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Team Santa Fe Newsletter
May 2005
Races
Elk Mountain
Grand Traverse Backcountry Ski Race
40 Miles, Crested Butte - Aspen CO.
April 1 2005
http://www.elkmountaintraverse.org
Carl Gable / Gary Johnson , 80th place; 11 of 16 M46+ 15:22:00
by Carl Gable
This is truly a unique race. I don't know of another like it, forty
miles skiing through the high alpine backcountry from Crested Butte to
Aspen. I've been looking at this race for years and the great snow conditions
we have had this year made it seem that the time was right. To insure that
people can finish during daylight the race starts at midnight. It is quite
a sight to see 125 teams of two heading into the night on skis. As is typical
of this race only 95 teams reached the finish. Many had to turn around because
they did not make the 7:30am cut-off at Star Pass. During normal years
the Star Pass cut-off is 8:00am but this year, due to avalanche conditions,
a modified route off the pass had to be taken that added some climbing.
Most of the second half of the course is above 11,000 feet on a high ridge.
This year the weather was sunny and calm. Some years the miles above tree
line can be cold and windy. After nearly twenty miles of ups and downs on
the ridge the final plunge is 3000 feet of decent from the top of Aspen Mt.
ski area to the base. This was exciting considering Gary and I both were on
ultra light Nordic skate skis. We were happy to have finished. It is a race
that seems to have a large percentage of the field returning year after year.
We just might have to come back to do better!
Thanks to CW-X, Suunto, Hydropel, GoLite, Bolle, Leki, Boulder
Bar, CamelBak.
Collegiate Peaks Trail Run
Buena Vista CO.
May 7 2005
http://www.collegiatepeakstrailrun.org
Carl Gable, 51st of 195; 4:23:57
by Carl Gable
I concluded this year that the 25 mile version of the course is
the way to go. If you do the 50 mile version you run the same loop backwards.
I was ready to be done and I enjoyed finishing with an eight mile downhill
that was easy to run fast. Besides, they do the raffle prizes while the
50 mile people are still out running so they are not there to claim prizes
when their number is called. The weather was perfect, cool, snow flurries
and a tail wind. The course was good footing on nearly dry packed dirt.
Everything was perfect, even the views of the 14,000 ft peaks to the west
as they came and went behind clouds. I was not sure if my training was up
to the task so I started at a conservative pace but I felt really good at
mile 15 so I then began to push it. In the final eight miles lots of people
were really slowing down so it felt good to be moving forward through the
field. All around a great course but again my opinion is the 25 mile course
is the one to do. Friends who did the 50 agreed.
Thanks to Montrail, CW-X, Thorlo, Polar Heart Rate monitors, SofSole,
Hydropel.
New Mexico Orienteers May Event
Los Alamos, NM
May 14th, 2005
http://www.nmorienteers.org/20050514.html
Jan Bear , Third place Red Course, 1 hour 20 minutes.
by Jan Bear
For this event I just couldn't seem to find a partner so I was
on my own. As a member of the NM Orienteering Club I volunteered to vet
the long orange course prior to event start at 10 AM so I arrived in Los
Alamos at 8 AM to do my task. I really enjoyed it and was back to the
start/finish area by 9:30 AM. I actually found two down controls due to
the overnight wind and replaced them. After a brief rest I started out
on the Red Course. It was a good course with plenty of up and down with
cross country hiking and on trail. The controls were all right where they
should have been. I finished the course in one hour and twenty minutes for
third place. There were 13 checkpoints on the Red Course; the loop was about
6 kilometers with 240 meters of climbing. I had no real problems but just
wasn't fast enough to finish 1st. As usual it was a great event put on by
the New Mexico Orienteers. The meet was well attended.
Team Santa Fe sponsor gear used on this cold wet day: SealSkinz,
Montrail, ThorLo, Lowe Alpine, CW-X, CamelBak, GoLite, Suunto, Bolle,
Outdoor Research, Crescent Moon and Schrade.
QUEST
FOR FIRE Adventure Race
Angel Fire, NM
May 21, 2005
http://www.nmarc.org/quest_for_fire.htm
Kim Bear, Jeanette Brasher, Kerry Dalen and Kim Kreb , Finisher,
4 person team open division
By Kim Bear
This was to be the inaugural adventure race for New Mexico. It
was hosted by the New Mexico Adventure Racing Club which is based out
of Albuquerque. Jan and I had met the race director, Carrie O'Hara, years
ago at a 4 winds adventure race and got to know her as we were all from
New Mexico. We were excited to be involved with the first adventure race,
New Mexican style. The race was billed as taking place at elevations above
7500 feet with a 25 to 35 mile mountain bike section,12 to 17 mile hike/trek,
and 6 to 8 mile paddle. To make the race even more interesting, they had
planned several mystery events.
We actually were able to get 3 teams together. Mine was Team Santa
Fe Women. As the name suggests, we were all women and Kim Kreb had never
done an adventure race before. I was confident about her ability as she
was "Lead Woman" last year, doing the Leadville Trail 100 mile mountain
bike race and then one week later accomplished the 100 mile run in under
25 hours. Jeanette, whom I've raced with before, was to be our navigator.
Kerry and I went to nurse practitioner school together in 91, and swam for
UNM's women's team in the late 70's. It was to be a good time.
Another team was Team Cider Santa Fe. The team members were from
Jan and my spinning classes. We talk a lot about our adventures and finally
several regulars took the challenge to try out this sport!
The third team was Team Santa Fe and I'll let Jan describe their
race.
We checked in on Friday to the Angel Fire Resort. This was well
manned and low key. The mandatory meeting at 7 pm left us in suspense.
The race was sold out, so it was a full house. We were given no maps, but
got instructions to be at Eagle Nest Lake by 6:15 am the next morning.
Sunrise came quickly and we drove to the lakes edge with all our gear
only to find 3 inner tubes and 1 palette per team. We had planned on paddling
in canoes or kayaks. Maps were handed out and the race began at 6:30 am.
We used our rope and duct tape to put the inner tube to the palette.
Jeanette and Kim K. are engineers so the team found that very useful in
crafting our raft. Kerry and I paddled across the lake to CP 1 while Kim
and Jeanette went around the lake. You could select who would paddle or
hike. At the CP we got a safety pin with a flag as confirmation that
we had reached the CP. At each of the CP's they had a different flag, they
represented the origin of each of the racers. At CP1 we changed into hiking
clothes and navigated up 26 switchbacks to bushwhack down to a saddle for
CP 2. From there we climbed to over 12,000 feet to "Touch Me Not" peak.
Our travel was slow as Jeanette can experience high altitude problems and
we did not want to stress our navigator. We saw Team Santa Fe Cider early
in the climb, but never saw Team Santa Fe.
We had to make it back to the Eagle Nest Lake transition area by
2:45. The cut off was at 3 pm. We would make it out of the transition
by 10 seconds; it was very, very close. The race management gave us a
time penalty for not doing the mystery event here, but we were just glad
to be able to continue. We rode back to the Angel Fire Resort, and Jeanette
was feeling very poorly. She decided to get us to the next CP and then
she would drop the race. We were sad and worried as she was our navigator.
As we rode into the resort area, Team Santa Fe was driving by as they had
already completed the race. They pumped us back up and on we went as a
4 person team...determined to finish. We rode to the Tyrolean traverse
and made it over with great effort. We were the last team across and then
got the abbreviated mountain bike course. We finished and all received finisher
medals.
Team Santa Fe Cider was the last team to do the complete course,
our course had been abbreviated. They ended up coming in 2nd of the 4
person teams.
This race was incredibly well supported and well run. It was a
great race for a first time adventure. It gave our team of women, the
experience of having to navigate, having the potential to get lost, climbing
to the highest peak and back down again, and getting creative in inspiring
us to keep going. We got to experience team dynamics and how important
it is to maintain. I would recommend this race to both the beginner and
the experienced race.
Thanks CW-X, CamelBak, Native Eyewear, E-Caps, Boulder Bar, Gaerne,
ThorLo, Polar, SofSole, Hydropel, Shain, Terry, BTI, Dermatone and Bike
& Sport/Litespeed, GoLite, ThorLo, Leki, Suunto and Petzl.
QUEST
FOR FIRE Adventure Race
Angel Fire, NM
May 21, 2005
http://www.nmarc.org/index.php?action=quest
Jan Bear, Gary Johnson, Ries Robinson and Deb Werenko , 1st Place
4 person coed team
by Jan Bear
What a fun yet challenging 12 hour adventure race, New Mexico Adventure
Racing Club did an outstanding job preparing and running this event.
The TSF 4 person coed team was a little apprehensive at the check
in on Friday night with all the buff athletes in the room and the change
in format where we really got no information about the race except to show
up at Eagle Nest Lake at 6 AM, so we had a fitful night of sleep. As always
race day cleared things up for us. Once we got the instructions at 6:15
AM we were off to build our water craft from auto tire tubes and a wooden
pallet then send Ries and Gary across the lake on this "very trustworthy
watercraft". Deb and I ran around the lake and met Ries and Gary who were
2nd out of the water. A quick change out of the wets suits for Ries and
Gary and we were off to Touch Me Not peak via 2 CP's and back to the lake
to again cross in our raft. Following this we did a mystery event, me directing
Ries through a maze blindfolded and we also received the rest of our maps
and plotted the remaining course which was to be on mountain bikes. On our
bikes we visited the Angel Fire Vietnam Memorial and a local church, I
think these sites were map plots to try to throw us for a loop. Then it
was on to Angel Fire Resort for a ride on their mountain bike trails and
a short Tyrolean traverse with our bikes. After we completed the single
track climb and the traverse it was a very steep downhill to the finish
line. At the finish we learned that we had held on to our first place position.
It was really a fun event and the New Mexico Adventure Racing Club did a
great job putting on this race.
Thanks CW-X, CamelBak, Native Eyewear, E-Caps, Boulder Bar, Gaerne,
ThorLo, Polar, SofSole, Hydropel, Shain, Terry, BTI, Dermatone and Bike
& Sport/Litespeed, GoLite, ThorLo, Leki, Suunto and Petzl.
Iron Horse Bicycle Classic
Durango, CO
May 28th, 2005
http://www.ironhorsebicycleclassic.com
Kim Bear, citizens division
Deb Werenko, 16th out of 41 in her age group 3:15:41
Gary Johnson, 42nd out of 66 in his age group 3:08:29
By Kim Bear
I had always wanted to do this race and finally talked Jan into
going to Durango over Memorial weekend. I would do the road ride and
he wanted to do the mountain bike race. I rode in the citizen's race with
Kim Kreb who is going to be my partner for the TransAlp mountain bike
race in Europe this year. The ride is set with the start in Durango. The
citizens leave as the train leaves downtown and we race the train to
see is we can beat it into Silverton. Silverton is 47 miles away and you
climb 5,500 feet over 2 passes Coal Bank Summit and Molas summit. I thought
it was a great ride. It was "very cool" to ride the two summits with only
other cyclists as the road was closed to traffic. We didn't push it that
hard and made it to Silverton in about 4 hours. The weather was fine until
the final descent into Silverton where we got a little rain. At the finish
line they said over 19,000 people had ridden. Amazing! I was impressed with
all the spectators and support.
Deb Werenko and Gary Johnson "raced" the train with great results.
Thanks CW-X, CamelBak, Native Eyewear, E-Caps, Boulder Bar, Gaerne,
ThorLo, Polar, SofSole, Hydropel, Shain, Terry, BTI, Dermatone and Bike
& Sport/Litespeed.
Iron Horse Cross Country Mountain Bike
Race
Durango, CO
May 30th, 2005
http://www.ironhorsebicycleclassic.com/results/XC_Results_Final.pdf
Jan Bear, 1st Place 50+ Sport Master Men
by Jan Bear
Kim and I had been in Durango all weekend for the Iron Horse.
She had done the Durango to Silverton road event on Saturday, as had
Deb Werenko and Gary Johnson. I skipped this and did mountain bike riding
on the Hermosa and Jones Creek trail to get ready for the race on Monday
(Memorial Day). After riding both Saturday and Sunday, I thought I was
ready for a little race action at Chapman Hill. I entered the sport master
category; the start time was 10:05 am. I was feeling pretty good about
this race as I was going to be able to sleep in, eat and then race. What
more could you ask for? Actually, 10:05 am came very quickly and the race
was a quick jumpstart into a severe grunt up Chapman Hill and then off to
endless single track. The single track was tight, open, curvy, then it was
straight, up, down, slow, fast, rock, sand, and gravel. It just didn't stop.
It was really a great course about 19 miles in length with no places to relax.
Passing was hard as was being passed. The weather was warm and windy so
fluid intake was important. I had a momentary lapse of concentration about
2/3s through the course and I found myself on the ground with some chin
gravel rash. I quickly recovered and jumped back on my bike and pressed
on a little more cautiously. The finish was a very technical decent back
down Chapman Hill. I finished in 2:07:56. Kim and I needed to head back
to Santa Fe so I had no idea how I had done until we looked at the web site
Monday night. I was shocked that I came in first for my age group. I should
have stayed to pick up my prize, but the riding was definitely prize enough!
Thanks CW-X, CamelBak, Native Eyewear, E-Caps, Boulder Bar, Gaerne,
ThorLo, Polar, SofSole, Hydropel, Shain, Terry, BTI, Dermatone and Bike
& Sport/Litespeed.
Training Events
20th Annual Santa Fe Century
Santa Fe, NM
May 19th, 2005
http://www.santafecentury.com
Kim and Jan Bear, Gary Johnson, Ries Robinson, Deb Werenko
By Kim Bear
The Santa Fe Century is an annual training event for TSF members.
This year the Century was again a fun training ride with the wind being
less of a problem than in years past. It was a very nice day with some cloud
cover to keep the temperature down and very little wind. As in years past
it looked like there were about 2500 riders that left the start line beginning
as early as 6 AM. Kim, Jan and Ries left about 6:45 from the Bear home
and rode with our neighbor. Kim rode with several different students from
her century training class from the local community center. She was very
pleased with how well they all did. Deb and Gary rode together and had a
great ride. It was a good training day for all.
Gear sponsors, CamelBak hydration packs, Polar HRM, Bolle sunglasses,
Litespeed bikes, Terry saddles, BTI bicycle parts, SixSixOne shoes gloves,
Shain helmets, CW-X bike clothing, E-caps, Boulder Bars and Hydropel.
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