The odometer rolled-over on Mountain Highway Madness this year. I thought I’d propose something a bit different for the 10th anniversary. Why don't we make it a group run and bag a peak while we're at it?
Eric was all for it. Unfortunately for him, he showed-up a day early. (Ha, ha. Gotta read the agenda, Eric. Did you earn trash points? =;-)
Swad had to be different. He signed-up to do laps. "How many laps you going for, Swad?", I asked. "Oh, I don't know", he answered. He didn't appear to have any food and he was going solo. I figured him for 2.
It was nice to see the familiar faces and great to see several new fat-asses. Cressman and his gang came from East Van. Frank came all of the way from South Africa!
We started promptly at 7:30. The fast folks took off as a group, but no worries... I was the only one who knew how to find the trail to the peak of Fromme, so they had to wait. Swad had a big smile on his face and looked fresh as he made his way downhill. A large group waited at the turnaround... an abandoned stone quarry. I offered bonus points to whoever grabbed a rock for my rock wall project, but got no takers.
Bill's Trail is a lesser known, runnable gem that leads to the summit from the quarry. We had barely changed gears from gravel road to single track when I let out a holler, "Purple Corts!" Rick, Cressman and some of my other frequent trail companions shook their heads, but I believe most of the others were startled when I abruptly stopped to photograph several large, velvety purple mushrooms just off the trail. Yes, after a summer of dry heat, the recent monsoons and warm, humid weather were perfect for mushrooms... and there were gobs of good ones (3 types of yummy boletes!) at higher altitudes.
It was a mob scene at the summit of Mount Fromme. By my reconning, a Bagger Challenge world record for the most people to simultaneously bag a peak! Given the fog, there was not much of a view, but we did find an ammo box full of cool stuff (geo-cache). Only 2 people had signed the log since Bill's Great Peak Ascent last year. I noted the occasion, but had nothing special to trade.
Rather than take the same trail back, we opted to take a longer route back to Mountain Highway via a secret lake. Rick calls it Leech Lake. There were no takers for a skinny dip.
The descent was steep and super-slippery. It’s a miracle nobody broke an ankle. I shared the story about the time Bill and I got off the trail and spent several hours whacking through devils club somewhere to the east of this trail, but being concentrated on their foot placement, I don’t think anyone heard it.
Back on the dirt road, the fast boys cranked it up and took off. There were lots of mountain bikers heading up as the rest of us headed-down. There was some discussion about dropping in at the Van Tan Club as we neared the bottom of the hill, but concensus was that we were overdressed in our running shorts and tech t-shirts. Near the bottom, the group I was with added another special bonus to the run and took a new mountain bike trail in for the last 500m. Apparently, we missed seeing Swad head up for lap 3.
All-in-all, a fine day to be on the trails. Congrats to all who did a lap and bagged a peak on the 10th anniversary run... and a respectful tip-of-the-hat to Jim Swadling, who joined the elite few to have gone platinum (4 laps... 60K) on water and cold pizza!!!
Ean Jackson
Host of the Fall Mountain Highway Madness
PS Congrats to Frank for winning a purple heart for twisting his ankle and for travelling the farthest. You get a subscription to Trail Runner Magazine!
PS Please post your comments, impressions, corrections to the results and feedback via the comment link below.
Photos can be added to the CFA Flickr group, tagged with FallMountainHighwayMadness2013 FallMountainHighway ClubFatAssEvents ClubFatAssEvents2013
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Submitted by FrankieDocs on 8 September, 2013 - 19:22.
Thanks all for a glorious run and helping me to bag my very first peak in Vancouver. I now can look forward to the Baggers dinner, where "the whisky flows like water" (Jackson).
I am quite intrigued by the points system - we all ran the same run and most got 2 points, except poor Paul who got 1 and David Weightman who got zero. Jim ran for almost double our time for 4 laps (very impressive) and also got 2 points!! Sounds like a wonderful system.
Submitted by Sibylle on 9 September, 2013 - 18:30.
Hi Frank,
Haha, good comments regarding the pointseries. It a mysterious thing...
Running in circles/laps does not earn you points. Running fast doesn't help either...
Preregistered runners get 2 points, bonus point for helping another runner in the event or somebody on the trail (this only happens if somebody puts your name forward for good sportsmanship). 2 bonus points for hosting a scheduled event (1 for a flash event). Only 1 point for registering a day before or the morning of the event in person. No points or minus points (disgression of the event host) if you register, but don't show. Same thing if you are not a current member...
Which brings up some housekeeping points. Runners in Sunday's event who haven't joined the club and paid their dues yet, please do so at http://www.clubfatass.com/join Single day or annual memberships available or you will have to wear the pirate patch forever after...
Submitted by Crossboy on 8 September, 2013 - 18:16.
Great day on the mountain. Congrats to Jim for sticking to the plan and knocking out an impressive 4 laps. Great to have an adventure with some new people and get caught up with the old ones (Jackson)...
Dave...no not that one the other one...yeah that was me!
Thanks for the event, Jackson. Enjoyable, even though you did such a good selling job on your Mt Fromme diversion that I was alone on the treadmill. Hope you enjoyed the views
No worries, I had the workout I wanted and met plenty of people I knew on the road. Though none of them seemed to want to run with me, can't imagine why. I think I saw all the rest of the gang on their return from Fromme - except you and Rick. Hope you're back ok!
I completed four laps although the last one was a bit marginal. I kind've wanted to do a fifth, but even after some cold pizza at the end of lap 4 I couldn't quite take the first step. Probably just as well. Came home with the required blood wounds which required a good application of IPA to alleviate. Times as follows:
Submitted by Ean Jackson on 9 September, 2013 - 19:25.
Way to go, Swad. Goodness, I had you pegged for 2 laps. What the heck did you eat? Did some kind mountain biker take pity on you and throw a slice of cold, day-old pizza at you?
Comments
Thanks
Thanks all for a glorious run and helping me to bag my very first peak in Vancouver. I now can look forward to the Baggers dinner, where "the whisky flows like water" (Jackson).
I am quite intrigued by the points system - we all ran the same run and most got 2 points, except poor Paul who got 1 and David Weightman who got zero. Jim ran for almost double our time for 4 laps (very impressive) and also got 2 points!! Sounds like a wonderful system.
Thanks FrankieDocs
Hi Frank, Haha, good
Hi Frank,
Haha, good comments regarding the pointseries. It a mysterious thing...
Running in circles/laps does not earn you points. Running fast doesn't help either...
Preregistered runners get 2 points, bonus point for helping another runner in the event or somebody on the trail (this only happens if somebody puts your name forward for good sportsmanship). 2 bonus points for hosting a scheduled event (1 for a flash event). Only 1 point for registering a day before or the morning of the event in person. No points or minus points (disgression of the event host) if you register, but don't show. Same thing if you are not a current member...
Which brings up some housekeeping points. Runners in Sunday's event who haven't joined the club and paid their dues yet, please do so at http://www.clubfatass.com/join Single day or annual memberships available or you will have to wear the pirate patch forever after...
Nice run today all.
Great day on the mountain. Congrats to Jim for sticking to the plan and knocking out an impressive 4 laps. Great to have an adventure with some new people and get caught up with the old ones (Jackson)...
Dave...no not that one the other one...yeah that was me!
thanks
Thanks for the event, Jackson. Enjoyable, even though you did such a good selling job on your Mt Fromme diversion that I was alone on the treadmill. Hope you enjoyed the views
No worries, I had the workout I wanted and met plenty of people I knew on the road. Though none of them seemed to want to run with me, can't imagine why. I think I saw all the rest of the gang on their return from Fromme - except you and Rick. Hope you're back ok!
I completed four laps although the last one was a bit marginal. I kind've wanted to do a fifth, but even after some cold pizza at the end of lap 4 I couldn't quite take the first step. Probably just as well. Came home with the required blood wounds which required a good application of IPA to alleviate. Times as follows:
1: 46:54 - 35:23 - 1:22:17
2: 44:07 - 34:30 - 1:18:37
3: 46:03 - 36:19 - 1:22:22
4: 59:19 - 36:24 - 1:35:43
Total: 5:38:59
cheers,
swad
You stud!
Way to go, Swad. Goodness, I had you pegged for 2 laps. What the heck did you eat? Did some kind mountain biker take pity on you and throw a slice of cold, day-old pizza at you?