This is the start of the fast group on a perfect August morning in Manitou. As a first-timer, I started 30 minutes later. If you have never done the Pikes Peak Ascent, I highly recommend you give it a go. It was thrilling and exhausting. It was a physical, spiritual emotional bomb that wasted me - in a really good way. I'll never forget it. I'll do it again someday, until then I have some other adventures to scratch off the list.