REVIEWS DEALS BIKESHOPS TRAILS

Saturday's ride...

963 Views 9 Replies 4 Participants Last post by AndyN, Aug 4, 2004

glenzx

Discussion Starter · Aug 2, 2004

This last weekend of July, a few <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com

ffice:smarttags" /><st1

lace><st1:City>MTBR</st1:City> <st1:State>NM</st1:State></st1

lace> "locals" and I went for a nice spin up here in <st1:City><st1

lace>Santa Fe</st1

lace></st1:City>. We had discussed a few options, one of which would have essentially been a big shuttle point-to-point, but it worked out so that we did a big loop that incorporates 3000+ feet of dirt & paved road elevation gain.

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Beginning of ride:

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Not the most scenic of starts, but got us to the top of one of my favorite trails, <st1

lace>Rio</st1

lace> en Medio. The ride headed away from the trailhead, back out of En Medio to get to Pacheco Canyon Rd. There was about 1.5 miles of paved road at this point, including a steep hill, but given that we were fresh out of the car, it didn't seem to bad (until later). Then the gradual 8 or so miles of climbing on a somewhat shady <st1:Street><st1:address>Pacheco Canyon Rd.</st1:address></st1:Street> brought us most of the way to the <st1

lace><st1

laceName>Santa Fe</st1

laceName> <st1

laceName>Ski</st1

laceName> <st1

laceType>Basin</st1

laceType></st1

lace> parking lot.

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AndyN on the way up:

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It was pretty dang hot on some of the climb, as we got a mid/late morning start, but it seemed that we were making decent time, despite AndyN's hangover! At the top of the dirt road portion, we stopped and took a quick break, stretched a little then moved on.

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Pit stop 1:

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We then headed about 2 miles up the road to the ski area, made one more stop and I think it at that point (or was it the last stop) Robert (aka: Jim Beam) experienced some leg cramping! Then Andy cramped up laughing at Robert, so we made a motley bunch.

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Pit stop 2 (ready to go DOWN now!)

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The trail undulated from smooth and fast to steep and rocky quite a bit, keeping you looking ahead. Paralleling a creek the whole way makes it that much more enjoyable on a warm day, as does the lush canopy! There were 3 main challenging sections of the trail; one at the top that goes by quick (especially if you're Andy and clear the whole thing SMOOTH!) then a middle section, which is a progressively more difficult series of switchbacks, rocky, loose and tight! The last is a series of a few switchbacks and some downright tough trail... but goes by pretty quickly.

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Robert and the creek:

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I snapped a few shots on the way down, but once we got going, the temptation to stop & shoot dwindled, but i got a few more:<o

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Rich and the creek:<o

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Andy rolling a tough rock section: (the pictures do NOT do the ride justice!)<o

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Just as we got going on a long fun stretch, we had a bit of local interference:<o

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Thankfully, the herd of 25 or so cows were focused more on getting up to greener pasture, not us. They were wary, but seemed OK, even the one in this shot who appeared to be pregnant, as she was HUGE! The unfortunate by-product of our trail companions were a few spots of fresh manure, which is far more aqueous than you may think when fresh, so it kind of "sprayed" up if you hit a bit of it. Mmmmm mm!<o

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By the end of the ride, we'd gone about 23 miles and had been through 2 or 3 climate/bio-zones. From hot scrublands to lush forest. Typical NM!<o

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AndyN

· #2 · Aug 3, 2004

Nice stuff Glen

That sure was an eventful ride. Hangovers, cramps, crashes, what more could you ask for? It seemed every five minutes of the descent you had to wait for one of us, and the whole climb you had to wait for me. Thanks for being such a patient tour guide.

How did the prison loop go?

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rs3o

· #3 · Aug 3, 2004

Andy: How's your arm? Hope it's healing up.

Glen: You forgot to mention the raspberry patch that you and Andy foolishly passed up and the fact that JimBean's cowboy experience was critical in getting past the alpine bovines. Note in that cow picture how I've cleverly placed my 26lb. bike between me and the 1000lb. cow.

It's been a while since I've been on a ride where the downhill was as tiring as the uphill! Fun ride guys!

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Jim Beam

· #4 · Aug 3, 2004

Worst cramps I've ever had..............

I had a great time, Glenn. Thanks for leading, and more thanks for waiting all those times while I was cramping. My new mantra is "electrolyte replacement".

Yes, I herded cattle and packed mules in a former life, so I was glad to move to the front and clear the trail.

Hope to ride with you guys again soon.

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glenzx

Discussion Starter · #5 · Aug 3, 2004

AndyN said:
That sure was an eventful ride. Hangovers, cramps, crashes, what more could you ask for? It seemed every five minutes of the descent you had to wait for one of us, and the whole climb you had to wait for me. Thanks for being such a patient tour guide.

How did the prison loop go?

Couldn't ask for much more! Maybe a mellow-anti-gravity-single-track trail up to the top..... I wasn't waiting, just zooming ahead to try and get a good shot or two, which was an elusive task! Where's Brian when we need excellent shots?

And my pleasure as "guide:, I'm up for it anytime!

As for the prison loop, not so good. I felt really good.... for 15 minutes until the group accelerated, and I flatted! Blew up trying to get back on, then had more mechanical problems. Rode through 2 of the 3 laps and called it quits. (first race I didn't finish, err...., except for that ambulance ride a few eeks ago!)

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glenzx

Discussion Starter · #6 · Aug 3, 2004

rs3o said:
Andy: How's your arm? Hope it's healing up.

Glen: You forgot to mention the raspberry patch that you and Andy foolishly passed up and the fact that JimBean's cowboy experience was critical in getting past the alpine bovines. Note in that cow picture how I've cleverly placed my 26lb. bike between me and the 1000lb. cow.

It's been a while since I've been on a ride where the downhill was as tiring as the uphill! Fun ride guys!

LOL! That's right, he walked right at/through them beasts! Emoboldened me to start the hee-awws and giddups and such nonsense to get through. Last time I encountered cows, it tokk about a 1/2 hour to get through 'em. BTW, nice defenseive strategy!

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glenzx

Discussion Starter · #7 · Aug 3, 2004

Jim Beam said:
I had a great time, Glenn. Thanks for leading, and more thanks for waiting all those times while I was cramping. My new mantra is "electrolyte replacement".

Yes, I herded cattle and packed mules in a former life, so I was glad to move to the front and clear the trail.

Hope to ride with you guys again soon.

Dang electrolytes sweated out on the hot 1st half of that climb I suspect! Lot's more riding to come, this I know!

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AndyN

· #8 · Aug 3, 2004

rs3o said:
Andy: How's your arm? Hope it's healing up.

Glen: You forgot to mention the raspberry patch that you and Andy foolishly passed up and the fact that JimBean's cowboy experience was critical in getting past the alpine bovines. Note in that cow picture how I've cleverly placed my 26lb. bike between me and the 1000lb. cow.

It's been a while since I've been on a ride where the downhill was as tiring as the uphill! Fun ride guys!

Rich: The flesh wounds are healing nicely, and I treated myself to a tetanus booster. I definitely should have chowed some raspberries, but I was trying to take over pacemaking duty from Robert. If you ask me those cramps he had were well deserved for making me bonk like that.

Glen: That's too bad about the mechanicals, guess you can't win/finish them all. Thanks again for leading us Saturday.

Robert: Just kidding about the cramps, no one deserves that sort of misery.

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Jim Beam

· #9 · Aug 4, 2004

Not to worry, I've got..................

AndyN said:
I definitely should have chowed some raspberries, but I was trying to take over pacemaking duty from Robert. If you ask me those cramps he had were well deserved for making me bonk like that.

a special raspberry just for you!

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AndyN

· #10 · Aug 4, 2004

Jim Beam said:
a special raspberry just for you!

That's disturbing.

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