I met Tim today in Eldo where the road turns to dirt and we headed into the canyon via the backyard shortcut up to the Fowler Trail, then up the road to the Eldorado Trail. Tim and I took it easy to the Eldo trail, chatting it up, then Tim bumped up the intensity a notch. He kept offering to let me pass, but he was keeping a great pace and since my goal was to go for time instead of intensity, I declined. Tim wanted to keep it short, so once we hit 38 minutes, he turned around and I continued on. I made good time down to the Walker loop and decided to go clockwise, as I figured it would be safer to climb the icy/snowy hikabike section. It was a bit snowy, but nothing too bad. After that, is was mostly dry up to the parking lot on the opposite end. From the lot, it was mostly snowy down to the river, making footing a bit iffy and I went conservative as to not fall or twist anything. It was dry from the river crossing to the main lot, then continued dry for another mile or so until the long switchback descent that is North facing. This section was really slow, as it was very slippery and off camber. Once on the dirt road, it was mainly mud, the heavy mud that piles up on your shoes, so I worked hard to avoid that the best I could. The ascent back up the Eldo trail through the snow was slow and my legs were tired and sore, mainly from pushing in the slush yesterday, so I just powerhiked mainly and jogged when I could. Once I topped out, I made quick work of the rollers and descent back to the car.
Not sure what my splits were, but my time for the Walker loop was an abyssmal 1:19 because of the snow and I was not really pushing at all, just bumping along really. Total car to car 3:01.
