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Team Santa Fe Newsletter
October 2004
AdventureXstream: The
Expedition
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October
6-11, 2004
Moab, Utah
Jan and Kim Bear
http://www.gravityplay.com/expedition
By Kim Bear
Moab was a beautiful backdrop
for this first expedition race put on by the people at Gravity  Play/ AdventureXstream. We have
been enjoying this series of 12 and 24 hour adventure races put on in
the southwest for several years and looked forward to their “first
ever” expedition race. We especially like the race management
staff as they treat everyone as equally important, are supportive to
the racers, friendly to support crews and easy going; something not
always found at these types of races.
We drove from Santa Fe to Moab
leaving on Wednesday, October 6. It was difficult to “get out of
town” and we ended up arriving at the race headquarters at Red Cliff
Lodge, 45 minutes from Moab at 7 pm. The dinner, check in and
race meeting were just ending as we arrived; to our shock, we would be
starting the race in 5 hours… at midnight. Typical for Adventure
Races….never try to second guess the race management.
True to their plan, at midnight we started mountain biking, climbing UP
from Red Cliff Lodge which was at 3,500 feet. We would climb for
hours up to the La Sal Mountains which topped out at 12,000 feet.
We biked 30 miles to Werner Lake to check point 1 and then began a 30
mile trek up and over the La Sal Mountains. Checkpoint 2 was
found after scaling up the mountain and down into Miners Basin at
around 6AM. From there, day light broke and we found the next 2
checkpoints. We began the climb back and over the La Sals at
10:20AM that morning. The climb was intense leading us to through
snowy cornices over the top. The view was spectacular and
definitely the highlight of the race. The fall colors of the
Aspens were brilliant and the view of the valleys around Moab and
Canyonlands were breathtaking. We shuffled down from 12,000 feet
to our bikes arriving at 2:15 pm Thursday. The mountain biking
took us back to Red Cliff Lodge. We transitioned in our motel
room. It was “luxury”. We headed out onto the Colorado
River where we paddled our 2 person rubber ducky. We would arrive
in the dark after paddling 28 miles checking in at checkpoint 7 at
9:30PM. We took a nap for 1 ½ hours in the car and then
took off on the mountain bikes up Long Canyon to the rappel off the
Gemini Bridges. We arrived to checkpoint 8 at about 3AM, dropped
our bikes, rappelled down the rock wall and trekked around and up to
checkpoint 10 to pick up our bikes. We were in 5th place
overall. At this point, we made a critical decision. We
could take the most obvious route over Gold Bar Rim to Poison Spider
Mesa and back to the river, or go back the way we came. Having
ridden there over the years, Kim remembered the technical aspects and
sand traps of these great rides…fun to do when rested, but not so fun
in a race. She persuaded Jan to take the chance. We hit the
checkpoint at the turn off for Gold Bar Rim and then turned back to
climb the hill back the way we came. We were there with the
Timberline team, so we would quickly find out at the next checkpoint if
we had made the wrong decision. The sun came up as we headed down
Long Canyon and rode back up the paved road to the checkpoint at Poison
Spider Mesa. We still hadn’t seen the other 2 teams who taken the
other route. The  winning teams…EMS and Crested Butte had opted for our
choice. We ended up in 3rd place at checkpoint 12. We had
made the right decision. Drey, our support ferried us back to the
Lodge and we got a timed start at 11:02AM on Friday. We mountain
biked up Onion Creek road with 27 unpleasant stream crossings. It
was very hot as we turned onto the Kokopelli trail. With all the
riding that we have done in Moab, we never ventured on this
trail. (I would recommend that we keep it that way after the
hours of unpleasant climbing that we experienced on this trail.)
We would arrive at the next checkpoint at 4:06PM on Friday
afternoon. From there we trekked to the river put in leaving
there at midnight. We arrived to the takeout at 2:35AM, Saturday
morning in third place overall and first of the pairs. A
mandatory dark zone was imposed for this area. We slept 3 hours
and left with EMS, the first place team and paddled to cross the finish
line in a third place overall standing, and first for pairs on Saturday
morning with an adjusted time of 10:56 am. We won high tech
summit watch and rollerblades along with our 2 gold medals.
We enjoyed the race staff along the course and loved ending back at the
Lodge at the base of the beautiful rock cliffs outside of Moab.
Our gear got us through this race. CWX tights and tops kept us
warm at 12,000 feet and cool with sun protection at 3,000 feet.
Our Litespeed bikes performed flawlessly, even with all the river
crossings. Thanks to our sponsors who helped us finish: Hammer
Gel, Litespeed, CamelBak, Montrail, SealSkinz, ThorLo, Boulder Bars,
GoLite, Shain Helmets, Polar, Golite, AXO, CW-X, BTI, Dermatone, LP
Composites, Seal Line, Suunto, Terry, Petzl, Princeton Tec, SofSole,
Leki, Schrade, Bolle, Genesis and Polar.
Big Tesuque 11.6 mile Trail
Run
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Oct. 9, 2004
www.santafestriders.org
Big Tesuque, Santa Fe NM
Carl Gable 1:48:57, 9th
M40, 30th overall
By Carl Gable
This was the fifth time in ten years I've run Big T. This year
conditions were ideal. The aspens were showing all their fall colors,
the air was calm and cool. One hundred and thirty four runners lined up
at the start, a rather large field for this run. This was the first
running race for me since Leadville 100 so I was not expecting this
short and fast race to be anything special but after warming up I felt
good and settled into a pace that felt good. At the top it was a bit of
a surprise because the turnaround was about 50 meters farther up and
around a corner. At the turnaround I was familiar with the people
around me because we had been running near each other for the last
1:07. I felt like the climb had not taken too much out of me and
decided to push hard on the downhill. This worked well. I caught and
past six runners, only one past me. I was surprised to find that my
Polar heart monitor showed that my uphill 1:07 average heart rate was
exactly the same as my 0:42 decent.
Thanks to CW-X, Polar, SofSole, Thorlo, Montrail, Hydropel.
Lance Armstrong Ride for
the Roses
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October 17, 2004
Austin, Texas
www.laf.org/News_Events/Events/Ride_Weekend
Lisa Carr-Broome and
George Broome
By Lisa Broome
We woke up to an overcast and windy morning, perfect weather for
the start of the 8th annual Ride for the Roses. 
More than 6500 participants (including Lance and other celebrities)
joined for the 60 to 100 mile ride through the Austin Hill Country in
support of cancer research, those living with cancer and to celebrate
cancer survivorship. Our 100 mile, 17 mph ride was exhilarating
despite the sun, heat (high 90's), humidity, and wind. We partook
in all of the well stocked rest stops as well as the post ride party
where we were entertained by The Greencards.
We want to thank the Lance Armstrong Foundation, the Roses Weekend
steering committee and all of the volunteers for their support and
commitment in making the Ride for the Roses Weekend and ride such an
enjoyable and memorable experience.
We also want to thank our team sponsors for your continued support and
belief in our Team Santa Fe and individual endeavors. Clothing
and gear used were CW-X biking jerseys, CW-X sports bra, Sof sole shoe
inserts, Suunto Advisor wrist computer with Polar HRM, CamelBak
hydration packs, E-Caps endurolytes, Bolle sunglasses, and Terry
saddles.
New
Mexico Orienteer's 4 Hour Mini-Rogaine
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Oct. 23, 2004
http://www.nmorienteers.org
Los Alamos NM
Carl Gable & Dave Coblentz, 1290 points, 1st overall, 1st over 40
Jan Bear, *1250 points, 3rd overall, 2nd over 40 (unranked due to
helping set controls)
Ries Robinson, 1240 points, 4th overall, 1st age 20-40
By Carl Gable
This is the second year the New Mexico Orienteer's have sponsoring
races. Most are shorter orienteering races but each fall they have put
on a two hour and four hour rogaine. We all entered the four hour
event. We plotted our courses independently, however we all chose to
follow a counter clockwise single loop to pick up the high point values
along the northern perimeter. We crossed paths a few times during the
race. I think most of the first half of the race Dave and I were ahead
of Jan and Ries who were racing together. During the second half, Ries
and Jan were ahead. All in all a well set course, nice mix of trails
and cross country. I'd do this one again.
In the end we all seemed to feel we were happy with our routes and very
few time wasting mistakes were made. We just have to go faster!!!
Thanks to CW-X, Polar, SofSole, Thorlo, CamelBak, Bolle, Boulder Bar,
Polar, GoLite, Montrail, Hydropel and Suunto.
Elves & More Texas
Cycling Classic
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October 30, 2004
Montgomery, Texas
Lisa Carr-Broome and
George Broome
By Lisa Broome
The first ever Elves & More Texas Cycling Classic hosted by the
Woodlands Cycling Club is a 23-36-64 or 100 mile ride through the
scenic countryside of Montgomery, Grimes and Walker counties located
approximately 50 miles north of Houston. Elves & More is a
nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of
children. Each entry fee of $40 provides a needy child in the
Greater Houston Area with either a bicycle or gift box for Christmas.
We chose to ride the 100 mile route which began and ended at the
Montgomery High School Complex. Starting times were staggered,
thus we rode out at 0830. The weather was perfect ... overcast
and in the low 80s. The route was on rolling hills through the scenic
countryside of Montgomery, Grimes and Walker counties which includes
the Sam Houston National Forest. By the afternoon, when the
temperatures were in the 90's, we were protected by the trees thus
again great riding conditions. The ride was well supported by
great volunteers and wonderful food. At the end of our 17.5 mph
ride we feasted on barbecue and were entertained by Bob Livingston
& the Cosmic Rays. What a great experience.
We want to thank our sponsors whose gear makes such a long ride more
enjoyable. CW-X biking jerseys, Terry saddles, CamelBak hydration
packs, Suunto wrist computer with Polar HRM, SofSole insoles, E-Cap
endurolytes, and Bolle sunglasses.
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