This year there's actually been events and races with the Striders! It's been really nice to be able to do the group runs and socialize for a while afterwards. I'm such a loner runner that it's good to break out of the rut - even if I still end up running alone for most of the evening! One of the great things about the Striders are the free races in fun places. I would hear people talking about the Garfield Grumble, Turkey Flats or Crag Crest. I either wasn't able to participate due to schedule conflicts last year or the events were canceled due to COVID. While I skipped the Garfield Grumble this year, when people were making camping plans for Turkey Flats, both Nick and I were in. Perfect time for a bit of a getaway. We would head up Friday, camp with the crew, ride bikes Saturday and then race Sunday.
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| Moody skies and fields of flowers |
We got up to the Striders compound late afternoon Friday. Just in time to get settled, have supper and enjoy an amazing sunset. The flowers up at the flats were next level and the clouds down in the valley added to the scenery. We had a few rain spatters move through, but nothing like 4000 feet below up. I wandered around the camp for a long while, playing with my phone’s camera and the light. I’m sure with a “real” camera I would have some really good photos, but this will have to do.
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| Sunset Friday night |
After a short run in the morning to see where the trail near the camp ended, it was nap time. I think Nick and I spent as much time snoozing this weekend as we did running, riding and hanging out. The sleep felt really good though - I think I needed to catch up for sure! We finally headed out to ride the Turkey Flats trails just before lunch. I’ve only ridden up there once, so wasn’t sure what to expect this time. Last year, the trails were ankle deep moon dust and we were trying to get out of the wildfire smoke choking the valley.This time, the trails were still a little dusty, but the off and on rain sprinkles had really tamped the dust down. We pedaled up the road from camp, planning on merging with the double track Ridge trail. Seemed like a better idea then riding down the road to ride back up! I could tell the I haven’t been riding that much - pretty much just maintenance rides at this point! But once we got on the single track of Black Pine, I was feeling better. Still not fast, but remembering how to ride my bike. One of the months I might actually start doing workouts on my bike again. I did a few last year, but they kinda fell by the wayside over the winter. We did pretty much the standard figure 8 up at Turkey Flats - down Black Pine, back up the road and then across the ridge trail to Haypress and down Haypress. Left at Turkey Flats trail and out to he main road. We skipped part of the Turkey Flats trail and the Reservoir Trail climb back up to Ridge. I did end up walking a few little chunks of Haypress. Between the dusty rocks and not being on my bike much due to the crash on Holy Cross, I was a little off my game. Once we dropped down in to the meadows, I was feeling better. Really had to watch the pedal strikes with the flower lining the trail though!
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| Sunset Saturday night |
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| Is this a camping trip or a ultra aid station? |
Sunday was the race. Even Nick was planning on doing the race - the 9.5 miles would be his second longest race ever! After more off and on rain overnight, the air was crisp and cool in the morning. Nick and I were the first of the group to roll out - I’d made coffee and we’d packed up the night before so it was easy to roll down to the main trailhead where the race would start. I did a bit of a warmup - not much, just a mile or two and then it was time to get organized to race. There was a pretty decent turnout of runners - including some that started early. Tom gave us the last minute instructions and then off we went. The start was tight as we jumped onto the singletrack right away. I was slotted into 5th - right behind Nick and three other guys. Nice steady pace on the climb out of the parking lot, but I was feeling a little antsy. I wanted to push the pace a little more and the leading two guys were starting to pull away. When Nick stepped off the trail to take his jacket off, I took advantage to pass both him and the third place guy. Now running in third, my goal was simply to try and keep Josh in sight. I didn’t think I could catch him, but was hopeful for at least staying in contact. I also knew that I hadn’t really been working on fast trail running. With Silverheels two weeks away, the training has been focused on power hiking and steady forward momentum. The good news was the threshold workouts on the road translated very well to the trails. The not so good news? It still wasn’t quite fast enough. By the time we hit Fruita Reservoir 1, Josh was well out of site. I was however happy with my power hiking as the third guy was creeping up on me during the runnable parts, but when we hit the steep climb up to Ridge I was able to make some time. The false flat and gradual uphill on Ridge hurt, but I just put my head down and ran. Once I hit Haypress, it would be almost all downhill to the finish and I would be able to fly. And fly I did. It was just as much fun running down as it had been riding down the day before! I don't think I made up any ground on Josh on the last three miles, but I definitely extended my gap to the next guy! After getting some water, I jogged back up the trail to take some photos of the other runners and the flowers. It wasn't too long before Nick finished - he was just over 5 minutes behind me. Then it was time to do what we all do best - hang out and tell stories about the race!
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| Nick cruising into the finish in 5th place |
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| Tom - hard at work doing the timing with Josh and Tyler just after they finished |
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