Wasatch Holiday Racing Series

This year some SLC friends have planned a few rando races that have, coincidentally, coincided with holidays. This has been great for me as I'm trying to put myself into good enough shape to improve on last year's race results at Jackson and Targhee. The great thing about these local get togethers is the variety of ski equipment used. Anything from Trab world cups to BD megawatts with all sorts of stuff in between. At the end of each event I think everyone has had a blast regardless of where they finished relative to others, etc.

 First, we had a "turkey trot" on Thanksgiving at Brighton. Andy had a good write-up here. The Vert 120 was in early December and Christmas Eve was the Christmas Eve Rando Rally. All of the "races" took place at Brighton who has been very friendly to us this year (Thanks Brighton!) Whether because of the poor snow pack this year forcing may to ski/skin at resorts, or because of real interest in randonee racing, the attendance at all events has been great with several people on race gear at each event.

The Christmas Eve race was super fun. I think it ended up being about 4,800 vertical or so and about 9 or  10 miles distance in about 2:20 (Guessing a bit here--I forgot my watch). I passed and got repassed a few times so it felt like a real race! Chad (Powder Keg guy) and I were back and forth a bit with me a bit faster on the earlier climbs, Chad faster on all the descents, and then about the same on the climbs towards the end. I pulled into the last transition just as he finished ripping skins--I knew I wouldn't catch him on the descent with my Grandma descending (to be fair, I was trying not to wreck my race skis so I was skiing more methodically on purpose). Man, those descents through chowder and crust are really hard on race skis! At least for mere mortals like me they are. Jami asked what is easier in the races: the climbs, or the descents-I think the answer is the first 30 seconds of each. After that it starts to hurt a bit and neither feel "easy," especially if the descents are off piste.

I feel like we need some kind of club name or something to give some mountain cred to the fast guys we have here in the Wasatch. Team Wasatch? Wasatch SkiMo? I'm excited to see how the Doraises, Samurai, Tim and other locals do in a couple weeks at the races. It should be a fun exciting weekend of races again in Wyoming.

I even convinced little brother to come out! If nothing else, at least it was a nice, beautiful day.

Big thanks to Andy & Jason for putting these together. It's been a blast!

December Training Update

Last week 12/12-12/17 I ran 20 miles (10 trail, 10 around town) and had about 20,000 vertical feet of uphill skinning. I can feel the fitness coming around. I feel much better than last year at this time. The Jackson race is now less than 3 weeks away, so hopefully I've done enough to improve on last year and finish somewhere mid pack this year. I can't remember ever wanting to just be average! Oh, the shame.

Our holiday racing series in the Wasatch continues this upcoming Saturday with the Christmas Eve Rando Rally. Come check it out! We'll be done in time for everyone to do their last minute shopping...

No SkiLink!

This is a letter that I sent to Rob Bishop, my Congressman about the proposed "SkiLink" from Canyons resort to Solitude in Big Cottonwood Canyon. 

Dear Mr. Bishop,

 I am writing to you today because of your recent comments in the news about the proposed “SkiLink” gondola connecting Canyons resort to Solitude. I think that this project is ski area expansion masquerading as traffic reduction. I am disappointed by your decision to support this project and I think the project is misguided.

 Keep in mind that to even get to the proposed gondola (from Canyons) one would have to get to the top of the mountain by buying a $90 lift pass at Canyons, ride a cabriolet, a gondola, and two lifts to even get to the top of the resort where, presumably, the SkiLink ride will take skiers downhill to an adjacent resort where they will then be required to purchase a $68 ticket to ski at solitude. Is this 45 minute navigation of Canyons plus $90 worth the hassle of a 45 minute drive up Big Cottonwood Canyon? I don’t believe so. Furthermore, I would assume that most residents or visitors who decide to live/vacation in Park City are there because they want to stay/ski in Park City. There are lodging options at Solitude for visitors and many UTA buses that go up and down that canyon daily for people that are concerned about traffic and congestion.

While you as a state representative should be promoting economic growth, I don’t think that this should happen at the expense of developing Public Lands and negatively impacting an important watershed area. In addition to the SkiLink, additional parking, base facilities, lodging, etc. will all be required to accommodate the increase of people. Ironically, Solitude is know for not having lift lines or too many skiers on the mountain. That will no longer be the case if SkiLink is built.

 The Wasatch Range is a fairly small mountain range. Is would be impossible to undo and restore this land if it is sold to Talisker and developed for this proposed lift. It also sets a precedent for further expansion. More lifts at Park City, Alta, Snowbird, Solitude, and Brighton are being discussed. That is every major resort in the Central Wasatch. Backcountry enthusiasts and others who use these undeveloped slopes will never get them back. Not to mention the negative impact on the watershed that provides water for much of the Salt Lake Valley.

 I ask you to please reconsider your position on the proposed SkiLink, and say no to selling more public lands to Talisker.

 Respectfully,

 Layne Caldwell

A few weeks ago I ran a cool loop in the Uintas with my friend Greg. He made a fun little video of our day if you consider watching two guys running slow in the mountains "fun." He's got some pretty good camera work too. I think that shooting video makes the day a bit more interesting AND makes you feel like a rockstar.

Kings Peak Ultramarathon, 3 Sep 2010 from Greg Moellmer on Vimeo.

Crest Trail 10/22 - BRRR!

My little brother Boog wanted to ride the crest trail today. We started at Guardsman's and went to Desolation then down to Mill D--short ride, but I huffed and puffed up a couple of hills, so we did get a tiny bit of cardio too. It ended up mostly being a nature ride as we stopped to photo each other and some of the leaves changing color. It was a nice day to be alive.






I have this awesome PINK camera that my wife gave me as a Christmas present a couple years ago (I broke two of her point and shoots so she gave me one of my own to break!)It's not a great camera(but I LOVE it Honey!)--the pictures I take with it always turn out pixelated, hazy or bad in some other way. Anyway, whenever I look at the photos on it, there are always about 50 new ones that one of the kids have taken. Kids are hilarious.

2011 Bair Gutsman Race Report

After last year's race, I was a bit dissapointed with how it went, so I was looking forward to the 2011 iteration of the race. This year's course would be a bit different from prior years because of the Farmington Canyon road closure. The decision was made to run it as an out and back course running up bair canyon until the service road just pad Grobben's Corner, then fastening the seat belt for a hair-raising descent of the same trail.

In my running I've really tried to learn to conserve a bit the first few miles of a race to leave some energy to finish strong. Many of the heavy hitters from last year's race were absent for this year, so maybe the pace wouldn't be quite as ballistic right from the get-go.

At 6, the gun went off and up the road we went. It is almost exactly 1 mile to the dirt trail. I went out nice and easy, but just fast enough to "sort" a bit so I wasn't having to pass people once I got to the trail. Up to the third stream crossing, I was feeling good. I was gradually gaining of a fella in front of me. Just after the third water crossing he gapped me not to be seen until the top. The vegetation was extra thick this year what with the record snow year we had. I'm guessing I was somewhere around 5th until we hit the ferns. Ah, the ferns. I got lost in them this year. Somehow I left the trail and ended up bushwacking through ferns, reeds and gamble oak (I hate gamble oak!). After what seemed like an eternal 10 minutes, I popped out on a ridge with the trail 200yds off to the side. While I was getting up close and personal with my plant identification, I lost 5 spots. Gotta love the gutsman. Another 1.5 to the top that was pretty uneventful. I was, like pretty much everyone else, forced to hike. My watch was showing the gradient over 30% for much of this section. I passed, or repassed a few people on this section. Eventually hitting the top, I grabbed some swedish fish and pointed downwards.

Despite my proclivities for "dangerous" recreation (climbing, b/c skiing, etc.), bravery is something that I always struggle with. Is bravery required for running? I don't know, but the speed at which some of the racers descended was sphincter-clenching for me. So I got passed (or repassed) 2x on the downhill. Overall the descent was about 5,000 feet in 5 miles. You do the math--It was steep! After hitting the pavement, my quads were toast. I was forced to leg it out the last mile so I didn't get passed again. I saw someone over my shoulder and thought "Well, he's going to have to earn it if he wants to beat me." Amazingly, I held him off for about a mile. I never do that! I have a long established history of getting pipped at the line or passed on the finishing straight. It felt good to fight someone off this time. I crossed the line in 2:44. 9th place this year and 26 minutes in arrears of the winner (A former college XC runner and 2:35 marathoner--so I can't feel too bad).

Full Results here.

Mile splits (Total Distance 10.27 according to Garmin)

2011 & 2010
1-8:38............8:37
2-13:07..........13:21
3-23:35..........22:06
4-35:24..........30:42
5-25:29..........31:54
6-11:53
7-13:29
8-13:51
9-9:54
10-7:08

Comments:

In some ways I was pumped about how the race went. In some ways dissapointed. The 2 that passed me on the downhill put 7 and 9 minutes into me. My knees were hurting from self-braking and I'm not sure how much faster I could have gone. But still--9 minutes?! I got lost--that sucked and I lost several minutes, not to mention copious amounts of skin cells from brush. After looking at my time, I think I could have done 2:15 on the regular course (Had I not gotten lost--guess at which mile that happened), so I think my fitness is better than last year. Although my time year over year was similar for the first 5 miles it felt comparatively easier. And I was 5.5 minutes faster on the death row mile this year. The climb felt hard, but easier than last year.

Skyline Mountain Marathon 2011 Race Report

The Skyline Mountain Marathon was awesome. I loved it. Fantastic small race with amazing single track and excellent vistas of both Ogden city and Ogden valley/pineview. I'll try and break up my report into a few sections to make it readable.

#1 - start to Ben Lomond saddle aid station (6 miles, 2,800 feet gain)
#2 - BL saddle to the North Ogden divide(6 miles 2,800 feet loss)
#3 - NO divide to top of climb (3.5 miles, 2,000 feet gain)
#4 - Lewis peak trail to Winsurfers beach. (6.5 miles, 3,000 feet loss
#5 - Windsurfers to finish (4 miles, flat)


#1 The race started at 6a near a campground in Liberty. Some quick directions were given and then the race director did a countdown from five and yelled GO!

My plan was to run the first climb conservatively to save my legs for later on in the race. It was pretty dark for the first mile which forced me to run at a mellow pace--just what I wanted to do. The first climb is 100% runnable without anything steep enough that would make you want to walk. I settled in behind a guy who was moving at my intended pace and plugged along. Winding up the mountain through switchbacks, we eventually climbed out of gamble oak territory (I hate scrub oak!) and into the subalpine through groves of aspens, firs and meadows of wildflowers. The sunrise was brilliant with the Eastern sky full of shades of orange and yellow as the sun hid behind the clouds. Invigorated from the nice views of the valley, and the wildflowers I had a feeling today was going to be a good day. Before too long we hit the first aid station at the Ben Lomond saddle. A small group of 3 got there just before me but didn't seem to be in much of a hurry to move on. (1:15ish I think-I don't remember exactly) So, I filled my bottle and took off ahead of them for the next 6 mile section that eventually descends down to the North Ogden divide.

#2 I recognized much of the terrain on Ben Lomond from the ski tours over the past few winters. However, the next section down to the divide was new to me as I'd never been that direction summer or winter. I leapfrogged with an enthusiastic young guy who passed me, and I passed back within a couple miles before the next aid station. I was at the divide (mile 12) at about 2:05. I had no real expectation for how fast I would be, but hoped that I could finish in 4:30-5:00 hours. I was on pace for that, and maybe even a little ahead of it.

#3 I knew that the climb onto the South Skyline trail from the divide would be hard because I can't run most of it even when I'm fresh! So I power hiked. My Wasatch 3x finisher friend Greg calls it "hiking with a purpose." I tried to, but felt slow. Luckily for me I was just slow enough to make it to the top right as they were setting up the aid station. Lucky me. Apparently the volunteers were late and the first 6 or 7 guys missed the water/gu refill and were forced to run about 10 miles with no water refills. Ouch. Even with my 20 oz. refill at mile 15, it was getting hot and I was out of water again by mile 20 with the last aid station at mile 22.

#4 This was one section that I've run several times this summer. It feels long, and the downhill is a killer. Not hard, but just sustained pitch forever. I knew that this was a section to motor and I tried to as much as I was able. Aside from 1 runner (Davis High class of '81 he said) that power hiked past me on section #2, I was in my own private Idaho not seeing anyone in front or behind me. I was left to suffer alone. And suffer I did. My knees were angry at me. My quads were starting to gripe. I started to see a few half marathoners at the end of the section. I could feel my pace slowing from 7:30-8:30 to 8:30-9:30. On downhills! I felt like that was as fast as I was able at that point. So I hunkered down in the pain cave and got on with it. 4:02 cumulative time to windsurfer's. At this point I was really hoping to finish in under 4:30, but it would be a real push to make it at this point.

#5. The crux. After descending 3k vert in 6 miles, I knew the hard part for me would be the last 4 miles. Just keep the legs moving and see how it goes I told myself. My friend Craiger offered to run the last bit with me and I was grateful for someone to run with. I was slowing down, and it was starting to get ugly. I saw my 4:30 finish come and go. My legs & especially my knees were begging to stop. Could I at least go under 4:40? After what seemed like forever, I could see the finish line. A few minutes later and I was done with my first real marathon race. 4:39:15. 7th place and 38 minutes in arrears of the winner.

Well, I'm glad I did it. I would have liked to run more solidly from mile 18 to the end but that's racing. Within 15 minutes after finishing I was already thinking of what I'll do differently next year. I've never really considered myself a runner, but I don't know if I can say that now that I've done a marathon. Hopefully running this summer will get me ready for trans Zion and possibly rim to rim to rim of the grand canyon this fall and a non last place finish in Jackson in January. We'll see.