The Week

Typical week, aside from the fact that the whole state seems to be on fire. By Friday thank goodness things had simmered down a bit.

On Monday at lunch off Clear Creek in Wheat Ridge:

It was so hot I almost didn't want to be out, and the car was an oven when I got into it. Therefore, this week I ran in the AM, between 4 and 8 miles.

Along the horizon, you can see both rain and smoke from the Boulder fire:

Green Mountain in Lakewood is is turning brown (its color for 11/12 months):

The rock Muppet I made on top of a cairn, for the next trail user. I fussed over the rocks for way too long on this, I hope they got a laugh:

Here I am, 2.5 miles from home, 20 minutes from when I need to hop in the shower to make it to work on time. I have the timing dialed in pretty well by now:

Good thing it's downhill...

Purely Hypothetical Situation

Someone proposes that US citizens should be forced to provide dinner for others. Those who oppose such coercion are accused of being heartless brutes who want to starve their countrymen. This smear campaign is successful at discrediting the opposition, even though it is false.

The measure passes, and supporters cheer it as a victory against hunger.

Crater Lakes (Rollins) Run

Shame on me for never getting up to Rollins Pass Road to check out the trails.

On Sunday I parked near the East Portal and took the Crater Lakes trail, a great, short high alpine trek with a bit of everything. First up, some moderate rocky forest running:

After two miles you turn off to Crater Lakes, and the slope heads up fast. Some of it was runnable due to switchbacks. First, you run between two lakes (one is below). Then you head nearly straight up a steep slope along waterfalls to the upper lake.

A creek right before it drops over the edge:

Wildflowers were everywhere (what drought?), so much so that it was totally distracting to an ADD person like me. Flower!

Here is the upper (nameless) lake, which was great but would be finer in the eastern light of morning:

The downhill was a blast, on rocky, rooty dirt that was soft but not slippery. 45 minutes to get down at a steady but easy pace. Legs were totally relaxed at the end.

Beautiful trails, with a really good dirt road to the trailhead.

Distance was 7.75 miles, time 2:27 (moving 1:47), elevation gain/loss 1,921 feet, avg. pace 18:59 (moving 13:56), and best pace 6:09. Elevation 9,216 - 11,019 feet.

PS - The bugs were nuts; both flies and mosquitoes. I don't think it's necessarily the location, but the time of year; it gets worse around the beginning of July. Bring spray.

Saturday Car-Wait Ride

Saturday wasn't really a single ride -- in the sense of something continuous -- as much as me doing stuff all day, and when I wasn't doing stuff, pedaling around streets and trails waiting for my car to be released from the shop (scheduled maintenance and child restraint recall work).

Some of it was spent like this:

Even at 9:30 AM, the top of North Table Mountain was a solar oven, and it was hotter in the middle of the afternoon. Temp was almost 100 by 3 PM. Thankfully there was a breeze, even though it was hot too.

Africa, or Golden, CO?

This is what I did and learned, school oral report-style. On this ride, I...

• Got in some good singletrack practice, and rode some moderate rocky downhills better than ever.
• Learned more about local streets, trails, and shops.
• Stopped by the farmer's market in Golden.
• Found out that Big Ring Cycles has a sink you can fill your water bottle at. I lost a bolt on one of my SPD cleats, and after risking sub-bar release capability on a few mild but rocky downhills, I decided to ride into town and find another bolt. Got an extra water bottle, too.
• Realized that Chimney Gulch trail goes under the highway through a tunnel. Ran that trail from the lot off 6 many times, yet I never knew that.
• Found out that an extension of the Clear Creek trail goes under Highway 6 and follows the creek for about 3/4 mile:

Trip #2 to the top of South Table Mountain:

I inhaled this enchilada plate at Teqila's as a late lunch, before my last hour of (easy) riding. Should have taken this photo after I totally cleaned the plate:

All in all, it was a bunch of street and path riding, two trips up South Table Mountain, one partway up Chimney Gulch (way too hot, so I turned back, but I got to ride the downhill back down to the tunnel), and one ride on singletrack on the flatter, lower parts of Green Mountain (Lakewood).

Distance was 44.28 miles, time 7:38 (moving 5:41), elevation gain/loss 2,987 feet, avg. speed 5.8 mph, and max speed 23.8 mph.

Maybe I need to get those guys to change my oil faster ;)

Thursday Green Lakewood Ride

Thursday: a short ride near home, because the weather was too nice not to ride, and... getting in time on the mountain bike, you know.

Distance was 5.11 miles, time 49:44 (moving 36:14), elevation gain/loss 684 feet, avg. speed 6.2 mph.

Wednesday AM Green Lakewood

I actually got out before 6:30 AM for a run on Wednesday because I was still tired on Tuesday evening. The low cloud cover made for some interesting views.

It was cool and windy, and almost felt/looked like like fall.

In spite of this, there were quite a few folks up there trying to keep warm; bikers, runners, hikers. Some runner I'd never seen before was booking up my street, slowly pulling ahead, then ran up the mountain and disappeared. Other runners out too, which I guess I never see because I usually run after work.

The top of Mount Morrison was covered:

It was chilly on top with a constant breeze, and I struggled to keep my hands warm, especially the one holding my bottle.

But hey, great to run on a mountain first thing in the AM.

Distance was 10.21 miles, time 1:47 (moving 1:40), elevation gain/loss 1,241 feet, avg. pace 10:32 (moving 9:53), and best pace 7:08.

A Banded Kingfisher (?) I saw at lunch:

As I was taking this photo, a muskrat that I hadn't noticed was sitting in the open 3 feet in front of me jumped up and ran into the water.

Prickly Pear Cactus Bloom

I finally caught a cactus bloom in decent condition, vs. not open, damaged or withered. This was along Clear Creek in Arvada:

Theses blooms always remind me of the inner leaves of artichoke hearts (delicate, end in a thorn), and I noticed in a documentary the other day are similar in Saguaro cactus, at least when the latter first open.

Missouri Gulch Video Test

I donned the headband mount and my Countour, and did some video experiments on Sunday, with moderate success. The video is stabilized by YouTube.

This was a steady jog, about 9:00 pace, and I don't go that much faster on rocky trails anyway (except maybe on this run). I also don't trust my legs as much at 12,000 feet.


The wide video angle and high vantage point has the effect of flattening out the terrain. I remember it as being more bumpy, and quite often those were steps I was running. Need to tilt the lens slightly counter-clockwise.

Elkhead Pass Run

Dodge is great, but come summer, sometimes you just want to get out of it.

Hence, I hopped on over to the BV area for a little jogging up Missouri Gulch. You may remember it from such all-time 14er hits as Belford/Oxford and Missouri Mountain. It may be my favorite CO valley for mountain running, and I've made multiple trips there. A beautiful place with lots of terrain variety and interest.

I was tired from a half-marathon workout Friday and an intense ride on Saturday, so frankly I didn't have much energy. And any more, I don't even try to run the first 8/10ths of a mile on this trail, which are steep. I start running above the aspens.

I had loose plans to run some 13ers on the other side of Elkhead Pass, but it's a long way and I haven't been able to find my water filter the last couple of weeks, which limits the length of my runs somewhat without risking intestinal disorders. So: late start, insufficient water.

Anyway, the approach to the pass is the route to Missouri, but you cut left at about 13,000 feet instead of heading up Missouri. The pass is typical open, fantastic alpine tundra, and was surprisingly runnable even though I was pretty wimpy.

Look at this; heck yeah, I'll run here!

I reached the pass. The two high points below were my putative goals for the day (Emerald and Iowa). Fat chance. Just the pass took me 2 hours, and it was probably another 2 1/2 to tackle both of those peaks and get back to this spot (it's hard to tell, but there's a steep drop into the valley).

I had already used one of my two bottles of water, and I'd probably need 6 or more to do the whole tour.

I may return via the valley on the other side of these peaks, because coming back up Elkhead would be a chore. I'd have to ford a stream, but I'll check conditions.

Run distance was 9.51 miles, time 3:40 (moving 2:31), elevation gain/loss 3,552 feet, avg. pace 23:10 (moving 15:57), and best pace 6:53.

Instead of driving down to Amica's in Salida, I hit the bar at Eddyline and they had the IPA on tap to go with my meatza with green chilies. They have a red chili porter which is interesting, I may get that some time.

And, I finally stopped at K's in BV. I don't eat much dessert, but that was good even though I had a sugar buzz for about 10 minutes. The ice cream tastes homemade, and I got it with the salty waxy chocolate covering. Mmmm. Summer (close enough).

Then I had to drive home through scenic Colorado. That sucks.

Saturday North Table Ride

I took my usual running route on North Table, which presented a problem at the steep cliff bands. My bike with its rear wheel wedged in some bushes, so I can climb above it and pull it the rest of the way up:

The bumpy perimeter trail on the east side was fun and was taken full-speed. The last mile or so is compact singletrack:

Short but fun. Distance was 8.09 miles, time 1:28 (moving 1:05), elevation gain/loss 1,071 feet, avg. speed 5.5 mph, and max speed 17.8 mph.

Wednesday Green Lakewood Run

This view back down the ridge I was ascending is one of my favorite photos in a while. Zoom in on it. I really like the near focal point with the yellow flowers, and the river rocks (which you really have to watch on downhills!) on the right:

The sun came out when I was coming down Box 'o Rox on the west side:

I hiked/ran back up one of the ridges on the way home...

...so I could run down this (same ridge as in the second photo):

Distance was 9.06 miles, time 2:07 (moving 1:46), elevation gain/loss 1,759 feet, avg. pace 14:06 (moving 11:45), and best pace 7:19.

Mon-Wed Photos

Horses next to Majestic View park:

Clear Creek greenbelt:

Lakewood Reservoir:

West Lake in Wheat Ridge:

I did a short run at Bear Creek after work early in the week, but I was sucking air and I stopped at 4 miles. I must have been beaten down still by last weekend, not sure.

Ralston To 93 Loop

(Posted Nov 6th) This was a half-marathon-ish run through Arvada along the Ralston Creek path. I like photos that look wilder than where they are from, and these are taken in the midst of the suburbs, with houses all around.

I got out towards the end of the Ralston Creek Path, and finally decided to just follow the path to its end and find my way back along streets if I had to. The west end of this trail is the series of zig-zag bike trails on a hill near 64th and Highway 93, which you can see from the highway.

I got back well after dark, running along streets for the light.

Distance was 13.85 miles, time 2:36 (moving 2:20), elevation gain/loss 611 feet, avg. pace 11:20 (moving 10:09), and best pace 5:08.