JV continues to be my source of interesting news: an illegal trail on Flagstaff.
GlobalDRO is apparently one of the online drug references as to what is prohibited, not prohibited for competition, out of competition.
Shaved my head on Saturday of last week. Sat in the sun on Wednesday in Arizona. Got sun burned on the scalp. Nasty peeling of the head today. I look like some sort of snake lizard flake guy. Ack.
I need to figure out what shoes I will race trails in this summer. I have been a Brook Racer ST guy, but those seem (since the half marathon on Denver last October) to aggravate my right plantar a bit. I like some of the PI stuff I have been running in, but that seems to bug my left heel (Haglund deformity). So ... I need to figure that out.
PM - Simms. Mentally tough for me, meaning that I had to go through the drill of focusing on these individually. "Just get through this one." 3:28, 3:26, 3:25, 3:25, 3:25, 3:21. This was better than last time (averaging 3:25 over 3:27) but it was a harder in the head. Just one of those days. 2 mile warm up, almost 3 mile warm down, 10 on the day. Oh, was totally working the old guy groove as I had a plain white undershirt T on, short running shorts, black socks going on these hill repeats. Like I really care what I am looking like on hill repeats with spit on my face anyway - right?
Evening - 2 miles around the soccer fields.
Noticed that my mileage is going to be around 300ish for the month. Not bad, particularly since I had five days off, but a bit less than what I pulled last year (338 on the month, and 993 on the year at that point, versus just shy 900 right now). I am okay with that though because I have getting in some decent training, with some good basic turnover, and some runs a bit longer than I have in the past. Additionally, I don't think I need to keep building on the mileage year over year. I can call on it.
Man, the timing of that story couldn't have been worse. And, surprisingly, the guy from the Boulder Mountainbike Alliance really blew his chance to be outraged and angry at how a small group of bikers was jeopardizing opportunities for the broader mountain bike community. The BMA has, from my perspective, run a really smart, first-rate PR effort around the West TSA process. He could have done much better. Alas, the actions of a few....
ReplyDeleteMan, it's amazing that this is such an issue. Glad I don't live in Boulder. For a "hippie" town, there sure are a lot of folks with their panties in a bunch.
ReplyDeleteI've already used up my annual quota for talking about bad bikers so I'll just remark how nice the weather is today.
ReplyDeleteBMA gets with it: http://bouldermountainbike.org/pressreleases/angry-bma-president-responds-angry-ranger-trail
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ReplyDeleteThe fact that they discovered the trail 10 days ago (March 19) and only put it out in the public right before the west TSA meeting is a little fishy. Kind of shows OSMP has their own agenda regarding these things.
ReplyDeletere: shoes...split the baby by wearing one o' each.
ReplyDeletere: "Angry Ranger"
It is fishy about the timing, and it seems like something that either side will use politically to their advantage ("See? We need more trails" vs "See? mountain bikers are jerks") when really it seems (to me) almost entirely unrelated to the real merits of either argument (both of which I can appreciate). Glad BMA denounced it, as they should.
Some are also upset that others "knew" about it -- can't say that I would expect much of a different reaction if someone had tipped it off earlier -- people would still be upset. No defense for erosion-prone fall-line trails, especially, but if you explore the front range to any degree at all, you could spend a lifetime reporting social trails.
Apparently the guy who was ticketed was a pro: http://www.dailycamera.com/news/ci_17725909
ReplyDelete... not that it makes a difference.
FWIW, I ain't anti biker. I think they deserve some slice of the pie in the West TSA, but I ain't gonna fall on the sword on it either. I have come to the conclusion that this area will always be at odds regarding who has what access versus what protection for what reason... One person's access is another's major concern about misuse of the land.
The solution is easy: Take your ball and go somewhere else. Either that or agree that you are going to fight for some law, fight THE law or become part of the law.
You know, public land will always be subject to a tug-of-war of interests and eventually it will all get sorted out so that everyone is equally unhappy but happy enough.
ReplyDeleteBut I also wonder why it's so hard for adults to follow the few simple rules that are out there. I mean really, even a 5-year-old can do it. The parks don't want you doing something, and your life is not going to end if you don't do it.
Personally I like alternate days and single-use trails.
Although knowing me, I'd show up on the wrong day.