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June 2006 Team Santa Fe Activities
Races :
La Tierra Torture Mountain Bike Race
http://www.sixhecklers.com/torture.html
Santa Fe, NM
June 4th, 2006
Kim Bear, Jan Bear, George Broome, Lisa Broome, Gary Johnson and Deb Werenko
By Jan Bear
The La Tierra Torture Mountain Bike Race was last run in 1998 under the
directory of the City of Santa Fe. Since that time no real mountain biking event
has been held in Santa Fe on a regular basis. I helped to put together a small
group of local mountain bike and trail enthusiasts and with the help of several
local sponsors held the La Tierra Torture on June 4th as part of the New Mexico
Off Road Series of races with NORBA sanctioning.
On June 3rd we as organizers finished the course marking and got ready for the
big day. We had many more walk up entrants than we expected and ended up
with 189 racers. There were all the usual NORBA categories, beginner, sport,
expert and pro in both men and women as well as single speed. The course
consisted of an 8 mile loop that based on category may have to be done once,
twice or four times. The day was very hot and dry and the trails took a beating by
the last laps but all entrants enjoyed the course which had a little of everything:,
big rocks, little rocks(baby heads), sand, open double tracks, tight single track,
short climbs, intermediate climbs, quick drops just to name a few.
Team Santa Fe results were: Jan Bear 1st Expert men 50+, Gary Johnson 2nd
Expert men 50+, Deb Werenko 2nd Expert women, Lisa Broome 9th Sport
women, Kim Bear DNF(mechanical), George Broome 4th Master Sport men 50+.
Thank you to Team Santa Fe Sponsors: Litespeed, BTI, Bike & Sport, ThorLo,
GoLite, Gaerne, Camelbak, Dermatone, CW-X, SofSole, Shain, Polar, Hydropel,
Wingnut Gear and Bolle.
AdventureXstream 24 Hour Adventure Race
http://www.gravityplay.com/axs
Durango, CO
June 10-11, 2006
Kim and Jan Bear, 2nd Place Coed Pairs
By Kim Bear
This 24-hour-race was staged out of Durango Mountain Resort. It started at
midnight with maps and UTM's being handed for a mini-Rogaine. Being an older
couple requiring glasses and good light to plot UTM's, I think we were one of the
last to leave on this section of the race. We were thankful to have good
dependable lighting provided by Princeton Tec; the Apex kept us going all night
long. This light has different choices for burn time and brightness, so if we were
on a dirt road we could keep the brightness lower as compared to a more
technical trail with roots where we needed more lighting. This feature helps to
save batteries yet provides great bright light when necessary. We did not have
to change the batteries all night.
The orienteering course had 10 Checkpoints to find before 10 am the next
morning. A one hour penalty would be given for every checkpoint not found. Time
penalties would also be given for every minute accrued after 10 am cut off and if
you were not done by 10:30 am you were DQ'ed; however no one could leave
before 9 am onto checkpoint 11 unless you had punched in at all the
checkpoints. The trekking would be about 30 miles long of "grunting" up and
down the mountains of Durango. Jan did a good job with the night navigation and
found all the checkpoints that we went after. At 5 am, we were worried we would
not be able to complete Checkpoint 7 in the time allowed so we skipped it to
ensure getting the rest of the checkpoints. It would be a huge error. We arrived
back at the transition area at 8 am and then had to wait one hour before we could
leave on our bikes. We could have gotten that extra checkpoint! As a result, we
really served a 2 hour penalty, 1 hour because we could not leave till 9 am and
the second hour because we missed one of the checkpoints! However, the extra
hour gave Jan time to get some problems taken care of on his bike. He was
worried about the back wheel on his bike and thought it was cracking. He was
able to borrow another wheel.
At 9 am we got on our bikes to ride Hermosa Creek, one of the premier single
track routes in the United States. It was an uneventful ride with a Tyrolean
traverse at the end of the trail. From there we continued on our mountain bikes
up Jones Creek. Jones Creek is a major climb with a spectacular view along a
ridgeline and then it descends back into the Animas valley to water section. Chris
our support was waiting for us and pushed us out into the river after feeding us.
The paddle was an 18 mile section with the pull out at a park across from the
finish line. We shuffled across in a finish time of 19:10. The pair that beat us,
Danelle Ballengee and Dave Mackey, won in our category in a time of 17:14. We
felt good as we had that 2 hour penalty an finished in 19:10.
We are excited that in points, we are leading in the category of coed pairs. We
look forward to the next AdventureXstream race in Breckenridge in July.
Thanks to our sponsors, Litespeed, BTI, GoLite, CamelBak, Leki, SealSkinz,
Dermatone, Boulder Bars, Hydropel, Montrail, CW-X, Polar, Terry, Petzl, Black
Diamond, Bolle, Werner, Suunto, Shain, SofSole, Bike and Sport, and E-Caps.
First Annual Run the Caldera, Marathon and 10 Mile trail run
http://www.highaltitudeathletics.org
Valles Caldera National Preserve, NM
June 17, 2006
Carl Gable, Marathon, 4:16:44, 8th of 33, 6th male
Barb Dutrow, 10 mile (sic 8.5 mile), 1:19:00, 23 of 74, 3rd female
This run was a first in many ways. The Valles Caldera is opening to the public
and this was the first major running event to take place. Having lived in the area
for twenty years, it was our first opportunity to run through and see a chunk of
80,000 acres of wild lands that had previously been closed. During the run one
runner saw a black bear and elk could be seen in the distance in the main
caldera. The races began at 30 minute intervals just off Hwy 4 near the 30 mile
marker.
Marathon, by Carl Gable
The marathon was the first race to depart in a cloud of dust (see photo above). It took a
clockwise loop starting at 8200 ft. in the western part of the Valles Caldera with a
short steep climb, a decent to a creek drainage and then a six mile climb to the
high point at 9500 ft. The first miles were scenic but the track was such fine,
deep and dry volcanic dust that it was important to avoid running behind other
runners. The middle miles of the run, from mile 10 to 20 the field felt like they
were getting away from me and by mile 20 I was in 16th place. However, the
course had other plans, and at mile 21 was a very steep hill. From that point on,
the field seemed to fall apart but I maintained my pace. The result was a steady
move up through the field to a final finish of 8th place. It was a good race, things
clicked and I was able to perform to my potential.
10 Mile, by Barb Dutrow
Having watched the marathon start earlier, it was obvious that you wanted to
start near the front of the pack to avoid the blinding dust of the other 75
runners. The ten-mile course also made a clockwise loop around the caldera
primarily on double track jeep roads. For the first two miles, to the only aid
station - as it turned out, the trail descended then had rolling hills. However,
immediately after the aid station, there was a steep long (2 mile) climb to 8900
feet - which spread the field. Once the elevation had been gained, the course
was then a series of rolling hills high on the caldera banks through beautiful
pine forests. These also gave a welcome respite from the searing heat. Once up
high, the course broke out into a gorgeous grassy meadow and single track, near
where the second aid station at 7 miles, was supposed to be. We kept looking for
the aid station, none around. Then we came out onto a road and saw people
yelling, you are almost finished. What we asked? We haven't made it to the aid
station, and we should be running for another 15 min. Not so, all of a sudden we
broke out of the trees to the finish line. Someone with a GPS estimated the
course at 8.5 miles, considerably short of the 10 mile and of our estimated
times. No chance to sprint to the finish! I then helped with the finish line
scoring.
Many thanks to CW-X, Thorlo, Hydropel, Polar, www.pokerjunkie.com.
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