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Sent: Friday, July 14, 2000 3:14 PM Subject: Incline Club V4 TH #15 LR #34 Oh and you thought you where going to get away with no club mail this week;-) #### YESTERDAY (get out your time machines) Thursday, July 13, 5:30 p.m. 38 met at Soda Springs Park. We warmed-up to Hydro Street and then did a tempo run up the Barr Trail for 30 minutes or to No Name Creek whichever came first. After an easy run back down we did 10 Hydro Street hill repeats before heading back down to the park. Sunday, July 16, 7 a.m. meet just past the Pikes Peak Toll Booth. Elk Park Trail to Barr Camp then to the summit 2-4 hours. Or >From the bottom to the top from Soda Springs Park (Since we have some starting from the top, bottom and middle please send me an e-mail if you miss a “*.”) #### Keith G writes: Sometimes during the week I may do a training run in which some of the other Incline members may want to do. The problem I have is not being able to contact them very easily. I would like to propose that where you have our names for either the Sunday or Thursday Club workouts, they be made to links to our email addresses. Those wishing to have a way for others to email them could submit their email address to you and you could setup our name as a link. Another idea is to have club members submit where their favorite training trails during the week to run are. They could also list if and when they would like anyone to run with them. (Matt C adds: Good ideal. These mails are sent out BCC to keep away any spammers. While I am sure some of you might consider this mail spam the key point is that you signed up to get it and you can always ask to be removed from the list. Although I don’t think the mailing list should be accessible by others to spam us, I will work on a club only page on the site so that we can start a contact list. In the meantime let me know if you do NOT want to be on it!) #### Todd B writes: I read the incline controversy comments with great interest and am sorry to hear that the cornerstone workout of the incline club has come to a halt. The incline is the best workout I’ve ever done. Most fun. Most intense. Most challenging. When, last year, I wrote about the club and the incline, I had planned to do a how-to story for people who had heard of the incline and wanted to go up it but never had. I was excited to share my favorite workout with people and to give tips. While researching for the story, I learned that the cog people, Doug Doane, in particular, really did not want people on the incline. Previously, I thought it was just the cog’s official stance, to eliminate their liability if anyone got hurt. At an editor’s insistence (which I agreed with) the focus of the story changed from a how-to to a brief examination of the controversy. We (The Gazette) didn’t feel comfortable telling people how to do something that was illegal. Since writing that story I’ve stayed off. I knew I shouldn’t be there. I knew people knew me, and they knew I shouldn’t be there. But I wanted to be there. The controversy for me boils down into four different issues, each of which clearly says I should not be there: 1. Do the people who own the incline want the public to use it? 2. Does walking and running on the incline cause environmental damage? 3. Should people park on the cog property to use the incline? 4. Should I, as a member of the incline club and an employee of The Gazette, a person who clearly knows he is not welcome on the incline, be there? I feel a little guilty for the role The Gazette may have played in accelerating the controversy, and I agree with Paul D that we (the paper) confused the issues of parking vs. being on the incline. The headline missed the mark. My guilt, however, is overridden by the fact that the cog, which owns a large chunk of the incline, doesn’t want people on it. It’s ultimately their decision, no matter how much or how little The Gazette would have written about the subject and no matter how much I disagree with their decision. On a more positive note, I have a race result for you. HARDROCK 100 101.7 miles. Silverton-Ouray-Telluride-Silverton. July 7-9. 33,005 feet elevation gain; 33,005 feet elevation loss. 116 starters. 59 finishers. 58 official finishers (under 48 hours). 56th place Todd Burgess 47 hours, 41 minutes, 3 seconds. #### Mike K writes: On Sunday July 2, I ran up Mt. Evans (14.5 miles) I made it 13 miles (3:12) without stopping or walking. This is a good course because it is not rocky but paved. A park ranger transported my bicycle to the top so I could ride down. I wore my 8 pound Camelbak Mule to carry water and food. The only bad thing is the vehicle traffic. There was a constant stream of road-hogging SUV’s some of which ran me off the road. My goal is to run this in 3 hours without walking which I hope would turn into a ~3 hour Ascent time. Do you think this is a realistic conversion Matt? The grade on Mt Evans is less than that of Pikes Peak and the road is paved, but it is over a mile further and slightly higher in final elevation. (Matt C adds: I don’t think the conversion works well. The winner and course record holder of Mt Evans ran 1:44 and his best time on the peak is 2:18. Be that as it may, it is GREAT training esp for the altitude. But you still need to do that last couple of hundred feet up there on the trail just to get used to doing some high altitude switchbacks;-) #### Dave E writes: Cervinia, Italy — the Sky Games. It was again apparent that the Americans are behind in the young talent in mountain running!! The Italians keep coming up with newer and younger talent, Columbia had some new talent and Spain was there in force. The Mexicans (Mejia) without Matt there dominated! The races were well organized and a lot of fun. I am sorry I got so serious about the Skymarathon not to participate in more of the 6 races. Dannelle Ballenge competed in the Vertical K, Bike/Vertical K and Skymarathon to win the women’s overall!! Congrats to Jonathan who ran well in the 1/2 marathon from Zermot to Cervinia! It is apparent that the local Colorado “I-did-it-athons” are putting us way behind the countries that consider my favorite sport a real sport! The Incline club rules! #### Kevin B writes: You are on top of things. Thanks for checking, but I did not make last Thursday’s Incline run. Instead I backpacked 8mi in the Elk mountains from the Snowmass Falls Ranch trailhead at 8400ft up to Snowmass lake at 10980ft with a 45lb+ pack in 4hrs. Friday I climbed Snowmass Mountain at 14092ft in 4hrs with no more than a 10lb pack. Returned to the lake in just over 2hrs with a little shoe skiing down the snow field. Broke camp and backpacked out in 3hrs:15min. Sounds pretty slow to a runner. Last Sunday I ran from Elk park to Barr camp and back. It went well, sort of a “light” recovery run after the Snowmass trek. I definitely believe the high altitude runs are helping. Just need to stay healthy and do more of them before August 19th. #### Glen A writes: I did the Summer Roundup 12K Sunday and will have to miss my “*.” Had a good run and came in 2nd in my age group. Ken Randall from Wheat Ridge came in 1st and has 7 minutes on me in the triple crown in the first two races. He’s tough, so I hope my training this year pays off in the last race. #### Robin F writes: On Sunday I did a double run: I ran the 12k Trail Run, then headed up to Elk Park for the regular Sunday run. Please add me to the list of Sunday’s runners. My witnesses would be tall Kevin and John from Ft Carson, who also ran the trail run, then put in some altitude time on the Peak. #### Laura L writes: Yep, Phyllis and I ran from Soda Springs to Barr Camp and back down. We saw Neal T and Anthony S who can also vouch for us both. Thanks for the *’s. #### Tom K writes: Laura ran the Women’s Distance Festival 5k down in Pueblo a few weeks ago. She finished 3rd overall in a time of 19 min 55 sec (I think this is correct; you can confirm with Laura). Please be sure and include this in your next summary of Incline members race results. Speaking of race results, please don’t be bashful about keeping us informed about your accomplishments. We all derive inspiration from each other and I, as others, would love to hear about your experience in Vail a few weeks ago. How did you feel? How did you approach it strategy wise? Any close competition? Other Incliners results? What was going through your head while you were racing (finishing? trains? food?)? Since I haven’t attended any of the Thursday workouts and so haven’t been up the incline (mostly), I didn’t feel I was qualified either to respond to the Gazette article, or to provide an opinion about the subject (though I do have one). I must say though, I thought most of the responses from club members doing those workouts to your question “Is it worth it?” were very insightful, and well thought out. I support the consensus to forego the incline until either something is officially/legally resolved, or the appropriate season where it becomes (again) a non-issue. I had another quality run this past Sunday, doing the round-trip to the top again, but this time from Elk Park. The return to Elk Park is always more of an effort than I expect it to be, especially if I haven’t done it in a while. The previous week was a roundtrip from Soda Springs, with a couple of extra miles thrown in between A-frame and the 2-mile to go marker. It’s long (for me), but this is the type of training I need to get the “time on my feet.” I have appreciated the company and encouragement and motivation to “get my butt out the door” that these Sunday Incline runs have provided me with. I am definitely stronger, if not faster. Lastly (you were just waiting for me to bring it up, weren’t you...), I have heard an unconfirmed rumor that the Incline Club Probation Officer has been abducted by an alien from Planet Telluride, and is being held under a strange emotional spell in the alien’s 26.2-room spaceship as part of a double blind experiment to breed a new, hybrid form of Probation Officers (a family of little “Probies”), that are faster, jump higher (>10,000 ft above msl), sustains itself off of bird seed and Gatorade, are not easily offended, and have a sense of humor. Now, most of you are probably at this very moment saying to yourself “Great! Just what the world needs — more Probation Officers...” Butt, after Keith G’s recent close encounter of the gross kind, you probably just can’t have enough Probation Officers out policing the trails. So, ask not: “Where’s a Thong Offender Probation Officer when you really need him/her/it?,” butt “Why didn’t we arrange for the Probation Officer’s abduction sooner?” (Matt C adds: Vail went well but it felt odd to do a race again. It was my first race in almost a year not counting a snowshoe race on April 1 where I made a real April fool out of myself. Strategy wise it was simple: Run with the pack until the first hill at about 3/4 mile and then see what happens. At that point I took the lead and built a comfortable margin. I wish I could say I never looked back but at about halfway (course is 7.5 miles) I started obsessing about getting caught. Most of the time I was out of sight but on the longer straights I could see 2nd about 40 seconds back. I think that was just being race rusty. I got over it by trying to imagine how the guy in 2nd had to feel looking that far ahead to see me. It helped me relax but may not have been a good thing because I sort of just cruised it in the last mile or so. This was the best competition I had seen at Vail with 2nd and 3rd being the only other runners that have broken 50 minutes in my 7-8 wins there. I ran 48:26 followed by Dave Dunham in 49:03 and Eric Morse in 49:40. They are both from out East and do very well at Mt. Washington. Once I find or see results I will post the other club member’s times. Cindy O won for the woman with a time just over an hour.) #### Rienet V writes: Why don’t we set up a fund and buy the Incline? #### Peter T writes: I just wanted to let you know about an incident that occurred on Saturday July 1st. I often train for the Pikes Peak Marathon by parking at Memorial Park and than running the entire ascent. Once arriving at the top I usually buy a one way ticket and take the train back down. Occasionally I run into an Incline Club member who has a car at the top and I get a ride down that way, but usually I take the train. I never have any trouble getting a seat. Once, I think the train was full and I had to wait for the next one. I usually take the train about 4-5 times per season. Anyway, on Saturday (7-1-00) I got to the top in time to inquire about a one way ticket on the second train of the day. At first the conductor said “yes, I have an empty seat,” but then she said, “well, wait a minute, I’ll come back and find you.” From there she went and talked to the driver of the train. The two of them chatted on the other side of the summit house. A couple of minutes later she walked over to me and the first thing out of her mouth was, “did you park in our lot?” I told her no, and that I always park at Memorial Park. At that point she said, “o.k., then I’ll sell you a ticket.” This incident occurred on the heals of the Saturday before when I got to the top and asked about a one way ticket. On that day, I was told that there was no seat available. Fortunately that day I was able to get a ride with some members of the Incline Club. At that time, in the back of my mind, I wondered if there was some kind of backlash against runners. The next week confirmed that suspicion. I know that the decision has been made not to run the Incline as an official club run and I agree with that. Obviously, the Cog RR is pissed, big time. Saturday’s incident even started me thinking that the Cog, if pushed far enough, could try to interfere with the Pikes Peak Ascent and Pikes Peak Marathon’s use of Ruxton avenue on race day. I’m not sure if they can legally do that, but if they can, I think that is where this is headed. I would even go one step further and suggest that we should think about changing the name of the club. My feeling is, even if we stop running the Incline, as long as that word is in our name, we will continue to take the blame. I know the name has history and there are certainly many more members that have been more involved in the club than myself, but I think the name change deserves a serious look. (Matt C adds: Rest assured the GOG is more than fine with the Incline Club. I have talked with Doug and Spence many times this year and the last time to tell them we are not running on the Incline anymore. They have expressed their gratitude to the Incline Club because we have been instrumental in getting the word out not to park in their lots. They know that we park in Soda Springs Park etc. Also they do not hate runners. They are going to bring out a special train just to blow the whistle to start the Barr Trail Mountain Race! As far as the name goes — I think that like I said we don’t need the Incline to be the Incline Club. It may be how we started but the word will get out that we have raised the bar and are beyond that. Lets just see how things pan out. I have already noticed (just like every year for the past 3-4) that the issue has faded down a ton! They just have to be harsh at the beginning of each season to stop the crap of all the jerks that park in their lots. On that note, I know of a club member who parked in the COG lot yesterday because they were running late. Considering all the stuff going on with the COG that is lame and it reflects poorly on all of us — from now on names will be named!) #### Aspen Sky Half Marathon — Aspen, Colorado June 25, 2000 http://www.csbservices.com/races/results/aspen.htm 5 DAVID ECKLEY TELLURIDE CO 1:52:39 1/8 M4044 123 7 JONATHAN CAVNER COLO SPGS CO 1:56:20 3/13 M2529 114 8 STEVE BREMNER COLO SPGS CO 1:56:35 1/4 M4549 109 16 DAVID MEYER COLO SPGS CO 2:06:39 3/6 M3539 151 24 PAUL SULLIVAN COLO SPGS CO 2:17:11 6/12 M3034 190 25 ECK ZIMMERMANN MONUMENT CO 2:17:20 2/4 M4549 177 33 VAL SNIDER COLO SPGS CO 2:32:21 3/4 M4549 169 8 BEV ZIMMERMANN MONUMENT CO 2:27:54 2/3 F3539 178 9 PHYLLIS DEAN COLO SPGS CO 2:28:17 3/3 F3539 186 #### Mike F writes: Just another random thought. A possible location for an occasional club time trial... HI Drive from the gate to the top of Captain Jacks Pass. Parking at Bear Creek Nature Center and trail 16 TH. Lots of room to pass (or be passed in my case). #### Larry M writes: Just dropping you a line that we went climbing on the 4th. Took on the massive Mt Massive. went up the West slope incline — watch out. Good up hill, down was fast and very steep. You would have loved it. #### Hans Z writes: Joined Eck, Bev and Marti on a run up Mont Rose. With preparation of the car race up on the Peak in progress the turnaround time too uncertain. See ya next weekend. #### Jamie M writes: For me, it was a beautiful day to see Vail for the first time. Must admit I was quite nervous about missing the race when I realized that Vail was 163 miles from the Springs, not 94. Fortunately, the race started at 8:30 instead of 8am, so Jan and I had enough time to race around Vail frantically asking whoever we could find, “where’s the Hill Climb?” Got alot of different answers. We finally just walked into the Gondola station, talked to the operator who put us on a gondola, and presto , we were there. Great venue. Jan and I just sat on a hill overlooking the trail at about 500 yards from the finish, waiting for you to appear. At about 9:15am, we heard the syncopated breath in breath out, and then you appeared as if you were on a solo run — there was no one near you. (If I would have trusted in Greg’s judgment (the finish line director who guesstimated that the first finisher would be in about 9:45am!!!), I would have missed you.) I just wish that there were more people up there applauding your effort. Anyway, thanks for doing your thing and letting us participate, vicariously, in your victory. The Incline tradition continues. #### Tim A and Paul S write: Tim A to all: Let’s give a big hand to Paul Sullivan for leading the Summer round up all the way to the 0.5 mile mark. Sadly, he had about 7 more miles to go. It says something that even though he slowed down, and was clearly looking around for the rest of us, he still ran a 5:17 first mile split. I would give him more grief but, lured out by Paul’s deceptive speed, I ran a 5:19 first mile. And I wanted to run a negative split. So we both faded and had to deal with people passing for the last half of the race. (At least no one actually passed me on the hills. The last one passed me in the equestrian center.) We finished 13th and 16th, but in with runners we should both beat handily. Paul S to all: Yes, I nervously scanned the Gazette this morning and was thankful they didn’t print a photo with me stupidly way out in front. Again, that wasn’t my intention. The whole first half mile I was thinking, ‘where IS everybody!?’ Tim, Jack and I were pretty impressed with the race. It was well supported and had a good challenging course. Tim, bottom line, I think you and I were tired from the Firecracker 10K. (You know, the race I beat you.) #### JB B writes: Is there any way to get up to the trail to work w/o paying the tourist fee? I haven’t even driven up there this year yet, not sure if my old truck would like it. How much is it? (Matt C adds: If you are willing to do trail work on our adopted top mile I have passes that can get you up for free. JB ended up doing 4 hours of it last Sunday:-) #### Matt C writes. Killing time up in the mountains, I went on another crazy GPS run the other day. Ran up Longs Ranch Road, then summited Mt. Manitou which is the bump to the right when you reach the top. The highpoint was covered with ladybugs — 10s of 1000s of them. Beneath a layer of them was a summit registry that had only about 5 entries so far this year. Next, I ran over to Rocky Mountain which is the mountain the Incline runs up. The highpoint there is a big rock with a bunch of metal anchors in it that used to hold a huge staircase that is still lying on the ground up there. Sitting on this rock affords a view almost straight down to No Name Creek. I sat there for about 30 minutes and watched people walking, biking and running up the trail. About half would take the wrong turn towards the water pipe bridge and invariably come back after about 5 minutes. Finally, I followed a pretty good trail down that popped out in the middle of the trail connecting the Barr Trail to the top of the Incline. The fun part was getting home and plugging the GPS into the computer and watching it trace out everywhere I went on a topo map. A great way to kill half the day:-) #### Sid R writes: Sorry I didn’t get my input to you for this newsletter re: the Incline. Work, school, running, family, blah blah — who doesn’t have that... :-) I’ll miss the Incline, it was a fun measurement run. The word SHOULD be put out that 1) the Incline Club is no longer training on the Incline, and 2)by the way, we never were the parking problem. I do sympathize with the PP-COG Railway and their parking concerns. Aside from that, Tim A. asked if any world class runner nose-breathed. I believe Ronaldo DeCosta (Brazil ?) is a nose breather. He very recently was the world marathon record holder before Khannouchi. Maybe there is something to it. I personally breath through my mouth, nose, ears, eyesockets - anywhere I can! You came powering by me like I couldn’t imagine yesterday — was that about the 1 to 2 mile to the top stretch. It was like we were on the Hwy 24 bypass hill! :-) For runners like me who haven’t been in the game that long, another benefit of being in the club is to just see how its done. Yes, the air is thin. Yes, it’s an uphill incline. But that doesn’t mean you don’t have to run as strong as you can maintain. That’s what I realized in an instant when you blistered by me. Once you reach the top, you get to turn around and get back down in some air, running downhill. So, I thought I’d share this with the club. I got to the top yesterday and had planned on hitch hiking down to the park where my truck was. I had understood that we usually walk, run, or hitch a ride back down. I’m also not clear if I made the mistake of not waiting at the top of the road for a ride. Anyway, I started down the road trying to hitch a ride. I don’t know if I looked like “what just crawled out of the woods” or what, but NO ONE was giving rides yesterday. Until the park ranger came along. He wasn’t too pleased that 1) I was running down the road albeit clearly off on the shoulder, or 2) that I was hitch hiking ( even though he did give me the ride I was looking for ). His position was that the road is too busy for people to be walking down, and its too remote if there were an accident. I was the fool yesterday. What did I do wrong? I thought about making a sign on a white plastic garbage bag that I could put in my pack “Runner needs ride to mile 15 marker” or whatever, and just wait at the top of the road. Maybe I’d have better luck. Signed “Looking for clarification.” Also, the foot bridge half-way between Barr Camp and Bottomless Pit sign is dangerous. Somebody’s going to break their leg on that. I usually only have one of the weekend days to hit the trail, but I’ll forego my run one weekend if there’s anything that can be done about that. Let me know. (Matt C adds: The bridge has been reported. We hitchhike from the parking lot not the road and have never had a problem. However as Sid found out going on the road is a sure way to get a ride if you can stand the didactic spanking!) #### www posts: 7/09/2000 31 of us spread all over the mountain from the bottom, top and side. Elk Park was again the most popular method and there were some great times ran to the top from Barr Camp. 12 of us did a serious garbage pick-up off of our adopted mile. It is just hard to believe how much stuff they used to throw off the top a long time ago. I think we only found about 5 things that looked to be discarded in the last 10 years. Again we mostly found old metal cans and scrap building wood. Thanks to the summit house for giving us garbage bags. Thanks to the COG for taking our trash collection off of the summit! Together we will get that crap out of there:-) 7/06/2000 44 runners took off up the Barr Trail from Hydro Street for 30 minutes of 1 minute hard, 1 minute easy. Afterwards most of the group did 10 Hydro Street hill repeats. A few of us headed over to do a tempo run to Cave of the Winds. #### Go out hard, when it hurts speed up... Matt Carpenter http://www.skyrunner.com
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