4 posts tagged “glen”
I am trying to keep up the volume AND intensity on the bike(s) - and trying to keep up the postings here; but I'm just slow (at both!).
After last Wednesday's lunch ride - I went out and killed the hill climbing workouts on Thursday (Cameron was rocketing up the steeps like Andy Schleck on Crack!), then took Friday off. Then, alas - had to take Saturday off for house related reasons. Bleh. I did take Victor out for a few hours of trail work on the Little Tesuque Creek trail - which got mangled in a freak deluge last week (3" of rain in 27 minutes!). 2 days off the bike + a few hours hiking and manual labor makes a guy feel like crap.
Sunday I went out for the weekly Galisteo Group Ride - which was composed of myself, and one other guy! Doh. Everyone was up racing at Tour de Los Alamos (Go McCalla and Cam!). Our little NM road series is drawing some regional hammers, like Anthony Colby out of Durango - helping keep our fast guys honest. The result was that most of the regulars were either racing or helping out. So Sunday's ride was far easier than usual. Greg, my company for the ride, was sporting an insanely tricked out Time road bike - complete with the weirdest, low profile carbon rims I've ever seen. Me and my ghetto Scattante kept up just fine, and in fact pulled most of the way home - drilling some hefty 550-600 watt pulls up the rollers in the last 10 miles. He sat on mostly - but would come around for a minute here and there to give me a little break - then I'd stand up, gradually wind it up and push on again.
Good stuff!
I was trashed Monday a.m. - so settled for a very Mellow 2 hour mtn. bike ride. Did some local Dale Ball Trails stuff, then headed up Hyde Park Road to the same Little Tesuque Creek trail mentioned above - and while the meager improvements I made were great - there is a lot of work to do further in. There are a few places - including the trail head itself - that have always needed major work, or re-routing - but now need work desperately. The trail head forks right off the pavement, creating a nasty little drainage - which looked like it was ripped apart with a 12" - 16" deep erosion channel right down the middle. A number of areas where the creek and the trail are right next to each other need shoring up - or re-routing entirely, as the raging creek tore a whole lot of the bank away.
Then further in, behind Bishops Lodge - a fancy wild west resort type of place, that leads horse tours and has a shooting range, as well as a spa - there was fresh damage on top of erosion from horse traffic out hen the trail was too soft / muddy. Yay. Post holes everywhere.
This mornings edition of Tuesday / Thursday Worlds was moderate (thankfully) but well attended. As usual, I did 1+ hours of climbing drills and tempo work prior to the group departure (6AM) but then peeled off early to get home to help out before the day really began. At least I got to sleep fairly well, especially compared to the night before where at 130AM I was up to check on a howling Victor - and ended up on my ass as I quickly through a leg up to get over the 'baby gate' at his door. The (supposedly) planted foot slid away as I high-stepped and WHAM! On my ass/shoulder in a flash of boxer shorts and cursing. Not an entirely atypical night though.... worth it? Yes. Easy? No.
Victor in front of a 'horno' - an ancient oven used for baking breads and such - on a recent trip to the Jemez:
What a perfect morning! Cool, calm, and slightly humid. Did a quickie recovey ride after yesterdays team group road ride throw-down, where I chased National tandem TT champ John Verheul (he recently won the 90+ group with Andy Coggan) and another guy for 15+ minutes of agony towards the end. Good stuff, and saw (2) items on my PowerTap I've not seen in a long while; one was that chase - which netted an average of 360 watts over 16 something minutes - and that was after the peppy first 1.5 hours of the ride. Two - a solid 450+ watt 4 minute effort up 'Lamy Hill' after dangling at the bottom but steadily crankin' up from behind and cresting the top smooth and steady - where I chased down JV before he launched his blistering effort up the road. I had not realized the top of the hill was a regrouping point - and damned if I'm going to ease up / slow down the little inertia I had just hammered to achieve! Ah well, next time.
Other highlights included a good sized group - perhaps 12 or 13 riders - including an extremely strong gal from Los Alamos Irene (?), the aforementioned champ and local coach John Verheul, super bad-ass local Jim 'Waz' Warsa who turns the biggest gear I've ever seen, and Tony no Baloney - back from a fractured hip, Matt " I just ran two hours" Desmond, Charlie Two Jerseys Drysdale - as well as some new faces, which is always good. The regular Galsiteo Ride feels different every single time I do it, as the make-up of the group is always very different - which translates into a wild variety of efforts in the 50 - something mile route. We held a steady pace right from the start - hammered a sloppy sketchy paceline down to Lamy, turned onto HWY 41 and started smoothing the rotations out a bit. John and I acted as the fussy patriarchs, urging folks to pull through smoothly and ease off a notch once rotated. Down near the turnaround, one blistering sprint came off the back - I dove ahead and grabbed a wheel - but then noted it was WAY too early, as there were many hundreds of meters to go - so the smarter faster folks flew by me. Ah well - next time!
We regrouped, headed out of town back toward Santa Fe - and it was on (see above chase comment).
This morning was a quickie north of town; up and out Old Taos Highway down to the Opera, back through Tesuque, and the nice climb up Bishops Lodge Road. Legs were not peppy - but were solid and felt just fine for the effort. 330 watts up the main climb for 8 or 9 minutes...
After a couple of weeks on the new road bike - a bargain basement frame/fork built up with SRAM Red - I'm hooked. The Red Cranks are the stiffest cranks I have ever spun in circles. The shifters are crisp and precise. The brakes are brutally powerful. The Easton EA90SL wheels are stiff and fast. I finally put the PowerTap back on and though suffered the weight gain, am seeing some good numbers (for me).
Little by little!
Big Loops in Santa Fe
Not much time to type these things up anymore, but here goes;
After a sleepless July 4th / Friday night, where here in the barrio celebrations include drinking from sun up to well after sun down, and of course, a series of local fireworks 'displays' - I still felt OK - at least enough so to try and tackle the most wicked ride I've ever tried: The Santa Fe chapter in the NMES (New Mexico Endurance Series) book of events, aka Mighty Matt's legacy of torture and the "crown jewel" of the seres.
I apologize for having to start, unofficially, prior to the more formal gangs' departure. No sign ins, no sign outs - just a guy, his bike, and a stopwatch. No GPS receiver, no maps, no HR monitor, PowerTap, or SRM crankset to track progress. How refreshing, and bold, and daring! I did coordinate some feed drops with 2 other friends, so that at strategic points (the ski basin, and the base of Pacheco Canyon Rd) we'd have fuel to top off the tanks and venture on.
I know all the trails, connectors, creek crossings, and pavement stretches like the back of my hand - as the course is most everything I ride from here in town anyhow - though I'd never attempt such a monstrous ride outside some sort of semi/organized adventure. Prepped the Yeti ASR, loaded up and charged the iPod, stuffed my jersey pockets, and hit the road in near-darkness. I was as ready as I could be - despite not having any rides over 3-4 hours in the last 6 months, I've had some good shorter / harder efforts with the crack crew on Tuesday / Thursday mornings (one of these hammers set what I believe will be a benchmark that stands for a long, long time - more on that sub-story later).
I spun over to 2nd Street Brewery, the official start/finish locale, punched the start button on my stopwatch and turned east, heading towards the first challenge of the day - Atalya Mountain. 1700 feet of climbing (so they tell me) up some of the steepest, most sustained, and nasty single-track in all of Santa Fe! Oof. Then down the backside via Dale Ball Trails south to Dale Ball Trails Central to Hyde Park Road. Chandler had indeed built an impressive cairn at the key intersection - which made it impossible to miss now. This first stretch was a real eye opener! I hit the pavement in some minutes over two hours. Ouch! Slow start - but lot's more to come. Notable was a minor crash on the last part of the descent, where a branch reached out and stabbed my right shin - causing me to over-react and biff off the opposite side of the trail. Doh! No real harm done. I just HATE the freaking Mike Wirtz style trail work / construction here in 'town', as it's usually too tight, too close, too off camber, prone to tree attacks (like this one) and generally executed half-assed. I must send him a copy of the IMBA Trail Solutions Handbook....
Anyhow - onward and upward!
About 3.5 miles up the pavement, the real fun begins. Climbing Chamisa is certain to blow any residual carbon out of the engine, as the first 3/10th's of a mile go straight up. It sort of eases up and becomes more fun, and is a textbook example of how to build trails in Santa Fe. Perfect, flowing, beautiful single-track that quickly gets one away from civilization. I was going even slower then I thought I would - as my stomach seemed atypically unsettled. Bleh. Not good. I did know there would be a chemical toilet later on, up the mountain - and hoped to make it to there. Of course, it then occurred to me that I should have packed some TP! I never really have 'that' problem - so I never thought about it. At the saddle - 1/2 way in Chamisa, the intersection for Serpant taunted me, as if to say "see you in 5-6 hours, and I'll kick yer ass when you're really thrashed"! I'm sure it will, but in the meantime - bombing down the backside of Chamisa is always fun, and I felt great at the bottom.
Climbing Winsor was nice, and I started picking up the pace just slightly. By the time I got to Big T campground, I felt that if I rode the next stretch of trail smart, I'd hit Aspen Vista and kick up the pace a bit more. I stopped at the toilets - but alas, no TP - so I figured I'd check in at the next set - at the base of the ski area, in a little while. The trail that climbs up and out of the campground is another nasty piece of work. Huffin' through it, I got to the road a little more spent than I'd have liked to have been - but so it goes.
Once on Aspen Vista, I tried upping the pace - but my stomach said NO. So I rode easy middle ring the whole way, and hit Tesuque Peak, at the pin - in about 4 hours and 30 minutes. Pretty lame! Ah well.... next time. Had a snack, drank some drink, then unlocked all the suspension systems for the rippin' 2000 foot descent through the ski area. Hit the bottom and felt good then! Adrenaline will do that.
Found drop point #1, loaded up with pack (a rarity for me) and hit the next section; Rio en Medio to Aspen Ranch to Boreggo to Rancho Viejo. I was more conservative than usual on the nasty parts of the descents - fearing for my well being - and my sidewalls! The recent rains have absolutely hammered a lot of the trails - which looked more like drainage ravines than single-track now. Amazing how things can change in a few short weeks. The little climb out of Rio en Medio was a mud bog of cow poop and greasy trail. Mmmmmmm..... Once above the irrigation ditch that peels off WAY up here, it got nice. REAL nice! Coming down into Aspen Ranch, and out/up Boreggo was great. Things started clicking, and the stomach settled down some. Blazing through the cool dark woods on these remote and primitive trails is pure joy. Hit the creek crossings and steep climbs they signaled with a big old smile on my face. Climbing the last, hard ridable climb of the day - after Nambe River - I even felt good. The last long, meandering descent into the Capulin Drainage was fantastic - and I really felt good, picking the right lines, hopping over some of the trees that were down, and generally railing the faster parts - sidewalls be damned!
Coming down through the meadow was joy - and as close to Wilderness us two-wheeled freaks are allowed. The trail was great, the temps were perfect, and it finally occurred to me that wow! How come no one has caught me yet?
I had to foot it across the next two creek crossings, and once I was about a 1/4 mile up trail 179 (seriously nasty hike-a-bike) I heard squealing Marta's in the distance. Ah well - hopefully it was my good buddy Chandler! He was due anytime now, and was naturally right on time. Once getting through the hike-a-bike portion, I cranked away up and over the first of two ridges that meant we were headed back to Rio en Medio - and on the flowy fun trails I heard a pop / wshhhhwshhhwshhhhhhhh from the rear..... that signaled tire destruction. I aired her up, rode on, but no-go. A small tear in the sidewall required a tube - but no boot, thankfully - and it was when I was about 1/2 way through the repair that a spry Chandler rounded a corner and said "hey"! Checking to make sure I was good to go, he was ready to move on - and I urged him so, as he was on fire - on the way to an 8ish hour time! Go man, go.
Got back to riding, and took it a tad bit easier.
By the time I rejoined Rio en Medio, I was feeling ready for the next, and last - leg. Rolled out through the 'town' of en Medio, over to Pacheco Canyon Road - and up about 1.5 miles to our refueling / drop zone #2. Saw Chandler as he was about to leave, dumped my pack, ate some Fritos, chugged a 16 oz. Starbucks Vanilla Frappucino and some water, restocked my bottles from the ice chest, and hit the climb after a 6 minute pit stop and one, big, burp.
I hit the climb at a good tempo, but holy smokes! It was HOT out. It was right around 1230PM and while there seemed to be clouds everywhere - there were none to cover these exposed dirt road portions. Ooof. I do fine in the dark. I do fine in the cold. Hell - I do fine in the dark cold! But this kind of heat sucks the life right out of me, right-quick. I drank a lot, and raced from shady spot to shady spot. After a few miles, the altitude and shade finally started cooling things off. On moderate climbing sections, I was pushing hard! It just started feeling good, finally. On steeper looser sections - it was easier to sit, spin, and focus - and push a biggish gear for being 8+ hours in. What a joy it was to see that brown Forest Service sign signaling the apex of this last long climb.
I absolutely tore-ass descending Winsor. Dodging cow poop and slowing for hikers - I hit the Chamisa climb in fair shape, and ground my way up to the saddle. That intersection sure looked different, and I have never dreaded a fun trail like Serpent like I did now. While there are no sustained climbs, there are some steep, rough punchy spots - and some treacherous descents. I made it through OK - but would note that this trail seems to have been annihilated by the recent rains, as it was now severely rutted compared to two weeks prior. Needs work asap.
The kicker was hitting Little Tesuque and knowing we had to climb up the pavement at Nuns Corner, on Hyde Park Road. Thankfully the clouds were gathering and offering some relief - and doing OK, I stood up and mashed the climb up and over the top. Feeling as good as I could - in that 'near end of the ride groove', I blew right by the Dale Ball turn off! Doh. I was almost to Gonzales Road when I relaized it, and mad as heck - stomped back up the hill to do this last bit. Blazing the bmx track like portion of Dale Ball Central was worth it - and I felt great down at Cerro Gordo.
Sort shell-shocked, I meandered via a very circuitous route through town back to Second Street. Ice cold coke, and a big old cheeseburger were calling! Rolling in just as it started spitting a little rain, I punched the 'stop' button 9 hours and 37 minutes later. Ooof. I had hoped to stay under 9 hours, but was stoked to have survived it anyhow. Even as Chandler 'faded' at the end, he was obviously on fire, as he clocked an official unofficial record of 8 hours and 15 minutes.
Sick.
Fast.
Someone needs to try and beat it. I suspect the first one that will top it, will in fact be Chandler himself - aiming for the sub 8 hour mark. I chowed down, had some cokes and a beer - but after an hour had to hit the road and get home. I was sorry to not have "seen" anyone - but new I must have kept a decent pace then anyhow. Got hailed on so that by the time I was home my bike and my sorry self were all rinsed off and refreshed. Had the chance to run some errands a short bit later and packed up Victor, my little dude, and we went to retrieve the stuff at the drop area. While I was on Pacheco Canyon Road this LAST time, in the car - I saw some fellow endurance nuts heading up the last climb, at around 4PM. Freakin' hard-core bad-ass! Ow. I offered up all the supplies we had left - and the ice cold cokes went FAST. Sounded like there had been some weather - but everyone was in good spirits. The mysterious water spigot back at en Medio / Chupadero Community Center proved easy to find (inside joke for some). It was a lot nicer with some cloud cover out on the climb- and I urged everyone on, including Tim and Mark - two serious bad-asses doing the whole she-bang on single speeds. Nuts.
I think I'll stick with shorter/harder workouts, as this endurance / all day in the saddle stuff is brutal - and takes me weeks to recover from with my low hours no-training training plan. For an apex to a sporadic season, there could not have been a better ride! If I 'do' another one, I'll start with the gang. For some pictures, see Rich's thread over at mtbr.com HERE. I could barely see straight, and thus did not take any shots at all.
glen
Lord this will be a quickie.
After parting out and selling most of my road bike - but as yet without a dedicated CX bike, I hit Albuquerque with Rich ready to rumble on my Yeti ASR-SL - a great XC race bike, but not all that great for CX.
Couldn't possibly do worse (dnf) than the previous event, where I destroyed my buddies uber-bling 'crosser, and dammit - I wanted to finish a race! Got a tepid start position (again) and worked to the front as quickly as possible, where I found Rich ramping up quick and setting a great pace - came around him, told him to 'hop on' (my wheel / aka draft my big butt) and let's go!
I thought he was there, but he took up the team Glen and Rich defense and blocked all the other attackers from getting up to me and the few others at the front. Cool! The guy who set an initial pace of super-fast-drag-race-till-you-die all of a sudden decelerated and cracked (been there and done that!) - never to be seen again. This left me and one other guy, slowly gapping the field on our mountainbikes, which helped a little in the sand, but were a liability on the flats.
Six laps later we had both traded pulls and tactics, and were still neck-and-neck.
We rounded the last corner wheel-to-wheel and it was ON!!!
Given 100 more yards, he'd have got me - but thankfully, when it was done, I'd won. It's all I could do on my little guys first b-day, since I got the green light to race - I'd better make it worth it, or die trying.
Fun series we've got brewing here in NM - and excellent folks putting these events on. The 'cross crowd is as unpretentious and fun as you'll find anywhere - so run what ya brung, and have fun!
Stolen photo/link from Rich's blog - credit to his wife for snapping the shot:
