12 posts tagged “glenzx”
Just received my USAC upgrade, leaping light years ahead from CAT5 to CAT3.
I am so hosed now! It's good, but will be hard. I hope I can help out some of the faster guys get some results - especially at the State RR championships coming up soon. Finally hit a level of fitness that allows me to go really hard during short and medium length intervals. Leg burning hard. Cross-eyed hard. Make you feel like you're about to explode hard!
It's cathartic, and it's been a long while. Threshold wattage is up to about 340, but my weight is only now starting to inch down. This morning, after the elastic snapped and I came off the rear on the 'A' Group (road) Ride, I tried, dug, fought, and clawed for a 22-24 minute effort WAY over FTP (right around P/W of 5), but still could not regain a wheel. The fellas let me back on at a major turn out to the west of town, and we pedaled a moderate tempo the rest of the way. I've been tossing myself into the pain locker in a big way on Tuesdays and Thursdays, riding anywhere from 45 minutes to 1.5 hours PRIOR to meeting up with these hammers. Today I got in about 1h 15m before the 6AM departure, and was worked - but not totally toasted from the steep hills work I had done prior.
What else?
My shoulder works! Last year, in May - I wrecked my left shoulder and did some minor rotator cuff damage that has taken 16-17 months to heal right. Upshot is I can once again start doing push-ups, which have been a sorely missed part of he workout regiment. This morning, when I got home, dropped, and did some - Victor thought it was great fun - slapping my back, putting his sippy-cup of milk by my face, and then he tried to do some of his own! These sort of moments make up for - WAY more than make up for - all those 'other' moment. Between some light upper body work, and some light jogging - I may be in shape for CX season after all.
Then there's the weight thing.
Irritatingly enough, my dang weight just keeps hovering at about 79kg (a tick under 175lbs). This has me around a paltry 4.3 Power / Weight ratio. Ech. Oddly, my Body Fat % number is dropping - so I guess I'm regaining a little muscle mass, which I know in the longer run helps metabolize more calories, which is good. In the meantime, I decided recently to cut out most all beer - but will enjoy a glass or two of wine here and there. Also tweaking the food/meal schedule at home, which was long overdue! It's in part due to wanting to be good role models for Victor - as opposed to the free-form grazing and snacking and meals-on-the-fly model we currently employ. The last dietary step is to reduce carbs to a minimum - taking in appropriate amounts for post-ride glycogen restoration (can you say fruit smoothies? YUM!), and general energy reserve topping-off. This is very difficult as an avowed cookies, chips, and bread J-U-N-K-I-E.
Will.
Try.
To.
Stay.
Strong.
Anyhow - a few weeks to go before back-to-back weekends of racing; First 'cedropalooza' - the NM State Championship Race outside of Albuquerque, and then the Oak Flats Road Race - the NM State Road Championships. Then what? Who knows! CX season should fire up in early October - so look for a bunch of those reports when the mayhem begins.
It's been about a year and a half since my last real race, and race report. All I can say is that I still like racing! Not much of a contender anymore, but that's OK. The 2008 version of the infamous (around here) Pajarito (pah-ha-REE-toe) Punishment' took place (and it's toll) this past Saturday at the Pajarito Ski Area. This race has a lot of history in the New Mexico Off-Road Series, and has evolved and morphed over the years. I've been fortunate to race a number of iterations of it; from multiple laps at the ski area, to various versions of an epic loop style event. The mountain backs up against a masive area that was devasted in 2000 by the Cerro Grande fire - which is why the race retreated to a smaller lap-style format at the ski area, as a number of the epic loop trails were destroyed by fire and post-fire erosion. After many years of hard work, we reclaimed some of the trails, mainly through the hard work of the Los Alamos Tuff Riders, and the 'Multi Agency Volunteer Task Force' headed up by Craig Martin. Untold hundereds (thousands?) of man-power hours and we reclaimed a pristine, technical trail along Guaje (wah-HEE) ridge. This connected the ski area to other trails that dropped you down into town, where the race used to loop back to the base of a long, brutal climb back up to the ski area. The race ran this way for a few seasons these last few years, but the fellow that had spearheaded the effort has become a new daddy recently, and had to pass the reins along.
In comes Gary and the Pajarito Ski Area folks - in a big way!
The new promoter announced (to the dismay of some) the race format would return to a more intimate, family-friendly 'laps style' course that utilized the base area lodge as an expo / staging area. Seemed wise as a new promoter to not try and tackle all the in-town police, marshaling, and other logistical headaches that came with the monster loop route. I know a lot of the trails at the ski area made for some wicked, brutal, 'real' XC mountain bike racing that would heavily favor technically capable riders who had some lungs too! Plus, the crew at the ski area have been hard at work for years adding both XC and DH trails all over the place - so I was curious to see what evil concoction of a course Gary had in mind. He did not let down! Somehow he designed a course that felt very different, and a lot of it very new - so it kept even experienced locals guessing - and working. I perceived the climb as 3 distinct parts - lower (hard) middle (harder / technical) and upper (harder, technical, and at 10k feet!). Pre-riding was very wise, and my buddy and I did (2) laps the week before - and were impressed. The mix of familiar and new was great - and they ran the course in the opposite direction I'm used to. All in all it felt almost entirely new! And harder. The nay-sayers should be put at ease, as this race was indeed going to punish despite not having the "epic loop" format. To spread things out at the beginning, we race out of a big dirt parkig lot, onto some two-track, then out some moderate XC ski trails which were about the size of ATV two-track - so there was ample time to 'spread things out'. This initial loop took perhaps 20 - 25 minutes at race pace, and had some faster sections that were tricky due to tall grass obscuring boulders (aka pedal/tire land mines!). Then we came back out the dirt road and up into the ski area, and single-track trails 'proper'. From there, it got serious mighty quick.
Weeks prior, I talked to my wife Dana about trying to make a family outing out of the event - and so race day morning we piled my little dude, herself, my buddy Rich (also racing) and his wife, our friend Tanya into the Outback and headed north to the venue. Nice having an awesome event less than an hour from home! Seems between work and family pressures, I'm just not inclined to drive the endless hours, all alone - that I used to to go race anywhere and everywhere. Phoenix for a Marathon Nationals? Sure, why not.. it's only 8 hours away... Steamboat Springs, CO? Well OK! Also about 8 hours. Perhaps the crescendo was in 2005, right after Hurricane Katrina drove gas prices up to near $5 a gallon - I showed how addicted I was, when I drove the 16 hours to Mammoth, CA for the NORBA Nationals - where I got sick and tanked anyhow. Let's just say that over the years I've had a few races... Fast forward to NOV 2006 and life changed dramatically with the arrival of our son, Victor.
Life shifted abruptly not only with a new kiddo, bit three weeks prior, I was also laid off. Fun times! I was very fortunate to land a job at perhaps the most solid firm in Santa Fe - which pays great, is secure, and has some decent benefits. Stability comes at a price when you work for someone else - and I now had much less time (previous job was a 4-day work week) with a new, intense job, and a new, more intense kid! Training and racing took a back seat mighty quick. Through May 2007 I tried to train, and raced at Angel FIre - at a huge Mountain States Cup event, where I utterly wrecked myself. With the lack of fitness, and some serious injuries resulting from a botched Super-D race - I went into early race retirement. I did emerge in the fall with a new found Cyclocross addiction and raced a few of the NMCX series races - and had a blast! This was all because Rich started talking it up, and racing them himself too. Short, intense, fun - and my wife and kid could see me the whole race! I owe Rich an awful lot for motivating me to try a number of things. It was his fault I started the XC Racing Odyssey in 2003 that led to a whole lot of mania, and fitness. This season, I felt so out of shape and slow - I never really motivated to train/race - until these last few weeks. I raced a few road events and felt like I wasn't totally washed up just yet, and so felt like I'd at least not be DFL at Pajarito!
Or so I hoped...
So off we head, across the Rio Grande valley, down then up to the high desert mesa government hide-out and birthplace of the Atom Bomb. Los Alamos sits at about 7,000 ft. elevation - and the Pajarito base area is up at about 9,000 feet. I was surprised at the large turnout so early - as we rolled into the parking lot at about 7:45AM. This was going to be GOOD!
Security:
Rich and I headed up to registration, and as race promoters ourselves, were curious to se how these rookies would do. All I can say is they had there program together far more than a lot of very experienced promoters. We were greeted by a gal screening folks for pre-reg, category, and license info. Then we were directed to a very organized staff that pulled our waivers, packets, and bib numbers out - and presto! We were done. Wow. Gary nailed it. We'll see about course marking and results and all - but shoot, A+ effort for registration set-up! Surely they screwed something up.... Back to the car and start prepping, and discussed bottle hand up plans with Tanya - who made me practice so we had it 100% nailed. Cool! Dana and Victor started scoping out a place to hang out - which meant a place where Victor could run himself silly without getting in the way, or hurt. Things were rolling.
I did something i haven't done in two year: pulled the trainer out and started to warm up! At Angel Fire all I did was ride around to warm up, which meant getting blood flowing to massive contusions at the time. This time, I felt like an actual, structured warm-up would be prudent. Despite feeling pretty good - I was a little sluggish. I learned (the day after the race in fact) that even pretty tame over the counter sleep aids like the Tylenol PM I took - would likely lead to pronounced grogginess the next day. Doh! I did sleep well - a rarity with a high maintenance almost two year old - but was not 'peppy'. Ah well - hind sight is always 20/20.
Photo of Rich by James Rickman
Mountain Flyer Article LINK.
Anyhow - I cranked through the efforts I had done dozens of times in years past, and felt as ready as could be. I saw they started staging folks up, so off I went. Lining up with some of the sick-fastest racers I know, I felt pretty silly, I was cool and calm - but felt like a poser for some reason. To my left, Mike McCalla - recent FireCracker 50 2nd place pro mens finisher. Next to him, the incredible Damian 'D-Rock' Calvert, a guy who has beaten Travis Brown and Ned Overend at regional races! Next to him, a fellow local hammer and much fitter friend, my pre-ride buddy known affectionately as Chappy. WTF am I doing here? Well, racing - that's what!
Off we go. I hit the wide-ish single-track in 7th or 8th place - but hold no illusions as to how long I can stay here. Sure enough before we exit the XC ski trails loop, it seems like all the Pro/Expert men have gone by, and the Pro/Expert ladies are storming not too far behind - as well as a few VERY fast Sport Class racers (there were 15 second waves). I'm OK with it all, as I know how hard the course is, how hard I can go, and how to pace myself. As we head up the first climb, I come back by a few folks, but generally stay at a sustainable pace and grind away. Powering through the steeper technical terrain I do better - but don't have the punch to ride a harder tempo on the less technical sustained climbs. I did crest the top faster than I thought - but no one was in sight. Well, aside from the Hammer Nutrition / Elete neutral support guys! Awesome - cold, fresh HEED in paper cups made a perfect topping to he first lap climb. I take my time and have some gel from my flask, drink some water, slug some HEED and prepare to descend. Some dude passes me just before the descent begins in earnest but realizes his mistake as I easily end up on his wheel as he struggles with the fast, technical descents.
He lets me by, I drop him.
I still go down fast! At the base, I see the best thing in the whole world (not the heinous 2nd lap climb / finish line) - my little dude clapping for me! Well, to be fair, he was clapping for all the racers... must have picked it up from the Tour de France coverage I subjected him to. Then, on cue Tanya hands me an icy cold drink and life is good. But god, the climb hurts like a mofo, and I start thinking "what the hell am I doing here?". Bah. Racing! That's what. After a bit I start feeling pretty good and climb away. Now I start passing the odd straggler - bonking, fixing flats, or otherwise in worse shape than I. Cresting the top, I thank the Hammer guys, drink some more HEED and hit the descent.
About a mile and a half from the finish, the course rolls up and down in sort of false flat power section, and I goose it through here. Maybe I'll reel in one or two others - but am just stoked to be out racing and (as yet) not having flatted, crashed, or otherwise screwed up. Alas, I see no one as I hit the fast dirt road to the ski lodge - and turn up the last kick to the finish and THEN see a guy in my group - 15 seconds too late. He is utterly cracked, but only 10 meters from the finish line. I stand and hammer, "fly" under the Finish banner - then pass him. Ah well. Just reinforces the fact one should race the whole race, until the very end - as there is always the chance someone else will be in worse trouble...
I find the rest of the crew and check the preliminary results - and off we go to pack up. Rich fought hard for a great 5th place finish in an insanely fast, stacked 30-39 sport mens group. I too ended up 5th - in the 30-39 expert group, just behind my racer acquaintance - Marty. Change, pile into car, and off we go. Victor falls asleep almost immediately - and all is good. Rolling back through Los Alamos, we get through the military check points, and head 'down the hill' back to Santa Fe. All I can say is don't take sleeping pills before a race, and thanks to all the Pajarito folks for putting on a great race. They even had a pro timer guy who was cranking out results as fast they happened. Anyone interested in riding some incredible, high alpine XC or DH / AM trails - check out otherwise sleepy little Los Alamos.
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
The pre-dawn pain express is in full effect again, and today was a break-through day in that I survived the whole dang ride - and encouraged a few extra miles by bombing into Tesuque and climbing out Bishops Lodge Rd. The guys were thrashed - which partially explains my survival, as does the fat I almost feel OK again. Still fat. Still slow. Still way under my good old target FTP - but I will take what I can get!
That's it.
Back again on Thursday though, of course. Hills!
Since my mud-mania ride a few eeks ago, I've retreated entirely to the roads. Got my Redline Conquest Team CX Bike set-up with the PowerTap and road tires. That way, I can see real-time, how much I suck! And then, I can download and study just how much I indeed, suck. The hammer crew of four - Chandler (the Captain), Dave (Silly Strong), Tim (aka Dr. Tim), and of course - me (Big G). The plan was to get in 4 hours of 'work'. When I say work, in the context of these guys - it means WORK! 1 minute FTP + 10% pulls for 4 hours. No shit. The reason this is hard for me now-a-days, is that all three of these guys can ride circles around me what with my lower fitness and higher weight, but dammit! I try. We need to carefully plot whos where in the rotation, as the worst thing that can happen is Dave pulls through after I've done my 1 minute. Why? Because sitting in with him on the front, I'm usually 30-50 watts OVER my intended wattage for when I'm pulling! Yow.
Chandler is just as strong - but a little nicer out there, so I try and get on his wheel as I can survive there sometimes...
I have been insisting that after the 2.5 hour mark - when I start coming unglued, that they should adjust the rotation to a 3-man one, and let me drop off. The last 2 weekends they've been too-kind and waited for me, or let me just sit on and suck wheel while they all fight the wind, cold, and fatigue.
This past Sunday, the route plan was a good one: Las Campanas, Prison Loop partial, La Bajada down to Cochiti, then east to the Galisteo Dam. THEN turnaround and climb right back up La Bajada and into town via the Prison Loop route and 599 and Las Campanas. Pain guaranteed! I did fine to the dam, came off on the 10-12 minute climb back up La Bajada, then was struggling on my pulls. For the 3rd time, I said "go, I'm cooked", but they kept adjusting for me. When we turned off the I-25 frontage road heading across Bonanza Creek Rd., I popped and rode solo for a while. Once again, the fellas were waiting at the turn onto Rte. 14, and insisted I should not try and pull, but sit in and hang on. This was very fortunate, as the cross/head wind was strong. And it seemed to be getting colder. Eh. As we approached the next turn - onto the 599 frontage rd., we made a quick pit stop, where I inhaled a Starbucks Vanilla Frappacino and a PayDay . Tim clucked at my 'feed', but I know my stomach, and have some good experience with endurance riding. As we rolled on our way, Tim and I quickly decided we'd skip the Las Campanas loop on this last leg, and head right for home. As Dave and Chandler turned off, it was like Tim and I were being paced by some little old ladies with walkers! I felt OK at easy tempo, but Tim was cramping like mad. Finally, I got to help him, and pulled an easy pace back up to Buckman Rd.
130k door-to-door, right at 4 hours. Just over 3K kj - so it was in fact a hell of a workout.
Note to self: Sushi is an excellent recovery food!
Snuck a wicked ride in this fine, warm, overcast morning - from downtown Santa Fe out through Tesuque to Chupadero, up Pacheco Canyon Road all the way to the Ski Basin Road - where I stuffed my jacket with this weeks edition of the Santa Fe Reporter and bombed back into town.
The punchy hills on the way to the start of the dirt road climb served as perfect capillary-bed-blood-flow-inducers, just in time for the wicked crawl up the mix of mud, snow, and hard-pack - with some loose stuff here and there - on my overgeared new CX bike. Still riding the 53/39 chain-rings up front, and a 12-25 cassette, so man! I was turning like 45 RPM's at times. Who needs the gym and those squat sets anyways? THIS is real power training!
More importantly it was absolutely beautiful, solitary, and an all-around perfect way to start the day (or continue it, as it started just before 4AM...) at 530AM. I thought for sure I'd get snowed on by the time I reached the top, but t'was not to be, as it seemed I was chasing the cloud 'ceiling' higher and higher with every turn of the cranks.
Even at the top-out point, it was mild - as has been the case this fall, alas. Last year seemed to have started slow - then hammered us with snow, but this is terrible. Worst I saw this a.m. - up at 9.5k feet or so, was an inch or two of old granular / packed powder stuff that was easy to ride through & over. Lame - though obviously I took advantage of the 'conditions' to ride way higher than is typical for December.
NMCX State Championships - Killer B's Race
I'm tired and sore indeed
With a shiny new Redline Team Edition frame and fork to bolt all my trusty old road bike parts to, I was ready for a test ride - or the state championships! Same difference, right? Late Thursday night I built her up - bleary eyed, weary, fried, and exhausted. Kid duties, work, architectural licensing exams - life in general these days - has me working mighty hard just to keep up. Bike ride, maintenance, and general goofing off time are at an all time low, so I built the bike up fast, but solid. I do have a little experience there.
In bed by midnight then.
Friday - woke up and felt like I had been up way past my bedtime, as early as 7PM at times. Rode the bike to work - it felt good; just needed a little rear derailleur adjustment, and headset snugging. Always have to be nervous about over-torqueing the stem and expand-o anchor in/on carbon steer tubes!
Saturday - no time to ride/tinker.
Sunday - race day! Not much sleep. Start caffeinating.
Rich, and his wife / personal photographer / cheering section Tanya,
picked me up and off we headed for another edition of 'Cross Mania in
New Mexico. On the way to the races, headed down I-25, I wondered just
what was so appealing about this pernicious form of on-bike torture. I
came up with a few basics; though in Albuquerque - the events have been
close to home - a real bonus given current time constraints; they are
cheap - also a real bonus given the new financial constraints; and they
are over quickly - but offer ferocious training/racing experience -
even if one has to get off their bikes as part of the race. What else?
Fantastic group of people putting the race on, officiating, and of
course, to line up with.
Our 'B' CAT had a huge field at the start! 45 - 47 folks, including some fast Veteran racers, a faster yet pro-lady, and the sick-fast Nob Hill Velo young bucks. Their yellow-and-red kits blotted out all else, and they took the appropriate spot(s) at the front of the start line - in fact, I think they had the whole front of the line covered themselves - where we'd take off ON FOOT! Yes indeed, a LeMans start to sort it out - just before the set of (4) barriers. This made the start of the race thus: Dash 75 meters or so to our bikes, pick them up, and run another 25 meters or so to the barriers. Run/jump through and over them, hop on the bike, and grind up the rest of this long straight away, climbing yet more at this far end. Ow.
What's been hard to get use to is the quick, subtle way the starts seem to happen. I was headed back to the car to tweak gear and nutrition, when I heard "B's to the LINE, NOW!" and abruptly changed course and headed over. I had too light a jersey on, too heavy a hat on, and too much water in my bottle - and sure could use more coffee! Eh. So it goes. Dump bike, remove jacket, head to the start. There was a quickly growing crowd - both of racers and spectators! How cool, and rare in my experience racing these past few years. It seems that the race organizers could not get permission to start us out on the adjacent road - thereby triggering the need for the LeMans type start.
So before you could say "run and jump", off we went, to run, jump, and
ride! The course was fast, but hurt like a mofo - but the new 32c tires
and 'real' cross bike ate the grass up right-quick.
No idea where the heck I was initially. Managed to get my bike, run with it, jump those hurdle-things, and dive ahead. Once on bike, I was already tired! Ow. Need to work on running, and efficiently negotiating those hurdle-things... seems like I must have been 12-15 people back from the front, and man! Where was Rich? He's mastered the on-bike starts, but somehow I edged him out on the running and jumping mayhem. Luck! The leaders were already quite far ahead. Well, I know that in 'Cross it's pretty much always 'now or never', so went into attack mode as best as I could, at a pace I hoped to sustain. Pedal, turn, pedal, brake. Repeat. At one point, clawing past #6 and #7 - both on the aforementioned Nob Hill Velo Team, I was chucked an elbow! I went wide and left a lot of space on the inside. This young dude, riding DEFENSE for his team mates 'up the course' actually through an elbow my way! This was in addition to responding to my 'attack' by drifting WAYYY off his line. I laughed, tucked back in, whipped around after the next corner and dropped these two. Of course, his tactic worked - as I had started digging in for the pass / effort previously, but had to 'check it', then gather another head of steam and repeat. I saw my quarry ahead, a skinny dude in maroon and silver I've watched masterfully race these past few weeks. He was in 5th, I believe - so I worked out the pace necessary to get up to his wheel. It took a lap, but I caught up. I'm pretty sure he feighned distress here and there, and after a while - when it felt like EVERYONE was about to pass us - I once again took the bait and punched it, coming around him just before a long paved stretch where I kept the wattage up and opened a gap I hoped to sustain.
A few laps later, I passed one more guy and continued to try desperately to reel in the leaders. They appeared to be working well together and when they saw I was sneaking up on 'em, seemed to magically pull the stops out and up the pace - keeping me from ever getting closer. At this point, I was lapping some racers, and that made it a little more confusing - but as Rich noted - it didn't matter if they were in my class or on my lap - or not, they were THERE and needed to be passed, if I could dammitall. I spent a lot of energy getting by a lot of these folks, and then noticed my maroon-and-silver chaser had me back in his sights, with 2 laps to go. Next thing I new - BAM! He went by, fast. Gone. Buh-by. See yah hate to be yah. Erg. After a 1/2 a lap of recovery and thinking, I started to feel OK and the gap ceased to open, and I was holding a surmountable deficit to him. I dug deep, checked the reserves tank, and felt all systems were a GO to reel him back in, as I thought we had 1 lap to go - when they said we were done! Doh. This dude - Chris aka Mr. UMass - is smart. Why I passed him earlier on shows my rookie-chump-weakness. I should have strategized a little differently and stayed 'near' him, then approaching the finish tried to out-sprint him (yeah....). Ah well - all that stuff about 'hindsight' being 20/20 and all.
It ended up being a Nob Hill Velo trifecta on the podium, two seasoned CAT4 guys - who've been doing double duty racing both the A's and the B's - came in 1st and 2nd, towing their young phenom to a solid 3rd place. Then it was UMass Chris in 4th, and myself hanging on for 5th place. I think NHV represented 5 or 6 of the top-10, amazingly - and had more racers to spare! Wicked.
Time to hunker down for winter base/sustained effort training, and man! Must stop eating so much yummy food and drinking so much booze. Bike felt great, the free post-race burritos (or pre-race for the crazy youngins racing the juniors race!) hit the spot, and we stuck around to watch the A Race. THOSE guys make it look way too easy... I'll try and post some of the videos from my camera - as it is pretty cool.
start and barrier section:
up the skinny sidewalk connector:
Having
fully caught the 'Cross bug - I had to try it again this past weekend
in Albuquerque. The venue was sure to punish as it was almost entirely
on grass - and full of steep punchy climbs with sharp turns on/in them.
While I'm in the process of deciding on and building up a
cross-specific bike, I'm stuck with the big fat tires on my XC mountain
bike race-rig. It worked pretty well a few weekends ago out at Mesa del
Sol - on a fast, dirt/sand course with some moderate technical/loose
spots. I eeked out the win in a TIGHT sprint finish that lucky day -
with another mountain bike racer!
Holy Christ I was going to learn a lesson and pay the piper THIS day; this time the course was going to work me and my sluggish self...
Great turnout for our fast and furious B Race - including nationally ranked pro racer lady, Nina Baum - and a number of her Nob Hill Velo (a main sponsor of the series) hammers. I knew we'd be in trouble as these are not only smart and fast racers - but know how to work together and race smart. Throw in Smokin' Ray and the Cruces Crew - and look-out! Good times ahead.
In the oddly low key way I'm just getting used to - we were OFF!
I took off on the very outside, right behind one of Nina's young & strong teammates. He set a blistering pace, and I hung on for dear life. 2-3 laps later things were sorting out, and we had a few folks with/near us, and a long string of racers spread out on the twisty grassy course. I kept ignoring the red alerts going off from my engine room, and kept chasing this guy - who just wouldn't slow down! Of course I knew he was the rabbit I was chasing, while his two team mates, Nina and Alex - were building into a sustainable race pace while I was cracking. Bad. In a flash, Nina came around and gapped us! Amazing how fast races evolve... A moment later, her young 'cross phenom / team mate Alex did too. Then I realized I was going to be lucky to just survive this race. Wow. Every time the course hit the flat or climbing sections of grass (oh right - that describes 98% of the course!), it felt like my legs were pushing twice as hard with half the resultant speed I was used to on dirt - and 1/10th that of the road bike on that joyous, smooth, blacktop stuff (never thought I'd say that as a devout disciple of the Church of Dirt!).
Cruising around in damage control / survival mode, I watched as the best of the rest started closing in on me - a particularly mean aspect of these tight, twisty courses. Sitting out in no-mans land, I pushed and pushed as best possible, and coming through the start/finish area saw the official waving - I started thinking "cool - 1 or 2 laps to go, I can hang on". HA! He was telling us THREE to go. Each lap was in the 7-9 minute range, but felt like a hellish hour or two. At the next gradual, torturous grassy climb, one of the chief instigators in the B's - Chris aka C Cow - came around me and absolutely dropped the hammer. On a single speed CX bike. AND stood up and crushed the climb making me feel like I was stuck in reverse! Dang. That's how you pass!
Next up, with 1 or 2 laps to go, was my buddy Rich - newly minted cross addict - and his chaser. They'd been trading punches the whole race, and were grinding each other to a pulp. They came by, and once again I tried to hang on - but alas, my personal 'lights-out' bell lap was 15 minutes ago! Off they went and continued to push to the end, well ahead of me. Thankfully, on the quiet back-end of the course - there was a lone cheerleader; fellow FooMTB fool, Paige - who was unwavering in her ability to egg us on, and make me smile as I clawed my way up and over the run-up and the hurdles. On the front side, by the PA system and the finish line was Doug, aka Dug-da-goat, who was also relentless in his good natured cheering and coaching - and has showed Rich and I the best post-race breakfast burrito spot in Albuquerque.
At this point, it felt like I may not even make it around once more - though I'd rather crawl to the finish than give up just yet - and wait! One more straggler / chaser is reeling me in! Eh. I decide to do my best to hold him off, and we mark the finish at the last turn and then he was within a few bike lengths in no time, but just a bit late as we crossed the line in 8th and 9th places.
Holy crap that hurt. No joke. Granted, I'm at the end of a nasty cold that took me out the past week, and am way out of shape, and all those other excuses - but THIS day marked a clear need for a dedicated grass-conquering cross bike. Yow. The power I was pushing should have netted far more speed!
Next up? The end of the series and the state champs! A 1 - 2 punch the first weekend in December. MAYBE we'll even have some cooler weather and precipitation (gasp!) for one of these slug-fests. Whatever the weather - the NMCross folks sure know how to have fun, and I can't thank 'em all enough. If I can, and have the CX bike built - I'll even try the Saturday Night MONSTER CROSS in Tijeras under the lights.
