More fun in Cheyenne Canon

Saturday BIG Run in Cheyenne Canon

We had planned on running in Boulder Saturday with TL, but unfortunately a knee problem has been nagging him since Sage Burner 50K. We certainly hope it is a quick recovery and we'll be heading up to Boulder to log some miles with him soon!

It was a wonderful sunny day (finally), so we took off for Cheyenne Canon to check out a few more trails and add to our loop potential there. We warmed up on the climb up Gold Camp and then turned off onto the Buckhorn trail, which Kathleen is running above. This is a very steep trail in sections and has the typical decomposed granite (read: gravel) surface that most of the trails below Pikes Peak have.
After reaching the top of Buckhorn, we continued climbing up Jones Park trail, rising steadily above Bear Creek Canyon. This is a view from one of the ridges on Jones Park, looking up Bear Creek Canyon, where we would soon be running.
The views from the top of Jones Park were amazing, 2700' above Colorado Springs at this point. We have had such a mild, wet start to summer and everything is amazingly green right now.
From that point, we started the descent into the Bear Creek drainage and crossed the creek to make the long descent on Bear Creek trail. This was all new territory for us and we were having a blast (OK - after recovering from the first 2000 feet of climb!!!) On the other side of this bridge, Jones Park begins it's climb again, but we took the turn downhill on Bear Creek. This is a much more rustic trail - lots of loose rocks and very tight foliage at the top. Whereas Jones Park and Cap'n Jacks are open to motorcycle travel, this is unmotorized only.

Cruising down Bear Creek and having a blast!

We had to stop for a group photo at one of the bridges - it was an awesome day and we really like these new trails we are discovering.
After descending a bit on Bear Creek, you emerge from the trees to one of those "Ah Hah!" vistas that take your breath away. The canyon opens up and before you know it, you are running the southern wall almost 400 feet above the rushing creek. This shot is looking back to the falls, about the lower third and center of photo - we had just run above them and out around the left side of the photo.
Running along the ridge high above the creek, with unbelievable views of the canyon below! Bear Creek was quite a steep descent and we lost all of our climb and more before landing on the High Drive, a very steep road that filters traffic one-way out of the canyon. In order to complete our loop, we had to go back UP High Drive!
We made it!! It was incredible to have Kathleen back out on a hard run like this - she was really running well and this is one tough loop. One of the nice things about building up our endurance is that it has opened up some more difficult terrain for us to explore than we would have ever tried in the past. Sweet! Now it was just a bit more climb on Cap'n Jacks trail, then mostly downhill to the trailhead.
Here is Kathleen in one of the monster, bobsled-like chutes that you encounter on the descent of Cap'n Jacks. You don't "ride" the berms as much on foot but it is still a blast to run through them.
We had a really fun day on the trails. This was possibly one of the harder runs we have done, with a bit over 4000' feet of climb in 11.5 miles - it was also a ton of fun and some good mountain running! ...And there are still miles and miles ABOVE where we ran today still waiting to be explored...

Shoes-Asics Trabuco

Another Great run at Falcon Trail

Since Kathleen missed out last weekend (and we were a little tired from Saturday!), we headed over to the Air Force Academy to play on the Falcon Trail. While not an easy run, we have done it enough times to manage our run very well even if a bit fatigued.

First of all, it was another unbelievable blue sky day again on Sunday. It had been a long time since we had great weekend weather but we certainly had it again today. Here Kathleen is cruising along the climb up toward the community center...
... and again along the creek, enjoying the beautiful day! Once again we had a lot of serenity on the trails - not crowded at all, especially given the fantastic weather. We tried to get a video to show some of the great scenery but we need a little practice with that!!! (Although it would make for some good comedy...) Maybe next week.
Steve climbing the ridge up toward the Stanley Canyon trailhead. It was picture perfect and the views on the backside ascent are really cool. The legs were a bit weary from yesterday's climbs but we actually felt pretty good out on the trail.
Rounding a steep switchback, overlooking the visitor's center - are we there yet?!?! We finished up the run with 13 miles and an awesome day enjoying the trails and sunshine. Hope everyone has a great week - Happy Trails!

Shoes - K Montrail Odyssey
S-Asics Trabuco

Sunshine and Trails!!!

US Air Force Academy - Falcon Trail

Woke up Saturday morning to sunny skies and thought maybe it was not the weekend, given our string of marginal weather weekends! It appears La Nina is off schedule this week - too bad for her! Kathleen had to work but she did get a nice 5 mile run in beforehand. I decided to head over to the Air Force Academy and run the Falcon Trail.

"Follow the Falcon" is right - he will take you on a sweet singletrack run!

Ever have one of those runs where early on you think you might have to just call it a day and try again tomorrow? I started out with the legs feeling like lead and was not sure if they would come around. Early on I passed a group of four very fit looking trail runners, which is odd because we hardly ever see many runners on Falcon. I found out later they were part of Team CRUD's Saturday long run group - cool! After about 2 miles, I started getting a little turnover going in the legs and I was also really enjoying the SUN! It can get pretty hot on Falcon but after our E X T E N D E D Spring, I was not concerned. This is the spot where you can always cool off on the bike with a splash in the creek. I don't like to run with wet feet, so I ran the plank!
Out on the back side, approaching the big climb to the Stanley Canyon trailhead, I had this "carrot" pass me. Now I am by no means a fast runner, especially on long climbs, but I know the climbs when I can most certainly pass a flailing mountain biker and this is one of those hills. The sheer physics of the route play in favor of a decent runner. There are two steep ramps of about 15%, followed by a hard right turn and a couple of long switchbacks before the climb lets up. On the second steep, I made my move. I thought at first it would be temporary because he was recovering after the steep part, but then I never saw him until halfway down the front side - sweeeet!
In fact, I even stopped to take a couple photos on the climb... Here is the view of Blodgett Peak and one of the water treatment sites on the Academy. Over the ridge and down a couple miles is home, but it will be a bit before we make that as a complete run. Some day...
It was great being out on the trail - I was really glad the legs came around because I started to get into a nice running groove after the climb. Good thing I didn't pull the plug earlier!
The cadet commons with the beautiful chapel - if you ever get the chance to visit Colorado Springs, this is a worthwhile stop. The chapel is an architectural masterpiece.

Summiting the second to last climb - feeling good!

Tee Time?

Feeling good at the finish (OK, a little wiped out but good nonetheless!) I was glad that I continued my run - I set a new PR by over 4 minutes. I never used to believe the chatter that racing and race preparation make you faster - I always thought that was racer-talk to stroke the ego. However, I have definitely noticed a level of improvement after training for Greenland and concentrating on running a bit more "uncomfortable", rather than always running in the comfort zone. Now I guess I need to shoot for another race - and this time Kathleen will be ready...

Spruce Meadows/ Spruce Mountain...
...and a bit of Greenland

Sun again - Weather Jackpot!!! Kathleen and I headed out to Spruce Meadows trailhead Sunday morning to get in some nice sun-soaked miles. Spruce Meadows, Spruce Mountain, and Greenland Open Space are mostly interconnected and have a nice variety of trails. We were starting out across Spruce Meadows (more like prairie than meadow) and then heading up onto Spruce Mountain.

Nice shot of Pikes Peak from the start - yes, that IS a fresh layer of snow!!!

We hit the base of Spruce Mountain and it was already warming up - we won't complain about that! If her form held up, this would be the first long test for Kathleen in 8 weeks - looking really strong here, I'd say!

Looking south from the lower flank of Spruce Mountain toward Pikes Peak.

There were a lot of people out on Spruce Mountain today - we were surprised. Plus we saw at least 20 horses on trail - this is a popular horse area, they are usually just 1 or 2 at a time. Steve is cruising along near the top of the climb and enjoying the rays again today.
Looking down on the Larkspur area, north of Greenland, home of the Colorado Renaissance Festival held every summer. Still a lot of wide open spaces in Colorado, one of the things we love about our state.
On top of Spruce, Kathleen is enjoying her run on the Mountain Top Loop. We really enjoy the little loop on top - it is just a cool place to run! Kathleen's friend B was accosted by a wild turkey on this loop recently while mountain biking and also spooked a bear - we were happy to encounter no such beasts on our run!

Group photo, running style, thanks to an evenly cut stump!

We stopped for a pose on top of Spruce before heading down. With such great views, it is hard to leave! We cruised back to the Spruce trailhead and I decided to get in a few more miles over at Greenland. Kathleen finished with a bit over 10 miles, her longest run in 9 weeks, and had as many miles this week as she had the previous two combined - promising development I would say! Tomorrow she plans to get out for some road biking, so things are moving forward and I am thankful.
Looking back up the Greenland Trail as I was finishing, with the all too familiar afternoon clouds building behind the mountains - We did not care because we had sun the entire time we were out! I was able to push a little past 15 miles and had a solid training block this week thanks to an extra full day on Monday and two evening runs. Happy Trails and enjoy your week!

Shoes - K Montrail Odyssey (Sat) Asics Trabuco (Sun)
S - Asics Trabuco

Some NEW Stash

So for quite some time, we have been scoping out some trails higher up the Gold Camp/Cheyenne Canon area to add to our running repertoire and we started exploring today. Believe it or not, some of this area has only recently come out from the snow and from what we hear, up on top of Jones Park and Frosty Park, there is still some snow running to be had. I'll pass on that...
So the plan was to drive up Gold Camp Road to the Cap'n Jacks trailhead and start our run with a mellow climb on Gold Camp to the Buckhorn trail. Gold Camp Road is part of the old mining corridor from Cripple Creek to Colorado Springs. There are several tunnels on Gold Camp and we would be using two of them to complete our route today. Tunnel #1, with two cyclists coming through, was just a few hundred feet from the trailhead.
Standing at the top of Cheyenne Canon right past the first tunnel. Our run started a bit over 7200' elevation, so it was a fair amount higher than many of our frequent routes. If you run the Columbine trail up from the Cheyenne Canon visitor's center, you can pop out here after already climbing 1200' - we skipped that today.
Coming out of Tunnel #2, we had a bit of sunshine. It was short lived though, as the monsoon pattern rolled in by mid-morning.

Spoon Falls, right above Helen Hunt Falls, has a nice trickle going over it right now.

Hope the legs are loose now - the start of the Buckhorn Trail and the climbing begins in earnest. From here there is a push of over 800' vertical in a bit over a mile - get the lactic acid moving through those muscles!!!

Kathleen takes a deep breath as she gets ready for the climb.

After the Buckhorn trail tops out, there are a bunch of rolling hills and quite a few whoop-de-doo sections from the mountain bikes and motorcycles - forgot to mention these are full multi-use trails, so keep the ears peeled for motos!
From the top of Buckhorn, Gold Camp road is seen cutting through the hillside as it continues south and west.
There are fantastic panoramic views from atop these trails - Gold Camp continues to climb into the mountains far off in the distance as Kathleen prepares for the roller coaster ride off of Buckhorn to the junction with Cap'n Jacks.

Looking down from Cap'n Jacks to one of the tunnels far below.

Steve climbing out one of the last grunts on Cap'n Jacks trail before the descent to the trailhead. This trail is a series of rollers, more down than up, but still has a few steep punches that really drag on the legs. (They are MUCH easier to roll on a mountain bike, or moto if you're so inclined...) There are also some really cool 10 - 15' high bermed chutes that are almost like a decomposed granite bobsled run - lots of fun, especially when we have had the rains we had this week. Usually the granite is somewhat like running on ball bearings marinated in 10w40 but after a rain, the traction is sweet!
Kathleen is flying down the trail headed for the finish. It was a good day for her to test the recovery and it seems to be good so far - Yeah! The Gold Camp - Buckhorn - Cap'n Jacks loop is about 7.5 miles with 2400' vertical gain - a nice hard workout and we already have some ideas to add to the length (and climb!) That was a good, hard run to get the gunk pushed out of Kathleen's lungs.
I went out for an extra, mellower loop after we hit the trailhead in order to extend the mileage a bit. On the way back to the trailhead, I stopped inside the tunnel for a photo - the flash created a weird glow that was kind of cool. I finished up with about 11 miles and 2800' climbing. It was a great run and opened some expansive new area for us to explore - right on! Hope everyone is well - Happy Trails this week!

Shoes - K Montrail Odyssey
S - Asics Gel Trabuco