Race Review - Neon Splash Dash

You may have heard of the Neon Splash Dash, as it's an extremely popular race. "The Most Magical 5k on Earth" as they like to call it, is a pretty straightforward 3.1 mile run with a glow-in-the-dark twist.

We arrived at the venue just as a thunderstorm was breaking, forcing them to shut down registration and herd us all into the stadium while the storm passed. Which was unfortunate, because there was a ton of people, including ourselves, checking in. In fact, probably the longest check in line I've ever seen and it became clear why they implored people to do early packet pick-up and why they had the early pick-up on 2 consecutive days.

The storm went away in about 20 minutes or so and when they reopened registration, it dawned on me how big this event was as the crowd poured over the hill. We had anticipated the mad rush and had wandered back over towards the registration tent when the storm lightened up, so we missed the long line and had time to head back to the car before the 8:00pm start time.

People piling out of the stadium after the storm.

This event is more of a fun run type thing, rather than a race, so there were no timing chips or the like in the participant bag. Amongst the swag was a blow up, lighted bam-bam, a sort of inflatable billy club with a blinking light inside that you were encouraged to carry. But we opted to wear a little colored blinking light, that we just happened to get at the Holy COW Trail Stampede earlier that day, instead.

Bibbed and lit up, we started back to the festival area and the starting gate. The festival area had a band playing, with some dancers getting down on a raised stage. Also, a very popular booth full of shirtless, super buff, firefighters were there, taking pictures with people and they were all smiles. We slipped in about 15 yards from the start gate a little before 8:00pm. A couple things I noticed right off the bat: There was a sea of people behind us. There was a lady with a baby stroller just to our right... with a sea of people behind her. Seriously lady, WTF?

About 20 minutes before the start. 

The race started about a half hour late, but we figured that was either due to the rain delay, or they were just waiting for dusk. We got through the gate right at sunset and very quickly had to push and dodge our way through the crowd to try and break out.  There were already people walking in the first 100 yards as we entered a choke point going into the stadium. As we rounded the upper deck of the field, it began to thin out and the narrow exit from the stadium was no problem. When we passed back by the start line, about a quarter mile or so in, people were still piling through the starting gates with no end in sight.

Go time.

The course was flat, fast and well marked. The thing that makes the Neon Splash Dash neon and splashy is their signature "glow zones", 4 of them scattered at regular intervals throughout the run. These zones consist of walled, wooden platforms with barrels on the side, and people who use, what looks like, giant syringes to hose you down with ultraviolet glow goop. Now I'm not sure what this "Super Intense UV Glow Water", as they call it, is made of, but it's thick, sticky, salty and they assure me it's non-toxic. If you're unfortunate enough to go through with just your friend, or by yourself, you will get a face full of it. Insert your own joke here.

At the finish, there are some sections set up with a bunch of black lights so you can revel in your glowtastic spatter. The glow water comes in a variety of colors and the red/pink is a real clothing stainer, so be sure to wear something you don't care about, or wear the provided event shirt. We were super tired afterwards, with this being our fourth race of the day, so unfortunately we didn't stick around for the after party, which looked to be hopping. In fact, when we were walking back to the parking lot, after snapping a few pictures, we crossed the course at about the halfway point and there were still a ton of people out there running.

Glowiest glowers that ever went to Glowtown.

The folks running the Neon Splash Dash were super generous, friendly and helpful. The event was well organized and attracted a huge crowd. I would like to try it again, when I'm fresh, as the cool night August air made for great running weather, and also when I can spend a little time afterward to party down. This is a great event for any level of competitor, whether you want to clock fast times, or stroll your way through a nice night jaunt, you'll find plenty of peers at the Neon Splash Dash.

Race Review - CitySolve Urban Race

The CitySolve is not normally the type of race I would do. It's more of a scavenger hunt, with clue solving and some simple challenges thrown in. For us, it filled a niche in our 4 races in one day attempt, so this review needs to be taken in that context. For if we had set out to kill just this race, the outcome would have likely been different.

CitySolve Denver started late in the day at 11:30am. This was also August 10th, which meant we would be running around the arguably hottest (Downtown Denver) part of Colorado during the hottest time of day in the hottest month of summer. Not that I noticed, or anything.

We arrived a few minutes late, catching traffic coming down from Boulder. I picked up the race packets the day before, knowing we might be cutting it close. Annoyingly, even though we had 4 people on our team, we only got 2 race bibs. The race began at a Stoney's Bar and Grill in Capitol Hill with a clue on a big sheet of paper they presumably held up for everyone. Being late, most people were already out and about while I snapped a picture of the first clue. The multiple choice answers each had a corresponding intersection in the immediate area.

4 Colorado natives, none of us had a clue.

The question involved local spectator sports, which none of us follow, so we wasted time trying to call in help and finally just began heading off towards 2 of the intersections that were relatively close to each other. We didn't get far when a guy on a bike road up with a brown paper bag and handed us our clue packet. He said "You guys must of picked the wrong location.", indicating that he had been waiting at a corner up the street for people and now apparently rounding up the stragglers, like ourselves, to get us on the right path.

With the packet in hand, we solved the first clue and headed to the location after Googling the address on our smartphones. Which leads me to the rules of this game. You can use phones, computers, people on the street, whatever to solve the clues. You can use public transportation, like the bus, but you cannot use bikes, cars, cabs, roller-skates, etc. Being runners, we of course, chose to run everywhere (just about).


At the first checkpoint, there was an M&M straw pass game, that Dave and Billy handled quickly. We then decided that solving one clue at a time was a bad idea, as we had no idea the area this chase would cover. So, we sat in the shade for about a half hour or so, figured out the clues to get all the checkpoints and mapped our route. It became clear, at this point, that we would be covering some serious ground. Our path would take us from Capitol Hill, Uptown and then all the way to LoDo and back again.

Checkpoints varied from getting a group picture outside of a landmark, to going inside of certain establishments (bars mostly) and playing and doing a quick challenge. You have to have all your checkpoints verified at the end, so a camera is mandatory. The winners receive $300, 2nd place $100 and I think 3rd gets a $50 gift card or something like that.

Apparently this guy won The Great American Race, or something like that.

While we were running around we bumped into several other teams. A couple were running, but most were walking and more than a few were sitting down to eat at the various checkpoints and/or having a beer. It seemed for most people that this was more of a good excuse to hang out around town, maybe discover a few new spots and make some friends. But some people were out for the prize money and were wasting no time.

We were moving along pretty well and on schedule to complete our journey within about 3 hours, we figured. That's when things fell apart. We were heading back to hit the last couple photo checkpoints near our finish line, when Dave said "Hey, what about the nose?" The Nose. I hate The Nose. The Nose is a goofy 3 diminutional billboard sign, whose location was unknown to us. A web search gave us some cross streets, not far from another checkpoint, but in our haste to get to the finish, we had accidentally skipped it and it was over a mile in the opposite direction.

We were happy, early in the race.

We had some serious soul searching at this point. We were close to the end, but hadn't completed all the checkpoints. He had already run 2 races that day and we were 6 miles into this one. We had no water with us and hadn't eaten for hours. We wanted to give up. In fact, had all but agreed to throw in the towel, but our youngest member, my son Kellan, wouldn't let us. Even though at this point he was barefoot because his shoes were too tight. So we pushed on.

We hit the nearby checkpoints and stopped by the truck to hydrate and get Kellan's shoes changed to his trail runners, which were still wet from the Muddy Buddy, but fit better. We headed back downtown to find the nose. We figured we'd hop on the free mall shuttle, scoot down the 16th Street Mall, run over a couple blocks to The Nose, run back and ride the shuttle back to Capitol Hill. Still unsure of The Nose's location, we showed a picture of it to a guy on the shuttle who immediately said, "Oh yeah, I know that, it's right by the art museum." Dumbfounded, as this was not the way were heading we hopped off the bus and headed to the museum. The Nose was not there.

The Nose is way back there somewhere. We couldn't bear to get closer.

Again, defeated we checked and asked around, but no one knew The Nose. After regrouping, we double checked the web search and confirmed our original destination to be correct (it's surprisingly difficult to get a solid hit on The Nose online). We ambled back towards downtown, again, severely tired and now wondering if we'd even make the event cutoff time. Kellan, once again, nudged us forward and we finally came across The Nose and headed back to Stoney's for the finish.

Our completely ridiculous route.

Dejected, dehydrated, but not defeated, we got our photos checked, signed the book and sat down to eat. We came in a miserable 53rd place, just 5 spots above the NPCs (no picture check) and the DNFs. The ordeal took over 4 hours and we covered over 9 miles in our backtracking, wild goose chase of a race. The winners clocked in just over 1 hour and 5 minutes, which boggles my mind. Because, even if you figured out all the clues, in say, 15 minutes, you'd still would have to cover about 5 miles (with a near perfect route), snapping pictures and playing games along the way, in about 45 minutes. Craziness.

Worst. Results. Ever.

Anyways, aside from the horrendous time we had during this race, I'd imagine most people would enjoy it. Especially those who just sort of tooled around and drank lots of beer. As for me, I don't think I'll be doing any more scavenger hunts anytime soon.

Race Review - REI Muddy Buddy

On Saturday, August 10th, 2013 I attended my 2nd Muddy Buddy run, this time with a new partner, my 13 year old son and our 4inOne team buddies, Billy and Dave, as well.

Team 4inOne before the race.

The event was at the Boulder Reservoir, in Boulder, CO, the same location as last year. Ample people were helping with the free (awesome) parking. We showed up just about 30 minutes before our start time, as we had picked up our race packets the day before. The atmosphere was relaxed and the facilities more than adequate.

When we lined up to start, we were informed that they would be staggering the heats slightly, by 45 seconds per about 60 people or so, to alleviate some pile ups they had with the first heats. We were the 2nd group in the 9:30 heat and no trouble with back ups at any obstacles, save for one girl who was real nervous getting over the top of a cargo net climb that slowed us up a bit.

The course layout was nearly identical to last year, with only a slight variation of the route towards the very end. Muddy Buddy is heavy on running (4.65 miles) and light on the obstacles. The longest stretches of running are along the bottom of the dam and then back along the top during the 2nd half. The bottom is a dirt access road with some ankle twisting grapefruit sized rocks and a few couple short, steep hills to negotiate. The return on the top is long and flat. It's about a 1.5 mile stretch with an obstacle to break it up about midway through.

4inOne at the first major obstacle.

For the obstacles, there are a couple cargo climbs and slides, some ropes, a couple signature buddy obstacles and the obligatory mud pit crawl at the end. They do make use of the reservoir and you will spend some time slogging through the water, which isn't too cold in August, fortunately. The buddy obstacles consist of some balance beams and a traverse wall where you brace and balance with the help of your partner. For Muddy Buddy, you must run with a buddy, you share a bib number and timing chip and are required to finish together.

Buddy obstacle.

The fairground is decent sized and the beer garden is very nice with offerings from O'dells. The Muddy Buddy also has some great sponsors, including our own sponsor, GoalZero and probably the best swag bag I've seen. This year they bumped up their shirts to tech tees and the medals included the year of the event which is always nice. They also give out a lot of trophies, honoring 1st-3rd for not only every class, but for each heat as well.

Team Lean and Mean at the finish.

We ran well, even though I was slowing my buddy down when I got a stitch in my side on the back half. We managed to pull off a 3rd place finish, same as last year, with a total time of 55:08 in the male open class, which was a few minutes slower than the previous year.

Lean and Mean and Team Live Badass standings.

Overall, Muddy Buddy is a fantastic event with top notch staff, great organization and a nice course layout. It's very family friendly, with a minimum age of just 12 and a Mini-Buddy race for kids down to 4 years of age. Muddy Buddy offers a run only, bike and run, and a partnership with Rock and Roll Marathon, giving you the opportunity to get a 3rd medal for completing both events in what they call the Rock and Mud Challenge. It is a tad on the expensive side, but you definitely get what you pay for with this event. We will be back.

Team 4inOne post race.

Race Review - Holy COW Trail Stampede

It may come as a surprise to some, but this was actually my first straight up foot race. Every other race I've done has had some sort of element thrown in. Vampires chasing me, mud, pumpkins and various other obstacles. This was also the first time I've been passed in a race by a guy pushing a baby stroller.

It's apparent that COW (which stands for City Of Westminster) has been doing this awhile now. The Holy COW Trail Stampede race is a small (just under 300 racers) event. One guy we talked with before the race was surprised 4 non-locals had even discovered it. But this race is well organized. Registration was painless and start start times were right on the nose.

The Holy COW has two options, 5k and 10k, with the 10k heat leaving five minutes before the 5k. It's a pretty simple course consisting of a down and back style run, where you turn around at the halfway point and run back to the start/finish. The trail is a concrete path that winds through the city park, over and under a couple bridges with very little elevation change.

Passing by Dave after the turn around.

I ran the 5k and made it down in back in 26:40 which earned me 2nd in my group (M 30-39) and 38th out of 194 overall. Not spectacular, by any means, but better than I expected. The timing was spot on as well, with the race clock matching my buddy's stopwatch down to the second. The quickest time posted for the 5k was 17:13 and 35:33 for the 10k, proving that there are some serious runners in Westminster.

This race is also very inexpensive, with entries being only $25 and that includes a shirt. Or you can pass on the shirt and register for a measly $20. This event also kicks of the start of the Westminster City Faire and is a family friendly event with no age limits. All in all a great experience and fantastic organization.

4 races in one day - Team 4inOne

Why run a single race, when you can run four? Well, it's exhausting for one thing and, as it turns out, also nearly impossible to do.

The idea sprung from a Facebook posting on Matt B. Davis Runs' page, when he ran 3 in a single day. I was browsing our own events page and noticed that August 10th had a lot of races that day, including a night race. Could we do 4 races in a single day? Below follows the trials and tribulations of that quest.

In the beginning...
I wrangled up my 2 friends, Dave (33), Billy (40) and my teenage son Kellan (13) to join me (39) on this ridiculous quest. The catch phrase of the day would be "Interesting choice." This is what you say when someone does something dumb or ridiculous so you don't have to call them an idiot. Like so: "Wearing your boxers under you running shorts, huh? Interesting choice."

Billy, me, Kellan and Dave.

I had a really solid lineup planned. 3 muddy obstacle races and one 5k fun run. Our 1st event would be the REI Muddy Buddy run in Boulder. 2nd, a rough looking new 10K obstacle course called Thunder Challenge, not too far away from Boulder. 3rd would be the Wipeout Dash in Longmont, also fairly close by. Then we'd have ample time to finish at the Neon Splash Dash in Denver.

Dave drummed up some sponsors, while I contacted race organizers for help. We had already signed up for Muddy Buddy several months before, so there was little they could do to help. Thunder Challenge hooked us up with some free entries and a discount code to pass along to our friends. Wipeout dash gave us a nice discount, and both they and Thunder Challenge allowed us to register for open heats, since we had little idea of how long it would take to get from event to event. Neon Splash Dash also hooked us up big time with some free entries. Dave had us locked in with GoalZero and Grimm Brothers Brewhouse for sponsors and we got specialized training from Ultimate Fitness Lab 5280. Heat times were perfect, with Thunder Challenge having heats until 12:30 and Wipeout Dash going all the way to 3:30. It was all going smoothly.

Our great sponsors!

Then I noticed that Thunder Challenge changed their event date on the website. I had been warned that the venue might change, but this was unexpected. I began scrambling. We found a couple early morning races, but our best bet was a small 5k-10k called the Holy COW (for City of Westminster) Trail Stampede. Muddy Buddy was nice enough to let us move to their 9:30 heat, so we could get in the Holy COW at its 8:05 start time. Whew that was close!

Then Wipeout Dash cancelled all together, 2 weeks before our race day. Panic sets in and I begin to stress trying to find a replacement. There's several races that day, but they are either too long (6:00am triathlon), too far away, or they all start at 8:00. Finally I find City Solve Urban Race. It's more of a scavenger hunt, but it is a race, with a purse even, and it'll have to do. It starts at 11:30 and is about 45 minutes from the Muddy Buddy. This is going to be tight, but we resolve to do it.

Go time.
We decide to meet up in a parking lot near where the Neon Splash Dash will be later that night, so we can go our separate ways afterwards. It's 6:00am and most of us got little sleep the previous night due to the excitement. We get our greetings in and jump in the truck to head to the Holy COW Trail Stampede, fiddling with the GoalZero solar equipment on the way.

The Holy COW is a pretty straightforward race. It's a down and back 5k, with a 10k option as well. We opted for the 5k to give us the maximum amount of time to get to event number 2. The race went well with Billy out front, followed closely by Kellan and Dave and I bringing up the rear. We all finished under 30 minutes, giving us a full hour to get to the starting line of the Muddy Buddy. We hopped in the car and off we went, eating a banana and forcing is some electrolytes along the way.

Passing by Dave just after the turn around at COW.

Dave had picked up our race packets the day before and parking went smoothly, so we had a couple extra minutes to stop by the GoalZero tent and chat with our sponsor. We filed in towards the front of the starting line, just at a point where they decided to break up the heat and stagger our start 45 seconds behind the first portion. This race was tough for me. I began to get a stitch in my side on the back half of the course and slowed our pace down a bit. I was able to breathe it out without stopping and we finished the 4.65 mile course in 55 minutes with Dave and Billy right behind us.

Muddy Buddy arrival. Shirts still nice and white.

Now we're in a tight spot. We have our next race starting in 60 minutes and we need to get to the car, clean up, and drive 35 miles to City Solve. It's a slow process and we hit some traffic going into downtown Denver, eating a chicken sandwich along the way. We're going to be late, but I had talked to the guy at packet pick-up about such an eventuality, and he told me that they would have the first clue up until about noon.

We're going about 20MPH here.

We get to the venue at 11:40 and I hobble (can't hardly run at this point) to the table and get the first clue so we can begin. It's slow going, we're tired and using our mental powers to solve the clues is tedious. We expected this to be a cakewalk, but it turned out to be a grueling 4 hour, cramp inducing, frustrating, hungry, dehydrating 9+ mile trek all over Downtown and Capitol Hill in the hottest part of a sunny August day. If we had come in dead last, I wouldn't have been surprised.

City Solve checkpoint. We don't smell too good by this point.

It's now 3:30 and we're starving and thirsty. We eat at City Solve's host bar and head to Billy's house to stretch out. By the time we get there it's almost 5:00pm and we only have a little over an hour to rest before we need to head out again. At this point my toes are raw and I opt to tape a couple of them up. We stretch out, regroup and think about how awful it's going to be to run yet another race.

Checking out the GoalZero goods during the break.

As we drive to the Neon Splash Dash, we watch a thunderstorm roll in. I surmise that it will probably hit us right when the race starts and wonder if it's a "rain or shine" event, thinking we may get screwed at the last minute in our 4 race attempt. I'm a bit off though, and it hits right as we line up to register. They herd us into the stadium and we wait it out for about half an hour. This actually works out OK for us, as we beat the mob back to the registration and breeze through what was a huge line of people.

This event was huge.

We all talked about how we would probably be reduced to 12 minute miles at this point. But adrenaline kicks in and we knock out our 4th race of the day under 30 minutes. Much like the first race, Billy is first over the line, followed by Kellan, with Dave and I finishing together last. We snap a few pictures and chat with a few fellow racers. Two gals who, oddly enough, were also at City Solve and recognized us by our filthy 4inOne jerseys. We drink our victory beer, supplied by our sponsor, Grimm Brothers, revel in our glory and call it a night.

Well deserved.

Victory!

Post.
All told, we covered almost 20 miles. Our day began when we hit the road at 5:30am and Kellan and I got home just before 10:00pm. No one was injured beyond some cramps, bruises and strains and we actually managed to be competitive. Billy finished 22nd overall while I took 2nd in my class at the Holy COW. Kellan and I took 3rd in our heat with Billy and Dave in 5th place at Muddy Buddy. City Solve was a nightmare of epic proportions where we pulled in at 53rd with only 4 teams between us and the DNFs. Neon Splash Dash wasn't timed, but Dave's stopwatch clocked him as shaving 3 seconds off his first 5k time of the day. We may have even set some sort of record for number of races run in one day. Not bad, not bad at all.

The spoils.

Running 4 races in one day, huh? Interesting choice.

Gear Review - GoalZero Yeti 150 and Nomad 27

August 7, 2013
Initial impressions, by Dave Hartman. 

Beep.

That is my first encounter with the Goal Zero Yeti 150.  The box on my porch is beeping and I immediately assume that it is a power supply that is out of power.  My suspicions are confirmed when I open the box up and see the large “charge me” card.  But Big Obstacles and Team 4inOne have other plans so I won’t be charging up the Yeti just yet.  We’re going to use the other item that Goal Zero graciously sent us for evaluation, the Nomad 27 Solar Panel, to charge up the Yeti on 4inOne race day to see how it works.

I unpacked the new green energy tech items for a couple of quick photos and they are most impressive.  More details will follow in a full evaluation article but for now I’ll say that the Yeti 150 magic box is very simple to setup thanks to the color coded ports and is relatively lightweight.  The Nomad 27 has consists of eight individual solar panels that unfold to create a portable solar array.  Both are a bit heavy for backpacking but look great for camping at improved camp sites, parties in the park or for emergency use.

I’m looking forward to charging up the Yeti 150 with the Nomad 27 to see how well it all works and to get rid of that beeping.  Look for live updates during the 4inOne race day here at BigObstacles.com, on our Facebook page and of course our Twitter feed.  



August 10, 2013.
Race day test.

On our extended 4inOne race day, we took the fully discharged Yeti 150 with us and stuck the Nomad 27 panels in the sun, whenever possible, to see how much charge we could get on it. Also along for the ride were a couple smartphones and my completely dead MacBook Pro. I was pulling it out of the box and slapping it together on the fly while we drove. Fortunately, it's well thought out and pretty intuitive to setup and I had it figured out in no time.

Nomad 27 panels folded in half.

Yeti 150, small enough to fit on the floor of a pickup.

The best thing was, as soon as we plugged in the Nomad 27 panels, the cube stopped beeping. It sat for about an hour here and there, while we ran, then for a good 4.5 hour stretch from a little after 11:30 to about 4:00. Mind you none of this was in direct sunlight, but behind the dirty windshield of a pickup truck. We propped it up on the dash, and the Nomad 27 comes with some lightweight, hollow, aluminum rods to flatten the panels out and keep them rigid.

Trying to soak up some rays.

We couldn't manage to get the meter above 20%, but the literature does specify 13-26 hour charge time,  but we just wanted to see how high we could get it while racing around town. So with the 20% charge, I plugged in the MacBook (which wouldn't even turn on at this point) and managed to get it to charge up the Apple to 18% before the green light on the Yeti's AC port went out. Enough for me to get the laptop powered on and check the social media.


Immediately after that I switched to the USB port and plugged in my phone. It started to charge the phone right away, which surprised me, because I figured the Mac had drained it completely. Although it seemed to charge a little slower (but that could just be because I was consciously monitoring it) it had enough juice left to charge up my phone that was only had about 25% on the battery when I hooked it up.

Getting me my Twitter fix.

The Yeti 150 is a solid and robust unit that looks like it can take a beating. The Nomad 27 panels were a little tricky to fold back up, but I think with some stretching via more usage they will be just fine. Overall an impressive setup in a nice compact, sturdy package. Tipping the scale at about 12 pounds, the Yeti 150 is about 70% lighter than the average car battery, and the Nomad 27 panels only add a couple more pounds to that.

Yeti 150 with Nomad 27. Note the rods keeping panels flattened.

Looking forward to getting this thing out on some extended trips. It would be a little tough to lug while backpacking, but I'm think extended ATV, kayak, Jeep trips or even car camping would be just the ticket.



August 22nd, 2013.
AC charge quick test.

Dave plugs the Yeti 150 into the AC outlet at his house and charges her up (yes our Yeti is female). She fully charges a new Lenovo laptop and a Galaxy smart phone, both of which were "dead, dead" and still registers 20% on the meter.



August 7th-8th, 2013.
Camping.

I stuck the Yeti (with a 20% charge on it) on the back seat of the Subaru and ran the Nomad 27 panels out onto the south facing back window while we went for a day hike up to The Castle. Unfortunately, our campsite was surrounded by tall pines and the panels are in the shade by the time we returned.

Trying to anticipate the moving sun while we're gone.

The rest of the afternoon, I chased the late summer sun around the camp in an effort to get the Yeti to a full charge. I managed to get it to a solid 40%, with 60% starting to blink on the meter.

Shot of the front while sucking in some sun power.

This setup worked fairly well in our tree surrounded camp.

When we got home, late Sunday morning, I tossed the panels up on our deck roof, which gets a lot of sun. Before the afternoon rains came, (about 3 hours later), I had the Yeti up to a solid 80% charge.

I wish I could line this whole roof with panels.

It's hard to say exactly how much sun we got to the panels on Saturday, but at least an hour or 2 worth. Combined with a good 3 on Sunday, we went from 20% to 80% in around 4-5 hours. Not bad, considering the difficulties we had chasing the August sun around.

August 12th, 2013.

Home in the rain.

If you saw the news around August 12th, you may be aware of the intense rains we had here in CO. It was damn near impossible to go outside, so I decided to play with the Yeti 150 while doing my social networking thang on my MacBook.

I don't remember what that middle tab was, but I'm sure it was awesome.

I start by running down the MacBook Pro surfing the net, blogging, tweeting etc. I get it down to 16% then plug it into the Yeti, which is still at 80% from the previous weekend. Around 20 minutes later, I plug in my HTC EVO smartphone, as well, for good measure. The phone is at 40% charge.

The Mac and EVO sucking away at the Yeti 150.

I work away, both on my phone and my laptop. I decide to really tax it, and start streaming CrimpVids videos and playing games, and surfing around tabs. I get the MacBook charged up to 59%, while working on it, before the Yeti 150 cuts out the AC output. The USB stays strong and I get a full charge on my phone, with power to spare. 

The experiment lasts about 2 hours. I was able to fully charge the phone and get the laptop up almost 60%, while getting some work done, streaming video and pretending my basement wasn't flooding. All on free power.



July 5th, 2014
Overcast day test.

It's not often we get truly overcast days here in Colorado. It's even more rare that I have the presence of mind to realize an event like this is about to occur and prepare a test for the Yeti. Our 4th of July neighborhood grill party was rained out and through the haze of several home brews, I was able to devise such a plan.

The Yeti was pretty well drained, but I sucked up ever last bit I could without invoking the dreaded dead battery beep, because that thing will haunt you.

Just before sundown on July 4th.

I place the panels on top of the deck in an area that would get pretty continuous sunlight, if it wasn't cloudy outside. To maximize exposure, I set it up after dark on the 4th and let it sit out until dark on the 5th.

The sun only peeked out a few times the day of the test. I noticed bright sunlight only twice and only for a short while at that. I'd be surprised if there was more than an hour of sunlight the whole day. It was cloudy, but not rainy, with only a sprinkle here and there, so a perfect day for this test.

At 4:40pm the battery registered a solid 40% and the 60% block was blinking. By nightfall the 60% was solid.

4:30pm on July 6th during a brief period of sunlight.

Trip Report - Windy Peak

We took a trip out to one of our favorite backpacking, camping and hiking spots, the Lost Creek Wilderness. It's fairly close to town and is a huge area to explore. This time we had our sights set on a campsite we had scouted previously, known (to us) as Camp Waldo. The name arises from the fact that when we first saw the site last summer, there was a red and white striped hat on a post near the fire pit.

Our second goal was to make a summit attempt on Windy Peak coming from the rarely used South approach. To give ourselves ample time for the summit bid, we left town after work on Friday night and drove to our launching point, the Wigwam Trailhead.

On the dirt road approach, shortly past Wellington Lake, we came upon a wash out in the road. Being in my relatively low to the ground Subaru sedan with its summer tires, we scouted the depths and after much deliberation decided to go for it. We made it across without too much trouble and pressed on. A couple miles later, we found another wash out. This one proved longer and deeper with some big ruts. After checking the GPS, we decided to park the car and add a couple miles to our hike via the road, rather than risk getting stuck.

So long Scoob!

Extra mileage. Stupid race car.

The extra distance wasn't too bad, being road miles and we hit the Wigwam Trailhead just before dusk. After adjusting our packs a bit, we hit the trail in search of Waldo. Not long after we began hiking, the sun set and we clicked on our head lamps. Fortunately the trail is well groomed and we only lost it once. Although I did manage to soak my feet in the river slipping off of a rock about a mile from the campsite.

Low clouds, as we approached the trailhead.

The trek to the campsite is just about exactly 4 miles from the trailhead, but we had added another 2.3 miles by abandoning the car on the road. By the time we set up camp, ate and got our sleeping gear sorted out, it was after midnight and we were dog tired.

Trailhead to campsite.

Getting to bed later than expected meant getting a later start the next morning. We didn't start our day trek until after 10:00 on Saturday. The plow up and around the mountains was steep and rocky. We watched a mild thunderstorm approach through the valley, and debated turning back, but it looked like it was going to miss us, so we pressed on. The hike crossed several boulder fields and a nice mountain top meadow surprised us.

Approximate route from camp to peak.

We finally reached the peak sometime around 1:30 that afternoon. The view from the top was awesome and it was indeed a little windy up there!

Looking back the way we came.

The boulders that make up top of Windy Peak.

 On our way back down, we ran right into the storm we thought had passed us. It started out mild enough, then cranked up and brought down some small hail on us. It got bad enough that we finally sought shelter in a small cave. It was dry, but a tad too cozy.

We're just friends, I swear.

Looking out the cave. The white on the ground is hail stones.

It tapered off a bit and we started out again. On the last, and longest, hill down it really started pouring. Thankfully no hail on this side of the mountain. There wasn't a lot of lightning, but we did get one good shot when we were high up that was close enough to feel the pressure in my ears. Fortunately, we made it down without incident, aside from being soaked down to our underwear. We literally looked like we had jumped in a swimming pool with all of our clothes on.

The hike to the peak covered about 5 miles, out and back, with an elevation rise of roughly 3000'. The total trek from car to peak and back was a little over 17.5 miles and just under 4000' elevation gain.

The big picture. 8.75 miles and 4000'.

It's a good bit of exercise, but worth the effort. Just be sure and bring a vehicle with some decent ground clearance.