Friday, February 27, 2009

Catastrophic Failure

Catastrophic failure today while riding the Voodoo 29er. Thank goodness I wasn't hurt when it happened. No warning; just wham-bam on the ground. Happened halfway through Phil's World on the Stinking Springs loop while riding with Shawn. It was a long hike bike carrying this carcass in two pieces. Over an hour of hiking.







Monday, February 23, 2009

WRIAD

Went on Saturday to ride The White Rim with Shawn and Kiviok. We started a little late; 9am and ended up riding in the dark the last hour and a half up Schafer. Sections of Schafer were snow packed so it was an interesting hike-a-bike in the dark. Schafer is also closed to cars for the winter as well. The route was definitely sandier and loose compared to when I last rode the route in November. Total pedaling time was 9 hours and total time out was just under 11 hours. My polar watch had me at 102 miles but I think it is closer to 105 miles. Elevation gain was 6600 feet. The weather was perfect. 38 degrees at the start and a high of 60. I rode the 29er Airborne with a gear ratio of 32x20; my usual gear ratio for most events. Seems to work fine for all around. We parked at the top of Schafer and rode the loop clockwise. It was nice to get the asphalt section and the long ride down to Mineral Bottom out of the way at the beginning.













Kiviok climbing.
Shawn putting it down.


Lunch time up on Murphys Hogback.












Friday, February 20, 2009

White Rim in a Day

Looks like I'm off to ride the White Rim in a Day tomorrow morning. Shawn from Dolores called last minute to invite me on this ride. It is 100 miles of mostly rocky, sandy 4x4 road. They also call it the Island in the Sky. The Green River and Colorado River meet at one juncture around this mesa. Not too much climbing; around 7k or so in the hundy miles. I will be on my 29er Airborne Ti single speed mountain bike rocking the loop. It is self supported; which means carry all the water and food provisions you may need to get through the ride. Most people ride this in 3-5 days with support. That would be called having fun my friends. That sounds too easy, one day is all we need.






24 HIOP


Like I mentioned in my previous post I didn't make a great showing at the 24 hour race. I spent two months focused on this one and I didn't succeed. I can only dwell for so long on it and move on. The next ride is on March 14th in Albuquerque. The San Ysidro Dirty Century. 125 miles of fun.

Monday, February 16, 2009

24 HIOP

Went down to Tucson for the 24 HIOP with high hopes of competing for a top spot on the podium but went down in flames instead. Only rode 7 laps and called it off. Had some lighting issues on my first two night laps and went harder than I should have and got sickie. I need to figure that part out. It was still an awesome time. I will post some pics later on.

Monday, February 9, 2009

Fresh Pow-pow!!

It's been snowing for over 24 hours and we have over a foot of snow. It was badly needed. Laura and I spent two hours tonight shoveling the heavy wet snow. The snow blower could barely move the heavy snow. More expected tonight. Leaving Thursday night for Tucson for the 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo. Hopefully it doesn't snow the day before the race like last year.

I long for this view...............soon.

Riding

Another decent weather weekend for riding. Started getting a little nasty yesterday and in the afternoon the snows finally came. I think we received about 8" overnight. Rode from Rico to Cortez on Saturday for an easy ride of 53 miles on the SS cross bike. Rode 22 miles yesterday up to Lizard Head and got home just as the snow came down. Less than one week to the 24 HIOP.



























Friday, February 6, 2009

Friday!

A nice day to get the dogs out for a long walk. Walking three dogs can be a real bitch. Today they all cooperated while on the leashes.


Lucy, Shady and Nacho having a good time.




Relaxing on the deck after our walk.


Three happy dogs. Good living up in the mountains.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Beautiful San Juan Day

Nothing can compare to a sunny semi-warm day (High of 42) in Southwest Colorado in the San Juan's. Got out for a short recovery ride south of Rico on Monday afternoon. Perfect conditions to be outdoors. I'm hoping for perfect conditions in next weekend in Tuscon for the 24HIOP. My goal is 15 laps again, maybe 16 if the wind is blowing in the right direction. LOL!!!!!!!





















Monday, February 2, 2009

Albuquerque

Laura and I went down to Albuquerque this weekend to visit Jerry and I went out for a pre-ride of the San Ysidro Dirty Century course with Lenny and Chris on Saturday. I think there was about 12 people who started the ride and Lenny, Chris and I rode together and Rich caught up to us on the way back into town. Check out the link for the new Mexico Endurance Series; http://nmes.wordpress.com/
We racked up 83 miles and 8 hours out in the wild open. The weather was flawless and just a bit of a wind that was coming out of the North to help us back into town.


A weekend ritual for the balloonist. Out early in the cold air.
Lenny showing some power on the hill.
Chris pondering if he should make the descent on the cross bike.
A view of the middle spine at White Mesa.

Ice on the dome.



Descending down the middle spine area of White Mesa.


Lenny coming out of his casa. Needs some remodeling.

Chris isnt shy around the guys.

Heading back to town.

Rio Grande on Sunday morning as I ride across Albuquerque to go ride the foothills. It was chilly at 7am.