East Mountains...no, wait, White Mesa

Recovering from Quemazon's beating on our legs yesterday, Denise and I had planned on another ride today in the East Mountains. We were thinking possibly Cedro, Otero or a 10K loop of some sort. Denise and I had coffee at Donna's before leaving Los Alamos yesterday, so neither of us got to sleep at a decent hour last night. We decided to meet at 10:30AM at Einstein's for the ride.

Both of us had been watching the weather and there was about a 60% chance of rain in the mountains. Marc, Denise's other half, was riding the White Mesa today, so we decided that may be a better bet. Afterall, looking out at the sky, there were storm clouds to the east, and blue sky with puffy white clouds over White Mesa....so that's where we went.

Interestingly, with all the cloud cover, the clouds never really seemed to block the sun today...except at the end of the ride. Regardless, we headed out on Dragon's back, leaving the very nicely built parking lot created by FooMTB. This was the first time I've been to White Mesa since the surgery. In fact, the last time I rode out here was with Matt and the KC boys--Scott, Brad, Q and Mike. Anyway, we finally approached the super steep hike-a-bike area and contemplated going around, rather than up. We'd always had a guy at the top of the climb who would pull our bikes up for us...we decided to give it a shot, and made it! Guess we had more upper body strength than we though we did. The pic doesn't do the climb justice, but if you see the trail in the upper left hand side of the 2nd image, you can get an idea of how steep the hike was.

It was a great time! As usual, White Mesa delivered the awesome scenery and climbs we needed to thoroughly wear us out. We did a LOT of climbing today. In fact, up to the soda dam area, we climbed BOTH ways to the top; 1 way on double track, the other way on the more traditional route. Why? Cuz we wanted to. We weren't pooped out at that point. We took a break at the high point; the very large sink hole--it had a lot more water in it than usual; refreshing pic, huh? Makes you want to go for a swim. Denise knows a rock climber and said she wanted to see him climb down the hole and back up again. I think it would be rather entertaining too. After a snack, we continued on...

We lucked out having Marc out there riding before us; we followed his tracks most of the day. While we knew the general routes through the White Mesa, there were some new areas I hadn't explored and Denise had only ridden once. Did I say that we did a LOT of climbing?!? With all the sun and probably some slight dehyrdration from yesterday's ride, we were not the fastest today, but we still managed a hard ride that left us feeling like we'd definitely gotten a very good workout for the day.

So, we stopped in Bernalillo for some beverages--yep, we finished off the Camelbaks today--then made it back to the cars. Matt had left me a message on the phone just about the time we were done unloading. He'd finished his day in Durango and was heading home.

Ride Stats

• Total time: 3:27 hrs (trail cleanup)
  
• Ride time: 2:33 hrs
  
• Distance: 15 miles
• Average speed: 6.7 mph
• Max speed: 24.3 mph
  
• Calories: 1231 (356 cal/hr)
  
• Average heart rate: 145
  

Los Alamos

I awoke to rain this morning. Its soft pattering on the windows was enough to make me want to curl up and sleep in...but today was a ride day, so up and at em'! Denise and I loaded up her car and headed out to Los Alamos for a dirt adventure on some super fun trail treasures with 2 friends of mine that I hadn't seen in ages--Donna (hadn't seen her in 2 years--GITA) and Carrie (hadn't seen her in about 1 year--Taos). They also had another friend along for the ride, Amy. Talk about some awesome riders!!

It turned out to be a perfect day for a ride in Los Alamos; the clouds were out, blocking the sun from our backs, and there was an occasional breeze to dry off our "glistening" bodies--as Denise would say.

Our ride started from Donna's place. We headed out on the Walnut Canyon Rim Trail and over to Bridges, then snaked our way through some residential areas to Quemazon Trail where we began an unbelievably fun climb loaded with technical, rocky terrain. After about 3 miles and around 1500 ft of climbing (in about 1.5 hrs!!), we'd gotten to the intersection of Quemazon and Pipeline Road. We headed down Pipeline, and hooked onto the Perimeter Trail. We continued on to Rendija Trail, heading down Shoeshine--one of my favorites--and down towards Bayo Trail (I think) and back to Donna's place for treats to reward us for our workout on the trails.

Back at Donna's, Scott and Joe were there with the BBQ grill fired up! We all got a hot shower and settled in for some bratwursts and chicken--can't beat that! We filled our stomachs with delicious food and beer and chatted the day away.

Got a call from Matt on the way home. He'd managed to head out on loop 1 of the Durango 100 course, then snaked over to loop 3 to avoid a pending rain storm that he managed to escape just in the nick of time. He'll be riding with Dave Harris tomorrow.

Denise and I are heading over to the East Mountains for a ride tomorrow. We'll see how I do with that one. I've gotten into the habit of abusing the hip during the weekend, then going lighter on it during the week with 1 tough ride somewhere in there. I'm going to start upper body weight lifting again too. I've been slacking in that area--weightlifting sucks.

Off to bed for some well-deserved zzzzz's.......more pics to come once Scott gets Carrie's pics up on his blog. ;o)

Ride Stats

• Ride time: ~2:33 hrs
• Total time: ~4 hrs
• Distance: ~19 miles
• Max speed: 33.4 mph
• Avg speed: 7 mph
• Avg heart rate: 146
• Calories: 1495 (373.75 cal/hr)
  

Girls on singlespeeds; you don't see that very often!

Tuesday night was the Chica ride and Paige and I were ready to roll with 1 other non-chica, Evan. Evan's a nice 19-year old kid that Matt and I met at our favorite restaurant, Il Vicino. Matt's been trying to get Evan into mountain biking and had suggested he show up for the FooMTB Timid Tuesday ride. Unfortunately, the ride was canceled at the last minute, so Evan joined Paige and me instead.

Rode the Intense tonight. I've been having problems with the shock not having enough sag. Called Progressive today and they gave me the correct psi for the shock (70-75 in the IFP; 90 in front). Then they recommended I ride it around a bit since the oil starts to settle if it hasn't been used in a while. The frame is an '03, so this could be the case.

After adjusting Evan's rear brakes so that they'd work, we were ready to roll. It started out with the typical warm-up along the paved Tramway bike path. Evan's first comment, "Hey, you guys are going a little slow, aren't you?" You can speed it up if you want." I told him that the first lesson in mountain biking is knowing how to conserve your energy; you should never go full blast at the beginning unless you know what you're getting into.

Well, Evan decided to chase me up the dirt climb to Elena. We got to the top of the climb and had to adjust Evan's rear derailleur (chain kept dropping). He insisted I didn't need to help, after all, "We're almost done with the ride, right?" I looked up at him kindly, replying, "Oh no, my friend, we've just started." Evan managed to tough it out for the next couple miles. Eventually, he'd had enough and we took him back to a good turn around point. I think he managed a good 7 mile ride. Not bad for his first time out on the mountain bike. He's got great skill. If he keeps this up, he'll be the one dropping me on the trail very soon.

Paige and I got in a great 14 mile ride; total time-2:12; ride time-1:41 (fixing the derailleur for the most part); avg speed-8.2 mpg; max speed-26 mph; avg heart rate-136; calories burned-710.

Wednesday rolls around and it's time to ride with speedy Chica, Denise! We decided to singlespeed through the Foothills. We headed up Dan's trail, which is a tad on the painful side for starting a ride--no warmup, just instant climbing! Anyway, headed over to Elena, did the little whoopdie-dos and headed back to the house via the water tower again.

Holy cow did I ride hard!! Denise is super fast, so I cranked it as hard as I could. I managed to match the pace on my hardest road ride so far since the surgery. I manage one advantage with my tiny 24" wheels...I can accelerate extremely fast. Matt noticed it as did Denise. I notice it on the flats especially. I think I am going to have Matt help me get 1 easier gear for climbing though...at least until I build my strength back up. I can't climb the steep stuff, as hard as I try...even standing up. So, we finished the ride and stopped to catch our breath at the water tower where we ran into a group of 3 or 4 guys...can't remember now. They were stunned to see a couple of chicks on singlespeeds--"You don't see that very often," they noted. :)

SS Stats

• Total time: 1:31 hrs (no ride time, don't have a bike computer on the SS)
• Average heart rate: 160
• Calories: 620

Awesome ride, sore hip, smile on the face. Guess that's what it's all about!!

Taos: Mondragon--South Boundary Ride

Went up to Taos today with Matt and Denise. I only semi-remembered the route, so Denise was coming along for the ride and to help me recall all the turns...we figure 2 heads are better than 1?? We'll see next time we take the route on our own!

So we started out from the SBT parking area, taking the road about 7 miles up to the Mondragon Trail Head. We climbed, climbed and climbed some more up to the SBT. From there we did a tad more climbing and then had super fun technical downhill for the rest of they way out. Matt took me on this route a little over a month ago. I've got some great pics at that link.

Beautiful day to ride, but my legs sure got a workout!! After yesterday's climbing at Santa Fe, I had lactic acid in the quads all stinking day! I definitely built some muscle today. I also found a new limit for the ole' hip. It was pretty sore from yesterday, and now it's very sore...good news though; I rode more of the technical downhill stuff on South Boundary than last time!! We had a hint of rain on the way down, but it decided to leave with only a few drops. Much dryer than the ride yesterday in Santa Fe with Paige!

As always, we finished the ride with a visit to Eske's for dinner and beer, then went home to Albuquerque. Tomorrow is going to be a very well-earned rest day!

Ride Stats

• Ride time: 3:33 hrs
  
• Total time: 4:26 hrs
  
• Distance: 27.4 miles
  
• Elevation climb: 3600 ft
  
• Average speed: 7.7 mph
• Max speed: 37 mph
  
• Average heart rate: 146
  
• Calories: 1569
  

Santa Fe Ski Area Loop

Paige and I decided to take a ride out in Santa Fe. It’s a loop I’ve done several times with Sue, but this time, Paige and I decided to add on some more miles by starting at the Chamisa Trail Head. We started up an immediate climb that would bring anyone’s heart rate to inhuman levels. Thank goodness, that plateaus after about 15 minutes or so.

We took Chamisa to the Windsor Trail, and from there, I started dealing with a slow leak in the rear tire. I kept hopping off the bike and pumping the tire up with air hoping the Stan’s would fill the leak—no luck. I eventually had to hop of the bike and deal with removing a tubeless tire off its rim…not easy at all. Eventually, some guys came biking by and were able to get the thing off from me, and I was good to go from there. Yes, I played the “helpless female” because I was sick and tired of working on the thing…being a chick has its advantages. Turns out Stan’s wasn’t working because it had turned into some sort of fungi looking Stan’s turd rather than the nasty milky/oily substance it normally is. Guess it’s time to add new Stan’s in the front tire if the rear is like that already.

Well, with totally cold legs by now, we headed back out on Windsor to the Big Tesuque Trail, coming out at Hyde Park Road and the little camping/picnic area. Great spot for a quick pit stop, then on with the ride. The temps were remarkably nice and the shade on the trails was very pleasant. Some storm clouds were brewing far off in the skies, but for the most part, bright blue! We made it up to Aspen Vista Road and climbed and climbed (Matt says about 4000 foot elevation for us today!!) until we were ALMOST at the radio towers ready to take Sunset Trail at the Santa Fe Ski area down to the ski base and then hook back into Windsor from the road.

Unfortunately, the last of the plan was foiled by rain, and lots of it!! We decided, smartly, to turn around on Aspen Vista Road. We took that to Hyde Park Road and had to take pavement back to the car. On Aspen Vista Road (dirt road that is no longer accessible by motor vehicle), we got a nice down pour. It caught everyone by surprise. I was shocked at the number of bikers, hikers, dogs, babies, kids—you name it—out there on the trail still! Everyone was making a mad dash back to the base. Well, it was a good ride nevertheless!

We topped off the bellies at the Santa Fe Bakery. I had a burrito and Paige had a chicken wrap. Excellent food! I brought home some good fruit bars for breakfast tomorrow and Paige snagged some croissants. Good enough to call it a day!!

Ride Stats

• Ride Time: 3:23 hrs
• Total Time: 5:30 hrs (my flat didn’t help matters)
• Distance: 24 miles
• Average speed: 7.8
  
• Average heart rate: 148
  
• Calories: 1706

Am I Stronger Than Before?

8 months after the periacetabular osteotomy, and I'm feeling great! Today was another "first" as I made it up the La Luz hill climb on the road. I did the new Triple Lindy: Tramway from the Casino, La Luz, then up to the Tram and home.

Here's the coolest part...even before my hip started hurting, I usually had to stand in the saddle for most of La Luz. Plus, my typical speed was about 4.3 to 4.8 mph. Today, I sat during the entire climb except for the very last, super steep climb. My typical speed except for that section was about 5.5, dropping once to 5.0 mph.

I managed to wait out the rain for the most part, but got a slightly later start than I wanted. Light drizzle on the way down to Tramway and back up again, but afterwards, nice and dry! Got home and Matt was already starting dinner. What a sweetie, he's done the grocery shopping and made dinner every night this week!

Ride Stats

• Total time: 1:26 hrs
• Ride time: 1:24 hrs (stop light at the Casino, and a short break at the top of La Luz for a drink)
• Average speed: 11.8 mph
• Maximum speed: 46.5 mph (tail wind heading down Tramway)
• Distance: 16.5 miles
• Average heart rate: 160 (holy cow, that's high!!)
• Calories: 618

I'm getting good at the short, hard rides, so the next thing I need to build back up is my endurance. That's it for the ride report. I'm off to bed...I'm beat from the ride!

More Rain!

Well, today was the Chica Ride--me and Sue. We are the original Chicas, and it's fitting that we got to do a ride together today, especially since her days are numbered with that bun in the oven. Drat! I hate it when my bike friends get pregnant!!!!

So, I was on the singlespeed today and Sue felt like kicking my ass and taking advantage of me (okay, she's really not like that). We headed up Dan's trail and I made my best go at it. I actually made some climbs I didn't think I could do, but I also had to walk some sections. Definitely a challenge to be conquered! We made it to the water tower when the lightning started rolling in. Sue and I have ridden many a time in the rain, but lightning is a true sign it's time to call it quits. We didn't get too far past the North Foothills when we turned around and took road back to the house. Still got in a decent 50 minute ride (an not much gabbing today), so not bad at all.

I jumped on the elliptical machine as soon as I got home and did 25 minutes on it. 5 minutes of warmup, then 20 minutes with 40/80 intervals. 40 seconds as fast and hard as I could go, then 80 seconds rest. Back and forth...in the 40 seconds, I could get the heart rate up to 170, then drop to about 150 in the 80 break. As would be expected, I couldn't hit the 170 each time...slowly I dropped during the 40 intervals until the highest I could get was 167. Definitely a good workout! Not much fun though.

Some sad news in the biking community. A woman I've heard much about but didn't know personally, Paula Higgins, was hit by a car and killed yesterday. It's a reminder that we always have to be careful when riding on the road. A few times while on the road I've darted through a yellow light, sped through a 4-way intersection, etc. Losing a few seconds of momentum or having to unclip out of the pedals is a simple inconvenience compared to losing my life. Lesson learned.

Breckenridge Weekend and a Monday Night Ride

Did I mention that my husband is a freakin' stud?!? Check out these stats for the Breckenridge 100! The race started with 98 people. 40+ didn't even have it in them to finish. Matt finished, and got 6th in his division, and 17th overall!! OMG, my man is pretty damn scary!

So, we were in Breckenridge for the weekend at the Beaver Run Resort, and I crewed for Matt. Cool thing is, we ran into some KC boys, Brad was racing, Joel was crewing for Brad. Joel, an employee at the Trek store in KS and a partner in the Heartland Mountain Bike Race group, had a nice little tent set up and all the tools a good mechanic should have. He let me camp out at his site and we chatted the day away. Joel is just what you'd expect from a KC bike boy...a tad on the nutty side and totally in love with the boutique singlespeed and 29er.

Here's Matt's blog post on the race to get the whole story.

So today, I did a ride with Denise! It's been ages since we've been able to ride together, cause she's crazy fast and until now, there was no chance in keeping up with her. I'm still a slug, but not too far in her dust. We went out and did a Tunnel/Otero loop--talk about a workout! First time I've been out there since the surgery. I'm nice and sore right now, but only in the hip joint. The muscles seem to be just fine right now, but we'll see in the morning. I think we're going to make our rides a weekly event, so I'll have a hammer partner 1 day a week, the fun Chica ride another day, then I'll be commuting to work (after August 8 when I move to a new work building much closer to home), plus I'll do some hard solo rides on the road as well. Riding is starting to get back into full speed! King of the Mountain may be a fun Denise ride for next week--I haven't done this ride since the surgery either. I'm really ready to start testing the waters. :)

So, here are the ride stats for tonight--

• Ride time--1:12 hrs
• Total time--1:37 hrs (hey, a girl has to have *some* gossip time)
• Avg heart rate--152 (that's pretty high for me!)
• Avg speed--7.2 mph
  
• Distance--9.82 miles
  
• Calories--671

Timid Tuesdays and Such

Yesterday, new FooMTB member Jim led the first FooMTB Timid Tuesday ride. Had the Chicas (Paige and me) not been there, only Randy would have shown up for the ride. I'm one of the most positive, upbeat people in the world, but this is starting to piss me off. So, members of the club bitch and moan because we don't have easy rides for them...we establish one, and only 1 person shows up?!? What a bunch of freakin' whiny-assed babies. Really...and they're almost all guys too (not that it should matter, but stereotypically, you expect guys to have some balls and get out and ride if they claim to be mountain bikers--LOSERS! Posers!). No excuses!!

An old member from Save Otero, Gary, once told us how tough it was to be part of a bike club. I thought he was filled with negativity and bad vibes, talking about how much work it is, how lame and worthless people can be, and how much it wears you down and tires you out. I have to say, he was right. I was thoroughly optimistic and totally clueless when it came to understanding what it takes to lead people. I now understand. Maybe I'll remove these first 2 paragraphs from my blog later, but for now, it's how I feel and I'm tired of shutting up about it. I can't even get people to volunteer to help for the IMBA Trail Crew visit. So far, 5 people. That's it. Out of a club of over 70?!?

UPDATE: Okay, so I feel better now. I know that people in Albuquerque are naturally apathetic. It's just something I all have to get used to. I won't let it get to me anymore. Some people volunteered to help with the IMBA Trail Crew visit at the last FooMTB club, which is great! I won't be the one requesting visits anymore in the future though. Someone else will have to be in charge of that.
So, now that I feel only mildly better after venting, I did have an excellent ride. Jim's a great guy and the perfect person to lead the Timid Tuesday ride. He's mild-mannered, easy going, and a fun person to hang around with. We headed toward Elena, did some loops around that area, then finished up by riding to the water tower and through Dan's trail back to the old Circle K. My bike computer kept shutting off and I'd forget to turn it on, but the stats, as far as I can tell are as follows:

• 13-15 miles (computer kept turning off)
• 8 mph avg
• 2:30 total time
• Calories burned: 801

I ran into some female bikers while we were out there, Ada, Stacy and Katie. I'm hoping maybe we can do a ride sometime together. It's always good to see strong women riders on the trails!

So, to recap on the fitness thing, biked road on Saturday, mountain on Sunday, bike rollers on Monday, Timid Tuesday ride, bike rollers Wednesday. Thursday is gonna be a rest day. Not sure what I'll do Friday yet. Matt and I will be heading to the Breckenridge 100. Matt's gonna be racing, I'll do some solo riding on my own. Should be nice. I hope it's dry!!

Oh, this has nothing to do with my post, but I love this pic!! Matt took it on his last ride in Placitas with Nate. I hope I never see one of those on a ride. Yeck!

Juan Tabo & the Foothills

Did a big ride with Sue and Paige today. We had wanted to go to Santa Fe to do the Borrego, Windsor, Big Tesuque, Aspen Vista Rd and back ride, but we were nervous about pending rain. Bummer...we're quickly approaching the last time we'll be able to do a long ride with Sue for a VERY long time. She's pregnant and won't be able to do the tough stuff much longer. Plus, after the baby comes, she's going to be moving to Oregon! :o( I'm bummed that I forgot the camera today--am including some pics from the past.

So we headed out to Juan Tabo, but didn't actually climb it. The trail out there was pretty washed out and technical. It made for a very tough ride for Sue, so we took the road back and headed to Elena. Got up to the top and took a break at the covered picnic tables, then headed on toward the Montgomery trailhead. We dropped Sue at this point and she headed back to the car. Paige and I carried on to the South Foothills, getting as far as the white water tower near the Indian School trailhead. Tired legs had done us in, so we decided to call it a day and head back. Took pavement from Comanche back to the house, using the dirt trail that parallels Tramway as much as we could.

Great day for a ride! A tad humid, but as long as you were moving, not bad at all. The trail was great! Tacky, and perfect for some fast cornering today. We got back to the house just as a storm was moving in, which was great timing! Paige wanted to try a taco joint called Bumble Bee's Baja Grill, which is very much like Taco Tote. I had a fish taco (mahi-mahi NOT fried, yum!) for a snack, figuring I'd eat dinner later with Matt, who was out riding in the East Mountains today. It really hit the spot!

Ride stats for the day weren't too bad, 26 miles, 3:22 hours ride time, and about 1400 calories burned away!!

There's the first FooMTB Timid Tuesday ride day coming up, so the Chica Ride will be joining this one next week...should be fun!