Desert escape

This weekend Stefan, Dan, and I drove out to Moab for a little event on Saturday and plans for another big ride on Sunday. We camped along Kane Springs road ($8 for a walk-in campsite with no picnic tables and no trash cans sounds a little pricey, doesn't it? At least the outhouse smelled pleasant.) and got up at 4 am on Saturday to temps in the mid-20s. By shortly after 5 we were at the start, and by 5:45 the group was rolling. After much complaining about the cold and a circus-like proceeding on some difficult-to-follow-in-the-dark slickrock, the sun gradually rose above the beautiful desert backdrop and warmed things up and helped us find our way.

After maybe 3ish hours and 25 miles, I slowly rode away from the group I was with and spent the next 8 hours following a lone set of tire tracks (except for the one section they veered off course and shortcut an entire mesa). For the first 75 miles, I was able to keep eating and felt pretty good. The legs were a bit sluggish on the climbs, but I was able to crank away on the flats and less steep terrain. The course was much to my liking until the last 10 miles of rock...Gold Bar Rim and Poison Spider kicked my butt. Having never ridden any of the course before, I underestimated the effort it would take to ride the last section, didn't eat enough, and got pretty damn frustrated with what I was trying to ride up/down/through. But eventually I made it to the final descent, dropped down to the river, and limped back into town, coming in a few minutes over 11 hours (a mile or two shy of 100 and a bit short of 10k feet of climbing). Josh Tostado came in around 90 minutes ahead of me, and Stefan rolled in alone around 20 minutes after me. The rest of the riders trickled in over the next few hours. Kudos to Fred for inviting us all out for the ride on a demanding but generally enjoyable course!

On Sunday the plan was to ride the White Rim, but 50+ mph wind gusts and periodic clouds of sand blowing through town changed our minds. Instead we rode up Sand Flats Road, met Fred and Dave at the Porcupine Rim trailhead, and then battled the wind all the way back down to the bottom of the Porc Rim trail. What a fun descent that was, especially with being able to follow Fred's lines down the techy sections and not having to worry about the uncertainty of just what was below the next drop. If Fred rode it, all was good. If Fred crashed in the sand at the bottom, you should probably avoid what he just tried to ride. And if Fred says the wind on the next section across a non-technical narrow ridge might be bad, then the wind will be bad, and the non-technical narrow ridge will probably include a series of drops covered by loose crap. I don't think my definition of "technical" jives with his. I guess that's what comes from living in Moab for as long as he has. But any way you look at it, it was a very enjoyable ride and I'm glad I had another opportunity to spend an afternoon riding with these guys.

These trails don't let you go terribly fast

This trail was just challenging to find

Gold Bar Rim. Jeep for scale waaay down at the bottom

Riding up Sand Flats Road

Stefan, Fred, and Dave climbing Porcupine Rim

The views were great until the trail got technical. Then tunnel vision set in.

Now I'm back home, starting to think about the AZT300, which is no longer even two weeks distant. And the guys down at Pearl Izumi are hooking me up with some great new gear, and I couldn't be happier to have them helping out. The prototype hike-a-bike-friendly shoe I've been testing recently for Pearl are absolutely stellar. 11 hours in them on Saturday and not a single bit of discomfort. They're onto something with these.

Time to try to get my GPS replaced. It's still shutting off all the time on rough trails, Garmin refuses to admit it's a recurring problem, and I'm not pleased about the situation.

Goodbye dirt

Time to escape to the desert.

Of canyons, donuts, and death on wheels

It's my spring break, but I'm still in Boulder and working away. I feel obligated to get some work done this week, because soon enough I'm going to be off to southern AZ for some racing in the early season desert heat. But there's still been time for some great fun...

Friday - Stefan planted the seed of another time trial to add to my routine. This one climbs Lee Hill and Deer Trail roads from Broadway to the end of the pavement. I did it in the waning light of the evening, and the legs responded well and felt great until the last couple punchy steep grades. 33:30 is my new time to beat. Oddly enough, this climb almost perfectly mirrors my OHV park TT course, only you never have to choose from 4 loose lines or run up rock ledges. Paved TTs aren't quite as entertaining in my opinion.

Saturday - A hike with Maggie down into a fantastic canyon near Allenspark.

Sunday - A ride that worked over my legs so well that I wasn't sure I'd make it home. The goal was a steady tempo effort at 75-80% max heart rate for 2.5-3 hours. After a warm-up I headed north on 36 to Lyons, then up S St Vrain, my favorite climb in the area. After 2.75 hrs, my legs were nearing their limit and I was relieved to arrive at the Brainerd Lakes winter trailhead. The road beyond the gate was still snowy, so I called it quits at 10,000' (profile below). I threw a couple energy bars down the hatch and rolled back home, suffering anywhere the road angled up the slightest bit.


Monday - Rest day, so why not experiment with concocting some home-made energy food?



Tuesday - I got out for an easy few hours on the mountain bike this evening as the wind-blown clouds bent and reflected the lazy sunlight in strange ways. I climb and climbed, then descended a few thousand feet on some super sketcy singletrack.





And after a fantastic Alaskan Oatmeal Stout, I'm off for some sleep.

O'ernighter

Last night I headed up into the hills for a quick overnighter. It was originally Plesko's idea, but his bike was indisposed, so I went alone (though Alex came along for the first couple hours). I didn't venture too far from home, but there was enough climbing to get me up into the realm of ice and snow. Fortunately, I didn't have to slog through hip-deep snow like I did in this area last March.

More cold creek crossings

It's tough to beat sleeping in a field atop an 8500' hill

Great views of mountains and city lights alike

A nice thing to wake up to

I rose with the sun this morning, surfed my way down some nasty mine roads, pedaled back to town, and was at work shortly after 9. Not too shabby.

Missing link

Today I had planned to work in the lab, but I ended up putting in 9 hours on the mountain bike instead. The ride was, to say the least, burly. 90% of the first 30 miles was techy singletrack (including two >1000' steep hike-a-bike climbs). The remainder of the ride was all pavement as I pounded the pedals to get home by dark.


Part of the route was on a potential connection between two different trail systems that I was exploring, and it took me through some incredible country. The link was a success, so that opens up a whole new world of possibilities. You'd just better not mind fording cold rivers and throwing your bike across your back and hiking out of canyons.

And some photos...

Alex joined me for the first 4 hours.

There was a lot of this sort of thing

Alex decided to bait mountain lions or something.

First time into the canyon

About to embark on the second drop into the canyon

This really wasn't a spectacular trail

Time to cross the river

Still sort of smiling after carrying my bike 1000' out of the canyon

March 10 already?

This is what I did in the lab tonight - science!


And this is the first 4 hours of Sunday's ride. My GPS ran for 4 straight hours without shutting off, so I think I may have fixed the problems in my etrex Vista unit with a little surgery. These things are horribly unreliable on bikes and motorcycles when the going gets rough. Think twice before buying one, because Garmin won't even admit this issue is a recurring problem. A quick survey of the internet message boards clearly states otherwise.


And here are the stats for February:

Hours on the road bike: 20
Hours on the mountain bike: 43
Hours on the 'cross bike: 4
Hours of skiing, hiking, or climbing: 24, all hiking
Total hours in the saddle: 67
Miles covered: 672
Total vertical gain: not calculated
Problems with the body: minor pain at base of left quad after many hours of hard climbing
Problems with bikes: 7 flats, 2 dead road tires, 1 dead Campy Chorus shifter, 1 dead Crank Bros pedal, 1 worn out chain, 1 pair of mtn bike shoes with stitching blowing out

The weekend in photos

First, Friday's ride:

Mile 0 - Leaving Boulder shortly after 3 am


Mile 25 - the first hint of light


Mile 50 - Central City Parkway


Mile 75ish - top of Berthoud Pass


Mile 100 - Boring straight roads in Winter Park



Mile 125 - Byers Canyon


Mile 150 - Climbing away from Kremmling


Mile 175 - East Rabbit Ears Pass

I didn't take any photos at the end. My mind was more focused on getting inside the hotel so I'd stop shivering.

Now fast-forward to Sunday. Today was one of the best days of 2009 - the beginning of daylight savings time, my legs felt quite recovered from Friday (this year's toughest ride so far), and I had a phenomenal day on the mountain bike. Alex and I drove up to what is, in my humble opinion, the best network of singletrack within at least 50 miles of Boulder. The trails were mostly dry, and what wasn't dry was covered in an inch of fresh snow that wasn't really melting today. Riding on these trails just puts a smile across my face, and I'm always sad when it's time to leave. After 4 hours, Alex decided it was time to call it a day, so he drove my car back to town, and I headed off solo for some more hours. I swung through Hall and Heil on the way home. I raced the waning daylight to the top of the Picture Rock climb, descended Heil with my ever-darkening moon shadow beside me, and then put on the lights at the bottom. Another hour on the plains in the bright moonlight rounded out the day. My legs felt great, and none of the minor pains that developed on the ride to Steamboat had anything to say today. That's hard to beat.

Here's a few photos from today:

The slow boat to Steamboat

I skipped out on school on Friday and rode to Steamboat instead. Some friends were doing the Steamboat Pentathlon (they rocked it and took 2nd in the women category!), so my plan was to ride there yesterday, crash in their motel room, and then ride home today. Unfortunately, snow forced the cancellation of today's agenda, but yesterday turned out alright.

The day went something like this (I'll post photos tomorrow):
2:30 am - Roll out of bed and check road conditions and forecasts on the internet
2:32 - Decide things look good enough. 1" of snow isn't going to stop me, right?
3:10 - Click on the lights and ride off into the night
5:00 - 21 deg. in Nederland. Get chased by a fox. Strange.
5:45 - Greet the sun on Peak to Peak Hwy somewhere above Rollinsville
6:15 - Wonder how there's so much climbing on this route already
6:25 - Miss turn for Central City. Add 2 extra miles of climbing into route.
6:50 - Wonder why Central City Parkway doesn't allow bikes on the first half mile
7:30 - Stop for a quick rest in Idaho Springs
7:45 - Begin to battle a headwind climbing toward Berthoud Pass
8:45 - Still battling a headwind climbing toward Berthoud Pass
9:45 - Continuing to battle headwind climbing toward Berthoud Pass
10:30 - Berthoud Pass! Stop for cookies and to put on warm clothes
11:00 - Stop for coffee and lunch in Winter Park (29 deg). Tired.
11:25 - Head off into the wind feeling renewed vigor after a break
2:50 - Limp into Kremmling (39 deg!), weary and demoralized after 70 miles of headwind
3:10 - decide that sitting in front of a gas station isn't terribly productive
3:12 - Tailwind! 25 mph is way better than 12 mph
3:30 - Tailwind dies. Pass up ride from friends.
5:00 - Muddy Pass. Not really a pass in my book. Water bottles freezing again.
5:30 - Rabbit Ears Pass. Or rather, East Rabbit Ears Pass. Damn. Forgot there were actually 2 passes up there.
5:50 - Click on lights again
6:00 - Curse rolling road with slush, 6' tall snowbanks, and the return of cold.
6:10 - Begin final descent!
6:13 - Notice that it is starting to snow
6:15 - Curse the fact that the snow was getting thicker
6:25 - Notice rear tire sliding a bit under braking
6:26 - Begin to descend very cautiously as the road gets more slippery
6:35 - Stop to warm up frozen braking fingers
6:45 - Finally make it to the bottom where roads are just wet
7:00 - Pull up to the hotel, shivering (28 deg) but pleased. Greeted by 3 excited friends.

Totals:
190 miles
21,000' climbing
14 hours riding
15.8 hours door to door
14 mph avg speed (thank you climbing and wind)
0 times being buzzed by passing cars!
2 ride offers from strangers
A dozen or so cheers from passing cars

That was, without a doubt, one of the toughest single-day rides I've ever done, between the wind and the climbing. My legs felt pretty thrashed when I got up this morning, but after moving around they loosened up a bit. Unfortunately (or perhaps in my body's view, miraculously), parts of my intended route home were snowy or would soon be (Rabbit Ears, North Park, and Cameron Pass), so I bagged that plan and instead spent the day cheering for racers at the pentathlon and soaking in the Strawberry hot springs. Congrats to Lisa, Katy, Bailey, Jenn, and Alexis for an awesome job in the race today!

And now for Sunday, the best day of the year: the one on which daylight savings time begins.

Intertia.

Last week was uneventful from the riding perspective. It was a recovery week after last weekends long efforts, so rides were short and easy. Most were rather windy, as well. Such is the way of things here in late winter it seems. I also spent a lot of time in the lab heating HF solutions to 2000 deg F, lecturing about the response of glaciers/permafrost/sea ice to climate change, and hiking around with the field geology class. On Saturday Maggie and I rode up to Longmont to pick up her new slackline, but the guy she bought it from forgot to leave it on his porch before he headed for the hills to go backpacking. Nuts to him. Maggie's longest ride yet (42 mi) and no slackline to show for it.

On Sunday morning I joined Stefan for his ambitious 10-hr dirty century plan. It turned out that the trails at Heil, Hall, and the Lefthand Circus just won't permit that. We had a phenominal ride from Heil to Hall and back - 10:30 am descending Picture Rock and didn't have to stop a single time. No one was coming up! And the same thing happened coming down the rock garden section of Hall - the only riders were stopped along the trail, so we could ease up on the brakes and let the bikes go. After a loop through the meniachal motorized circus course, we headed back to town. I bid farewell to Stefan after ~80 miles and 9 hours, and he headed south to try to round out the century. The route was something like this...


And some new thoughts have crept into my head over the past few days. There's a full moon just prior to the middle of May - a month before the Tour Divide start and a month removed from the AZT 300. I'm not liking where this train of thought is heading, but at the same time I can't help myself from ruminating over it. Apparently deep down, part of me is interested in a second date with the Uncompaghre Plateau.

For now I'll just keep an eye on the Columbine Pass SNOTEL data: