1:15up, 0:48 down
I only had time for a few hours to get outside -- and needed it -- so I checked out Bergen Peak near Evergreen. Bummer to have to drive 45 minutes to get to some decent foothills, but it is a gorgeous area. I'll be back with the road bike sometime, and it has great duathlon possibilities.
Didn't go particularly fast and had to check the map a few times, but did the Bergen Peak trail race 11.5 mile loop. I did enjoy the terrain quite a bit, as it was all very runnable. I feel a bit sluggish mostly just from not having run as much, but I don't think there's much lingering from the 100-miler, so that's nice.
Saw some mt. bikers on the top who were kind enough to take a picture. "What are you training for?" one asked. A natural question, I guess, so I answered something about the Denver marathon, but the simple truth is and always will be nothing -- I'm out here because it's gorgeous out and fun! Having signed up for a marathon maybe makes me want to run a bit more regularly and try to get some speed up (not too hopeful on that right now), but in other respects I wish I weren't signed up for anything.
I headed down and told them I'd keep an ear open and let them pass, as they were planning on heading down the same trail as me. "You'd better!" one of the ladies joked, implying I'd get run over. I didn't run particularly fast, but there are enough switchbacks and occasional steps to slow bikes down, so they never actually caught up.
Definitely worth revisiting here and maybe running a double or something. Because of the switchbacks and shorter distance versus the drive, I like it more as a running route than mt. biking.
Alderfer/3 Sisters is nice too, with slightly fewer people. It's 10 more minutes on the SW side of town. I think if you link all the trails it's probably about 10 mi. Nice view of Evans from the top of Evergreen Mtn., plus some nice rock formations.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the suggestion, it's 'on the list!' Just moved down to Denver (unfortunately, trapped on the *East* side near Aurora, so lots of sprawl to wade through just to get to the foothills), so I'll be looking at your site for more suggestions, and maybe we'll be able to hit the trails sometime. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteIf you make up that way again, drop me a line. I live just over the hump from Elk Meadow. Quite a bit of fun stuff up in our neck o' the woods.
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