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Team Santa Fe Newsletter
April 2003
Taos Ski Valley, Taos NM
March 28, 2003
Carl Gable, Joel Krypel
Carl and Joel competed in the Ridge-A-thon held at Taos Ski Valley, NM. The
Ridge-A-Thon is a ski race to benefit the Mountain Home Health Care Hospice
of Taos NM and is held in memory of Ben Myers, a former
Taos resident who died of cancer. Over the years the event has raised nearly
$100,000. Carl and Joel, racing under the team banner of Team
Santa Fe Adventure Racing, raised $600.
According to a short piece in the Santa Fe New Mexican
newspaper, "Other than the 24 Hours of Aspen ski marathon, the Taos Ridge-a-Thon
is probably the toughest ski event in the American West."
In this event one must hike and ski ten double black diamond
chutes on the ridge at Taos (Billy Sol, Ninos, Juarez, Hidalgo, Spitfire,
Oster, Stauffenberg, Zdarsky, St. Bernard, Elevator)
for 5 hours. This is some of the steepest and most demanding terrain Taos
has to offer. The hike from the top of the chair lift to the beginning of
the chutes is a 5-8 minute lung buster at elevations
above 11,000 feet. Then comes the thigh burning non-stop runs down the chutes.
On average our runs took about 17 minutes for chair ride, hike and
ski. There was also a final bonus. Due to marginal weather,
Kachina Peak had been closed most of the day. However, when two o'clock rolled
around, the ski patrol allowed those in the race to hike
the peak. The 1000+ vertical foot hike was slower and harder than normal
(gee I wonder why?) but the rewards made it worthwhile. We gathered at the
top to toast the memory of Ben Myers with champagne and
Myers run and then ripped our way down the untracked knee-deep powder of
the North face of Kachina Peak. Our final tally was 16 chutes
plus Kachina Peak for a total of 19 points. This years top four
teams finished with 23 points. This was the first year that Joel competed
in the event and the second time for Carl.
Lisa Barnes, Kim Bear and Jan Bear
April 5 and 6, 2003
Phoenix, Arizona: McDowell Regional Park
The 24 hours of Adrenaline is a race series put on by a Canadian company
Trilife Sports International. Last year, over 10,000 participants rode in
this series that had races both in Canada and the United
States. You can chose to ride solo, or team up with as many as ten people.
The objective is to complete as many laps as possible within the 24-hour
time frame.
Kim and Jan Bear rode as a pair for Team Santa Fe and Lisa Barnes
teamed up as a coed pair also for Team Santa Fe. There was a friendly rivalry
between the two pairs representing Team Santa Fe. About
300 racers participated at the McDowell Park. The race began at noon with
a LeMans start; one member from each team lined up and at the start and ran
600 meters around a course ending up at the bike rack.
Jan ran and got a good start in the middle of the pack. Lisa's pair got even
a greater start and rode hard and fast. Lisa was off
before Kim and rode the track fast! Kim waited for Jan, the announcer finally
broadcast that the first mechanical problem was coming; it was Jan pushing
his bike with a flat. Kim took off and the course was
fast and fun with lots of climbing, riding around corners and through dry
river beds. Jan got his bike fixed up and took the next lap;
the game plan was to alternate the laps and rest, be consistent and
steady throughout the 24 hours. When night came, it began to get cold. During
the day it had been in the 70’s and it was dropping to
freezing temperatures. It was getting hard to be in the warm car and then
drag yourself out to ride 11 miles. The trail at night was challenging,
but had one surprise of mice that would run onto the trail
because of lights. Lisa's pair still led until about 3 am, when her partner's
back began to really bother him necessitating a rest.
This was just the opportunity Kim and Jan; they just needed to remain consistent.
Meanwhile, Lisa a.k.a. “Wonder Woman” rode 4 laps in a row.
Kim had a hard time just doing 2 in a row. When all was said and done,
Lisa ended up doing 12 laps averaging less than one hour per lap.
Finally, at the finish, both pairs ended up with the
same number of laps at 22. Kim and Jan just were lucky enough to have completed
theirs first. At the awards, Team Santa Fe came in third
behind two pairs with both men. It was a fun race. Kim got a lot of attention
from wearing her “red white and blue” CW-X tights at night as they kept her
warm and she was easily identifiable. Other Team Santa
Fe sponsor products that were absolutely necessary were Litespeed, AXO, LP
Composites, Nite Rider, Princeton Tec, Bicycle Technologies
International, Polar HRM, ThorLo, WPC Brands and Bushnell.
Phoenix, AZ
April 12, 2003
Lisa Barnes
El Tour de Phoenix is a 70-mile bike race around the
perimeter of Red Mountain in the valley of the sun. The course is fast and
consists of rolling hills and power climbs. The weather
was clear and the temperatures were perfect for the 7am start time. I completed
the ride with my husband on our tandem with our hopes being to keep contact
with the lead group. There were over 700 riders starting,
but the tandems were allowed to start in the front of the pack to make it
safer. We knew that it would be tough on the first climb up
Shea through Fountain Hills, but we managed to stay with the lead
group of about 40 riders. Our group had a nice break away from the rest of
the race with a couple male/male tandems up front controlling
the pace. About 10 miles from the finish is the last climb called King Kong
Hill. We were at the back of the pack near the top of the climb and
unfortunately, dropped our chain as we tried to shift back
to the middle chain ring near the top. We were not able to recover through
shifting and were forced to get off the bike and lift
the chain back on by hand. By this time, the lead group was gone and we were
forced to time trial to the finish, hoping that we would not be caught up
by any other groups. We finished a couple minutes behind
the last of the lead pack. We finished the 70 miles in 2 hours 38 minutes,
an average speed of 26.5 mph. We were very pleased to finish
43rd out of 706 riders. Sponsored gear used, Thor-lo socks, Bolle
sunglasses, Polar Heart Rate monitor, and Terry saddles. Thank you to all
our sponsors.
Tularosa, NM
April 12, 2003
George Broome
We had a clear, mild morning to start the first ever
White Sands Missile Range Century ride. The ride started shortly after 7:00
AM from the Tularosa High School. We headed out of town
and entered the missile range about 4 miles into the ride. The ride is generally
flat with a long gentle climb to the 50-mile checkpoint where they had a
very generous lunch and snacks for the participants.
The winds picked up after lunch to give the last 58 miles a bit more of a
challenge. We (my wife Lisa and I) had a great ride and definitely felt
good about averaging 16.3 miles per hour for our first
century of the season. The ride was well supported and the people were very
friendly and helpful. Great little training ride and
we hope they will continue to have it in the future.
The White Sands Missile Range is a beautiful area that
is normally closed to the public so we enjoyed seeing the pristine desert
environment. The range is populated by quite a bit of
wild game including a very large oryx imported from Africa and said to be
growing in numbers. It was truly a beautiful ride. I used my Bolle sunglasses,
Suunto compass ∓mp; wrist top computer w/ Polar
HRM, and my Terry Liberator saddle.
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