Trail Running Season

One hundred or more runners along with some fast hikers will leave the starting line at 8 a.m. on Feb. 1 in Middle Concho Park as they start the first race of the 2014 Trail Running series.

This three-event running series, now in its eighth year, started back in January of 2007 as a Team San Angelo event.

I was the founder and initial race director of the series, working with a “race committee” that consisted of my wife, Pia, my friend Gary Cole, trail running partner Christian Poppeliers, and a few volunteers on mountain bikes to act as course marshals.

There were 11 of us on the start line for the first 10K trail race in 2007, with everyone grinning ear-to-ear about the “perfect” cold, wet, and muddy conditions that waited on the Spillway Hill trails.

Races two and three of the first series also had less-than-perfect weather, with cold rain/sleet, mud and strong winds providing extra challenges for the runners. The second 2007 event in particular (12K distance) was held in fun, slippery mud conditions that made not falling down a bigger challenge than trying to run fast.

Thirty-eight runners competed in one or more of the three trail events that first year, including some longtime San Angelo runners such as Terry Shaner, Lynn Zaruba, Mars Torres, Anthony Wilson, Shane Plymell, Mike Dotson, and Shirl Koeing.

After the small turnout in 2007, participation in the trail series grew rapidly over the next two years with 80-100 runners taking part in each of the 2009 series races. A 5K distance was also added to encourage entry-level runners and hikers to take part.

 The 2007-2009 trail races were low-key and friendly, with post-race traditions that included after-race refreshments such as my wife’s homemade Georgia cornbread and hot chocolate warmed on a camp stove.

Another early tradition was the infamous “Rock Award,” handed out to the person who finished the series with the biggest bruise or scrape after falling on the rough trails.

Fast forward to 2014 and the trail running series now has become a fixture on the local running calendar, with Shannon Medical Center as the event’s title sponsor and races now held on courses in both the Spillway Hill area and in San Angelo State Park.

The 2014 kickoff of the series will be the same as in 2007, with Race 1 using the same general Spillway Hill course that challenged runners during the inaugural event.

Runners will leave the starting line in Middle Concho Park, make their way to the park’s back gate and then on to the rough and rocky Mackenzie Trail that parallels the dirt access road as it winds around the base of Spillway Hill.

The Mackenzie Trail will lead to “The Bowl” where they’ll face a steep rocky uphill that leads to the

winding Big Snake Trail on top of the mesa and then onto a series of four-wheel-drive roads that meander to the top of the hill.

Runners will top out Spillway Hill and have a brief respite as they gaze out over the almost-dry Twin Buttes reservoir, and then descend down a rough track that leads into the Valley Trail.

The Valley Trail will take runners down close to the main dirt access road where they’ll connect with a gradual uphill four-wheel-drive track called “The Autobahn.”

At the top of The Autobahn climb, runners will turn onto a fun and twisty 1-mile section called “Gary’s Trail” and then onto a short rocky four-wheel-drive climb back to the top of Spillway where they’ll reconnect with the outbound course and then follow the same outbound route from the top back down to the finish line.

Gary’s Trail was named for my good friend Gary Cole, who helped me cut many of the trails on Spillway Hill. Gary passed away in 2007 but his spirit still roams the rough and rocky hill where he loved to hike.

The first race of the series will be 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) of pure trail running joy and even more fun if it’s cold, wet, and muddy.

The runners and walkers doing the shorter 5K (3.1 mile) route will follow the same course to the turnaround point just past the end of the Big Snake Trail.

Trail running events have grown in popularity both locally and nationwide as more runners recognize the increased “fun factor” of being on trails instead of hard pavement.

The rural scenery is a lot better than what you’ll see in subdivisions, and it’s OK to slow down and take a walking break during a trail run. In fact, the steeper sections of some trails may be best suited to a “fast hike” pace.

Poppeliers, an avid trail runner and former ASU physics professor who participated in the initial 2007 trail series event, says the rise in trail running popularity is because “trail running can take on many flavors ranging from mellow, groomed trails up to gnarly, steep single track and anything in between.”

“Unlike road running, the softer ground is much kinder to the joints and the variable terrain tends to prevent many overuse injuries often seen in road runners. It’s my absolute favorite way to run,” Poppeliers said. “The terrain is interesting, you’re climbing, descending, and jumping over roots or rocks, the miles fly by and it’s actually fun to run.”

For more information on the 2014 Trail Running series, visit the Road Lizards’ website at roadlizards.org/events/2014-trail-race-1.

The 2014 Trail Running series is going to be fun, so come out and join me for a leisurely run/walk at the back of the pack.

Racing the 2014 Cyclocross Nationals

The 2014 Cyclocross National Championships took place January 8-12  in Boulder, Colorado at

  Boulder's Valmont Bike Park.

I joined 1,800 other cyclists from all over the United States (including 17 from Texas) who made the trip north to race during the five-day event.

For those of you not familiar with the sport of cyclocross, a recent article in The Wall Street Journal aptly described it as “what resulted when road biking and mountain biking fell in love and had an awesome baby.”

Organizers of the 2014 championships described their Colorado course as being both “the best CX course in the United States” and also “significantly more difficult” than any of the other recent nationals courses.

The older 60 and above Masters racers from Texas, who raced in frigid 21 degree weather early on Thursday morning, described the course more succinctly as “extremely difficult and downright scary in places.”

“There were several sections that I chose to run down instead of try to ride,” said Waco’s Fred Schmid, a competitor in the 80+ category. "

 “The risk of a hard fall and serious injury on the steep icy sections made dismount-and-run the obvious decision for many of the early-morning racers.”

Texas racer Whitney Fanning of Waco, who raced in the 65-69 category, agreed with Schmid that “the course and weather conditions offered challenges we don’t encounter in Texas races.”

The Valmont Bike Park course included steep descents, never-ending sections of icy off-camber turns and climbs, and steep run-ups. Add packed snow and frozen mud ruts to the already rough terrain, and you have a recipe that significantly escalated the difficulty factor as illustrated in a video posted at cyclingfans.com/node/10490.

Several days before Thursday’s races, a foot of new snow fell on what would have already been a very hard course. Pre-riding by racers on Tuesday and non-championship racing on Wednesday afternoon coupled with daytime snow melt left a tangled web of packed snow and mud ruts that froze solid in the overnight sub-20 degree temperatures.

Short power climbs became unridable frozen run-ups, steep descents became a recipe for bone- and bike-breaking crashes, and off-camber downhill turns morphed into foot-out, try-not-to-crash slides or run-through sections.

On the lower portion of the course, the packed snow ruts and frozen mud made going fast difficult with bumpy low-traction straights linked together with 180 turns and small off-camber ups and downs.

The course started with a fast and flat dirt road that made a right turn and then immediately headed up a moderate double-track climb on packed snow.

After topping out the climb, racers went through a series of flat turns, dropped into a sharply-off-camber left-hand descent, and then turned back uphill into what should have been a short power climb.

With the mud ruts and icy snow, the short climb proved to be the first run-up of the day.
Racers remounted their bikes on top of the hill, rode through a frozen sand pit, and then dropped into a steep downhill through ice-covered mud ruts that lead into an icy right-hand corner at the bottom.

Many of the 60-and-older competitors opted to run down this section instead risking a hard crash on the frozen snow and icy mud ruts.

After completing the downhill, a flat section of frozen trail lead to the base of the 5280 stair run-up where racers shouldered their bikes to run (or walk) up the 24 steps of the double stair section. The top step was placed exactly at an altitude of 5,280 feet.

Competitors remounted their bikes after the stairs and then faced “Pete’s Plunge”, an off-camber twisty descent named for the course designer Pete Webber.

Many racers slid out or crashed on this section to the delight of hecklers who lined the course encouraging racers to go faster in hopes of seeing a spectacular wreck.

After riding (or sliding) through Pete’s Plunge, riders went onto the lower part of the course where more ice and packed snow, 180-degree turns, short off-cambers, and another set of run-up stairs waited for victims.

The most difficult lower-course section featured double uphill barriers followed immediately by a tricky off-camber 180-degree turn that went down and then back up. Many races opted to continue running through the off-camber instead of remounting after the barriers.

The remainder of the lower course proved to be much more difficult than expected as the early morning sun melted the top layer of packed snow leaving a slick wet film on top. Crashes were common in these areas with traction being nonexistent on the fast corners.

The consensus among older Master’s racers from Texas was that both the course and related weather conditions were the most difficult they had ever experienced.

Waco’s Fred Schmid finished 2nd in the Men’s 80-84, Bill Cullins was 12th in the 65-69, and Waco’s Whitney Fanning rolled across the finish line 13th in the 65-69.

The 2015 national cyclocross championships will be held in Texas in Austin’s Zilker Park, with Texas racers hoping that the normally warmer and dryer Austin conditions will provide a better opportunity for Texas racers to place high.

This year’s cyclocross national championships were cold, rough, and snowy, so let’s hope that Austin in 2015 is dry, warm, and fast.