bluerail wrote:Thanks Ellen, Karin and Mark for another great day on the trail. Really enjoyed it. talk to you soon. Steve
Yesterday was awesome…
Ellen, Karin, Steve and I met in the Museum parking lot at 5am. Since it was 49 degrees we spent a few minutes deciding whether to take warmer gear up. Ellen unpacked some gear deciding it was superfluous to requirements, I decided to take nothing extra, Steve took the same pack as last Saturday despite posting that he'd learned not to lug so much stuff up. The only visible part of Karin was her face. We met Gary from Pasadena in the parking lot and he headed up solo during our deliberations.
Made good time up to the picnic tables, overtaking Gary before halfway by going up the vertical shortcut. After wondering where we'd appeared from, he decided to join us. Paused for a minute at the Death Sign then kept heading up at a good, steady pace.
As mentioned on another thread it was my goal to beat 5:30. It was Ellen's too as our best times were a minute apart at 5:36 and 5:35. After our hike last Saturday, Ellen observed that I show classic signs of muscle glycogen depletion after Flat Rock. My laymen's description had been that I get absolutely bloody knackered and can only move slower and slower while using an increasing amount of what some may consider inappropriate language. Now I'm glycogen depleted, baby! That sounds much better. I did know the theory, of course, but thought I'd been consuming enough carbs on previous hikes and assumed my bonking was due to my body type and insufficient uphill hiking conditioning. Ellen advised me to fuel earlier, adding about 50% more carbs and remembering to take on fuel all the way through the hike (previously I had my last gel about 20 minutes before Flat Rock). Also, that I should consume about 500 more calories the day before, loading up glycogen in my muscles and liver.
We took every short cut I knew, got to 4300' in 2:27 and had a 2-3 minute rest before heading off again. At around this elevation the wind picked up significantly and it felt cold. My hands started to get numb and I second-guessed the decision I'd made in the parking lot. Wondered if Karin would mind donating one glove. We could see the cloud layer in the Banning Pass and others coming over the top of the ridges to our South. Looked spectacular but it was colder than I’d anticipated and the wind was picking up.
My strategy to get up in under 5:30 included getting to Flat Rock 12 minutes faster than my best, in 3:45. Steve and I had broken away from the others on the Never Ending Ridge. Gary was close but we couldn't see Ellen or Karin. Looked at my watch at Flat Rock and we'd made it in 3:47. Felt much better than usual and so Steve and I kept going. Gary soon caught up with us. The sun had come out and it warmed up significantly.
This is where I noticed that Ellen's fueling advice was definitely working. I was getting tired but no where near as badly as previous hikes. Steve was a great hiking partner and his dry wit was amusing all the way up. He claimed I had begun to make weird grunting noises as I became more tired. Somewhere before the traverse he exclaimed, “Wow! Ellen’s only 30 seconds behind and she was at least 5 – 10 minutes back. She looks like a hiking - monster coming up the hill! She’s going to catch and overtake us!” We went over the traverse and headed to Coffman’s Crag. I was starting to bonk but kept pushing on. The four of us were together now but we didn’t know where Karin was. After Coffman’s bonking was definitely on the cards for me and I switched from English to uncensored Anglo-Saxon, although Steve said I was still making strange grunting sounds. Something must have been lost in translation. At one point we went left and Ellen headed right. A sneaky overtaking maneuver which we responded to, resulting in the four of us in identical positions 25m up the trail! Gary announced we had 7 minutes, then 4 minutes left. I cursed him in Anglo-Saxon as I assumed it was to make the 5:30 goal and I was fast running out of gas. I didn’t want to know the time as I knew I’d have trouble responding. Apologies, Gary! About 100m from the top I was now in full bonk mode, but was enthusiastically encouraged not to stop by Ellen and Steve. Went over the top, looked at our watches and the four of us had finished, a meter or two apart, in 5:13! Not only beating 5:30, but also getting in under 5:15 was a very pleasant surprise. Five minutes later Karin finished – she’d had to stop at Flat Rock with a cramp, but still made it in 5:18.
I felt a surge of great satisfaction at a goal achieved. Then thought I was going the throw up. This was a false alarm that I put down to consuming 4 strawberry/banana and two green apple gels, plus one energy bar and 1.5l of Gatorade. I’d decided earlier in the year that the only gels that I liked were vanilla ones. The others are too sickly sweet for me but there had apparently been a run on vanilla gels the week before in Palm Springs.
Lost Steve on the way back to the concrete ramp but then noticed he’d taken a short cut and was walking up through the rocks to the tram station! The bar was closed so we rode down the tram where we ran into Scott, and the six of us shared a cab. Ellen, Karin, Steve and I went to Ellen’s fave post-Skyline restaurant for a carb replenishment session…
It was a great day! Fantastic company and a true pleasure hiking with Ellen, Karin, Steve and Gary….thanks guys!
by Ellen » Wed Dec 10, 2008 10:54 am 
We opted to celebrate at Las Consuelas instead and once again met Scott in the tram on the way down. It was an absolutely fabulous day.
