TLPT: Green Mountain


I was shocked to see Jennifer, her friend, Adrian, and Greg all waiting at the Gregory Canyon Trailhead at 5:29 a.m. when I pulled in. I quickly explained the route and got the ladies and Adrian moving. As Greg and I prepared, up walks Peter. Either he's taller in the morning or I'm shorter, but he looked 6'5" and I think his legs were roughly twice as long as mine.

Greg started about 5-7 minutes after the first group and Peter started about 90 seconds after him. I used the facilities at the trailhead, got a drink, and gave chase roughly 1-2 minutes after Peter. I had promised to buy breakfast burritos for anyone who could come within ten minutes of Homie's time (41:20) and Greg had his eyes firmly set on this. Peter was intent on beating Homie's time.

I started my watch in the parking lot and gave chase. I ran for a bit, but soon turned to power hiking. I'd run whenever the angle allowed me to and hike everything else. I caught Adrian first and asked how far ahead Peter was. "Five minutes," he says. Five minutes!? That can't be right. Could it?

I next caught the ladies and once again they were not suffering like me. They were enjoying the hike. I should try that sometime... It does look like fun.

Next up was Greg, working hard, keeping his eye on the prize: sub 51:20. Visions of breakfast burritos were bouncing inside his head. I went on by but there as still no sign of Peter. Did that young kid get lost? Trip on the shorts he had dangling way below his waist and fall down the slope? I pressed on, but turned my attention to my watch now. I hadn't done this trail in a long time and didn't know what splits I needed.

Roughly ten minutes from the summit I finally caught a glimpse of Peter up ahead. He saw me as well and pushed the pace. Of course I wanted to catch him but, just like Dan last week, I could not. Peter topped out about a minute in front of me. I stopped my watch on the very highest point of the summit rock: 39:23. Peter probably did around 40 minutes flat. If that kid would train, he'd be a monster. All he's been doing lately is taking jumps on his BMX bike.

We waited on top for Greg, enjoying the perfect weather and outstanding views of the mountains to the west. Longs Peak looked impressive. That's our goal two months from now. When my watch showed 49 minutes, we started down, knowing that Greg was going to miss his goal. Less than a minute from the summit we ran into Greg and waited for him to tag the summit and join us for the descent.

A few minutes further down we ran into the ladies, doing great. We continued running down for quite a ways before catching up Adrian. He had a hard time limit and turned around after 65 minutes of hiking. We hiked the rest of the way down with him.

The roundtrip for this hike was just 4.1 miles and we climbed just over 2400 vertical feet. Longs Peak is roughly four times the distance and more than twice as much vertical feet. And the trailhead starts 1000 feet higher than the summit of Green Mountain. We'll be ready, though.
- posted by Bill Wright @ Monday, June 29, 2009

 
Tendril Training on Sanitas


I offered up a free breakfast to anyone who showed up this morning to hike up Mt. Sanitas...with one small catch: you had to beat me to the top. I was offering up head starts, though. A number of people seemed interested, but when 6:30 a.m. came and went and only Adrian and I were there, I wasn't shocked, but was a bit disappointed. I guess an Egg McMuffin just doesn't have the appeal that it used to. Maybe it's Boulder? I should have offered a fruit smoothie and a vegetarian, free-range, fair-trade bagel. I'm learning...

Adrian started up and I vowed to give him an 8-minute lead. I jogged back to the parking lot and used the bathroom, all the while scanning for later arrivals. Standing in the parking lot, I heard "Bill!" I looked high up the hill and there I spotted the Wrong Way Women: Patricia and Kristin. They had parked in the wrong location and started up a different trail, but they were on track now. I told them to get moving so that they could catch Adrian and that I'd give chase.

As I started back toward the trail, Greg came by in his hot red car (still his after everyone failed on the South Boulder Peak challenge two weeks ago). I met him in the lot and told him the bad news: "You're head start has been cut due to your tardy arrival!"

Greg started up 8 minutes after Adrian and I gave chase after another minute. I caught Greg in about 5 minutes. We were both hiking the steepest part. A few minutes later I ran down the ladies. I'm huffing and puffing and sweat is streaming down my face in rivers, and the chicks are smiling, look great, aren't sweating, chatting away - basically, they were "Not doing it right!" I mean, it looked like they were having a great time enjoying the morning. What's wrong with these two?

I moved slowly on by running my 20-minute/mile pace on a rare section that was runnable. I hike about two thirds to three quarters of this ascent and hike the rest. I caught and passed Adrian next, giving him an update on the late-comers to the morning hike.

I was hurting and fading as I neared the top when I spotted Dan Copelove ahead. He's a new, young guy in the firmware group, training for a marathon. I saw him running a few of the sections that were too steep for me to run. Needless to say, I didn't catch him. He was the first up, earning a not-so-coveted Egg McMuffin.

I started down the way I came to give others some encouragement. I soon found Greg, only a few minutes behind. Next was Adrian. Further down I asked a couple if they had seen two young women. At first they responded, "No", but on further thought corrected it to, "Oh, yes, they were sitting down taking a water break." Sitting down!!?? They are lucky I didn't witness such a travesty. I'm fine with proper hydration, as long as you can do on the move. I need to work on these two.

The chicks caught Adrain just before the top and then elbowed him aside so that they could beat him to the top. I hope Adrian appreciates the competitive spirt in our company.

We all hiked down together (except for Dan, who ran down) via the Valley Trail, making a loop out of the hike. Total time was around 80 minutes, 3.5 miles of hiking, 1200+ feet of vertical gain. Longs Peak is roughly equivalent to doing this loop four times. Next up: Green Mountain.

Oh, and I did offer to buy McMuffins for everyone...and only two people took me up on it: Greg and Dan.
- posted by Bill Wright @ Friday, June 26, 2009

 
Tendril Longs Peak Training Hike: Flagstaff


This morning Adrian and Jennifer showed up for a Tendril Longs Peak Training Hike (TLPTH). It was the first for both of them. We did the classic Flagstaff time-trial course and then looped it by coming down Gregory Canyon. Jennifer and I did 3-minute intervals on the way up. We'd run for 3 minutes and then rest while we waited for Adrian to catch up. Then we'd go again. It took us 41 minutes to get to the top. Here Jennifer turned around and ran back down while Adrian and I hiked the rest of the loop.

We met at 6 a.m. and were back at the cars by 7:30 a.m. The weather was perfect. It's mornings like these that convince you that getting up really earlier is worth it. I've attached the map of our hike and the elevation profile.

Next week we'll do Sanitas, I think, and save Green Mountain for the following week.
- posted by Bill Wright @ Thursday, June 18, 2009