It's official: I just sent in my entry for the Sawtooth 100. I was describing the course to a friend and mentioned that it's the only race where the mountains at the end are the easy part. That led to :
Him: There's no mountains in Minnesota.
Me: Trust me, there's mountains.
Him: I'm from Colorado.
Me: I'm so tired of hearing about the 55 14,000 foot peaks.
Him: 54.
Me: No, they just built a new one outside Denver. What you guys never say is that you can drive to the base of the mountains and you're at 13-9. The peaks are only a hundred feet high. And half of them have escalators. I once climbed two of them by accident when I parked on the wrong end of a parking lot.
Him: ????????
I turned to look
16 hours ago
5 comments:
Hahahahahahaha! KERTWANG, Coloradan!
I don't particularly consider myself an apologist for the East Coast or its topography, but when I was out in the Pacific Northwest, I kinda got tired of hearing the P NWers say, with like a proprietary pride, "You call what you have on the East Coast mountains? Out here they wouldn't even be called foothills..."
The hubris with which they said these things was absurd. You expected the next line out of their mouths to be, "See thet thar mountain thar? Me 'n' mah Blue Ox, Babe, built thet back in aught-three ..."
Good job putting them in their place, SQ!
well, well, well.... another soul who thinks they might just waltz through Superior Sawtooth. The course can't be understood through vernacular, it must be done physically and mentally. Did you also tell him that the SHT is unmolested single-track and not buttery smooth dirt packed singletrack like you see a lot of out west. It will only be a matter of time before he experiences the horrific bastinado that presents itself on the craggy root infested section descending to Bob Silver logging Rd. and further on down to Caribou River.
Of course that is all after the cellular decomposition of the quads through the Crosby Manitou section, which i refer to as the abattoir, not to mention it's such a long section (10 miles) before any aid station (sugarloaf). I'll be there watching it all go down. Tell your friend that he could not have picked a more beautiful and challenging course. World Class!
It was my first 100, and I was humbled all 102.6 miles.
all i can tell him is... prepare for a long day, carry two 22 oz bottles, have excellent lights, and respect the potential "red lining" ascents.
Steve: let me know if you would like to use my "jerry-rigged" head lamp system. Let me tell you it is light weight, but wonderfully bright... From above it will look like a police chopper shining lamp!
this rig is only used for SHT just because of how dark it is on that trail.
Add me to the list.
Just signed up last night. So much for my year of "no, I am not running it".
Growing up in the West, I feel I can comment. While the Angeles Crest trail has a lot altitude gain and loss, one could probably ride a Schwinn Cross bike across most of it. I have hiked a lot of it, as well as many trails in the Sierra/Nevadas.
I am tired of hearing it too. The 1-2 West Coasters who ran it last year did not fare too well from what I remember.
But what do I know? I thought I could do Voyageur 1 hour faster than I did.
Errr, the friend's not running Sawtooth, just wondering.
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