Dirty Bismarck

A few new trails opened in Superior recently, creating a great mountain-biking loop knows as the Dirty Bismarck. We drove to the Marshall Mesa trailhead to give it a whirl on our bikes. The first bit of trail was pretty technical but the rest was much more approachable. The whole loop is something like 10-15 miles, took us about 2 hours to complete.

Triathlon Training

This week by the numbers:
Running/Walking: 22/3--25 miles total
Biking: 80 miles
Swimming: 1 mile
Climbing: 1.5 hours :-)

Anne U. White/Sunshine Canyon

I went to church today....Church of the Holy Trail, that is! Fred Ecks, a BTR runner, designs massive runs almost every Sunday. They always sound like a lot of fun, but I've never been brave enough to try one. Today I got up some courage and met Fred, a seasoned ultra-marathoner, and Scott, another ultra runner, at the Anne U. White Trailhead. They were planning on doing 26 miles today up and down Sunshine and Lefthand Canyons. I tagged along for the first hour and half and then turned around.

It was a beautiful, although cloudy and chilly, morning. The sun shined on us just as we left the parking lot (which I rode my bike to), and that was all we saw of it for the rest of the day. We ran up the 2 mile White Trail and gained a little bit of elevation. Here, the trees were dusted with a little overnight snow. I wish I had my camera! Then we continued on an unmarked trail up to a jeep road. As we climbed up to Sunshine Canyon, there was evidence of the Four Mile Fire everywhere. Trees were scorched, houses were gone. Because of the moisture, we could smell the char and smoke. It was amazing how much the fire jumped around. Some spots were black, and others were completely fine. Some neighborhoods had houses standing next to just foundations and chimneys.

We reached Sunshine Canyon Road and followed it for a bit. Then we turned onto County Road 83 (dirt) not too far from Gold Hill. We passed the old Sunshine School House. It was very cool! It was a one room, historic building made of local rocks. It looks like it opens occasionally to the public. We then reached Sunshine Saddle and I decided to turn back before descending into Lefthand Canyon. The run back to my bike was chilly, but mostly downhill. I managed to find my way back along the faint trails and got back to my bike before it got too wet at lower elevations. A fun day! I can't wait to attend my new church again.

Triathalon Training

April in Boulder is wet. It's the only time of year it's wet, and we really need the moisture since we've had an especially dry winter. I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised when I woke up to see snow falling, but I have to admit I wasn't all that excited about it.

Snowy rain doesn't make for good riding, and it's not fantastic for running up mountains. So, Dan suggested I run to the gym, swim, and run back. I did. It was hard and on June 5th I will still have to run an additional mile and also bike 23. However, it was good to start doing back-to-back workouts ("bricks") to get ready for the race. My swim was the fastest its ever been (33:11 for a mile, or 36 laps) and the run to the gym was fun. The run back in the snow with wet hair from swimming wasn't the greatest.

After a hot shower and hot lunch, the snow stopped and the skies cleared a bit. Dan and I rode our bikes to the farmer's market and got some goodies. We also walked downtown to see all the beautiful tulips before riding back.

4/20 owl

Some pics of the owl. The ravens were harassing it for some reason.

Green Mountain / Bear Canyon run

For this weekend's mountain run, we picked a loop up and down Green Mountain. After parking our bikes at the Gregory Canyon trailhead we started running up the Saddle Rock trail. It's steep, but not quite as bad as the Amphitheater trail. Where the two trails meet we ran into Dave from work. We said hi for a bit then continued up to the summit of Green.

In 58 minutes we gained about 2300' elevation over 2.1 miles of trail. That's a 20% grade -- that and the inch of slushy snow left on the upper half of the trail explains our 27-minute-per-mile pace! We stayed up top for 25 minutes, talked to Dave for a while once he made it up, then headed down the other side.

The Green-Bear trail is almost as steep but then mellows out in Bear Canyon. We cruised down to the Mesa trail, then went up and down its undulations. 82 minutes after leaving the summit we were back in the parking lot. In total we ran 8.5 miles.

South Boulder Peak run

Today we rode our bikes down to the South Mesa trailhead for a mountain-run. Once there, Laurel decided to go for a walk instead while I ran. I headed up the Homestead trail, then the Shadow Canyon trail towards South Boulder Peak. It took me 82 minutes to run almost 3.5 miles (with 2800' gain, that's a 15% grade, ouch!). I was feeling pretty good after a 10 minute break up top, and the day was beautiful, so I continued on to Bear Peak. At the end of my run I had gone 8.3 miles in about 2:45. Between that and 20 miles on the bike, I was covered in salt by the time I got home!

(I found a new website that makes trail map-making much easier, 'cause it has route data from OSM -- check out my run on Bike Route Toaster.)

Flagstaff run

It was 61 degrees when we got up this morning. Cold weather was supposed to arrive by afternoon, so we biked over to Gregory Canyon soon after breakfast. Our plan was to run up Flagstaff, over to Green, and back down to the bikes. Unfortunately, just shortly after 9am, as we were approaching the top of Flagstaff, the winds started to shift from West to North. Smelling the Greeley manure on the suddenly cool breezes, we knew it was time to head down. The Gregory Canyon trail took us right back to our bikes. It only rained slightly on the way down. Good thing we turned back when we did, since it started hailing a half hour after we got home. We ran almost 4 miles with 1000' elevation gain and loss, in about an hour.

Second Flatiron

We climbed today! It was 80 degrees and sunny all day, so it was perfect weather to spend the day on the rock. We hiked to the south side of the Second to try to climb up the Second Flatironette. Dan picked out a route called Dodge Block. We thought we had found it, but the bottom slab didn't have an place for pro. So, Dan climbed over to the north a bit and ended up on the Freeway Ridge.

This wasn't where we wanted to be, but it was good climbing nonetheless. After four pitches we got to a tree where we had anchored before. I suggested that we try to climb up north past the tree and see where it got us rather than traversing the rock and scrambling between the South Block and Pullman Car. Dan was game and headed on up. We found a neat gully and a finger slab for us to climb. Then we continued to the trail. A very fun day overall!

Winter Park

Sunday afternoon, once we had recovered (somewhat) from the race, we headed to Winter Park. We had a hotel room reserved for two nights. It's a good thing we decided to go up when we did, because Monday morning and most of the day Monday, Berthoud Pass was closed due to inclement weather and avalanche blasting.

We were woken up by snow plows at 6am Monday and saw that almost 10 inches had fallen over night. We started the day with a delicious breakfast at Rise and Shine Bakery and then were some of the first skiers on the slopes. We were laying fresh tracks for most of the day. It continued to snow all day and we had a blast in all the new powder.







Tuesday morning the plows woke us up again, but this time at 4am. Oh well. Another 13.5 inches had fallen since Monday morning, so the slopes were again full of fresh powder. Fortunately, the skies had cleared and we enjoyed a slightly warmer and mostly blue-sky day. There was so much powder, it was actually hard to ski. We ventured to a new side of the mountain, though. A side for "experts only" (woo hoo!). It was so fun skiing through lots of trees and 22 inches of powder (the Vasquez side wasn't open yesterday).

Boulder Spring Half

Laurel ran the half marathon today in around 2:12 (6 minutes faster than last time!), I ran the 10k in just under 57:00. It was a good race but a bit chilly -- a few snowflakes actually fell while we were waiting in line for food!

Long walk today around Boulder

Along our walk we checked out the Valmont bike park. Looks like it should open soon. It's huge!

Florida Days 4 & 5

Well, you could say that by Thursday I was in a Florida state of mind. Things move much slower down there because of the heat and humidity. I was getting into vacation mode and not moving too fast. Thursday morning I did take a sunrise run along the beach from Dania to Hollywood.

I also went to Lauderdale-by-the-Sea with mom and dad, and made a number of trips to the pool and back to the beach. I also managed to rollerblade while my mom rode her bike. It was a lot of fun, and I truly got to relax and get a lot of vitamin D from the sunshine! I also managed to eat a lot of fresh fruit and veggies. Yum!

Florida Day 3

Dan is in Malibu on business. It sounds like his hotel is right on the Pacific Ocean. I'm not even a mile from the Atlantic. Funny.

I ran to the gym this morning while mom rode her bike. We lifted weights together and then Adam came to get me. He brought me to his house so I could meet the chickens. Yes, Adam has three hens that live in the Florida room and his back yard that produce eggs every day. He loves them--and the eggs! We went rollerblading on the broadwalk for a while.

After lunch mom, dad, and I hung out at the pool for a couple of hours. The weather couldn't be better!

Florida Day 2

Adam picked me up at 6am with the mountain bikes in the back of his truck. He drove us 2.5 hours north to the Kissimee Prairie Preserve. It was out in the middle of farms, cattle, and tropical forests. When we pulled in we saw some wild turkeys and karakara birds.

We got on our bikes and tried to head west on the military road. Unfortunately, there was so much sand on the "road" that we couldn't pedal. We tried another way and got a couple of miles in before the trail turned into a swamp. So, we got back on the military trail and walked our bikes when the sand was too deep. It took us quite a while to get to the Kissimee River, but we finally got there.

We had a nice lunch on the riverside and then started to head back under the sweltering sun. We tried a different route back, because the military trail was such a pain. However, we knew there would be a large segment of the trail that included a water crossing.

The water crossing was gross. It was anywhere from 3 inches to almost 2 feet deep. There were places where we couldn't see our feet and we worried about all sorts of creepy crawlies. Adam took his socks and shoes off to walk through the mud, but I wasn't that brave. I kept my socks on and felt the goopy mud through my toes. Gross! Then, we're about halfway across and I saw a snake. I jumped a mile high and ran in front of Adam with my bike. Of course, I scared the snake more than it scared me, but I still didn't like it! Then Adam claimed he saw a baby alligator up ahead. Well, luckily we didn't get to see him or his mother up close.

We got to dry land without further incident. Then, after biking not even five minutes, I saw an alligator off to the side of the trail. I screamed and pedaled as fast as I could. The gator splashed into the nearby pool and Adam saw what he claimed was a 12-footer. I didn't see that one.

After 5.5 hours we got back to the car with all limbs in tact. Over the course of the ride we also saw deer, vultures, more wild turkey, and other birds. On the way back Adam drove us by Lake Okeechobee. I had no idea how huge the lake was. You couldn't even see across it.

We got home in time for another delicious dinner and walk on the beach.

Florida!

I left Monday to fly to Fort Lauderdale. It's amazing how the humidity just hits you when you get out of the airport. The air in Boulder is SO dry that the especially wet air down here is just incredibly dense feeling. Anyway, it's green and very, very warm down here.

Mom and Adam picked me up at the airport and we headed right to the bike shop to rent mountain bikes for our adventure the next day. Then, a quick ride on the broadwalk was in order! We went to Mom and Dad's place for dinner and then a nice walk on the beach. Yay FLA!

Ralph Price Reservoir

Long time no posts... I've been running a lot. I've been getting out at least once a weekend for a 2+ hour trail run. I've run up at Hall Ranch. Last weekend I ran up Green Mountain (and was passed by Anton Krupika!) and Saturday I ran up Bear Peak.

On Sunday, Dan and I went to explore the Ralph Price Reservoir area. I learned about this area through the Boulder Trail Runners and wanted to check it out. We had planned to hike the Sleepy Lion Trail, but just 100 yards on the trail Dan discovered a faint side trail, so we decided to explore it. Along the way we found a hidden bouldering area so we stopped to play on the rocks.

Eventually this little trail got us up to Hall Ranch at the junction of the Nighthawk and Buttonrock Trails. Good views of Longs Peak.

After a quick lunch, we hiked the Buttonrock Trail back to the end of Sleepy Lion. This trail dumped us out at the bottom of the dam, where there was an outlet spewing water at tremendous pressure.

We hiked up the side of the dam to see what was up top. The water was pretty, especially with Meeker and Longs in the background. We walked back down the road (yuck) to the car.

Niwot Ride

This morning it seemed warm enough for a nice, long bike ride. Unfortunately, the clouds swallowed the sun and it turned out to be a cool 45 degrees, especially after an hour and a half of riding. Here's my route.

Boulder Sunshine (Wonderland Lake)

Despite our sore legs and shoulders from a full day of skiing, we went for a bike ride and run. We rode across town to Wonderland Lake and locked up the bikes. Then we hit the trails in the area. We started off together on the Old Kiln Trail, but then went our separate ways to meet our separate goals. Dan ended up running 4.5 miles around the lake and all over the area, and I did 90 minutes up and down the side trails. It was a beautiful day, but neither of us thought to bring the camera.

Winter Park

On Friday we both took off work and headed up over Berthoud Pass. It was a fun day of skiing on both mountains--Mary Jane and Winter Park. Boy, are those bumps getting big! We finally got to stop at Beau Jo's on the way home to celebrate Dan's new job and my National Board Certification. Yay!