Lack of Big Rides

Hmm, the big difference between my crushing fitness last year and my middling pain this year seems to be 10-15 lbs and a distinct lack of long 2-4 hour rides.

One example of the truth is an extremeley painful 5 mile time trial that gains some 1000 feet in the first two mile that I do somewhat regularly on the fixie. I think my fast times last year were in the 15:45 range, this year? 17:28 or so. I think I have one last race in the series next week to see if I can get within a minute of last years time. I doubt I can, especially as I am in the midst of move number 12 or so in the last 10 years.

Another example is the stunning bonk I endured in the Los Alamos Fat tire festival this year, compared to the relative ease in riding really well last year.

I am slowly gearing up for what I hope to be a good cross season followed by an XC ski season (with snow???) this year. Maybe I will see my weight in the 185 range by christmas? Or maybe not.

Anyhow, last week I had my first epic solo ride of 2006. I posted some pics over the last week of the arroyo and santa fe river and dale ball trail portions of the ride. Basically my car needed a big servicing so I had 7 hours or so to kill in santa fe. I brought the MTB and rode from the santa fe auto mall way in the crap down on cerillo up to the lamy trail to downtown, stopping for coffee on the way. Up the singletrack along the santa fe river to upper canyon, to the Dale Ball trails, where I rode for about 1.5 hours. Back down to the lamy trail, over to the 2nd street brewerey where I had mighty buritos and beers, further down the lamy trail to Siringo, onto the bike path that leads to the arroyo that goes back to the santa fe auto mall. It was largely off road in the urban interstitials, maybe 35-40 miles total? I was wiped out, but in a good way.

The Lamy trail is a nice network of dirt road, double track and single track along the railroad spur from Lamy (on the amtrack line) to the Santa Fe Station. I think if you start in santa fe it is 15 or so miles one way to lamy. There is lots of good views, interesting hobo camps and businesses along the tracks. It appears there is a pretty active railroad car dismantling business that has sprung up over the last year or so. Lots of neat old rr cars up on blocks and work crews with cutting torches taking the cars down from the top.

RR car up on blocks at the old filling pump:

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The car says "do not hump" on it. Must be a hobo thing. Or a santa fe thing. They seem to use "speed humps" for what I call "speed bumps". They are usually well marked in parking lots with "Hump" painted in big letters on the road and a yellow sign with "speed hump" on it. Damn hobos.

Wheels and axles probably going for scrap:

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Nearby I saw my pal Tony walking his dog, both at the beginning of the ride and on the way back 5 hours later. Tony is blind and has a nice walking loop that he does 4-5 times a day from his house in a nearby neighborhood, along the singletrack on the lamy trail for a long block and along back through the neighborhood. I met him 3 years ago when I was fixing a flat on his stretch of trail, he stopped and chatted, offered to help me fix the tire with patches and a pump he had back at his house. Tony is amazingly agile on the trail, negotiating a steep arroyo crossing that is sometimes washed out with aplomb. I think his yellow lab is named Francis or frannie, and has the halmark calm demeanor of the assistance dog. Good dog.

Finally, in the arroyo on the way back to the car dealer I took some pictures of the detritus, especially the wheeled detritus.



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I really liked the shopping carts with buried in sand, crushed by the flows, weeds sprouting within and have some more pics, but will save those for another post. Got to go set up the workshop...