San Francisco

San Francisco was a shock to the system, it was cold and windy, a bit dirty and very urban. After 5 weeks of living within touching distance of the mountains the city was a bit difficult to come to terms with. We ate, saw sites, and shopped. It was an expensive waistline extending few days

.

The Grand Tetons

 So soon after Leadville I was prepared to sit around, drink beer and take in the views, but then as soon as I saw those mountains I knew I had to get out into them, bears and snow or not.

It was beautiful. We jog/hiked around Jenny Lake and Phelps Lake and then went on a 12 mile hike with lots of climbing, lots of snow, and lots of big scenery just before we left.

Leadville the run

So it was cold that early in the morning, and sleep had been a bit hard to come by, and my legs were sore from the ride, and three of my toes had gone numb, like completely numb (they still haven't really defrosted), and 50 miles is a long way, and I knew what was coming, and I knew it was going to be a very very long day. 

The sign said "Thinking of giving up-suck it up!"

 So I did. The next sign was a little more encouraging.

So I did what it said as well.

The turn around point, half way in under 6 hours.

12 hours later I was back where I started.

I'd done it...with a little (lot of) help from my friends

Now where's the beer?

The outbound splits can be found here Silver Rush 50 Mile Run but the inbound ones got a bit lost in technology malfunctions. Suffice to say that on the way back the climbing was hard, the slog out of Printerboy soul destroying, and the run down to and through the last aid station about as much fun as I'd had all day, until I hit the wall with about 2-3 miles to go then it was just hard.

Leadville

And so it was to Leadville.

The mountainbike race came and went. It was hard, much harder than it should have been, but then a glance at my training log kind of explained why. I had ridden more in the States in the lead up to and including the race than I had in the six months before. I knew deep down I could tough out any 50 mile mountain bike race and so it proved but it wasn't big and it wasn't clever. Still I finished and that's what counts in the end, for large parts it was an enjoyable grind and for one short (3-4 mile) section coming out of Printerboy aid station on the way back it really really wasn't.

Bring it on!

Bang! Now get out of the way.

I had the best crew!

Printerboy on the way out.

Right that's that bit done then.

Splits are here Silver Rush 50 Mile Mountain bike Race . I should have been faster, I should have hurt less, but then maybe just maybe I should have trained, even just a little might have helped.

Winter Park

Sarah Bob and Linda got out for some good runs and hikes. I stayed home nursing a very bad stomach, which is generally unlike me and again left me worrying about race preparation.

Wasn't all doom and gloom though as we tried to make the race car do a loop the loop.

Yellowstone

Yellowstone is a stunning place, it has a bit of everything, there's a bit of the wild west as you pass through Jackson, there are the stunning volcanic pools, geysers and steaming rivers, and then there is the wilderness. Only when we were there lots of the wilderness was closed. The snows were late coming and very late melting, which closed a lot of the trails. Then there was a bear attack which unfortunately killed a man just before we got there. Nevertheless it was a stunning place again with great people. 

It wasn't always sunny. The only problem for me was that there was not a lot of training going on and it began to stress me some as the date of the Leadville races drew closer and I was largely inactive.

Fort Collins

Provided a lot of entertainment, the company was excellent the beer tasty and we got to ride about on borrowed cruisers.

We did get out on some lovely hikes and runs. I stopped and waited for the others to join me when on an early morning run up by Horsetooth I charged on ahead only to find this very large footprint fresh on the path.