Xterra Lory Pre-Ride

Went to pre-ride the Xterra Lory course today and wow, Horsetooth Reservoir is high.  Crazy high.

Eltuck Bay, swim course site for Xterra Lory

And this is what it looked like in August, 2012

Don't think they'll have to worry about making the swim too short this year.  But they may be pressed for transition area space.  At least it won't be a very long walk from the road/parking down to transition this year.

But the water.  Oh so cold.  Wonder if I can somehow squeeze into 2 wetsuits.  It's going to warm up by next week.  Sure it is.

I love thinking of the lines in mountain biking similar to the lines in dog agility.  In general I'm more a fan of letting the dog keep his speed and jump a little wide rather than trying to crank him down for a tight turn.  Especially when that dog is Strummer.  Sometimes you need a tight turn but if I can get away with wide and speedy I'll opt for that. 

Here's a video showing 2 lines for a tight switchback at Lory.  It's not super technical but it is a little trickier than it looks and plenty of people get off to walk it.  And a woman was seriously hurt on this switchback one year.  I saw her lying on the ground and it looked like she had missed it entirely.  Paramedics had to carry her out.  But if you know it's coming and how to handle it it's not bad.

Video showing the tighter inside line and wider outside line.



The outside line felt faster and more comfortable, at least for me.  I actually took the inside line by accident on my second lap.  When I tried to take it on purpose on my first lap I couldn't even do it.  The big difference between agility and mountain biking is that in the case of this race the time is inconsequential and in dog agility it's huge, could mean the difference between winning the class and being in 5th place.  Not that I care all that much about times but I do like to think about the fastest, most efficient line.  And sometimes you take whatever line happens in the moment whether it's agility or mountain biking.

And here's a video of some random footage.  I shot so many clips, the editing task seemed daunting so instead of a choppy montage I just put two of the longer clips that I liked together.  So green and lush, it was an amazing day on the trails.

Distracted

The last of the bridges at Lory was finally repaired and the full bike course for the Xterra race next weekend opened for riding on Saturday.  I went up first thing in the morning to check out the course and see if anything had changed due to the fire and new bridges.  The place was full of other triathletes doing the same.  Was funny seeing so many people there, usually the trails are pretty quiet, even on a weekend.

The course seemed largely unchanged though I have to admit I was in a bit of a distracted haze.  I'd gotten a call from my aunt the night before that my grandmother in Chicago was not doing well and that I should probably come in if I want to see her.  My aunt who's also from out of state planned on coming in on Monday so I also booked a flight on Monday.  So I was distracted with being upset over my grandmother and also fretting over the trip.  I don't like traveling under the best of circumstances but a last minute trip adds a whole new dimension of stress.  And I couldn't get a flight back until Friday so I would be stuck there longer than I wanted to be.  With all the planning and worrying running through my head I can't say as my head was all that much on my race.

I also ran most of the run course and was surprised to find that the steepy steep hills that I sometimes have to walk didn't seem all that bad.  Not sure if it's because I'm in better shape or if it's because my legs weren't tired from riding hard during the bike portion of the race.  I took a bunch of photos that I'll probably save for my race report but here's a few for now.


This fire damage is probably from the High Park Fire last year rather than the fire from March.

If you squint you can see the cyclists at the top of the ridge.  Gives you an idea of the climb involved.  And that's not even near the top.

View of Horsetooth Reservoir from nearly the top of the run course.

After the run I got back to the car half expecting a phone call with bad news but there were no messages so I felt a little encouraged.  And when my aunt called on Saturday night it sounded like my grandmother was doing o.k., not great but no worry about her not lasting until Monday at least.  And then she called me a couple of hours later to say she had taken a downturn and wasn't likely to make it through the night.  And she didn't.  I felt awful that I never made it back in time.  But I'd be lying if I didn't admit to a big relief at not having to make the last minute trip.  All I can do is console myself that I did the best I could with the information I had. 

I'll go back when my family in Chicago decides on a date for the 'memorial' for her.  They won't have a formal funeral or anything, just a gathering at someone's house but that's how my family rolls.  In the meantime I still plan on racing on Saturday.  Not sure how much my head will be in it and I'm fine with that.  I remember having a race the day after my grandfather passed away and I remember it being weird.  My grandmother raised me so I've lost both a mother and a grandmother in one fell swoop so I can't worry too much about a race.  However much I'm able to give to it on race day will be o.k.

In the meantime I took a nice hike with Strummer on Monday to honor her memory.  I was initially planning to go the high country but the weather was looking iffy and I couldn't be bothered with an hour of driving when there was a perfectly nice trail a mere 9 minutes away.

Taper Week

I've ramped up my triathlon training these past few weeks and now with a week to go until my first race it's time to rest and obsess.  Legs are tired, arms are tired but by next Saturday they should be good to go.

Best race shirt ever.   In honor of the big bull moose at the swim start last year.

Sadly this will be the last year of the race so I'm very glad I chose it over Mountain Champs which are being held this weekend in Beaver Creek.  For some inexplicable reason Xterra didn't tell the race director that they were moving Mountain Champs up a week and he moved his race to avoid Boulder's half ironman so they ended up a week apart and apparently everyone but me is going to Mountain Champs.  It also doesn't help that Indian Peaks is at 9000' which is a challenging elevation for a race.  The elevation slows me down but I can hack it and the trails are so beautiful and not open to the public normally so it's a rare opportunity.

I did the pre-ride last weekend and at first felt like I was hit with a sobering dose of reality but I remember now that that happens every year.  The bike always goes way better during the race when my legs are rested after the taper.  The one thing that's new this year is that the trails are more rocky than in years past due to deluges of rain that have washed loose rock onto the trails.  I may end up walking more this year than in years past but it'll be o.k. and I know not to get mad at myself about it. 

And yet again I didn't get to check out the run course due to threatening weather.  There was a flash flood watch for Boulder Canyon and skies were turning ugly so I skedaddled down the canyon after the bike.

I feel prepared and excited for my first real race of the season.  Then it's a race every 2 weeks for 3 races then hopefully Nationals in September.  I may not be able to go for reasons unrelated to qualifying but that situation is unpredictable and out of my control so I'm going full speed ahead as if I can go and hopefully the fates will align my way.

In any case I love training and the carrot of Nationals has me out on the trails more than I probably would be otherwise.

Betasso for an early morning ride/run?  Why not?

The west side of Lory is finally opened up and the wildflowers in the burn area are out of control.

So lush and green in there as well somehow while every place else is turning brown with the lack of rain.

Still some more bridges to be replace on the east side so the whole bike course still isn't open.  Hopefully they'll get it done by the new race date in August but it's volunteers doing the work so I can't be too impatient or ungrateful about it.

I've been doing some of my trail runs on the steepy steep Tenderfoot Trail.  Once the weather cools down I'll take Strummer up here but right now I'd have to come so early to beat the heat that I'd be scared of bears and mountain lions.

Can't remember which trail this was from, they're all becoming a blur.

Today was my first time up at West Mag since the fire mitigation raping and pillaging by the forest service.  Fire mitigation my ass, this is a travesty.  They clear cut areas, took the good lumber down in trucks and left the rest in giant slash piles that are going to remain for years and eventually they'll burn them and put how much carbon into the global warming mix?

This used to be solid forest.

This is a nice view, yes?  Only problem is there didn't used to be a view, there also used to be solid forest.

What poor gods we do make.  And yeah, those giant slash piles aren't a fire hazard?

So if the forest service comes to your trails and says it's doing 'fire mitigation' you should chain yourself to the trees and threaten your politicians and tell them all to go fire mitigate their own asses.

The only good news is that as bad as it is, it isn't as bad as I thought it would be.  I'd been hearing horrible reports and I'd been stalling going up there.  That's why it's already the end of July and I'm up there for the first time rather than in May.  But most of the trails I ride on were mostly o.k. with the exception of the clear cut areas.

They didn't touch any of the School Bus trail.  And if they try to you can bet lots of people including me will raise a stink this time.  A big, giant, messy smelly stink 1000 times the size of those slash piles.

Best Laid Plans . . . Xterra Lory Postponed

I had a feeling.  We were up at Lory last weekend and the bridges still weren't built.  Supposedly they were on schedule to be built but have been put on hold due to some 'unforseen budget issues'.   The bridges are scheduled to be completed by mid-June but the race has been postponed until August 10th.  Which means my carefully planned race schedule of 3 races 6 weeks apart from each other has now become 3 races 2 weeks apart from each other.  Or 3 races in 4 weeks.  I was struggling last year with my races being 3 weeks apart.  I could transfer my entry to Curt Gowdy which is the 3rd weekend in June but ugh, Curt Gowdy.  That was a long, hard, technical race.  And I have 2 days of overnight agility planned the 2 days before the race.  So no, that is not appealing.  I could take a refund but then I'd only have 2 races to qualify for Nationals and I'm already worried enough with having only 3.  A few weeks ago I was all, 'Oh whatever, if I qualify for Nationals it'll be great but if I don't, no big deal.'  But I've become more committed to the idea of going to Nationals now.  I really want to go.  So it looks like July/August will be spent racing and recovering.

On the plus side, I don't have to worry about swimming in freezing cold water next weekend.  And I'll have more time to prepare for the run.  I've been focusing on the bike this month but Lory is all about the run.  And while I was prepared in general for finishing the race no problem I was not prepared for doing well on the long climb on the run.  Also, I'm oh so tired.  I started tapering this week mostly because my legs were shot to the point of waking me up in the middle of the night with the 'twitchies'.  Now that I'm a bit rested up I can get in a lot of solid riding this holiday weekend.

On the other plus side, Lory is greening up nicely.

Aside from the singed trees you'd never know there was a fire.

Small fires are good for the grasses in general but decades of fire suppression have led to big destructive fires when they happen.

Eltuck Bay looking very inviting though probably still very cold

Without Limits, the race company that puts on Xterra Lory, has been really good about it, giving us several options including a full refund.  They're a great company, always put on a great quality race at a good price and they know how to mitigate things when they go wrong.

Unlike All Pets who still hadn't called me back with blood work results by 1:30 today despite another call to them this a.m.  I called again this afternoon and finally they put me through to a vet.  Who gave me some ridiculous excuse of the doctors didn't know they were supposed to call me.  Even though I'd called them twice and was told by the first vet during our initial appointment that someone would call me.  So yeah, Boulder All Pets is not going to be my new vet.  Plus they charged a ridiculous amount of money for the exam and blood draw.  High prices, low service, not a good mix.

Oh, and a bonus picture from the Blue Sky Trail where we rode before hitting up Lory.