Thursday Aug 31 |
 | biking warm up/down 35:00 [2]8.0 mi (4:22 / mi) | |
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| errand |
| yoga 30:00 [1] | |
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| Note | |
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| here are some notes I jotted down during my bus journey out to Colorado:
Homeless in Denver
Enlisted my sister by cell phone to find lodging on the internet, and she came up w/ a youth hostel within mall-bus and walking distance of the bus station, very seedy and rundown, but operated by people w/ good hearts. The two gentlemen who shared my roof were not very talkative, but seemed decent. The one kept making sort of chipmunk noises all night, poor soul. I thought it was because he wasnt aware of it, but then I noticed he kept making the noises after he got up to leave. He was indeed not aware of it, but awake nonetheless. But then I had been humming, beyond our tears, beyond our fears all afternoon without knowing what song the words belonged to, or whether they were the words to the song. It might have sounded like I was making woodchuck noises for all I know. Both of us were clearly on internal journeys somewhat separated from the skyscrapers and homeless people around us.
On the way to the hostel, I saw a Lutheran church where people with backpacks (like me) were sitting having dinner on the patio. I wasnt exactly clear what I was looking at. Were these homeless people because they had backpacks? I had a backpack, and was not really homeless, but it occurred to me that others might think I was, considering the heavy population of people with backpacks in this neighborhood.
I only had to detour 1 block on my way to the hostel to find a Catholic church. Mass was starting in about an hour so I decided simply to stay for the service. In the middle of silent prayers, an exotic-sounding male voice, perhaps Oriental or African in origin, started chanting, almost singing, the Rosary. It was disturbing, but in my struggle with its different-ness the image of a crown of thorns came to mind.
The next morning I was walking back from the hostel toward the bus station, and I decided to swing by the church. People were huddled, sitting, on the rear patio area of the cathedral. Then, around the corner, I came upon a being sleeping in the gap between the wall of the cathedral and the side-entrance steps. What can I do for him I wondered as I walked past a dozen paces. Money? Clothes? What did I have that would further this persons well-being? I pulled out one of my Cliff Bars and gently laid it near his knees, figuring he would appreciate the untouched wrapper.
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| orienteering 1:00:00 [2] | |
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| jogging around emmenegger map, includes transitions and map puzzlement. the general mapping seems good but some big earth banks and earth chunks down by the (former?) bridge over the creek are not to be found, and a lot of trails have changed. Perhaps the issue is how to show so much detail in a small area? |
| biking 1:50:00 [2]28.0 mi (3:54 / mi) | |
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| biking w/ pack to pick up some drawings in kirkwood, ostensibly, the real reason for going was emmenegger. |
Wednesday Aug 30 |
| orienteering 25:00 [3] | |
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| sprint action in Forest Park woods. Had to drop off some drawings across from FP, (well actually I could have couriered them but then...) It felt really good to go fast and short control to contol. One was a little hard to find, there was a forking trail but one fork wasn't shown, so I ran the one parallel to the stream just to see if it conformed to the map. I crossed a stream, so I knew I was on the unmapped fork. Decided to plunge ahead anyway to see if I could pick up any features. There was a prominent ditch, (I don't think this was one of the mapped streams - maybe I need to go back and check) then a mapped depression and I was back. i remember Eric saying the map wasn't finished, would be fun if the woods part had a little more detail on it. Not sure the old road should be white, since there aren't any trees growing on it yet? Its pretty much open still, though surely the intent is to have it revert to forest eventually. |
| biking 40:00 [3]10.0 mi (3:59 / mi) | |
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| To FP and back, a little stiff at first. Then tried to concentrate on spinning which I had been meaning to do anyway when I read Eric's post. I think I'm getting to see the point of it - ride was easy and the imbalance in my legs not so noticable. |
Tuesday Aug 29 |
| biking 1:45:00 [4]30.0 mi (3:29 / mi) | |
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| just going to alternate logging intensity 3 and 4 - to complicated otherwise. To parents for lunch and to Lowes to get satisfaction for brand new refrigerator w/ two blown compressors and thrid on order for two weeks (Maytag - just stating the facts, draw your own conclusions). Too early for lunch, so took some cross laps in Larson Park in Webster w. some short steep hills, otherwise tried to keep tempo up by hitting 90 cadence, or riding on gravel etc. |
Monday Aug 28 |
| biking 22:00 [3]6.0 mi (3:40 / mi) | |
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| errands, heavy pack back from grocery store. for some reason, a heavy pack makes me feel faster, perhaps because the weight bearing actually makes it easier to downpedal, without the corresponding slowdown that one would expect, since it is mostly rolling (inertia-driven) weight. |
Sunday Aug 27 |
| biking 20:00 [3]5.0 mi (3:59 / mi) | |
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| pack 'o' stuff to park, check and pick up a few controls, ride home. |
Saturday Aug 26 |
| biking 1:00:00 [4]15.0 mi (3:59 / mi) | |
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| cross practice at castlewood w/ Rick. 4 long laps in grass (and rain) about 20 minutes. Recovery, then up paved hill, and down Love Trail. Then 4 more grass laps - about 19 minutes. |
| biking 30:00 [3]8.0 mi (3:45 / mi) | |
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| misc. errands |
| biking 45:00 [2]8.0 mi (5:37 / mi) | |
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| set controls |
Friday Aug 25 |
| orienteering 45:00 [2]3.0 mi (14:59 / mi) | |
| shoes: |
| Carondelet Park checking course |
| running warm up/down 35:00 [2]4.0 mi (8:44 / mi) | |
| shoes: |
| tp park and back |
Thursday Aug 24 |
| biking 30:00 [1]8.0 mi (3:45 / mi) | |
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| very slow cross to nursing home and back. |
| biking warm up/down 20:00 [2]3.0 mi (6:40 / mi) | |
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| cross bike riding on mountain bike course - helping groom trail |
| Note | |
| (rest day) |
| hopefully this is enough |
Wednesday Aug 23 |
| biking 50:00 [2]9.5 mi (5:15 / mi) | |
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| cross bike - north way to Kirkwood, des peres, blackburn |
| biking intervals 55:00 [4]13.0 mi (4:14 / mi) | |
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| cross bike - intervals by getting on gravel, or lifting my weight off seat or attacking hillocks. Been under-estmating extra time it takes to ride the cross bike, since here I was hitting it pretty strong and it was still slower than a road bike ride. |
| biking 12:00 [2]3.0 mi (3:59 / mi) | |
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| grocery store |
Tuesday Aug 22 |
| biking 1:35:00 [3]26.0 mi (3:38 / mi) | |
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| Cross bike - Grants trail, etc. to Kirkwood. tried to ride on the gravel when I could. |
| biking 20:00 [3]5.0 mi (3:59 / mi) | |
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| shopping - 30# pack on way back, cut thru grass and gravel on way there |
Monday Aug 21 |
| biking 45:00 [3]12.0 mi (3:45 / mi) | |
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| cross bike w/ light pack |
| biking tempo 42:00 [3]13.0 mi (3:13 / mi) | |
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| Grants trail now semi-regular to help parents and do some work for an architect friend in Kirkwood, though I might start going the northern route to pick up more gravel and grass - though I suppose there's nothing stopping me from riding next to Grants Trail - but the asphalt is too seductive. The parking lots are starting to look like Walmarts!
and a little gravel trail along River Des Peres for good measure. I feel stronger on the cross bike than the road bike. |
Sunday Aug 20 |
| running warm up/down 35:00 [3]4.0 mi (8:44 / mi) | |
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| to and from Carondelet Park |
| orienteering 1:00:00 [2] | |
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| jogging next Sundays course w/ Mark G. |
| biking 1:00:00 [3]16.0 mi (3:45 / mi) | |
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| general urban riding - rode along train tracks to wait out a train, as a result had a flat, lunch w/ folks. then to bike shop to trade off bikes, felt good to get on cross bike again - could feel the mountain geometry of the last few weeks kick in a little. stopped off to get ice. |
Saturday Aug 19 |
| biking warm up/down 35:00 [2]8.0 mi (4:22 / mi) | |
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| funeral in s. s.l. -slow |
| biking 20:00 [3]5.0 mi (3:59 / mi) | |
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| to buy food - the pack actually seemed to make it go faster. I have definitely burned up in the re-entry to st. louis heat. Every day I seem more exhausted, and I thought the trip out west would put me in fighting trim. |
Friday Aug 18 |
| biking warm up/down 1:10:00 [2]19.0 mi (3:40 / mi) | |
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| errands - hot |
Thursday Aug 17 |
| biking 1:30:00 [3]27.0 mi (3:19 / mi) | |
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| retracing Grants trail to look for glasses, nursing home, parents house, back to meet fridge repairman |
Wednesday Aug 16 |
| biking warm up/down 40:00 [2]8.0 mi (4:59 / mi) | |
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| easy ride to small job in the city |
| biking 1:30:00 [3]26.0 mi (3:27 / mi) | |
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| to parents to help, and back, via grants trail. not very focused- errands and other interuptions along the way. Want to build up my base road bike miles a little before I start going faster, doing tempo, speedwork etc. |
| biking 20:00 [2]5.0 mi (3:59 / mi) | |
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| backtracking looking for my glasses that slipped out of my pocket |
Tuesday Aug 15 |
| Note | |
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| Rest day - 24 hours of our third world bus system. (rode standing from Laramie to Fort Collins, mysterious hours long delays, stopping in the middle of nowhere at night (twice!) for the cops and ambulance to check out the poor sick kid who seemed to be on drugs or on theverge of a breakdown or both. Good to be home.
So, I did not make it all the way from Boulder to Laramie. After pushing my bike up a few rock-strewn gullies on the way to Estes Park, sleeping on a high mountain ridge, and riding some really fun mountain bike trails, back roads, and a whole lot of Peak to Peak highway, I decided my bike and pack were too heavy to hike up 3000 feet to Donner Pass, so rode back down to Boulder and took a bus to Laramie. I met a bike shop owner in Laramie who had ridden the other way to Cache La Poudre Wilderness. It was the Donner Pass climb that was the ride-killer. Realistically, I was close to overstepping my limits and it was a good decision to turn back. On the other hand, I wasn't all that far away from being able to do it, and it was very encouraging for future longer distance rides.
This fall I want to concentrate on true cyclocross fitness, training 200-300 miles per week, and on building on the 1000 day orienteering experience. I will try to ride to all the local meets, including the ones that are 1-2 hour auto drives out of town, and also try to attend KC and Indiana/Chicago/Ohio meets (probably not by bike, but by train/bike combination, or ride sharing) |
Monday Aug 14 |
| biking 1:20:00 [2]14.0 mi (5:42 / mi) | |
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| mountain bike trail from campground to highway. what a much nicer way to leave the campground than in a car on a dusty road. Even though it was just dawn, it looked like somebody had been ahead of me, maybe Eric Bone. Beuatiful luxuriant pines along the winding generally uphill trail.
Then over the highway overpass onto forest roads - had trouble picking up the 'road' indicated parallel to I-80. Ended up im some fields and then some gullies before I backtracked and finally found the barest jeep track pointing in the direction of Laramie. My heavy-full suspension seemed made for this kind of trail: rocky and downhill. |
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| C • Wonderful! 3 |
| hiking 1:00:00 [1]4.0 mi (14:59 / mi) | |
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| after having breakfast with the Gookins and Rose at the organic cafe, dropped the bike back off at the bike shop and hiked back to the community center through town and campus. Shower sure felt good, and I've lost close to 10 pounds in the last 10 days! (148) Got to hold on to that! |
Sunday Aug 13 |
| orienteering race 1:30:00 [4] | |
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| another physically demanding course. all the wheels seemed to fall off, but I am totally psyched.
The people and the scenery have been so beautiful, and I have no doubt I have become a much better orienteer, even though my results probably indicate the opposite. |
| bouldering warm up/down 30:00 [2] | |
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| cooldown from meet, stretching on the rocks |
| hiking 45:00 [1] | |
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| hiking back from telephone road boulders to campground, this time cut across prairie, missed campsite by about a hunderd yards |
Saturday Aug 12 |
| orienteering race 1:15:00 [4]5.0 mi (14:59 / mi) | |
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| spent a lot of time at #2, because the clue said it was at the bottom of the re-entrant and it was at the top - threw me becasue unlike most I approached from the bottom |
| hiking warm up/down 20:00 [1] | |
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| from intersection of telephone road/happy jack road to campground - off tent site by 50 yards |
Friday Aug 11 |
| biking warm up/down 45:00 [3]6.0 mi (7:30 / mi) | |
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| mountain biking to race site |
| biking 1:30 [2] | |
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| mountain biking back from race, really tired, had to stop a lot, push uphills. The open prairie is remarkably rideable though. yippee-i-yay. |
| orienteering race 30:00 [4]2.5 km (12:00 / km) | |
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| prologue - no 'major' mistakes |
| orienteering race 1:00:00 [4] | |
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| zoned totally out on #3 or 4, but kept running - should have stopped |
Thursday Aug 10 |
| orienteering race 45:00 [4] | |
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| Stampede - managed to screww up the three maps - pulled out the first map for the third loop and so didn't run the big third loop. |
Wednesday Aug 9 |
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| Event: Rocky Mountain 1000 Day
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| orienteering race 37:00 [4] | |
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| sprint - just glad to be here - viewing the whole thing as a 'orienteering training camp' |
| biking 1:30:00 [3]10.0 mi (9:00 / mi) | |
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| mountain biking to and from event |
Tuesday Aug 8 |
| biking 1:45:00 [3]10.0 mi (10:29 / mi) | |
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| mountain bike form laramie bike store to campground mostly on the interstate - ugh! 1500' elevation gain. |
| hiking 30:00 [2] | |
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| hiking from downtown laramie to the bike shop |
| running 30:00 [3] | |
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| warm up trail run at campground |
Monday Aug 7 |
| biking 1:45:00 [3]12.0 mi (8:44 / mi) | |
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| not loggint the descent from estes park to lyons,almost all downhill, zoomy, found out the bus had left so continued to boulder outskirts, rolling. last few miles joined up with a commuter which cheered me up, considering I was exhausted |
| running warm up/down 15:00 [3]2.0 mi (7:30 / mi) | |
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| short jog to the bike store and back since I forgot my small bag there |
Sunday Aug 6 |
| biking 8:00:00 [3]35.0 mi (13:42 / mi) | |
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| riding mountain bike from overnight bivy on ridge to estes park. followed powerline to dirt road to highway to bail from mountain bike trail, then a lot of uphill on the peak to peak highway w/ a nice mountain bike ride on bunce school road, a hugely rutted, bouldered, former road turned adventure. |
Saturday Aug 5 |
| biking 8:00:00 [3]25.0 mi (19:12 / mi) | |
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| With 20 poound pack. mostly uphill from boulder, dirt road passed mailbox that said 'Ed Leeper' and there were blacksmith hammering sounds coming from the house! For those who don't know Ed Leeper invented the piton or something!
Then on trails in the high country, pushing the bike up rocky gullies and trails that I couldn't ride up. |
| hiking 1:15:00 [2] | |
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| down from the motel in the foothills to the bike shop to pick up the bike, and also at the end of the day, when I set up camp in the woods on the ridge, exhausted from pushing the bike up rocky trails, and needed to go down the beautiful mountain stream steeply below to get water. |
Thursday Aug 3 |
| biking 1:00:00 [3]16.0 mi (3:45 / mi) | |
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| errands. well, its off to the greyhound station, and then to boulder to mountain bike along the front range mountains to laramie. there won't be any posts here for quite some time. Hopefully, they will resume in a couple of weeks. |
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| C • 1000 days Bike Rides 1 |
Wednesday Aug 2 |
| biking tempo 15:00 [4]6.0 mi (2:29 / mi) | |
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| laps of forest park criterium course |
| biking 17:00 [3]5.5 mi (3:05 / mi) | |
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| loop around forest park |
| biking 59:00 [2]16.0 mi (3:40 / mi) | |
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| ride to forest park to meet club members for ride, then to meeting with client, errand and home, w/ a bit of aimless wandering interspersed |
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| C • exercise maniac! 2 |
Tuesday Aug 1 |
| bouldering warm up/down 25:00 [2] | |
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| stretching/easy bouldering in 'bear pit' @ Carondolet Park. More sand-fleas and stick-burrs than good boulders! |
| biking 35:00 [2] | |
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| map reading at Carondolet includes stopping to verify various conditions. |
| biking warm up/down 38:00 [2]10.0 mi (3:48 / mi) | |
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| To and from park, up River Des Peres bike trail west side, then back east side streets |
| biking 25:00 [3]6.0 mi (4:09 / mi) | |
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| errands - in the heat of the day, w/ pak didn't feel like much, good becasue it isnt, esp. considering whats coming up! |