So the Winds didn’t happen, unfortunately. I ended up spraining my ankle 2 days before the trip chasing after our new puppy. My friend Bryce and I were already committed to flying out to Salt Lake City, so we came up with a decent plan B — the City of Rocks in Idaho. Good car camping and the chance to climb without having to hike 20+ miles roundtrip with 50 pound packs on our backs. Even if my ankle wouldn’t cooperate, we could chill and drink beer.
With the help of ice, compression and some Vitamin I, we were able to climb a bit, though we had to keep it super easy. The highlight was probably climbing Theater of Shadows on Jackson’s Thumb, a 4 pitch 5.6ish clip-up. Fun movement and great views.
I’ve been nursing the ankle most of the fall. Went to an ankle guy, who diagnosed as a high ankle sprain, which of course takes longer to heal. Biking has been mostly fine. If I land funny mountain biking, I’ll get a zinger. Its been a great fall for biking in Minnesota.
I did have a Ragnar Trail Relay on the calendar in September which I couldn’t really train for. But I sort of felt like the 3 other guys were depending on me to show up, so I went and covered my 30 miles over the course of the 20+ hours it took our team – 6 legs of 3 to 7 miles each. I walked the majority of the event, but got ‘er done. It rained really hard for part of the night which made the laps in the middle of the night pretty sloppy, but I think we all thought it was a pretty cool experience overall. Solid crew.
Sub-urban Adventure 