Ponderous Posterior 50K

The final installment of the Front Range Fat Asses (preceded by the Boulder Basic on October 30th and the Fort Collins Chubby Cheeks on December 18th) will be the PP 50K (Ponderous Posterior or Pikes Peak, whichever you prefer)  in Colorado/Manitou Springs on January 15th.  Here is a map:

Click for a larger version: start at JT's house on 31st St (right hand side of map)
and proceed in a counter-clockwise fashion.

Here is a Terrain Map version for a little more insight into the topography of the route:

Looks to be about right at 30 miles.

And here is a MapMyRun-produced profile:


Should only be about 6k' of climbing, with a high point of nearly 9200'.

 And here is a link to the MapMyRun file that will allow you to look at satellite imagery and inspect the exact trails that we'll all be experiencing.

PP Route Description:
Starting from JT's house on 31st we will run a few minutes of pavement and snake through the Garden of the Gods via the Dakota Ridge and Bretag Trails.  We'll exit the Garden by hopping a fence for a couple premium miles of singletrack on the Navigators property before climbing quite steeply to the west for a half-mile or so to gain Rampart Range Road.

Run up RRR for ~3mi to the radio towers before turning left/down onto some singletrack and dropping into incredibly scenic Williams Canyon.  After a mile and a half or so of winding down-canyon the course will turn to the right up a drainage for ~1mi that will connect into the Waldo Canyon Loop at the top of the climb.  Turn right onto the Waldo trail and run it counter-clockwise all the way down to Highway 24 and the Waldo Trailhead.

Cross the Highway with care (there may be an informal aid station in this parking lot), crawl through the big metal gate on the other side, and run UP Longs Ranch Road for ~3mi and 2000+' to the high point of the course at ~9200'.  This is the monster climb of the run.  At the top, turn left/down through the Experimental Forest and connect into the famous Barr Trail at No Name Creek.  Run ~3mi down Barr Trail to Ruxton Ave and Manitou Springs and then turn right onto the Intemann Trail at the Iron Spring.  Follow the signs for the Intemann/Ring The Peak Trail traversing above town.  Eventually pop out onto Crystal Park Road for 1mi+ of paved uphill running and turn left back onto the Intemann Trail (nice big wooden sign marking the trailhead).

Run this for ~2mi until turning left onto a marked trail to connect into Red Rocks Open Space.  Run through Red Rocks (there will be a lot of hopefully reasonably marked junctions through here, but the general idea is to just keep heading down, towards the highway and the Open Space's very developed railhead/parking lot), recross Highway 24 and Colorado Ave on Ridge Rd, take a right onto Pikes Peak Ave and run this back east for just over a mile back to the Start/Finish at JT's house.

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More details to come as the date gets closer, but this is a gathering open to all with the route having several shorter bail-out options---there's no need to complete the full ~30mi loop in order to take part in the fun.  The run will also adhere to strict Fat Ass Rules: No Fee, No Aid, No Awards, No Whining.

An 8AM start from JT's house is preferable, but again, earlier starts/shorter loops are certainly acceptable so as to facilitate an early-afternoon post-run lie-telling session back at JT's abode.  The idea is to get out for a friendly, possibly semi-competitive group run that showcases many of the endless classic trail options in the Pikes Peak region that many out-of-towners are probably not familiar with while still incorporating the super-classic lower three miles of the Barr Trail (W's, etc.) that everyone is familiar with.

A few images from the planned PP course:

The run starts with a view something shockingly similar to this.

A motley crew running up Rampart Range Road, with a big mountain behind.

A panoramic of the little-known Williams Canyon we'll drop into.
Photo: Harsha Nagaraj

Climbing up the connector btwn Williams and Waldo.
Photo: Steve Bremner.

The views of Pikes from Waldo can't be beat. Photo: Larry Dewitt.

Some goofballs on the Longs Ranch Road climb (our gracious host on the left).
Photo: Larry Dewitt

...which can get awfully steep at times. Photo: Larry Dewitt.

Everyone knows what descending Barr Trail looks like.

A view of Pikes from the Intemann Trail above Manitou Springs.

Red Rocks Canyon Open Space--the final terrain of the course.