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Sent: Wednesday, May 31, 2000 1:20 PM Subject: Incline Club V4 TH #9 LR #28 Well now, is it getting hot out there or what? Please be sure and bring water to the long runs. We had a couple of people really get dehydrated last Sunday! #### This Saturday, June 3rd, the Incline Club has the chance to take part in the Millennium Rely that will be running from Peyton to Cripple Creek. At 10:25 a.m. I will hand the baton off to Cindy & John O’Neill in Schryver park in Manitou Springs after I run it through the Garden of the Gods. Cindy & John are to run the baton to the Ute Indian Trail where the Incline Club will take it at 10:40. The Incline Club will then run it to the popcorn store in Cascade (just before the Pikes Peak toll road) where we will hand off the baton at 11:20. I did a recon run over this section of the course and it should be a no brainer for us. Most of the time, as you know, we either turn left and go up Longs Ranch Road or turn right and head over to Waldo. This will be your chance to go straight and finish off the Ute Indian Trail. As it turns out it does not go too much further before we pop out in Cascade:-) A mile more of trail at the most. Let me know if you would like to take part! #### Thursday, June 1, 5:30 p.m. meet at Soda Springs Park. Warm-up to the Incline. We will be using handicaps with slowest times going first. Head back down the Barr Trail and do 4-6 Hydro Street hill repeats. Cool down back to park. Handicaps can be found here: http://www.skyrunner.com/story/handicap.htm Sunday, June 4, 8 a.m. meet at Soda Springs Park. Head to the Bottomless Pit sign (or higher) and back. 3-3.5 hours. The snow is melting so fast that it looks like we will get to start our Elk Park runs a lot sooner this year. Stay tuned. #### Nicole R writes: I went up to the summit today (27th), and thought you might be interested in the conditions. Hit <delete> now if you’ve already heard them! Just after the 2-miles-to-go sign, the trail gets pretty buried in some big drifts. They aren’t too hard to cross however. Just keep your feet in the steps of previous hikers and don’t look down. The long switchback to the cirque is fairly clear, and then 1/2 way to the golden stairs, the trail disappears again. The footsteps go straight up the mountain in a few spots and regain the trail above. From the golden stairs on up, the trail is pretty much gone. Again, follow the footsteps, occasionally doing some straight-up-scrambling (gloves are great here), and you’ll be there! It’s really not that bad at all. It was beautiful up there today!!! #### Paul S writes (this was after Roger Recon #1): Sorry for the late reply, I was in Kansas City the last couple days... Man, that has to be one of the most memorable climbs up the mountain! I’m definitely going for the Roger Recon #2 run next Sunday. I can’t believe we’re able to get that high up the mountain this early in the year. What altitude training!! Sunday was my first time back running in over a month of babying my injured leg. Somewhere between Barr Camp and A-Frame I got my second wind while running with Laura L., David P. and Ben C. (The latter two boys were shamed into turning back up the trail after seeing Laura “The Hammer” L. tearing it up.) The run itinerary said Bottomless Pit, but there was barely any of the white stuff at the sign. A little above A-frame, Tom K and I saw you yelling at us from a rock ledge a few switch backs up. However, we never saw you, or Rick H. and Neal, again (who else was up there?) for what I now know was Secret Operation Roger Recon I (ala looking for George Mallory’s remains on Everest but on a slightly smaller scale). Rick told me you all found a camera (with film!) and a backpack with two MREs. Sadly, none were the personal effects of our Incline Club’s (and your) dear friend, Roger. (Matt, how ‘bout a free Fila T-shirt for whoever finds the infamous “help me!!” cell phone this Sunday! I hear you have GPS coordinates from El Paso County Search and Rescue.) Well anyway, somewhere up there I lost Tom AND the trail. I started turning back when, luckily, ole’ Happy Craig “super hiker” appeared out of no where wearing his signature big overalls, wide brim hat and that insane grin. He knew the topography and led me safely over the obscured trail to the 2-mile-to-go sign. (That dude has already summitted the Peak twice this year and plans on doing it 30 times before the Aug 20th race day!) I noticed Craig dutifully penciling in his time on a ragged piece of paper while gazing upon a well-worn laminated copy of YOUR split sheet in his other hand. The snow? Well it was drifty up there; a couple three feet here, a couple inches there. The Tyvek jacket, light gloves and headband came in handy with that blustery wind. I’m so psyched about this coming Sunday’s run! #### Phyllis D writes: Welcome Back on-line to Tom K. As usual though, he has given us too much information. Dream analysis is very interesting and I am sure his will stimulate us all. Maybe prescription drugs are the answer. I’m certain fruit is not the answer. I’m sure the Fruit Offender Probation Officer would concur. Paul, don’t be concerned about your attraction to bananas, you know Tom K so you also know things could be worse... But, do keep close tabs on your gloves. History shows that Tom K and Laura L have taken other’s gloves home and even bathed them. If you care at all about your gloves, protect them at all costs. On a side note: Thank you to Dave E from Telluride for the motivation up Barr Trail. :) #### Kurt B writes: Thank you for letting me join the group run on Sunday, May 14th! I truly had an enjoyable run, even though the hills got to me (no hills like that in PA). Neal and Teresa Taylor and Tom Kelecy encouraged me to join the group run with them and even challenged me to run the entire way. I felt great during the run, however, the next day was a different story. My legs are not currently use to the hills (up or down) so I was a little beat up for a couple of days (don’t tell Neal or Tom). I enjoyed the many familiar faces and running friends from my previous days in Colorado. I look forward to a return run with the group (hopefully on a more permanent basis sometime in the future). Thanks to all! Best Regards #### David E writes: Thanks for the chance to run with the Incline Club. After seeing what the club did at Imogene two years ago I guess I should have been ready for the humiliation. It was not long ago that I was top ten at Pikes Peak (in the race mind you)... Well nowadays I’m not even in the top five going up a hill with the Incline Club! And who is this Phyllis gal who beat me down the hill? I about ripped out my right hamstring thinking that I would catch her coming down from Barr Camp... But No... Am I out of shape? Getting old? Is everyone else getting faster? Are the cute chicks going to start going by me down the mountains? See you and the Hottest Mountain running Club in the country to answer and challenge the Incline on Thursday. Training and Crazy in Telluride... #### Larry M writes: It all started like any other Sunday run: I told my wife I would be gone for 3hrs with driving time but 5 1/2hrs later I was just getting back to the Park. All I know is that Matt said something and everybody took off and I was left standing with 5 others looking at the GPS location of Roger’s (Matt’s long lost brother form the other side of the tracks) rescue off Pikes Peak last March 1. We were to meet at the A-frame. When I finally got there Matt was playing with his new GPS unit and the rest were just ahead meeting up at the Inestine B Roberts memorial. From there the plan was to drop down over the edge heading for the location. On the way down I found a great crystal and had a lot of fun sliding down 30-40 foot sections of snow. Soon enough Matt said keep your eyes open and that’s when everybody else started to find Roger’s stuff. Paul S found all the good stuff and poor Matt only found some garbage. It was funny when Paul picked up the radio and it started playing — it was solar powered. After that on the way down through the trees I got one heck of a lot of scratches but we did find Barr Trail again, and thankfully some water down at Barr Camp. Boy was that a hot one. That’s the way it was, and that’s the way long runs should be — you never know where you will end up or what you might find but you have a lot of fun doing them. ---- (Looks like I owe Paul S a T-Shirt:-) Here is a list of some of the things we found in about a 100 meter radius: Solar powered/wind up radio (started playing when Paul picked it up) Cell phone (worked when we clipped on the battery) 6” thermometer like you would mount on your house (attached to rope) 5” alarm clock like you would have next to your bed (attached to rope) Laminated (with tape) star gazer direction finder Pikes Peak Atlas 2 or 3 flashlights Batteries Lots of tea bags and food rations A hat Lots of socks spread all over Hand warmer We left it all at Barr Camp and they will mail it back to Roger who got sent back to MN after another couple of run ins with the authorities. #### I put a course map of the Barr Trail Mountain Race on the www after Sunday’s long run with my GPS. Most of us know the course by heart but the map will give you a feel for the spacing of the aid stations as well as let you see an elevation profile for the first half of the peak. http://www.runpikespeak.com #### www posts: 5/28/2000 41 people headed all over the Pikes Peak massive. We had some doing Waldo, some doing Longs Ranch Road, some going to Barr Camp and still others the Bottomless Pit sign or the A-frame or higher. The recon crew was out for almost 5 1/2 hours but they were successful with all the stuff lost on the mountain in a March 1 rescue being recovered including a solar powered radio and a cell phone. There were only a few small patches of snow all the way to the Inestine B Roberts memorial which is above the A Frame. It was a hot one today with more to come so watch for even more snow to melt! 5/25/2000 31 - the smallest group since January 2 - came for what is being called by some our hardest Thursday workout. A great workout to be sure. However it was the threat of bad weather (a thunderstorm watch with “dangerous lighting forming above Manitou Springs” was forecast through 7p.m. but of course the weather turned out perfect) and the upcoming Bolder Boulder 10K that helped keep the group size down. Most reported getting more reps at a faster pace than last time. Skippies and leg lifts in the grass were done after the run. #### Incline Club Page: http://www.skyrunner.com/incline.htm Incline Club FAQ: http://www.skyrunner.com/incline_faq.htm #### Go out hard, when it hurts speed up... Matt Carpenter http://www.skyrunner.com
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