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.

Higher and Higher

Wasn't exactly feeling all that recovered from last week's race but I'm already started to obsess over my next race and by Saturday I knew I had to suck it up and get back out there for something beyond easy recovery training.  The School Bus Trail is not in the West Mag closure area and there's a way to access it also without going into the closure area if you know how.  My next race is the Xterra Mountain Championships in Beaver Creek, just outside of Vail, and that race is all about the climbing.  And not just climbing but climbing at a high elevation.  The bike ranges from 7425' to 9456' so I decided I'd better hit the high country at least once this weekend.  Plus, so hot in town, not quite as bad up at 9000'.  This trail felt so much steeper than 900' in 3.25 miles though to be fair I rode more than that.  Not sure where on the trail this map is measured from.  In all I rode 11 miles in 2 hours, 5 minutes, the portion up School Bus taking about 50 minutes from the start of the trail at the road to the top which I suspect is farther than the 3.25 miles shown on this map and measured from a different starting point.  I think I was around 5 minutes faster than a few weeks ago.  Didn't feel as hard anyway.

School Bus Trail

The bike portion of my race has a climb of 2000' in 5 miles and an overall elevation gain of 3600' in 15.5 miles.  The good news is that I don't think the trails are all that technical but I'm not sure I'll make it up there to pre-ride the course.  The run has a total elevation gain of 1300' in 5.75 miles and consists of 2 climbs separated by a downhill section.  The biggest of the climbs is around 607' in 2 miles.  So today I went up to Heil Ranch which isn't all that high but I didn't feel like driving and it's only 12 minutes or so away and provides a climb of 822' in 2.5 miles, just a bit steeper than my race.

Somehow the trail didn't feel as steep as it usually does but this could have been due to the snail's pace I was running thanks to the over 90 degree heat.  I was in the woods and there was occasional cloud cover but still, a hot day for a nearly 2 hour run.

I went a bit farther than this, linking up to Wild Turkey via Ponderosa Loop and turning around after I'd run for an hour.  I'm guessing it was maybe 6 - 6.5 miles in 1 hour, 52 minutes.

Not sure how this bodes for my race in 2 weeks but not much I can do about it at this point.  Most people pick Mountain Championships and Nationals for their 'A' races but I'm not feeling the love for this race being an important one for me, mostly because of the timing.  I've decided to look at it as another nice hard training day in preparation for Xterra Indian Peaks three weeks later.  Since I've already done that race and have a point of comparison I can try for some better times, especially on the run.

So the next 5 weeks leading up to Xterra Indian Peaks will see bike intervals, run intervals and as much hills as I can shake a stick at.

Poor dogs, it's too hot for them to do very much.  I'll have to pull out the hose and the weave poles so at least we have some kind of practice before Wednesday.  I found out the site isn't air conditioned, just swamp coolers so that could get interesting.  Don't know why I thought it was air conditioned.  I think I'd almost rather be outside but I guess we'll see what it's like and it's only Grand Prix and Steeplechase so hopefully won't be too long of a day.  Have a hilly bike ride scheduled for after the trial and Jonny laughed pretty hard when he saw that but I'm on a mission here so I'm determined.  But I do have some wiggle room in the training schedule if I end up too tired.  Hmmm, who's idea was all these races?

Destination: Toilet Bowl

I've been attacking my morning runs with a new sense of urgency after realizing how quickly my triathlon is creeping up on me.  Summer is slipping away.  I even kept up with Lola the other morning on a downhill stretch.  She seemed a bit surprised to see me running beside her rather than getting dragged from behind. 

I rode Hall Ranch yesterday which has a longish steep climb and some tight switchbacks and I felt pretty good after Monday's trauma, riding stuff I had to get off and walk last time I was there a few months ago, feeling a bit stronger even than I did on Monday.  I rode all the tight switchbacks on the way down and I remember last time having trouble with those as well.  Was feeling good about it all until Jonny pointed out that this ride was not nearly as challenging as what I'll be facing for my race.  Thanks dear.  I took electrolyte pills and made sure to stop for food and felt perfectly fine afterwards.  Hungry but good hungry.  It's impossible to take in as many calories as you expend, the body can't absorb them, so hunger after a ride is a good and normal thing, much better than nauseous and dizzy and passing out.  I do know how to manage these things (food, water, electrolytes) but I've grown lazy and onto a minimalist kick of sorts so I'd been not stopping for food on short rides under 2 hours.  Those energy bars and gels are full of sugar and not healthy so I try to avoid eating them if possible.  But clearly I can't combine that with a light breakfast and later starting time so I also miss lunch.

Today's initial plan was to head back to Lory to practice the climbs and downhill switchbacks but it looked to be too hot a day and instead I opted for a trip to the high(er) country to ride West Mag where it would be much cooler.  Also the window for riding West Mag is much smaller than Lory because of its high elevation.

I wanted to ride a trail called the School Bus which is a long steep climb of about 2 hours on beautiful singletrack up to a sinkhole affectionately named the Toilet Bowl.  There are many such sinkholes in the area but this one has its own name, probably because it's at the end of a long climb.  But Jonny has somehow decided I'm not in good enough shape to do this and suggests an alternate route up to the Toilet Bowl.  'It's steep but shorter and much easier, there's a dirt road that will be easier than the singletrack plus there are lots of pretty meadows'.  I'm sure I can handle School Bus but I decide to trust him.  It'll be nice to ride a new trail and he had me at the meadows.

Sure enough the trail starts out steeply but it's nice smooth singletrack and I get my fill of meadows.

The wildflowers are bashing away

But eventually the trail turns to this:

Actually the trail turns to much worse than this.  Picture that rooty section at the top across the entire trail and it's so steep that there's no way I can possibly ride it.  I have a nice hike with my bike for awhile and then it starts to thunder and the mosquitoes start getting excited and the ATV people start flying by on their stinky ear splitting smoke belching-mobiles and I'm trying to see how this is easier or even why 'easier' is an issue because what I need to do is push myself on the hills so I can get stronger for my race.  It's not like I'm in a hurry to get to the Toilet Bowl.

Yeah, that's all it is.  It's deeper than it looks and if you're game you can ride a few laps around the top rim.  At least I get to ride down the School Bus trail which winds its way through a Hansel and Gretal-like forest (as Jonny puts it).  There are some tight switchbacks to practice but most are not on par with what I'll have to ride in my race and I have to get off and walk one or two that are way too rocky for me.  It's good to get practice and confidence on the more do-able ones though, not too sure how else to learn how to do the tougher ones.

When we get to the bottom I feel like I need more so we go down to the Shoshone meadows.

Somehow I can never seem to capture the spirit of the wildflowers and the trail, especially with the point and shoot camera.  I did get a few closer up shots that were o.k.

But still not spectacular.  No moose today either.

Feels like I have a long ways to go before I'm ready for that race and too much agility coming up.  Two full days of DOCNA next weekend then one day of UKI the following weekend then one day of DOCNA the next weekend then a 3 day seminar during the week.  Which is why I decided not to go to Laramie for USDAA the weekend after that because that takes us up to the weekend before my race.  I don't even like doing agility in the heat but I feel like we need to get as much ring time as possible before DOCNA Champs.  We'll see if I can muster the strength to make it to the training field tonight.  I think I need to clone myself.

Is there anything cuter than a 3 1/2 week old puppy?

Why yes there is and that would be four 3 1/2 week old puppies.  I decided to take a much needed day off and went up to Nederland for some mountain biking on the West Mag trails.  This time we avoided the new and not so improved Root Canal trail and I was a much happier camper.  Made it down to the Shoshone meadows and they were bashing away with wildflowers-quite spectacular.  Anyway on the way home we stopped at Joy's for a visit and puppy snuggling session.  Her Sheltie had puppies about 3 1/2 weeks ago and they're now the most adorable little sausage rolls.  They're so soft and and calm and no sharp puppy teeth yet.  They stumbled around the kitchen floor for a bit like Strummer when he was drunk and eventually decided they'd had enough and went back to sleep, one of them curled up on my legs.  Two of them fell sound asleep with their heads hanging off the dog bed and mom curled up behind and also napping.  It was so perfect and there's me without my camera.  Oh well, some moments are meant to be enjoyed right there in the moment.

Somehow we got on the topic of Joy's yard and how the pocket gophers were destroying it and I had no clue what a pocket gopher was but I figured that this sounded like a job for Lola so I offered up her services.  Unfortunately pocket gophers only come out at night.  Another problem is that this is what it turns out a pocket gopher looks like:

The exact opposite of a 3 1/2 week old puppy in my opinion.  The 'Hannibal Lecter meets Freddie Krueger' of the varmint world.  How is it that nobody's done a horror movie featuring these things?  And how is it that something that sounds so cute looks so hideous?  It's a good thing I didn't know that that's what they look like while I was walking around on top of their tunnels with nothing but a thin layer of dirt and the soles of my sports sandals between my feet and those chompers of doom.  It gives me the heebies just thinking about it.  No way I'm letting Lola near one of those things.  I think she'd finally meet her match in the rodent world.

Anyway it was wonderful to have a day off and spend it up in the mountains.  Where there are no Russian Olive trees.  My neighborhood is full of Russian Olive trees and the sickly sweet cloying smell is making me nauseous.  Their smell is especially strong this year, don't know why, but it's the first year I've noticed it and it's overpowering.  I'm surprised that I haven't had a severe allergy attack, it seems like I'm right on the verge of it but then no, just nausea, no itching and maybe one sneeze or almost sneeze.  They're considered a noxious and invasive species and it's illegal to plant them in Boulder.  For a while Boulder County was offering free trees from a nursery for every 24" diameter of Russian Olive tree that you cut down on your property.  Not sure if the program is still going but heck I'm ready to borrow my friend's chain saw and start a Texas Chainsaw Olive Russian Tree Massacre in my neighborhood.  The Open Space trail where I walk most days is also full of them.  I noticed them for the first time today and was amazed at how many there are.  I don't know, maybe we can get the pocket gophers on the case, those chompers look like they could take down a whole forest.

Moose and Squirrel

I'll get to the agility trial results soon enough-there was brilliance and running amok (Strummer) and a Master Gamblers Q (huzzah!) and some nice runs with one little miss each (Lola). Bad news is that today Lola is limping (sigh).

Anyway, on today's mountain bike ride on the West Magnolia trails we had a huge bull moose charge full speed ahead across the trail in front of us maybe 20-30 yards away. Jonny was a bit panicked but I thought it was cool until I saw the dog chasing him. It was funny because at the start of the ride some idiot let their dog run right in front of Jonny's wheel then he apologized then 10 seconds later let the dog run in front of my wheel causing me to hit the brakes and nearly running me off the trail and he apologized again leading me to think that maybe his mommy didn't do such a great job of teaching him what 'sorry' means. It made me think it wouldn't be the end of my world if they banned dogs off those trails or at least put in a leash law. I know, I'm such a crank. But if I had been a few seconds further down the trail and gotten mowed down by Bullwinkle being unnecessarily stampeded by some idiot's dog, well, maybe you can see my point. Very few people, including myself, can muster the mental energy to keep the rubber side down on the trails and police their dogs which is why Strummer stays home on biking day. Because I don't want to see how Strummy v Bullwinkle turns out. I know, accidents happen, they are dogs not machines and I've certainly had my share of dog misbehavior but 90% of what I see on those trails is negligence, not good owners with trained dogs having a bad moment.

Jonny was worried we'd cross paths with the moose again which I thought was unlikely but what do I know about stampeding moose? A little later in the ride I came up a hill and found Jonny half panicked, half laughing. He'd heard some noise and assumed it was the moose, screeched to a halt and realized it was just Rocky the Squirrel looking for his buddy.

Apropos to nothing I also saw a vulture today and only 2-3 blocks from my house. He was sitting in a tree eyeing up a big piece of vacant land next to the city owned Open Space which is the start of the Rocky Mountains. The land has been sitting vacant for at least a year now though it had been slated for a housing development. I think maybe there's some financial problem with the land owner/developer and the vulture is a realtor in disguise, waiting for the right moment to swoop down and snatch up the prize.

How's Your Aspen?

Fall is my favorite time of year, I love it. I've been up in the mountains riding the West Mag trails for the last 3 weekends. Probably not supposed to be doing it because my knee is still messed up. It seems to be tolerating the riding but doesn't seem to be getting much better either. But I missed riding all summer and I'm going to take advantage of every last weekend I can squeeze in before the snow starts to fly up there. This weekend the Aspens finally started turning. Seems like it was a bit late this year.




Jonny's friends call this part of the trail the 'car wash'. I call it the 'Ewok Trail'. Actually I call it the 'fuzzy little Star Wars creatures on those fast motorcycles that flew through the air forest' because for some reason I can never remember the name 'Ewok'.


Don't know how many more biking weekends are left up there at 8000' but I'm going to try to take advantage of every single one that I can, screw the knee.