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.

Riding Blackhawk

It’s an awesome riding destination, but not something you want to talk about doing while drunk with your friends, lest you get accused of being a pervert. Just ask El Jefe about that one. Even his wife doesn’t leave him alone about that one.

Here’s me with a goofball grin at the top. It started snowing on us when we were up here!

My ride posse for Saturday was TJ and her other half, Bill. What an awesome ride! This (to me at least), is one of the best rides in Durango. The views from everywhere are spectacular, whether you are climbing or descending. Thanks to TJ, we even got some photos of those views since I forgot my camera.

Can you see Bill and me? We’re tiny little dots in this photo.

Here’s TJ, cheesing for the camera.

Bill and me smirking after checking out the remains of Graysill Mine.

At over 12,000 foot towards the top and about half of the riding above 11,000 foot, there’s a lot of gasping for breath, for me at least. A snack break was definitely in order along the ride.

Final stats? 5620 foot of elevation climbing, a starting elevation of about 8500, and a max elevation of about 12,000, about 25 miles total. We had a great loop that ended with taking Stage Coach singletrack trail back to the upper Hermosa Creek parking lot. This is super “secret” trail that really isn’t secret anymore, given how worn in the trail is now compared to last year when I rode with Jeet and Sue.

Thanks to TJ for leading another awesome ride!

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?!?

Growing Up

The boys are growing fast! 2 months ago, they’d sleep on the kitty condo together with a little room to spare. The little gray guy was a runt!

So cute and cuddly…

The are growing so fast! And they are definitely growing to be best buds.

Love at First Sight

The Kind has been with me since 2001! Wow, time flies. Here’s a photo with me with my brand new bike.

It was born a geared 24″ wheel custom aluminum mountain bike, designed by Brandi Fabian of Kind.Cycles, built by Brian Caulfield of Kavic Cycles. It was the bike that really fit, finally!

I loved this bike, but found that the 24″ wheels slowed me down. It was about this time that the Santa Cruz Juliana came into play and the Kind was given a short break. But not for too long.

I completely fell in love with this bike when it became a singlespeed. I think Brandi knew this is what the bike was supposed to be. I rode this as a 46er…24″ wheel in back, 26″ wheel in front. For a while, I ran the bike with a mullet because the front wheel I was using wasn’t disc ready. I eventually switched to full v-brakes, but yearned for two 26″ wheels with front and rear disc brakes.

Along comes Brandi and Brian to the rescue! Brandi got me in contact with Brian, and Brian hooked me up with this beautiful prototype dropout.

Last time as a 46er…right before I start taking the bike apart. A fitting way to leave the 46er? I won $230 with this baby on its last ride!!

Matt adding my new dropout from Brian Caufield. Thanks, Matt for putting my bike together and getting me rolling!!

New part in place. This is super light weight, and it fit the bike like a glove. 8 years later, and Brian sends me a prototype part that fits like a glove. That’s craftsmanship. The slots for the disk brakes are awesome. It allows for easy adjustment.

Complete Kind with 26″ wheels, front and back!

Beautiful!!

Disc brakes…to think I used to think they were overrated!

Thanks, Brian, for the prototype part. I’ve ridden the bike twice. I currently have a quick release skewer in the back that’s slipping a bit, so Matt is going to get me a bolt-on skewer. That should do the trick! So far I love the new geometry with the 2 “big” wheels. Big for me, that is. This is by far my favorite bike. There was good karma in the creation of this work of art, and the karma keeps coming my way.

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!!

Portland Visit

I had a business trip to Portland again, and was looking forward to visiting the city. I was sadly met with 100+ degree temps during the entire visit! Bummer that it was so darn hot during my visit…but, the weather didn’t hold me back. I still decided to tour the city and had my friend and fellow BWR team mate, Sue, as a guide.

We got a chance to drive to St. John’s Bridge, which gave us some great views.

Somebody was having a good time in the water with his dog.

The park below the bridge is called Cathedral Park. Hmmm, I wonder why?

Heading towards the park…

Walking back from the park we ran into this religious establishment…I think I heard Barry White being played from within.

Then on to Pier Park to check out the big, big trees. Shade did not help much on this hot day. It was still hot.

After working up an appetite from walking all over the place, it was time for some local brews.

A great visit, but it was so nice to get home to my best friend and our two new side kicks.

OJ is Famous!

So here’s the front page of the Warrensburg Daily Star Journal. Not sure how long OJ’s photo will be on the front page, so I copied and pasted the article into my blog. Turns out the editor of the paper has a soft spot for animals. READY FOR COFFEE?

THE GOOD MORNING FACE of this funny feline, OJ, belongs to Jeni and Matt Turgeon, Durango, Colo. Jeni, daughter of Tom Fitzpatrick, Warrensburg, says the cat is about 4 months old and OJ stands for Orange Julius, a popular, non-alcohol drink. JENI TURGEON/Special to The Star-Journal

Where in the World…

I got nuthin’ for photos lately, so will post up some gratuitous kitty shots. I hate posting without pics.

OJ yawning after a nap

Been all over the place lately, and more to come. San Jose, Albuquerque (multiple times, unfortunately), Portland, El Segundo. End of the 2nd week in August and life will get back to normal. July has been a whirlwind of on the road stuff. I like to travel, but I prefer it to be scattered out throughout the year, not compressed like this.

Julius waking up from a nap

So, some catching up to do. We had a very uneventful Breckenridge 100/B-68 event recently. No since in repeating, Matt’s got good coverage on that on his blog, plus some photos I took.

Can’t wait to get these on my bike too!

OJ, sound asleep

And today, finished the Durango100. This is my first time riding the century, and I had a blast! I’ll definitely be signing up for it next year. How easy is this: wake up, roll down the road on the bike to the Santa Rita Park starting area, ride 100 miles, eat lunch, go home. Ahhhh….Durango events are great.

Molas to Coal Bank

Have I ever mentioned just how great it is living in Durango?

Have I said that Matt and I are happier here than we’ve ever been anywhere else I live? Do you wish you were living THE life in your dream location, surrounded by like-minded people who all like the outdoors and know how to really have fun?

(Bill, Alice, Diz, me, TJ)

Some thought we were off our rockers when we left Albuquerque “stability”. Some probably still think we are nuts. Those are the truly unfortunate ones, for they’ll never understand what we did, why we did it, and what they are missing out on.

This past weekend, I got the opportunity to ride with a whole crew of people (and we ran into another couple on the trail 5 weeks new to Durango who also get it) who are doing exactly what Matt and I did.

They chose a destination where they wanted to live, and they did it. Sometimes you have to take those risks in life to get what you truly desire.

So onto our reward for moving to such an awesome place…TJ was our guide for the day and picked out the Molas to Coal Bank ride. Thanks to TJ for all the photos in this post. I snapped my first photo and the battery konked out.

I ride with TJ on Jodi’s Thursday night ride. Alice, who was also with us on this excursion, also rides in Jodi’s group. That’s how we all met each other. Thanks, Jodi! Oh, and Bill work’s with Rob, Jodi’s husband. I love this small little town! The 5th member of our group was Diz, a friend of Alice’s. Diz led the pack today with strong legs and some super fit lungs.

The day was beautiful and the wild flowers were rampant. While storm clouds threatened us in the air, Mother Nature looked kindly upon us and allowed us to have a dry ride, with a few (okay, more than a few) muddy spots along the way.

Does anyone know what you call those big green plans behind Alice and me?!?

We had only 1 patch of snow to ride through…okay, hike through. I entertained Bill by trying to ride, unsuccessfully, through the white stuff.

You can’t ride your bike without having a beer. I just question what kind of beer you should have. Diz and TJ’s beer of choice??

Choose your path and take it. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

This and that…

Wow, old post that I never finished…guess I’ve been busy! My new friends keep me occupied.

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Paige came for a visit last week. Was great to see her! I took her through through some of the college trails, over to the Animas river trail over to the Carbon Junction trail head. We rode up that, along the South Rim, then eventually back up to Telegraph and home again. It had rained a lot the day before. Just enough to keep let the flowers bloom.

I finally got to ride Sailing Hawks with Matt for his birthday. Nice blue sky for our ride together.

We headed out to Animas, climbed part of that, then veered off to the left for Sailing Hawks. Wow, that’s some fun stuff! Very tight and twisty with lots of rocks. Perfect for dialing in your technical skills (for me at least).

Then some more solo riding for me.

July will be a very hectic month. I’m mentally prepping for it, and taking time alone on the bike. I did a nice ride on the CO Trail today to Gudy’s, Hoffein’s, Dry Fork, then back down on the CO Trail, riding from the house (31 miles). Riding at a leisurely pace, this took me 4:20.  A little congestion, but nothing too bad, other than almost getting run over by Ned, Todd, and others in their crew, probably finishing up the Kennebec ride. Glad I didn’t have the Ipod on too loud. I heard them coming.

Finished the evening off with a really pleasant BBQ in the backyard with Matt.

White Brothers

So I don’t know if they’re all brothers or even if they’re all white, but I do know that they know how to make one hell of a fork! White Brothers has been a great sponsor for Big Wheel Racing, and I recently got the opportunity to pick up a Magic 100 for the Intense (to replace my 2004 Manitou Skareb Platinum 80/100 mm fork) and a Rock Solid Rigid fork for possibly the Kind. Matt already has the Magic 100 on my bike, and talk about some sweet suspension!

Not only does this fork work well, it looks very, very sexy on my bike.

What I like about this for is its responsiveness. Not too plush, not too harsh. It gives you the type of ride where you don’t even really think about your fork. That’s the kind of riding I like. I’m no mechanic, and I don’t want to be thinking about having to tweak my friggin’ fork out on the trail. This is the type of low key, high performance type of equipment that I like to spend my money on.

I can’t wait to get the Rock Solid on my bike. More to come on that adventure!

Thanks Ergon!

I love Ergon grips. I’ve done posts before on these babies, but I gotta do it again because they’re just so great! Plus, Jeff just sent Matt and me some new grips. I got 2 pair of the GP1 Leichtbau for grip shift, which is the only way I ride with the dirt gears.

I already had a pair of Ergons on the singlespeed, so the new sets went onto the Intense and the Moots. Now my stable is complete!

My hands get numb when I ride, but the Ergon grips help this out tremendously. I know that some people don’t like the wider ends of the grips and state that they don’t get as firm of a grip. For me, this isn’t the case, and I have tiny hands. The majority of my gripping comes right between the grip shift and the grip, which is maybe why I don’t have a problem. I don’t grip at the ends of the bars.

The best thing about these is that if I’m riding something flatter, I don’t have to hold down tight at all, the Ergons encourage me to just rest my palms on the grips and relax the rest of my hand. I think this is the secret to the hand numbness problem I get. I don’t know what it is about these grips, but they give my hands nothing but love.

Craziness!

I don’t know what I was thinking when I thought it was a great idea to get two kittens. I thought they’d keep each other company, not try to kill each other. Turns out death isn’t the goal, just rough-housing. While time consuming, both Julius and OJ (Orange Julius) are complete and exhausting entertainment.

Hey look, a flying cat!

Matt’s been on travel, so it’s been just me here trying to keep the household civil. It’s amazing these guys don’t have whiplash from all the foot bashing against the lower chin.

All I hear throughout the day as I’m trying to work is kitten skulls clanking against the furniture or on the concrete floor downstairs.

At first it felt like a war zone around here. Then finally, the beasts had wrestled to complete exhaustion and passed out. They like to repeat this cycle endlessly. You think you’d get tired of beating each other up all the time. Today they got some time out because I couldn’t stand the noise.

Here are some photos when they are being good kitties…

Apparently separate sleeping arrangements weren’t good enough. You have to share body heat when you are a kitten, I guess.

Have you ever seen a couple of kittens spooning?

I’m glad I took 4 days off to deal with the new additions to the household.

Gray Julius

It’s Adopt-A-Cat Month at the La Plata Humane Society, and Matt and I are finally ready to add some furry companions to the house. There are so many cute kittens there right now!!

So here’s number one…GJ…

And here’s a sneak peek of his little brother, OJ, who should arrive on Monday. Not litter brothers, but bros at heart.