Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Wednesday, February 06, 2013
Gila 100
Few things are more beautiful than orchestrating your own suffer fest. For years now, we have been flying under the radar doing things we never thought possible. Now, we have found that not only is it possible, but people are doing it far better than we are. There is rarely a clap or shout when we begin; these are not the things that we strive for....in fact, on the contrary, we are here because we want to see *what* our body will do when pushed and pushed and pushed. With that, comes the newest race that we have conjured up...the Gila 100. It has been something we knew was possible with the completion of the Gila Canyons section of the AZT.
And so, we started at 5am last Saturday after a sleepless night filled with coyotes howling and 18-wheeler jake brakes. Only two spectators were there, a giant crowd by normal standards. Things were going well in the beginning from the climb out Picket Post. We chatted and rode. A normal beginning to what would become a long, long day.
Until, I realized I had dropped my GPS probably several miles back. The amount $250 dollars popped into my head. Go back or continue? Money is futile. Continue.
You can't buy a sunset like the one that was over the Gila Canyons that morning. Look to the left and the sun was coming up with some tints of orange, yellow and pink. Look to the right and you saw those being echoed on the canyon walls. Glad I continued to see this moment. We are at one of the highest points of the trail as the sun creeped up, drop into the shade and bomb down what should be called the best trail in Arizona. I could see the front runners about 30 minutes ahead of me, clearly riding faster than I could. I kept pedaling hoping to keep my 4th place.
As I stopped to take off some layers, Ray caught me on his singlespeed. Continue. The moment came to descend, where I closed the gap and pressed on toward the river. Aaron passed as we rode near Gila River. That was the last time I saw him, or Kurt or Max in the distance. Everyone is familiar with the next state of racing. You dig in and just ride.Water stops are made to be short. Fill up your water, and ride. Resting only slows you down.
The ache in my legs happened as I started to go up Ripsey. I started losing ground. Neil, Tom and Ray passed me during the Ripsey Section. Pain. This is what I wanted, right? I started making excuses. If I had only ridden more. Maybe that running over Christmas Break did not really help. I thought cross training would have helped. The mind wanders at its own will. We have all been there. I stopped thinking of excuses and just tried to stay within sight of Neil, who was having knee pain. Again, I am sure you have been here. It is when the ordinary becomes the extraordinary, where each pedal stroke seems like it is harder than the last. Mentally, this is why I was out here... where you match up the pain with your strong will. I often choose to slow down during these tough crossroads. Hammering turns into survival. Excuses become reality. Thoughts like "If I had only ridden a few dozen more hours each week...." become concrete facts and you slow your pace to avoid the pain.
At Freeman Road, things changed, both mentally and physically. I had seen Tom leave the water cache and Neil, unfortunately, would be forced to quite do to knee issues. I put water in my bags, dropped some food and started what I would call, my race. The music started playing in my head, the zeal was back in my body and pain had completely gone. I cruised past Tom and Ray and continued to ride fast. Where had this zeal been during the morning? Ray's handlebar had a saying that had replaced the "If I had only...." ideas, it said "If it was easy, everyone would be out here."
The lighting from atop the new gasline bypasss was another reminder of the best part of biking, riding sunrise to sunset. The Galileros lit up with yellow and pink colors. Night fell as I pressed on into the Black Hills. The eerie qualities of darkness that some acquaint with night riding was exceeded by a calm, brisk night. One could complain about the lack of trail during this section. No complaining from me. It was silent and calm. One could also complain about the hike-a-bike here. Nothing here, just a love of the race.
A could see a LED light in the distance and a light behind me. I had better hurry up if I was going to finish this thing.
Fifteen hours, not bad.
Ask me what I felt about that day and I have nothing but positive things to say. The pictures says otherwise. Don't be fooled, I love this stuff. It is, after all, an *individual struggle* made easier with knowledge, experience and a few other racers around you....
And so, we started at 5am last Saturday after a sleepless night filled with coyotes howling and 18-wheeler jake brakes. Only two spectators were there, a giant crowd by normal standards. Things were going well in the beginning from the climb out Picket Post. We chatted and rode. A normal beginning to what would become a long, long day.
Until, I realized I had dropped my GPS probably several miles back. The amount $250 dollars popped into my head. Go back or continue? Money is futile. Continue.
You can't buy a sunset like the one that was over the Gila Canyons that morning. Look to the left and the sun was coming up with some tints of orange, yellow and pink. Look to the right and you saw those being echoed on the canyon walls. Glad I continued to see this moment. We are at one of the highest points of the trail as the sun creeped up, drop into the shade and bomb down what should be called the best trail in Arizona. I could see the front runners about 30 minutes ahead of me, clearly riding faster than I could. I kept pedaling hoping to keep my 4th place.
As I stopped to take off some layers, Ray caught me on his singlespeed. Continue. The moment came to descend, where I closed the gap and pressed on toward the river. Aaron passed as we rode near Gila River. That was the last time I saw him, or Kurt or Max in the distance. Everyone is familiar with the next state of racing. You dig in and just ride.Water stops are made to be short. Fill up your water, and ride. Resting only slows you down.
Aaron new the Gila River
The ache in my legs happened as I started to go up Ripsey. I started losing ground. Neil, Tom and Ray passed me during the Ripsey Section. Pain. This is what I wanted, right? I started making excuses. If I had only ridden more. Maybe that running over Christmas Break did not really help. I thought cross training would have helped. The mind wanders at its own will. We have all been there. I stopped thinking of excuses and just tried to stay within sight of Neil, who was having knee pain. Again, I am sure you have been here. It is when the ordinary becomes the extraordinary, where each pedal stroke seems like it is harder than the last. Mentally, this is why I was out here... where you match up the pain with your strong will. I often choose to slow down during these tough crossroads. Hammering turns into survival. Excuses become reality. Thoughts like "If I had only ridden a few dozen more hours each week...." become concrete facts and you slow your pace to avoid the pain.
Ripsey Segment
At Freeman Road, things changed, both mentally and physically. I had seen Tom leave the water cache and Neil, unfortunately, would be forced to quite do to knee issues. I put water in my bags, dropped some food and started what I would call, my race. The music started playing in my head, the zeal was back in my body and pain had completely gone. I cruised past Tom and Ray and continued to ride fast. Where had this zeal been during the morning? Ray's handlebar had a saying that had replaced the "If I had only...." ideas, it said "If it was easy, everyone would be out here."
The lighting from atop the new gasline bypasss was another reminder of the best part of biking, riding sunrise to sunset. The Galileros lit up with yellow and pink colors. Night fell as I pressed on into the Black Hills. The eerie qualities of darkness that some acquaint with night riding was exceeded by a calm, brisk night. One could complain about the lack of trail during this section. No complaining from me. It was silent and calm. One could also complain about the hike-a-bike here. Nothing here, just a love of the race.
A could see a LED light in the distance and a light behind me. I had better hurry up if I was going to finish this thing.
Fifteen hours, not bad.
Photo by Caroline
Ask me what I felt about that day and I have nothing but positive things to say. The pictures says otherwise. Don't be fooled, I love this stuff. It is, after all, an *individual struggle* made easier with knowledge, experience and a few other racers around you....
Sunday, January 27, 2013
The Boom and Bust Cycle
The ever looming Gila 100 has been some extra motivation for me to put in morroken my Leviathan frame a few weeks ago. With only
the bigger bike, I decided to do longer rides at 50-year home for most
of the 3-day MLK weekend instead of the normal all-day XC rides.
I got to ride a new-to-me trail, Cargodera Canyon. It connects with Baby Jesus and runs parallel to Sutherland Jeep Rd. It is a beautiful area with plenty of chunk to be had.
The trail gets "interesting" in some places, as done Baby Jesus, right? This is not a trail for everyone. I kept venturing on toward Cherry Tank and Cow Pies. All are in great condition, including Cowboy (shown below).
Later in the week, we had Tuesday Techy Tacos from In-n-Out burger. Krista, Rob, Max, Jeff, Duncan and I showed up hungry for some techy riding.
As usual, we cleaned a few sections and left a few sections for another week.
The ride lasted about as long as the post-ride discussion. In fact, I have found that the post-ride party is often times as good as the ride itself. Speaking of post-rides, check out the Tor de 50 race that is coming up in two week. You ride and then you get to eat some carne asada tacos while drinking some incredible beer.
I got to ride a new-to-me trail, Cargodera Canyon. It connects with Baby Jesus and runs parallel to Sutherland Jeep Rd. It is a beautiful area with plenty of chunk to be had.
The trail gets "interesting" in some places, as done Baby Jesus, right? This is not a trail for everyone. I kept venturing on toward Cherry Tank and Cow Pies. All are in great condition, including Cowboy (shown below).
Later in the week, we had Tuesday Techy Tacos from In-n-Out burger. Krista, Rob, Max, Jeff, Duncan and I showed up hungry for some techy riding.
As usual, we cleaned a few sections and left a few sections for another week.
The ride lasted about as long as the post-ride discussion. In fact, I have found that the post-ride party is often times as good as the ride itself. Speaking of post-rides, check out the Tor de 50 race that is coming up in two week. You ride and then you get to eat some carne asada tacos while drinking some incredible beer.
Arizona Endurance Jersey
The AES Jerseys are now available! http://www.azendurance.org/#!about/c10fk
Some Details: Cost - $56
Shipping - $10 per order. Order a bunch at once and shipping is still $10.
Fit- These are race cut and fit a bit on the snug side. You might consider ordering a size up if you don’t like your jersey “roadie style”.
Timing – Preorder though 2/27. Anticipated delivery in April.
Profit – A small amount of the sale proceeds will go to the AES and will be used to purchase refreshments for the post race chill sessions.
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Take Flight
"Oh man, if Scott cleaned that, I am going to have to try that one again."
This statement is the underlining premise of every techy ride. You do it, fail. Then try again. Repeat as many times as necessary until you conquer or come up with another excuse (I almost had it, need to take a picture, unclipped, off today..the list is endless).
But when someone in your group cleans it...
...you gotta step up and try at least one more time.
The waiting game is the key of these type of rides. "We better not go over 7 miles during the 2.5 hour ride," Scott joked this past week.
Rule #1 of Technical Group Riding: Never feel like you are holding up the group. You can try until you give up.
...and so we wait, cheering as you try new lines. Surprising is it may seem, we want you to succeed, to rejoice in your accomplishment or empathize with you should you not make it.
Krista showed up for the TTT this week. During the first year of the TTT, we moved the ride to Tuesday upon realizing that Rubio's had a special on tacos. I believe she showed up for one of those first rides, in fact, that is where we met her.
Rob stepped it up and showed Scott and I how to launch off a deceiving drop on our normal TTT ride. It was just what we needed to give it a go.
And so, there was the last techy taco ride for this year.
This statement is the underlining premise of every techy ride. You do it, fail. Then try again. Repeat as many times as necessary until you conquer or come up with another excuse (I almost had it, need to take a picture, unclipped, off today..the list is endless).
But when someone in your group cleans it...
...you gotta step up and try at least one more time.
The waiting game is the key of these type of rides. "We better not go over 7 miles during the 2.5 hour ride," Scott joked this past week.
Rule #1 of Technical Group Riding: Never feel like you are holding up the group. You can try until you give up.
...and so we wait, cheering as you try new lines. Surprising is it may seem, we want you to succeed, to rejoice in your accomplishment or empathize with you should you not make it.
Krista showed up for the TTT this week. During the first year of the TTT, we moved the ride to Tuesday upon realizing that Rubio's had a special on tacos. I believe she showed up for one of those first rides, in fact, that is where we met her.
Rob stepped it up and showed Scott and I how to launch off a deceiving drop on our normal TTT ride. It was just what we needed to give it a go.
And so, there was the last techy taco ride for this year.
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Livin'
I could not think of a better place to live this time of year. With 50-Year Trail less than 2 miles away to the east and the Tortolitas four miles to the west, I never really have an excuse not to ride.
Here are the highlights from some recent rides in the Tortolitas…
Thanks for lookin'
Beautiful trails, good friends, stunning scenery...
This week, the TTT was moved to Wednesday. Instead of eating the normal Rubio tacos, we switched things up with some In-n-Out.
We also switched up the normal climb to a different route, before finding a newer trail to us.
Good move. The trail was a masterpiece of trail that weaved in-n-out of the slickrock boulders and lines.
Jbake trying to climb the steep slickrock.
Some moves would have to wait another day, like this one. Others were conquered by at least one of us.
When everything seems to be going perfectly, even the lighting is on cue tonight. It would be hard to ask for a better way to spend an evening on the bike. A beautiful trail, good friends, stunning scenery....life is what you make of it, but having the aforementioned things can really give you a surreal perspective.
Next Tuesday, we will do it all again....
We also switched up the normal climb to a different route, before finding a newer trail to us.
Good move. The trail was a masterpiece of trail that weaved in-n-out of the slickrock boulders and lines.
Jbake trying to climb the steep slickrock.
Some moves would have to wait another day, like this one. Others were conquered by at least one of us.
Attacking ocotillo!
Try, try, try again...
When everything seems to be going perfectly, even the lighting is on cue tonight. It would be hard to ask for a better way to spend an evening on the bike. A beautiful trail, good friends, stunning scenery....life is what you make of it, but having the aforementioned things can really give you a surreal perspective.
Next Tuesday, we will do it all again....
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