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April 2006 Team Santa Fe Activities
Races :
Elk
Mountain Grand Traverse Backcountry Ski Race
40 Miles, 8000' climb, 8850' decent
http://www.elkmountaintraverse.org
Crested Butte to Aspen CO, March 31 -> April 1 2006
Carl Gable and Bill Carey, 16h 12m 55s, M46+ 7th place, 86th
overall
by Carl Gable
This is the second time racing in EMGT, forty miles skiing through
the high alpine backcountry from Crested Butte to Aspen. My hope was
that Bill and I could improve on the time Gary and I posted last year,
but it was not to be. 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 88 of 111
teams reached the finish. We got extra attention at the start since we had
been sitting in the car waiting until the last minute to head to the start.
We cut it too thin and arrive with less than a minute to spare and as we
slapped on the skis, Bill had trouble with mud packed into his bindings.
So the gun went off, everyone left and there we were trying to the binding
to work. However, with 40 miles of trail ahead of us, starting 100m back
was not a handicap.
The conditions were as good as one could ask for. There had
been a bit of fresh snow in the previous two days so the surface was
soft and fresh on a hard base. Temperatures were moderate, 20F was the
low. During the day, the sky was mostly cloud covered so the surface did
not receive much solar radiation.
Overall the race went very smoothly except I was slow. The cold
set into my lungs and resulted in bronchial spasms that felt like I
was running on half lung power. I just could not get enough air to push
the pace uphill. We made the cut-off times but not much else. Nonetheless,
it was great to be out in spectacular country and Bill was a great race
partner. The snow conditions were such that I was able to use nordic
wax instead of climbing skins for the final 15 miles of the race. That
was a treat and a surprise.
This is a well run race with lots of logistics supporting racers
in winter conditions in alpine backcountry. A big thank you the race organizers
and all the great volunteers.
Pictures from last years race can be viewed at:
http://teamsantafe.org/05newsletters/newsletter_2005_05.shtml#Elk_Mountain_Grand_Traverse
Thanks to CW-X, Suunto, Hydropel, GoLite, Bolle, Leki, Boulder
Bar, CamelBak.
Coyote Classic
Mountain Bike Race
http://www.the-bicycle-company.com/Coyote_Classic_2006xls.xls
El Paso, TX.
April 2, 2006
Jan Bear, 1st Place Expert Class 50+ Males, 3:23:35
By Jan Bear
I had heard for sometime that the Coyote Classic was a technical,
long and many times hot race course so for my first race in the 50+ expert
class I thought the drive to El Paso would be fun. Indeed the race proved
to be a challenge; 28 miles in length, cloudless skies and hot sun and
a moderately technical course taking me 3 hours and 24 minutes to complete.
The race starts with a quick downhill on pavement the a turnaround with
a climb back to the start where the single track begins; the first 5
miles were rolling with little drops and climbs all on narrow single
track. As the first loop continued the ups and downs became a little bigger
and then some sand to push thru and finally some double track until the
finish of lap one where there is a steady climb of about 500 feet over
a third of a mile and the first nineteen miles was complete. Lap two was
the first part of lap one then a cut over to the same finish in nine miles
for a total of 28 miles of hard work. I was quite lucky to be the only
person in my age group so I finished in first place. The only negative was
the long drive to El Paso and back. This was race #1 in the New Mexico
Off Road Series of mountain bike races in New Mexico this year. There are
a total of twelve races on the schedule.
Thank you to our great Team Santa Fe sponsors for making this
event a great success; Montrail, ThorLo, Lowe Alpine, Leki, Bolle,
Litespeed, CW-X, GoLite, BTI, Shain, Suunto, CamelBak, Polar, Hydropel,
Dermatone, Sof-Sole, Maxis, New Mexico Bike and Sport, Niterider, Princeton
Tec, Wenger NA, Wolf Whitewater and E-Caps.
Dawn
Till Dusk 12 Hour Mountain Bike Race
http://www.dawntilduskrace.com/results.htm
Gallup, NM
April 8, 2006
Jan Bear and Ries Robinson, 4th Place 2 person teams, 9 laps
10:51
By Jan Bear
Ries and I did this event last year and had a great time despite
the cold weather and decided to return this year to the great single
track course hoping to improve on our third place finish. The promoters
did a great job getting the course ready and this year the mountain bikers
from all over the southwest showed up and the number of entrants was
more than twice that of 2005. The weather this year was much better but
the wind did pick up as the day progressed causing some difficulty on the
second half of the loop. I tried to convince Ries to do the first lap this
year as I had done it last year but he was not to be convinced and again
I had to ride that extra half mile at the start and try to get in a good
position at the start of the single track. By the time I reached the single
track my legs were burning and I worked to hold my place in the middle
of the pack finishing the first lap in 1:16. For the rest of the day we
alternated laps, each lap we were more tired but a little more comfortable
with the course and how to ride it. My fifth lap finished at 10:51 and I
tried to convince Ries to try to get in a last lap before the course closes
at twelve hours on the button but he wasn't having any of it as his laps
had been averaging right at 1:10 and he didn't think he could make it and
it would not change our overall position, 4th place in the 2 person pairs.
We had a great day as Jen (Ries's wife) was there with a 4 person team so
there was a great group to hang out with all day long. After the race it
was a quick trip back to Albuquerque as I had to catch a flight to Phoenix
early the next morning to see Kim complete her first Ironman.
Thank you to our great Team Santa Fe sponsors for making this
event a great success; Montrail, ThorLo, Lowe Alpine, Leki, Bolle,
Litespeed, CW-X, GoLite, BTI, Shain, Suunto, CamelBak, Polar, Hydropel,
Dermatone, Sof-Sole, Maxis, New Mexico Bike and Sport, Niterider, Princeton
Tec, Wenger NA, Wolf Whitewater and E-Caps.
Ironman Arizona
Phoenix, Arizona
http://www.ironmanarizona.com/
April 9, 2006
Kim Bear 23/47 age group finish 14:11
By Kim Bear
Registering for Ironman Phoenix began 2 years ago for me. I
wanted to do an event with my brother, John who lives in Phoenix; he
picked an Ironman! The first year we missed the deadline, so we did
not get registered until 2006. Once registered, we had 11 months to
train for our first Ironman.
I had always wanted to do this event, but felt daunted by ending
with a marathon. You begin with a 2.4 mile swim, transition to a 112
mile bike and end with 26.2 miles of running. I felt comfortable with
the first 2 events as I was a swimmer in college and still do quite a bit
a biking. My goal was just to finish the run. I dialed in a training
schedule and much to my surprise began to dread the swim training! The
chlorine in the pool water made me itchy at night and by the time April rolled
around I was glad to get this event done and not worry about training.
This event was top on my priorities to complete. From my training I guesstimated
that the swim would take me around one hour…maybe more with all the people,
the bike should take me around 6 hours as I do a century in that time and
the run would take me 6-8 hours. My goal was just to finish as any time
would be my personal best.
At the race meeting we found out that we were included in the
40% of the participants who would be doing an Ironman for their first
time. The big emphasis was on having a "good attitude" and being safe.
The whole presentation was very impressive and professional; however
I left feeling a little daunted and overwhelmed by 2,000 competitors.
I got a good night sleep and arrived at the race site as directed
at 5 am Sunday morning. We got marked with our numbers and put on our
wetsuits as the sun began to rise. I finally jumped in at 6:45 am.
As we treaded the water trying to keep warm, the National Anthem was played.
Jan was flying in and should be arriving at the airport in about 30 minutes.
I was looking forward to seeing him. And then the gun went off. I felt
like I was in a minnow swarm. I swam up on people's feet as they swam
up on mine. I was always close to someone. I kept reminding myself not
to panic that I was a strong swimmer. The turn around buoy seemed to
come quickly. I came out of the water in 1:07; 3rd /47 in my age group.
I felt good, changed into biking clothes and took off for 3 loops on
my bike. The course headed from downtown Tempe all the way out to the
Beeline Highway in the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community located
northeast of the city. It was nice to be able to see everyone in the
field as it was out and back 3 times. I never saw my brother which concerned
me. The bike took me 6:11, 8th / 47 age group.
I began my shuffle (run). Jan was there to help cheer me on.
The run course was also 3 loops running alongside Tempe Town Lake.
Every mile had an aid station and I stopped or walked slowly through every
one but 2. I finally saw my brother. He had trouble on the swim and
had stopped. I was just relieved that he was OK. He stayed to cheer
me on my long, very slow run. I finally finished a little after 9 pm.
It took me 6:33 to finish putting me 43rd / 47 in my age group. I felt
really good; I was actually quite pleased with my results because I got
what I trained for…next year I am training to run faster. Next year I
will be in the 50 year age group. Next year if I take 2 hours off of my
run…I could place in my age group. I can hardly wait…for next year!
Cerrillos
del Coyote Mountain Bike Race
http://www.socorro.com/ssr/coyote/#Results
Socorro, NM
April, 15, 2006
Jan Bear, 1st Place 50+ Expert 2:31
By Jan Bear
Does it was a windy day mean anything to you? This year's Cerrillos
del Coyote started in a dust storm riding along the banks of the Rio
Grande, the headwind was brutal and within ten minutes of the start I
was dropped off the back. The course was the same as last year which
took me two hours and three minutes and this year the time was much longer
by almost thirty minutes. The course is mainly on old jeep roads and
just a little single track. It's generally a fun and fast course but this
year the wind took all the fun out of it. The course was 47 kilometers
long with only a moderate amount of climbing. However the climbs were
short and steep with a couple sites where you needed to push up. The sand
was deep and slower that last year due to the wind and once back down
to the Rio Grande the wind had switched direction and there was a headwind
all the way along the river to the finish. This was stage two of the
New Mexico Off Road Series and the turn out was great despite the wind.
Thank you to our great Team Santa Fe sponsors for making this
event a great success; Montrail, ThorLo, Lowe Alpine, Leki, Bolle,
Litespeed, CW-X, GoLite, BTI, Shain, Suunto, CamelBak, Polar, Hydropel,
Dermatone, Sof-Sole, Maxis, New Mexico Bike and Sport, Niterider, Princeton
Tec, Wenger NA, Wolf Whitewater and E-Caps.
4th Annual
24 hours of Temecula
April 23 and 24, 2006
Vail Lake, CA
http://www.grannygear.com/
Kim and Jan Bear
2nd in Duo/Pro Expert Division
By Kim Bear
This was our third time to do this event. The previous 2 years
we had placed second, losing to a pair of brothers. Jan had been sick
the whole week and we weren't sure he was even going to be able to ride.
We would find out on Saturday. I drove the bikes to California on
Thursday, Jan flew in on Friday and I kept my fingers crossed that he
would be better.
The goal of the 24 hours of Temecula is to do as many laps on
your mountain bike as you could starting at noon on Saturday and ending
at noon on Sunday. Only one person from your team is allowed on the
course at one time. This year the total course length was 10.22 miles
with 1,498 feet of vertical climbing in each lap. Each lap was made
more memorable by naming sections and the names hadn't changed much
over the last 2 years. The lap began quickly along Vail Lake for the
first 2 miles, then you began climbing by a dam on Vail Lake, thus appropriately
named "The Dam(n) Climb" ending mile 3, "The fun begins" was a screaming
downhill taking you to mile 4. The first Danger Zone is broached and appropriately
named "baby heads" for the rock garden on the steep descent. "Ambulance
road climb" was a climb between mile 5 and 6. Other named sections were
"Burning calves" which was a steep, steep incline between mile 7 and 8,
"Marine Corp Climb"…similar to burning calves on mile 9 followed by my
favorite…"Home run" which was a quick downhill into the finish. Once that
part of the ride was done, you had 5 minutes before you reached the tents
to pass the baton off to your teammate (or spouse as in our case).
The race began with Kim running a lap around a dry lake bed,
a "Le Mans Style start" to get to her bike. This was because Jan had
been sick and didn't want to overdo it. The strategy worked well. Jan
did the second lap under an hour and would do several more in under an
hour. Laps were alternated until the night where each doubled up. However,
Jan ended up doubling up early in the afternoon, because Kim forgot her
check in card to scan in the exchange. Jan was a good sport and took off
on another lap rather than waste time waiting for Kim to return to their
campsite to get the card. (Kim was happy for a little more rest and Jan
didn't seem that sick anymore!) The other challenge was it rained all
night long so we were fighting cold and mud on the night laps.
We ended up with 19 laps, Jan did 10 and Kim finished 9 of the
laps. We were excited to have the Team Santa Fe Duo come in second place!
The same team of men beat us; but we were very happy with our result.
Both racers used their Polar heart rate monitors to pace themselves.
Sponsor gear used during the event included Litespeed, CW-X, Dermatone,
SixSixOne, Golite, ThorLo, Shain, E-Caps/Hammer Gel, BTI, Princeton
Tec, Niterider, Schrade, Bolle, and Hydropel. Thanks to these great sponsors
for their support!!!
High
Altitude Classic Mountain Bike Race
http://www.highaltitude.org/race.html
Cloudcroft, NM
April 30, 2006
Jan Bear
By Jan Bear
I had never been to Cloudcroft despite living in New Mexico for
45 years. What a great spot and the High Altitude Classic was a treat.
The course was a fun nine mile loop with some difficult climbs but some
long downhill's where the speed was very, very fast. The expert course
consisted of three laps for a total of twenty seven miles. My race fell
apart in the mid section of lap two when I had two flats and broke my
right pedal. I put things back together and finished lap three in 2:52
and in reviewing my HRM information my time to fix the flats and pick
up a tube at the start finish between laps two and three as well as pump
up both tires with the floor pump took a total of twelve minutes. I really
need to practice my flat changes and maybe get a new pump. The High Altitude
Classic is definitely a race that I will return to if the opportunity presents
itself as the course was great and certainly challenging.
Thank you to our great Team Santa Fe sponsors for making this
event a great success; Montrail, ThorLo, Lowe Alpine, Leki, Bolle,
Litespeed, CW-X, GoLite, BTI, Shain, Suunto, CamelBak, Polar, Hydropel,
Dermatone, Sof-Sole, Maxis, New Mexico Bike and Sport, Niterider, Princeton
Tec, Wenger NA, Wolf Whitewater and E-Caps.
Training
Los Alamos Pajarito
Mt. Training Run, ~19 miles, 4070 vert. feet
Los Alamos NM, April 23 2006
Carl Gable, Bill Carey and friends, 3h, 44m
This was a training run for the Jemez 50 on May 13 2006. Overall
running with Bill was good for pushing the pace. We ran the entire course
together, finishing 15 minutes faster that the time for the same run
last year. For a map, profile and other data from the run see:
http://teamsantafe.org/06newsletters/newsletter_2006_04.shtml
Los Alamos Guaje Ridge
Training Run, ~20 miles, 4000 vert. feet
Los Alamos NM, April 30 2006
Carl Gable, Bill Carey and friends, 3h, 59m
This was a training run for the Jemez 50 on May 13 2006. Bill
and I again ran the course together. Much of the run is on the same
trails as the Jemez 50 so this was a training/pre-run of the course. Bill
had more left at the finish and opened a two minute gap in the last twenty
minutes. For a map, profile and other data from the run see:
http://teamsantafe.org/06newsletters/newsletter_2006_04.shtml
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