Long run Sunday...

Well, not so much of a long run this week. With only a couple of hours running I couldn't justify beating myself up on a three or four hour run with the IC'rs. We decided a run through Stratton Open Space and some of Cheyenne Canyon was in order since the wind was gusting in the 40-60 mph range around 7:30a that morning.

Run down -

We started at the La Veta trailhead, running across the Upper Meadow Loop we made our way around the reservoirs and over the canyon, a short run up the canyon on the Columbine trail we came back down to Stratton. A steep (but short) uphill on a service road then across the top on the Chamberlain trail to the Gold Camp path, down to Arroyo Grande (not listed yet) and finished the loop on the Upper Meadow trail back to the car.

The amount of nice trails in the Stratton open space has been complemented with the addition of the Arryo Grande trail. The trail runs downhill, west to east, from the Chutes trail. The trail surface is loose dirt and almost completely tree covered, single track at its' finest the trail carves its way downhill with many twists and turns - just watch out for cross traffic at the junctions.

9 miles

Saturday, the sun is shining

With the sun out and the snow holding it was time for an easy run through Red Rock Canyon, with just enough traffic to pack down the snow the trails were easily ran without traction aids. We made a nice loop up the Contemplative trail then turned up again at Sand Canyon which took us to the Paul Intemann Memorial trail.

A quick mile or so across the top of the park on Intemann, we took the connector trail back down into Red Rock Canyon and to the Roundup Tail and the loop was completed with a turn down the Red Rock Rim trail which has some great views of the old quarry.

Run down-

The Contemplative trail is a short but beautiful trail with a good amount of climbing, up or down this trail and you're in for a visual treat (don't miss the mini-slot canyon about half way up).
Sand Canyon is a screaming downhill on a mountain bike, on the run it is a gradual climb up to the Intemann trail but the views of Pikes Peak can't be missed as you run along the edge of deep washes and small canyons. The Paul Intemann trail is one of my favorites but needs a full posting to discuss it. Roundup Trail is rolling single-track, with a climb on either end but does mellow in the middle for a quick run across the top of the park. Red Rock Rim trail is two-track dirt road that is still used for access into the park for maintenance, mild elevation gain but the view beats the two-track monotony.

6 miles

Front Range run.....

Not much can be said about running flat trail along a shallow river in Colorado but when all the trails are covered in snow and ice there isn't much better of a choice. The Pikes Peak Greenway/Santa Fe Regional trail (I will commonly refer to it as the Front Range trail as it was slated to join a trail system that ran the length of the Front Range) is a central corridor through Colorado Springs with many spur options to the east and west, most of it is dirt with some sections of road surface (asphalt, concrete, etc). The most easily accessible option is the section near downtown and North through Monument Valley Park.

Today was just an easy run out and back with the dogs, total distance 5 miles. After the snow it was nice to get the legs moving again.

Snow, snow, snow, cold.

Winter is here finally.......snow and more snow. Add to that mix it's cold, really cold, wake up and it is -13 f cold. Ouch, not much running this week.

Long layoff........

It's been a long time since I actively posted on the blog but I thought it be a nice change of pace to update it a little and add some semi-consistent posts. There will be more posts about (trail) running than riding but plenty of outdoor related items.

Enjoy.