RTP

My latest obsession is the Ring the Peak Trail. When I first got here to Manitou Springs I saw the signs on some of the local trails. I knew that one day I’d be following them as far as they go.

Turns out they go pretty far. The trail is about 80% done, circling Pikes Peak. The biggest hole is due to the water company’s paranoia (not allowing any access near the reservoirs). Sounds like they are making progress on it, though. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: mountain bikes are an amazing way to travel. No trail? No problem — just pop down to the highway, act like a road biker and you can complete the loop in a day.

A guy named Marshal has ridden the loop — first in 19 hours, then in 12. Rough guess on statistics: 67 miles, 12,000 feet of climbing. That’s a fair bit of climbing for only 67 miles. I already know there’s some hike-a-bike in there.

I was planning on giving it a go this weekend, but instead I’m nursing a bum knee. Not sure exactly what the cause was, but I’ve switched back to platform pedals for the moment, and all long ride plans are off the table.

In the meantime, I’m dreaming of the RTP trail, not to mention the Grand Loop. Head on over to:

http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=304546

To get the latest scoop. The racers have been calling me with updates, since Mike is back in Gunnison riding and camping. It’s been fun to hear how they are going. Can’t wait to hear how the rest pans out.

It was hard not to be a part of the race this year. I really wanted to be there. I’m feeling strong these days, riding well. I would have gone into it much stronger, lighter and smarter than last year. But I realized that the fact that I’m feeling good is exactly the reason not to do the race. I want to keep this feeling going for a long time, maybe all summer.

Finally, in other news, Terraserver has been down all weekend. Downtimes for Terraserver are rare, but right now TopoFusion can’t download topo or aerial maps. Landsat and 3D are fine, and thank goodness for the full caching of tiles. I was able to map out the RTP trail using my existing map cache — but just barely. It would have been nice to download a few more map tiles here or there. Hopefully they’ll get it back up soon.