After what seemed like a lot of back and forth communication I figured out a way to make last weekend happen. I helped Matt move on Saturday and gave my legs a good workout going up and down the stairs with furniture. Saturday evening, amidst 50+ mph gusts, Wilder, Lorin, and I headed down to Cloudcroft so he could race and we could volunteer. After downing some waffles from the hotel Sunday morning we headed up the mountain to Cloudcroft. The weather was no where near the forecasted high and stayed in the upper 30's most of the day. I went out for a course sweep with a guy named Dave, and even though we tried to go slow and stopped often, there was still a bunch of people on the course behind us. Bill and I went out for a second lap and I got to stretch the legs a little during the big gravel road climb. I just laid into it and my body said let's go. It's nice when that happens. I had a decent lap time but 34/20 might have been too much gear if I had actually been racing.
Monday I rode to work and the legs felt pretty good on the way home.
Tuesday night I met up with Mark C and we busted out a nice loop in Placitas. Keeping up with Mark on his new Scapel is near impossible but it's always fun to give chase anyways.
Big death march in Tijeras planned for Saturday, 10K race on Sunday, and my first ever fork rebuild when my Reba rebuild kit shows up.
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Monday, April 21, 2014
Back up and running (and pedaling)
Well, I'm not in Pisgah anymore. Shame on me for letting the blog die yet again. I'm in New Mexico now, September will be two years. There's good riding out here but I still miss Pisgah immensely. Got a blood clot two weeks after getting here which more or less kept me off the bike for about a year. Things are different now, I've been riding to work for the past couple of months and putting some real effort into some time on the bike. I've been doing some trail running too and it seems to be helping.
Last weekend was the first race in the New Mexico Endurance Series. They are a series of grassroots races that run from April to October. Given that it was the first race I had done in like two years I figured I'd do the short 58 mile course. I talked Mark C into joining me and we headed out to White Mesa for the Sandy Ysidro 8 AM start. Here's the rundown:
The start was pretty casual even though the guys in front immediately gave it the gas. Mark had just uploaded the course onto his GPS that morning while I was driving and lost the file at the start. I however, had the file but couldn't seem to get to a screen that would actually tell me what was going on. Hit buttons while trying to not lose my place or careen into people. Turn unit off and on, same screen. Give up knowing we've got paper directions. Try to catch a pack up ahead even though I hadn't warmed up at all and it takes me an hour to warm up. Pack comes apart so less motivation. Ride with some guys doing the 83 mile course for a few miles. Mark takes off and drops me going up a hill. One of the 83 mile guys tells me what buttons to hit and now I've got a map and helpful screens. We stop to make sure we aren't taking the race loop in the wrong direction. Proceed. I decide I'm tired of riding with 83 milers and take off. Feeling good at this point. Get to the first gate which is all wired shut and takes a few minutes to open. Mark catches up. Get through the gate and let er rip. Couple miles a later a middle aged dude with bar ends starts riding with us. Terrain is good at this point so Mark and I start pushing it and taking pulls but this guy wants to just stay right behind me. I'm not a road racer and don't really care for this. Guy gets on my nerves and I drop the hammer and we leave him. Couple longer hills and Mark passes me again. Almost miss a turn but the GPS saves us. Get to the second gate and find out there is only two guys ahead of us. Mark is killing it on these climbs and I'm at the back hurting. About 20 miles left. We catch sight of the guy in 2nd place but he is soon gone. Some climbing ensues. We meet back in where the loop started and it feels like the home stretch. Pound a gel which seems to stick in my throat and try to dig deep. Mark is taking off again. Grind the hills and see 2nd place again but he's putting time on us and every time I see him he's further away. Mark stops to stretch his leg and I roll by. Mark passes me at the last turn at the substation. Like 6 miles left. I'm fading fast. Mark keeps hammering and I'm looking over my shoulder fearing the worst. By the last climb I'm toast. Mark is stretching at the top. We roll down the last hill and finish 58 miles in 3:54. I was hoping for 4:30 so this is awesome. First place dude came in at 3:21. Killed it!
Next race is five weeks away. Got to get to work.
Last weekend was the first race in the New Mexico Endurance Series. They are a series of grassroots races that run from April to October. Given that it was the first race I had done in like two years I figured I'd do the short 58 mile course. I talked Mark C into joining me and we headed out to White Mesa for the Sandy Ysidro 8 AM start. Here's the rundown:
The start was pretty casual even though the guys in front immediately gave it the gas. Mark had just uploaded the course onto his GPS that morning while I was driving and lost the file at the start. I however, had the file but couldn't seem to get to a screen that would actually tell me what was going on. Hit buttons while trying to not lose my place or careen into people. Turn unit off and on, same screen. Give up knowing we've got paper directions. Try to catch a pack up ahead even though I hadn't warmed up at all and it takes me an hour to warm up. Pack comes apart so less motivation. Ride with some guys doing the 83 mile course for a few miles. Mark takes off and drops me going up a hill. One of the 83 mile guys tells me what buttons to hit and now I've got a map and helpful screens. We stop to make sure we aren't taking the race loop in the wrong direction. Proceed. I decide I'm tired of riding with 83 milers and take off. Feeling good at this point. Get to the first gate which is all wired shut and takes a few minutes to open. Mark catches up. Get through the gate and let er rip. Couple miles a later a middle aged dude with bar ends starts riding with us. Terrain is good at this point so Mark and I start pushing it and taking pulls but this guy wants to just stay right behind me. I'm not a road racer and don't really care for this. Guy gets on my nerves and I drop the hammer and we leave him. Couple longer hills and Mark passes me again. Almost miss a turn but the GPS saves us. Get to the second gate and find out there is only two guys ahead of us. Mark is killing it on these climbs and I'm at the back hurting. About 20 miles left. We catch sight of the guy in 2nd place but he is soon gone. Some climbing ensues. We meet back in where the loop started and it feels like the home stretch. Pound a gel which seems to stick in my throat and try to dig deep. Mark is taking off again. Grind the hills and see 2nd place again but he's putting time on us and every time I see him he's further away. Mark stops to stretch his leg and I roll by. Mark passes me at the last turn at the substation. Like 6 miles left. I'm fading fast. Mark keeps hammering and I'm looking over my shoulder fearing the worst. By the last climb I'm toast. Mark is stretching at the top. We roll down the last hill and finish 58 miles in 3:54. I was hoping for 4:30 so this is awesome. First place dude came in at 3:21. Killed it!
Next race is five weeks away. Got to get to work.
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