Are You Nuts?

As planned, Ed, Dale, Rocket and I met in Boulder at the Reservoir Saturday morning at 9 for our test run and planning session for the Double Mick.

Dale, the weatherman on our team, who is a meteorologist, one who studies meteors...advised us Friday night that the weather was supposed to suck all day Saturday.

So we decided to go ahead anyway and if it sucked that badly, we would just hang out in a Starbucks and plan things, and leave a test run for a later date.

Fortunately when we all arrived at Boulder Reservoir, nothing was coming down from the sky at the moment. There were big puddles and the sky looked like it would dump on us any time, but we decided to go ahead, and just run on the dirt road on the northwest side of the Reservoir, up to Niwot Road and back. That gave us a little over 5 miles with hills to test it.

We loaded a big, heavy cooler inside of Rocket, strapped a tent on the front to balance out the weight a little. I pushed Rocket on the way out, and Ed pushed it on the way back. About a mile from the cars on the way back, it started raining in a steady downpour that lasted until we were done.

We were amazed at the number of runners we saw on the road that morning. Then we remembered that we were in Boulder. The People's Republic of Boulder, that is. That's one of the names that local people give to Boulder, and it works regardless of your political orientation.

Things Ed remarked on were the number of women out running on the road. And Dale mentioned how fast everyone runs. The other thing we noticed is that pushing this Rocket contraption along the road, no one gives you a second look. This is considered normal in Boulder. In any other place people would be pulling over or slowing down to ask if you were okay or needed any help. Or asking, "Are you NUTS?"

We adjusted the handle for Ed's height. It was good for Ed except going up the steepest hills, but the hills on that road were a lot steeper than anything on the Mickelson. Going downhill it was no problem. For me, all I have to do is put the handle at the lowest possible setting and it works great.

The biggest issue we had was the front wheel's tendency to go up in the air, we can fix that by placing some weight over the front and as will most likely happen during the Double Mick, carrying a lighter cooler. The Rocket is ready to go! We'll bring some spare inner tubes for the tires, a pump, and a few tools and extra screws and bolts.

It was great to have Dale along, he's making a steady recovery from being sick last year. He kept making stupid jokes and promised me I would be sick of him after 5 days on the trail. He calls me Nurse Ratched and I threatened him with certain tools in my arsenal...

Afterwards we went into town to the Starbucks at 28th & Pearl and talked about what we'll need for the trip. It's pretty simple, all 3 of us have been through so many Badwaters that it becomes a lot easier. Also, on this trip we'll have the luxury of being able to re-stock in Custer, which is centrally located on the route, so we won't be having to worry about having 5 days worth of supplies and food.

Our biggest challenge is to find the points along the route where Dale will be able to crew us without having to carry things from the car. Dale and I are familiar with the sections along the Lean Horse 100 route, but the other parts of the trail are new to all of us. Rocket will be there in case we need it. We need to do more research by looking at Google maps and maybe the Black Hills area maps if we can find some good ones. We've talked to some local people but there isn't much along the route.

Only 4 more weeks to the Double Mick! My legs felt fine during the Rocket test run, but I took a nap late Saturday afternoon and since then I can feel my quads from the descent off Longs Friday. I tried going for an easy evening run and my legs were just dead.

Dennis gave me a massage last night but my legs were so sore he couldn't do anything with them. This morning I'll go for an easy run and then to the sauna. If the day warms up I'll get on the bike and spin easy for a while, too. You never know what the weather will do from one day to the next around here. It's freezing this morning, 42 degrees is freezing for me! By Tuesday it's supposed to warm up to 91 degrees. I might get brave enough to take off my jacket, tights, hat and gloves!