4th of July Fun

The 4th is always a nice holiday because Matt’s birthday is on the 3rd. This year he decided to celebrate his birthday with an epic.

15 others joined him for this crazy event. Turned out to be about 97 miles for those who did the full race.

Start, 6:00 AM, Bread parking lot

I ran some support for the race and also got in a great ride with TJ, Bill, Alice, and Bill’s friend John on the Blackhawk loop starting from the upper Hermosa Creek trail head. It was a beautiful day and my first time in the high country for the season.

TJ climbing Hermosa Park Road

What was really cool about the route we chose is that it’s part of the route that all the racers were doing today, so we got to see most of them as they passed us like we were standing still. Matt flew by me before I could get the camera out and get a decent photo.

Matt racing past Alice

I was sucking air at 10,000 feet. By the time we hit 12,000 feet, I was moving at a slug’s pace.

TJ grabbing a snack on the ride

Check out the awesome views we had! Thanks, TJ for the photo!

More great views. Thanks, TJ for the photo!

Unfortunately, the clouds rolled in and as we approached Blackhawk.

TJ riding the last climb to the top in the rain

Full on hail storm at the top

We had a great time post ride at Durango Brewing Company. They gave us a great deal for the racers: $3 pints and $3 chicken sandwiches. Yum! We hung out until last call with friends, enjoying the evening outside.

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My First 12 Hour Solo MTB Race – Done!

5th place solo women, enough to make the podium!

Coming into the pit for refreshments

I am so excited that I was able to do this at the 12 Hours of Mesa Verde. It took me 12:46 to get in 6 laps for a total of 98.4 miles on this technical single track course.

There’s no way I could have done this without Matt there crewing for me in the pit. He kept me going when all I wanted to do was take a seat and call it a day. I’m sad that he wasn’t able to race. He’s done every one of the 12 Hours of Mesa Verde events up until now. However, I’m glad I was able to make him proud with my results.

Bill, TJ’s husband, was also in the pit with some great support. Kudos to TJ who got 8th place out of 12 in our class with 5 laps! Here’s TJ picking her poison for the next lap from Bill:

TJ getting her Blocks for the next round

The new kits are awesome, and I loved wearing it. Here’s a side view of them, and me at the end of the 6th lap:

After the 6th lap

And here’s Lenny showing off the back view of the new threads:

Lenny heading out for another lap

So, the race report…Wow, my first lap was fast for me, and all plans to not spike the heart rate went out the window with a conga line of people behind me. If I let someone pass, I’d never get on the trail again…plus nobody asked to pass, so I was good to go, just haul ass and don’t stop.

The first lap was over before I knew it. I came into the pit for a change in Camel Bak, Perpetuem, and some Fig Newtons. I was quickly back out for the 2nd lap and another semi conga line, just not as long. Again, I had to push it. Back in and I was feeling it. I got the same pit stop and a handful of brownie from Bread.

Note to self: No more real food during races. Stick to Hammer Nutrition. I already knew this, but for some reason I decided not to listen to myself today. By lap 3 my stomach was pissed as hell at me and I felt I was ready to give birth to an alien baby with claws. All I wanted to do was puke, and I couldn’t. Would someone just punch me in the jejunum!?! I swear I was thinking this the entire lap 3. I carried this feeling on and off for the rest of the race.

Lap 4 was faster and better, as I’d started to digest both the Fig Newtons, the brownie bit, and the variety of gels I’d been consuming. Then laps 5 and 6…both painful, both ugly. I rode so well (for me) the first 2 laps, but 5 and 6 were all about getting it done. I walked a couple of short climbs to keep from cramping or pedaled slow and easy. I got off a couple times to stretch and massage out the inner leg cramps as well. I know this is a good sign that my fitness is still not where it should be, so it’s incentive to get better so that racing doesn’t hurt so much!

By the time I was finished with lap 6, Matt, Bill, and TJ were at the end cheering me on. It was really cool to see so many smiling faces! My hands, wrists and forearms ached from a full day of hammering those technical areas. I had the Intense Spyder, but damn if my arms weren’t killing me! I rolled into the timing area to learn that I’d made the podium. I was so excited because heading out on my 6th lap, I thought I was in 6th place with no chance of catching 5th for the podium. It definitely pays to just go for it, no matter how tired you feel.

Here are a few more race photos taken by PhotoReflect of me (laps 1, 2, and 3). All the race results are posted here.

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It’s On…Yikes!

12 Hours of Mesa Verde is this weekend. The rider list is posted! I’ll be riding solo, geared. This will be the first time out on the geared bike for the season and my first time attempting a 12-hour race solo. Been riding singlespeed until now. Here we go!!!

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One Down

First race of the season! One of my favorite courses for a race, the Alien Run in Aztec, NM. The singletrack is so much fun and the scene is low key and homey. 2nd place singlespeed, Expert class.

Race schwag

I got a great pint glass, some alien socks, a cool medal and a certificate. Not really the greatest results, but I still did better than last year. This year was 24.5 miles (by the Garmin, at least), 2:29. Last year I raced Sport class and rode 1 mile less. My pace last year was 6:30/mile and this year it was 6:03/mile. For average speed, I rode 9.2 mph last year and 9.8 mph this year, so definitely an improvement for me. Oh, and last year I rode the geared full suspension Intense Sypder and this year it was the singlespeed, hardtail Carver 96er!

The Carver had the new White Brothers Magic 29 suspension fork and some super sweet Ergon GP1 grips. I had my Specialized helmet, gloves, and eye wear from  High Desert Bicycles, and nice clean choppers from my recent visit to Dr. Slaman!

Thanks to some of my team’s great sponsors for supporting the racing this year!

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Growler is a GO!!

Matt kindly got me on the wait list for the Gunnison Growler mountain bike race, and I just got notification that I’m in! I’ve registered the two of us and we’ll be there!

Now I gotta get my butt in gear. This race means a lot to me. It’s a ~32 mile lap that you ride twice. The first year I did this, I registered for the 64 and I didn’t make the cutoff at the end of the first lap. That was the end of it. The 2nd year, I got smart and registered for the 32 and finished before the cutoff time. This year? I’m going to go for it! Registered for the 64 and will do this on the SS.

Can’t wait!

Guess it’s time to update my “2009 Race Schedule/Resume”.

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Fall Ablaze

Matt and I did the annual Fall Blaze again this year. We’ve been to every century event they’ve had so far, 4 of them. It’s so great to be able to roll out to this event from our house!

The best thing is that we ride this event together. Matt rides his singlespeed road bike, and I get to have him pull and give me some nice pushes up steep hills. This event supports the Fort Lewis College cycling team.

Done! 5951 foot of elevation climbing over 100 miles of terrain. Not a huge climbing century, but you still feel some of those climbs.

This year our new found friends TJ, Bill, Eric, and Diz were also riding. We caught up with them at the end of the event for the Blaze potato bar and free Steamworks beer, which ran out…so, we took off to the next best place to be in town on this wonderful Saturday afternoon, Oktoberfest!! Lots of beer to be had there, and all sorts of interesting folks to see. A perfect day for this.

Matt and I had rolled down to the event on the cruiser road bikes, so we stopped by Home Slice for dinner, then biked back home. I don’t think we could have had a better day!

Peace, baby!

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Singlespeed World Championships – Done!

Wow, what an event! Glad I can say that I was able to partake in one of the SSWC races in this world of ours, and in my home town to boot! The coolest thing about the race was that part of the course overlooked the neighborhood where we live and will soon become one of my regular rides. Even better? My sweat equity went into building some of that trail with Trails 2000.

The start was amazing. Bikes and people everywhere downtown! With spectators and riders combined, there had to be a good 2000 people there! Lots of fun costumes too. Elvis was everywhere, along with lots of tight, sparkly Lycra and feather boas. Tighty whities were in the crowd too, hilarious! Riding with your nuts hanging out of them? Not so cool. Eww!

This 19.5 mile course had 3627 foot of elevation climbing and 3365 foot descending. On a singlespeed this turned out to be quite painful on my legs. Ouch! My SS leg muscles are obviously not in great shape. But definitely an awesome challenge that I’m glad I finished.

The Ridge was a killer, and I knew it would be for me. I definitely need to improve my technical riding skills. It’s such an amazing trail though and has some of the best views of the city from the top. At the top I was parched. 2 water bottles was not enough for this one. It was a bit warmer than I thought it was going to be too. There was plenty of beer, but no water at the top, so what the hell, I chugged 2 cups of beer and carried on. Unfortunately the buzz didn’t help my technical skills at all, but it did take away some leg pain.

By the time I got to the 1/2 way point, I was ecstatic…I’d made the cutoff…YES! On I went through a shower of beer from all the drunks cheering us on. This let me finish the 2nd half of the race sticky and stinky. I managed to demonstrate some nice bike balancing skills as I high-fived tons of screaming, costumed people waving their Oskar Blues, trying to get me to down a cold one before moving on into the 2nd part of the course. Talk about motivation! My legs were tired, I had already started to cramp in several different spots in both legs, and I was parched…yet I got some sort of energy boost from all the excitement.

Up Cuchillo to Mike’s, which just about killed me (okay, that was before I’d hit the climb to the Secret trail). Somewhere on Cuchillo I ran into Dave resting under a tree. He’s a friend of Bendan’s I met at the 12 Hours of Temecula while crewing for Matt. I stopped, ate a few Cliff Blocks and chatted with Dave until he was ready to continue on. At the bottom of Cuchillo, I ran into another friend cheering on the racers. No water, but she had this leftover gray gunk in the bottom of her cooler with a few ice chunk floaters. Dirt and small flecks of who knows what floating in it, I poured it into my water bottle and it tasted wonderful, minus the grit left in the back of my teeth with each swig.

Toward the top of Mike’s I was able to chug down some water from some guy’s water bottle and passed on a pan of cooked bacon. I did have some sliced pear though, which was quite refreshing! I turned down some other “pain management” that was offered to me and continued on to the top of Mike’s. At the base of Secret trail I was able to get about a 1/2 bottle of real water, some more Cliff Blocks, and I was on my way. Oh, I think there was also a swig of whiskey from a bottle along the way there too.

The finish ended with a climb, a roll through a pile of beer cans, and tons of screaming, smiling fans!

I was grimacing as I made it up the climb. I had just been hit with 2 inner thigh leg cramps and I knew the muscles were going to lock up at any moment. I couldn’t stop in front of all these people, so I smiled through it and rode to the finish!! Matt was at the end, cheering me on and convincing me I could do one last pedal stroke to the end.

Wahoo!! Stick a fork in me, I’m done!

The entire town of Durango was out today and hiked many parts of the course to cheer us on. It was so great to see so many of my friends out there. Thanks to everyone for the cheers!

We topped it off with a roaring party at Ska Brewery. I’ve never seen so many people at one place. Basketball between New Zealand and Italy to determine the next SSWC locale kept us all entertained while we sipped our Ska and ate our Zia. What a great way to end the day.

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Rocking the Vapor Trail 125

My better half is still out there and doing well!

…and he finished despite the horrible weather to start. Yea!! I wonder if he was the only singlespeeder to finish…we shall see.

And a photo of Matt, taken by Dave Wiens!

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Decisions

To be,

or not to be,

that is the question:

Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune behind the prison for 12 hours on gears,

Or to take arms against a sea of troublesome climbs

up trails I know on one gear

And by opposing end them.

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Durango Dirt Lover’s Rally MTB Race

The Dirt Lover’s Rally is great because it’s right here at home. I can wake up in my own bed and roll right out the garage to the starting line on my bike. It’s another race complete now, and my 2nd race in the “expert” category. I’ve been racing sport class way too long. I have won some, lost more, but at some point, you just have to move up! So up I’ve gone…today got me a 2nd place women’s veteran expert category. Truth be told? There were 2 of us racing. I think the best thing about racing is that it teaches you humility. I’ll be learning that lesson quite a bit as I progress in the expert arena.

Onto other news…August 30th is the Annual San Juan Brew Festival!!! This thing is awesome! $20 get’s you a little mug (I don’t know, maybe 4 ounces??) and you get to sample all the beer you want for 4 hours. Not just any beer though, some of the best beer in the four corners area and beyond (around 25 breweries so far, even Leinenkeugels from Wisconson will be there).  This is an excellent venue. They shut off downtown, and we can walk to the festival, drink to our heart’s content, then walk somewhere to dinner and then back home. All that after a very nice ride in the dirt. Can it get any more perfect?!?

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Escalante Days 2009

2nd Place Overall, Women’s Expert category; 1st place Women’s Singlespeed!!

I got a taste of some sweet success this past weekend in Dolores, CO! On a whim (no, I’m not good at planning ahead for these things) I decided to enter the Dolores Escalante 2009 mountain bike race. Matt has been talking up the Boggy Draw trail, which was part of the race course…if I raced the Expert class. Expert?!? I’m a pretty solid Sport kinda girl.

Well, I sucked it up and decided to add to the punishment by riding the singlespeed category. Okay, I heard it was a good singlespeed course, and I was feeling kinda crazy/stupid, so what the hell? I showed up at 8 AM to get into late registration. Only 6 guys racing singlespeed and me. Hmmmmm….

A shot of the Kind before the Gunny Growler...note my 24" wheel in back...stand by for an update on that!

The course was super fast and I finished in 2:56! Race results are now posted on the website.  The day was topped off by getting to see a lot of friends at the race…Shawn raced and got first place, Men’s Expert SS. Dani and his daughter Eva were there cheering him on. I even heard Dani yell my name at the beginning of the race, that was nice! Then I saw Mark and Laurie. Mark got 2nd place, Men’s Expert, SS. Finally, there was Dean and his girlfriend, Marissa. It was a great day, beautiful weather, and the perfect opportunity to earn some green and learn a new trail system.

I’ll be back!!

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Gunny Growler

Getting ready for the 1/2 Gunnison Growler this year. Last year was my first show at the race, where I attempted the 64-mile double loop, but didn’t make the cutoff. This year, I’m entering with humility and will attempt something a little more realistic for myself…the 32-mile course, singlespeed. By the time I was done last year, I said I’d do this again with gears, but what can I say? I’m a glutton for punishment, so me and the Kind will taking another shot at this baby.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed for dry weather! I’ll be looking for Matt’s smiling face along the trail too. He’s going to be volunteering for the race since he won’t be able to ride. El Freako is riding in his place. Carney should be there too. Go BWR!

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The End

Well, it’s a happy end to a very nice, week-long staycation. Saturday, Matt and I finished our third Durango Fall Blaze Century together!

Thanks to Matt, we did the whole 100–he pulled some strength out of me that I didn’t know I had! Lesson learned? Eat more frequently. Easier said than done! Team Turgeon completed 2 back to back centuries+ with the 133 mile M2D last weekend and the Blaze this weekend. Ouch on my legs! We had a cool start, and I wore my jacket and arm warmers for the majority of the ride, but the temps were great!

At the end of the ride, we were rewarded with Steamworks beer and the famous potato bar. The coolest thing about this event this year?? We rode from our house to the event start, and then rolled back home after the finish. That was awesome! I love this place.

After getting cleaned up back at the house, we took out the town bikes and rolled down to the end of Oktoberfest. All the beer tents except Carver’s were out of beer–yikes!

The most entertaining thing for the event? Watching a drunk kid break a wood board with his head. Then a lady working the event (it would suck to be sober here), ripped him a new one for ruining a $12 piece of wood (that had been laying on top of a trash can).

Matt and I finished with some dinner at Home Slice. Mmmmm, love that pizza. And the garlic rolls? Yum! Oh, we also saw the Mark of Brendan while there, right against the soda machine. An interesting event while enjoying our pizza and beer, a girl outside Home Slice was swinging as high as possible on the restaurant ski lift chair swing. She got high enough to fall right out of the thing, and landed on all fours, wondering what the hell happened, until the swing came right back and knocked her on the back of the head. After seeing that she was fine, and watching the parents take her away, a drunk guy enjoying food and beverage with his friends whispers under his breath, “That was so f#*king awesome!” Okay, I got a good laugh out of that, at some kid’s expense, but it was quite a scene.

Yesterday was a short hike to loosen up the sore legs. We went out to Shearer Creek Trail and hiked until the rain came in. Turned out it was just enough. What an excellent way to end the vacation.

Thanks, Matt, for enjoying the week with me!! We’ll have to do this more often.

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Vacation!!

So, Friday, 5 PM was quittin’ time, and I’ve been on vacation ever since. This past few months have been pretty rough work-wise. Everything has been completed, and now it’s time for some serious R&R…my Staycation, as Matt is calling it. I’ve got no plans to really go anywhere far from home. It’s all about relaxing and enjoying some life!

Saturday morning, we rolled out of bed at 3 AM, jumped in the pre-loaded Element, and headed to Rico to pick up El Freako for a road tour called Mountains to the Desert. What a great ride! From Jeff’s we got to Telluride where we started the ride at 7 AM.

It was a fast 133 mile ride, with much of the up front pedaling being down hill. The climbing really it after 70 miles in…and there was some climbing, 5300 feet of elevation climbing. We had a little rain, but nothing too bad, in fact, the coolness from the sprinkles we did get made my sore quads feel much better on the ride.

The finale in Moab included beer and sandwiches to hold us over until the lasagna dinner at 5 PM. Matt was kind enough to be my domestique, so we finished the ride at about 2 PM.

The fastest riders finished at sub-6. Nice! We had a shuttle that drove us from Moab back to Telluride after the dinner. This tour is a charity event, with some nice perks if you decide to help do some fund raising. It’s capped at 150 riders, and next year, current riders get first dibs on the 150 slots. This is definitely one we’ll be adding to the ride calendar for next year!

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12 Hours of Snowmass

My main squeeze got first place in the single speed category. 11 7-mile laps with 1591 ft of elevation climbing! Talk about an exciting race! I ran pit support for Matt, which is always exciting. Between constantly checking race stats to identify his place in the race and making sure he’s getting enough calories, there’s nothing boring about running support.

Here’s my pit, right in front of the dilapidated EZ-up that belongs to Thane (Warriors Cycling founder and enduro rider) and crew who allowed us to share their site.

Matt pulled some consistent laps all day.

On top of the first place win, Matt got another surprise, he got 2nd place in the Rocky Mountain Ultra Regional Endurance Series.

This race was even more interesting. The Livestrong 3-man race team, led by Lance Armstrong, was up against the Beaver Creek 3-man race team, led by Dave Wiens. Livestrong ended up winning, by about 6 minutes.

The day after, I got up early to ride the race course. I was able to get some pics of what Matt and all the other racers rode for 12 hours. It was an awesome course, but not sure I would have wanted to ride it for 12 hours straight. The climb at the beginning is killer, but the views you earn are well worth it!

Fall is in the air, and the leaves changed color during the 2 days we were in Snowmass.

Riding the trail reminded me of King of the Mountain back in the Sandias. I loved that ride.

This was a great event, and one I’m sure Matt will want to do again. We’ll be back next year, with plans to explore the Aspen area while we’re there! Aspen gets a bad rap because it’s overrun by celebrities. But there’s actually a reason why they seem to flock there like the salmon of Capistrano. The place is beautiful.

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Rio Stampede

Well, the 12 hour race at Steamboat is complete, with 4 hours  knocked off the end due to VERY inclement weather. The day started out great, and the sun came out, making it necessary to seek shade and sunscreen. I kept checking the forecast, and the chance of rain actually decreased! Seemed like it was going to be a beautiful day. The sure sign that things were to go downhill? They had all the riders’ pits set up on loose dirt. No grass, just dirt.

Here’s Matt doing the Le Mans start:

And Matt still running:

And Matt heading out on his bike. Thanks to Carrie for the pics!!

Matt was riding well, and as I sent him off on what was to be his 6th lap, the storm hit. Hail and rain with high winds made for flying EZ-Ups everywhere. Luckily I was able to hold onto a leg along with Matt (Cat’s other half) and another man who had been crewing next to me for his son. It took 3 of us to keep a staked down EZ-Up from taking flight. Good grief!

Despite the race being called off early, I must say that this was a nicely run event. It’s got that “grass roots” feel to it. Just the right amount of entrants…from my perspective. There were lots of categories and options as well. Both a 6-hour and 12-hour event were offered, and both offered multiple options, including teams. Only problem? Not enough singlespeeders, so they had to compete in geared classes. That was the only bummer.

RESULTS ARE UP

I saw Carrie and Ari at the event, which was nice. It had been a while since I’d seen them! Ari will be a freshman this year. Yikes! Time really flies fast.

On the way back from Steamboat, Matt and I stopped for a nice hike in Ironton. We found a nice loop on the Colorado Boy Trail and got to see numerous old mine shafts and remnants of the past. The highlight was getting to a bridge that was used to transport water through a wooden pipeline across a gorge.

We’ve seen the bridge from the road, so the goal was to get up to it, which we did! It was the perfect way to spend some time together and enjoy the weekend. Oh, the good pics of the hike are on Matt’s blog.

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Fun, Friends, and Bikes

Life has been running 1 million miles a minute these days. It’s nice to be able to stop for a sec and catch up with good friends. Today, my best bud and I went on an exploratory dirt road/pavement/single track excursion around town. We’ve been having daily rain storms around here, usually pretty short and sweet. Today, we had clouds (but no rain on the ride) to keep us cool…a nice day for a ride!

Yesterday Jamie and I did a ride in the Gulch, heading up Telegraph to Cowboy and back into town along the river. I haven’t seen Jamie in ages, so it was good to ride with her. I decided to take the singlespeed out for the ride, which was a very nice change. the Gulch is definitely made for singlespeeding!!

And finally, we’ve got some more fun pics from the Breckenridge 100 from Sue!! Some are below, but others can be found on my Flickr site.

Here’s the chica trio!

Lap 1 — Sue

Lap 2 — Lyn

Lap 3 — Jeni

More BWR Racers –

1st Place Singlespeed!

Donnie & Lenny

Future BWR Racer, Kasen, with Mom and #1 pit leader, Rita

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Who Do YOU Admire?

There are a lot of people that I admire and respect for a variety of reasons.

I admire those who have succeeded in advancing the rights of people, those who demonstrate pure kindness, those who keep our trails open to mountain biking, and those who are willing to step out on a limb to try something far different than status quo.

But today, I’ve added a new person to my list, Mary Collier.

This woman is doing something I’d never do. It would never even cross my mind to attempt her feat, completing the Tour Divide, which is the full length of the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route (GDMBR). Once completed, Mary will be a record breaker, being the first female to complete the ENTIRE route from Banff, Alberta to Antelope Wells, NM at the Mexico border. Can you say, “Bad ass?!?” That’s Mary. She spent the last scary evening trying to stay away from bears, pushing her bike through deep snow with one hand, bear spray ready to go in the other.

Want to track Mary’s progress? Here’s her blog on the Tour Divide website. There’s also this cool SPOT technology that Mary is using that allows you to follow her route and see her “spot” on the full Tour Divide Route. This is the “Spot Leaderboard.” If this doesn’t work for you (you should see blue “spots” indicating where riders are on the course), try this link instead. I like the 2nd link better because it lists all the racers in the left hand side menu. Click on the racer name and you are immediately shown the racer’s location (there’s only 4 guys ahead of Mary right now, 6/17/08, 7:47PM MST).

So…who do YOU admire???

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Catching Up

The blog posts are becoming less frequent. Guess it’s too nice out to sit at the computer posting on the site. Lots of stuff has been going on these days, so how about a recap? Sorry, no pics!

Last weekend–Gunnison Growler

Dave Wiens and crew put on an awesome, humbling race. I wasn’t DFL, but I was pretty close to it. The stats are now up on the website, but there are some missing pages. I was totally prepared for a DNF. I registered for the 64 mile version on the singlespeed, but only completed 32. Guess there were enough of us doing this that Dave was nice and created a new category…the Growler Lite.

This was a difficult, but fun course. Definitely would do next year…on gears.

Breckenridge 100–training

Lyn and I are planning to do this one as a 3-person team. Our 3rd person is “iffy” right now, but we should be good to go. Now we just gotta get in shape! To kick off the “get in shape” goal, we started riding the road bikes (high intensity intervals) in the AM. We’ll see how that goes.

Anyone want to fill in as backup for the 3rd slot?!? You need to be a woman!

This weekend–Fun Riding

Leave it to Tom Mayer to have some great pics of this area. The above pic is one he took. At the VERY last minutes (Saturday morning), I read an email from Katri wondering if I was interested in riding this weekend. I call her cell and she’s already at the trail head!! The plan? Jones Creek to Pinkerton-Flagstaff, to Dutch Creek, to Hermosa, and back to the car.

This ride had CLIMBING and then a little more climbing thrown in for good measure. Damn great singletrack with trail almost completely to ourselves. There’s some mud on Pinkerton-Flagstaff (Sue, if you’re reading this…there is LOTS of mud/creek crossings–no way to get around it either). The first few times, I was hesitant, not wanting to get the bike dirty or my shorts wet. However, after one really deep pit of mud that completely coated my rims (I have v-brakes on the Moots–doh!), I gave in and just got wet and dirty on the trail. It was actually relieving to soak the feet (everything below knee deep) in the creeks as we crossed over to trail sections. At the last creek crossing, we did a quick rinse off on the legs, which were coated by lots of mud and fresh cow poo which was inevitable on the trail today. Yeck!

This was an awesome ride, very challenging. I was thrilled Katri gave me a ring to do this one.

I was tired and took a rest day on Sunday, chilling with my best friend and chowing down on BBQ for dinner. Life is good.

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It’s Almost Time!

64-miles, singlespeed. Sunday!

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Gunnison Growler

 

Fun for all!

 

 

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Mission to Ride Century

Saturday Matt and Jeff did the KTR while Laura (Jeff’s wife) and I “crewed” for them. This is the easiest crewing job ever.

Drop them off in Moab, sleep in a hotel, drive to Fruita, order some pizza for post ride goodness, done. While waiting in Fruita, Laura and I hiked the trails there. I would have brought the mountain bike, but I had the Mission to Ride Century the next morning, and I didn’t want to wear out the legs,  nor did I really want to bring along 2 bikes.

We waited and worried (that’s what you always do when your better half is racing anything) and were excited to see Matt and Jeff roll in with appetites that beer and pizza fulfilled right away. Matt and Jeff slept in their respective vehicles, and Laura and I drove them to Montrose, CO, where my century would start. Everyone crashed in a hotel room, and I got to get up early the next morning…uggghhhh, mornings just ain’t my thing.

The century was great fun! I like centuries in general. They are low key because everyone rolls out whenever they want. There isn’t the heated mass start that makes me want to lose my breakfast (or whatever I ate the night before). This is more a race against yourself than anything else. My goal was to make it under 7 hours, riding solo. I *think* my best solo century has been right at 7 hours, one I made up and did on my own in Albuquerque. My best group century was with Matt and Jeff at the Fall Blaze in Durango, where we made sub 6 hours…barely, but still sub 6!! Of course Matt and Jeff could have gone faster, but they were cool and decided to hang out with me.

Anyway, on to the MTR! The bulk of the climbing was in the morning as we headed from Montrose to the Black Canyon of Gunnison National Park. Beautiful! Tomichi Point and Devil’s Lookout were especially wonderful to take in as I was making the climb. The climb was actually pretty gentle, I think no more than a 10% grade the entire time, with the majority of the grade being around 7%.

This isn’t my pic, but it gives you an idea of what I got to see. Here’s Devil’s Lookout.

In the morning, I had some issues. I couldn’t seem to get my heart rate out of zone 3 unless I pushed it on a climb over 6% grade or so. Try as I might, I just couldn’t get it. This is what gave me my 7 hour century. Had I been able to ride like I did the last 50 miles, I would have made some awesome time. By the time I descended the Black Canyon and started the last 60 miles of the century, I was doing well. I think I kept my heart rate in zone 4 or upper zone 3 the entire time. The last 60 was pretty flat, and I had luck on my side with little wind for the day. This allowed me to pretty much hammer at around 18 mph on some seriously long stretches. That’s fast for me.

I finished at 7 hours, 2 minutes. I could have made sub 7 had I not made 4 missed turns. The route was a little difficult to follow in areas. Rather than getting turn by turn route sheets with mileage points, they folks handed out maps with the route marked in red. There were orange arrows on the streets marking the turns, but high traffic areas made the orange difficult to see, and each of those 4 times, I missed an arrow. Doh!! Better luck next year.

At the finish, Matt was there waiting for me and quickly got me some recovery food–beer and BBQ!

MMMMMMMMMM!!!!!

For the ride home, Matt drove us through Ouray, where we got to see some spectacular waterfalls! Click on these images to get enlarged versions, they are great!

This is some serious water force!!

Some orange water, where the iron content runs high.

And a bear that we saw on the side of the road.

What a great weekend!

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12 Hours of Mesa Verde

The results are up!

Cortez, CO!! Driving to Cortez in the morning, I was worried this was going to be a wet day…we drove through rain and SNOW! Luckily, as we rolled into Cortez, there was blue sky. The day was beautiful temperature wise, but definitely a bit on the windy side.

I crewed for Matt today and had a great time! We had an excellent team showing, and lots of crew folks to hang out with. Above is a combo Turgeon/Hemperley combo pit stop. Laura came later with Shady, a new family member.

Matt did well! 2nd place in his category (solo singlespeed), and 5th overall (yep, that’s against the gears too!). My sweetie is a stud. Big Wheel Racing did an awesome job as a team! You just can’t beat having a huge team at a race. It’s great karma and support. We got 2nd place for the team with the most members at the race.

 

 

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California Triple Crown Winners

The CTC stats are up for 2007. 555 riders earned their CTC this year for riding 3 double centuries (yes, 200 miles) in 1 calendar year.

This was my goal for the year, and I earned it! It was quite the adventure, but what’s really amazing is that one person did 15 doubles this year. A friend of mine, Bill Murphy, rode 12! That’s a lot of miles in 1 year.

My CTC gear has arrived and I can’t wait to go riding in it!

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12 Hours of Temecula

So I’m one step closer to being a real singlespeeder, not just a recreational one. I had decided to do the 12 Hours of Temecula with Scott as a duo team. The question was whether we’d be racing with gears or not. Matt was already planning on riding solo singlespeed.

12 hours later, Scott and I had placed first for singlespeed duo team. Sweet! I got my cool medal and Matt and I were headed back to the hotel for some sleep. The next morning we met Scott for breakfast, and Scott had a trophy in hand. Turns out we’d also won the overall 12 Hours of Temecula Series. Am I a lucky girl or what?!?

The race started at 9 AM, so Matt and I rolled into the race venue at around 7 AM to get things set up. Scott had already scored us a great location!

Scott was nice enough to do the first lap for the team. It was nice since I have an issue with the race jitters, and not having to go first pretty much eliminates those jitters for me. We decided to go 1 lap on, 1 lap off, which worked for me. We both ended up with 5 laps a piece. Scott was, of course, much faster than me. His laps ranged from 50 min to about an hour or so (even with injured ribs). I was between 1 hr 15 min to 1 hr 30 min.

By the end of the race, I was tired! As usual, nutrition just wasn’t dialed in quite right. I need to learn how to take in enough calories without feeling like a bloated pig. Here’s a good pic to show you how I after my first lap where I rode at my maximum heart rate for way too long. Everything was a blur after that lap; if you would have asked my name, it would have taken a second for me to remember!

Overall? A great time and I’d definitely do it again! 12 hours is long enough. 24?  Still not my cup of tea, but we will see. I learned some great lessons about riding intensely on the singlespeed. First? I needed a harder gearing than I’d been using. Matt convinced me increase, which helped. Second? When you are racing, don’t do ALL the climbs (at least not if you are an average rider like me). My first lap blew me into another world and I came back exhausted. The next lap, I rode hard, but got off the bike as soon as my heart rate was climbing to my max (or I backed off on my level of effort). I didn’t hurt my lap time at all, and I came back with much more energy.

Maybe the 12 Hours of Mesa Verde in Cortez, CO should be done on a singlespeed next year??? I’m thinking about it!

 

 

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My Next Mission…

 

12 Hours of Temecula

Here’s the scoop!

November 17, 2007

Vail Lake Resort, Temecula, CA

Here I come, baby! Gonna ride duo with Scott. Matt’s gonna do solo. The question…will I race singlespeed?!?

To be continued…

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300K Brevet

Well, this post is a bit late, but better late than never. Here are the results.

Last weekend brought some epic riding! John Mazzola (pic of John below with Janella working on his back during the 24 Hour Rage in the Sage race), one of our BWR teammates, and his wife Lizz (below) host the NM Brevet series.

A last minute decision during a food and beer session at Il Vicino landed me, Matt, Donnie and Paige in Truth or Consequences, NM at 5:00 AM to ride a 300K brevet that John had put together.

Matt, Paige and I decided to head to T or C the morning of the brevet, which meant getting to Paige’s house by 1:45 AM. OMG that’s early!!! This was Paige’s first attempt at a near-double century. The ride was 185 miles long! The longest Paige had ridden was around 112 miles or so.

The riding out here was beautiful! Best yet, there was so little car traffic that most of the day we took the entire lane, as you see in the picture above. The few vehicles that were out there either waved and cheered us on or politely gave us the entire lane as they passed us. Unbelievably nice folks out here! This is definitely a hidden road riding treasurer.

Matt has some nice pictures from the day’s event, so check out his blog write-up on this great day. He and Donnie finished quite early along with John. Matt and Donnie ate and then jumped into the vehicle to escort Paige and me back into T or C. It was dark for the last several hours of our journey, so it was nice having the headlights of Matt’s vehicle behind us on top of our own bike lights.

This is a ride that’s definitely worth doing again. If you’re in the area and didn’t get a chance to do this ride this year, it’s being offered again next year, 10/25/08.

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Durango Fall Blaze

We went back to the 2nd annual Durango Fall Blaze ride. What a blast! The colors are just starting to change, so not as much color as I had expected, but still beautiful nevertheless.

Larry and Jana Goldstein are the masterminds behind this event, and they’ve done an excellent jobs both years they’ve held this ride. What’s great is that this ride offers a little bit for everyone. There’s a 37, 57 and 100 mile option, so if you have friends and family who may not ride as much as you do, they can still participate and have fun for a shorter distance!

Last year we got to ride through a flock of sheep and a bunch of wild turkeys. This year we were critter free, minus some road kill along the way. I rode with Big Wheel Racing team members Matt (head honcho and hubby) and Jeff (El Freako from Rico). Matt and Jeff were kind enough to hang back and block the wind for me all day. We were given some nice cloud cover all day, making the temps perfect for road riding.

Here’s a pic at the start. BWR was at the front of the pack. If you know our colors, you can see us…Jeff with his cheesy grin, Matt looking to his left where I am. You can’t see me, I’m too short. Here are some more pics and stats from the century.

The stats for this 100 mile ride:

• Sub-six hour total time
• Average speed 16.7 mph
• Max speed 42.6 mph
• 4306 calories burned (actually more, forgot to turn the Garmin on right away)
• Average HR 151 bpm; max HR 175 bpm
• 5067 ft elevation climbing (again, more since the Garmin was not on at the start)
• 4851 ft descending…so I climbed more than I descended?!?

At the end of the ride, we had a great potato bar and free Steamworks beer! We had a choice between the Colorado Kolsch and the Third Eye Pale Ale. Not only does Steamworks make great beer, they also serve excellent food! After the ride, Jeff, Laura, Matt and I headed out to Steamworks for some post-ride recovery food. The potato bar was great, but we still needed more nourishment. From there, it was on to Carver’s…yet another excellent micro-brewery in Durango. They’re food is great too!

The next morning, we all had a nice breakfast and Jeff and Laura hit the road for home. Matt and I got some coffee and hung out in town for a bit, then left for a soak in the hot mineral springs at Pagosa! It’s been a long time since we’ve been here. The tubs were just as hot as I remembered them from before.

After the nice soak, Matt and I continued on to Santa Fe, NM where we were going to see Phil Lesh & Friends in concert. Talk about a show!! This is by far the best concert I’ve ever been to. Phil was in top form, and his band was unbelievable. We had a great time listening to awesome music. This was a super fun weekend!

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Hekaton Century

I’ve been on the road a lot…I’m in Pleasanton, CA now. To make travel a little more enticing, I’ve been bringing the Ritchey Breakaway with me on some of the longer trips. For this trip, I headed out on the weekend. I did a great century ride on my own on Sunday. I was searching for routes to do on my own, and found the Valley Spokesmen website. They’ve posted a ton of route sheets for rides in and around the San Francisco Bay area. They’re based in Dublin, which is very close to Pleasanton where I’m staying. I came across their route sheet for the Hekaton Hilly Century and knew this was going to be the route for me!

The day started out cool and drizzly…wet enough that I decided to wait a bit before hitting the road. I got a later start than I wanted, but I still knew I’d have time to finish before dark. So I hit the road as the clouds parted and the blue sky emerged. I started from my hotel in Pleasanton and headed towards Castro Valley. My turnaround point would be in Berkeley. Here’s a shot somewhere before I hit the Castro Valley area.

The ride out to here was very easy-going…a great warm-up! Nothing to steep, just gradual hills. It turned out, that the entire ride was full of hills. A few were really steep, but for the most part, the grades were quite manageable.

While riding through the Castro Valley area, I was able to get a nice shot of Lake Chabot off in the distance.

The day was wonderful! The temps were probably in the mid to upper 70s for the day. Apparently the area had a horrible heat wave the week before with temps in the 100s. Mother nature was kind to me and I got to enjoy something much better.

I continued toward Redwood Regional Park, probably my favorite section of the ride. There were canopies of trees throughout, beautiful colors, and tight twisty roads that were an absolute blast to ride.

I continued my way toward Berkeley. The skies weren’t quite as blue, and a haze was starting to appear in the distance.

 

Once in the Berkeley area, I caught a glimpse of the San Francisco Bay, but it was difficult to see the water through the haze.

While the hills appeared subtle, I noticed at this point that my legs were becoming weary. I’ve got a triple on the Ritchey, but to this point, I’d been riding the big ring up front and the middle ring with a pretty strong ring in back for most of the climbing. I was not starting to find myself using easier and easier gears in the rear. Still no baby ring though!

The climbs started getting tougher past Berkely, and there was one point where some serious leg tightness set in. Part of this may have been the need for more water, not sure. But after one climb, my legs didn’t want to work anymore, so I took a break to just stop and stretch. I saw these guys during this break.

I wanted to get closer, but my legs were too tired. Did you know that ostriches make a growling sound? I didn’t. These guys were growling at me a little bit. Guess they didn’t want me coming too close. This was the point where I should have gotten some water. I was running low, but thought there were some strip malls coming up soon, so didn’t try to get water at this spot. Turns out what looked like some strip malls on Google Maps were actually gated communities and homes. I biked past, still with water, but at this point I was definitely sipping lightly. I made it to a stable and filled up with water from an outdoor hose.

This was a nice loop that brought me back through many regional parks in the area and then through San Ramon to Dublin and back into Pleasanton.

I really enjoyed the ride and I’m glad I got the opportunity to do this. I missed seeing Matt at the finish line for the Vapor Trail 125, but he did very well and I thought about him throughout my entire ride. He called when he was finished, and I still had about 28 miles to go on my ride. It was a relief to hear from him and know he was safe and had won 1st place singlespeed!!

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Rampant Riding

Summertime…it’s all about hanging out with friends, having a good time, and getting in as much riding as possible! I guess that’s my excuse for why it’s been 3 weeks since I last posted a blog, and I haven’t visited any of my friends’ blogs either.

Big Wheel Racing (BWR) had a huge showing at the 24 Hours in the Sage in Gunnison, CO.

Up above, left to right, Jeff, Lisa, Matt, Jeni, Lyn, Jen…and Josephine in the bottom left. I started up a women’s team to add to Matt’s heavy-hitting men’s team. What a blast, all the women on the team raced!! The results are linked to our names below, if you’re interested in the details. But for you attention deficit disorderly types, here’s the run down for the team:

• Matt (my main squeeze) got 1st place singlespeed and 3rd place overall in the solo category!! Talk about teamwork, that’s Jeff, below, leading Matt out on his last (or 2nd to last) lap. John is in the background cheering Matt on too.
• Jeff rode solo singlespeed and got 8th place

• Lisa rode women solo and got 6th place; the woman is amazing…consistent laps throughout, nicely done!

• Jen also rode women solo and got 9th place

• Lyn & Jeni rode duo and we got 10th place

We also had some other great friends and riders emerging from the BWR pit too:

• Lenny Goodell (racing for Sports Outdoor) rode singlespeed and got 4th place. Here are some of Lenny’s pics from the race.

• John Mazzola rode solo geared but had to bail due to back pain

• Ann Schultz rode women solo and got 10th place

One of the coolest parts about racing this event (my first ever 24 hour race!) with such a large group was the awesome support we got.

We had a huge row of EZ-Ups and an awesome crew ready to take care of us each time we came back into the pit to refill and refresh ourselves. Our camp was littered with bikes, as all of us brought 1 backup.

As for the ride report, Lyn and I had to battle against the men. The “duo” category included all male teams, co-ed and all female. We ended up getting 2nd out of the 3 all women duos. I’m pretty happy with that considering that the 1st place women’s duo had last year’s 2nd place solo woman winner in it–plus both women were local Gunnison riders, super strong. I rode with 1 of the women from this team, Miya, for 3 or 4 separate laps. Great rider and fun to talk to on the course.

One of my (many) lessons learned is that I should not start out so dang hard. I should know this, because I see people do it all the time. Looking at my lap times, my first 3 laps were very fast, actually, as hard as I could ride. That was great for the first half of the race, but then I started bonking the 2nd half. Lyn and I were very well-matched. We rode consistently, and bonked consistently. The only difference was that Lyn was able to recover on her last lap…not the case for me. Could have been because I couldn’t sleep during the night. Lyn was able to get in a couple of naps. I had a great time riding with Lyn! She’s easy-going, and loves to have fun riding. We are a great match and I can’t wait to get in some more riding with her!

My second lesson (well I already knew this one) is that I suck on the downhill. I’ve been riding road a lot this year, and I know my technical skills suck on MTB, but my descending is starting to suffer too. I was unbelievably timid on the descents, but I got better as the laps continued, and was able to rip the smooth descents very quickly. The technical stuff, I never nailed. I would ride past a ton of people on the climbs, and then they’d almost always catch me on the technical section. I guess I could have tried to ride the stuff, but it just scared the hell out of me. I didn’t want to do it. All I could think about were broken front teeth. I need to get that out of my mind, but I still can’t totally shake it.

Race Stats

• 93.44 miles
• 18,781 foot of elevation climbing
• Average HR 152, Max 180
• Average speed 8.5 mpg, max 29 mph

After the race Matt and I crashed at Long’s Holiday Motel. Slept, ate, then slept some more. Monday I had to leave from the Gunnison Airport to Fort Worth, TX for a week to do a CMMI appraisal. I’m on an 11-person appraisal team, and my “mini team” is very efficient, so work wasn’t too gruelling, but still, it’s a week in Fort Worth…blech!! I guess I can’t complain though. I was in Jackson, MS the week before this, and the weather was just bad. Got another week in TX coming up, then the week after that I’m in Birmingham, AL. Week after that, Livermore, CA. I hope CA will be nice at least…but I digress…

So…Sage may be the last big race for the year, the NMORS Cedro race is coming up. It’s a fun one, but I’m not sure if I’ll have it in me to ride it. With all the traveling I’ve been doing lately for work, all I want to do is relax on the weekends. A long solo ride in the woods is more appealing than a short race with a lot of people. I may change my mind by then. We’ll see.

Matt and I hit Flagstaff for the first time this year the week before the Sage race. It was nice to be back to old stomping grounds. Nice, quiet solo rides on trails I know well. That can be very relaxing. Saw our favorite Pay N’ Take bartender, Anthony while there. It’s always nice chatting with him. Apparently, for the 2006 Pines to the Mines bike race, Anthony was present on the trail in the devil suit, enticing all riders with free beer.

This weekend was all about Santa Fe. Matt and I went there on Friday and I rode Atalaya and part of South Dale Ball to get a fun little loop in. Then Saturday I went back to Santa Fe with Paige to ride my favorite “loop”, Chamisa-Borrego-Windsor-Tesuque up to Aspen Vista Rd, all the way to the top of Tesuque Peak, then back down. A great day of riding with 5085 ft of elevation climbing and 25.62 miles. Our max elevation was 12, 051 feet! I felt the thin air on this ride, much more than usual. The weather was the best I’ve seen all year when doing this ride. Blue skies, light breeze, wonderful. We finished with a tasty meal at Santa Fe Baking Company. Ahhhh…..

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Santa Fe Big Friggin’ Loop

What a ride! I didn’t get the entire 70 miles done, only about 50, but it was quite the feat for me! I ended up with 8494 feet of elevation climbing. There was an amazing turnout for this event. It was cool seeing so many women at this ride too! We had 9 women, I believe, who showed up for the ride…Lisa, Jen, Cheryl, Kim, Karen, Deb, Katherine, Lyra and me.

Here are the results!

The race started at 6:30 AM (6879 ft elevation level) with the women first, followed by the men. I headed out with the women and we quickly began the Atalaya climb. I was a bit too aggressive at the beginning of the ride, climbing Atalaya like that was the only thing I was going to climb the entire day. I tried to make all of the climbs on the bike, rather than walking. In hind sight, there were a lot of areas where I should have just gotten off and pushed! Regardless, I had fun climbing Atalaya and descending wasn’t too bad either. Granted I walked most of it, but there were some sections rideable (for my so-so descending skills, that is) because the soil was damper than usual. I hooked on to Dale Ball and soon the Deb, the “Govna”, Kim, Karen and another guy were with us (Cheryl and I rode together on and off) too! I rode with this crew all the way to Chamisa.

At Chamisa, Liz, John M’s wife, was there crewing for the riders. She had food, water, and a smiling face! I quickly re-watered and watered a neighboring tree and was on my way. Unfortunately, Deb’s crew had already left, so I took off right behind them. Not long after being on Chamisa, I was passed by John and Katherine. It was about that time that I noticed my shifting was not working very well in the rear. I had hit a rock descending through the last part of Dale Ball, and had a feeling that was the cause of the problem. One quick look at the derailleur and sure enough, I had managed to split the cable housing near the rear derailleur. I was now slowly fraying away the cable with every shift that I made. Well, I still had to at least get to the ski area and back down, so I made a decision to stick to the largest ring in the back and go 3-speed…okay, who’s kidding, there’s very little descending from Chamisa to the the start of Aspen Vista Road, so I was basically riding a 2-speed. This worked okay, although I wasn’t very efficient of the flatter areas of the trail.

By the time I hit the Big Tesuque campground area, I was getting pretty darn tired. The Atalaya climbing had actually started catching up with me right around the time I hit Borrego. I ate 1/2 of a Honeystinger PB&Honey bar, chatted with Cheryl in the parking lot (she bailed at this point), and then continued the climb. My legs were toast here. I’d let them get cold talking with Cheryl, so pain was all I could feel climbing up to Aspen Vista Road. I stopped midway and chewed on some Clif Shot Bloks. Turns out this food, plus Honeystinger Protein Bars and Hammer Perpetuem and Endurolytes were all I needed. These things are great because they taste so good and are the perfect consistency. When I know I need energy but just don’t want to eat or drink anything, these really hit the spot. By the time I got to Aspen Vista, the legs were warm again. Aspen Vista Road was a good climb.

I was still much more tired than I should have been, but it was a pleasant climb, nevertheless. I made it up to the cell towers, circled around to try to get to the highest point, and the Garmin indicated that I had hit 12,050 foot elevation. Wow! The view is gorgeous from here.

I headed down the catwalk to Sunset and then on to Lower Burro, continuing to take the trail down to the base of the Santa Fe Ski Area.

In the parking lot I found Liz and Katherine, lounging next to Liz’s car, sipping on cans of Heinekens. Katherine had decided to call it a day, so the 2 of us decided to take the road back into town to the start/end location, Second Street Brewery.

Matt had already finished! Good grief I’m slow…

We had a great evening sipping beer and cheering on the riders as they rolled in. They continued until after 10 PM! Ending at Second Street was perfect, because we were able to hang out with good food & beverage, great service, and excellent people. Santa Feans are the best…they know how to kick back and have a good time. I really enjoyed meeting a ton of new people. This was the perfect way to end an excellent day of riding. Jens Nielson was 1st, John Stevens was 2nd and Matt was 3rd (riding singlespeed). Unfortunately, I didn’t get a pic of John before he took off.

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Das Kaiser!

13,500 foot of elevation climbing, 155 miles. This is NOT for the faint of heart. Here’s the route map for the Kaiser route. If you look closely (click on the image for a better look), you can see tiny white arrows indicating the direction of the route. Matt has the elevation profile on his blog.

305 people began the ride, and 255 finished. Matt did very well, placing 9th in 9:39 (sub 10 hours!!!). Jeff, affectionately known as El Freako from Rico, placed 36th at 10:33. Jeff’s friends, Chuck and Keevin, placed 84th and 86th respectively both at 11:55, and I came in 186th place at 14:09.

Here’s a pic of Jeff, Chuck and Keevin chowing down on the post-ride BBQ provided by the ride sponsors. The food was excellent!

So, for the ride report…the ride began with a mass start. I hopped on the bike and much to my disdain, the Garmin decided not to fire up. Stupid piece of crap. Anyway, I rode with pack until the first break spot, where the climbs begin. From there on, I pretty much rode solo. What’s the sense in that you ask? Just to say I did. I could have made better time drafting, but there is a sense of accomplishment when you get the ride done on your own.

The climbs were tough, but not unbearable, until you got to the “Big Creek” climb. That’s just plan painful! If you’re from the NM area and have ridden Heart Break Hill, it’s basically that…for over 4 miles. Kaiser was very similar. Here’s the lowdown on the major climbs interspersed throughout the ride:

I did just fine on the ride. I seemed to eat and drink enough without going overboard. It was nice that the Fresno Cycling Club provided Hammer products at each stop. This meant that in general, I could choose from Sustained Energy, Perpetuem, Heed, and Endurolytes. By the way, if you want to save 15% on Hammer products, click the ad in my side bar to the right (use 88083 for the referral number).

The most difficult thing was riding this course without the Garmin stats. I never new how far I’d gone, how far I had to go, or how much longer a painful climb was going to last. I made do, and managed to find all my turns, but it would have been nice to have some data.

Some highlights of the ride were the very fun downhills after Kaiser Pass. The rides I’ve done this year to Sandia Crest have really helped me improve my descending skills on the road bike. I was able to make the hairpin turns at a decent speed, and on the straightaways, I blew by everyone! I impressed myself, as I’m not the world’s greatest at bike handling skills. I’m definitely improving though!

Towards the end, with only about 8 miles to go, I saw Matt on the road. He stealthily told me I didn’t have much further to go, and got some pictures of me along the way too. You have no idea how great it was to see him. I’d gotten a little lonely riding solo, so it was nice to see a happy face…even if part of me wanted to jump right into the vehicle.

 

At the end of the ride, Matt grabbed me a nice hot plate of BBQ. I finished what I could and we went back to the hotel to get cleaned up. Just enough time to let the food settle and prepare for meal #2. We met up with Jeff, Keevin, Chuck and Rick for some beer and chow. Jeff decided he was really hungry and ordered this…

and he somehow managed to get it all in his mouth.

Life was good, and we were ready to crash after the second helping of food in the belly. Overall? This was a tough ride. I’m not sure I’m ready to do it again, but I’m sure I’ll feel differently by next year.

 

 

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California Triple Crown Winner!

In 2006, the Grand Tour was my big entry back into cycling after my periacetabular osteotomy (right hip rebuild). I rode the double metric century (about 125 miles); it was a true indicator that I’d recovered from the surgery just fine.

This year, my primary cycling goal was earning the California Triple Crown. The Death Valley Double was my first double, followed by Solvang. I knew my final double would be my favorite, and sure enough it was…the Grand Tour “Highland” route double century.

Matt (more pics here too) decided to ride the Grand Tour solo (e.g. no drafting) and I planned to ride with two people I’d met at the Solvang Double Century, Max and Sherie. Together, the three of us were planning to earn our Triple Crown after this ride. Max and Sherie had also done the Davis Double Century.

 

But before I get to the ride report, I have to tell you about the great opportunity Matt and I had in Malibu, where the Grand Tour ride began. On a whim, I posted a request to the LA Wheelman email list (they host the Grand Tour, and we joined the club after being thoroughly impressed with the work they do) to see if anyone might have an extra home for rent during our Grand Tour stay. Sure enough, Bill responded. No house for rent, but he had a house and dog that needed attending while he and his wife, Rosemary, traveled out of town to a Woodie show. What’s a Woodie? Good question…here’s your answer (and get your mind out of the gutter while you’re clicking the link).

 

 

 

Matt and I got to watch after Pixie, a German Short Hair Pointer/Rottweiler mix and a fantastic home in Malibu, CA with great beach access (1 street off the beach).

 

I guess Bill and Rosemary are neighbors with many B-list actors, such as Valerie Bertinelli, Cheech Marin, Robert Downey Jr, and of course, the effervescent Nick Nolte, among others. The houses around the area were quite spectacular. We had a great time there and didn’t have to spend the $200+ per night hotel bills that could have been likely had we not been able to house-sit for these folks…did I mention this was in MALIBU almost on the BEACH?!? Nuff said there. J

Well, 4 AM rolled around way too quickly and after assuring Pixie that we would be back after a very long day away from home, we took off for the starting location of the Grand Tour, about 12 miles from the house. I didn’t check the exact start time, but Max, Sherie and I rolled out onto the course at about 5:15 AM.

The morning started out warmer than last year, which was very pleasant. We hauled tail at the beginning, and I felt invigorated, not spent, like I felt at Death Valley where I pushed too hard at the beginning. Within the first 35 miles, I got my first flat for the day. I had a little nail that went right through the tire and into the tube. That’s when I remembered that I had dry tubes. I heard the hiss from the rear wheel while riding, and thought that the Stan’s would seal the hole…doh! That’s right; I was trying to be a roadie weight weenie and thought dry tubes wouldn’t be a bad idea. No more of that crap! From now on, Stan’s will be in my tubes! I did a quick change on the tube, leaving both Max and Sherie dumbfounded…guess they don’t have to change tubes a lot, so it appeared that I’d performed this chore very quickly. Matt would have been proud of me. I think I did it in less than 5 minutes. We were back on the road and to the first check point. From there came Portrero, the climb from hell for the day. The steepest part is kind of like Heart Break Hill, for those who road ride in NM a lot and know that climb. I got that tingly/numb feeling in the legs just as I crested the climb and noticed my heart rate was at least 170. I was feeling great after the climb, but unfortunately, Sherie, who is an excellent athlete, was having a bad day. She started getting leg cramps and eventually had to call it quits at mile 100. Max decided to stop with Sherie since they had come to the ride together and Sherie needed a way back to the hotel to recover. I was very sad to see my riding buddies leave me, but carried on for the rest of the 100 miles on my own.

After lunch, the riding was nothing too exciting until I hit the PCH on my return ride home. Riding on the PCH is great, especially when you get a chance to experience sunset. Watching the waves roll in and feeling the cool breezes on your body relaxes you, no matter how many miles you have under your belt. I took in the ocean and hammered it back to the start/end of the tour.

 

I was amazed at the energy I had left in me. My legs were beat, but I think my mind just wanted to get this finished, so my body brought out some extra adrenaline and I was good to go! I spun up the climbs, churning the pedals like a little monkey on crack. It was a rather invigorating feeling to hit the last climb, passing about 6 or 7 people. I rolled into the finish and found Matt, changed, happy, and having a good time visiting with a friend of his from another ride. He grabbed my bike from me so I could check in and change into dry clothes. There was a nice BBQ at the end, so I had some excellent food and was ready to go “home” to Pixie and a nice, comfy bed.

The Garmin managed to get 10:31 hours of data for me, so my stats are a little skewed and only represent 149.21 miles.

Time—15:30 hours (this included about an hour’s worth of stops for poor Sherie’s cramping legs)
Mileage—200 miles
Average heart rate—145 BPM (I’m not sure I trust this, the Garmin is acting up a bit)
Max heart rate—169 BPM (I know I saw more than 170 on the Garmin at Portrero, so again, the Garmin failed)
Elevation climbing—7781 ft
Calories burned—5972
Max speed—37.8 MPH

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Cochiti 100

If you haven’t experienced the New Mexico Endurance Series, you’re really missing out. This past weekend was the Cochiti 100. I didn’t bring the camera for this one, but Chris has some pre-ride pics on his site. This was a spectacular challenge through beautiful terrain. “This race is not for the faint of heart.” That’s a direct quote from the site, and it’s no lie! Only 2 people finished the entire 100, John Stevens, and my better half. The race report is here.

The first loop was 41.5 miles for me, and ended up being more than I needed for the day. I had hoped for 2 loops, with about 60 or so miles, but the body just didn’t want to go. I had returned from a week in Ft. Worth, TX Friday evening and got the bike and gear ready for the next morning. The alarm went off at 4 AM, uggghhhhh…and race day was on! We headed out to Cochiti where probably over 60 folks ended up showing up for this grassroots race. We decided not to have a mass start like we did at the San Ysidro Dirty Century, so I didn’t get to see everyone.

We did have one famous person join us. Our former NM Governor, Gary Johnson, came to do the ride, along with his friend, Deb. He’s a charismatic person, always with a smile on his face. His athleticism puts many to shame, as he continues to place very well in endurance events such as the Leadville 100 MTB Race and other big events like this.

I rode with Lisa for the Cochiti adventure and had a great time! The legs were tired from the previous week of too much high intensity, but I still enjoyed the ride. We took in the great views and got to chase a deer down a dirt road during the ride. I hear someone else saw a black bear, and another friend, el Jefe, saw a tornado! Turns out the tornado was scheduled to hit near I-25 and the Cochiti exit at 5 PM. Lenny’s wife called to confirm the weather situation. We were far enough away from this site that we were safe.

Stats just in from Lisa:
42.4 miles
6h 36 m moving time (but we took a total of about 2 hours of break throughout the day)
avg speed 6.4
total ascent 5025 feet!!!!!

Another highlight of the race was the lack of trees across the trails!! Some moto guys who ride the area quite frequently, John, Ed and Jim, went out the day before AND the day of the race to clear out all the fallen trees with chainsaws. Talk about a class act! It’s just too bad we weren’t able to supply those guys with ample beer and food after the race. They surely deserved that and much more.

So, the next NM Endurance Event is the Santa Fe Big Friggin’ Loop on July 7. If you haven’t ridden on one of these adventures, it’s time to get on your bike and get out there, no excuses!!

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Sandia Crest Road Race

After a week in Fort Worth, TX for work, I came home for a quick break over the weekend before returning for another week of humidity and all sorts of middle of the states yuckness. Matt was sweet and made dinner Friday evening! It was nice to be home and I got a nice ride in the Foothills on Saturday. Watched a lot of the Albuquerque Century riders come in at mile 80 at the old Circle K parking lot too. I guess some folks found the climb up Tramway hard. Heh…they should have added the climb to La Luz.

On Sunday, I decided to enter my first road race, the Sandia Crest RR. I can say that I didn’t finish last, but I was damn near close to it. I pretty much sucked, but was able to hang with the pack until the climb to Tijeras. I got dropped on the first climb, caught up with the pack, then got dropped on the $50 cash prize sprint to “mailbox hill” right before the turn to the Crest. I had no chance after that to catch the pack. I now understand what high intensity training is for. After several moments of hitting my maximum HR for almost a minute, my body was done. Granted, the pack would slow down after pushing it hard, just like Paula (one of Carrie’s Pedal Queen friends and a super roadie) said. The problem is that the pack’s “slow” pace was at the high end of my zone 4, so it really wasn’t a rest for me at all. If I want to get better, I’m going to have to get better at the high intensity stuff.

UPDATE

Here are the stats from NMCycling.org. I don’t understand why the times here are different from the link above that goes to the americancycling.org website. I understand the NMCycling times but am baffled by the others…any roadies out there want to explain?? Anyway, turns out I was about 28 minutes behind the winning woman. Still not great, but a reasonable gap to learn to improve upon. I feel much better!

END UPDATE

Got to meet Geoff Kabush at the top. He placed 2nd in the men’s race, with Damian Calvert getting 3rd. Saw a crotch rocket rider screaming up the mountain at an excessive speed bite it on the way up. He took a corner way too fast and crashed. He was fine, but he really messed up the bike, it was leaking oil everywhere. One of those idiots is going to kill someone the way they come down the mountain, barely in control. Strange, last weekend they were riding very safe, this weekend, just the opposite.

At the end of the race, I headed back down to town. I had to finish packing and get on the plane for Fort Worth. When I got to the turn onto 14, I stopped to take my jacket off, and a huge pack of Colavita guys flew by and told me to hop on. Cool group of guys, they let me ride in the middle of the pack and didn’t want me to pull, so I got a nice, fast ride back into town with them. It was great, especially because the winds had kicked up and they saved me from having to fend for myself with that not so pleasant head wind. Definitely saved me time getting back into town.

So, overall, good experience. I need to try this a few more times before weighing in on riding road. However, I have to say that I enjoyed myself while riding alone, and hated the experience while riding in the pack. That’s not a good sign, but this was a first, so I won’t pass judgement yet.

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