Saturday, March 7, 2009

New Trails & The Incline

Heading up Williams Canyon
Today was another great run with CRUD, although like last week, there was enough steep climbing to classify our little adventure as a run/hike. We started in Manitou and ran up Williams Canyon to Cave of the Winds and proceeded up a steep trail that most of us didn’t know about. It took us to the top of Williams Canyon with some incredible views. Definitely going to have go back up there with Roswitha!
A New Trail!

Max Enjoying the View Over Williams Canyon

Steve explaining the Geological Features to Max

Eventually we came to Waldo Canyon and our group split. JT and I ran a loop around Waldo Canyon then back to Manitou via Ute Indian Trail.

Once back to Manitou, Max and I decided to climb the Incline. (Although Max really didn’t have a whole lot of say in the matter). I just had to do it while I was here. The Incline is probably one of the best training tools for the Leadville 100 other than the Leadville 100 course itself. It is the remains of an old cog railroad. From top to bottom the incline is 1.02 miles long and rises 2011 ft. Avg grade is 41% with the steepest grade 69%. Matt Carpenter founder of the Incline Club and an incredible mountain, trail, and ultra runner has a nice web page describing the Incline: http://www.inclineclub.com/incline.htm
The Start of the Incline
No Gym Stair-Stepper Can Ever Match This!
About ¼ way up it started snowing and by the time we got to the top we were socked in and I couldn’t get any descent pictures. Matt’s web site has some great pictures. An easy run down Barr Trail completed the run. Felt pretty good today. I think I've re-adjusted to the altitude.

At the Top

Saturday: Long trail run.
Run: 4.1 hours, 17 miles, 4659’ climbing
Friday: Easy recovery run.
Run: 47min, 5.3 miles

More Pictures at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/larry.dewitt/CRUDWilliamsIncline?feat=email#

http://picasaweb.google.com/swbremner/20090307WilliamsCanyonTraverse?feat=email#

No comments:

Post a Comment