With the Ultimate Mountain Challenge (trail run, road bike, mountain bike, downriver paddle) at the Teva Mountain Games approaching in three weeks in Vail, I figured it was time to dust off the road bike…and to even do a bit of running on the road!

Saturday:  Ran two hours in a drizzly fog on the trails.  We’ve been in a strange weather pattern in which the weekdays are beautiful and weekends are rainy.  The bonus is that fog makes the usual routes seem mysterious and exciting!

Sunday:  Mountain biked 4.5 hours.  I went up to Bergen Peak, an old favorite in Evergreen and a classic foothills trail!

Monday:  Rested out the legs with an hour of paddling in the whitewater park in Clear Creek.  Located in downtown Golden, this little piece of heaven is an awesome spot for playboating, slalom paddling, riverboarding, and whitewater practice.

Tuesday:  I hit the road at Lookout Mountain in Golden for some uphill running intervals and an uphill road ride tempo session.  I figured a little bit of running on pavement, which I have not done since I spent a couple of days with Marshall Ulrich on his run across America last fall (www.runningamerica08.com; pretty incredible!), would be good for the upcoming road race.

Wednesday:  Ran 40 minutes on the trails in the morning and mountain biked 75 minutes after work.  Tons of fun!

Thursday:  Ran 40 minutes in the morning and mountain bike 60 minutes after work.  I got out for a pleasurable hike with my wife, Amy, and our dogs, and even had a few minutes left to sand off the front door (the least fun part of the day).

Friday:  Spent an easy 30 minutes on the road bike.

Saturday:  The Sunshine Canyon Hill Climb has been a staple of the local road bike racing circuit for years.  This year, for the first time, there was a road running race as well.  Directed by Ian Adamson—yep, the same guy from PQ—the course climbs about 1600’ in 5.8 miles.  The uphill effort would be a good training session for the 10k trail race in Vail in a few weeks, and the winner would set a course record, so I figured I would give it a shot.  I felt good out there and ended up winning in 39:37.  Amy and I headed to the mountains in the afternoon for a friend’s birthday party, and I was able to sneak out for a nice 100-minute road ride on the bike paths around Silverthorne, Frisco, and Copper Mountain.

Sunday:  Greg Krause, my buddy who did very well in the road bike hill climb the day before, had a wild hair to ride home from Silverthorne.  So, after a great hike in the morning with friends on the Ptarmigan Peak Trail, Greg and I headed up Loveland Pass and then past Echo Lake and Squaw Pass on a beautiful road ride through the Rockies.  Five hours of riding completed a great weekend!

With two weeks of the school year remaining, I’m quite excited for the summer!  I plan on competing in the Teva Mountain Games, Best of the West AR in Canada, and possibly a few others to gear up for PQ.

Tip of the Week:
Train with a race-weight backpack on, particularly when mountain biking.  I generally shoot for 3-4 quality mountain bike rides with a heavy pack on each week.  Doing so keeps the back from blowing out in races and generates strength so that you feel light when the pack comes off!

A Thought on Gear:
As you’ve probably experienced, filling water bladders out on the trail can be a huge hassel.  I generally try to race with bottles (usually attached to backpack shoulder straps) whenever possible.  Be sure to try out your system before the race!

Be Well,
Travis Macy

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 19th, 2009 at 10:01 am and is filed under Primal Quest. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.