Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays!!!!

It's hard to believe that 2012 is coming to a close soon. It's been a year of good times on and off of the bikes. I don't necessarily talk about my personal life that much besides for the bike trips with and without my partner in life, my wife, Laura. My life revolves around my wife and my dogs.  I may not talk about it much but that is my life. I tend to get tunnel vision at times wanting to just bike and not involve Laura into my daily routines especially when our work schedules are opposite days at times with my work at the Sheriffs office. It's something to work on...................

I didn't race as much or either did I have the best results this year but I definitely enjoyed the times I suffered in my endurance events. This next year my biggest focus will be training for the Colorado Trail Race. It's both exciting and scary thinking about this race. I speak of it a lot right now and I think Laura will be happy once it comes and I complete it so I can talk about something else. LOL. I know quite a few individuals who have completed this race and they have set the bar very high. My goal will be under 6 days. Single Speeding it of course. I will be heavy into the bike packing trips dialing my gear setup.

Colorado Trail Race website: http://www.climbingdreams.net/ctr/


Besides the CTR I haven't thought of what other races/rides I will do. I'm skipping the 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo for the first time in 9 years. This would have been my 10th trip. I've had some good results down there; 1st in four man SS team in 2004, along with a 2nd and 4th in solo SS class. Not too shabby.

I'll probably do the Mesa Verde 12 hour race again. It is practically in my back yard so I feel the obligation to race it promoting the Kokopelli Bike and Board Race Team. As well as some of the Colorado Endurance series this year. I'm hosting the Rico 100 again which will be held in September this next year with the Rico 100 being the Colorado Endurance Series championship. Cool. Maybe the Vapor Trail 125 again but that will be decided at the last minute depending on how I feel after the CTR. Other than that I will just pick and choose whatever sounds good at the time and three to four months before the CTR I will race in events that will be part of my CTR training plan. I'm sure the Kokopelli Trail Race will be involved in that plan as well.

Other than that its winter in Southwest Colorado with the Salsa Mukluk my main riding bike for the past month. Its a great training rig. Heavy and slow. Nothing fast about a fat bike.

Happy New Year..................and remember to pedal. Maybe some skiing but mostly just pedal.

Moab in December

I had some days off during the week so I headed to Moab before the upcoming storm rolled into the San Juans. Paul Adams joined in as well. We camped on Willow Springs Road at one of our usual spots.

I brought the Selma single speed but the fat bike won out for two days of riding. The first day we rode from camp over to HWY 313 to ride 7UP to Mag 7 trails. We decided to ride a loop out to Gemini Bridges road and back on the Sovereign ATV trail to our camp on Willow Springs Road. 36 miles.We saw some desert sheep as well on the way out of Gemini Bridges Road.

The second day we rode a loop I had ridden last month. We rode from camp and headed into Arches National Park. It was 7 miles in from camp and we took a left turn onto some sweet sandy 4x4 road heading toward the Marching Men of Klondike Bluffs that was 10 miles in length. We than headed up a knar climb that was literally straigh up and over to Salt Valley Road. After a short stint on Salt Valley Road we turned left to Baby Steps/Klondike Bluffs area. We humped it up the knarly climb and down to UFO. On our way to UFO we saw a trophy size buck. UFO is one of many new trails in the Klondike Bluffs area. After UFO we turned left onto Little Salty down to Dino and back to Copper Ridge Road. We took a left on a huge wash on Dalton Wells Road that led us back to Willow Springs Road and to camp. A great loop with lots of options to make it a longer ride. 37 miles for this ride.

Mag 7 trail head.

Paul's view from his back door of his camper.

Paul on Great Escape. 

Mag 7 trail head after 9 miles on 7 UP.

Bull Canyon.

Desert Sheep on Gemini Bridges Road.

Dino tracks on Willow Springs Road before the Arches Nat Park boundary.

Paul pointing to a sign.

Paul pointing to the upcoming sand climb.

Paul!!! Look sand!!!

Paul climbing on the slickeeee rock.

Sand!!!

Baby Steps climb out from Salt Valley Road.

Yep, sand.

One hell of a climb.

Paul pointing at another sign. Lots of signs out here.

Paul climbing up, up and more up.

November Biking.....not so bad.

I started night shifts again last night at he sheriffs office. I'm not stoked. I cannot sleep during the day so I might as well go ride. Right!
I rode from the house yesterday down to Scotch Creek and did a few miles up. I took a nice digger on the ice and suffered some ice lacerations. It's part of the experience.
I'm sure by the end of the winter you might get sick of all my pictures of the fat bike but I will attempt to make it interesting. After all, its all about the ride(s).

Scotch Creek. 

Today I jumped on the road bike for a 30 mile ride to San Bernardo and back. What a nice day.

Just out Ridiing

Since the Zuni 100 race in October which turned out to be a Zuni 50 for me I haven't done any racing and have been just enjoying riding. Of late that riding has been on the new Salsa Mukluk 2. I had the Salsa Mukluk 2 from last year but it was a bit small and now it is Laura's bike.I went to a medium frame and it fits me perfect. Two other people in the hood have gotten fat bikes as well in the past week; Mike Guskea and Sophia (Laura's sister) They went with the Surly Necromancer. They are sweet bikes but the parts aren't as upgraded as the Mukkie 2. So now it is nice to have some other peeps to ride the fat bikes on in the area. The fat bikes have been fun on the dirt as well. They are really an all year bike. So much fun. I recently took 7 days off and spent that time in Moab with the in-laws and with Laura as well a few days by myself with Shady. Work has been good and now I return to the night shift working weekends for a month or so. I really hate night shift and I really hate shift work but the job is good for the most part. One year into the deputy gig and its been an experience.

Here are some pictures from the past few weeks.

One of many arches in Devils Garden.

Delicate Arch

Devils Garden. I ran the 7 mile loop checking out the arches.

Petroglyphs near Delicate Arch.

klondike Bluffs

Shady chilling.

Marching Men in the background on my sand loop in Arches PArk.

7-Up trail en route to Mag 7 trails.

Camping on Willow Springs Road.

Guskea on Sovereign trail

Landscape Arch in Devils Garden.

Nacho stalking us at the camp near Klondike Bluffs.

Balance Rock in Arches Park.

Double O arch in Devils GArden.

Newspaper Rock south of Moab.

Sophia in Sand Canyon on the her new Surly fat bike.

My new Salsa Mukluk.

Barlow Road.

Locals Loop in Rico.

Guskea on locals loop in Rico on his new Surly.

Sand Canyon. 

Sophia dropping down in Sand Canyon.

My new rig in Sand Canyon. Great fat biking terrain. I also converted the wheels to tubeless so this was the maiden voyage. Held perfect.

Laura and Sophia having a great day. 

CRESTED BUTTE 100 2012

TR and my Salsa Selma Ti 29er SS. Race prep going on.

The view from where we were parked in Crested Butte. Perfect weather.

The Crested Butte 100 kicked off just a bit after 7am on Saturday morning. Temperatures were in the low 30's and it was a cold roll out to Strand. The hands were cold but I knew the climbs would start soon and the body would warm up. This year we navigated the three loops in reverse order from last year. First on tap was Strand Trail to Deer Creek and back to town via Gothic Road. This loop took me about 3 hours and Deer Creek is never easy no matter if you have fresh legs or not. That is my opinion. I was feeling the affects of the Vapor Trail two weeks earlier and knew I was in for a long day. My goal was to cut some time off from last year or come close to the same time.

I rolled into town going back to my van parked at the gas station parking lot which had me backtracking a bit as the order of loops was not in my favor where I had  parked the van. IT worked well last year in how the loops were laid out. Oh well it wasn't that big of a deal. I refueled and headed back to the Brick Oven where we needed to check in before each loop. I headed out to the Slate De Juez road climb that would bring us to the 403 Trail. It seemed like I walked much more than normal and the 32x21 gearing wasn't helping much. Shawn Gregory was up front smashing it on a 3x20 setup. I knew it was going to be a long day.

The downhill on the 403 was steep and loose. What a fun downhill. Roots and rocks abound. Once down the 403 the route takes a left and heads up to Schofield Pass where we take a right on the 401 trail. The first mile or so it uphill and I walked/rode when needed. The downhill on the 401 is worth the ride up the pass. This year they added the lower 401 which has a nice climb in it before dumping us back on the Gothic Road. I cursed a bunch while in the lower 401. Damn hills. I passed some people while on the 401 and was passed as well by the people with gears. At times during the ride thus far I was leap frogging with the same people. I saw Jefe off and on and while I was on the pavement heading into town he caught me. I said to him something in the affect of "fucking gears". He laughed and said he was done. He complemented me on how I was smashing it. I didn't feel like I was smashing it but rather I was getting smashed. It was nearing 3pm and I felt good about having another sub 11 hour ride. I wasn't going to win but I was doing my own ride. I had seen a few single speeders who had passed me in the first section of this loop and I had caught back up to them. One on the 403 where Butch had smashed his chain ring and looked to be done for the day. Another one was Dan who was crushing it earlier and looked as though now he was being crushed. I had seen Steve Reiter headed down from Schofield saying he was done and was heading back to town to call it a day. That put me in third seat in the single speeder category according to my calculations. Not a bad day so far. Keep it going.

I pulled up to the van and saw that TR's bike was next to his van and knew he wasn't having a great day. I had last seen TR on the final climb up to Strand and never saw him again. I had heard there was a mechanical from other riders. Bummer! It was 3pm and I tried to talk to him and get my food shoved down the hatch and refill for the third and final lap which was the easiest and about 25 miles in length but I knew it would be hard. TR said he was done and had called it a day after coming down the 403 and rode up the road to Schofield about a mile and a half. He still had 61 miles in. Not a bad day. To not finish sucks but sometimes it doesn't happen. Dan Holmes was having a great day and was right behind me coming into the van nation parking area.

I knew if I had a three hour loop I would have my sub 11 hour day. I checked in at the Brick Oven and headed out up the road which leads to Kebler Pass. We take a left before the pass going up to the old town of Irwin and Irwin Lake. We jump on the Dyke trail which is about 6 miles and has some up and downs in it which would hurt. I felt good going in to it and had to walk less than I was anticipating. I leaped frog with a guy from Junction named Dustin. He was on a 29er full squish bike that looked fun. After picking our way through the Dyke section there was the climb up to Kebler and over to Wagon Wheel that parallels the highway back to town and the finish. I had though earlier in the ride where was Jason Stubbe with  the cold Cokes like last year where I saw him three times with Cokes. And out of the blue there was Jason and his family with cold Cokes on the climb to Kebler. Fuck-n-a!!!!!! What a trail angel!!! Thanks for the Coke Jason as I was needing it. I downed the Coke and kept pedaling slowly up to the pass. I wasn't fast but had dropped the geared dude from Junction. I got up and over the pass and headed onto the Wagon Wheel trail that follows the highway for a few miles before jumping onto the road and a two mile finish into town. I finished around 5.50pm putting me faster than last year and under my 11 hour goal. I think I was around 10 hours and 40 minutes or so. Hell yeah.

Garmin stats: Riding time (moving time) 10 hours 5 minutes. 95.2 miles. 12, 360 feet of climbing. Average heart rate was 141. Gearing 32x21 on the 29er Salsa Selma Ti SS. 3rd single speeder.

The after party was fun and I chatted with new and old friends at the Brick Oven.