4,000 footers update

This weekend I hiked 36.7 miles (Friday was 12.3, see next post)

Saturday and Sunday went sort of as planned: two days of hiking, bagging five peaks. 

Saturday I hike North Twin to South Twin and down and up to Galehead.

I hiked solo and ran into a young man from Dover, NH who I chatted with most of the way. It was sunny and warmish and while I carried 2.5 liters of water and a filter, I worried about water all day. The views from the false summit of North Twin were amazing – I just love that blue of mountains in the distance.

After hiking the southern Presidentials yesterday (see next post) my legs were fatigued but somehow I was able to make it to South Twin. At the summit of South Twin I debated about Galehead. I think I had enough water but the route down to Galehead is relentless. 0.8 miles of downhill stairs as I remembered from the Pemi Loop last year. 

I knew I just had to get Galehead done. I’ve been so close too many times so I just did it. 

The stairs were relentless but actually not as bad as I remembered. Then onto Galehead. One sign said 0.4 another a bit later 0.5. My watch: 0.3 – an easy climb to Galehead with an outlook before the summit and back down to the hut. 

As I started up South Twin I started counting. This works in running and it worked today. Getting back seemed not as hard and I was happy to be done with it. The up and down back to North Twin was okay and I had enough water. I ran out of water at mile nine knowing that at mile 10 or 11 I would get water from the Little River. I alternatively ran/hike the final two miles through the gorgeous fall foliage. 

It was a good day. 

Total mileage: 13.25

Passaconaway and Whiteface

On Sunday I hiked the loop counter clockwise. I may have been one of two people that did. Everyone I passed, and about eight dogs, went clockwise.

I chose Passaconaway first because, again, I got close to the peak twice the last few years and either was too tired or just skipped it. I had to do it, so I started with it. 

The hike up Dicey Mill is really gradual with a few steep sections and then I turned right to go up to Passaconaway. A trail runner passed me and then after about five steep pitches I reached the summit with a little cairn. 

I got confused about how to take the loop trail down so I went down the way I came up. Then on to Whiteface.

Despite being socked in most of the day, there were a few views of the wilderness breaking out.

I passed a pile of rocks, the true summit and up to the granite slabs.

I wasn’t looking forward to them and thank goodness they were dry. I think going down is the better option. Whiteface is definitely not one of my favorites but the loop is fun to run. 

I finished the loop with two summits in 4 hours 26 minutes – 11.26 miles

16 4,000 footers to go by November 14 at midnight.

How to finish your 4000 footers in 7 weeks

I have seven weeks to finish my 4,000 footers in my 49th year.

Here is my plan for hiking domination:

Saturday: South Twin, North Twin, Galehead – 13 miles
Sunday: Tripyramids – 11 miles

Saturday: Wildcats – 8.4
Sunday: Isolation – 14.6

Saturday: Passaconaway and Whiteface – 11 miles

Saturday: Cabot – 9.6
Sunday: Owl’s Head 18

Saturday: Kinsmans – 10.5
Sunday: Field, Willey – 9

Saturday: Moriah – 9
Sunday: Carters and Carter Dome – 13.8

Saturday: Moosilauke – 7.8
Sunday: make up day if needed

Make the goal by 11:59 Nov 13. 

Nov 14 – start new goal: New England 4,000 footers

Capital Well Sunapee Triathlon Race Report 2020

I finally get to write a race report. Yeah!

The Sunapee Triathlon was a great day. I loved seeing all the tribikes on bike racks as I drove north to Newbury. It felt like race season was back on!

I arrived at Sunapee State Park way too early. I was worried about missing a shuttle but it ended up being walkable from the parking area to the transition. I didn’t have to use a shuttle at all since I was so early. I walked around the beach and decided to stretch and get ready early in transition. And I’m glad I did because as I was sitting next to my bike a high school friend, Kristin said hi. I couldn’t believe it. It seriously has been 30 years since we saw each other. Even with a mask I recognized her immediately. I loved hearing about what she has been doing since high school. She has done a bunch of ½ Ironman distance triathlons and was as excited as me to race. 

Our conversation was cut short as the time to leave transition arrived. I walked down to the beach and put on my wetsuit and waited for the swim lineup. 

There was time for a practice swim and that water was cold. It felt better after sitting in it and then time to go.

Athletes entered the water every five seconds.

The first 500 yards I felt so slow. I sighted okay and seemed to warm up after about 15 minutes. After the first turn buoy the water was choppy and I was extra cautious about breathing in with my mouth wide open – I’ve done that before and inhaled water – bad!

Finally I could see the exit and still felt slow. I need to work on my open water swimming technique for next year.

On to the bike! 

I feel like I pushed it the entire time. The uphills were tough and the downhill were scary fast. It was the first race for my Cervelo and it didn’t let me down.

It was cold, in the 40s for sure, but I wore my NorthFace windbreaker that has saved me on hikes in the 4,000 footers and one cold trail race at Jay Peak. 

I initially thought I’d have to wear tights over my tri shorts for the bike, but I opted out, and no extra hat under my helmet; and these were good choices because I felt pretty good. With the temperature in the 40s on the bike, the one casualty ended up being my feet. Once I was off the bike I realized that my feet were frozen. When I put my shoes on in transition I knew something didn’t feel quite right. 

I started running and it felt like there were rocks in my shoes. 

I knew that feeling too well from other triathlons so it just took time for my feet to warm up and then they were fine.

I felt good on the run. I had a good stride then I looked at my watch and I was running 10 minute miles -booo! 

But then at times I looked down and I was running 8:45 minute miles. It was a mix of hills and feeling good. I just looked my times on Strava and the last mile was 8:35 – hells ya! 

I miss racing so much despite hating the day before a race when I am nervous and race morning that seems to last longer than the race itself. Looking ahead I think 2021 is going to make up for the bust 2020 was for racing.

I haven’t raced an Olympic Distance Triathlon in years and this distance is so fun!
1.5km swim, 36km bike, 5.1 mile run. Just under three hours. Yes! 

Fun!

While I love going long, short is a great challenge to push it the entire time. Well, I didn’t push it on the swim but it was a good lesson that I really need work on swim speed. When you go long, swim training is more about being efficient since it’s a long day. On shorter distances you really need speed on all three. 

Now it’s time to focus on finishing 21 peaks in 7 weeks. I’ve mapped it all out and made plans for every weekend. The Finish the 4,000 footers in my 49th year plan will be the next post. 

Thanks Millennium Racing for a great race. I will see you next year!

Trilife update, 48 in my 49th year

Since I signed up for Ironman Coeur d’Alene that takes place in June 2021, the White Mountain Triathlon, which I deferred to 2021 is on the same weekend. I decided to sign up for an alternate race and use my credits from the White Mountain Triathlon – so I’m racing The Sunapee olympic distance triathlon on Saturday. 

When I signed up for Sunapee I knew that I would have to swim consistently for the weeks leading up to the race; and I have been. I feel like my swim fitness is enough now for Saturday. Swim fitness seems to come back pretty quickly unlike running and biking. 

This will be my first race of 2020 and I’m pretty psyched for it. With all the precautions I know it will be unlike any triathlon before but I don’t care. I’ll do what they say and get this race done. It will be race #1 for my new Cervelo tribike!

While I’ve been trying to swim, bike and run as much as I can I’m also making a push to finish all the 4,000 footers in one year. I have eight weeks to finish 21 more peaks. 

Some of the harder ones are left: Carters, Wildcat, Kinsman. Isolation. I will have my work cut out for me getting these done. But since I have completed no goals for 2020 this one just may be in reach.

On Sunday Peter, Pete and I hike Waumbek. It was a perfect fall day to hike it. WInnie and Goldie hiked too. This was Goldie’s 2nd 4,000 footer and Winnie’s 8th, plus it’s the second time Winnie has hiked Waumbek. There were no other dogs on the trail. I later read a race report that so many people were on the trails the day before, for the Flags on all the Peaks on 9/11, which was why maybe there were so few people on Sunday.

The trail is in great shape however no water at the water source. As we climbed it got colder and colder with a wind. I was sweating bullets, as per usual yet so cold, too. While Waumbek is touted as an “easy” hike, the climb is constant; just no rocks or granite slabs to contend with.

Pete told us about the blow down just past Waumbek’s peak so we had views of the entire Presidential Range. Waumbek itself has no views but we hiked a few feet past the cairn to sit down and gaze at the amazing views of the entire Presidential range. While the air was cold, the sun was warm so we took a break before heading back down. It was a good day to be above 4,000 feet.

Leave It As It Is, David Gessner – book review

Every book I’ve ever read from David Gessner, which is just about everything he has written, starts by bringing you instantly into the world that you will be involved in for the next 10 hours of your life. 

“On the ride up here through the small juniper forest, always the show-off, he pointed out and named all the birds he saw to his companions.”

I am there. I love that Gessner called Theodore Roosevelt, our 26th president, a show-off. I bet no one has done that.

I’ve read almost all of Gessner’s books. My four favorites with great titles and subject matter:

Sick of Nature – great title and a rant about nature writers
Under the Devil’s Thumb – I lived on the other side of the divide from where he wrote this book.
My Green Manifesto, Down the Charles River in Pursuit of the New Environmentalism  – I wrote a review of this book and again, loved every word.
All The Wild That Remains: Edward Abbey, Wallace Stegner, and the American West – my two favorite authors Stegner and Abbey.

I re-read them frequently because I own them and they remind me of things I love: nature, Colorado, The West and the people fighting for their backyard.

You see, I get him, well, in the sense that he writes about subjects I care about. He cares about words, mountain biking, our environment. 

I love that he is in love with The West like I am in love with The West. I love that he wrote at one time “I’m afraid I am a polygamist of place. This worries me. Is a man with two homes doubly blessed? Or is he homeless?” Under the Devil’s Thumb, because he loves The East and The West.

[P.S. He gave me permission to use this quote at the beginning of my book.]

But let’s discuss his new book, because I’m seriously soaking up every word and it is inspiring me to do the exact road trip he did to write the book. 

He drives out to the Badlands. I’ve been to the Badlands, and while I didn’t know anything about Roosevelt until I read this book, the Badlands are just as majestic and interesting as the Grand Canyon. There is something about the Badlands and Gessner captures it.

“In fact it has been my experience that places prompt sentences, as if the place itself were asking you to celebrate and protect it.” (page 5)

Yes.

I believe this. You are in a place and words just come out. Gessner writes about how Roosevelt travels west for his political campaign and simply falls in love with the landscape. Gessner reflects about his time out west and understands how someone can just fall so hard; I fell hard.

I, too, believe like Gessner that deep down that some of the best years of my life had been in the West, and that the region has left its indelible mark. Gessner says this at the beginning of the book and I steal his words, now to tell my own story of the west. His words make me long to be back in Colorado and Arizona.

“I am myself at heart as much a westerner as an easterner, Theodore Roosevelt would say, though his grand total of time spent actually living in the West added up to just over a year. My own total came in at close to a decade, and those years changed me.” 

Yes, there is just something about being west of the Mississippi that makes you feel different, makes you think differently and changes you.

Gessner writes, “A change in geography would lead to a change of character in the young Roosevelt” and I think that is universal; okay, maybe for me. A change in geography has always led to changes in beliefs. I know people who stay put, who can see the beauty in the same place for their entire life. But I’ve never been that person who has an attic filled with stuff of that one life lived. I’ve never been the person who has stayed put – and that is exactly why I love Gessner and the subject matter of his books: Stegner, Abbey, himself.

The West changed me. I saw a different place and met people who loved that place and its history. Now, I take that love of a western place and history, and translate it to this place where I live now, and can actually really see it for the first time.

Gessner writes, “We have selfish uses for biography: we hungrily read the lives of others in hopes that we can find something that changes or enhances our own.” 

Yes! 

I love biography. I love narrative. I love stories of people doing amazing things. I love writing stories; telling stories of people doing amazing things. I love knowing everyone’s history and how they became who they are today. There is always that hope that some glimmer of what they learned can transform me. Roosevelt’s story offers a hope to us for saving public land because he started it with his speech at the Grand Canyon – “Leave it as it is”.

Again, this is why I soak up every word. Every. Word. 

This book is about why the 26th president is an important person to study, to learn from, to emulate.  

Gessner writes when presented a problem during his road trip: What would Teddy do? And this is my favorite quote of what do when you need to make a decision:

  • Get into the wild
  • Study birds
  • Drink lots of coffee
  • Get into (spirited) battles
  • Speak his mind
  • Read/Learn about threatened places
  • Write about those places
  • Get in fighting trim
  • Offend some people

Yes!

Yes! 

There is so much more, and Gessner hooks me with The West, his road trips Out West and the perfectly crafted language of his journey. 

What strikes me about this biography is Roosevelt’s initial reason for heading west. He arrives to the Badlands to grieve and forget. Isn’t that why so many people move, change or reinvent themselves? They want to forget. But they want to be better!

This is why Gessner’s words matter. He finds that human element to a universal story that everyone forgets about in our leaders, and how one person can truly change the world.

There is so much more to this book. I cannot give it justice but let’s just save a place you love and fight for it

This is what this book is about. It is about the urgent call to protect America’s public lands. For me, our writers will always tell us what we need to know and Gessner tells a perfectly crafted story about how one presidents protected land before it was a trend to do so.

I loved every word.