Saturday I stayed at the 24 Hours of eROCK mountain bike race a little longer than I planned because of a thunderstorm and a little rain. It meant that I got to see a beautiful sunset just south of Monument as I was riding home on the Santa Fe Trail. The different colors and light on the thunderclouds was amazing.
– UltraRob
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Over the years, January has been my least favorite month of the year. It’s cold and the days are short.
It’s more than just the cold and dark. February isn’t much warmer. It’s starts warming up some in March but it’s our snowiest month. Still neither February or March are my least favorite.
January is when I ramp up my training for the new season. I love riding my bike outside but don’t like the trainer very much. I ride outside when it’s cold but I hate getting on all the layers.
So why is February not as bad? The days are noticeably longer and spring doesn’t seem so far way. I know training now will make me stronger and I’ll have more fun on the bike when it gets warmer.
This year January has been different. Although we’ve had a bit of sub-zero weather, we’ve had several days in the 60’s or even 70. I also did a road trip with great mountain biking. I did a couple rides at St. George, UT (Day1, Day2), Bootleg Canyon and west of Las Vegas near Blue Diamond.
Saturday was another 60 degree day. I headed out for a mountain bike ride and there were many other people out enjoying the outdoors. There were the most people I’ve ever seen rock climbing in Red Rocks Canyon.
We may pay for January’s mild weather in February but spring is getting closer. Now is the time to prepare for summer adventures. It’s nice today and time to take advantage of it.
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Yesterday was a beautiful day with the high in the upper 70s. This time of year in Colorado that often means that cold front is on its way. That was the case this time. We had heavy, wet snow off and on today.
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It’s a little hard to tell without clicking for a bigger image, but the highway sign says wildfire. The 2nd part of the message was Hwy 115 closed. I took the picture soon after 6 PM.
Yesterday it was in the 70s and a couple brush fires started. There were big plumes of smoke to the south. Highway 115 was closed as were some highways to the southeast from another fire. 3 Firefighters died fighting the fires.
This morning it was sunny but a little cool. This afternoon a sloppy spring snowstorm moved in. According to a report on The Gazette tonight, the snow has allowed residents to return home along Highway 115.
Related Links: Slideshow with Good Pictures of the Fires
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one day it’s 73 degrees and the next day it’s snowing. Saturday we had a record high of 73 degrees before a cold front hit during the night. Yesterday it was in the 20s and snowing. It only snowed a little but there was a cold wind. Even at the top of the Manitou Incline there were only a couple inches of snow. Today it was in the mid 40s with great sunshine.
March is typically the month we get the most snow. April is the 2nd snowiest month. The good news is we keep getting warmer days in between the snow. I’m ready for some more warm weather.
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Chris and I successfully summited Pikes Peak after hiking all Friday night. We had several hours of great moonlight followed by a snow storm. Instead of the round-trip taking our planned 12 hours, it took us 17.5 hours. By the time I got a nap, I had been up for 34.5 hours.
Related Link: Chis’ hike report
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Full moon is this week. Last night was a full lunar eclipse but unfortunately we mostly had clouds. When the moon should have been partially eclipsed, I could see bits of it through the clouds. When it was coming out of the eclipse, there were just thin clouds so I could see it faintly but it wasn’t very impressive.
Sunday I hiked up to Barr Camp and got up there just after dark. It had snowed off and on during the day but it was clearing while I was hiking. On the way back down, I had great moonlight sparkling off the fresh snow.
Last full moon I had mentioned that in the past I’ve hiked to the top of Pikes Peak by moonlight in the winter. Chris asked in a comment whether I was interested in having someone along. We ended up making plans to do it tonight.
Hopefully it’ll be a clear night but there’s a slight chance of snow in tomorrow morning. Last night it snowed a little during the evening but by 11 PM there was bright moonlight. It’s a beautiful morning and there’s bright blue sky.
The round-trip on Barr Trail is about 26 miles with 7,500 vertical feet. Going up the Manitou Incline would cut about 2 miles off but not make it any easier. Above timberline this time of year, I generally just go up the face because the trail is burried.
Depending on snow conditions and weather above timberline, it’ll probably take somewhere around 12 hours to do the hike. I talked to some guys on Sunday that had been to the summit. They said Barr Trail was pretty packed all the way to the A-Frame which will help. Above timberline they didn’t feel their snowshoes were grabbing enough so they switched to crampons. With crampons they were breaking through the crust and struggling.
There’s new snow so we may be alright with snowshoes. We’ll have YakTrax, snowshoes, crampons and ice axes so we should the gear for any conditions. We may end up using all of them.
Below are a few more pictures from my hike last Sunday.
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Over the weekend we had very strong winds. At night I would wake up hearing stuff blowing around. Saturday morning we found our shed upside down.
This time of year, our strongest winds are usually Chinook winds. This month it’s hardly gotten above freezing but by Sunday it was nearly 60 degrees. Even at Barr Camp at 10,200 feet it got up to 40 degrees.
Now the Chinook winds are gone and it’s cold again. Last night we got a little snow again. Although we still have a couple more cold months, I’m ready for some warm weather riding.
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We had a few days this week of 60 and 70 degree weather. I got lunch time rides 3 days in a row and rode in shorts and short sleaves. If we have enough time, we do a full loop at the Air Force Academy. If we have less time we either do a partial loop in the Academy or go out to Black Forest.
A couple weeks ago, I took my camera on a lunch ride in the Academy. It looked pretty much the same on our ride today.
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This fall has continued to be warm and dry. We hadn’t even had a freeze until Sunday. Saturday it was in the 70s. Sunday morning we woke up to snow. Danielle, our 4 year old, had looked out and saw the snow. We were being lazy laying in bed when she came and pegged me on the neck with a wet snowball.
At our house, we didn’t have more than an inch on the grass that melted once it quit snowing in the afternoon. We were at a friend’s house near Monument and it looked like they had at least 6 inches. I heard that Woodland Park got a foot. Fonk lives up above Manitou and posted some cool pictures of snow at his house. Out there posted a picture of snowy Manitou.
Today was a beautiful day in the 60s and I managed to head out at lunch for a lap through the Air Force Academy. Tomorrow it’s supposed to be back into the 70s. I’m going to have to try getting out at lunch again.
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