Friday, March 11, 2016
Thursday, November 26, 2015
25 Hours in Frog Hollow
This is the last of my Turkey Day blog posts. I wanted to tell the story of my first 25-hour race. Who knows, maybe my only 25-hour race. I rode in the 25 Hours in Frog Hollow on a 4-person co-ed team, aptly named "Desert Tortoise," with Heather, Chris, and a friend of theirs, Jen. It was a lot of fun, in a kind of weird way. The logistics of such a race are interesting.
The race takes place out in the desert near Hurricane, UT, which is pretty far down in the southeast corner of the state. It just happened that I had been at the SETAC annual meeting in Salt Lake City the week before, so the timing was just right for driving down for the race after the meeting. We all got to Frog Hollow Friday afternoon. The race start/finish/camping area has a few little roads all coming together and works reasonably well for moving in a bunch of tents and campers. It was a little crowded, and the camping area was rough. The picture below was taken early in the day; later it became much more crowded.
Usually, the 25 Hours in Frog Hollow runs over the weekend of the time change, so it is a one-day, 25-hour race. This year the race was moved because Halloween occurred on the weekend of the time change; this time the race started at 10 a.m. on Saturday, 7 November, and ended at 11 a.m. on Sunday, 8 November.
Here's how it works: The race course is a 13-mile loop through the desert. If you're a solo rider, you pretty much have 25 hours to do as many laps around the course as you can in 25 hours. If you're on a team, you ride it as a relay, riders take turns doing laps, with the objective of getting in more laps than other teams in your class. Well, maybe the object is just to survive the ordeal, but it's even better if you survive and win. The picture below show, although not very well, the exchange area. Finishing riders enter the two large connected tents from the left (the opening is not visible). Inside are all the people recording stuff, and then starting riders come out the door on the right. The orange-ish tent is where you can get drinks and energy gels, and during the night, midnight pie.
The course was really a fun ride. It followed gravel roads and single track in a mostly steady, gentle climb, punctuated with three or four short steep climbs, for the first five miles. There was nothing technically challenging about the climb. Then, after a some steep short drops into a canyon, it caught the Jem Trail, a very fast and fun singletrack trail descending for several miles. Also not difficult; just fun. The hard part hit around mile 11, when the trail became increasingly technical with lots of rock slabs and ledges, and ups and downs, causing a lot of riders to pinch flat trying to go too fast on their first lap. Riding those last couple of miles was fun, but it was tough to keep pushing for speed while riding tired on that terrain.
I logged each of my laps separately on my Garmin. Here they are; click on the links to see the log:
Lap 1. The first lap started with 1/4-mile run, La Mans start at 10 a.m. Nothing beats running in bike shoes. This was the only lap where I was riding with a bunch of other riders at about the same pace most of the time. This lap felt like a race, and it caused me to push a little too hard on the climb, but that was offset by being held by by crowding on the Jem trail. This was my fastest lap, but it also wasn't slowed by the transition time.
Lap 2. My second lap started at about 3 p.m. I tried to take it just a little easier on the climb, topping out a few minutes slower than the first lap. The Jem trail was wide open, so I made up some time on the downhill, finishing less than a minute slower than my first lap. I experienced some cramping in my right quadriceps toward the end of this lap.
Lap 3. The first lap in the dark, starting around 8:40 p.m. My lights worked well -- one light on my helmet and one on my handlebars. It was pleasant to ride the course in the dark; less windy than my second lap. But I was slightly over-dressed and got rather damp. No leg cramps on this one, but my left thumb was having trouble pushing my shifter lever and dropper post lever. Not sure what that was about, but it made shifting awkward. After this lap, I was very hungry, so purchased a couple sandwiches, hot chocolate, and a cup of soup from the Lyons Club food truck. That was nice.
Lap 4. Our team's fourth, Jen, decided to sit out a lap after having some cramping during and after the previous lap. So I rode my fourth right after Heather's third lap. There is not a requirement that riders go in order, or even ride the same number of laps. I started at about 1 a.m. My decision was to do this and then get some sleep before a morning lap. Midway through, I had a problem on this lap. See the big dead spot in the middle of the Garmin log? Coming down a steep drop I caught a rock with my rear tire, dented my rim and pinched my tire, putting a hole in the sidewall. Running tubeless tires with liquid sealant (Stan's) helps prevent flats, but doesn't prevent them all. The Garmin doesn't lie: I lost 13 minutes fixing that flat. I was carrying a tube, so was able to put that into my tire and keep going, but after that, knowing I had no more spare tubes I took the rough stuff a little more gently.
Lap 5. I slept from 3 a.m. to 6 a.m., and then checked in with the team. Heather was out, and expected to finish at 7:30. That would put me on the course at 9 a.m. so I rested a little longer, then ate some breakfast and had huge mug of coffee. I was on the course again about 9:09 a.m., and finished in time for Chris to get in one more lap. After 65 miles, I was pretty tired.
Here's Chris, finishing a lap. His second, I think.
And Heather starting her second lap...
... and just after finishing the second.
Our team got in 17 laps. Chris and I each rode five and Heather rode four; Jen got the rest. There were three co-ed teams and we took third. One team rode 20, the fastest got in 26 laps!
The race takes place out in the desert near Hurricane, UT, which is pretty far down in the southeast corner of the state. It just happened that I had been at the SETAC annual meeting in Salt Lake City the week before, so the timing was just right for driving down for the race after the meeting. We all got to Frog Hollow Friday afternoon. The race start/finish/camping area has a few little roads all coming together and works reasonably well for moving in a bunch of tents and campers. It was a little crowded, and the camping area was rough. The picture below was taken early in the day; later it became much more crowded.
Usually, the 25 Hours in Frog Hollow runs over the weekend of the time change, so it is a one-day, 25-hour race. This year the race was moved because Halloween occurred on the weekend of the time change; this time the race started at 10 a.m. on Saturday, 7 November, and ended at 11 a.m. on Sunday, 8 November.
Here's how it works: The race course is a 13-mile loop through the desert. If you're a solo rider, you pretty much have 25 hours to do as many laps around the course as you can in 25 hours. If you're on a team, you ride it as a relay, riders take turns doing laps, with the objective of getting in more laps than other teams in your class. Well, maybe the object is just to survive the ordeal, but it's even better if you survive and win. The picture below show, although not very well, the exchange area. Finishing riders enter the two large connected tents from the left (the opening is not visible). Inside are all the people recording stuff, and then starting riders come out the door on the right. The orange-ish tent is where you can get drinks and energy gels, and during the night, midnight pie.
The course was really a fun ride. It followed gravel roads and single track in a mostly steady, gentle climb, punctuated with three or four short steep climbs, for the first five miles. There was nothing technically challenging about the climb. Then, after a some steep short drops into a canyon, it caught the Jem Trail, a very fast and fun singletrack trail descending for several miles. Also not difficult; just fun. The hard part hit around mile 11, when the trail became increasingly technical with lots of rock slabs and ledges, and ups and downs, causing a lot of riders to pinch flat trying to go too fast on their first lap. Riding those last couple of miles was fun, but it was tough to keep pushing for speed while riding tired on that terrain.
I logged each of my laps separately on my Garmin. Here they are; click on the links to see the log:
Lap 1. The first lap started with 1/4-mile run, La Mans start at 10 a.m. Nothing beats running in bike shoes. This was the only lap where I was riding with a bunch of other riders at about the same pace most of the time. This lap felt like a race, and it caused me to push a little too hard on the climb, but that was offset by being held by by crowding on the Jem trail. This was my fastest lap, but it also wasn't slowed by the transition time.
Lap 2. My second lap started at about 3 p.m. I tried to take it just a little easier on the climb, topping out a few minutes slower than the first lap. The Jem trail was wide open, so I made up some time on the downhill, finishing less than a minute slower than my first lap. I experienced some cramping in my right quadriceps toward the end of this lap.
Lap 3. The first lap in the dark, starting around 8:40 p.m. My lights worked well -- one light on my helmet and one on my handlebars. It was pleasant to ride the course in the dark; less windy than my second lap. But I was slightly over-dressed and got rather damp. No leg cramps on this one, but my left thumb was having trouble pushing my shifter lever and dropper post lever. Not sure what that was about, but it made shifting awkward. After this lap, I was very hungry, so purchased a couple sandwiches, hot chocolate, and a cup of soup from the Lyons Club food truck. That was nice.
Lap 4. Our team's fourth, Jen, decided to sit out a lap after having some cramping during and after the previous lap. So I rode my fourth right after Heather's third lap. There is not a requirement that riders go in order, or even ride the same number of laps. I started at about 1 a.m. My decision was to do this and then get some sleep before a morning lap. Midway through, I had a problem on this lap. See the big dead spot in the middle of the Garmin log? Coming down a steep drop I caught a rock with my rear tire, dented my rim and pinched my tire, putting a hole in the sidewall. Running tubeless tires with liquid sealant (Stan's) helps prevent flats, but doesn't prevent them all. The Garmin doesn't lie: I lost 13 minutes fixing that flat. I was carrying a tube, so was able to put that into my tire and keep going, but after that, knowing I had no more spare tubes I took the rough stuff a little more gently.
Lap 5. I slept from 3 a.m. to 6 a.m., and then checked in with the team. Heather was out, and expected to finish at 7:30. That would put me on the course at 9 a.m. so I rested a little longer, then ate some breakfast and had huge mug of coffee. I was on the course again about 9:09 a.m., and finished in time for Chris to get in one more lap. After 65 miles, I was pretty tired.
Here's Chris, finishing a lap. His second, I think.
And Heather starting her second lap...
... and just after finishing the second.
Our team got in 17 laps. Chris and I each rode five and Heather rode four; Jen got the rest. There were three co-ed teams and we took third. One team rode 20, the fastest got in 26 laps!
Sunday, November 1, 2015
Marching Band
Marching band has been of our biggest adventures since Abbey started high school. It's a lot of fun. And it requires a huge time commitment. For the most part, I think we all feel the experience is sufficiently rewarding that it's worth the effort. I'm not sure that Quinn would agree yet, since he probably gains the least from it at the moment. But his time will come.
For the first couple of years Abbey played the mellophone -- the marching version of a french horn:
This year she decided she should be a drum major, so she tried out and got it. What Abbey wants, Abbey gets, I think.
So, back to that time commitment:
First, over the course of the summer Abbey managed to log about 125 hours volunteering at the Denver Zoo. She had to weave her zoo schedule around the marching band schedule:
June 25-29 Drum Major Camp
July 11-12 Band Leadership Training
July 14 One-Day Marching Band Camp
August 3-7 All-Day Band Camp
August 10-13 All-Day Band Camp
Once school started on the August 13th, it was 2 to 3 hours after school 4 days each week through then end of October.
September 26, October 3, 15, 17, 24, and 25 Marching Band Competitions
And there were a couple of football games in there, too. So that's why she wasn't up to for riding the Monarch Crest Trail this year. That girl needs to sort out her priorities!
The pictures below were posted on the CCHS Marching Band Facebook page. I've borrowed them. Some or all of them were taken by Joan Brennan; some may have have been taken by Sara Cheng.
Oh, and this year I helped out with the props. We built these two ramps; each composed of multiple segments, some of which folded, all of which rolled. For each performance we to run them out and assemble them on the field, and the at then of the show, fold them up and get 'em off the field.
This year, as usual, they made it all the way to the State Championships, where the took 8th place in their division.
For the first couple of years Abbey played the mellophone -- the marching version of a french horn:
This year she decided she should be a drum major, so she tried out and got it. What Abbey wants, Abbey gets, I think.
So, back to that time commitment:
First, over the course of the summer Abbey managed to log about 125 hours volunteering at the Denver Zoo. She had to weave her zoo schedule around the marching band schedule:
June 25-29 Drum Major Camp
July 11-12 Band Leadership Training
July 14 One-Day Marching Band Camp
August 3-7 All-Day Band Camp
August 10-13 All-Day Band Camp
Once school started on the August 13th, it was 2 to 3 hours after school 4 days each week through then end of October.
September 26, October 3, 15, 17, 24, and 25 Marching Band Competitions
And there were a couple of football games in there, too. So that's why she wasn't up to for riding the Monarch Crest Trail this year. That girl needs to sort out her priorities!
The pictures below were posted on the CCHS Marching Band Facebook page. I've borrowed them. Some or all of them were taken by Joan Brennan; some may have have been taken by Sara Cheng.
Oh, and this year I helped out with the props. We built these two ramps; each composed of multiple segments, some of which folded, all of which rolled. For each performance we to run them out and assemble them on the field, and the at then of the show, fold them up and get 'em off the field.
This year, as usual, they made it all the way to the State Championships, where the took 8th place in their division.
Sunday, September 20, 2015
Monarch Crest
Chris and Heather were kind enough to invite us along on a Monarch Crest Trail ride this fall. Abbey and Cindy decided to sit this one out since they hadn't been doing enough riding this year, and the Monarch Crest Trail is a pretty long haul. We had ridden the Monarch Crest Trail last year on Labor Day Weekend. Here's a link to that, in case you'd like to review.
We met the CH&C and Bobby on Friday, 18 September near Monarch, CO, where they'd rented a cabin. It was nice. The cabin was compact but worked well. Quinn and I shared a Murphy bed, which was sort of interesting. Then we got up Saturday morning, had a big breakfast, and then set up our shuttle. We left C&Hs truck down in Poncha Springs where we'd end up when the ride was done, and then used our Armada to haul the four of us and our bikes up to Monarch pass. Here's a link to our route.
It was a great ride again, as expected. The weather was perfect -- just try to find a cloud in these pictures. The rainbow trail was tough, as expected, but on the gnarly rocky downhills Quinn and his Heckler just floated down. And I had to try to keep up. That night we had pizza in Salida and the relaxed in the hot tub at the cabin before bed. I'm already looking forward to next time.
We met the CH&C and Bobby on Friday, 18 September near Monarch, CO, where they'd rented a cabin. It was nice. The cabin was compact but worked well. Quinn and I shared a Murphy bed, which was sort of interesting. Then we got up Saturday morning, had a big breakfast, and then set up our shuttle. We left C&Hs truck down in Poncha Springs where we'd end up when the ride was done, and then used our Armada to haul the four of us and our bikes up to Monarch pass. Here's a link to our route.
It was a great ride again, as expected. The weather was perfect -- just try to find a cloud in these pictures. The rainbow trail was tough, as expected, but on the gnarly rocky downhills Quinn and his Heckler just floated down. And I had to try to keep up. That night we had pizza in Salida and the relaxed in the hot tub at the cabin before bed. I'm already looking forward to next time.
Sunday, September 13, 2015
Building Little Scraggy Trail in the Buffalo Creek Recreation Area
Quinn and I participated in a couple of trail building days with COMBA this year. We've been helping to build the Little Scraggy Trail, which will eventually form big loop out to the south from the Colorado Trail. The first leg was finished last year. We've been helping with the west side this year. I think it's supposed to all finished in 2016.
It's been fun. We meet the group around 8 or 9 a.m. Saturday morning. COMBA provides coffee and some snacks and goes through a brief safety training, mostly about safe usage of the tools. Then we break into groups and carry our tools up to the trail section we'll be working on. Both times, the areas we've worked were already marked, so our job was to clear the surface and make a trail. Sometimes there's some rock moving involved, which is pretty fun.
For the September 12th weekend, we camped Saturday night with COMBA and did some riding in the morning before we headed home. Here's the first piece of the Little Scraggy Trail.
These pictures are from the July trail day.
Quinn with a McLeod:
It's been fun. We meet the group around 8 or 9 a.m. Saturday morning. COMBA provides coffee and some snacks and goes through a brief safety training, mostly about safe usage of the tools. Then we break into groups and carry our tools up to the trail section we'll be working on. Both times, the areas we've worked were already marked, so our job was to clear the surface and make a trail. Sometimes there's some rock moving involved, which is pretty fun.
For the September 12th weekend, we camped Saturday night with COMBA and did some riding in the morning before we headed home. Here's the first piece of the Little Scraggy Trail.
These pictures are from the July trail day.
Quinn with a McLeod:
Monday, September 7, 2015
Three Rides in Three Days
This was just about the best three days a mountain biking dad could have asked for. This time we were off ot our favorite fast and easy Buffalo Creek Loop. Check it out here. And it was all four of us this time. Abbey hadn't been on the bike much this summer, so was struggling a bit more than usual. And I think Quinn was getting tired after three days of riding. But it was a blast.
Sunday, September 6, 2015
Hall Ranch on the Heckler
I've probably written something like this before, but Hall Ranch has to be one of the nicest parks in the world. I'm not sure exactly what is about it; maybe it's the big sky views, open meadows, exposed rocks, and scrubby pines; maybe it's the fun flowing trails; it's probably both; but it's just great. That said we've had a couple of failed rides at Hall Ranch. Once we started up the Antelope trail with the full four of scaq, but Abbey was coming down with a cold, and it seemed that the exertion of the climb hit her like an asteroid. She was miserable, so we just stopped and went home. And last year Quinn took a hard fall coming down the smooth trails through the valley and seriously sprained his wrist. Here's a link to that story.
My favorite way to ride Hall Ranch is to start in the city of Lyons, CO, and ride up the road to enter the park on the Antelope Trail, then ride out and around the Nelson Loop at the north end of the park, come down the rocky Bitterbrush Trail, and roll back into Lyons from the south. Click here for the map.
This time it was just Quinn and me. We did several rides with just the two of us this year since Abbey has been busy being a drum major in the Cherry Creek High School Marching Band. It was a great ride; the Heckler seems to be working out really well for Quinn, and this trail was just the sort of thing it's made for. Here are some pics from the ride:
This time it was just Quinn and me. We did several rides with just the two of us this year since Abbey has been busy being a drum major in the Cherry Creek High School Marching Band. It was a great ride; the Heckler seems to be working out really well for Quinn, and this trail was just the sort of thing it's made for. Here are some pics from the ride:
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