What: A 68K or 42M training run on the STORMY course starting and ending at Powerhouse Aid Station.
Why: After 3 years at CFA, I finally decided to take the plunge (no pun intended) and decided to give back by hosting an event. Granted, this is a Flash event, so the committent level isn't quite there yet, but depending on how things go, I'll see on making this a more regular thing.
Who: Anybody is welcome to come and doesn't mind running loops. I'm sure I'll see a Fool or two out there. You don't necessarily have to be registered for the Stormy 50/100 mile race to participate.
Where: Meet at the Powerhouse Aid Station, in Squamish, BC.
Getting there: Turn east off Hwy 99 onto the gravel Mamquam Forest Service Road. (20m South of Stawamus R. Crossing/50m S. of Valley Dr. traffic lights) Drive 5.2 km from Hwy 99 turnoff and park at the Powerhouse.
When: Saturday, May 24th at 7:00am.
Route: Baldy's Bonkfest course is three loops of the STORMY course starting at Powerhouse Aid Station via Nine Mile or Bonk Hill (Mamquam FSR), Lava Flow Hill, to Ring Creek Rip, the infamous Powerhouse Plunge, then Powerhouse Falls and ending at Powerhouse Aid Station.
http://homepage.mac.com/designr2/stormy/STORMY-Map-18Jun07.pdf
Powerhouse
|
| |
“Bonk Hill” and “9-Mile hill” |
|
|
This is a long, uphill slog. Stay on the main Mamquam Forest Service Road, ignoring secondary routes. This is an active forest road: traffic should be light but take care. The Mamquam River & gorge should always be to your left. At no point on this section should you be on a single track.
|
|
|
As the Mamquam glacier captivates you, look out for a large bridge. Cross the bridge, then go left onto the first trail (marked by a blue painted boulder) in ~250m This is the climb up lava flow hill.
|
| |
After a short flat section at the top of the hill, turn left onto single track. This is the Ring Creek Rip, a long, long downhill on an old road. Pass 2 wreaked cars. When you finally come to a major fork, turn left at sign for Powerhouse Plunge (ignore right fork, signed Ring Creek Crossing) |
| |
Stay on flat trail for ~1.5km. At fork, go right onto the zigzags of the “powerhouse plunge.” Cross a wide gravel road. Go back onto single track to your left for a few hundred yards, exiting at the Powerhouse water station/info board (visited earlier) and broad trail where you turn left. |
|
|
This next section should be familiar! Continue on main trail and down steep black stoned rough road. Cross the Powerhouse Bridge and go uphill to a yellow gate. At intersection, go right
|
Aid: Be prepared to be self-sufficient. While there may be water on the course, I wouldn't recommend drinking it, unless you have purification tablets. We should have access to our cars at the end of each loop so plan accordingly.
Entry: There is no fee and you don't need to be a member of Club Fat Ass to participate in a Flash event, however whining is not allowed. No registration is required but please indicate your participation via the comment form below. You are responsible for your own well being and safety and should be self sufficient. Please read the Release of All Claims. By participating in this event you agree to the terms of the Release of All Claims.
Comments
I did my report as a
I did my report as a separate blog entry. Sorry about that.
Blog is Perfect
Sorry to hear about your foot. Hope it gets better soon.
Blog post to report on a flash event is perfect. I "attached" it to the original event calendar posting - so it is no accessible via blog posts and at the bottom of the event page (as a link).
Sibylle
Baldy's Bonkfest
Bonkfest preview
Well, it took me 3:14 to do one loop of Bonkfest, going up Nine Mile Hill.
There's a few downed trees on Ring Creek Rip and some very low hanging branches, but I avoided being bonked.
The trail is all runnable and very, very warm, dare I say, hot, especially at 1pm.
You might want to leave a little earlier to make the start time at 7am, it took me 2 hours to get to the start from Burnaby, but I think that's from all the construction on the Sea to Sky. And the P.D. looking for speeders. Bring lots of fluid, if you're going for multiple loops.
I took a lot of pictures of this trail and you can see what awaits you next week:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28352793@N00/
Post Bonkfest activities:
Get cleaned up at Brennan Park Recreation Centre which is located at 1009 Centennial Way.
If anyone's interested, I'll be heading down to the Howe Sound Inn and Brew Pub at 37801 Cleveland Ave in Squamish for some much needed rehydration and quite possibly to take food orders for a few Fools. I plan to get there roughly 7:00pm-ish.
Hope to see you all bright and early or later.
Pub sounds good
Night run
Could be a gorgeous night
That's what the pub is for!
I could be talked, prodded, goaded or dared into doing another lap after a drink or five.
Get an opportunity to do some quality night training which would be a slight change from last year where I didn't do any!
Quality Night Training
How to get to Powerhouse
For those of you who don't know where Powerhouse Aid station is supposed to be, I've added a new subheading: "Getting There"
I'm going on Friday to preview the trail and see if what I've posted is still current.
If you want to come, maybe we can arrange a carpool or something.
Carpool
What time on Friday? Are you planning on camping? I may even decide to spend the entire weekend playing in Squamish. Cheryl, count me in on staying over
Just a 3 hour tour
I have the whole day to do this. I will probably go 8-9am, do it once and maybe again in reverse. Then go to the Howe Sound Pub.
Btw does anyone know where the golf course trail from Powerhouse leads back to Brennan rec centre? And how long is the distance from Brennan to Powerhouse on that trail?
Oh, you know what? I'll just run it when I get there.
Perfect
How high are we going?
Thanks to Tim W's GPS, each loop will be 2050 feet in gain. So for the mathematically challenged:
1 lap = 2,050 ft.
2 laps = 4,100 ft
3 laps = 6, 150 ft
and so on...
what's a foot?
I'm in for a lap or two.
If Gilles is going to run 100 miles...
Great, Baldwin! Wendy will
BTW, for your (and anybody elses convenience) in hosting and running a Stormy-CFA Flash training run, there is a course description posted at: http://www.clubfatass.com/events/TheBrick/course It should be fairly easy to copy the part you'll be running on and paste into the above page.