Pajarito Pinhead challenge 2011 Race report.

I won. Boom! End of report.





Ok, so there was not enough snow for the uphill downhill ski race so they ran it as an up hill only snowshoe race. And really, other than me and Mary Jane, no one showed up. Sure we had 4 people on the start line, but one was pressed into service by Jean,one of the race organizers and the other was Jean herself. Also, I was the only one on the start line without poles. My rule is that if you are in a snowshoe race and are wearing poles you are not running, even if you think you are. Anyhow, the other three people were hiking anyway. So I pretty much had to win.

I run to victory


The race started at the bottom of spruce lift and then went straight up spruce to the intersection with bruce's boulevard and then went up bruce's and ended up at the intersection with aspen. It was short and really hard. I ran for the first bit, power hiked up most of spruce and then ran most of bruces. I stopped to take pics a couple times. It took me 20 minutes and 45 seconds. Mary Jane came in second 7 minuted later. And jean and chip finished another 10 minutes later. I am pretty sure I could have run it in 18 minutes with someone pushing me, I am pretty sure ~15 minutes is possible but probably not by me.

Mary Jane and me post race


Then we socialized and hiked back down the treacherous slopes then hung out at Skiesta for a few hours drinking beers and waiting for the awards ceremony while listening to a really good zydechoid band. I won a hoody sweat type shirt with the pajarito mtn logo badly silkscreened on it. There were at least 6 breweries there and I saw about 50 billion people about half of which were endurance athletes. None of whom (excepting 4 of us) did the free race. I am not sure what the hell is wrong with all of you, but beer tastes much better after racing. And even better after winning. So there.

Chip dives past Jean for third


There are a handful of local races that I can reasonably hope to win someday, this was one of them, I am calling it done despite hardly anyone showing up. Anyhow, this is, again, a great free race. More people should do it. Big thanks to the organizers Jean and Karen. See you next year for skiesta, may there be enough snow to ski on.

2010 Pinhead race report
2009 Pinhead race report
2008 Pinhead race report

Join The Tarik Saleh Bike Club

As you may have read before, I have a bike club. Due to somewhat overwhelming requests, I came up with some rules and printed up a whole mess of buttons. I want this to be as inclusive as possible so here are the rules:
1. Ride Bikes
2. Try not to be an ass


That's it. So if you can do that, you can join, if you want the pin you can surf over to tariksaleh.com/tsbc/ for details on how to order.


If you live in los alamos and want to join, email me and we will figure something out.

If you see me at races normally, talk to me, I should have some with me.

If you hate paypal, email me, we will figure something out.

I endorse the barter system, your clubs pin or patch is a nice trade, but email me and we will figure something out.

If you can't abide the rules, you can apply for exceptions (like I should really get a bike, in place of rule one, and try not to be SUCH an ass, for rule two). Like I said, this is an inclusive club that wants to encourage you to ride bikes and to try not to be an ass. It is not too hard.

I am really happy this all seems to have worked out. Big thanks to Mr. Jalopy for somehow starting this. It is all his fault.