The Pemi Plan

Lately I've taken to actually posting specific plans, goals and strategies on this blog. While it seems like a bad idea (gosh, what if my plans suck???), given the high probability of failure, I must admit I don't really mind. At least I have a plan.

The graph (on right) shows last year's Solo Pemi as an elevation vs. time plot in gray. In red (or whatever color that is...pumpkin?) is this year's plan.

The idea is the shave off an hour of my total time. It's hard to tell without really looking closely at the graph, but the general plan is to hit Bondcliff and Bond in the same time as last year. Then it look 6 hours from Bond to Lafayette last year and I want to do it in 5hrs this time. The entire hour I want to earn will be done in that one stretch.

This is really sketchy though. Between South Twin and Lafayette is the "Garfield Ridge Trail". This is the most unmanageable section of trail on this trek. It's the one section that can't be done fast - it's so horribly difficult. The question then naturally arises: "Mutha, why do you think you can shave an hour off this one section between Bond and Lafayette?" The answer is simply this: last year, it's where I spent most of my time not moving forward. I took pictures, I chatted with people, etc. By the time I hit Lafayette I wouldn't even look anyone in the eye. I was so mentally fucked up that I stepped on somebody's lunch because the douchebag was sitting in the trail eating. I couldn't shave a minute off the Franconia Ridge section.

I think I "wasted" almost 30 minutes, and that 30 minutes can be made up. Where does the other 30 minutes come from? No idea really. I think sub-12 isn't really reasonable for me at this point - especially given how little mountain hiking I've done this season (none) due to some personal injury issues.

The other fun part is that MadDog, the PuppetMaster and g-$$$ may come along for the ride - although they may have less aggressive goals. There's also some kind of race taking place - doing the pemi loop - but I don't know their start time.

Sub 12 Pemi? Who cares. Might as well give it a shot. It's really just for the fun of it. It's not like I'm getting paid. I figure if Maddog and I could tear up the double-gap last week, and tMail and I could eat up 26.2 miles of White Mountain Madness last summer, this is just another day out in the hills.

Worst case I have a story to tell.