Stage West

2007-12-30T09:22:00.000-07:00

Well, I finally made the switch to Wordpress, so here's the new and improved StageWest

Please update your browsers and links and let me know how you like the new format.

Here's the address again, for the new site: http://www.stagewest.wordpress.com

2007-12-23T08:01:00.000-07:00

The Solstice ride was supposed to be an all day affair, but after slogging through the snow for 4.5 hours on the singlespeed, I was cold, and ready for home. We blazed trail on the upper routes early in the day and it was hard work, but the lower trails had a reasonable tread going. Got over 40 miles in and over 4K climbing, which ain’t bad given the conditions. Patrick joined in on his SS crosser, and so did Keith on his crosser. Those boys can climb on those rigs, and running some tall gears besides. Really a beautiful day to be out. COLD too. As long as it stays cold, the trails should hold up.

2007-12-21T16:05:00.000-07:00

There'll be a new team on the American Pro Tour this year, and they'll even have some diabetics on board, including Phil Southerland, who formed Team Type 1 and has won the RAAM team competition the past two years with an all diabetic team. I had emailed Phil earlier this year to see what was on tap for 2008, and he wasn't saying, so now the cats out of the bag. Here is a good article with the details and roster, including their development team.

2007-12-19T10:40:00.000-07:00

A big shout out to my old teammate Patrick M. and reigning NM state champ, for a great weekend at CX nationals in KC last weekend. He entered the B race on Thurs. to get to pre-ride/race the course, and handily won. Several nasty crashes in the age group championships kept him off the podium, but still a strong performance. Sunday, he nailed a podium in the singlespeed championship about 40 seconds behind former world SS champ T-brown, who took second. I got to ride a lot w/ Patrick last winter and spring. Made me stronger for sure. He's got good coaching cred too. Congrats! Well done!

2007-12-16T08:26:00.000-07:00

Motivation to get out was low, but a little encouragement from some other diehards got us moving, and everyone was glad to be out, despite the very cold temps. We even saw our friend Titus from Kenya, laying down some 5 minute miles in the snow. As always, it was good to be out.

2007-12-14T09:23:00.000-07:00

A good start to the snowpack for the major basins. A lot of heavy, wet snow to start off the year is a good thing. Break out your snow toys.

2007-12-10T10:32:00.000-07:00

Been riding the singlespeed in the neighborhood a lot lately. Mixing things up enough to keep it interesting. Got treated to the nicest rainbow I think I’ve ever seen after Saturday’s ride. Seemed like it was in the front yard. Don’t feel much like rambling today. Hypoglycemia kept me from sleep. Happens a lot after hard exercise. Diabetes does suck some times.

2007-12-02T16:28:00.000-07:00

Nothing goes to waste in nature.

Said goodbye to November with a road ride in the rain. Said hello to December on wet, fast, foothills singletrack on the singlespeed. In 3 hours riding got 31 miles, and over 3,500 feet of climbing. Pace was steady, but I’ll take it for December, carrying a few extra pounds.

2007-11-26T11:42:00.000-07:00

The annual turkey day ride was a bit chilly but at least we got 4 people to show up. Friday, was a nice hike up at Elena Gallegos with Ann and our canine companions. The season's first snow made it quite pleasant. Saturday, Ann and I started out together in the north foothills and the trails were fantastic with the moisture received over the holiday. Ann stayed in the north foothills while I added in the south section to complete over four hours of riding time. The Garmin battery crapped out on me, but I know from experience that this route is in the 35 to 40 mile length. Sunday, we hit the north foothills again, and ran into Jeni on the trail going alongside Simm's Park. The three of us then continued on up to the wilderness boundary at Pino. Fun ride, and Jeni is looking strong on that singlespeed which is no surprise considering her coach! It was a good day to wrap up the long weekend. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, I think. I find it so much more relaxing than the others, and I'm thankful for being able to spend time with family and friends.

2007-11-19T12:13:00.000-07:00

Interesting day Sunday with Ann. Stayed in the east mountains again and just enjoyed a few hours on the trails together. Ran into Donnie and Jens of BWR on the Cajun. They were doing a Cedtero loop. Then ran into Wenona and another BWR clad rider as they were starting out for an afternoon loop. Then most interstingly, the vehicle parked next to ours at Mars Ct. had Federal tags and see the picture for who it was. When we were loading up our bikes, a rather young looking guy comes pedaling up on a FS rig and throws his stuff in the Fed rig. Turns out it was the Base Commander, out on his day off, looking at the withdrawal area by mountain bike. He was specifically looking at another parcel of the Withdrawal, that he was questioned about at the public meeting, that he hopes he can tack onto the other 400 acres they plan to return to the USFS, to keep more trails intact. Say what you will about KAFB, the withdrawal, the beauracracy, etc., but the Commander scored big points in my book as he was out there on his day off, looking at the lay of the land, so he better understands the concerns of citizens. He spent a bit of time showing me maps and air photos too. Of course, it's going to be a long time before anything is official, and I'm thinking the Forest Service has more potential to foul things up than the military at this point, but the ball continues to roll. If we don't get some moisture this winter, we won't be riding the east mountains come Spring due to fire danger. It's always somethin'

2007-11-17T14:44:00.000-07:00

Good week for riding. Got beat up on some fingers climbs on the roadie Tuesday evening, took the SS out for a romp in the foothills Wednesday night, spun the legs out Thursday, then Friday was a day off, so I hit up Tunnel, Otero, David area on the singlespeed for a nice 31.7 miles and 3,600 feet of climbing. If I had plotted heart rate data, you'd see that I wasn't able to get the HR into zones 4&5, indicating tired legs, but still managed a pretty reasonable pace considering. With the price of gas these days, and so many fun local trails, I've been staying close to home rather than making road trips. Road ride today, then back on the SS again tomorrow. East mountains are extremely dry, and even the few reliable water sources I know of up there are dry now, and the wildlife is getting stressed. Found a squirrel digging way down into the mud trying to get moisture. I've said it before, but pray for rain and snow this year.

2007-11-12T07:19:00.000-07:00

Man, I can't believe the year has gone by so quickly. Seems like it was just recently that I posted about last years annual trail work day.

We had another fine day for doing maintenance on our adopted trail. It always amazes me how much work gets done with only 11 or 12 people! Our trail is really looking good these days, despite the terribly dry conditions. We need some moisture badly this winter.

Riding was also good this weekend. I did some exploring in the east mountains Sunday. Found some dynamite stuff that I'd never been on. Amazing numbers of trails up here. Pace was leisurely so I could find the forgotten trails. Amazing too how much more wildlife I see when I'm on the singlespeed, rolling quietly along.

2007-11-04T19:33:00.000-07:00

Took the SS out Saturday for a 35-mile, 4K climbing, mini epic in the Otero/David Canyon area. A stellar day and if I hadn't run out of time, I would have ridden longer, as I felt just great. Met up with some folks from British Columbia toward the end of the ride and showed them a few fun trails. Guy was a good rider at over 50, and a veteran of the BC Bike Race. Sounds like a blast in an awesome venue.

Ann was still sick Sunday so I did a fun recovery day, and goofed off out at WM on the singlespeed. Haven't been out here for well over a year. Great place. Got to try out my new mini tripod for some pics, but my cam is pretty lame so it doesn't do anything justice. Got really tired legs this evening after 8 straight days of riding. Need to take a day or two off so I don't end up sick too. Great times in Nuevo Mexico!

2007-11-03T08:52:00.000-06:00

2007-10-28T20:39:00.000-06:00

Blackjack Ponderosa. Pinon. Scrub Oak. Some well used trails, but many are forgotten. Wandering through big country.

2007-10-27T07:55:00.000-06:00

Throw in a couple of hands of 5 card draw, a ton of rocks, and a beautiful day, and you got 40 miles of singletrack bliss. I love New Mexico.

2007-10-22T17:02:00.000-06:00

Ann and I got together with some teammates Saturday to fix up some bikes and work with some kids at El Ranchito de Los Ninos, a kid’s home in Los Lunas. This home is for kids that otherwise would be in foster care with emphasis on keeping family groups together. The bikes were in pretty sorry condition when we arrived, but we got 18 tuned up and outfitted with new tubes, and other parts. If you know of anyone with good quality, working bikes that they want to get out of their garage, please consider this place. Saturday was beautiful and near 80, and if not for our commitment to the kid’s home, I would have definitely been HERE. I’m anxious to hear how the race went and hope to at least get out and explore those trails soon, as they sound fantastic and very SS appropriate.

Sunday was about 35 degrees cooler than Saturday, so Ann and I bundled up and hit some nearby forest singletrack to stay out of the chilly wind. We really enjoyed the day and the temps were invigorating. Afterwards, I tackled the overgrown chamisa on our lot, and made a nice dent in that project. To me, when it’s blooming, chamisa smells nasty; something similar to old gym shoes. Got a big truckload to the dump, and saw our first snow of the year. Good weekend. Night rides this week.

2007-10-19T10:29:00.001-06:00

Had an opportunity to give some ergon grips a try this week. I’ve heard a ton of great things about these grips and though my review is mixed it is positive overall. They were a piece of cake to install on my Easton Monkey Lite bar, and dialing in the correct angle also was simple. They feel great in your hand and there’s really not much of a weight penalty. For climbing, these were by far the most comfy grips I’ve ever ridden with and I loved them for all the climbing I did. I felt they performed O.K. for descending, but not as good as with a cylindrical grip. In twisty, tight, technical terrain I really had to fight the bike to “steer” it properly as opposed to being able to grip it and rip it with a traditional setup. I also noticed that when really hammering through rolling, rocky terrain, my neck and shoulders started to ache. I’m not sure why yet, but I think it has something to do with the fact that the Ergons keep your hand in a more locked or rigid position, thus more of the force of trail impacts is transferred to your upper body, and by design away from your hand and that troublesome ulner nerve. With a traditional grip, the many moving parts of your hand, and wrist help to dampen a lot of that trail chatter. I’m looking forward to trying these grips out on the singelspeed setup, as I think they will really shine. Overall a thumbs up and I think they’ll be on my Dean a while.

2007-10-10T11:43:00.001-06:00

Took advantage of the Monday holiday to hit up some nearby high country riding. Not a soul on the trails all day, just a couple of turkeys I spooked up and a big red tail hawk in an unlikely spot, deep within a densely treed canyon. An eerily quiet day. The mind was clear and ready for a long day in the saddle. Time to forget about HR zones, and ride for the pure joy of riding. Legs were great, and had plenty more miles in them, but I couldn’t keep any nutrition flowing, without feeling like I was going to throw up, so I cut the ride shorter than planned to stave off hypoglycemia. It was still a really nice 35 miles of technical riding with 4K climbing. A perfect fall day.

2007-10-06T19:05:00.000-06:00

Got up to Big Sky country again this year. Weather was pretty lousy overall, but we did manage a nice road ride along the Yellowstone, complete with finger climbs in the Absaroka Range. Also had a nice visit to the Lamar Valley of Jellystone National Park with my parents. Stayed in Paradise Valley in Pam & Chan's guest place. Mom put a pound or two on us with some good cooking and dad and I did manage to cast a few flies to yellowstone cutthroat trout in our favorite stream until our hands got too cold to tie a knot. Got over to Bozeman twice to see my little sis and my bro in law. Fun to see the family. While in Bozeman, I stopped by to say hello to Carl and see what project he's working on now. He's got a tiny Ti hardtail frame in the jig and Ann thought it looked about perfect size for her....... Carl is a perfectionist, and his bikes show it. I love visiting Montana, but I didn't have any trouble saying goodbye to those 3 inches of snow on the ground the day we left. Back to enjoy the beautiful fall in the land of manana.

2007-10-06T19:00:00.000-06:00

More shots from big sky country.

2007-09-24T13:04:00.000-06:00

The weekend saw Ann and I in the land of pump jacks for our niece's wedding, so the bikes stayed at home. Before leaving though, got to let the wheels run free in the foothills Friday morn. Saw some cool stuff too. That's Albuquerque locked in fog. Don't see that happen very often. Though I've seen lots of Tarantulas in NM, this is the first one I've seen in the foothills. The clouds were really cool over the Sandias too. Fall has arrived. It's good.

2007-09-17T07:07:00.001-06:00

My bike takes me to great places.

2007-09-17T07:01:00.000-06:00

more places my bike takes me...

2007-09-14T09:50:00.000-06:00

So, what’s in your camelback? Here’s a few of the extras I have to carry, in addition to the normal stuff. I hate carrying a camelback while mountain biking but it’s a necessary evil on long rides; insulin and associated paraphernalia, glucose tablets, medic alert info., glucose test strips and glucometer. That’s the one that really bugs because the technology and the engineering expertise is out there to produce a reliable, continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) system that can be easily used in every day life and in the rigors of competition. With the millions of insulin-challenged people in this country, there is certainly a profitable market for this. What I envision is a CGM system that interfaces with my Garmin Edge, providing a constant stream of data, much like my heart rate monitor provides, or one that works along with a Polar type watch unit. Of course, this doesn’t alleviate the need for balancing insulin intake and nutrition while doing an endurance activity, but it sure would be a useful tool to increase performance for diabetic athletes.

So, I got my routine blood work done last week and though the results are good, I’d like to see better. My A1C was 6.1, which I actually thought would be lower this time, since I felt like I should have been back in the normal range again. My 14 year, arithmetic mean A1C however, is still a very good 5.77. It’s only been in the last 2 years that the A1C has hovered around 6 for me and I’ve identified two primary reasons: The first is I’m using a new long acting insulin called Levemir. Though it’s a good insulin, my body doesn’t like it as well as my old Humulin Ultralente, which the manufacturer quit making. Why you ask? Follow the money. My old insulin retailed for about $25 a 100u bottle while the Levimir is retailing for around $300 for the same amount. The next biggest factor has been my cycling. Why? I’ve only been seriously training for endurance the past 2 years, and for proper training, I need to eat carbs, lots of them. Prior to my training regimen, in all honesty, I was primarily a weekend warrior, and I consumed an extremely low carb diet. Ultimately, I believe the benefits of the endurance training far outweigh the slight increase in the A1C, and we can only hope for new and improved technology and one day a cure for those that struggle with this issue.

Hope everyone avoids the couch this weekend!

2007-09-10T06:56:00.000-06:00

Little-used singletrack leads to this beautiful spot. Been a long time since I've been here but I'll be back soon. Big rocks and some steepness keep it interesting.

While most were sleeping Saturday night, this guy was pedaling 125 miles or so on his way to SS victory in Salida, and the entry list reads like a who's who of endurance racing. Look forward to reading the race report.

2007-09-05T09:31:00.001-06:00

Days are getting shorter, but you can still fit in a nice ride in the mountains after work without having to turn on the headlamps. Here’s climbing Lower Pine, and I saw this good sized horny toad running across the trail and took this blurry picture. I love the way the light hits the trails in the fall, my vision becomes sharper and I pick better lines and everything seems to flow.

2007-08-28T09:26:00.000-06:00

The legs were dead over the weekend, and though we got some nice riding in, it hurt and was discouraging from a performance standpoint. Woke up on the weekend with the legs feeling like someone had taken a hammer to them, leaving the muscles knotted and bruised. Wondering if I picked up a bug or something.

Gonna rest a few days cause I’ve got a fever and the only cure is more cowbell.

2007-08-24T10:15:00.000-06:00

Friday Odds and Ends. The obligatory cycling shot!

Fresh, organically grown produce. Is there anything tastier than a fresh peach, plucked from a tree? My diabetic, sugar-deprived taste buds go into sensory overload when I bite into one of these! There are many spiritual lessons offered by the peach tree. Think on that.

BTW, here’s the best, darn diabetes blog out there. Chances are you know someone who would benefit, so pass along the link.

Coffee. My vice. There’s no better coffee roaster in Albuquerque, than Moons Coffee and Tea on Juan Tabo. It’s just a few doors down from the Sports Systems bike shop. Mrs. Moon roasts daily, and what you buy has never been on the shelf for more than 4 days. You can get nearly two pounds of most of her roasts for what you’d pay for one pound from any of the national chains.

That’s all I got for now.

2007-08-20T10:54:00.000-06:00

There's a great trail we like to start on near Sedillo that's made for interval training. As the name implies, Roller Coaster involves a lot of up and down; short intense climbs followed by gravity-induced recovery. Take it on out to Juan Tomas, and hook up any number of other trail options. It was a good hour and a half of intervals that really cleared the cobwebs.

Sunday, I got a nice 30 miles in on some beautiful east mountain singletrack. Started out riding with Tim on his On One 29er, but he had to hang back for some newer riders who were working on their fitness, so I just got into my zone and enjoyed the ride and the wildlife that was out and about early Sunday morning. The great thing about our church adding a Saturday evening service, is long Sunday rides; after all this is how we rest and refresh our bodies for the week ahead behind a desk! After about 20 miles, I ran into Dave and David, and tagged along with them for the last part of the ride. They were both down to earth guys; a little pokey on the climbs, but man, Dave was a rocket on the DH, and even on the rolling, twisty singletrack. Made me realize, I don’t push my pace like I should on the flatter or DH portions of the trail, and significant time can be gained in these areas. It’s good to ride with others to help develop a sense of your strengths and weaknesses. If we don’t get some cooler temps soon, I’m going to get some serious burnout, or have to recharge the batteries in Big Sky country…… Can you find the mule deer facing away in one of the pics?

2007-08-14T13:07:00.000-06:00

Here’s what you get when you combine an old fence post and a friend with an arc welder. Throw on some silver rustoleum, and bolt on a couple of fork mounts, and voila, custom bike rack. Next up? Prototype bike stand of course.

2007-08-06T13:16:00.000-06:00

Random weekend shots. Stopped by the Bland cemetery while exploring Saturday. It’s a beautiful and peaceful spot. One of the few marked graves is of Helen Blount, the former caretaker of the Bland Ghost Town. Bland was a mining town, where as used to be standard practice, they heap-leached gold from ore using cyanide. Still don’t think I’d drink the water in this area unless I was desperate! Found a morel mushroom but left it for another lucky soul. Asters, sunflowers, Indian paintbrush are blooming full, and a sure sign that fall is on the way.

Sunday found us on the steep climb up to the La Luz trailhead at 6:30am. Nice to be doing it with mountain bike gears though! Watched and cheered for a few friends doing the annual La Luz trail race. Laurie A. took an age group win on her first time trying, and Donnie C. ran by us in a blur. After the runners came through, I continued on for a mini epic in the north foothills, and it was one of the most enjoyable rides I’ve done in the foothills in quite some time. Trails were super fast and the legs were enjoying the day. Ended up with 25 miles and about 3,300 feet of climbing. Got done early enough to put together the new dog kennel for our 3 year old that suddenly turned mental. Labs, gotta love em. Instructions said it was a 2 hour job, which is why it took me over 4. Now that I’m thoroughly tired, it’s back to the grindstone…..

2007-07-27T06:44:00.000-06:00

Nothing quite like a New Mexico sunrise on the trails. Been able to avoid the monsoons by getting out early.

Here's some of the best views in the state from a mountain bike.

I think Joel summed up the Tour for me. Sportsman also has some good insights.

This guy has been running with the big dogs. Check out his B-100 SS victory report.

There you have it.

2007-07-16T06:44:00.001-06:00

East mountains Saturday. Got some good miles in while Ann retrieved her shoes. Saw two doe, a big bear drinking from a pool, then another bear on an FS road about an hour later. Cool morning to be out. Sunday Ann suggested Cochiti and twisted my arm to go. Lots of cars pulling in to the orchard when we arrived; some bikers, some equestrians, and of course the ATV crowd. Nice surprise to see Tim and Mark as we were unloading our bikes. Beautiful day and great company.

2007-07-06T16:37:00.000-06:00

Anniversary time again. High country riding. SBT, Jarocito, Santa Fe. Eskes. Sunshine. Rain. Hail. Sunshine. Roasting temps. Frigid temps. Beautiful ST. Even the low lifes that stole everything from our car in SF won't ruin a great trip. Their day will come. In the meantime, there's more great riding to be had.

2007-06-26T09:42:00.000-06:00

Got treated to some great bluegrass music at the Zoo Friday evening by the Greencards. They are two Aussies and a Brit, along with a homegrown guitar player. Interesting that they play traditional American bluegrass. Excellent music and a talented group for sure.

Started out Friday with an early a.m. high intensity ride in the foothills before work. The ride hurt, but man, you just feel so good the rest of the day after a ride like that. Early Saturday Ann and I hit up some of our favorite east mountain trails. Mainly around David and Otero Canyons trying to stay out of the hot sun. Sunday we had a farewell ride for our Friend Matt L who's moving to the Pacific NW. We took him on his favorite route at Cedro, and other than a bunch of folks playing frisbee golf at Oak Flats, we didn't see another person during our 2.5 hour ride.

Sunday eve the FCA-E and BOMB groups headed down to Valley High School to volunteer at the Cherry Garcia 10K race. Mostly we did the water and had games set up for the kids. The race benefitted Joy Junction homeless shelter, and I was really surprised by how many people turned out. Ben and Jerry's supplied ice cream and Pudge Bros. supplied pizza for all the runners. It was pushing 100 degrees, and I was sure glad I wasn't running (wilting) in that kind of heat. Busy weekend, but relaxing at the same time.

2007-06-18T10:08:00.000-06:00

Saturday was time for some high country riding with temps in the 90's, so I headed up to the old neighborhood for cooler temps, running water, and some sweet singletrack. You'll never see many riders out here cause it's quite technical and even hikers are few. So I rode from the old hood, all the way to the top of the mountain and back down. It was one of those days I was really on and couldn't believe the stuff I was cleaning on the hardtail. These are the trails where I learned to ride on a fully rigid, steel Trek, and where I first met Tom and marvelled at the stuff he rode in his retro garb. It was good to be back. Got 4,800 feet of climbing in over 32 miles, and it was a tough effort.

Sunday, got together with Carl and Laurie up in the pines. A recovery ride for me, and a Fathers Day ride for Carl. It's amazing what you can do with a Bob trailer. I've discovered Carl's stealth training secret though as he towed his daughter through some fun trails and up some nice climbs. Helped him for sure at Dueces Wild where he took 8th overall, even beating out some of the younger pros.

2007-06-15T14:47:00.000-06:00

Here's a couple of cycling-related shots: The statue is a tribute to Mike the Headless Chicken.
This is funny to me cause Pete Nelson told the story in a sermon he did recently.

And, if you've ever wondered what the weekend crowd at Calvary Chapel of Fruita looks like, well, wonder no longer.........Not really, but not long ago our mountain bike group tried to coordinate a visit with them during the Fruita Fat Tire festival, and you know what, they didn't even bother replying to our correspondence. You'd think a church located in a town like Fruita, would have it's doors open during the entire Fat Tire Festival reaching out to the community..............they could learn a lesson from the other churches in town who cooked up some great breakfast for everyone and demonstrated what it means to be kind and hospitable to strangers...........

Check out my friend Keith P's web site for some outstanding photography by clicking HERE!

Oh, and this weekend, get off the couch and do something fun outside!

2007-06-11T16:46:00.000-06:00

Stick a fork in me......I'm done. A little before and after effect. The Cochiti 100 was Saturday.......and for me it was the Cochiti 55, and that was about right at my pre-race goal. It's hard to keep these tales brief, but here's my best shot. Being a self-timed event, I took off with a small group right at 6:29am, knowing it would only be a matter of time before the hammers, who left a little later, caught and passed me. One of many highlights of my day was pedaling along for a while with the former Governor, along the 13-plus mile, steep, Dome climb. On the Dome climb, Jeff H and John S cruised right on by looking quite strong. Chris H caught my wheel a while later and we rode together to the Dome Wilderness signage where Jens flew past us going quite fast. Big props to the moto guy who not only did some trail clearing the previous day, but also was at the Motown turnoff directing traffic early Sat. Thanks! It wasn't long on Motown before I went over the bars on some nasty rootage, but no damage done, and shortly after that Matt cruised right on by me, and let me tell you, not only is he super fast, he is smooth! When Lenny caught and passed me with a couple of guys at the end of Motown, it prompted me to pick up the pace, and I kept them within earshot as we hit graduation flats over to 10 plus miles of technical singletrack called the crosstown trail. Typical fun moto style trail with some loose, steep, hike-ups and downs, along with the faster, flowing stuff, and a steep, hike-a-bike at about mile 29, before some much needed gravity riding, wrapping it up on the awesome Media Dia singletrack complete with refreshing stream crossings, back to Dixon's apple orchard.

I couldn't believe how long it took me to complete the first 41-plus miles, but talking with everyone else, that seemed to be the common theme, even for the elite riders. I kicked back for about 15-minutes while my great pit crew, Ann, took care of my bottles and food, and before I knew it, she and Janet from El Paso, said they wanted to head out on Loop 2 with me. Sounded good, so we headed out and did a modified version of the loop to complete our day. I was pretty cooked, feeling the effects of afternoon heat, an upset stomach, and leg cramps, I'd battled all day long. Upon finishing, I spotted Tim relaxing in the shade with some friends, and doing some "carbo loading" before hitting up their second loop. Guess they got a later start than planned, but Tim rocked the first loop on his SS, so hats off to ya man and good to meet ya!

This was a very challenging endurance event, and I'm really glad to have participated. Big thanks to Matt for organizing, and to any of the 60+ guys and gals who rode. Turns out only John S and Matt completed all three loops, and that last loop looked like the toughest of the three. Way to go. The NMES web site has additional info and comments from participants.

2007-06-08T11:25:00.000-06:00

To the big volcano....Cochiti 100 that is.............

Keith Bontrager gives some interesting insights and advice on completing multi-day stage races, that are really applicable to any endurance kind of event. I thought it was a good read.

2007-06-03T19:39:00.000-06:00

National Trails Day was awesome! The Open Space Division contacted me to lead a work crew on the section of trail that our mountain bike ministry adopted 5 years ago. Seems they had too many volunteers and not enough staff to lead work crews. Wouldn’t it be great if ministries had that same problem?
Anyway, I had an awesome crew, including my better half Ann, and Mark from the Bomb group. Chris P from the FOO group cranked out some great work. Also Bob and his better half Betsy, Dr. Chris and his better half Claudia, Mark 2, John and Jim?
Anyway, we knocked out 15 or so erosion control features and also built some new "stair step" ledges using huge granite slabs. I dropped an 80-pound slab on the middle finger on my left hand and it’s quite a lovely shade of purple today.
Splinted up the finger and got out for a ride today with Ann at Cedro. At only 10 miles, was probably our shortest ride of the year, but one on the most enjoyable with cool breezes, colorful wildflowers, and nobody on the trails. I had no need to hammer out a long ride today, and judging from my inability to get my heart rate even close to my Lactate Threshold, I was better off going easy and resting this afternoon.

2007-05-29T20:15:00.000-06:00

Bolder Boulder. An awesome venue for the girls to do a team run. The idea was to run as a team which meant a slow pace, but everyone had fun and there were 50,000 others running too. Additionally, it was an awesome tribute to those who served/serve our country. We also got to hang out with our former pastor, Pete and visit his new church, Whitefields Community Church. A great blessing indeed.
The boys took on the Boulder to Estes Park Challenge ride and I'd say this was the best road ride I've ever done. Long miles and tons of climbing, along with huge rollers. The climb starts in earnest around Lyons, and continues 30 plus miles on Highway 7 to Estes Park, followed by a screeming descent on Highway 36. On the descent, I reached speeds I've never approached before on a bicycle. Boulder is a bike friendly community and people give you plenty of room and are very courteous, especially compared to our local nuevo mexicans. Man, if I was young again and looking for a college, you bet the University of Colorado at Boulder would be right at the top of my list. A nice weekend in the front range.

2007-05-25T12:22:00.000-06:00

Team Type 1. I gotta say, these guys and gals are my heroes. RAAM 2007 starts on June 10th and has to be the toughest cycling event there is and this team is defending it's corporate championship from 2006. I'll be following the action closely for sure.

They'll all be sporting these amazing new wireless insulin pumps that have built-in glucose meters. These things look sweet because they eliminate the need to take shots during an event and also test your blood sugars at the same time. I'll be really interested to read the team blog to see how these meters hold up under the rigors of competition. For now, it's the next best thing to a cure..........

2007-05-22T13:13:00.000-06:00

Getting some good riding in still, but just haven't felt much like posting up. I'm maybe a little bored with the blogging thing. Ran into this guy in the south foothills. Thanks to Jens from BWR for pointing him out! East mountains were terribly muddy, so it was foothills riding again.

2007-05-14T20:10:00.000-06:00

Couldn't find a teammate to try the Cortez race last weekend due to a conflict with the "Albuquerque World Championships". But looks like BWR dominated the solo entries. Instead, I found myself getting reacquainted with some trails I hadn't seen for a while, and it was nice to discover that new trail has a new addition....quite nice. Long ride but cut short due to lightning. Here's a few pics. Yep, I rode the cheater bike again. Got some new chain rings on order but haven't decided how long I'll keep the Dean a 1x9 as I'm needing some one-gear miles. Just a bit indecisive lately......

2007-05-07T10:21:00.000-06:00

Took 7 people from the bomb/fca groups to the east mountains Saturday for a nice ride. Despite rain, snow, wind, cold, and even sunshine, we had a nice time and nobody out on the trails either.

Sunday, Patrick gave me a carbon composite Kestrel fork for my Klein he picked up at a teammates garage sale. Fits perfect on the big 59cm frame. All I can say is my neck won't be hurting so bad on the road anymore after that aluminum fork I had. I also had him take a look at the Dean shifting issues, and turns out it needed a new chain, and chainring......dohh! Nothing like having the obvious staring you in the face and don't realize it! The chainring had big old hooks on it, similar to what you see in the above picture I pulled off the web.

Sunday eve, took the 1x9 Dean out for a quick ride in the foothills. Rode it hard for an hour on the usual loop. Found some guys digging up rocks in one of the few, fun technical sections on the lower rock garden. Geez guys, if you can't ride it, don't destroy it for the rest of us who enjoy it. I told them they shouldn't be doing stuff like that and all I got was a dumb look in response. Probably the same guys that eradicated the nice rock drop leading down into the neighborhood. Don't get me started on this kind of stuff........

2007-05-02T11:34:00.000-06:00

Bamboo is good for more than just floors and high end fishing poles........you can ride it too.............

Took my hub apart last night that was giving me problems in Aztec, and much to my surprise, 5 bearings were loose in the center of the hub. Is it just coincidence that an un-named bike shop did some work on that wheel for me the week before the race? I think not...........

2007-04-30T12:02:00.000-06:00

Ann and I did the 2007 Alien Run race yesterday in Aztec. There was a great turnout, especially from the Durango contingent, and the field was much stronger than at last years race due to rescheduling for April rather than July. A highlight of the day for me was being able to be on the starting line with racing legend Travis Brown who threw down a course record 1:38 time for the win. Of course, that's the only time I saw him that day, except at the racers lunch afterward. That's Travis in the picture accepting the first place award. He rode a cool looking bike with a 29er wheel up front and a 26-inch wheel on the rear. Team Health Fx from Durango took the majority of the other podium positions from what I saw.

I entered the 40-44 Sport Class, which turned out to be the most competitive of the Sport groups that day. I converted the Dean into a straight 9-speed and am really glad I didn't try it as a singlespeed. The course started out on a 1/4 mile stretch of hardpack dirt road that was a sprint to a five mile stretch of singletrack they call the "mountain view" trail, some of which was newly cut trail. This stretch was tricky and full of off camber turns and sand pits and few places to pass. I managed to pass two riders in this stretch, but my HR was maxed during that first 5 miles, so I had to back off once we got to the first section of gas line road. That's when I got passed back by a few of the experts I somehow managed to get in front of at the start, and by an expert woman from Team Healthfx that I had passed earlier in the singletrack. After this things were pretty spread out and I basically rode alone the rest of the time. From the five mile point on, it was a hodge podge of trails/gas line roads to the best part of the course, the Alien Run singletrack loop. This section is a blast and one of the best designed trails in the state IMO. In the last 4 miles of the race, my legs were getting a bit crampy, and unfortunately, I ended up losing a couple of spots.

My goal before the race was for a 2 hour time, which seems realistic for me on any given day. So, given the fact that I'd been backpacking the week before the race, I'm ten pounds too heavy at 170, the 85 degree temps, a loose hub giving me shifting problems, I ended up about where I expected with a 2:07 time over 24 miles. As best I can figure, as some of the name tags were blowing off the results board, I ended up 10th overall in sport out of about 23 to 25 riders, but 6 of those guys were in my age group. Next year, I get to throw it down with the 45 plus geezer class!! Lots of room to improve but at least I know I'm solidly at Sport level.

Ann was slated to do beginner class, but we found out before the race, that they were going to turn the beginners around before ever getting to the alien run trail, which is the best part of the course. So, another girl, talked Ann into moving up to Sport class so she could ride the funnest part of the trail. Considering she didn't get any sleep the previous two nights, Ann did awesome with a time of about 2:53. She (like me) was really nervous before the race, and though she was the last finisher, she beat a ton of people who SAG'd, or stopped short, and there were no other 47 year old women who even finished the sport race. So, I'm very proud of her!!

It was an extremely well run race and the volunteer support was top notch. Maybe see you there, same time, same place in 2008?

2007-04-25T21:33:00.000-06:00

We were guests of the Sovereign Havasupai Nation within the Grand Canyon. The people of the blue-green water as the photos attest. They are a really interesting people and they tolerate outsiders, but would rather greet any of the 450 or so tribal members who live there in their native tongue. The only way in and out is by foot, horse, or helicopter. We backpacked in and out and put around 30 miles on our hiking boots in the process. The place is really beyond description and was worth every hot, dusty mile when we got to the spectacular waterfalls, and some of the amazing archeological sites. Made it to Navajo, Havasu, and Mooney, which required a semi-scary near vertical descent on chain ladders. One thing I learned, is that cycling is not good training for backpacking. I’m sure I never got out of the lower end of HR zone 2 while packing, but my legs and calves were (are) toast after climbing back out of the Canyon. I highly recommend this trip to anyone who is able and can wait up to 6 to 12 months for a permit.

2007-04-25T21:26:00.000-06:00

More from Supai. Grand Canyon, AZ.

2007-04-25T21:21:00.000-06:00

Some Arizona Trail love near Flag. Hit it up after the Grand Canyon backpack trip. Fun, mostly easy trail. Legs were toast from carrying the backpack though. Beaver Street for dinner and good IPA, and Macy’s for great coffee and healthy food post ride. Need to get back to ride more around here.

2007-04-19T16:27:00.000-06:00

Here's what the last weeks storm did for the snowpack. The Sangre de Cristos fared pretty well. First significant precip. we've had in some time. Intervals last night on the SS. A good 1 hour workout. Tired today, cause I never sleep good after hammering after work. Need to start doing those rides before work so I won't be so hyper in the evenings. Will be switching gears briefly this weekend for some weight bearing exercise. May take a few days to get the pics and story posted, but I'll get it up here as soon as I can.

2007-04-16T21:37:00.000-06:00

Here’s the neighborhood tulip thief. She just likes the colorful tops though. It was supposed to be turkey trumping dawn till dusk, as I haven’t missed opening of the season in many moons, but a sick pup put the nix on even those plans, and my bow never saw the light of day. Turns out he’s OK, but he gave us a scare and he kept us up all night crying, till we got him into the clinic. One of the joys of having pets.

With the original plans changed, I got some nice foothills rides in. Saturday took the SS out for a 22-mile cruise through the south foothills with Ann. She’s shown a lot of improvement on the new bike and handles most of the downhill tech stuff just fine, but I need to work more with her on the climbing tech obstacles to get her confidence up. Sunday, we took turns babysitting the sick pup, so when it was my turn to play, I got out for a north to south foothills ride. Got 31 miles in, just over 3 hours riding time. Climbing was a bit over 3K and though I was lacking sleep, and tired, it was a nice day to be out.

Though I got some nice dirt miles in this weekend, they don’t even compare to the miles that Matt rode to his singlespeed victory at Dawn till Dusk. He’s got a good write-up and pics from the race, so check it out. He's definitely kicked it up another notch for 2007.

2007-04-06T18:01:00.000-06:00

A Cedtero kind of Friday. Cedro, Otero, and Cedro again. Took the geared bike. Weather was crazy. First warm and sunny, then windy and cold. Must have been a 30 degree temp swing. Anyway, I rode 40 miles, climbed 5,093 feet, with the average heart rate at 142bpm, and I burned about 3,000 calories and I'll be out on the trails again tomorrow. Excellent.

2007-04-02T10:51:00.000-06:00

Here's a shot looking across the Colorado toward the Kokopelli Trail near Fruita a few years back. Put it on your list to ride if you haven't been.

Dirt Saturday and some great pavement on Sunday plus some good weekday mileage. Hit the foothills on the SS on Saturday with Ann and Dr. Mo(nique). Blustery winds and lots of trail traffic, but a fun 2 hours on the trails.

Sunday, I tagged along on a road ride led by ironwoman Laurie A and a few folks from the NMVS team. As soon as we hit Old 66, Brad lit up a fast pace, and I knew I was in for a good ride. Some of the slower riders dropped back into their own group and I tried to hang with the faster group. Once we got to Tijeras, Todd took off and we didn't see him again until we got to Oak Flats. I rode along with Laurie and we kept a nice pace and she was kind enough not to drop me. We kept Brad and ironman Keith within a respectable distance, but couldn't close the gap without going anaerobic and there were a lot more miles to cover that day. Regrouped at the Oak Flat store and brought it back around to 66 and the burque. Once back on Tramway, Marty M, roadie teammate to Damian, and his riding companion picked up our wheels and he was extolling the virtues of the 29-inch wheeled MTB for folks like me with long femurs. Nice guy, and darn strong too. As everyone started peeling off for home along Tramway, I needed some extra time so I did a short out and back along Tramway with Laurie, then hit a few short climbs in the neighborhood to finish off the ride at 60+ miles. It was a great ride for me and I did much better on the fueling plan this week. Cut the basal insulin dose by 1/3, and the fast acting insulin by 1/2 pre-ride, and drank Perpetuem consitently throughout the ride along with gel shots. I coudln't eat any solid food because I was getting a little stomach upset, but the Hammer liquid diet kept me going great, along with endurolytes. Blood sugars were a little higher than I like upon finishing, so I may have to take a little fast acting during those rides that I'm consuming that many carbs and calories. It would be nice to get things dialed so I didn't have to take any shots during a ride, but still getting that figured out.

2007-03-26T10:08:00.000-06:00

Here's a couple pics of some friends mountain biking in the Ukraine with the local BOMB chapter. That's the Black Sea in the background. Quite the contrast to New Mexico!

Some good miles last week. Monday thru Thursday got 1.5 to 2 hours in every day on the single speed. Saturday got together again with the team for a devotional and talk by new Hammer sponsored triathlete Hector on nutrition and fueling your body. Thanks again to Hammer for providing sampler bags for everyone! After Hector's coaching session, got another 20 miles in on the SS in the foothills on an overcast morning. Trails were moist and fast and I focused on staying in HR Zone 4 for the climbs and 2 and 3 for the descents and flats. Forgot to set my timer but estimated 2 hours riding time.

Sunday was about long, steady, distance (LSD), so, I got out on the roadie and Ann and I started out heading down Tramway to the casino, then climbing the five miles back up. After a while on Tramway, Ann peeled off and I continued down Tramway, then went up the Canyon to Tijeras, then headed down South 14 a ways, and came back the same way. Once back in town, I had another hypoglycemic episode creep up on me along with the telltale signs; could only spin about 12 mph, and my concentration becomes non-existent and confused. After the gels kicked in, my senses rebound and the legs start to work again, but it's a horrible feeling. Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever be able to get a fueling plan dialed in, short of a new pancreas.

As I got closer to home, I needed another half hour to hit my target of 4 hours saddle time, so I hit some of the neighborhood climbs, but trying to hold back some to keep the heart rate out of the 4 zone. I eventually came down San Rafael to Tramway again to do some cool down, just in time for Damian to fly by me on his team Cannondale MTB. He was doing at least 25 mph down Tramway until I lost sight of him. It's fun to watch folks who are gifted cyclists! So, the good points of the ride were I burned 3,000 calories, which equals 1,000 calories for every 1000 feet of elevation I climbed. The average heart rate was 133 since I held back some on the climbs, and it was a beautiful, sunny day. Our team finished off the afternoon with an outreach to a local homeless shelter and everyone had a great time.

2007-03-20T10:14:00.000-06:00

Rocks, rattlers, things that scratch and sting. Yeah, I love the desert.

2007-03-20T10:05:00.000-06:00

2007-03-12T10:06:00.000-06:00

More fun in the foothills this weekend. Won't be long before other area trails start to clear up, but in the meantime, the temps and conditions are primo in our backyard. Saturday was a social ride with a couple of folks from the bomb group who were a bit out of shape after the winter. We kept a fairly slow pace and Ann's odometer read 18 miles by the time we got home. Not many out Sat., but I did run into Jeni (almost literally) cranking out some intervals on her Moots with a couple of other riders trying to keep up. Sorry about that Jeni! I've gotten into some bad habits carrying too much speed into some blind corners, so lesson learned.

Sunday was my longish SSolo ride, so I covered the foothills from north to south and back again. I broke my Cateye computer, but from previous experience, I know this ride is 30 plus miles and I kept a nice steady pace. Quite a few people out too. Ran into fast youngster Aaron J who traded his Fetish for a two-niner SS Rig since I've seen him last. Saw Tiffany leading out her friend Forest by the Tram, and crossed paths with Jeff on his Scalpel while I was doing an interval up the bomb trail but I was too breathless to do anything but nod hello. Also saw a couple of local lady pros ripping a climb and was glad I was going the other way! The junipers are still ripe with pollen (see picture) but my allergies weren't as bad Sunday, but when the wind blows just right, those junipers look like they're on fire with those red tips, and clouds of pollen coming out of them. Finished up the urethane coatings on the new doors after my ride. Also got the fruit trees fertilized, so hoping for some good peaches and apples this year. Need to get a cross pollinator for the bing cherry tree too as it's ready to bear fruit. Should be ample time for some after work rides this week

2007-03-07T09:33:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning was brisk. Downright cold, actually, but sunny and the trails were calling. Got out with several FCA-E team mates, including Hector T., an amazing triathlete that can throw down some sub 10 hour ironman times and is a military tri champ. Despite the fact that he had run 10 miles before our 20 plus mile mountain bike ride, he just stuck to my wheel on the 5 mile climb from Bear Canyon at Juan Tabo to the Pino Wilderness boundary, and I know he could have dropped me if he wanted, but I think he was saving a little for an additional 10 mile run after the bike ride. These triathletes just amaze me! Trails were great and due to the cold, surprisingly we didn't run into any other riders up there. Nice mellow road ride with Ann on Sunday, including a nutrition break at Flying Star!

Last night, Ann hit up the Audio Adrenaline concert with friends, so I took the opportunity to go for a north foothills hammer session. A great ride, but the juniper pollen was so thick in places, that my light just reflected off, making the trail difficult to see. I paid the price sucking in all that pollen as my eyes nearly welled shut by the time I got home and my sneezing fit lasted nearly 15 solid minutes, before an allegra started to kick in. After the ride, I went back to work on my second job of late and finished prepping and staining all our new baseboard and door trim. Still need to get a couple coats of urethane over the stain on all the 6-panel pine doors, and boy, they already look beautiful. Gonna have to save some cash before we can put the wood floors down, but everything else came together fantastic. Fell asleep on the couch around 10:30pm and Ann woke me up shortly thereafter when she returned. Up at 5am this morning for some good quiet time and two espresso shots. Another big day ahead!

2007-03-02T11:14:00.000-07:00

And the wind blows. The Spring winds arrived like clockwork this year and you can see how they've chipped away at our snowpack. (see: sublimation) Not as bad as it could have been, but we still need some of those heavy wet snows that typically come in the Spring in these parts.

The wind was not my friend on the bike yesterday either. I got two hours in on the roadie and it was tough work with gusts up to 50 miles per hour. I mostly battled the cross wind, but had several miles of headwind that felt like I rode into a wall when it gusted. Only had about 3 miles where the wind was at my back. A good workout and my average speed was nearly 17.5 mph, including the routine stoplights in the downtown area, so I'm happy with that given the conditions. Weekend forecast looks good and you can bet I'll be getting some dirt miles in somewhere.

2007-02-22T11:33:00.000-07:00

Spent most last weekend being a painting slave. The remodel is starting to wrap up and all the drywall has been taped and textured, so now we're heading toward completion.

We did manage to get out with the FCA-E team and few people from the bomb group on Saturday morning. We hit the south foothills again via Bear Canyon, Glenwood, etc. Trails were wet, but overall in good shape. Most of the day I spent chasing down Patrick on his cross bike and I was on the SS. It's really amazing how good his technical skills are on that cross bike, and he's got incredible acceleration. When he would let me catch up, we'd stop and wait for the rest of the group, then take off again. Even though we had to stop and start a lot, it gave the opportunity to hammer in between re-groups. We got a little over 20 miles in and it really was a perfect day. Some of the crew was out at Mt. Taylor for the Quad, and they had a perfect day and great snow besides.

Got a great south foothills ride in last night with Carl. Trails were absolutely perfect and we were in shorts and light shirts till the sun went down. Traction was outstanding and I climbed some steep stuff on the singlespeed that I don’t normally have the horsepower for when the trails are loose and dry. We rode basically non-stop for 90 minutes at a really nice pace, including two trips up Craig and Heidi’s trail, which is a really fun climb on the SS on any given day. Tonight Ann and I will be abused by the spin nazi, but my reward awaits at home.

2007-02-13T14:02:00.000-07:00

Last week was some great riding weather and I took advantage. Here are some of the highlights: Tuesday I got out on the roadie at lunch and headed south on the bosque trail. As I was coming back north, I caught up with a swarm of yellow jerseys and it turns out it was the women's Lipton pro cycling team. They were just cruising along at about 18mph and so I just tagged along for a while until it was time to peel off. Seem like a nice group of youngsters and obviously talented cyclists. Great also, that they were in town along with the Navigators getting some cycling press for the burque.

Wednesday after work rode the south foothills with Carl. He's got his new light system and it sure makes mine look like a flickering candle in comparison. Trails were great and we kept a nice pace the whole time and only saw two other riders the whole evening. Thursday, Ann and I got a nice endurance spin at the healthplex and Saturday we got together with some of our FCA-E team for a south foothills ride. Unfortunately, that ride got cut a little short, as our friend Jane, an experienced roadie, but new mountain biker, did a "superwoman" imitation, landing in the middle of a huge prickly pear cactus. That's the worst I've seen anyone tangle with a cactus, and she was literally covered with spines on her entire front side. Took well over an hour to extract as many cactus needles as we could and we got her down to the parking area and waited for her husband to get the car and pick her up. Hope that doesn't discourage her from the mountain bike! Anyway, lots of folks out in the south foothills riding on a beautiful Saturday. Ran into Dan from FooMtb and also Lenny on his 29er Rig getting in a SS ride before his solo attempt at 24HITOP this coming weekend. Pretty darn good week, and tons of cycling-related activities and events coming up.

2007-02-05T11:09:00.000-07:00

I got beat up pretty bad on the trails Saturday. It was a joint ride with some of the bomb and fca-e crew, starting near Academy and Lowell and hitting the dirt at the Bear Canyon dam at Juan Tabo. The group climbed from there to Embudito, then on over to the south foothills. When we got to the single track, the girls went in one group, and I went with Todd, Carl, and Patrick. I had the SS and Patrick was on his cross bike while the other guys had their full sus rigs. For some reason, I was leading out the group and by the time we got into some of the initial climbs south of Copper, then coming back north, it was Patrick riding my rear wheel with the other two guys dropping back some. Patrick has a jovial way of pushing you till you blow up, all the while smiling and talking. And blow up I did, about half way into the 20 mile ride. I managed to recover after the last climb, but by then I was bringing up the rear and the legs were cramping up all the way back, but I managed. Funny thing was that I didn't bonk, but my blood sugars were actually way high after the ride, and talking with Dr. Tim afterward, he says too high sugars will trick your body into thinking it's over-hydrated and kidney output increases and on a cellular level you're losing electrolytes, and you end up suffering from dehydration, despite drinking enough. This is what happened in part on Sat., plus the fact that I just got pounded by a much stronger and smarter rider. A good ride and lesson nonetheless!

Sunday afternoon was beautiful out and I didn't want to pass on the opportunity to ride again, but I knew my legs were still mush from the previous day and not up for pushing the singlespeed around the south foothills, so I broke out my old Sugar and headed south for a nice 20 mile loop through the south foothills. With the gears I was able to hit some of the steeper climbs that I avoid or have to walk while on the SS bike. It was a nice steady pace and hardly anyone out on the trails. It was a perfect ride to clear the mind and to remember what a fun bike the GF can be to ride. Should be nice and warm this week, so get out and ride.

2007-01-29T17:07:00.000-07:00

The sun was shining and the temperature was perfect for a Sunday afternoon foothills ride on the singlespeed. I headed south from the house to Bear Canyon arroyo and climbed up to 365, then headed south toward Montgomery. That section was way too muddy and shouldn't be ridden right now, so I practiced some cyclocross and ran a lot with the bike up to Embudito. From there pavement over to Comanche then picked up the 365 singletrack on over to Copper, to the saddle at the top of the FooMTB trail, then hit the switchback climb going back north and the other nice climb over toward Indian School, and on back north to the casa. A nice 22 mile ride and I'm not sure about the stats, though I know it wasn't too fast. There's enough soft and wet soil in the foothills that you really have to pedal through it so it's good work for the legs, but much nicer than when it's so dry out there that your bike sinks in the sand. Saw a bunch of friendly faces on the trails. Everyone was happy to be out with flecks of mud all over. Ran into old friends and new. There were even a few paragliders coming down off the mountain near Menaul.

Today at lunch, got out on the roadie for a quick spin through the bosque. Ran into Matt coming the other direction about the time I was planning on turning back for the office so joined him for a few miles before I peeled off for the office. Glad he was on his recovery ride cause keeping up with him when he's hammering is too painful to think about. You can read for yourself on his blog the serious miles he puts in. Good to get out. Have to take advantage of every opportunity when we're having our first real winter season in some time.

2007-01-27T08:41:00.000-07:00

Friday I was down at the big reservoir for work and hauled the SS down for some after work play. Found some fun jeep and cow trails to poke around on. Things were so moist down there that riding through the middle of a sandy arroyo was actually pretty easy too. Fun to explore and just a couple hours south of the burque. I stayed low on blm lands as the forest service lands were snowed in. I started the ride in snow, and finished in beautiful sunshine. The creosote and the occasional mesquite smell so good after rain and snow. The pic is a little crummy and was taken with my cameraphone, but the red rock outcrops above the bike are the Permian Abo Formation which in places contains fossilized lizard tracks. Cool area.

2007-01-22T11:48:00.000-07:00

Snow again this weekend but it wasn't really so bad. The big remodel starts today, and over the weekend we got moved out of the master into the spare bedroom for the next 5 or 6 weeks. I'm sure it will be an interesting month and a half but will be nice when it's all finished. Saturday we did manage a nice workout at the gym and got the dogs out for a good run afterward. I was reading Matt's post on MTBR.COM Saturday evening and noticed he'd gotten out for a foothills adventure in the blowing snow, so I took the queue, and got out Sunday afternoon for a nice ride on the snow in the north foothills. For the most part, I stayed on the lower trails, but also did the long, steady climb from the Bear Canyon arroyo near Tramway, to the wilderness boundary at Pino Canyon. The last half to quarter mile of the climb was tricky dealing with all the icy, lumpy snow from hikers and snow shoers (including some of my own snow shoe prints!) and I occasionally broke through or dropped the front wheel into a print, impeding my progress. Really had to concentrate and work harder than normal to get up there, but it sure was nice to be out. All in all 15 miles in 95 minutes which didn't seem too bad for the snow, though 3 of those miles were on or adjacent to the bike path which was pretty smooth sailing. Looks like we're due for a few days of nicer weather, so I should be able to at least log some miles on the pavement this week.

2007-01-17T16:15:00.000-07:00

I've put way more miles on the snowshoes and spin bike since Christmas than on the pavement or dirt, but it is winter after all. And, we're having a real winter this year too. Last year we were able to ride the entire winter, even on our favorite east mountain trails and we took advantage, knowing that the Forest Service would likely close things down come spring or summer due to fire danger. The good thing about the snow and moisture this winter, is that it is highly unlikely the Forest Service will close down our trails in 07.

I did manage a nice road ride last week when the temps warmed up, but my legs were absolutely dead from intervals on the spin bike from the night before. One of these days I'm going to get a compact crankset for the Klein. My 8 speed Klein was previously owned by a Cat 1 roadie who was on the Junior National team in his youth, and it's geared accordingly and frankly, I'm just not strong enough to consistently push those tall gears on the big climbs. It's the first real road bike I've owned and though not my favorite kind of riding, I need to beef up the road miles this year. Spin classes have been a nice diversion the past month, and they are serving their purpose, and helping to maintain fitness. I should still have a good base to build on as trail and road conditions improve and am hopeful that I'll be able to significantly improve on my total mileage in 2007. Hope to have some dirt rides to report on soon, but the weatherman has not been my friend lately.

2007-01-03T07:02:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick chart showing what the big storm did to our snowpack in the Rio Grande basin based on various snotel sites. You're looking at the snow-water equivalent.

The Jemez and the Sangre de Cristo's fared the best. Also, not shown is the Cimmaron which is at nearly 200 percent of average, and the Pecos which got hammered too.

2006-12-30T17:25:00.000-07:00

The weather has nixed my riding plans the past two weeks. First, my big winter solstice ride was cancelled and now it looks like my New Years ride will be cancelled too. I always thought Gary Fisher’s tradition of doing a mountain bike century on the winter solstice was great and I had a dirt metric century planned, but that’s the way things go. I’ve also done something the past two weeks that I hardly ever do, and that’s go to spin class. Our instructor Pam is a cyclist, and she’s been giving us a darn good interval workout, so we’ll continue with that until we can ride again.

We got 10 inches of snow right before Christmas, then yesterday and today, another 18 to 20 inches fell at our house. It’s going to be a long time before even the foothills trails are in shape to ride. The weather folks are saying it's an all time record for Albuquerque. I think we’re going to have to hit up Cruces (link courtesy of Dave H)or somewhere south soon to get the fat tire fix. I know I’ll be going stir crazy for a ride soon.

Too, the snow shoeing has been excellent. Got out to the Manzanitas last weekend with a few folks from the FCA-E team. Beautiful day, and a nice workout. Also did a loop from the house today into the foothills with Ann and the pups. I’m still amazed at how much snow fell up there. The snow should be fantastic at the Sandia ski area, so I’m definitely going to haul my snowboard up the tram to play in this amazing powder while it lasts.

Have a safe and fun New Year everyone. Also, check out my buddy Hack’s blog. He’s shot some very professional video with a good soundtrack of some of his adventures in the pacific northwest where he lives. Everything from rainforest singletrack, northshore style stunts, and some cool footage from an awesome trail at Mount St. Helen’s. Greg’s wife Marla is sportin her Singlespeed (Bianchi?) for a lot of the footage. It takes a while to see the whole thing, but it’s worth the time.
Grace and Peace.

2006-12-23T08:30:00.000-07:00

Moonrise over Bethlehem.

About 2,700 years ago the prophet Isaiah wrote:

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

About 2,000 years ago, this prophecy was fulfilled.

Have an awesome Christmas everyone! Hope to see you on the trails in 2007!!

2006-12-12T21:57:00.000-07:00

Made the mistake of heading out to the east mountains Saturday and quickly found out there's too much snow and mud to ride. Headed back to town and just parked at Copper for a quick loop around the south foothills on the SS. It's really dry and loose out there now, making the SS all the more challenging. Not a long ride, but got a good leg burn from the climbing/spinning out/techy challenges. Also ran into Damian with a contingent of hammers as I was finishing up. Damian said he got an email from Matt saying the surgery went well and he’ll be back hammering before you know it.

Sunday we hit up my inlaws church to watch the kids Christmas play. They all did great! I was planning a longish ride after church, but those plans were changed after I got a bad dog bite on my hand. You see, one of the neighbors dogs attacked our pup and was trying to rip his ear off, when I interceded and got the worst of the altercation. So, with my hand all messed up, I decided to take in the State Cyclocross championships at Rio Bravo Park. While there, I tracked down Dr's Monique and Tim and asked them to check out my hand. They said mainly keep it clean and don't take any chances with infection. Anyway, got to the races in time for the Elite Men's race and watched FCA Endurance teammate Patrick M. take third place. A last lap flat and bike change cost him second, but man, he's a strong and fast rider. Super fast youngster Taylor L. spanked the field though, so the race was really for second. A good effort by everyone and congrats on a good season, and best wishes at Nationals in RI this weekend!!

The hand seems to be doing better, so I was able to get a road ride in both yesterday and today. I was able to keep my hand in a comfortable position but mostly used the front brake since I haven’t got much grip power in the right hand from the swelling. I’ll hit up a night ride later this week as long as the hand keeps improving.

Caught a great bluegrass show on KNME this evening by Rhonda Vincent and the Rage. KNME has been airing some excellent music this month, so check this show out if you get a chance.

2006-12-04T06:54:00.000-07:00

Stayed close to home over the weekend and other than Sunday morning for 15 minutes, didn't set foot in the car. Took all last week off the bike which was the longest stretch I haven't ridden all year. It was actually a nice break. Strung together north/south foothills loops on the SS and had a lot of fun. Saturday morning my legs were noticeably dead on the initial climb up Cedar Hill to the water tanks. Haven't been doing enough climbing lately so I hit every little climb I could manage along the way. Climbed the BOMB trail after hitting the water tank climb and tried hard not to stand up, but had to for some sections. Then came over on Pearl's Dive and the Wombat trails and finished the climb up to Pino where I ran into Ann and her crew coming the other direction. Also ran into my old friend Kirby. I hate to ask Kirby his age anymore, but I know he's at least 62, and he can still hammer. Hope I can be hammering when I reach that age! Anyway, a pretty uneventful ride, though I didn't feel my best. Got out Sunday afternoon for a similar but shorter ride and though my legs were tired, I was able to ride a lot harder and the average speed was better too. I have noticed my average speed on the SS has tapered off slightly from the Spring, but I know my overall endurance has improved. Got lots to work on for the coming year when I begin my 7th year of mountain biking. Looking to increase both the speed and endurance. It will require a little pain, a little suffering, but it will all be good.

Say, whatever happened to Jennifer Knapp? That girl can sing, play amazing guitar, and write great lyrics. Hope she comes out of hibernation soon to bless us with her gift. The live album being released this year is stuff that was recorded years ago, so there's no new material there, even though it's a good compilation of her work.

2006-11-27T20:57:00.000-07:00

Long weekend and lots of riding. Did the annual BOMB Thanksgiving ride. Just a social ride, but fun to get out bright and early in the foothills, followed by strong coffee and pie at our place afterwards. Guess there were only 7 riders with Ann taking the girls and I taking the guys for a short and easy spin. One of the girls in Ann's group is brand new to riding and struggled a lot getting up Simms Park Road. We looked her bike over after the ride and the darn thing weighs 43 pounds and is a hardtail no less. I think we convinced her that a good bike is worth the cash, if you're going to ride. Our group ran into Matt and Jeni at the top of Cedar Hill as we were finishing, and they were starting their Turkey Day Century road ride. Great day to be out.

Friday was hiking day for me and the pup while Ann did a trail run with the big dog. Also took care of some bike maintenance. It was a power hike up the Pino trail and I was feeling it Saturday when I rode at Cedro. Was supposed to go to White Mesa, but I guess some of the crew got sick, so the plans were changed. Ann met up with the tri-girls and got them out for a dirt ride in the foothills for their first time this year. Guess they all did great. I was solo, but ran into a couple of middle-aged guys at the Cedro parking lot that didn't know their way around the trails, so I offered to be the guide for the day. They were decent and fit riders, both on Moots softails and I pretty much took them on the entire loop used for this year's Cedro race. Sunday got together after church with Carl, Matt L., and Mark for a medium-sized loop starting at Mars Ct. Most cars I've ever seen out there and we ran into a large group of old timers riding on Cajun Pine, then later ran into Damian and a couple of other guys on the "new trail" along the 106 ridge at David Canyon. Lots of traffic out that way for some reason, but as with all our trails, they never are really crowded. Will try to squeeze in a night ride or two this week before the frigid temperatures hit and hopefully be able to get out on the roadie for my "power lunch". Out till next time......

2006-11-22T14:23:00.000-07:00

Four Corners Road Trip. Took a mini vacation to the Four Corners region of New Mexico. Hit up the High Desert Trail system in Gallup, the Glade Run trail system in Farmington, and the Alien Run trail in Aztec. Absolutely perfect weather to ride in and I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves, so check out both posts. Have a great Thanksgiving everyone! Grace and Peace.

2006-11-22T14:15:00.000-07:00

More Four Corners road trip.

2006-11-12T08:29:00.000-07:00

Take a Vet Biking. In honor of Veteran's Day, Carl and I took Lt. Colonel Retired, Matt for a little Cedro Epic Friday afternoon. Since retiring, Matt's traded his Blackhawk helicopter for two wheeled travel and he's been putting in some serious miles. Must be nice to be retired at 42, eh? The guys couldn't meet until the noon hour, so I went out a little earlier to hammer out some extra miles on the SS. I hammered out a nice loop at David and Otero Canyons, then made a beeline over to Cedro to meet the guys. We put together a nice loop over there too hitting all the singletrack we could manage between Sedillo and Oak Flat. I ended up with a bit over 33 miles, several thousand feet climbing and the average speed was just a little over 10mph. We didn't ride too hard the second half of the ride, but just kept a steady pace. Carl hasn't spent much time on the mountain bike this year as he's been towing his daughter around behind his roadie. The guy knows how to dig deep though, regardless of the shape he's in. What do you expect from a former top 20 finisher at the Xterra World Championships. He's still on the Turner factory ride he had from years ago, and it's still a sweet bike, about 7 years after he got it. A good Veteran's Day and nice to be able to add extra miles on a 3 day weekend. Thanks to all the vets out there who served and defended our country.

2006-11-05T16:40:00.000-07:00

BOMBFEST IV. We kicked off the fourth annual bombfest with 10 volunteers who cranked out some incredibly fine work on our adopted trail at Elena Gallegos. The monsoons had pretty much left the trail in shambles, so we got trail #230 looking darn good again. We constructed a total of 15 water dips and 3 rock drop ledges, using huge granite slabs we hauled from some borrow areas. We also dug several borrow pits to haul moist, silty, clayey soil throughout the trail that hopefully won't erode as easily as the sandy, weathered granite that comprises most of the foothills tread. Thanks to Clif Bar for providing great snacks for our work day! Following the trail work, we headed back to the Double Shelter reservation area for a feast. We invited the Wombats along since they were out working on their trail too. Ann and a big group were already gathered and the grill was fired up and a feast and fun was had by all. We had a few rides, mostly beginners, but Tom took a more advanced group to climb our handiwork and they said it rode quite well. I'd done a 30-plus miler on the SS at Cedro Friday afternoon, so I just took a beginner out for a quick loop but mostly stuck around to cook burgers and clean up after everyone left. Got out Sunday for a really nice SS ride at Cedro while Ann did the doggie dash and dawdle. Ran into Tom again as I was finishing up, and he showed me his new mapping project at Cedro. It's going to be a great resource once he releases it. Man, there's so much out there that most folks have no idea is there. I know I find new stuff every year out there and I really never get tired of riding the area.

2006-10-30T20:08:00.000-07:00

A beautiful day to learn, and build some trail. Ann and I had the chance to get together with a large group of trail advocates for an IMBA trailbuilding class and field session at White Mesa. Nat and Rachel from IMBA did an outstanding job on the presentation and organizing the volunteers in the field. Kudos of course go to FOO for making this event happen along with help from the Wombats. It was really inspiring to see such a large group get together on behalf of mountain biking.

A great group of people and I enjoyed getting to meet everyone. Finally got to meet Matt and his better half Jeni who was responsible for getting this event off the ground. Got to swing a Pulaski alongside Travis C, Mike M, Jay, Dan H, Chris B, Chris P, and others I’m forgetting from the burque. A father-son team from Cruces even made the trip. Had to get back to the in-laws for home baked pizza so I missed out on the twilight ride at White Mesa, but I was pretty beat anyway.

Got together with Mark P on Sunday for a ride starting at Mars Court. Mark is recovering from a disc injury to his back so he wasn’t up for hammering, but we had a nice ride and trail conditions were primo. I love riding my singlespeed on those trails. Night rides start this week, so charge up those lights!

2006-10-23T21:28:00.000-06:00

A really beautiful week. Got a couple of nice road rides in on Wednesday and Thursday. Just 40 miles total but an intense pace. Finished building up Ann's racerx Thursday night and she was anxious to try it out Saturday. We hit up Cedro and started at Pine Flat with the intention of doing a big loop out to Sedillo, then back up to Oak Flat, Open Space etc. However, after 10 miles, I stopped to move some wire out of the trail and I heard Ann give a little yelp, then silence for 30 seconds. Next I heard her gasping for breath, so I high tailed it back to find that she went down hard. She's still not sure what happened and doesn't remember much, but I suspect she grabbed too much front brake and endo'd. Her first time using discs and it was a tough lesson. Her helmet saved her from a really bad injury, but she still got a gash that required 4 stitches, and has really bruised ribs, which are quite painful. Thanks to Dr. Dave who stopped to give assistance. Ann insisted on riding back to the car as Dr. Dave told us to get to urgent care asap. She rode the 5 miles back to the car, so our ride ended up being only about half the intended 30 miles. She's on the mend, but it's going to be a while for those ribs to heal and she's ready for the rocky trails again. One lesson learned was making sure we carry basic first aid with us in the future. We've gotten into the bad habit of carrying nothing, and if it weren't for some helpful people on the trail, we would have had nothing.

Sunday, I packed my gear and first aid kit and headed back to Cedro. About a mile into the ride I managed my worst crash of the year on my SS. Crazy how these things happen. I've found that when encountering big patches of those Cedro rock piles, to just hammer through them and you float on top. However, I somehow slipped on the pedal, pitching my weight forward just in time to bury my front wheel into a rock which sent me flying with no time to react. Face plant into some tasty limestone, and jacked up my shoulder and pinky finger pretty bad. I taped up the finger with my first aid kit and continued my ride, using mostly front brake. At least I got some miles in, though I paid the price. Sure glad those kind of crashes rarely happen. Though I've noticed that since I've hit my 40's, I don't see as well on the trails some days, and I think that's a factor. I think the reaction time and reflexes are still there, but some days the eyes are sharper than others and it shows. Anyway, I pray we heal up quickly to take advantage of the awesome weather before the real cold sets in. Out for now.

2006-10-16T19:27:00.000-06:00

Artifacts. Little did I know that when I decided to install a new mailbox this weekend, I'd be digging up an aboriginal artifact in the process. After pulling out the old mailbox with rotten timber, I expanded the hole so I could put a good concrete base in for the new post. While digging, this big chunk of granite came out of the hole, and I laid it aside and finished the job, before really looking at the rock. It took a little while, but when I finally recognized what it was I was stoked! It looks to me like a stone hammer or hatchet and weighs about 4 pounds. Someone took a lot of time sculpting and shaping this stone and cutting the groove around the top for attaching it to some sort of handle. Amazing what you can find in your yard. Cool huh? I'll have to track down an archeologist to get their input.

Got in some nice rides this past week. Did a nice Thursday night spin in the foothills with Ann. Also, a couple of nice east mountain rides over the weekend. Cool conditions both days required a light jacket. Sunday afternoon after fixing a creaky bottom bracket on the DeanSS, I hit up Otero and vicinity, but it got a bit muddy over on the 106 Ridge, but most of the single track was good to go, except the increased rolling resistance from the wet soil always zap my legs and my average speed suffers. Still a really good 2.5 hours riding time. Hope to be able to build up Ann's new ride this week if UPS delivers as promised. I'm finally going to have to learn how to deal with disc brakes. If this moisture continues, we may actually get to dust off our snowboards and snowshoes this winter.

2006-10-09T17:51:00.000-06:00

Crazy weather. A weather-forced change of plans had us cancel our out of town rides and stay local for the long weekend. Saturday we led a new beginner on some nice easy singletrack out at Oak Flat for a club ride. Turned out to be a decent morning except I lost my Sugoi leg warmers somewhere out there. If you come across a pair out that way please let me know. Sunday, Ann wanted to do a trail run, so I took the opportunity to hit up Faulty trail. Hadn't been up on that trail since we moved to town, so it sure was nice to be back on familiar turf. I had planned to do a much longer ride, but serious rain and cold had me cut it a bit short. I caught a pretty serious chill and there were even snowflakes falling on me at one point. Only 14 miles, but they were challenging miles. It wasn't muddy, but very wet, and faulty is tough enough to ride under good conditions. The rocks and roots were very slippery and riding with great caution was the motto for the day. I started at the Cedar Crest post office and rode up Canoncito road to the private gate, then proceeded up to the Cole Springs picnic ground from there. Running water could be heard in nearly every drainage. Just outstanding to hear it. I just worked my way north toward Doc Long, and tried out a couple of new side trails I hadn't been on before and it was really sweet singletrack and comparable to the new horse bypass near Cienaga. Since I was wet and chilled I turned around and headed back the same way I came. I did notice a lot of non-native vegetation springing up in a couple drainages. This is the result of horses being fed improperly and then brought out on the trails. Faulty is a classic trail and worthy of gears and I hope to hit it up again and connect to the top of the mountain before the snow. I managed a short, but fairly intense foothills ride on Monday on the SS. Would rather have ridden Cochiti or the east mountains, but the rain kept me close to home. Gave me a chance to catch up on some neglected chores and even whip up some homemade chick potpies for supper. Grace and peace.

2006-10-02T19:38:00.000-06:00

Virgin Mesa, Jemez Mountains. What a great place to spend the last day of September. It was the kind of fall day for which the Land of Enchantment is famous; crystal blue skies, temps in the seventies, beautiful views and fun singletrack. The aspens are at their prime right now and I'd bet you have about another week to enjoy them in their current state. We rode one of Tom Mayer's routes that we'd "adopted" and agreed to maintain and with one exception, the route is in excellent shape. The portion at the end of Virgin Mesa that goes through the area burned by the Virgin fire several years ago, has had so much blow down of trees that is resembles a huge set of Lincoln Logs dumped across the landscape. This area needs some help from the Forest Service chain saw crew to open up their spur road again. Other than that it was mostly just moving small stuff off the trails and enjoying the great day. It ended up just being Ann, Matt, and I. Pretty lame turnout for our group, but I've come to expect that. We had a blast and rode a leisurely 14 miles, and I even brought out the full sus with gears for the day. Smiles and miles and kudos to Tom for showing us yet another great place to ride near home.

2006-10-01T11:54:00.000-06:00

Fall. A Cedro/Otero Friday. Had some admin leave owed to me, so I took Friday afternoon to do a nice loop on the singlespeed. I had bigger ambitions for the day, than my body was up for and it was apparent from about 10 minutes into the ride, that I hadn't hydrated enough before coming out. The first five miles of climbing hurt more than normal but things finally started coming around about 1/3 of the way into the ride. I started at the lower lot of S. 14 and headed up the dump road then connected up to Mighty Mule, to Lone Pine and then Lone Pine cutoff to Pinyon 2-track. Took that south to the Mutant, where I rode/climbed/hiked my bike to the saddle where Poker Chip intersects, then worked over to Juan Thomas, then Mahogany, then Oak Flat, then Mars Court to Cajun Pine, to 326 singletrack to the Meadow, then down Blue Ribbon trail to Otero, short climb to the Tunnel/Rambo intersection, then down Tunnel to the parking lot, then pavement back to the truck. Just a little over 26 miles, and if I'd felt better, I should have tacked on some more mileage, especially over at David Canyon where it was shadier and the temps a little cooler, but that will have to wait until next time. Ride time was 2:38 and I'm not sure about the total climbing, but certainly at least 3K. Total time was about 20 minutes longer since I stopped to visit with a couple of folks along the trail. Total spur of the moment ride, and glad I got out to enjoy a tremendous fall day.

2006-09-25T13:50:00.000-06:00

Just a great fall weekend. Saturday we lead a club ride up at Cedro. Six of us total. Mostly a mix of beginner and intermediate riders, but fun to show some new people around. We started at Tablazon and rode 462 up to Lone Pine and took that to Pinyon 2-track down to Lower Pine and back to the lot. A really easy and short ride, but a good way to introduce newcomers.

Sunday after church, I headed up for a singlespeed ride around David Canyon and Otero Canyon. This is a great area for SS. I was all over the place up there and even though my time was limited I managed 18 miles in an hour and 38 minutes with about 2,400 feet of climbing. Just a great day to be out and I didn't want it to end, but I was actually starting to catch a chill riding even though I was putting out a good effort on the bike. I felt great and wished I had more daylight so I could do the same loop again.

and now, a word from our sponsors....I've started using some products from our new sponsor, Hammer Nutrition, and they are truly excellent. I'll be getting things dialed in with the HEED and Hammer Gel, and Sustained Energy for longer efforts. Over the hotter months I found the e-caps to be really helpful for maintaining electrolyte balance. When I placed my first order, the folks at Hammer called me on the phone to let me know the package went out and that they'd thrown in a bunch of extra samples for us to try. That's customer service! Anyway, they've been great, and if you or anyone you know is interested in placing an order, you can get 15% off by clicking here: Hammer Discount!

Pictures are from some recent rides in the Sandias, Manzanitas, and two fawns I spotted drinking from a puddle at Cedro while their mom kept lookout. Amazing what you'll see in the woods when you stop and sit quietly a while. I find a lot of joy and contentment spending time in the mountains in the fall. Great stuff.

2006-09-22T13:19:00.000-06:00

"I am in love with Montana . . . Montana seems to me to be what a small boy would think Texas is like from hearing Texans." John Ernst Steinbeck.

This time of year we normally are heading off to Big Sky country to see family and friends, to fool a few trout with offerings of hair and feathers, and of course to find beautiful singletrack to ride. Bozeman used to be a sleepy little college town, where the pace of life was as it should be, laid back. It has definitely changed but still nice and a home away from home for me. Seems like growing pains are everywhere in the west as people grasp for their little piece of paradise. Even water-rich Montana has not been spared from the current drought as wildfires scorch the earth and smoke fills the skys.

I'm going to miss having world class pizza at Mckenzie River, and a pitcher of one of my favorite brews, Moose Drool. Hope to get back soon.

Pictured is a beautiful piece of singletrack near Bozeman.

2006-09-15T08:56:00.000-06:00

I love the smell of the desert after it rains. Thursday evening we planned a north foothills ride and as soon as we were wheeling the bikes out of the garage the rain started coming down hard. Fortunately it passed quickly and we took off for a north foothills loop. We headed down the bike path and picked up the dirt trail next to Sims Park road and climbed up into Elena and cruised the trails till dark and headed home passing the Tram and water tanks along the way. Pino arroyo is still flowing as are others. So nice to be hearing running water up there. Temps were perfect and the singlespeed and legs were in a good mood. Got out on the pavement Tues and Wed on the Klein for some asphalt therapy. We thought about racing Cedro this weekend, but just couldn't get jazzed up with the idea. Should be a fun course and a challenge for the SS crowd to pick the right gearing. Fast and flowing to start, then finishing with some pretty challenging technical climbing on Coyote and Five Hills of Death. Really glad they put Cedro back on the racing schedule as there are some really great rides out there being so close to the big city. Glad it's Friday and hope to have some adventures to report from the weekend.

2006-09-11T06:58:00.000-06:00

As far as riding went this week, we were both a bit under the weather, but did manage a couple of road rides and a quick loop around Tunnel and Otero. I was thinking this morning about what I was doing five years ago today...

In the days following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, I found myself about as far removed from civilization as possible. You see, earlier that year, I had drawn a coveted archery elk tag for a remote portion of New Mexico's Gila, and I wasn't missing this hunt for anything, despite the fact that I had to go solo. It was strangely eerie in the Gila that year and amazingly quiet as not even a random airplane could be heard. I huddled in my sleeping bag each night listening to the BBC on my tiny shortwave radio, hoping and praying that we'd get the terrorist bastards. I'd have to say, that this was one of the lonliest experiences of my life being isolated and helpless. I was getting so lonely in fact, that on the morning of September 19th, I was going to bag the rest of the hunt and head home so I thought I'd just spend a few waking hours near my camp seeing what might happen. I set up in a prime spot and tried my best with a variety of calls to sound like a harem of cows and calves, when all of a sudden an incredible elk bugle rang out below me not more than 200 yards away. I had just enough time to nock an arrow, and when I saw that big bull coming my way, my heart about pounded out of my chest. I got a good arrow into him and he just layed down about 50 yards away from me and breathed his last. It was a beautiful 6x5 Gila bull; my first. I took some time to give thanks to the Lord for this great harvest which provided meat for an entire year. It took me nearly 9 more hours to get the meat de-boned, put into game bags, and packed out to my truck. Driving back to the Burque was bittersweet. That 6x5 rack is my constant reminder of the day the world changed. What were you doing five years ago?

2006-09-05T19:47:00.000-06:00

Well, let's hope all my blogger glitches have gone away and I can resume posting. Gotta love a long weekend. The plan was to ride as much as possible the whole weekend, but a nasty endo at Cedro Saturday morning left me kicking back and sore all day Sunday. I'm glad I don't crash very often, but seems like when I do, it's usually an endo. Bruised up hip, elbow, and a sore shoulder, but overall nothing too serious. By the end of the ride though, I could feel some tendonitis coming on in my right knee, so maybe I tweaked something there too. Trails are really in pretty darn good shape at Cedro considering all the rain this year and even my bald rear tire stuck like glue through the turns. The rest did me good on Sunday and by afternoon we were planning our Labor Day ride. It ended up being a club ride at Cochiti Mesa with Phil, Matt, Ann, and me. With my sore knee and hip, I opted to dust off my Sugar FS bike for the day. It was really fun having all those gears to climb with, and the FS made me feel like I'd been riding a barcalounger all day. Since group rides always take twice as long as they should, (why the heck is that?) I decided to take the group for a 22 mile loop from Dixon's apple orchard, to the top of the mesa, where we stopped for lunch, and to give thanks and pray. We then dropped into Canon de Negro on the other side of the mesa, and rode that until we picked up the Media Dia singletrack. Fun loop with about 4,400 feet of climbing and tons of stream crossings. The upper part of Media Dia is in really rough shape from our torrential monsoon season, but the lower half was screaming fast. We hadn't ridden with Phil for a long time and he did great. He's been mountain biking a couple years, but in his younger years, Phil was a Cat 1 road racer and was a teamate to the Bostisaurus. Phil's a powerfull guy that also holds some world records in weightlifting and when he shakes your hand it literally feels like he could crush it if he wanted. Our other friend Matt joined us, fresh off of retiring from the Air Force, and just recently back from a mountain biking adventure in the Ukraine with some fellow bombers. Ann's been riding really well and has improved tremendously this year, I'm proud to say. The shots are from an absolutely beautiful day at Cochiti. Finished off the day with a late lunch at the Range.

2006-08-28T15:56:00.000-06:00

A routine week. Wasn't on the bikes as much this week, but managed a couple of nice road rides at lunch. Abused the arms and legs at the gym on Friday, and paid for it Saturday on the singlespeed out at Cedro with Ann. We rode a couple of hours and it was the first really sunny Saturday I can remember in over a month. Saw some mule deer and some people hiking with their goats. That was wierd. Sunday was equally as nice. Ann went for a trail run, so I headed up to the Otero/David Canyon area for a great afternoon ride. I rode hard for 2 hours and was feeling darn good, but had to end the ride and get home for chores and to smoke some salmon for dinner.
Docs visit went good today. The new insulin is working good and the blood chemistry is spot on. HDL is 47 and LDL is 91 while the triglycerides are 96. A1C is 6.0 and I'd like to get that back down into the 5.5 to 5.9 range again, but it will take some tweaking with the new insulin cocktail. Hematocrit is a very average 43% so maybe I'm somewhat aerobically challenged in the endurance arena, but I bet Tyler Hamilton would be happy with that number!
I love this time of year when the summer transitions into fall. Sleep seems to come easier and there's something magical about being in the mountains. "Consider the flowers of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these".

2006-08-19T20:51:00.000-06:00

Cochiti Mesa. Ann and I Took the 45 mile drive to the trailhead for some epic riding. This area is just spectacular and the trail network is amazing. There is an incredible amount of superb singletrack up here and I know I've just scratched the surface of it all. Add to that, beautiful rock formations, ancient ruins, wildlife, running water, and scenic vistas and it's a hard place to beat.

The ride ended up being about 12 miles longer than originally planned due to my foul up with the gps and a wrong scaled map. I could see Ann was about reaching the limits of her comfort zone, so I got our path righted, and got us headed back. With the impending thunder storm and the creeks running quite high, it was the right decision. Still we managed 30 miles and the gps profile says we did 5,000 feet of climbing on a nice mix of singletrack and doubletrack. I brought the singlespeed as has been my standard this summer while Ann was on her trusty S-Works. Definitely need to get back there to explore some more. Maybe later this fall when Dixon's Orchard is serving up fresh apple cider.

Here's a link to a map and profile of one of the big Cochiti loop options courtesy of FOO If you right click on the image, you can save it to your computer and use your graphics software to get it to a scale to suit your needs.

I think Ann is planning on killing me during a run tomorrow morning, so she'll get her payback soon. Though, I had fun watching her catch and pass 2 guys who had a 10-minute head start on us from Dixon's. She's a better rider than she thinks she is. Enjoy a few pictures of the area on an overcast and rainy day. Grace and Peace.

2006-08-11T10:27:00.000-06:00

Picking up the pace. I was scanning Matt's blog last week to glean some wisdom from this endurance machine, and realized that my summer riding has lacked intensity. So, this week I picked up the pace and threw two high intensity rides into my schedule, and you know what, I'm feeling better already. Look for Matt to have a strong showing at the Leadville 100 this weekend.

Monday, I got out on the roadie along the bosque trail and rode seven hard intervals. Funny, but at only 55 minutes total time on the bike, I burned far more calories than a steady paced 3 hour ride with 1,500 feet of climbing. Tuesday was a recovery ride on the road bike, and I just focused on keeping my heart rate at about 130 to 135 bpm, which for me means about 19 to 21 mph on the flats on a not windy day. I've definitely got room for improvement on the cardio and really am trying to beef up my endurance.

Thursday I was able to flex my work schedule, so I got a really intense singlespeed ride in up at Cedro which included an all out climb up Poker Chip (south to north), then a gnarly decent on a new trail I'd spotted (unsustainable so I'll avoid in the future) onto the Meadow 2-track where I picked up Lone Pine to Pinyon 2-track, then an all out nasty climb up the mutant back to the north end of Poker Chip. The trails are reasonably dry and in decent shape, with a few exceptions along Lone Pine. A crust has developed on most of the trails up there and it really increases the rolling resistance and fatigue on the legs, but it was just an outstanding morning up there. Rode 20 miles in less than 2 hours, so happy with that. Not sure about the total climbing, but I'd guess around 2K given the route I took. Stay tuned for more dirt miles this weekend.......

Ever listen to Chris Thile play mandolin? He's the best on the planet and still a youngster to boot. I was listening to his "Stealing Second" CD this week and realized that when he made it in 1997, he didn't even have a drivers license yet. Amazing talent.

2006-08-05T16:18:00.000-06:00

Another rainy Saturday morning. Can't believe we've had to cancel rides in the east mountains on two consecutive Saturday's. So, we ended up just riding from the house to the north foothills. I was bummed because I've been a little bored with the foothills lately, but was glad to be able to ride anyway. Ann headed out about a half hour in front of me while I tinkered around in the garage. Once I finally got going I made the one mile climb up to the Tram/water tanks, then worked over to our adopted "bomb" trail and climbed that. Wasn't feeling it today, and in fact, haven't been riding very strong for over a month. Don't think I've overtrained, but I may be run down and have had that tendency during the summer. If I've slept well the night before, I've got a really good resting heart rate of 44 bpm. Haven't checked my max lately, but guessing it's still around 180 to 185. I've got a docs appt. later this month so we can see how the blood chemistry is looking and see how well I'm controlling the blood sugar, with this new insulin I've been on. Trails were in great shape today, but my not feeling well showed in the stats; only rode 12 miles with 1,300 feet of climbing at an average speed of 10.2 mph which is over 1 mph slower than my "normal" pace out there. Got some big rides coming later this month and into the fall, so need to be ready for those. Been listening to podcasts of John MacArthur. What an amazing bible scholar, and probably my all time favorite teacher. Give him a listen.

2006-07-31T11:34:00.000-06:00

Tempo Rides on the pavement were the rule last week. It felt good to get out and spin and throw in a few sprints here and there. Riding from my office downtown, I hit the paved bosque trail daily except for Wednesday and got 20 nice miles in each ride. No climbing involved but when the wind blows you'll earn the miles. Wednesday was supposed to be an after work dirt ride with Carl and Patrick up at Cedro, but a lightning storm put the nix on those plans.

Saturday was a planned east mountain ride for our bomb group, but rains all night Friday had us change the location from Cedro to the south foothills. Of the six people who committed to ride Saturday, three bailed because of the rain, leaving only Ann and I and a new guy, Bill from Denver. Bill is a nice guy and a decent rider and will be a nice addition to our group. I took the SS to the south foothills and the trails were in perfect condition from the previous evening's rain. We only rode a little over an hour but it felt good to be out. Sunday we tried a new church, Cross Christian Fellowship. The regular pastor was out of town, but his assistant gave some really good expositional teaching from John's gospel on the Samaritan woman's encounter with Jesus at Jacob's well. The only thing that will truly satisfy in this life is the Living Water that's free for the asking.

2006-07-20T12:39:00.000-06:00

Lots of nice dirt miles on the singlespeed the past couple weeks. Ann and I hit up Cedro the day the Cibola re-opened and had a blast. Another Cedro ride with Carl last Wednesday, then a fine day on the Winsor Trail last Friday. Pictures are of the Winsor ride. Took the SS for that one, and after 10 miles of loose and rocky climbing to the base of the ski area, I was gassed. Sure enjoyed the trip back down and even dipped my wheels in Tesuque creek to cool off some smokin' hot rims. Great trail and a challenging climb. Saw a young turkey about a mile below the ski area too and hardly a soul on the trail.

Last Saturday we did a ride for beginners out at Oak Flat. Good spot for beginners and some nice trails besides. Sunday, I did bike maintenance and worked around the house. Monday before work, I got 25 miles in starting at Tunnel, over to Otero, and on to David Canyon from there. Last night Carl and I did a quick loop starting at Otero, then climbed over to David Canyon picking up Cajun Pine and looped a return trip. Just 13 miles, but a nice ride and I finally started feeling better riding. I think it was the cooler temperatures. East mountain trails are in great shape. We saw one yahoo ride right by the military boundary at Otero, and when I informed him that area is still off-limits, his reply "they haven't been patrolling it for a year now" and he kept on riding. Boneheads like this guy are what ruins it for the rest of us and hurts all the hard work by Friends of Otero in gaining legal access to this great area again. Amazing ride by Floyd and Phonak today during stage 17 of the tour. Just incredible...............

2006-07-14T21:10:00.000-06:00

Anniversary Time
Once again we had an awesome anniversary. Spent it this year in the southern San Juan Mountains of Colorado. Rented a nice "cabin" along the Conejos and did a bunch of hikes. Two up Elk Creek, another up Osier Mountain. On July 4th, we even got some fly fishing in on Elk Creek, a tributary to the Conejos. Caught some nice browns on dry attractor patterns. We brought the bikes, but the one day we tried to ride was on the way home in the Carson National Forest. After driving a half hour out of our way, we discovered the Forest was still closed....bummer. Turns out, it opened the day after-Oh Well. I like our tradition of a little adventure for each anniversary. Looking forward to many more.

2006-06-28T12:26:00.000-06:00

The Monsoons have arrived! The past two evenings we've experienced some torrential rains. According to the National Weather Service, they were dumping up to 2-inches per hour at times. It sure would be nice if this pattern continues and hopefully they'll be reopening the Cibola National Forest again soon.

I got out for a nice ride on the SS this morning before work. Cool, clean air, and moisture-packed trails to ride on. These rains really helped to clean the air of all the forest fire smoke that clogged the valley and burned your lungs while riding. Here's a couple shots from this morning in the Sandia Foothills. Keep praying for an end to our drought.

2006-06-26T16:29:00.000-06:00

Been wanting to try the Dale Ball Trails in Santa Fe for quite some time, but just haven't had a good reason to head up there. However, since most of our local trails are closed due to fire danger, we took the 50 minute drive to the trailhead and really enjoyed ourselves. I can't say I'd go out of my way to visit these trails regularly, but they were fun. We only ended up having time to ride the Central and North sections, but I'd like to string the Central, North, and the technical South section together the next time I visit. There wasn't anything I'd call technical riding on the Central and North sections, except some nice tight switchbacks, most of which we encountered on climbs. The climbs made me work on the singlespeed and it was easy to carry too much speed on the decents. The area, like much of Santa Fe has a wierd feel, and the trails often wind beside multi-million dollar homes. It's really nice that Santa Fe has set aside this property for multi-use. We only ran into 3 other riders and a couple of hikers during our visit. A good way to spend a half day relatively close to home.

2006-06-13T11:34:00.000-06:00

Weekend in the Watermelons. After last weekend's fiasco in the Jemez, Ann and I decided to stick close to home and rode the Sandia foothills. Early morning rides are the rule this time of year as it doesn't take long for the temperatures to approach the century mark. Both rides were only about 1.25 hours, but at a fairly intense pace. Sunday I felt crappy when starting out on the ride, but by the time I finished the first one mile climb in a seated position on the singlespeed, the legs started to perk up. Then I hit the climb from 365 up 230 to the wilderness boundary, then down the rock garden and picked up the nice steady climb over to Pino. I strung together some other shorter climbs, then worked my way back over to the Tram and water tanks. Nice to be done early in the day, so we hit up Flying Star for a late breakfast and back home for weekend chores and a power nap. This is my least favorite time of year in New Mexico as my body just does not like hot temperatures. Every year I can remember, I'm just dragging during the summer months, but come fall things turn again for the better.

2006-06-09T11:57:00.000-06:00

Monsoons? We've started to get the typical buildup of afternoon clouds and have even gotten some rain this week, just not enough. Hope we get a long monsoon season. We are desperate for water. I did some reservoir projections for work and it's looking like Elephant Butte may be at only 4 percent of capacity by Labor Day. Dismal.

I've taken it easy this week as I've been feeling run down. Only got on the road bike twice this week and last night was gym night with Ann. It's harder to go to the gym this time of year when the weather is nice, but I'm just in maintenance mode on strength stuff anyway.

Got our first bid in for our bathroom remodel. Sticker shock to say the least. We're just looking to get mid-grade fixtures and inexpensive Saltillo tile, but they want $550 a square foot or nearly 50K. OUCH! That's excessive any day of the week, or they don't want the work. We'll see what the other bids come in at, and then rethink things......