Weekend Races

Some big races this weekend, and a not-so-big 50 miler in Buena Vista.

Good luck to Scott Jaime and Phil Kochik representing CO out in California at the Miwok 100k, a.k.a last chance to qualify for Western States. The field at Miwok is loaded and looks like it will be quite the footrace. My pick in the men's race is Geoff Roes, who seems to have the right combination of speed, patience and endurance for the distance. From his blog, it sounds like he's in great shape too.

Also good luck to Ryan Burch at the Fort Collins Marathon. He's targeting a 2:45, and I'm pretty sure he's good for it.

I've been back and forth on whether to run Collegiate Peaks this weekend, after doing something to my calf last Thursday and further aggravating it by racing a 5k on Saturday. Took Sunday and Monday off, hobbling around and generally thinking it would be stupid to race. However, got out for a 4-mile tester Tuesday where I was able to run, despite hurting on the uphills. Got out again yesterday and felt considerably better. The pain was still there, but was just that, pain. Doesn't feel like a tendon or anything that could go pop! if I push it, so I'm assuming it's a minor muscular issue. The pain is more dull than throbbing now, so I'm hopeful it won't be an issue by Saturday.

I don't recognize too many names on the start list, but I am looking forward to racing Tim Long. From previous results, it looks like we should be pretty closely matched. The women's field looks like it will be dominated by Helen Cospolich, last year's Leadville 100 winner (and winner at Fruita the other weekend).

Dana and Alistair are making the trip to Buena Vista with me. We've got a little cabin booked, so it should be a fun getaway. They've got plans for the hot springs while I slog it out on Saturday. The course looks to be reasonably fast - mainly forest roads from what I can make out, with somewhere close to 5,000 feet of climbing - so I hope to keep my streak of PRing at 50s alive. Anything under my time from Fruita (7:44) would be a result then, I guess.

The course is two of these

Old Man Winter Strikes Again

Here we go again

One last dump, or at least that's what I said last weekend. Planted seeds for our vegetable garden yesterday. Nice timing! The upside of the snow is that it'll help me resist the urge to get out and run before my calf is ready.

Spring or winter?

Another bout of heavy, wet snow. No doubt there'll be more tree carnage up in Horsetooth

No longer scraping the ground after most of the snow was shaken off

Week Ending April 26

Monday - 8 miles (1,600 feet). 1:23. Horsetooth/Audra route. Waded through some deep stuff up top, but a great run with moderate soreness from Fruita. Out for a 3-mile hike to Horsetooth Falls with Alistair in the pm.

Tuesday - 9 miles easy (1,200 feet). 1:26. Horsetooth - Spring Creek - Stout - Sawmill - Loggers - Carey Springs - Towers - Herrington - Spring Creek - Soderburg - Horsetooth - home. Went out for another 3-mile hike to Horestooth Falls with Alistair and Dana in late afternoon.

Weds - 12 miles (2,500 feet). 1:53. Mill Creek route. Was pushing a little harder than maybe should have. Legs began feeling pretty heavy towards the end. Mill Creek was a disaster zone with hundreds of downed trees that must have buckled under the weight of the very heavy, wet snow from the weekend. Had to negotiate 30 or 40 trees and tree limbs across Mill Creek. It's going to take a fair bit of time to clean up this mess to the point where the trail is runnable again. There was less damage on Spring Creek, and it looked like maintenance crews had already been up with chainsaws to clear away the worst of it. The upside is that HMP is a very healthy park and there is tons of new pine growth everywhere.

Thurs - 8 miles easy. 60:30. Couple of laps of Pineridge. Did something to my calf/tendons towards the end of the run. Pretty painful.

Fri - Off to rest leg.

Sat - 3 mile warm up, 5k race (17:32), leg very sore. Hobbling after the race. Got some zeros coming up in the log.

Sun - off

Total: 43 miles (5,300 vertical).

Wanted to build some big mileage on the back of the Fruita 50, but probably jumped back in too quickly with three hilly runs Mon, Tues and Weds. It seems we (runners) never learn the simple lessons. When we're feeling good we think we're invincible, but a twist, sprain, pull or fracture always seems to be lurking around the corner. Anyway, another lesson to take to the bank. I just hope this one won't cost me too many days. Feels like it just needs time, but you never know.

Sierra's 5k

First off, a thank you to Simon of RunColo for the comp into this race.

There are a ton of races that fundraise for various different charities and causes, and this one was run in memory of a local girl, Sierra, who died two years ago from meningitis. Not only was it run in her memory, but also as a fundraiser for meningitis charities, and in its second year this race attracted a massive (for Northern Colorado) 1,300 runners. It felt like a lot of hard work went into the organization for this race, and they did a great job ensuring people realized why they were there (today was World Meningitis Day). In addition to conveying their message, the organizers had rounded up an army of volunteers and a ton of sponsors. I am guessing this race raised some serious cash, so good for them.

The nitty-gritty: I got to Crossroads Church, which served as race HQ, by about 7:15, giving myslef a good half hour to test my bum calf, which had been giving me some serious grief for a couple of days. It felt very tight, and after doing a couple of striders I had serious doubts about starting the race, but figured I'd give it a go and pull out if the pain got too intense.

From the gun, I found myself running in first - exactly where I didn't want to be - but nobody seemed too interested in setting the pace, and I felt aerobically comfortable. The calf hurt, but not to the point where I was concerned about doing serious damage. Halfway through the first mile, the eventual winner came cruising by, and I could tell by the smoothness in his stride that there was no way I would keep pace. Steve Folkerts and another guy also passed me by the end of the first mile, which I went through in 5:29. The pace felt good, and I figured I might have a shot at dipping below 17 minutes. The second and third mile, however, were slightly uphill, so I slowed even though I was maintaining a consistent effort.

Steve F went after the lead runner, and I was content to let them both go so I could focus on third, who had a ten meter gap on me half way through the second mile. I was in a pack of three guys at this point, one of whom - Doug Bell - looked to be about twenty years my senior. Doug and I dropped the other guy running with us by the end of the second mile, which I clocked at 5:47. I was pretty disappointed to see this split, but I wasn't going to sweat it with my calf the way it was. Through the third mile, I put a bit of distance between myself and Doug, but was making no ground on third. I felt like I could have pushed harder on this mile, but was dubious about being able to pick up third, so not wanting to chance anything injury-wise, I didn't push particularly hard. Went through three miles in 17:00 flat (5:43), and crossed the finish line in 17:32, with Doug in fifth just two seconds behind me.

I was disappointed to fall so far short of 16:5x, but considering I still had the Fruita 50 in my legs and a bum calf, it was a decent result on balance. I wish I could have given it 100% to see exactly where the top-end speed is right now after a winter of 9- to 10-minute mountain miles, but no big deal.

The plan for the upcoming week is to take it very easy, and not run a step until this pain in my calf is gone, which may well mean that I won't run until the Collegiate 50 next Saturday. Considering the work and miles I have put in through the winter, it would be a real shame to not get to the Big Horn start line in June, which remains the main goal for the season. If I have to take a goose egg through the week, then so be it.

Spring at Horsetooth Falls

I found myself whooping it up at Horsetooth on Monday to the unfamiliar sounds of flowing water. Northern Colorado has a scarcity of water and Horsetooth Mountain Park has next to none, so I was excited to get out for a run to see if I could work some of the soreness from Fruita out of my legs and to see what was going on after the weekend's big snow dump.

I hit one of my regular eight-mile routes and was surprised to find the lower trails pretty much snow free. However, when I turned into the Spring Creek drainage I was shocked to hear the sounds of fast-flowing water. I've run up here almost every day for the last 12 months and have become accustomed to silence, so I really was shocked to hear that water, so shocked in fact that I let out one of those "I'm happy to be alive" yells.

I was psyched to get to the waterfall - which I never detour for - and was even more psyched to hear it long before I got there. For the first time ever, I saw the falls in all their glory - with a pool at the bottom and everything.

Roar!

The contrast shot

After hanging out for a while I got back on with the task at hand and made my way around Spring Creek to Soderburg and then up the Rock trail to find heavy, wet accumulation at the top that was still drifted to waist high in places - nice. My feet were soaked by the time I made it around on Audra Culver, but I was having such a good time I didn't care, and even better, the soreness in my legs was nothing but background noise. Best recovery run ever!

I was so stoked by the whole scenario that I took my son and neighbors' dog out later in the day for another look. Spring is a great time to run trails.

Alistair thought it was pretty cool

So did Bubba

From the top down

Fruita Spring Desert Ultra 50

After driving five hours through some real crud on Friday, it was great to finally arrive in Fruita and stretch my legs. I hadn't run for two days before the race so I was raring to go.

Driving up to Eisenhower Tunnel

Visibility was terrible

Back to normality 50 miles later

I bumped into Alene and her husband Dennis at the packet pick-up. I had originally planned on parking up near the race start and sleeping in the back of the truck, but Alene's friends, Keith and Kirk, were kind enough to offer me their floor for the night (plus a fantastic pasta feed). Thanks, guys!

Turns out Kirk is quite the ultra legend, having run every iteration of the Hardrock 100, winning once and finishing 14 out of 15 times! He is also a former winner of Leadville (in a record slow winning time, he was modest and quick to point out - never mind that the trails were essentially rivers that year.) His wife Keith is also a great masters runner who has a marathon PR of 3:03 and aspirations of sub-3 territory.

The inclement weather on Friday left quite a few others stranded east of The Divide, with the authorities closing down I-70 between Denver and Vail sometime in the late afternoon, although a few brave souls apparently got around on route 285. I got a call from Ryan Burch saying he wasn't going to make it, which was too bad as I think we would have run each other pretty close in the race this year. However, the competition was still strong with Tony Krupicka, Andy Skurka and Bryan Goding all running the 50. On the women's side of things Keri Nelson and last year's Leadville 100 winner, Helen Cospolich, looked to be the main contenders. In the 25, Duncan Callahan and 2:30 marathoner, Anna Pichrtova, looked like favorites.

I lined up with Bryan at the start and we chatted, easing our way into the race through the opening few miles of dirt road and singletrack climbing to the top of Moore Fun. The race started right at dawn, so by the time we were hitting the top, the sun was just beginning to hit the south wall of the canyon lighting it up in glorious shades of orange. Tony was obviously happy to be out racing as he was whooping it up at the sight of the sun's early rays. I stretched it out a bit once we got to the top, pacing off Keri for a while and focused on keeping Tony, Andy and another guy in sight.

From here, the course dropped off a good 800 feet through some sweet switchbacks to the first aid station (5.9), by which time I had squeezed past Keri and pretty much caught up with the others. I topped off my water bottle and focused on keeping pace with the pack.

As I had set off at a fairly casual pace through the first few miles, I didn't really know how many runners were ahead, but figured Tony and Andy were leading the 50.

The three of us paced through the next few miles maintaining a solid pace, chatting and soaking up the views from the rim, high above the Colorado. The second aid station (9.2 miles) came on quick and we all shot through without stopping. The third aid was another short three miles (12.5) and we all stopped to top off before a seven-mile undulating stretch curving in and out of several canyons. The sun had pretty much burnt off any hint of cloud at this point and it would bake us for the rest of the race.

Tony was first through the aid station. I followed 10 to 20 seconds back with Andy a similar distance behind me. I was happy to have the three of us stretched out a bit here so I could focus on getting into a good rhythm. The gap of 20 - 30 meters was pretty constant to the last aid station before the turnaround (19.2) from which there was a significant (and steep) jeep-track climb. Tony was quick out again and built a solid lead through the two- to three-mile climb. Andy was hiking just about as fast as I was running, which is testament to his fast-packing skills (or my weak climbing). Once to the top of the climb there was a nice one- to two-mile stretch of singletrack high atop the canyon followed by a sharp, somewhat scrambly drop down to the dirt road back to the start/finish.

With longer vistas on the road, it looked like Tony had a minute or two on Andy and I, and we were all a bit surprised to see a young 50 miler pull back out from the turnaround. He looked strong and fresh, and certainly had me wondering if he would hold his pace or drift back to us as the miles took their toll. He was through the turn in 3:21, with Tony a minute ahead of us in 3:27.

Going into this race, I had set my sights on Duncan Callahan's course record of 7:41 thinking it was within reach. I had his splits from '07 taped to my bottle and saw that I had a 12-minute buffer to work with as we set out for the loop in reverse. Andy and I ran a pretty hard pace back up to the trail, seeing Keri and Bryan 10-15 minutes back on us. Keri, it turned out, was happy with 25 miles and called it a day there.

The quick early going was beginning to catch up with me a bit on the climb back up, and Andy built a decent gap. I was happy to settle into an easier pace that would get me to the finish without blowing up, figuring that one or two of the others might succumb to the sun. Meanwhile, I was just about keeping my crampy hamstrings alive, although felt that I was constantly one step behind with my electrolytes. Any high stepping over rocks would bring on a temporary set of quivers and force me to ease off a bit.

Coming back down the jeep track to the 30-mile aid I was surprised to see Tony walking. He was obviously in trouble. I offered salt thinking he was cramping, but he said his hip flexor was giving him grief. He ended up walking it in and getting a ride back to the start at 30 miles, leaving me in third. A wise move considering his bigger goals for June.

Dropping back down into the 30-mile aid station, I got a visual on Andy and he looked to have two or three minutes on me. No sight of the lead runner. After being told that he was showing no signs of slowing, I figured he was gone for the day. I was also pretty confident that Andy, with his multi-thousand-mile hikes around America, wasn't going to slow too much, so concentrated on forward momentum in an effort to keep a lock on third.

I had meant to slug a good amount of liquids at the 30-mile aid, but just filled up my water bottle while taking some Gu Blocks for the seven miles ahead. I had taken four or five gels to this point and was already tired of the sickly sweet taste. The blocks were no better and caused me to consume a lot of my 20 ounces of water early into this section just to get them down. With the legs tiring and a nasty side stitch cramping my style, I thought I could be in for a spot of bother until the next aid. I took almost 70 minutes to cover the seven miles to the 37.5-mile aid, with the last half an hour empty on fluids. When I did finally get there, I slugged a full 20 ounces before filling up again and taking off. The two volunteers told me that I was 5 and 12 minutes back on first and second, although they said both guys were starting to look a bit sketchy and had both asked for electrolytes. I figured maybe one of them would come back to me.

Three miles on to the next aid, I had lost the stitch and my legs had found a bit of life. The guys there told me that the lead runner was in trouble and was cramping. Sure enough, no more than five minutes out from the aid station and he was bent over massaging his hamstrings. We exchanged a couple of words, and I sympathised with his plight as I went by, figuring then that I had a lock on second with less than ten miles to go.

By the final aid station (44 miles), however, I was really beginning to hurt and was dreading the final climb. I still had a five- to six-minute buffer on Duncan's time from '07, but immediately made a wrong turn which I figured cost me the buffer.

The climb was as nasty as I was expecting, and I was beginning to feel pretty nauseous. The best I could do for 75 percent of this was a reasonably strong hike. The top finally came and it was a mile or two descent to the final mile of dirt road. I pulled into the finish in a time 0f 7:44, just three minutes back on the old course record, but 16 minutes back on Andy's new mark. The long-time leader, Sean, showed guts to get it finished in his first 50 miler coming in in 7:59. Bryan was fourth in about 8:10.

Splits

5.9 ....... 47:53
9.2 ....... 27:22 (1:15:15)
12.5 ...... 26:04 (1:41:19)
19.2 ...... 56:02 (2:37:21)
25.4 ...... 51:32 (3:28:53)
-----------------------------
31.6 ...... 53:12 (4:22:05)
38.3 ... 1:08:26 (5:30:31)
41.6 ...... 33:33 (6:04:04)
44.9 ...... 31:05 (6:35:09)
50.8 ... 1:07:25 (7:40:34)

Total climb (according to website) ~ 8,000 feet

The trails around Fruita are pretty special, and the Gemini Adventures team do a great job putting this race on for a very reasonable price. Andy Skurka had a great day, running strong for the win while also scooping the $100 premium for the first two miles and another $100 for the win. His talk and slide show at the awards were great, too.

I had a blast, and it was made all the better for the great company of Alene, Dennis, Kirk, Keith and their tribe of dogs.

Boy, Keith, Bella, Kirk, Alene, Dennis, Isabelle & Iris

Week Ending April 19

Mon - 7.5 miles. 0:54. Two full laps of Pineridge

Tues - 6.5 miles (800 feet). 47:36. Devil's Backbone 10k course. Started out easy, then pushed on way back.

Weds - 4 miles. Jogged a lap of Pineridge.

Thurs - Off

Fri - Off. I had meant to run both days, but wasn't too concerned

Sat - 51 miles (8,000 feet). Spring Desert Ultra.

Sun - Off

Total: 69 miles (9,000 feet of vertical)

Week Ending April 12

Mon - 5 miles easy on sloppy Maxwell trails (400 feet).

Tues - 8 miles (1,600 feet). 1:15. Horsetooth/Audra route. Took this one pretty easy. Pushed the downs a bit.

Weds - 10.2 miles, roads (750 feet). 1:13 (middle six in 36:57). Out and back to south dam on 38e. Two mile warm up, then middle six at tempo, and two mile cool down. Felt like a fairly easy effort out (17:44), but somewhat strained on the way back (19:13), especially the grind uphill in last mile. Disappointed to run the second three miles so much slower, despite the hill. Wind much less of a factor this week.

Thurs - 9 miles recovery/easy (1,200 feet). 1:27. Horsetooth - Spring Creek - Stout - Sawmill - Loggers - Carey Springs - Towers - Herrington - Spring Creek - Soderburg - Horsetooth - home. Recovery pace with slight push on downs.

Fri - 6 miles easy. 0:48. Jogged a couple laps of Pineridge.

Sat - 14 miles (1,200 feet) easy. 1:53. Indian Summer out and back on Blue Sky trail. Legs felt a little heavier than I'd hoped after an easy week.

Sun - 7.5 miles (1,100 feet). 0:54:51. LT on Horsetooth trails. Falls - Spring Creek - Stout - Herrington - Spring Creek - Soderburg - Horsetooth. Felt like I had some pep in my stride. Good strong run.

Total: 60 miles (6,000 vertical feet).

Legs finally started to feel like they were rested towards the end of the week. An easy five days upcoming and hopefully they'll be ready to go for Saturday.

Cougar Bait

I saw a lot of big-cat prints and a few kills up in Horsetooth this winter, but never actually caught sight of the elusive mountain lion.

We got a call from our neighbor Kenny yesterday suggesting we might want to come check out what looked suspiciously like cougar kill at the end of his driveway. Somewhat chilling, but there are so many deer up here that I don't think the lions would ever reduce themselves to eating human meat ... or at least that's what I tell Dana. Alistair was somewhat freaked out by the whole macabre scene, and was running around last night shouting "naughty deer, naughty lion".

This poor bugger has been dead for four or five days already, and according to Kenny the lion has been coming back nightly to chip away at the carcass.

Week Ending April 5

Mon - 6 easy/recovery on the treadmill

Tues - 10.2 miles (700 feet). 1:10:06. Out and back to south dam. Middle six near tempo (18:37, 20:07). Very windy around reservoir. Last 3/4 mile of tempo was up 300 foot hill with a massive headwind. Ended up working much harder than planned to maintain any kind of pace.

Weds - 8 miles (1,650 feet). 1:13. Horsetooth/Audra Culver route. Legs felt sluggish from yesterday. Pushed the downs.

Thurs - 13.5 miles (2,000 feet). 2:03. Horsetooth - Spring Creek/Stout - Mill Creek - Southridge - Horsetooth. Breaking trail through snow on Mill Creek. Pushed the downs. Felt decent, although a little sore in the quads.

Fri - 6 miles easy (600 feet). Milner.

Sat - 16 miles (2,500 feet). 2:40. Out with Ryan B. at Horsetooth. Up Horsetooth trail to Wathan, down to Spring Creek/Herrington, Towers to Mill Creek to Sawmill/Stout and back on Falls trail to TH and home. Deep snow made for tough conditions. Didn't get the 25 I was hoping for, but the legs felt like they got a long-run workout.

Sun - 15 miles easy (1,400 feet). 2:00. Out and back on Blue Sky/Indian Summer. Took it easy through most of this run, especially climbing. The trail was super sloppy, but I was just happy to be out after procrastinating on the run all day.

Total: 75 miles (8,900 feet of climbing)

Legs have been feeling kind of heavy. I can tell they are ready for a mileage cut back this week. Happy to get another 75-mile week in. Three-week training block has been 83, 75, 75 with 26.2, 27.5, 21 long runs, and (12 & 27.5); (21 & 14); (16 & 15) back to backs. Still struggling to motivate for speed workouts, but they will come. Hopefully the legs will be primed and ready to go come Fruita in two weeks.

Fruita Start List Posted

The mighty Colorado

With 7-8 inches of fresh powder on the ground it's hard to think about running in the desert, but with the entrant list for the Fruita Spring Desert Ultra recently posted, and the event just two weeks away, I thought I'd post a couple of thoughts about the competition and the race. And what a race. This is one of the more scenic 50 milers, and it marks the beginning of the Colorado ultra season. Best of all, the singletrack on the Kokopelli trail is about as sweet as it gets.

Went out for a run with Ryan B. yesterday up in Horsetooth. We were wading through some pretty deep stuff in places. The Mill Creek trail was calf to knee deep most of the way, with drifts up to waist deep. Most of the run was through the trees, so thankfully the wind wasn't too much of a factor. Although we only went 16 miles or so, it felt like a much harder workout.

Anyway, Ryan says he's shooting for a sub-eight-hour finish, which is pretty much in line with my goals. He's beaten me three out of the four times we've raced, so I'll be looking to redress the balance in Fruita, but don't fancy my chances. Last year's Leadville 100 winner, Duncan Callahan is also on the start list, fresh off his win at the Moab 100 last weekend. I believe he has the course record (7:41), so he's definitely the guy to beat. Keri Nelson is also on the start list, and will no doubt be in the running for a place.

Bryan Goding's name is not on the list, but I know he's registered. He's a strong and steady runner who'll eat up anyone dropping off the pace from the front. I think he was third last year and he has run some strong times in the past at Fruita. A couple of other names not on the list that might show up include last year's winner and permanent fixture, Allen Belshaw; guest speaker, fastpacker extraordinaire and second at Leadville in '08, Andrew Skurka; and I wouldn't be at all surprised if recent returnee to Colorado, Anton Krupicka, toes the line for an early season test of pace in preparation for the big showdown at Western States in June.

No matter who shows up, this race is a ton of fun and the views from the rim high above the Colorado are just breathtaking. Bring on the desert!

Downhill Running

AHHHH!

To the uninitiated, running downhill seems easy, fun and certainly preferable to running uphill.

Au contraire. I would take a net uphill race any day of the week, and I actively seek races that involve little to no downhill running. Downhills strike fear into the deepest recesses of my soul. Sure, it's fun to pound a technical downhill or two on a short training run or race, but the pounding delivered to the quads over the course of, say, 50 miles and 8,000 feet of descent is enough to reduce some of the most hardened runners to a quivering mess.

Of course, there are plenty of great downhill runners out there, and I used to think I was among them, especially on more technical stuff. While I still believe I have good downhill form, I'm learning that I do not have good downhill endurance. Prolonged descents during races consistently leave me with trashed, crampy quads and sundry aches elsewhere on my frame.

I was humbled a couple of weeks back at the Salida Marathon by Ryan Burch and Tim Parr who put 10 and 20 minutes on me respectively over the course of 13 miles of steady descent. This after I had paced with them through the opening 10-12 miles of climbing. Since that experience I have pledged to work the downs, rather than jog the downs in training as has been my MO through much of the winter.

While I think uphill strength is, on balance, more important than downhill strength in long-distance mountain running, fried quads can quickly ruin a race and leave you in perpetual fear of the next drop. The following five points are what I am finding work for me:

1. Consistent downhill training makes you a stronger runner. Ambling downhill is not a form of downhill training, just a comfortable way of getting down a hill/mountain after a long climb.

2. Gravity is your friend. Keep the body relatively straight (as opposed to bent at the waist) with your center of gravity over your feet (slight lean).

3. Avoid breaking as much as humanly possible. Let gravity dictate your pace and attempt to reduce foot contact with the ground by working a higher cadence and shorter stride. Long strides with strong push-offs and heavy ground contact will kill your quads ... quickly.

4. Keep the knees slightly bent in a bid to reduce quad and overall body pounding. Allow your knees to act as shock absorbers. This has been my biggest and most effective change thus far, but it is far from natural and I have to keep reminding myself. I'm fortunate in that my knees are still pretty strong. For those with weaker knees, this is probably not the best advice.

5. Stay focused and pick your line three, four or five steps ahead. Don't be afraid of falling. Be one with the trail.

Whatever works best for you, one thing is for sure, you can't ignore downhill training if you want to run a hilly long-distance race to the best of your ability.

March Spending/Miles

The month of March was a higher-mileage, low-dollar month. Perfect!

March 7 - Drive to RMNP & back. 60 miles @ $1.70/gal = $5
March 12 - Gels. $5
March 14 - Drive to Salida & back. 450 miles @ 1.70/gal = $18 ($38 (Chad pitched in $20)).
March 20 - Drive to Conoco & back. 20 miles = $2

Totals:

Total Spending ........ $30
Total Miles .............. 302 (32,000 feet of vertical)
Spending per Mile ... $0.1

That's the kind of dollar number a minimalist sport should be costing.

YTD Totals

Dollars:

Jan ......... $456
Feb ......... $284
March ...... $30
To date .... $770

Miles:

Jan .......... 265 (33,000 feet)
Feb .......... 259.5 (40,350 feet)
March ....... 302 (32,050 feet)
To Date ..... 826.5 (105,400 feet)

Spending per Mile: $0.93