Interesting day Sunday with Ann. Stayed in the east mountains again and just enjoyed a few hours on the trails together. Ran into Donnie and Jens of BWR on the Cajun. They were doing a Cedtero loop. Then ran into Wenona and another BWR clad rider as they were starting out for an afternoon loop. Then most interstingly, the vehicle parked next to ours at Mars Ct. had Federal tags and see the picture for who it was. When we were loading up our bikes, a rather young looking guy comes pedaling up on a FS rig and throws his stuff in the Fed rig. Turns out it was the Base Commander, out on his day off, looking at the withdrawal area by mountain bike. He was specifically looking at another parcel of the Withdrawal, that he was questioned about at the public meeting, that he hopes he can tack onto the other 400 acres they plan to return to the USFS, to keep more trails intact. Say what you will about KAFB, the withdrawal, the beauracracy, etc., but the Commander scored big points in my book as he was out there on his day off, looking at the lay of the land, so he better understands the concerns of citizens. He spent a bit of time showing me maps and air photos too. Of course, it's going to be a long time before anything is official, and I'm thinking the Forest Service has more potential to foul things up than the military at this point, but the ball continues to roll. If we don't get some moisture this winter, we won't be riding the east mountains come Spring due to fire danger. It's always somethin'

The legs were dead over the weekend, and though we got some nice riding in, it hurt and was discouraging from a performance standpoint. Woke up on the weekend with the legs feeling like someone had taken a hammer to them, leaving the muscles knotted and bruised. Wondering if I picked up a bug or something.

Gonna rest a few days cause I’ve got a fever and the only cure is more cowbell.

Random weekend shots. Stopped by the Bland cemetery while exploring Saturday. It’s a beautiful and peaceful spot. One of the few marked graves is of Helen Blount, the former caretaker of the Bland Ghost Town. Bland was a mining town, where as used to be standard practice, they heap-leached gold from ore using cyanide. Still don’t think I’d drink the water in this area unless I was desperate! Found a morel mushroom but left it for another lucky soul. Asters, sunflowers, Indian paintbrush are blooming full, and a sure sign that fall is on the way.

Sunday found us on the steep climb up to the La Luz trailhead at 6:30am. Nice to be doing it with mountain bike gears though! Watched and cheered for a few friends doing the annual La Luz trail race. Laurie A. took an age group win on her first time trying, and Donnie C. ran by us in a blur. After the runners came through, I continued on for a mini epic in the north foothills, and it was one of the most enjoyable rides I’ve done in the foothills in quite some time. Trails were super fast and the legs were enjoying the day. Ended up with 25 miles and about 3,300 feet of climbing. Got done early enough to put together the new dog kennel for our 3 year old that suddenly turned mental. Labs, gotta love em. Instructions said it was a 2 hour job, which is why it took me over 4. Now that I’m thoroughly tired, it’s back to the grindstone…..

Nothing quite like a New Mexico sunrise on the trails. Been able to avoid the monsoons by getting out early.

Here's some of the best views in the state from a mountain bike.

I think Joel summed up the Tour for me. Sportsman also has some good insights.

This guy has been running with the big dogs. Check out his B-100 SS victory report.

There you have it.

Stick a fork in me......I'm done. A little before and after effect. The Cochiti 100 was Saturday.......and for me it was the Cochiti 55, and that was about right at my pre-race goal. It's hard to keep these tales brief, but here's my best shot. Being a self-timed event, I took off with a small group right at 6:29am, knowing it would only be a matter of time before the hammers, who left a little later, caught and passed me. One of many highlights of my day was pedaling along for a while with the former Governor, along the 13-plus mile, steep, Dome climb. On the Dome climb, Jeff H and John S cruised right on by looking quite strong. Chris H caught my wheel a while later and we rode together to the Dome Wilderness signage where Jens flew past us going quite fast. Big props to the moto guy who not only did some trail clearing the previous day, but also was at the Motown turnoff directing traffic early Sat. Thanks! It wasn't long on Motown before I went over the bars on some nasty rootage, but no damage done, and shortly after that Matt cruised right on by me, and let me tell you, not only is he super fast, he is smooth! When Lenny caught and passed me with a couple of guys at the end of Motown, it prompted me to pick up the pace, and I kept them within earshot as we hit graduation flats over to 10 plus miles of technical singletrack called the crosstown trail. Typical fun moto style trail with some loose, steep, hike-ups and downs, along with the faster, flowing stuff, and a steep, hike-a-bike at about mile 29, before some much needed gravity riding, wrapping it up on the awesome Media Dia singletrack complete with refreshing stream crossings, back to Dixon's apple orchard.

I couldn't believe how long it took me to complete the first 41-plus miles, but talking with everyone else, that seemed to be the common theme, even for the elite riders. I kicked back for about 15-minutes while my great pit crew, Ann, took care of my bottles and food, and before I knew it, she and Janet from El Paso, said they wanted to head out on Loop 2 with me. Sounded good, so we headed out and did a modified version of the loop to complete our day. I was pretty cooked, feeling the effects of afternoon heat, an upset stomach, and leg cramps, I'd battled all day long. Upon finishing, I spotted Tim relaxing in the shade with some friends, and doing some "carbo loading" before hitting up their second loop. Guess they got a later start than planned, but Tim rocked the first loop on his SS, so hats off to ya man and good to meet ya!

This was a very challenging endurance event, and I'm really glad to have participated. Big thanks to Matt for organizing, and to any of the 60+ guys and gals who rode. Turns out only John S and Matt completed all three loops, and that last loop looked like the toughest of the three. Way to go. The NMES web site has additional info and comments from participants.

To the big volcano....Cochiti 100 that is.............

Keith Bontrager gives some interesting insights and advice on completing multi-day stage races, that are really applicable to any endurance kind of event. I thought it was a good read.

Took 7 people from the bomb/fca groups to the east mountains Saturday for a nice ride. Despite rain, snow, wind, cold, and even sunshine, we had a nice time and nobody out on the trails either.

Sunday, Patrick gave me a carbon composite Kestrel fork for my Klein he picked up at a teammates garage sale. Fits perfect on the big 59cm frame. All I can say is my neck won't be hurting so bad on the road anymore after that aluminum fork I had. I also had him take a look at the Dean shifting issues, and turns out it needed a new chain, and chainring......dohh! Nothing like having the obvious staring you in the face and don't realize it! The chainring had big old hooks on it, similar to what you see in the above picture I pulled off the web.

Sunday eve, took the 1x9 Dean out for a quick ride in the foothills. Rode it hard for an hour on the usual loop. Found some guys digging up rocks in one of the few, fun technical sections on the lower rock garden. Geez guys, if you can't ride it, don't destroy it for the rest of us who enjoy it. I told them they shouldn't be doing stuff like that and all I got was a dumb look in response. Probably the same guys that eradicated the nice rock drop leading down into the neighborhood. Don't get me started on this kind of stuff........

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.

Saturday morning was brisk. Downright cold, actually, but sunny and the trails were calling. Got out with several FCA-E team mates, including Hector T., an amazing triathlete that can throw down some sub 10 hour ironman times and is a military tri champ. Despite the fact that he had run 10 miles before our 20 plus mile mountain bike ride, he just stuck to my wheel on the 5 mile climb from Bear Canyon at Juan Tabo to the Pino Wilderness boundary, and I know he could have dropped me if he wanted, but I think he was saving a little for an additional 10 mile run after the bike ride. These triathletes just amaze me! Trails were great and due to the cold, surprisingly we didn't run into any other riders up there. Nice mellow road ride with Ann on Sunday, including a nutrition break at Flying Star!

Last night, Ann hit up the Audio Adrenaline concert with friends, so I took the opportunity to go for a north foothills hammer session. A great ride, but the juniper pollen was so thick in places, that my light just reflected off, making the trail difficult to see. I paid the price sucking in all that pollen as my eyes nearly welled shut by the time I got home and my sneezing fit lasted nearly 15 solid minutes, before an allegra started to kick in. After the ride, I went back to work on my second job of late and finished prepping and staining all our new baseboard and door trim. Still need to get a couple coats of urethane over the stain on all the 6-panel pine doors, and boy, they already look beautiful. Gonna have to save some cash before we can put the wood floors down, but everything else came together fantastic. Fell asleep on the couch around 10:30pm and Ann woke me up shortly thereafter when she returned. Up at 5am this morning for some good quiet time and two espresso shots. Another big day ahead!