Thru Endurance We Conquer!

Maps that is. I think the ride took two hours longer then it should have because we got turned around and made a bunch of wrong turns. That and the directions were kinda hard to follow for people who aren't familiar with the trails and roads around here. I think we did get the whole second lap, plus some extra stuff. There were some fun trails, for sure and the descent off the Colorado Trail is awesome. The climb to get there however? I was hurting on that. I didn't eat enough during this ride, and it showed in the climbs. But there wasn't the kick in the pants climb at the end of the lap. Just some steady riding. We met a lot of people who were out pre-riding the FireCracker 50 course. That was marked and really easy to follow. At times we were on the same trails and same direction. Other times, we were going against traffic. Having some other people around was good on a few times we got lost. Although four lost people with the same vague directions aren't very effic...

Wow. Starts with a sucker punch and ends with a kick in the pants. Lots of fun, but it's gonna be a hard first third of a long day. Can't really say how long it took us to finish the lap - we spent a lot of time studying the map and took a few wrong turns. It's a long, rocky road climb from Carter Park, as the ski area service road goes from nice and smooth to loose, rocky and steep. Add in the altitude and I was using all my gears! Finally, after way too long on the road, we reached Wheeler Trail. Single track in alpine tundra! The view was amazing, but I had to focus on the trail. A little more climbing, then time for the descent down to Copper. Wow. Overheated my brakes for sure on that one. All that climbing, those hours on the road and it took us minutes to reach the interstate. A break from single track on the Bike Path was welcome. My hands were sore! We overshot the turn to the next trail by a few miles and had to backtrack, but then onto the Peaks Trail. Rooty, Roo...

Like I said - I'm going to focus on positive things. There's enough bad news and depressing images going around and while the fire is still burning and there has been true devastation in parts of the city, I really want to keep looking forward. And maybe provide my own little distraction from reality for some people! In that vein, I'm posting my race report from Xterra Curt Gowdy instead of a Waldo Canyon Fire report. Xterra Curt Gowdy - held at Wyoming's  Curt Gowdy State Park between Cheyenne and Laramie, just north of I-80. This was one of the most fun Xterras I have done. The swim was in the crisp water of Granite Reservoir, the bike meandered along the IMBA Epic rated trail system and the run traversed many of the same trails. I knew going in that I was in good mountain bike shape, but I wasn't necessarily in good Xterra shape. My adventure last weekend surely wasn't going to help much either! But it was a great race, a fun time and awesome riding. Co...

It's really day five since the fire first plumed in the center of the Waldo Canyon Trail, but day two of what is being called a siege on the city. First, Nick and I are on the south west side of the city and doing fine at this point. We do know plenty of people who live in the evacuated area and one of my friends is worried that he may have lost everything (but he did get his bike...) I was in Pueblo yesterday, following the news briefing on Twitter. Then it changed - went from a standard briefing to mandatory evacuations for a large portion of the city. Tweets became direct and frantic at times. Driving back up 25 to town, the smoke plume towered into the sky, the closer I got, the darker it became as the smoke filled the air. When I got home and turned the news on, it became clear. The fire, whipped into a frenzy by raging winds, had jumped over two fire lines. Into Queens Canyon, directly behind the Mountain Shadows area. With winds howling up to 65 mph, the fire had the upper...

It's the inescapable news. A large fire is now burning in the Rampart Range, just between Colorado Springs and Ute Pass. I learned of the fire while at Curt Gowdy St park in Wyoming for the Xterra - yay Twitter(?) and followed the progress between pre-riding and racing. (And probably burning my data plan to shreds). Too close to home, and we aren't near the evacuation zones. It's one thing to read in the paper about all the fires near Ft Collins and another to have one right against the city limits. And this is really close to home. As a little girl, hiking Waldo Canyon was a Thanksgiving tradition. After putting the turkey in the oven, time to hit the trails. We'd come home after a fun hike to a house that smelled yummy. Even after that tradition faded, I still went to Waldo Canyon to run and do hill repeats. This morning, it sounded like the fire had reached Rampart Resevoir, another place where I spent time training. I prepared for my first marathon on the trails a...

As Nick often says, a 24 hour race does not really start until midnight. The first hours are important, but once darkness has lingered for a few laps, the mental aspect of the race begins. And if things were a little hot earlier, the cracks can begin to show. For our first time in the Enchanted Forest of the Zuni Mountains, Nick and I rode smart, rode strong and stuck to the plan. We didn't allow the other teams to dictate terms or pace, dealt with the little issues that always come up over 24 hours and kept rolling. At noon Sunday, "Slowly-Faster" took the top step, with 18 laps at 11:42. Defending Co-Ed Duo champions, Allan and Karen Rishel of Stan's NoTubes Endurance Racing placed second, completing 17 laps at 11:47. Third place went to another Colorado based duo, Leslie Handy and Jill Hueckman from Trek Store Boulder/BandWagon Racing, finishing 16 laps at 11:33. It was a great weekend - a camping trip with a very well organized bike race in the middle of it. Zia R...

For our first trip down to the 24 hours in the Enchanted Forest, Nick and I had a great time. We hung out with The Back Of the Pack, enjoying the lights and the living room they provided. It was nice to meet the Foxy Mamas and the rest of the Back of the Pack family. The environment at 24EF was awesome - so much more like a camping trip with a mountain bike race in the middle then a mountain bike race in the middle of no where! And even with the last minute Forest Service ordered venue relocation, the site was good. It was spread out, but we were right on the track and got to people watch the entire weekend (when we weren't riding our bikes!) Nick and I did really well, turning 18 laps before noon on Sunday to win the Co-ed duo. We also beat the Men's duo winners and the Single Speed Duo winners! I'll get the full race report written this week. Some notes from the weekend: * Tedd from Back of the Pack has his dogs very well trained! Nick went to get a drink from their co...