We're heade to TranRockies Run

Just wanted to let everyone know that Wendy and I are headed to Colorado for TranRockies Run. Wendy and Stu Gibson are the runners who will be trying to run about 125 miles in 6 days. Here is a brief description of the event... oh, yeah, we rented an RV for the event and I'll be doing support... and yes, I'm taking my bike with me. What else would I do while I'm doing support...

GORE-TEX™ TransRockies Run
A New Epic in the RockiesThis year from August 25-30, up to 150 teams of two will take on the Colorado Rockies for a running experience like no other. During the six days of the GORE-TEX™ TransRockies Run, runners from all over the world will run, eat and live together as they cover 125 miles of spectacular scenery, fully supported by a dedicated and professional Event Team who will look after all aspects of their food, accommodations and on-course support.Based upon the wildly successful GORE-TEX™ TransAlpine-Run in Europe and the TransRockies mountain bike race, the GORE-TEX™ TransRockies Run is run on a multi-day point-to-point format which allows athletes to access and traverse wild and fantastic scenery, while building camaraderie, overcoming adversity and sharing a singular adventure.

The GORE-TEX™ TransRockies Run course runs from Buena Vista to Beaver Creek, through the heart of the White River and San Isabel National Forests. The course includes a mix of singletrack and forest road with nearly 25,000 feet of elevation gain, reaching altitudes of over 12,500 ft. Racers are fed and housed in a tent city, and treated to hot showers and other amenities every night, and are supported throughout each stage with feed and aid stations along with a fully-equipped and mobile medical team. Each day’s run is filmed by a professional TV crew who produce footage which is shown during the daily awards ceremony recognizing the stage and overall leaders.

Each morning, the racers will leave the race village en masse and tackle the day’s course before arriving at the finish where the Event Team has moved in and rebuilt the village from the night before. With gear bags, tents, showers and food waiting, the racers can spend the rest of the afternoon and evening trading stories, healing wounds and recovering in preparation for the next day’s run.W.L. Gore and Associates has won the loyalty and trust of runners and outdoor enthusiasts with the comfort, protection and superior performance of the GORE-TEX® brand and its Guaranteed To Keep You Dry™ promise. The innovative stage running format will challenge the athletes with a huge variety of conditions. Gore licensees include Adidas, Asics, Puma, Nike, Salomon, New Balance, Montrail, Ecco, The North Face and Inov8. They use GORE-TEX™ in the making of shoes and apparel ready for the challenge of the TransRockies Run.

While many participants come to endurance stage events with the simple goal of getting to the finish line, there will be fierce competition at the front of the pack for the $20,000 in prize money up for grabs in five different team categories: Open Men, Open Women, Open Mixed, Men 80+ and Women 80+. The 80+ categories consist of teams whose participants' ages combine to 80 years or more. Regardless of category or experience, participants of the GORE-TEX™ TransRockies Run will cross the line with a deep sense of accomplishment, a lifetime’s worth of stories and memories, and a group of new friends in adventure.

Flag to GC

This past weekend I participated in the Toys for Tots Flag to (almost) Grand Canyon mountain bike ride. Usually, we camp in Flag on Friday night, do the ride, then camp at the finish on Saturday night. This is a great event with breakfast being served at the first check point.... and I mean real breakfast like eggs and bacon, biscuits and gravy, fruit, cookies, etc. ... the list goes on.

Wendy and I drove up Friday night and got in a bit late. So instead of pitching an tent, we put an EZ-UP over the bed of the truck and slept on the thermarest. It was a beatiful night. We left a small gap right above our heads so we could see the stars. Of course, it rained a bit in the morning and we had to move down a bit. By then, my feet were hanging off the bed of the truck.

The ride starts at 7 AM. Wendy was planning on running for 3 hours at Mt. Elden, then driving to the finish and picking me up. The ride is pretty easy, but a bit long. About 62 miles on fire roads with a small amount of rocky, semi-technical riding.

I rode with Trever, Dan and Rob. The first 15-20 miles felt like we were racing, but then the pace settled and became much more civilized. One rider was in front of our group, and he was flying. By the last checkpoint, we were about 30 minutes behing. At about mile 53, I got a flat and had to stop. Another ride (Mike) caught up with us. When we hit the last check point, we all stopped except for Mike - he kept going - for food and drinks. We finished the 62 miles in just over 4 hours, which is not too bad.

Wendy finally picked me up about an hour and a half later. She was estimating my finish in about 5 hours. We decided not to stay the night because our dogs were alone at home. Overall a great ride, but I think next year we'll be camping and we'll bring the dogs.

Durango Training Camp

We just spent 5 beautiful days in Durango, Colorado. It was called a team training camp. Wendy is training for her big event in 4 weeks in the Rockies, and I was just... well... having fun riding my mountain bike. We rented two houses. House 1 was occupied by Wendy and I, Stu, Wendy's running teamate for TransRockies, Jeff, damn fast (and small) mountain biker, Jay, whose wife decided last minute to not go, and Greg, who ended up playing golf instead of biking - more on that in a second. House 2 was occupied by the Long's, the Hammond's and father and son combo - the Lee's.

Jay, Stu, Jeff, Wendy and I left Tuesday night and drove to Gallup, New Mexico, so we could ride the next day in Durango. We arrived in Durango around 1 PM, after watching the Tour de France in our hotel room in Gallup. We got to watch the last stage in the Alps, the one that decided the winner of the Tour.

A few of us got ready to ride, and drove off to the trailhead. Unfortunately, when we got there, Jeff forgot his front wheel and I forgot my helmet. Not the start we were planning. Jay and I ended up riding back to the house and Wendy and Jeff drove back. Once at the house, Jeff, Jay and I headed for some trails near the house.

The next day was better. The whole group - Rick, Greg, Brian, Wilson, Jay, Jeff and I, all headed to Dry Fork via the Colorado trail. Jeff, Jay and I ended up riding about 4 hours that day. I unfortunately, hit a rock with my pedal during our third hour and went down pretty hard. Bent my pedal axle, but the rest of the bike was ok. My right leg was a bit bloody, but nothing serious.

Day 3 was a blast. All of us, except Rick - who also went down the previous day - headed up to ride Hermosa Creek. Jeff, Jay and I rode from town, while Brian, Wilson and Greg, drove to Durango Mountain Resort and rode from there. We all met at the trailhead and started our 19 mile downhill ride - awesome. We all had a blast. Except for Jay's flat tire, Brian's crash, Greg's broken bike (that's right, broken rear traingle) and my broken chain, the day was great.

Greg discovered he broke his bike after we got home and washed the bikes. Fortunatelly, Greg brought his golf clubs (and a collared shirt) so he was able to play golf a couple of times. See the picture of Greg at the training camp :-)

We all had a bit too much wine on Friday night - Jeff cooked for the whole gang - so we eneded up doing some exploring and riding for only a couple of hours on Saturday.

Sunday was the big day. Jay, Jeff and I headed toward Kennebac Pass - a 11,775 ft. high peak. Unfortunately, we missed the turn off and rode another 11 miles before we decided to turn around. Jay was not having a great day and went back home. Jeff and I continued. The climb to Kennebac Pass was not too bad until the last 6 miles, where you climb 3,000 ft. to get to the top. Once you reach the top, it's another 20 miles back to the car, all of it on singletrack... and not flat either. We both almost ran out of water, and couldn't really eat, because we didn't want to use the little precious liquid we had to wash down the food. We ended up riding 6.5 hours and climbed 8,000 ft. in just under 70 miles.

While I was having lots of fun riding my bike, Wendy and Stu ended up running about 65 miles in 4 days. It's hard to believe that they'll need to run twice that much next month when the tackle TransRockies. There, they'll need to run 120 miles in 6 days. Ouch!!! I'll be there as driver and support.... of course I'll have my bike with me and I'll be doing some nice rides in cool weather.

Well, that's all for now. We're headed to Flagstaff Friday for the Flag to Grand Canyon bike ride. A 65 mile easy mountain bike ride, unless I decide to push the pace :-) I'll give you an update next week.

Thanks for reading and feel free to post comments.