convenient.   We got a bit of solid food, loaded up some more water in the packs, and started lap 2 counter-clockwise for a fresh look at the trail.  I am not certain Craig really knew if I was "all in" for a second loop, but I took the look of relief on his face as a sign that he was happy to not head out for #2 alone.  The guy has business to get done on the mountain in three weeks - gotta "man up" and show some support, right? :)

 Top of the last big climb - looking due south at Blodgett and the AFA water treatment plant

Where do I start with lap 2??  About a mile and a half in, after some gradual up around the golf course and through some forest, there is a grunt of a climb on a spine above the northern part of the Academy.  It is not that it is steep, rather it is long and very very very exposed.  It was already in the 80's by now and the sun was directly overhead.  Conversation waned, to say the least, and for about 3 miles was reduced to two or three word sentences.  Several times the guy who tricked me into this death march Craig asked if this ever ended.  While it did eventually crest, the slog took its toll.  I had gone quite a ways without a glimpse at the Garmin, and I think we were so anxious to get that sucker done, we had climbed it a little fast for what was already in the legs.  Oops.  On the descent off the ridgeline, it was apparent I had put a dent in my reserves as Craig quickly put a gap on me, although I think some of that is his overall descending edge on me.  We had to regroup quickly though as the next climb was soon upon us.

We put our heads down and ground out the next climb, first through the deep sand along Interior Drive below the Chapel, then up the long switchbacks to the Chapel Overlook.  From there, it was a nice reprieve winding through the forest, before crossing Academy Drive and pushing the tough little climb up to Stanley Canyon trailhead.  We took a breather in the shade, knowing we were 75% of the way done.  Now it was time for the steepest descent off the backside of the canyon - on tired legs no less. 

 Unfamiliar Territory

I was reminded to get a photo of the display once we were past the longest-run-ever point.  Too bad my running glasses don't have my bifocal rx in them - I totally blew the focal point on that shot!!!  

So near the bottom of the long hill, before crossing the Monument Creek Trail, Craig sounds the first alarm - he got his first draw of "air" from the hydration pack.  With 4.5 miles to go.  "So, Steve, how far off the trail is it to that Burger King you showed us?"  "Oh, just across the road, through the BX parking lot, after the grunt hill past the fire station."  "Ok, maybe we better check the fire station."   About 5 minutes later, I had my first bubbles.  We hadn't totally realized how warm it was getting but both of us had burned through some H2O - and we had a long stretch of exposed meadow to run through between us and the vehicles.

You can imagine the relief when we rolled up out of the creek drainage and saw people swarming around the fire station.  There was some sort of community event going on, with barbecue - OK, that part was rude having to smell bbq 22.5 miles in to a run - they even had a Big-Air Jumper for the kids shaped like a fire truck.  Frankly, we didn't care about any of that.  When the fireman said past the kitchen and refrigerator, cold drinking fountain, blah blah blah, we were all over it.  Plus it was air conditioned inside the fire station.  So we lingered a bit, filled the packs, drank a little more from the fountain, then eventually had to get out before we decided to climb into the fridge and take a nap....

Not too far to the finish - luckily most of the rest of the trail was not too technical

Coming out of the fire station, there is a steep trail that climbs up to the community center/BX area.  Not sure, but I have a feeling we I looked less than amazing climbing that. It was hot, and I was getting pretty tired.  I think the stop at the fire station had given Craig a fifth wind, as he was starting to push me a bit.  We hit the descent from the BX with a "rabbit" out in front - a lanky guy had hopped on the trail and was pushing a decent pace out ahead of us.  I was struggling a bit for the first time to hold an even gap and I think the lure of finishing off strong was taking hold of Craig.  Somewhere in that foggy zone of tiredness, I am on my face.  It is weird how when you are tired, you hit the dirt before you are even aware that you hooked your toe and are falling.  There is none of that slow motion business where it takes 5 seconds to hit the ground - that only happens when you are alert!  Luckily, I was in the deep sand so there wasn't much in the way of damage assessment.  It did wake me up a bit, though, which was apparent by my first thought - "Crap, I never restarted the Garmin at the fire station..." - like that mattered at this point!  So, I dusted myself off, got my senses, and took off.  Craig had enough gap that he didn't hear me hit the ground, so I was a ways back now.  At the bottom of the meadow, he yelled that he was taking a shot at sub-4:30 and I was all for it.  

I reeled it in a bit, knowing that I could easily faceplant again if I tried to push the pace with my feet barely leaving terra firma with each step.  I was already well into the bonus round and had been fueling off reserves for a bit of time so that strategy was just fine.  I finally rolled in for 26 miles at 4:32:45 moving time, for a second lap split of 2:19:45 - not too shabby to drop only 1/2 minute per mile pace on the second go round.  The gain for the double loop is about 3100', which is by no means huge but does add up.  Oh yeah, and the whole longest run ever thing comes in to play as well.  I thought about running out to the golf course and back, just to say I was an ultrarunner and so forth -  however, I didn't really care.  I was more interested in having a seat in the shade and "not running" for a while...  BTW, five gels, 2 S-Caps, 130 oz. water and one Strawberry Yogurt granola bar fueled the effort if you wonder about such things.

I have to say, in all seriousness, this was a great run.  I was glad Craig threw it out there because it was on the list for a while.  I think, although he will have to confirm, that this was a good confidence boost  for some overall pre-race fitness.  But all that fitness, goal oriented jazz aside, it was just a fun day on the trails.  Definitely good times.

Shoes - Brooks Pure Grit

On a side note, you may be asking where Mrs HT has been.  Good question, and you'll soon be seeing more photo evidence of her on these pages.  As has been the case (too often to count) in the past 18 months, we had a couple setbacks related to the Graves Disease recovery.  Things that were unpredictable but happen and are common issues related to fall-out from the disease.  I am biased, but I am also in control of the keyboard, so I have to say Kathleen has been absolutely rock-star at dealing with all these crazy roadblocks - her grit and determination are astounding to me.  That being said, we are rolling with it all, and are most thankful that we still have biking legs as she (we) has had to do more biking this summer than we really wanted to have on the schedule.  However, good progress is being made on the running front and along with it, we have a couple scenic long rides on tap, and maybe a few runs, to report on in the coming weeks.  Stay tuned...

                                                             happy trails

Fun on Two Feet ... and Two Wheels

Last weekend started with a little trip over to the US Air Force Academy for a good run around the Falcon Trail loop with Craig and his son Alex.  It was the first time over there for the guys, and this is a must run trail if you live in our area.  We had a good time just taking an easy stroll around the loop.  Although we got started when the gates opened to the public to get on base, by mid-loop it was already blazing hot out there! 

 Sunny and warm on the Falcon Trail - crossing the Stanley Canyon access point

 Had a blast being tour guide for these two guys

These two have some good races coming up and goal for the day was time on the feet and some climbing thrown in - both accomplished.  While this is not the hardest run in our neck of the woods by any stretch, you won't see too many 13 year old youngsters spending their Saturday mornings running 13 miles with the old guys - most of them are home in bed until the crack of noon, then glued to an X-box for 6 hours or whatever the national average is these days.  While we had a couple of what Craig calls "teenager moments", it was a good run and we all enjoyed the trail.  We were also glad to be done as it was heading into the upper 80's when we finished.  Good Times!  (By the way - Craig took a bunch more photos - go over to his blog and have a look.)

Shoes - Brooks Pure Grit

Meanwhile, while the boys were out running, Kathleen was out on the roads of the Academy enjoying some quality time on the road bike.  She is working through some musculo-skeletal issues related to the Graves Disease, so she will be spending some good time on the bike here and there to help with the rebuilding process.  She was able to get in a sweet 30 mile ride while we were out playing on the trails and had her feet kicked up waiting on us when we reached the trailhead.

Hit The Road!

 Enjoying the blossoming Jupiter's Beard - a.k.a. Red Valerian - in our Xeric Garden out front

 Italian Cycling Slippers

 Starbucks and Pikes Peak - aaah....

This morning we headed out early for a road ride and we needed to beat the heat.  It was forecast to hit 90's by noon, so we wanted no part of that especially since we would be spending our workout time on asphalt!  We also wanted to be out early to beat the nut-jobs driving on the west side of town, but we didn't totally avoid that...  And what is up with the wind this year - it can be over any time.  Had to run in it yesterday and it was gusting heavily while riding today.... The route for the day was a combination of The Garden of the Gods area, Gold Camp Road, and Mountain Shadows area.

 Riding up Gold Camp, almost to Section 16 parking lot

 Up on the open stretches of Gold Camp - no hiding from the wind here...

 Almost to the top

 End of the road - at least for skinny tires

Riding up to the end of the pavement is a great out and back.  On the weekends, you will have plenty of two-wheeled company.  This is a popular route for gradual and steady grade hill repeats thanks to the extended climb - from 31st street and Highway 24, you climb 1000' in a bit over 4 miles, for around a 4% grade.  You'll have mountain bike company as well, headed up past the pavement into Cheyenne Canyon where countless miles of steep trails await.

 The suburban reservoirs at Stratton Open Space and the Broadmoor Hotel

You should stay there if you come visit....

 The Trusty Rigs

Back in our neck of the "woods" - Mesa bike path looking into Queen's Canyon

We had a great ride - 30 miles for the day and the heat was building, so we got ourselves out of the sun!  It was a good week - I ran two solid tempo runs this week - a short and a long, and finally felt decent doing so.  I had quite a lengthy funk after Greenland but appear to be hitting solid stride again.  Looking forward to some longs runs in the high country, but those will have to wait until at least mid-July.  Our niece is getting married and my folks will be here for two weeks, so family time comes first!!

Happy Trails!

Flying Solo on Falcon Trail

With all the crazy restrictions and the all-too-confusing DEFCON color coordinated alert scales used at the local military installations, it has been a LONG time since we have been on the Falcon Trail. I heard from a trustworthy source that Falcon was in good shape AND had a green light for civi's.  With Kathleen having caught the crud from a coworker, I decided to tackle the long route on Saturday since it is so close to home.  Normally we would park at the stadium trailhead and run this as a loop, but for some reason I had it in to run in from the horse trails up on Blodgett, run the loop, and then CLIMB back out to finish.  It would be a good test of the winter fitness and the ice-induced hip strain I have been nursing.

 Over the ridge from Blodgett, the USAFA in the distance

Starting from this area, there is about a 2 mile drop in on a variety of dirt roads and horse trails to link up with the Falcon Trail.  Given our bizarre winter to date, there were rare patches of snow and almost no mud.  It was gray and cool at the start but forecast was for some sun and upper 50's so I was optimistic that the finish would be much warmer.

 Finally on Falcon - nice luge trail through the rocks

 Nice views along the creek

 That cave could be emergency shelter in a storm!

 Center of campus - Chapel on the skyline

Circa 1860's - not sure if it is the "original" glass, though!

It was indeed good conditions on the trail.  The back side was completely dry and I encountered no ice until dropping out of the Stanley Canyon trailhead to the northeast.  Down from there to the road there were a couple sketchy spots that required some mindful attention.  With the temperature in the mid 40's, there was just enough of a slimy surface on the ice to make it snot slick.  I have been enjoying the consolidated snow traction on the Saucony Peregrine, but it is definitely NOT an ice shoe (not many are...).  I traded places quite a few times with guys on bikes - passing on the climbs, getting passed on the descents.  it was such a great day to be out and the forecast high winds we have endured lately took the day off.  So it was definitely a good day to be out on the bike - a couple guys made mention that they left early to beat the wind but were wishing they would have started an hour later for warmer temps!!  

I fatigued noticeably by the time I climbed the ridge above the golf course on the north side of the Academy.  This is, after all, January  and I have not been maintaining the mileage I did in the fall.  I made a conscious effort to ignore the Garmin as I knew at that point I still had 7 or 8 miles to go.  Running out the long meadow below the BX, I passed two cyclists that I had traded spots with 4 times.  They had laid their bikes in the grass and stood beside the trail with their thumbs out as I went by.  I got a good laugh and they shouted encouraging words since they were almost done with their loop!  On the trail above the BX, I caught wind of Burger King.  Now I am not a fast foodie, but why after almost 15 miles does that smell SO GOOD???  I contemplated the emergency cash stash in my Nathan pack and thought about sauntering in to the BK and getting a Whopper, Animal Style, if you know what that is ;-)  Gotta stay clear of the bread, you know???  But alas, with a 2 mile climb out of the Academy staring me in the face, that thought was fleeting...

 Exit gate - depart from the Falcon Trail and head UP

 Blodgett Peak

The next trail beta I need to work out is a route that starts at Blodgett Peak Open Space and gains access to the horse trails I dropped in on today.  That would certainly put this run well over 20 miles and make for a good mid-summer long run bonanza.  I am thinking this might involve connecting to the West Monument Creek Trail, which drops in the "V" on the right side of the photo.  This gets sticky as Colorado Springs Utilities parked a water treatment plant on the creek and "interrupted" access to the trail.  However, there are people who know ways around such things.  :)

 AFA water treatment facility on the hill to the left,

and one of their reservoirs below right

 Can't stand still long - still have to climb out over that ridge

Back over on our side of town - looking over Mt St Francis,

home of The Sisters of Saint Francis of Perpetual Adoration

As you can see, I made it out alive!  17 miles with just under 2600' climb.  That was a long run for me at this time of year, however, I enjoyed the test of fitness and found out that I still have a good base.  If you are in this area, get out and run the trail - it is not often in January that Falcon is this free of snow and ice.  And you never know when they might close access again...  Happy Trails

Shoes - Saucony Peregrine