Longs peak triathlon
The Longs Peak Triathlon involves biking from Boulder (~5000ft) to the Longs Peak trailhead (43 miles, ~9000ft), hiking in to (~5miles, ~12,500ft) and climbing the Diamond (~14,000ft), then hiking and biking back. It should probably involve summiting longs, but sometimes that just isn't in the cards. It also usually involves soloing the Diamond to make it easier to do in a day, but that is not something I have any interest in. So, a little after midnight Tuesday morning I hopped on my bike and (with Cynthia driving behind me) began the ride. We made it to the trailhead around 3:30 (I think), and hit the trail by ~4:20. Fortunately we had gear stashed at the base of the Diamond, so our packs weren't too heavy. We did the hike in good time, were in the North Chimney around 8AM, and started up the Casual Route (5.10) around 9. Here things started to fall apart as there were two parties ahead of us, and we weren't climbing particularly fast to begin with. As soon as the sun went a way (top of the combined pitch 2/3) it got COLD. Donning our warmest clothes and gloves while belaying we pushed on and topped out on Table Ledge around 5:30. By the time we rappeled back to the base it was after 8. We then collected all of our gear (and steve's, ahem, someone owes us a beer), and hiked back out, reaching the trailhead just after midnight. At this point we both decided it would not be terribly safe for me to make the bike ride down, so we sat in the parking lot and ate food (real food tasted really good after eating bars all day). We both hopped in the car and made it back to boulder safe and sound around 1:30AM. Today, my legs don't want to do much of anything.
Riding up
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dark
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Hiking in
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sunrise
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classic
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CIMG5620.JPG
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Table Ledge
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