Early Morning USAFA Road Ride

My friend, D, and I headed out early this morning for a couple of laps on our road bikes at the USAFA. It was a gorgeous bluebird sky morning although we were a couple of crispy critters as it was quite cool at the start. I thought I had been a bit overly zealous wearing my knickers but after about 30 minutes, we warmed up to a comfortable state. We were having our doubts at the beginning, though!
It was great to be able to ride with D - it's been awhile. A few years back, there was a nice group of us girls who would meet on Mondays for mostly mountain bike rides, sometimes road rides (I am off on Mondays!!!) - there usually were about 3 to 5 of us, sometimes 7 or so. That ended a year or so back when everyone got their priorities messed up (except for Becky as she works mostly from home but was skiing with the fam today) and decided to GET JOBS or go BACK TO SCHOOL. Go figure. D was one of those "messed up" friends, LOL! So we had fun today!

D rode one+ lap with me and then had to hightail it off to a meeting at school. She is a track and cross country coach at one of the local high schools. The wind decided to whip itself into a frenzy halfway through my second lap. I have a strong dislike for riding in the wind and hate the feeling of getting blown around, which was happening on the west and northern side. But, ahhh, I made the turn onto Stadium Drive and oh how LOVELY are strong tailwinds! I can't remember riding down this flat to rolling stretch of road as fast as I did today, in a long time. The speed never fell below 26 mph and maxxed at 34mph. H-O-L-Y C-O-W. For me, on the flats, that is fast. I generally don't have the power to push the big gears on the flats but that big tailwind was sure a thing of beauty!
It pushed me the last 6 miles to my truck. I ended the day with 30 miles and a big smile on my face!

C invited me to join her and another friend later this afternoon for a ride as that was the only time they could go. I hate to ever pass up getting to ride or run with friends and fully intended on joining them as the legs felt pretty good in spite of the hilly terrain of the AFA. I figured why not go ahead and completely toast the legs with a 2nd hilly ride in our neighborhood? But alas, the SISSY GIRL that I am, bailed, as I just wasn't too motivated to endure the gusty winds! :-)

Another awesome weather day today - we hit the low 60's (too bad D and I missed those temps this morning!). It felt great to get out on the bike. My running muscles always feel more "balanced" after a good ride. Happy trails to all this week . . .

Shoes: Sidis

58 Degrees in January ... Enough Said!

A quarter mile into the run at Garden of the Gods confirmed that we were NOT in the desert today! A week of above average temps, followed by near record highs the past two days, and our previously snow covered trails are "attempting" to dry out. Any areas with shade we had to be careful but the open areas were pretty dry today.
It was an absolutely beautiful day, almost warm in fact! Kathleen is cruising the Dakota trail while climbing into the park.
Stopped for a group photo on Buckskin Charlie trail. Special thanks to the kind rock that held the camera for us!
An awesome view of some of the park's famous rock formations frame the background as Kathleen runs along the Niobrara trail.
Pikes Peak looming large behind Steve as he runs along the Scotsman trail. The legs were a bit flat after yesterday's long run, so we cut off the run at about 7.5 miles. It was a spectacular weekend, though, with unimaginable weather for January and a great test for our winter fitness level. We both agreed that this is some of best fitness we have had in recent years in January - looking good for 2009!
While we were cooling down the legs, we posed for a photo with the Kissing Camels over our shoulder. Definitely Good Times!

Shoes - Montrail Odyssey for both.

On a side note, check out Sporthill's home page - if you watch the flash rotator on the home page, you will eventually see a photo of Kathleen running in Ute Valley Park and Steve running in Section 16 (of course, sporting our 3SP gear). Sweet!

Lake Pueblo South Shore Trails

The weather forecast was calling for 50's in Pueblo ... so it was road trip day!!! We headed 45 miles south on I-25 to Pueblo, Colorado and out to Lake Pueblo State Park's South Shore trail system. Although developed for mountain biking, the trails are absolutely perfect for running - classic desert singletrack! You could potentially put together a high-quality 25 - 35+ mile run (if you can run that far!) on the trails here. Plus, according to state park's web page, there are about 15 more miles of singletrack in the development stage. Pretty cool!

We started on the Cuatro Cinco trail, winding our way down toward Rock Canyon and the South Shore. We have not had dry and snow-free trails near home in a while now, so we were in heaven running the rocky and dusty trails today - absolutely dry!

Kathleen crosses a small creek between Cuatro Cinco and the start of Pedro's Point.

We climbed up onto Pedro's Point trail and then took Pronghorn trail over to the Outer Limits. This is an awesome singletrack that weaves along the canyon rim above one of the reservoir's large inlets. Surprisingly, there is more water now than there was when we were here in October.

Calm waters. Far off in the distance you can see the snowcapped top of Pikes Peak.

Kathleen rolls along the Outer Limits trail...

... and Steve is not far behind.

After reaching the end of the Outer Limits trail, we headed back in on the Pedro's Point trail. When we reached the crossing of Pedro's and Waterfall, we headed down off of the mesa, back toward the South Shore.

Kathleen descending some of the step-downs on Waterfall.
And Steve coming over several of the rock slabs.

Nearing the drop out into the South Shore from Waterfall.

One more look back up the trail before heading over to the Rock Canyon trail. The climb back out to the trailhead on Rock Canyon is about 1 mile and ascends a dry wash, layered with broken shale and mounds of bubbly igneous rock. It is tricky footing on tired legs!

We finished our day with almost 13 miles of fantastic desert singletrack and uninterrupted sunshine! If you would like to see the aerial map on Google, click here. It was 61 degrees when we left the trailhead and we were wishing we could stay for more of the same tomorrow. It was nice to get a long run in without mud, snow, or ice in the middle of January but we know it is a bit too early to get used to that yet. It felt rather odd to not be wearing multiple layers of clothing or gloves in the middle of winter - but we'll take it if we can! Happy Trails!!!

Shoes- Asics Gel Trabuco for both of us.