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.

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.