August 3 2024
  
Grand Teton and Pike's Peak (new section below)
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Found -- new endurance training area:  Western slopes of
the Never Summer Mountain Range in north-central Colorado.

This range is conveniently located between Minnesota 
and the Grand Teton, for which I'm once again prepping
(upper Exum route this time).

Walden, Colorado is the base town for the Never Summer 
Range -- about 20 - 30 miles from where the various 
trail heads are located.

This area allows for day-hike elevation gains of 2500 
to 3500 feet with hiking distances of just 5 to 8 miles.
With final elevations of 12,000 to 12,500 feet, it's 
good high altitude training.

The trails fade away as one gains elevation, leaving one
with gentle scrambling to the ridges or summits.

Bucky will get in on all of it.

Looking from the south at the north section of the range:




After climbing the Grand Teton, I plan on heading down
to Pike's Peak for an enjoyable hike to the summit.
It's 7415 feet of elevation gain -- 6700 feet at the 
base and a 14,115 foot summit.  It's 2/3 the elevation
gain of climbing Mount Everest.

I've bumped up my training this summer.  This is the 
first time in my life that I've trained for three months,
twice per week.  I had no idea that I'd achieve the level
of fitness that I have.  I'm now over 5200 steps in one
hour on the stair-climber (hands-free), which is well 
beyond the 4250 I ended up with in 2018 -- my great year
of fitness.  And I've still got another four weeks of 
conditioning ahead -- one week at home and three weeks 
in the mountains.

I keep revising the following projection upwards.  
(I enjoy analyzing this.  It's a side-effect of
training for my Grand Teton climb.)

Comparing this year with my 2018 machine numbers and 
Pike's Peak hiking time in 2018, I should hike up Pike's
Peak this year in 3:40 or less.  After subtracting 
15 minutes for my 8 lb pack, it's eqivalent to 3:25.
Adding ten minutes for the route from Manitou Springs
to the trailhead brings my time up to 3:35, easily good 
enough for first place in the 65-69 age bracket in 
last year's race.  I'm 70.  (We'll see.)

The annual Pike's Peak foot race is something I stumbled
into back in 2018 when I arrived for a fun hike up to
the summit.  The race had been run the day before, and
I was surprised to see in the local paper -- the day
after my hike to the summit -- that I could have taken 
second place in my age group.

Winning times for age brackets in 2023:

50-54 2:54 (winner was age 51) 
55-59 3:06 (winner was age 57)
60-64 3:14 (winner was age 63)
65-69 3:51 (winner was age 66) (me: 3:35, age 70)
70-74 4:28 (winner was age 70)

I can't officially compete in the race, as the organizers 
require an official half-marathon-run result.  My knees 
haven't allowed me to run since I was 52.  Pike's Peak is 
a fast hike, rather than a run, and my knees do just fine.

Fine with me that I can't enter the race.  I think the 
concept is a little strange.  Testing myself on Pike's 
Peak is just a fun thing on the side for me.

Race entrants carry no weight and make use of water 
stations.  I'll be carrying eight pounds of weather
protection and water (that's average weight -- my water 
bottles get drained as I hike) in the event that bad 
weather or a twisted ankle compels me to spend the 
night on the mountain on the way down (or even on the 
way up.)

(In 2018, at age 64, when I was far less fit than
I currently am (I'm 1.2 times more fit this year) 
I strolled to the summit in 3:52 after allowing for 
the 18 minutes extra for my ten-pound pack.) 

I'll start up the mountain at 4:00 A.M. and hopefully 
make the summit around 7:30 A.M.  After coffee and 
donuts, I'll start back down and maybe get back to the 
trailhead by noon.  In 2018, I hitch-hiked down.  (The
auto road is on the opposite side of the mountain from
the hiking trail.  The twelve mile hiking trail is 
wilderness.)


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