Brick Sandwich

A couple of weeks ago my buddy Jon Geller and I were discussing bricks – a bike ride followed by a run. He mentioned he had started doing bike, run, bike bricks – riding to various trails, locking his bike at the trailhead, then running before riding home. I remembered I had done that once last year while training for the Colorado Marathon. I wanted to run down Rist Canyon, but did not have a car to drive up, so I rode up Rist Canyon to the mailboxes at mile marker 14, ran two miles up to the top, then four miles down (passing my bike on the way), then two miles back up to my bike to ride home.

Two weeks ago I decided it was time for another Brick Sandwich (running in the middle of your ride). I packed my Nathan with PowerBar Endurance and some PowerBites, along with my Newton Trail shoes, and rode up and over Rist. I locked my bike at the Stove Prairie School, then ran 45 minutes (25 out, 20 minute back on Old Flowers road. My pace was slow, and my calves were screaming from riding so hard up Rist Canyon. I got back on my bike, rode up and over into Rist, then down the canyon and home. My total time was four hours, and I felt great.

Sunday I did another Brick Sandwich. Once again, I packed my Nathan with PowerBar endurance and a few bags of Powerbites and put on my Newton trainers. This time I rode though Buckhorn Canyon, watching the Gran Fondo racing down the canyon as I went up. This was a great day to ride this course, with so many riders and people watching the event, not to mention having EMTs (including my husband) stationed at Stove Prairie School. I felt my bike would be very safe locked up by the school again. This time I had my Timex Global Trainer so I could track my elevation and distance ran.

Here are my results. 30 miles riding up, 2,500 feet of elevation gain though Buckhorn. I started my run at 7,300 feet at the base of Old Flowers Road and gained 1,000 feet of elevation on my run. I turned around at 8,334 feet of elevation after running five miles in an hour – Old Flowers Road has some very steep sections. It took me 50 minutes to run down. As I approached my bike around noon, the EMTs were leaving the station, as all of the Gran Fondo riders had come though that area. I got to say hi to my husband before heading back down Buckhorn Canyon.
Total time: 5:45. 60 miles of riding plus 10 miles of running. Thank you to the event volunteers for filling up my water bottle even though I was not in the event.