Limbo

It's that time of year - Shoulder Season - winter leaving, spring not quite here. Feels even more so for me since we're hoping to find a house this spring and move. Maybe we'll find a place, maybe we won't. Which means I can't sign up for races since I don't know where I'll be this summer. Jonny wants to wait to get a new dog until we're moved but I've convinced him to at least consider taking on a new dog if the right one comes along. We're planning on going to a herding trial in a couple of weeks and hopefully I can find some folks who can point me in the direction of a good working breeder.

For a moment we thought we had a perfect situation - one of Jonny's co-workers is looking to re-home his Border Collie from a top working breeder. One of my agility friends just got a pup from this breeder and has 2 others from him and he's a true working breeder, not an agility breeder. At first it sounded like the dog was simply too much dog for his owner who is 70 and looking to retire and wanted a pet, not a busy working dog. Dog is 2 years old. But it turns out the dog sounds really messed up, the owner was using a shock collar on it to train basic obedience/house manners, ugh. They were using a spray bottle too and now the poor thing is so terrified of them that he runs away when the wife waters her plants with one. Also the dog is super inbred, grandparents are half siblings. And now he's not sure he wants to give the dog up. Would love to rescue this dog from this unfortunate situation but also don't want a 'project' and a dog with such serious inbreeding and if he won't give it up anyway there's nothing I can do.

And I would really love a puppy. It would be fun to do all the training. One Mind Dogs had a 1/2 off special deal for a 6 month premium membership and I pulled the trigger on it. SO much information. Watching all the videos of people training their puppies makes me want a puppy all the more. So we'll see. There's no hurry.

Ruby is happy to be an only dog and life is so easy with her. She's the easiest dog ever. It's so easy to train with only one dog as well. I've had multiple dogs for so long, I forgot how easy it can be with only one. So for now we enjoy the ease of one dog life and wait patiently for the right second dog to come along.

I've been doing a lot of walking and hiking, taking a break from running.

Rugged Mountain Dog rockin' the Benjamin Trail

 Went to Golden Gate Canyon State Park last weekend with the intention of snow shoeing but the snow was packed and shallow enough that Yax Trax were fine.  Every one else there had snow shoes, poles, big packs, it was kind of funny.  We blazed right past them because snow shoes slow you down and are a nuisance unless you have deeper, unpacked snow.  I don't use poles because I want to maintain my balance and all those muscles needed for balancing as I age.  Use it or lose it.

Panorama Point, Golden Gate Cnayon State Park

I twisted my left ankle again and landed funny on my right knee on that Betasso hike which leads me to believe that that's what happened last January when I jacked up my knee.  At the time I thought that the ankle twisted first but thinking about it afterwards I assumed it was the knee that had gone out first.  But now that I've twisted that left ankle a couple more times I'm convinced it's the ankle.  I've had a little niggle with it for a while but it's barely been noticeable but now is turning into a problem.  So this week I'm taking it easy, just walks with Ruby, no running except maybe some short agility stuff with her.  But no RUNNING running.  It feels fine today, back to just a niggle here and there so hopefully nothing major going on but something to watch out for.  I see balance/ankle strengthening exercises in my future.  And more weight training.  Been slacking on that, 30 minutes a week, it's not enough.  They're starting a parkour class in a park near my house where I walk Ruby all the time so I'm going to start going there when class is going on to see if I can get ideas.  I think the class will be too hard for me or I'd sign up.  I'll see how hard it looks and maybe change my mind.

I did get a couple few bike rides in in the past few weeks.  Finally made it to Hall Ranch, think it's been 8 months or so since I last went riding there.  One of the disadvantages of coached bike workouts, some trails are hard to use for training and Hall is one of them though maybe I had a few rides this summer that I don't remember.

Longs and Meeker from Hall Ranch

February was so mild, days in the 60's and 70's and barely any snow.  Crazy.  It's nice but climate change is scary and there were some fires though thankfully they were put out quickly.  At least the snowpack is well over normal, mountains have been getting slammed so reservoirs should be good this summer.

I'll work on getting some more Ruby training video.  I shoot it and then get too busy to process it.  Getting ready to take her out to the training field for the first time.  Curious to see how that will go.  Took her to my training partner's yard and she was super distracted but I have an idea for keeping her focused at the training field.  More on that later.

Back to Spring

And poof, just like that the snow is gone and we're back to spring.  A nice hike at Hall Ranch last Sunday.  I thought for sure we were having the Zombie Apocalypse because the trail was quiet despite being one of the few trails in Boulder County that didn't have snow/ice/mud going on.  And we had a late start due to agility practice beforehand with my training partner who couldn't get an earlier start.

We came across a deer carcass and decided to turn around.  Didn't want to run into any kitties.  Plus I was a bit tired and stiff from a week of training.  On the one hand it seems like I shouldn't be tired and stiff in April but on the other hand I don't feel like I've lost much strength/fitness during the off season.  Swimming especially is going well and I don't feel completely useless on the bike though I haven't been on any real trails yet.  Hopefully weather and schedules will hold out and I'll meet a woman I know through my coach and Xterra racing this week to pre-ride a trail for a mountain bike race I'm thinking of doing in Castle Rock.  Not looking forward to the drive but at least I can go during off peak traffic hours and it'll be nice to ride with someone my age and ability. 

My flexible schedule is the one thing that's keeping life in Too Many People Land tolerable.  At least I can hit up the trails during the week though there are some trails that are even a bit busy during the week these days.  Jonny's work has given him unlimited vacation so we're planning some good trips for the summer.  I've been spending my allotted computer time (limiting my screen time even more than usual these days - the real world is a good place) immersed in Colorado/Utah mountain bike and hiker blogs to get ideas for new to us, more remote places to go.  Neither of us are big on camping and there's the problem of the dogs so some of the multi-day hike/bike adventures in these blogs won't work for us but I think we'll be able to put together some good day trips.  And at least one visit to Cortez/Mancos/Durango to check things out in the heart of summer.

Agility trial this weekend!  Should be fun.  And good practice for the upcoming USDAA Regionals because it's on artificial turf.  Looks like it could be long days though.  We'll see if I make it to last class on Sunday.

April Showers Bring May Showers Bring Double Xterras

I almost made it through all of May without a single post and this is largely thanks to Rainpocalypse 2015, or 25 out of 28 days in May were rain. This is not normal for Colorado. Record breaking. Crazy making. I know my memory is sometimes not so great these days but I swear I don't remember signing up for Seattle.  But finally FINALLY we are having sunshine and temperatures in the 60's which is much better than the 40's and SUNSHINE.  Blue Skies.  Normal.

But the crazy days of rain and rain and rain had their consequences.  An outdoor agility trial a few weeks ago got moved to an indoor venue at the last minute.  And even so I only just made it there, the rain and roads were sketchy.  But we had a lot of fun, especially poor stir crazy Strummer, and he won him a masters jumpers class with some very strong world class competition.   Also a nice Grand Prix run with weave pole entry and beautiful turn off of dogwalk but alas a teeter fault that was my fault.  Fun courses, good times with my crazy buddy.



But the biggest disruption that has lead to an interesting goal is Xterra Lory.  Once again poor Xterra Lory is postponed.  A couple of years ago due to an early season fire that destroyed all the bridges and now due to flood.  Or rather super muddy trails.  Too muddy for racing.  Riding on muddy trails is very bad for the trails and Lory State Park doesn't want their trails trashed and I don't blame them.  I was very happy when they postponed the race mostly because the weather called for mid-40's and raining on race day morning and let's not even talk about how cold Horsetooth Reservoir must be right now.  O.k., let's talk about it.  52 degrees today which is race day.  Pretty sure I would have bailed.  As it happened it was sunny and in the 50's (air temp.) this a.m. but still, 52 degree water temp.  I've never been in water that cold.  Can you say hypothermia?  So I'm not shedding any tears about not racing today.

But here's the pickle.  They've moved to race to the day before another Xterra that I had on my schedule.  I had to option to enter any other Xterra that the race director offered and at first I put my name down for a transfer to a race in August.  Then an evil little voice put an evil idea in my head.  Why not do both?  When does that opportunity ever present itself?  So an Xterra Double Weekend it is.  I think the hardest part will be the driving.  1 hour 20 minutes to get home from Lory then 5 1/2 hours to the next race.  All told over 8 hours of driving in one day.  A horrible proposition.  If it's true that 'the more you drive, the less intelligent you are' then I'm in trouble with this endeavor. 

That classic Repo Man quote is at the end of this clip.


But I'm taking it on nonetheless.  Not a huge crazy thing in light of all the huge crazy things people are taking on these days.  Like 50 ironmans in 50 days in 50 states.  That guy better hope Otto is well of the mark about driving.  I can't even imagine the logistics of 50 states in 50 days let alone throwing an ironman into the mix.  That endeavor makes mine seem easy peasy by comparison.  But I'm not a dude in my 30's who trains for triathlons for a living.  I think my goal is plenty ambitious for a nearly 51 year old with gimpy knees and an extreme distaste for driving, someone who whines about only 2 weeks of recovery between races.  I think a part of me was hoping my coach would talk me out of it but she's supportive of it and says it'll help me build muscle.  So no excuses not to do it.  Will be an interesting experiment if nothing else.

In the meantime I've been training despite the weather and a busy schedule with clients this month.  I did get very lucky with some short blocks of rain free time falling between clients and other appointments.  And I got to see the baby buffaloes.  Sometimes I miss them because I'm always on trails but the trails are shut due to mud so I had a few long rides out on the dirt roads to see the baby buffs.

I made it up to Hall Ranch at the end of April before Rainpocalypse started in earnest and ran into this crew.

Still a lot of snow on the high peaks even before the deluge.

The forecast looks more seasonal, even hot, for next week so I should be back to normal training, normal spring/summer type activities.  Which is good because 2 Xterra's in 2 days?  I'm going to need it.

Feels Like Spring

We usually get a few warm dry days in January and this year is no exception.  T-shirt weather for our hike at Hall Ranch yesterday.

Trails were muddy in places but that just added to the fun.  No dogs allowed at Hall but sometimes it's nice to have a carefree hike without having to worry about crazy dogs.  It also makes for a less crowded trail.

Strum goes with most of the time so I don't feel bad about leaving him behind once in a while.  And he had a walk/hike before we went so he wasn't completely neglected.

In other news we have a serial killer in our neighborhood.  Jonny and I have come across three separate deer kills between us in the past few weeks.  Probably a mountain lion but could be coyotes.  The city removed an huge prairie dog town on the open space where there are lots of coyotes and they could be desperate for other food sources.  Whatever it is is killing at night when I'm seldom out so I'm not too worried but maybe it's time to get the BAU involved.

Holiday Hikes

Stupid Facebook, I've developed the habit of posting a few quick photos on Facebook and neglecting the blog.  Well no longer.  I've been neglecting Facebook for the past 2 months or so and it feels fantastic.  I check it occasionally because people use it like email and I like to get my messages.  I did feel bad when I checked after 2 days and found that a nice lady had taken some photos of Strummer at the last DOCNA trial and wanted my real email so she could send them to me.  Hopefully she wasn't too put off that I took 2 days to respond.  Other than that it feels liberating to be free of the place.  I occasionally check my messages and  whatever couple few posts are at the top of my feed and sometimes something like the Boulder Nordic Club to see if they've groomed the parks near my house or similar type groups to get info. on things.  Facebook has it's purpose and place but for me the less I go there the better I feel.

Thanksgiving hike at Hall Ranch.  It was t-shirt weather despite the snow on the ground at the higher elevations.

A smear of rainbow in the clouds over Hall Ranch.

Was expecting more snow over the twin peaks (Meeker and Longs).

Silly deer.

Christmas hike with Strummer at Walker Ranch.  A light snow started falling while we were hiking but we made it back to the car before the big storm hit.  Beautiful magical day.

Storm blowing in over Walker Ranch.

View of the plains below.

Silly Strum.

Practicing the dark art of  diving rods or 'water witching'

And finally some in-town skiing at North Boulder Park after the storm.  It was a perfect day except for the crowds that amassed.  It wasn't too bad when I got there but I had to leave after 45 minutes or risk ending up on the 5:00 news.  Boulder has reached the tipping point of Too Many People but that's a post for another day.

Bike-o-rama - Hall Ranch, Buffalo Creek

I was supposed to be taking this weekend easy with a race next week but with Xterra Lory postponed until August and my first Xterra race 9 weeks away I decided to hit the trails.  First off was Hall Ranch.  It was a terrible day up there as you can see.

3 loops, 2 hours, 12.6 miles, 6.1 mph, about the same speed I was at this time last year.  Which is disappointing because it felt so much easier and I felt so much stronger.  Not sure if it's an illusion or I haven't figured out yet how to turn strength into speed.

The next day was Buffalo Creek to pre-ride part of the race course for my August Xterra there, just 2 weeks after Lory.  It's a long course, 22 miles (Nationals is 17.7 miles) with a lot of climbing, a great prep for Nationals.  I did 10 miles of the course 6 years ago when I did the sprint version of the full Xterra.  The company that owned the lake for the swim went under with the economy and it's taken all these years for someone to work out an agreement for the race to continue to use the lake.  Anyway, I was somewhat familiar with part of the course but wanted to check out the rest of it.

I didn't do the exact course, choosing to access the course from a different trailhead to avoid a long, boring, steep dirt road.  I will go back in August to ride the full course, the condition of that road is important to check out ahead of time.  It was heavily rutted when I did the race before and since I'd pre-ridden, I knew ahead of time which lines to take to avoid the ruts.  During the race a woman fell right near me because she didn't know and got stuck in a bad place and hit a rut.  But it's only May and ugh, that road is not fun so instead I opted to access the course via some other single track trails.  The trail was a steep, sandy, 3 mile climb through one of the burn areas.  Buffalo Creek has been impacted by several different wildfires.  This burn area is from the Buffalo Creek Fire started in 1996 by an unattended campfire in the campground that owned the lake where the swim portion of the race takes place.  These views are from the Strawberry Jack trail which is not part of the race at these locations.

It wasn't all dead trees though, there were plenty of nice foresty areas.  This is part of the race course.

The course does have a 2 mile climb through the same burn area and the soil is sandy and a bit deep in some places.  It also goes through a burn area caused by the Hi Meadows Fire in 2000 and the soil there is even worse, deep and sandy like riding through a sandbox.  That fire was caused by a cigarette and it burned 10,800 acres and destroyed 51 homes.  I didn't take any photos of that burn area but it looks much like the other photos above.  Jonny found some cool bones though.  Not sure what has a jaw that size, maybe a moose?

Overall this will be a long ride.  Nothing very technical but a couple of steep 3 mile climbs and another steep climb up a dirt road through the sandbox.  One of the 3 mile climbs is at the end of the course, up the dirt road with the ruts to get back to transition.  Some of the trails are awesome, fun downhills through the woods, but the dirt roads and steep, sandy climb through the burn area up Gashouse Gulch not so much.  I'll go one more time closer to the race to pre-ride the whole course but I can't see myself riding this all summer.  There are so many nicer trails in the Buffalo Creek area, if I'm going to drive an hour and twenty minutes I'd rather do those nicer trails.  But still, should be a fun course for a race.  Mostly.

I've had to completely re-think my training for the summer now that my races are clustered so close together and I don't have a 'real' race until end of July.  I still have a little road sprint at the end of June but that's designed to be a hard training day, not something I'm seriously tapering for.  So it looks like full speed ahead for the next 9 weeks then survival mode for a month of race-o-rama.  Should be an interesting experiment if nothing else.  Now if I can just figure out how to build up some speed.

Spring in Colorado

Last weekend (1 week ago):

This past weekend:

This is why you don't see many photos of Cody lately.

He bumbles right up to me, gets too close to the camera and even if I do manage a shot, he does something awkward like close his eyes.

He's doing o.k. these days, kinda wobbly in his rear legs, falls over sometimes, does a lot of that old dog pacing, wanders into corners and stays there for a bit, typical old dog stuff but he has his moments of perkiness, chasing me around the yard as long as I don't go too fast.  Somehow he can run and do big 4 legged jumps when dinner is getting dished out.  Funny how that works.  Going to be 15 in July.

Had a nice long 3 1/4 hour bike ride on the plains on Saturday and got a nice shot of the twin peaks, Longs and Meeker.

Then went on a 4 1/4 hour hike up at Hall Ranch on Sunday and got more shots of the twin peaks from a different vantage.

And a more panoramic view.

Classic Hall Ranch shot.

Both days were perfect, sunny, blue skies, low 60's with a nice breeze.  Quite the contrast to the snowstorm and 12 degrees of last weekend.

The coffee shop we normally go to in Lyons was shut for Easter which was surprising because Easter's not really that big of a deal in the Boulder area and most places were open.  But we easily found another place that was open that seemed appropos.

The coffee was better and the people working there didn't have the same snooty attitude as the other place so I think we've found a new place for pre-ride/hike fueling up.  And I guess Lyons is the sort of place where you can leave a several thousand dollar titanium Litespeed road bike unlocked on the main street. 

Beautiful day again today and supposed to rain/snow tomorrow.  April always keeps us on our toes.

Eight weeks until my first race in June up in Lory provided they don't cancel it due to the fire.  So far it sounds like it's a go but 10 bridges were destroyed and will have to be re-built.  I thought about offering my structural engineering skills to help design the bridges but then I realized that they probably still have the plans from the original bridges.  I was looking at a map of the burn area and it looks like almost if not all of the entire bike course is burned.  Hard to say if the run course was torched but I suspect it was.  Miraculously though the transition area is not burned.  The fire came right up to the boundaries of it and let it be.  I think the finish area is o.k. as well.  Will probably be a very depressing race but you never know, maybe the grasses will start to grow back in May.  The park almost certainly needed a fire going through it, just not such a big and extensive one.

Anyway, this month's training will include the start of hill training for both bike and run.  I'm going to sign up for one more month of boot camp classes then in May I'll start going maybe only once or twice a week.  I hate to stop though, I feel so much better and stronger doing weights and plyometrics a few times a week but I suppose I can do them on my own.  I'm going to see how I manage during April as I increase my biking and running. 

No agility trials until the end of the month but my training partner is up for training again so Strummy gets to play tomorrow.  I've been going to the practice field on my own to work on dogwalks and such but it's fun to have someone to train with.

Bring on the spring.