It's not the Incline in Manitou Springs but it is a good quick climb in a short distance - and it is closer to where I live. With it raining this morning I almost stayed inside and ran on a treadmill - but decided instead to just enjoy the rain.
I added a layer and a woolly hat so as to not catch a cold and headed a few miles up the way from where I live to Mt Herman. Parked in the lot at the North end of it and started my watch. I had hiked on this trail once before a few weeks ago - although I did lose it once and ended up bush-whacking my way up to the Summit. I kind of knew where I was going and knew it was no more than 1 1/2 miles to the Summit.
The rain actually made for good footing, the normally dusty and loose trail was quite firm and I really didn't slip much at all - going up or down. I was able to pick up the main trail both up and down this time too.
The climb up was a good one - just over 1.25 miles, 1660 ' elevation gain. I made it in 33:15. Coming back down I was a little tentative, not wanting to slip - so I held back a little bit, but really not much. Making the descent in 19:27. Round trip time was 52:43.
So I now have a solid baseline time established for myself. I'm not going to chase after beating it any time soon - but I would one day like to challenge a sub 30 ascent, maybe do a sub 15 minute descent. Sub 45 minute round trip would be a challenge for me for sure.
It was a little wet, but quite enjoyable and a good bit of vertical training - albeit being only just over 2 1/2 miles for the round trip.
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