Winter M.A.D. ness

January 18, 2004

The venerable and incomparable Bill Briggs has dreamed up and pulled off such a myriad of mountain adventures in Colorado that is baffles the mind that any have eluded him, but bad luck has conspired to shut him out of a winter Mount Audubon Duathlon (MAD). This involves biking from Boulder up towards Brainard Lake and then proceeding onwards to the summit of Mt. Audubon (13,300+ feet). He’s tried it with skis on his bike. He’s tried it with snowshoes. He’s been shut down by high winds, deep snow, cold temperatures, and icy roads. Oh, and he’s always gone solo. Today would be different.

Photo 1: Stefan and Alan at the start.

I’d done the MAD twice before: once in the summer of 2002 and once this last fall. It would have never occurred to me to do such a crazy thing if it wasn’t for Bill Briggs. By signing on to attempt this I made one of the classic blunders, the most famous of which is never to get involved in a land war in Asia, but only slightly less well known is never to go in with Bill Briggs when endurance is on the table. Going with Bill Briggs on an adventure around Boulder is like climbing the Nose with Hans Florine or an alpine route with the late, great Alex Lowe – it’s flat out cheating. But even that wasn’t sufficient for me. I recruited another uber-athlete: Stefan Griebel. Stefan can ride a knobby tired mountain bike as fast as I can ride my 18-pound Magic Bike ™. He’s ridden the 140-mile Kokopelli Trail on a mountain bike in a single day. The nice thing about having partners like this is there is no shame being last. Since that is my usual position even in less talented company, I like the break from the ego bruising.

Photo 2: Stefan and Chocolate Malte at the road closure - the end of the biking for Bill and I.

We met at the trailhead parking on Lee Hill Road at 8 a.m. Stefan had recruited a couple of other tough guys: Chocolate Malte and Alan Doak. Alan teamed with Stefan this past summer to pull off the Longs Peak Triathlon: bike from Boulder to the trailhead, hike to the base of the Diamond, fire it, and now reverse it. Audacious. Chocolate Malte and Alan were also on mountain bikes, but Bill and I oped for road bikes. When we met the temperature was 20 degrees and we changed our minds and eagerly accepted support from the Chick Mobile, piloted by Stefan’s girlfriend Cheryl, Alan’s girlfriend, and another angel of mercy. They were driving up the road closure and were going to attempt Audubon as well. We off loaded all our gear into their car and I went with just a couple of GU packets in my bike pocket and a single water bottle.

Photo 3: Bill Briggs, getting ready to start the hiking/running and, apparently, pretty excited about it.

We headed west on Lee Hill Road and when things got steep I had to stand because of my gearing. This ensured that I’d open up a gap on the others. I waited at the top of Lee Hill Road and soon Bill, Malte, and Stefan arrived, but no Alan. We waited for another few minutes and then I headed back down to check on him. I descended through the last four turns and yelled for him, but heard nothing. I didn’t think he could be this far behind without a mechanical problem or perhaps turning around. We decided to continue without him. If he wasn’t having any mechanical problems it was highly unlikely that he’d make the summit. Stefan told me later that Alan said he wasn’t feeling that strong just a mile into the ride. He’d eventually make it to Ward before turning around and descending with Malte, who was only out for the ride.

Photo 4: Stefan at the trailhead. Only four miles and 2700 vertical left to go!

We descended into Left Hand Canyon and the temperature dropped further. We were steadily climbing up the canyon, but no sun hit us and we got colder and colder. I was only wearing a couple of layers on top, figuring it was enough for all the climbing we’d be doing. I was planning on picking up more layers at the road closure where the girls were parking the car. I had some light pile pants on, but they had a windbreak on the front side. I had neoprene booties on my feet and so did Stefan, but Bill had no protection on this thin biking shoes. I don’t know how he survived this. Malte was riding in what looked like cotton pants with nothing underneath. By the time we got to Ward he had frozen his John Thomas solid.

Photo 5: Bill Briggs leading the way as we reach treeline.

I hit the Peak to Peak Highway above Ward in just under two hours – about the time it took me to get to the trailhead last Fall. I had another small lead due to the very steep last two miles. We regrouped here and then continued up to the road closure. Stefan and I tested the snowpack beyond the closure but I didn’t think it was possible for my thin-tired road bike and Bill and I decided to continue on foot. This adds an additional 6+ miles of foot travel, which we were none too excited about. We had a leisurely transition here were Stefan provided hot Gatorade, chips, and even a Red Bull. This guy is essential for any tough adventure.

Photo 6: Stefan pointing out the location of Navajo Peak.

Stefan carried his snowshoes and Bill’s shoes, then Bill carried one of mine and I carried the other. Bill and I trotted the flats and downhills and power hiked the uphills along the snowpacked road. After 5-10 minutes we noticed a thin strip of pavement and lamented the fact that we hadn’t pushed the bike up here. We briefly thought about going back, but didn’t know if things would continue. In retrospect, we should have brought the bikes. Stefan was able to ride clear to the trailhead, though had to push through some drifts.

Photo 7: Myself, Bill, and Stefan on the summit.

Bill and I made Brainard Lake in only 25 minutes and continued around it and up another mile to the trailhead where we found Stefan waiting for us. We took another casual transition where we donned snowshoes and we were off. We hiked up the semi-packed trail to the where we cut straight toward the summit. Steep snowslopes led us up onto a wind swept ridge where we pulled off the snowshoes. We hiked up to and through the dreaded willows, which aren’t so bad in winter. We put the snowshoes back on for another ten minutes before leaving them behind for good as we took to the talus.

Photo 8: Ultra-runner extraordinarie Peter Bakwin.

I was getting tired now and dropped a bit behind. The tireless Briggs forged on ahead and Stefan hung back a bit with me. The talus seemed to go on forever. After 10-15 minutes below the summit we saw Bill talking to another climber. I figured there was a fair chance we’d know this person. Sure enough, it was Peter Bakwin. He had known about our duathlon effort, but the 15 degree temperatures had him foregoing the bike leg. Peter had already summitted, but turned around and headed back up with us. I was impressed with his energy and endurance in the windy, cold conditions.

Photo 9: Stefan getting some love from Cheryl before we head down on the bikes.

Speaking of the cold conditions, in the past I have attacked long adventures with electronic warfare, arming myself with MP3 players, an altimeter watch, a heart rate monitor, a digital camera, and maybe a cell phone, but in cold weather I switch over to chemical warfare. I was full sole chemical heaters in my shoes, chemical heaters in my gloves, and even a pad on the back of my neck. The shoe inserts worked so well on the initial hiking section on the road, that I almost had to take them out since my feet were getting so hot. As it was, I went clear to the summit and back, mostly in snow in just running shoes (and Homie’s patented two-gaitor system). The high in Boulder this day was 44 degrees.

We spent about five minutes on the summit, eating some food, drinking, and snapping a couple of photos. The views were great, but the constant wind pummeled us and we had a long way to go back to the car. I fell behind again on the descent as the strong men ran down the talus. I shuffled along as best as I could, trying not to twist an ankle or fall in the talus. We made it back to the trailhead (not the car) in under three hours roundtrip. It had taken us just under two hours to summit and under an hour to descent. Bill, Peter, and I still had 3+ miles of foot travel back to the car, but Stefan buzzed down on his bike.

We ran some and walked most of the trip back to the car. I was thankful the tough runners with me didn’t run more or I’d have been left far behind. Stefan was waiting for us with his harem of chicks at the car. They provided us more water, food, and bundled us up like young kids going out into the snow. We all wore goggles for the bike down and figured these saved our faces. I got an extra pair of chemical heaters for my gloves and we put on all the clothes we had. Fully bundled up, the descent wasn’t as bad as I was expecting and we moved along with a minimum of misery. The final climb back over Lee Hill Road warmed us up nicely for the descent to the finish.

We did the roundtrip in 8h22m, supported to be sure. We biked about forty miles, ran or hiked 15 miles, and covered about 8500 vertical feet. That’s a pretty good workout in the winter and I think everyone was sufficiently satisfied, but none more than Bill Briggs. After four or five attempts, this monkey was finally off his back. So, what’s next? Longs Peak? Yikes. I can’t think of that now…