Colombian Harvest

Good news.  Good news indeed.  Yesterday the FedEx man delivered a big, beat-up box.  I asked him what it was (because I was concerned that whatever was inside had been pulverized), and he told me it is from Colombia.  

The first coffee from the trip to Colombia has arrived!  

It's the micro-lot (so small it might even be considered a nano-lot) from Rafael Herrera.  When we cupped this coffee in Medellin, it was sweet, fruity and delicious.  The entire lot, which is much different than his usual coffee, is only 54 pounds.  54 pounds total for the entire lot of coffee.  That's 3 roasts for us.  This is very exciting.  

Soon I'll post more info about Rafael.  We didn't visit him while we were in Concordia, but I'm sure we will next time.

So why is the coffee from this very small lot so much different?  And how does the farmer know?

These farmers know what coffee looks like.  They are beginning to understand what Cristina is looking for, and thus what we are looking for.  She is teaching them the things that usually are considered defects or problems in coffee production (according to the standardization of The Federation) may actually be differences that people in the specialty coffee industry love and will pay more for.

The farmers know when one day's coffee is better than usual.  When the cherries look especially ripe, there were no problems in their little wet mill, the depulper did a good job, fermentation seemed to go just right, and the coffee looked clean and beautiful in parchment.  It's sort of like when I roast, I usually get excited about one or two roasts that seemed to be perfect.  That's based on the way the coffee reacted in the drum, how fast the temp rose, how strong it moved into first crack, what the end of the roast looked like, and a general feeling that it was good.  I guess it just comes from experience, paying attention, and caring about it.  And you can imagine these farmers spend so much time with their trees, they know what side of their farm usually produces better coffee.  They know what weather is ideal during fermentation and drying.  They know what coffee should look like when it is finished in parchment.  And like I was saying at our presentation, they can look at green coffee and tell you whether it has 9% or 12% moisture content (very accurately).  That's amazing.  

So I guess Rafael knew this small amount of coffee was different and special, so he chose to keep it separate from his main crop.  And now we have it.

Like I said, Cristina pays the farmers a differential when the coffee is sold.  And I've asked to double that differential.  Because we really, really want these farmers to succeed in producing great coffee (by our standards) so they don't have to go back to producing great coffee by the standards of the Federation.

I'll be roasting this coffee soon.  But I'll let you know before I do.  You'll for sure want to have some.

Colombian Adventures

We're back.

Jason and I had a great time in Colombia.  Uh... I mean... we were working the entire time and it was laborious.  

No, we really enjoyed the trip and I feel like we accomplished our goals.  Which is an amazing feat.  And we definitely wouldn't have had nearly as much fun or success without the help of several people.  

Fernando and Russ from Distant Lands (La Minita) were so kind.  We at the DoubleShot are barely even a blip on the radar.  We're not even a rounding error for these people.  Yet they care enough and are generous enough to invite us down to Colombia to see the new mill they are building; to put us up in hotels, feed us, entertain us, and show us a beautiful place.  I was really impressed with their generosity, not just toward us, but to the community and the kids of Jardin.  And one of the things I love most about coffee is how much there is to learn; how much is unknown.  Fernando and Russ teach me so much and I wish I could spend more days listening to them and asking questions.  

A couple of people we met for the first time were also very gracious hosts in Jardin.  Kike (that's kee-kay) and Vivian Vasquez were so fun to hang out with and they were our local source of information (and interpretation).  Their family is part owner of the new mill in Jardin and they also own the mill that produces a coffee we've been roasting since we opened- Reserva del Patron (from the Nariño region of Colombia).  Just GREAT people.

The second half of our trip was a success mainly because of Cristina Garces.  Not only is she successful and beautiful, she also has a heart for the small farmers.  She's trying to make a difference in the quality of Colombian coffee and in the quality of the lives of the farmers who produce it.  When she talked, many things she said were an echo of my own thoughts.  She made me feel excited about coffee and excited about being a part of something so important (if even a very small part).  Cristina introduced us to a farmer in La Concordia named Guillermo, who invited us to stay at his house, which was beautiful and overlooked coffee fields leading down the mountain to the Cauca River.  Guillermo was so nice to let us stay, and for feeding us and making sure we were well taken care of.  Guillermo's daughter, Carolina, really took us under her wing.  She spent virtually every minute while we were there making sure we understood what people were saying (she spoke very good English), taking us to all the places we wanted to see, introducing us to people all around town (most of whom were her relatives), and keeping us out of harm's way.  Carolina was so kind, and I felt bad for teasing her about her Colombian-British accent.  

Anyway, to say the least, we learned a lot about the way coffee is produced in Colombia.  And we found some coffees that we are definitely going to buy.  Some from Jardin and some from Concordia.  

We are excited to tell you about it and to show you our pictures. So come to the DoubleShot on Thursday, December 18th at 7p.  I think the story is a great one and between Jason and me, I think we got some pictures you will enjoy.  Coffee and snacks will be provided.

Thursday, December 18 at 7p at the DoubleShot

Colombia

Jason and I are going to Colombia.  We fly out of here on December 1.  We'll arrive in Medellin that evening and meet up the next day with Drew from Hacienda La Minita.  He'll take us to Jardin, where La Minita has built a new mill to process coffee.  It's the grand opening of the new mill and they've invited us down to see it.  We'll stay in Jardin until Friday, when we'll return to Medellin and meet up with a girl named Cristina Garces.  I found Cristina a while back when looking for people who could help me source and buy coffee more directly.  Her family owns an estate called Montes y Colinas near the town of La Concordia- not far from Medellin.  Cristina's boyfriend owns a farm close to Jardin, so we'll see his farm too.  We'll be there until the 10th, and hopefully we'll get a chance to taste a lot of great coffees.  And then bring them back to you.

We plan to have some adventures down there and to take a lot of pictures.  And I want to share our experiences with you guys.  So I'm going to schedule a time to get together and see pictures and hear stories of this latest coffee foray.  

Thursday, December 18 at 7p.  

Put it on your calendar.  I know it's a week before Christmas, but take a couple hours to come drink coffee and relax.

Huehuetenango Guatemala

I've been talking to a guy named Edwin who owns a farm in Guatemala (Finca Vista Hermosa) for a bit and he said he's brought a few groups down to do a coffee tour.  I think it would be cool to get a group together to go down there, but I'm not sure how much interest there is in it.  So I thought I'd drop a line out there to you guys and see.

Here are the details as told to me by Edwin:

It would happen sometime between February and April.  The trip would last 8 days.  Tour of Antigua and Huehuetenango, some culture and history, all focused on coffee.  We would visit drymills and a few coffee farms.  Will hike through the coffee to the ridges to see over the mountain range into Mexico.  And will get our hands dirty picking, depulping, fermenting, washing, drying, and bagging the coffee. The trip would cost about $1100 per person plus airfare and any incidentals (souvenirs, etc.).  Everything else would be covered.

He says it's pretty safe.  It's safer being in a group and these guys know areas to stay away from.  So it should be fine, but it is a tough country so anything is possible.

It would be a beautiful trip and very educational.  Getting to participate in so much of the coffee processing and experiencing the feel of it all, the unique smells, and sights would be a pretty amazing trip, even for me.

I just wanted to throw that out there and see if anyone is interested at all.  We'd need 12-15 people to go in order to make it worthwhile.  Let me know what you think.  And feel free to email me or post here with any questions.

Isaiah's Signature Drink

Most of you insiders probably know that Isaiah and I went to Austin for the weekend so he could compete in the South Central Regional Barista Competition (SCRBC).  I blogged about what the competition entails in a DoubleShot blogpost.  The only thing I didn't disclose was the makeup of his signature beverage.  

Well, he made it from a pool of 20 competitors to the final round of 6.  And then he placed fourth overall.

It was his first competition and we're just learning how to play the game, so I think we're probably going to Portland in March for the US Barista Competition, where he'll be more polished and compromising more of our standards for theirs.  I know that sounds weird, but it's the only way to do well.

Several people have asked me (and Isaiah) what his signature drink is.  He'll be using the same one at the USBC, so we don't want to spill the beans here on the internet for everyone to read.  But since you guys are our core group of coffee-lovers, we want to offer a special opportunity for you to see and taste it first-hand.

Next Thursday, November 13, at 7p Isaiah will be making his signature drink for you.  He'll talk a little about the competition, how it works and how it went, and unveil the mysteries of The Longfellow.  It doesn't take long to make the drink, but time obviously will stack up with more people.  He asks that you bring your own drinking vessel, if possible.  It should be ceramic and hold 3-4 fluid ounces.  

Please let me know if you are coming to this event so we can plan to have the right amount of ingredients.  The sooner you can let me know, the better.  There is no cost, but as usual with Coffee Illuminati events, donations will be accepted.  

Remember that's Thursday November 13 at 7p here at the DoubleShot.

Costa Rica El Indio

In my last coffee shipment I ordered a single bag of "El Indio" from Costa Rica.  It's the first time we've ever had this coffee, and so far I've only roasted it once.

It is a coffee that is sourced by Hacienda La Minita.  The coffee comes from the Tarrazu region, just like La Minita, but instead of being produced and milled on their farm, it is grown by a variety of farmers in the region and milled at the Beneficio Tarrazu in San Marcos. 

The first time I went to Costa Rica I took my bike and rode from La Minita around to different areas, and one of those days I rode to San Marcos.  It is a beautiful town with two mills, lots of uniformed school children playing soccer, pretty little houses, and of course an old church.  

I have cupped El Indio a few times with Sergio (the head cupper at La Minita) and it has always been good, but I've preferred La Magnolia (also sourced by La Minita, but from Tres Rios region).  I have purchased it now, instead of La Magnolia, for variety and exploration.  I never really know what a coffee will taste like when I roast it in the Vittoria.

It is good.  It's another classic Central American washed coffee.  In our efforts to seek out the best naturals in the world, we've sort of neglected the washed coffees and I began to feel that we were leaving out a significant portion of great coffees.  The first time I roasted the El Indio, I probably didn't take it as far into the roast as I will next time.  It's pretty light, clean, nutty, chocolatey, with a hint of wineyness.  It has a fine acidity and a clean finish.  Taking the coffee a little further into the roast will polish some of the front-end nuttiness and bring out a little more of the chocolate and fruit that I'm looking for.  

This coffee is so clean because the defects have been sorted out by hand.  For many years this coffee was only exported to Europe because the extra processing demanded a higher price and in America we're all about cutting costs and widening our margins.

Basically if you like Costa Rican coffees, you'll like the El Indio.  It's an alternative to the flagship La Minita we always roast.  But I only bought one bag, so you should try it when you see it.  I probably have 8 more roasts of it before it's gone.

Here are the cupping notes (not this year's crop) from Tom at Sweet Maria's on the El Indio:

Notes: El Indio is the mark of CoopTarrazu located in San Marcos de Tarrazu. This is the geographical and cultural center of the Tarrazu coffee area, which coincidentally describes the cup character of the El Indio perfectly - classic Tarrazu cup profile! Why do we carry so many coffees from Tarrazu? Good question, and I am kicking myself right now because it is SO much work to offer you all so many choices. But the fact is, I can't help myself when I get a great sample, and Tarrazu coffees are the preeminent Costa Rican coffees. Now, there is a lot of bad coffee that comes from Tarrazu, and there are fine coffees from elsewhere (specifically, Tres Rios region). But Tarrazu has the climate, the altitude, the "cafecultura" (coffee culture; the people, the expertise, the history). El Indio is a profoundly balanced cup, with a slightly winey character that typifies Tarrazu from the central Tarrazu Valley area. The brightness has a ripe, mature lemon quality, not what I would normally call a citrus acidity (such as some Kenyas). (Have you ever had a lemon that ripens on the tree to the point it becomes quite sweet?) It has moderate milk chocolate and hazelnut in the cup, offset with a modicum of sweetness that intensifies in the finish - what a great finish this cup has! The body is medium, and has a silky mouthfeel. The aftertaste is chocolate-caramel, clean and mild. It is a very balanced and very refined cup (+1 cuppers correction for this intangible quality), which (having a decent amount of cupping experience at international competitions) leads me to wonder ... why aren't my Japanese counterparts buying all of this? Kentaro? Shinji? Yoshi? Hiroshi? Are you reading this???

On another note, below is a link to a story that I think was written by Tim Castle in the Tea & Coffee Trade Journal in 1992 about Bill McAlpin and Hacienda La Minita.  It mentions some of the coffees we've roasted from La Minita and it addresses issues that are still very pertinent today in the coffee industry.  In fact, the things Bill was talking about in 1992 are just now happening on any type of noticeable scale in the industry- the man is way ahead of his time.  While reading this I also thought about how this relates to our economy.  You can read how coffee farmers survived when the "value" of their product decreased.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/tradejournals/article/print/13218548.html

For more information about La Minita, google search "La Minita."  Or go to their website.

Ethiopian Coffees

The Ethiopians are kicking ass this year.  Some of the coffees we've tasted have been just mind blowing.  I'll tell you about a few of them.  

The Ethiopian Yirgacheffe Misty Valley is one of our current offerings.  In fact, we're brewing it today.  This is a fantastic dry-processed coffee from the Idido mill.  All of the Yirgacheffe coffees we've had in the past have been washed (wet-processed), and the best of them have had a nice citrus acidity and Earl Grey tea aromas and flavors.  This Misty Valley has those same characteristics, but it is more complex.  Still very bright with that crisp citric acidity, there is a fruity tone that confuses my palate a little.  It's probably berry, but it intermingles with the other classic Yirg tastes such that it's hard to distinguish.  The coffee is delicious; one of the best we've had to offer.

The other Ethiopian we're touting right now is a natural Sidamo from the Dara region.  It's another dry-processed coffee with deliciously sweet berry flavors.  Blueberry, caramel, sweet sweet sweet.  It's really, really smooth.  Easy drinking, probably in part because its acidity isn't as high as the Yirgacheffe and it isn't as complex.  It's just plain good.

If you've been around much, you've surely had both of those coffees.  But I just bought three new Ethiopians that you haven't tasted.

A company called Ninety Plus sent me samples out of the blue.  They were beautifully presented in white mylar bags and marked only with the company name and indications that they are micro-lots from "Aricha" and "Beloya."  I'd never heard of these places, so I honestly had no idea where they were from.  Which is fine because I like to blind-cup coffees; easier to get a true taste without preconceptions about what they should taste like.  The first time I cupped them (have you seen my new cupping lab?) they were on a table of 24 coffees- most samples from brokers and a few my own coffees.  In the end, 5 of the 6 coffees from Ninety Plus scored higher than almost every coffee on the table.  A couple of them stood out more than others for me.

So I cupped them again.  The second time, the same two coffees scored highest, but with different flavor profiles.  

So I cupped them again.  Fantastic.  I think I'm getting a grip on what these coffees generally taste like, and they are beautiful.  It's really hard to cup with these coffees on the table.  The last round they were in a group of 15.  The aroma, body and fruitiness of these coffees is so big that anything sitting next to them seems thin and unimpressive.  Which isn't fair because coffee flavors can be subtle and still amazing.  That's just not the case with these coffees.

Let me tell you about the coffees I bought.

The company is Ninety Plus.  It's owned by Joseph Brodsky, who also owns Novo Coffee in Denver.  He spent 8 months in Ethiopia last year learning about their coffees and sourcing some absolutely amazing stuff.  He has the coffees air-freighted out of Ethiopia, so they don't sit in a shipping container for months before we get them.  This is much more expensive, but it preserves the flavors of the coffees and drastically reduces the lead-time.  I paid for the Sidamo and Yirg we have now about 5 months before they actually arrived.  That's tough.  Anyway, here is an article from Fresh Cup Magazine describing the improvements of dry-processed coffees and how Ninety Plus is involved:  www.doubleshotcoffee.com/washedVnaturals.pdf

The coffees I decided to buy from my cuppings are two micro-selections from two different areas and mills in the Yirgacheffe region in Ethiopia.  Joseph works with the exporter Abdellah Bagersh to get these small lots of very distinctive coffees, flies them to Denver, re-packages them in mylar and sells them to us.  These lots are differentiated by number and the coffees we are getting are the Aricha 10, Aricha 14, and Beloya 12.

Below I will insert the documents Ninety Plus sent me describing the two different regions.

In case you can't tell, this is very exciting for me.  To have someone like Joseph Brodsky source coffees that I can and you can drink is sort of a big deal.  The market for very high-end specialty coffee is pretty tight.  The mega-specialty roasters (Inteligentsia, Counter Culture, Stumptown, etc.) have the capital to buy up great coffees before most of us even know they exist.  The prospect of having someone with such resources and high quality standards basically "shopping" producers, looking for the best coffees, not just for his own roastery, but to sell wholesale- that's huge.  Back to the coffees...

The Aricha 10 was a bit tangy with some tea flavors, a great aroma- lightly apricot with some possibly curried notes.  The second time I cupped it, the aroma was more floral and earthy and the flavors were lemony, tea, traditional washed Yirg flavors.  And the last time I cupped it, the aroma was cherry or strawberry, and definitely a citrus, strawberry flavor that was absolutely delicious.  My sample roasting situation isn't very good yet, so some of that variation can come from inconsistent roasts.  Part of it too is that these coffees are complex and different flavors can come out of them at different times.  The tasting notes Ninety Plus sent me are honey, tamarind, and apricot in the aroma with a balanced, light apricot flavor.

The Beloya 12 to me was a bigger, more fruity, striking coffee.  Every time I tasted it, I was enraptured by these experiences that seemed to go straight into my chest and tie my heart-strings into bows.  Aromas of berry muffins and a bit of tea (perfect for an English afternoon), great fruit flavors, and some maltiness, huge body, and it cooled into a very sweet nutty taste (probably walnuts or almond).  The second cupping it still had a big, fragrant, fruity aroma, possibly redcurrant with sweet berry, caramel, and possibly amaretto flavors.  And the third cupping I got sweet but tangy melon flavors and lots of berry.  Ninety Plus' cupping notes included aromas of carob, butter, and light berry with flavors of ginger, maple, raspberry, and spiced apple.

The Aricha 14 is the third coffee I bought from them.  I haven't gotten a clear cupping result from this coffee, but they are sending me another sample this week.  Their cupping notes are as follows:  Aromas of peach, strawberry lemonade, raspberry jam, spiced apple cider, and flavors of raspberry and grapefruit.  

Obviously, considering all the work that goes into these coffees, they aren't going to be cheap.  The farmers are paid twice the "fair trade" price for the coffees, then the processing is time-intensive, air freight is expensive, and packaging in mylar to retain freshness adds more cost.  But it will be worth it.  The great thing about coffees like this is that they are fleeting.  The Aricha 14 will be here in a couple weeks and the others will be here probably in 5 weeks.  I could only afford one 60 kilo bag of each.  After roasting, it will only leave us with around 112 pounds of each coffee.  That's not very much so when you get a chance, enjoy them.  They will sell for $34 per pound (including tax).  And I'm planning to brew these special coffees, but not sure yet how much they'll cost per cup.  ABSOLUTELY NO CREAM OR SUGAR WILL BE ALLOWED IN THESE COFFEES.

I may have a special event to taste the coffees after they all arrive, so stay tuned.

Leadville Jogcast

I've finally finished editing the audio from the race. You can listen to it (if you're a glutton for punishment) on the AA Cafe lineup. The audio is a tad hard to understand, but if you listen real hard, I think you can make out the misery in my voice.

Thanks

Just wanted to pen a quick note to say thank you to everyone who has asked about the race and who pledged money to support Coffee Kids. People have been so nice and I appreciate it, as the race was a hard pill to swallow.

Altogether, the pledges amounted to $714.41, and I know a lot of people who pledged have given more. I know Coffee Kids appreciates it, and though we'll never see it, the people they help are the most grateful- and it's the fruits of their labor that we enjoy every day at the DoubleShot.

I'll continue to update this blog with current Coffee Illuminati info (about coffees and whatnot) and will post upcoming events.

The next event will be a coffee/cigar night, in which there won't be as much "tasting" the coffee as there will be socializing, hanging out, enjoying a nice evening, and a little discussion about coffee. I'll let you know.

Wrap-up

Wow. My thoughts are duplicitous about the race. I'm still trying to sort out what happened. Sometimes it's hard to know.
The Leadville 100 is a very difficult race. Generally only around 45% of the starters finish. This year, 186 out of 561 entrants finished the race. That's only 33%.
I'm sure the weather had a lot to do with it. It honestly was miserable. I recorded some audio during the (short) race, and will put it together as a "jogcast" on the AA Cafe podcast, and I'm sure you'll hear it in my voice. There just wasn't anything fun about it. Lightning, snow, rain, sleet, muddy trails, cold wind...
But all that feels like an excuse to me. I know that slowed me down a bit from my usual pace. But I wasn't really able to eat much during the first part of the race. I couldn't seem to swallow food- no appetite. And eventually that was going to come back to bite me.
We discussed it afterward- what caused me to crash around mile 30? I've never crashed that early in a race. It's possible I got hyponatremia. I know I was well-hydrated, even though Brad kept telling me I wasn't drinking very much. But maybe I was over-hydrated and it washed too many of the electrolytes out of my system. That can cause brain swelling and other problems. Seems very possible that's what was going on. Because at one point I thought, maybe I have cerebral edema. Then I decided the fact that I considered that means I don't have it. But definitely I had some problem where anytime I would exert any effort I would instantly blow up. And that lasted at least 30 minutes. 30 minutes that I didn't have to spare.
It's common to go through tough times during a long race like that. Even the best runners go through it. Sometimes it takes an hour to come out of that tunnel. But unfortunately for me, this time I didn't have that time in the bank. By the time I recovered and felt good again, I was pushing the time cut-offs so tight that it was virtually impossible for me to stay in front of them.

I feel bad because I didn't get very far. And my legs aren't really sore.
But so be it.

For now, I'm saying that was my last 100. I enjoy running 50 mile ultras a lot more because I can finish in the daylight, drink a beer and go to sleep at night. For some people, running a 100 miles is in them. For me, it's a struggle. So, at least for now, I plan to get back in the gym, start running fast again (anything over 9 miles is for suckers!), and get on my mountain bike. I want to be strong and fast. Besides, isn't 50 miles far enough? (The obvious answer is no, but let's pretend it is for now.)

Thank you all for the support. A lot of people have given me physical help, encouragement, and motivation, and I truly appreciate all of you.

I also appreciate everyone who pledged money on the race for Coffee Kids. I'll contact each of you in the next couple days and let you know how you can donate your pledge money. Even though I wasn't pleased with my performance, some good still came of it.
Thanks for that. Stay tuned and I'll report how much money we raised for Coffee Kids.

The End

Well, it was a tough day. Storms blew in every time I climbed a pass. And I think aside from that, I just had an off day. Was running some behind because I couldn't climb as fast as usual and the weather was ridiculous. I'm sure I'll elaborate more later.
But around mile 30 I blew up. Had to sit down a couple times because I was light-headed and whatnot. I came out of it, but a half hour had passed and I was pushing cutoff times too closely. Climbed pretty strong off Half Moon road over the pass toward Twin Lakes. Started looking like I was going to miss the cutoff there-- and the recurring lightning, rain, hail, and sleet were not helping.
Then at the top of the pass, I ran into my friend Robin Saens. She had altitude sickness and had been vomiting all day. So I walked down into Twin Lakes with her, and we definitely missed the cutoff.
I felt really bad because of all the good work my crew has done. But I can't control the weather. And sometimes I have an off day.
Thanks a ton to Matt for updating the blog.
And especially to my team:
Jason Westenburg the crew chief
Jason Goodnight my first pacer that didn't get to run (but helped immensely)
Brad Messner my second pacer (see above note)
Brad's dad Jerry (moral support)
Marvin Lee (out running now because he was so excited to run the course)
I'm sorry to let you all down. Thanks for all your help.

Brian, signing off.

Fish Hatchery

Brian is through the next checkpoint, with a time of 2 hours, 52 minutes. He arrived at the Fish Hatchery at 9:31 AM. He said that he is about 20 minutes behind where he would like to be.

The weather has improved greatly, although there's still plenty of snow on the peaks, where the temperature is around 20 degrees. Brian is in a fantastic mood, smiling and responsive. He ate a whole meatloaf sandwich and some chips.

The next real checkpoint is Half Moon at 30.5 miles, but there's no crew access there. Jason and the others are waiting to meet him at a semi check point called Tree Line right now. The next real checkpoint after that is Twin Lakes, which is right before he'll start climbing Hope Pass for the first time.

That's all for now, keep cheering.

May Queen

Brian has successfully made it to the first, 13.5 mile checkpoint, named May Queen. His traveling time was 2 hours, 38 minutes and he arrived at 6:39 AM.

According to Jason, the weather is wretched. Freezing rain coming down and more ahead along the path. Brian was completely soaked coming into the checkpoint and they did a full change of clothes. Despite the weather, he was still in good spirits, although still trying to get into a rhythm. This is pretty normal for him, up until 15 miles or so.

He's heading to the first elevation spike of the race, Sugarloaf Pass, which is about 1,000 feet higher than the starting elevation. I'll check back in when they're at the next checkpoint, at 23.5 miles.

They're off!

Hi everybody,

Just talked to Jason and they have started the race. Jason said that Brian got a good night's sleep and was in good shape, but a little nervous.

Weather is currently about 38 degrees where they are, with spotty rain. There's rain and snow in the forecast, so keep your fingers crossed that it stays clear. Jason said the precipitation is very sporadic.

That's all I know for now, I'll update as soon as I get the next call.

-Matt

Weather

Forecast for Leadville on Saturday:
High 55
Low 31
Scattered Thunderstorms

4.5 Days to Leadville

It's getting close. I'm a little nervous. More nervous about my health going into the race than anything right now.
I played my little visualization game and put myself into the race for about an hour a couple days ago. It's all too easy to see myself in pain again. I hope I can overcome.

I'm currently in Crested Butte. I'm supposed to be resting and acclimating. Instead I climbed Mt. Gothic today (12,589 feet). It's a mountain that has always loomed over my campsite here and I've always wanted to climb it, so today I did. It was partly an accident-- "I'll just go up to that next ridge"... "I'll just see what it looks like on that saddle." Next thing I knew I was on the summit push. I didn't actually summit because I shouldn't have gone as far as I did (not enough water, no food, no rain gear, no fleece), but I hit a false summit, maybe 200 feet below the summit and across a knife ridge. I'm pretty tired and I can definitely feel the altitude, but I promise to rest the next couple days and hopefully this will help me acclimate faster and not hurt on Saturday.

Good news for all of you who couldn't come to Leadville for the race. Our good friend (and Coffee Illuminati member) Matt is going to update this blog throughout the race. My crew chief, Jason, will call Matt whenever I go through an aid station and Matt will blog what time I made it, my condition, and whatever other miscellaneous details arise. Thanks to Matt for doing this. Hopefully it will be a restless night for him.

Leadville 100 starts Saturday August 16 at 4am (that's 5am in Tulsa) and the finish line cutoff time is Sunday the 17th at 10am. There is a cutoff time for each aid station during the race, so the pressure is on the whole time.

So check in whenever you get a chance on Saturday and Sunday to see how I'm doing.

Acclimatization

I've decided to go to Colorado early.  I'm flying there on Sunday.  This will be the first time I will have gotten there more than one day before the 100, so I hope I acclimate some and hope it makes the whole thing just slightly less difficult (to breathe) than it would be otherwise.  Every little bit helps.

How am I feeling?  I've been battling pain that's working it's way up my back, into my neck and into my jaw.  But April over at Glo Salon across the street from the DoubleShot has been working on it, and I think it's getting better.  Other than that, I don't know.  I feel ok.  Someone asked me yesterday if I can finish the 100.  That's the question.  Can I finish?  If I knew that, there might be no reason to go do it.  I think I can, but it depends on a lot of different factors.  Our bodies really weren't made to do this sort of thing.  Some of the factors are physiological and I have very little control over them- how will I feel that day and how will my body respond to the effort?  A lot of the other factors are managing an ultimately losing battle; prolonging the inevitable.  How long can I hold off a complete system breakdown?  It's impossible to eat enough food during the race, and it's very difficult to digest food while running.  All I can hope for is to take in enough calories and protein that my body doesn't break down too much of its own fat and muscle fiber for energy- putting me in a state of ketosis and taking away parts of my engine.  Lots of other factors like hydration, electrolytes, NSAIDs, caffeine, and taking care of my feet and other parts of my body that will be rubbing together constantly...  Most of it is an educated guess.  And then there is my mind.  Keeping my mind in the race, confident, and going forward is another thing altogether, without which I can't go another step.  

I'm planning to record my thoughts periodically throughout the race and edit them down into a Leadville 100 "jogcast" on the AA Cafe podcast when I get back.  Finish or not, you'll hear the ups and downs, highs and lows, crazy thoughts, rational concerns, and general thoughts that occupy my mind throughout a 100 mile foot race in the Rocky Mountains.  

Can I do it?  There's only one way to find out.

Thanks again for all the pledges.  There's still time to pledge, if you haven't yet.  Tell your friends and their parents.

I appreciate all the support.

Leadville Course Profiles

Thought I'd post this illustration.  It's a little hard to make out, but I think you'll get the drift.  I stacked the course profiles on top of each other from the Silver Rush 50, which I just completed, and the Leadville 100, which is August 16.  The black line, which is considerably higher for most of the race, is the 50.  It goes up to 12,000 feet a few times.  The red line, which is lower except for the huge climb up Hope Pass (12,600 feet), is the first 50 miles of the LT100.  At the end of it, I turn around and re-trace my path.  

Hopefully this illustration tells me that the first half of the hundred will be considerably easier than the Silver Rush, and since the elevations are a lot lower, maybe I won't get altitude sickness.  

Also, I'm planning to go out a few days early to try and acclimatize.

Haven't seen any new pledges recently, so tell your friends.  I want to feel compelled to keep going, and raising more money for Coffee Kids is the thing that will do it.

Tulsa World Story

Mike Averill of the Tulsa World wrote a story about the Coffee Illuminati and it ran in last Sunday's paper. I was out of town, but read it online. If you missed it, you can do the same:

Check it out here.

Silver Rush

Boy am I dumb. Running 50 miles in Leadville is a piece of cake? Hardly.
I finished. But it hurt like hell.
Had a couple of learning opportunities during the race, which caused a great deal of pain. The course went up to 12,000+ feet at least 6 times. At that elevation I felt light-headed, disoriented, and extremely tired. Then I would feel better after descending. Then I would feel pretty bad again at the top. I haven't had the occasion to train on big mountains, so the descents really tore up my legs. At 25 miles I felt a bit haggard. Then I ate a meatloaf sandwich that my mom made. Took a couple hours to get into my system, but for a while after that I was a new man. Could've been any number of things, but I prefer to think it was the meatloaf. Yum. Then with about 2 miles to go, I started to feel really sick. Had to fight back the urge to puke. And running was out of the question, so I walked the rest of the way in. Turns out I had a touch of pulmonary edema. When I got back to the condo I got extreme chills, fever, fluid in my lungs. All the good stuff that comes with altitude sickness. I've had it before, on more than one occasion. So I spent a restless night trying to sleep it off.
Today I feel better, but my legs are in the midst of responding from extreme training stimulus. Know what I mean? Probably not, but it's hard to walk.

Hopefully the rest of the week will include some productive training time.
Oh, final time was somewhere around 13:20.

Hell of a Week

I'm sitting in a coffeeshop in Leadville, Colorado.

If you would've been a participant in my week, you'd be surprised to hear that.
I think this is one of those FTO coffeeshops... and they told me the Sumatra and the Colombia were "pretty similar," they land the plane in their 36-ounce steaming pitchers, they fill the doser, and they need to clean their equipment. All the usual stuff that bugs me.

Anyway, tough week for me. Sunday afternoon my girlfriend left for LA, where she's training to work as a tour guide for the next few months. Monday night, while we were roasting, the roaster got a fire in the cyclone and Thursday I had to clean the chimneys, vacuum the char out of the chaff collector, and hope to god that was it for now. Sunday night we installed a PID on the espresso machine and Tuesday it went out and the espresso machine went down. We reinstalled the original thermostat on Tuesday night. Wednesday after closing, the floor drains became clogged and backed up, so I had to call a plumber. Friday I left in my Land Rover for Colorado. It broke down before I got to Wichita, Kansas. Turns out the power steering pump imploded. Power steering went out, engine smoked and died, etc. Couple hours later I managed to get it on a tow truck. They were nice enough to call around and find someone who works on Land Rovers in Wichita. Then I found out for sure it was the power steering pump, but the mechanic didn't have one and wouldn't be able to work on it until Monday. And then the owner of the shop said, why don't we just take one off a Rover in their lot and put it on mine? He was probably just being a creative capitalist, but it was a nice gesture and it got me back on the road.

After that 7 hour delay, I drove into the night and stopped in Flagler, Colorado. Slept in my car (fitfully), then finished the drive to Leadville this morning.

I've checked in with the race and am ready to roll. It starts tomorrow morning at 6a, when hopefully the temps will be in the mid-50s. It got hot this afternoon, so I'm not sure what to expect tomorrow. Rain?
It feels good here. Always feels different in the mountains. Maybe it's just the stress rolling out of my brain. But it seems like the air is more healthy, my vision more vibrant, and I feel... lighter.

I want to keep this on your mind. This is a 50-mile training run for me. Hopefully my time out here will help me get to the finish line of the Leadville 100 on August 16. Pledges are trickling in, and every one of them means a lot to me. Because when the time comes, I'll know that just one more mile will raise more money for Coffee Kids. And that's more important than any race.

One good thing that has come of my tribulations in racing and in business is the ability to take negative sitations and isolate them. It seems overwhelming, but you have to stay positive, even if it's deep down. Fix the problem. Or learn how to live with it. Or, as I had to do with the Rover, take in as much information as you can, try to make good decisions, and hope things play themselves out in your favor. And then re-adjust your schedule and expectations. This race isn't going to go as smoothly as I visualize it going. And the 100 is going to be even worse. At some point I'm going to encounter real problems. I'm going to go into "the tunnel," as I call it, which is a place beyond where most marathon runners talk about "hitting the wall." But I need to figure it out and get through it. And keep running. (Crap is going to happen. It's how you deal with it that is important.)

So anyway, I'm here. And the coffees taste similar because they're both stale, but the Colombia is definitely brighter and a little bit fruity, compared to the earthiness of the Sumatra.

Preparing for 50

Thank you for the pledges.  Our numbers keep creeping up, and so far we have pledges for $13.75 per mile.  All the money goes to Coffee Kids, so on their behalf I thank you.

I'm leaving in the morning for Leadville.  Things went a little haywire these last few weeks, so my plan to fly fell apart and now I'll be driving the 12- or so hours.  I'm ready to breath mountain air and fill my eyes with mountain vistas.  Have been gathering my gear the last couple days and I hope to get packed today.  I used to have to somehow get packed before nightfall, but now that I have electricity in my apartment it makes everything easier.  Don't have to sort gear with a headlamp.  

My friend Kari hooked me up with a friend's condo in Leadville, so I won't be sleeping on the ground.  I'm such a softy.  The race doesn't start until 6a on Sunday and I'll be done before dark that evening.  That's the beauty of 50-mile races:  no night running.

I emailed the race directors to see what the trail conditions are, because I've heard there is still snow above 10,000 feet, and apparently Schofield Pass above Crested Butte is blocked.  Here's the email I received back from Merilee:

Brian-Trail conditions should be great. No conditions present that should slow your pace considerably (other than the elevation). There will be a short section of snow on the course and there is a small creek crossing and I would expect some (but probably very little) mud. Thanks, Merilee

So that's good. 

I'm actually not sure how I'll do in this race.  My (not enough) training fell off pretty hard these last few weeks.  But I think I'll be good.

I was doing a little reading in the Hammer Nutrition newsletter today and, according to Steve Born's recommendations, I think I'm going to double up on the amount of electrolyte replacement caps I usually take.  We'll see if that helps with cramping, dizziness, and the feeling that my lungs are blowing up when they shouldn't be.  Hammer has been really good to me over the years, so I definitely recommend their products.  I take the Endurolytes and eat (espresso-flavor) Hammer Gels.

Wish me luck.

After the race I'm going to stay in Colorado until Friday to relax a little on some 14ers or my mountain bike.

Making Progress

It's only been up for one day and already we have $10.50 per mile pledged to Coffee Kids.  I sure do appreciate your support of the cause, and I hope pledges continue to come in.  I remember hearing the founder of Coffee Kids speak at the SCAA Convention in May.  He said he used to be a coffee retailer and then he traveled to origin and saw the families that were producing the coffees he was selling.  And he came home and said, I can't sell another pound of coffee knowing that the people who produce it are paid so inequitably.  This is the same feeling that brought me to start the Coffee Illuminati.  And when I heard him say it, it really hit home.

This weekend I will drive to Colorado and run in a 50 mile race in Leadville.  It's on a different course than the 100 mile race, but it will be great training for the real thing.  I have been running, strength training, and jumping up and down in preparation for this leg-busting run - up and down the mountain trails first used for silver mining.

This weekend's race is called the Silver Rush 50.  Don't worry, 50 miles is a piece of cake (sort of).

Running for Coffee Kids

On August 16 I'm running in the Leadville 100.  It's a 100-mile foot race that starts in Leadville Colorado (at 10,000 feet elevation), crosses three mountain passes (Hope Pass is the highest at 12,600 feet) to the 50 mile point, then turns around and re-traces along the same path.  Leadville is one of the toughest races in the world, with only around 40% of competitors even finishing the race.

This will be my fourth attempt to finish.  Though I've run numerous ultramarathons and finished 100 miles twice, the furthest I've run at Leadville is 70 miles (where I missed a time cutoff).

To be honest, I often lack motivation in racing.  Trying to win a race (or in this case, just to finish) is not terribly important to me.  Racing for the sake of racing doesn't interest me.  Sure, I want to accomplish this task and make myself physically stronger and mentally more confident.  But I've been looking for more meaning in my physical pursuits.

So I've decided to team up with Coffee Kids.  When I run in the Leadville 100, every mile will raise money to support the coffee farming families who work so hard for so little and produce coffee that we enjoy so much every day.  I've set up a pledge form so you can give per mile I run.  The race is 100 miles long, and I hope to finish this year - I've assembled a very capable team to organize my gear, give me support, and pace me the last 50.  But even if I don't finish the race, we'll still be doing good for coffee families.  Every dollar that you give will go directly to Coffee Kids for their various projects.

I plan to update this blog on a regular basis to tell you about my training leading up to race day and my thoughts and feelings about it all.

As I've done in the past, I'll also carry a digital recorder during the race and make a "jogcast" so you can hear (and feel) what it's like to run in the Leadville 100.  You'll be able to find that after the race on the AA Cafe Podcast.

And if all goes according to plan, we'll have a page set up that will allow you to check in on August 16 (starting at 4a) and 17 (race ends at 10a) to see how I'm doing.  If I can get a couple people to help with the continuous updates...

What is coffee Illuminati?