Turkey Trot

On one of my recent ridge runs I ran into a pack of wild turkeys.  I had just finished Extended-Extended Raiders and had just climbed a little steep section of

Extended Raiders (or if depending on your perspective, I may have just finished Extended Raiders and was beginning Raiders) when I noticed what looked like a big pile of axle grease on the trail.  Apparently turkeys poop like that, because just around the next turn in the trail I saw the pack, and once spooked, they quickly formed a peloton and hauled tail down the trail.

I decided to follow the turkey peloton for as long as I could and I was quite surprised to see that they mostly stuck to the trail.  Every now and then they would head off trail on a faint parallel path, but then it would connect back into the main trail.  Hmm, these turkeys have been running here longer than we have been recreating for sure.  

I actually had to pick up the pace to keep up with the turkeys or i would be dropped.  After a while, I decided to check the GPS on the speed at which we were running.  Because of the rocks and turns it was difficult to do this, but I worked the Garmin out of my pocket and found us to be doing around 7 to 8 mph.  

So there you have it - you now know how fast turkeys run in pelotons on rocky trails.

 I then switched to riding the mountain bike.  I decided to try High Point on the CT, but turned back about halfway past the turnoff from Dry Fork as there was some snow up there.

Much to my surprise though was that the aspen trees are well "asping" or in full bloom, with this being around 8500-ft elevation in late April.

 Wednesday, I ran into the No Tubes team and we rode the CT and later Twin Buttes for a short bit.  Rich is staying out west with my neighbor Shannon through the race weekend down in Prescott, AZ after spending time in CA the week prior.  It was pretty funny to see him because our team order was due exactly this same day and I had struggled to collect everyone's order at the last minute.  He won't be checking email till next week, so much for my mad scrambles.  

 I took a photo of town on the next days ride and as you can see, even up high there is not much snow.

 Someone put in new signs at the Dry Fork / CT intersection.  I like the new Denver vs Durango arrows.

Hit up gudy's Rest and tried to sit down but the log the
"rest" or log seat has been taken over by red commie fire ants.  

Family Time

The DMT had their annual kick off party at Ska Brewing so we made a trip over there.  I hit up the Raiders Ridge run for the third time in the week and was in dire need of food and beer.  The had a table top map showing the Durango Double courses, both dirt and paved road.   I'd really like to run both legs of the double challenge:  a 50k dirt run and a paved road marathon the next day, but at $150 for both, I'll probably just do the dirt 50k.   Pay an entry fee to run on trails I already run on?  Seems weird, but yes it will be true.  The course goes right through my neighborhood and hits a good portion of my regular route.  

  The little one had a good time and then, it was lights out!

 We hit up a good hike on Skyline the next day.

 While Jeni ran up to the top a couple of times.  She's got herself a pair of the Hoka One Ones as well and loves them, even if she does run in yoga pants.  

 And then she joined us for the hike down.

 Fun day, and then time to hit up Home Slice Pizza!

Concert of the day here - Bobby at the TRI Studies he owns.  Check out the HD video archives - good stuff!

Very Dry Fork

It's back to dirt trails again, and I started out Tuesday with another run up Raiders and around the college.  I thought perhaps I might have interest in doing the DGG route, but the Wednesday mountain bike changed all of that.

You see, the Colorado Trail is open and all dry.  Wahoo!

I hooked up a big loop combing everything from the College Trails, Test Tracks, Twin Buttes, Dry Fork/CT, and Sailing Hawks back up Lions Den.  There are more trails to ride in town than I can do in one day right now, so that means the cross bike can take a siesta.

 The Wily was built up over the winter with gears that had been hermetically sealed with a "Do not open until you are old" sign affixed to it.  Well, I'm not old but I do plan to pull the baby trailer behind a bike and it wasn't so appealing to do so via single speed.  It also gives me a better bike to ride through town after coming home from a round or two of beers. 

 Had dinner with Steve over at Carvers and rode up the Nature Trail - complete with Doc Martens and flat pedals.  I should have done this earlier.

 Steve was so excited about the news of the Twin Buttes trails that we hooked up for the same route on Thursday and he got a chance to ride his new Independent Fabrications single speed bike.  With parts in the used bin he built up quite the single speed upper echelon frame complete with Phil Wood hubs, and White Industries cranks and free hub.  Awesome!

Two twelve mile runs, two 40 mile mountain bike rides by Thursday and the weekend is still yet to come.  This has been a good week for sure.  Durango trails are open and ready - and if this is to be a very dry year with a possibly bad fire season, it's time to use those trails before they get closed.  Ride on!

Check out this news article on a friend of ours here in town - she will be spending her summer in Greenland.  Rebecca is also looking for some donations to help out with the adventure, so if you don't mind please kick a few bucks her way at this donation website.  If she reaches her goal, no baby harp seals will be eaten.  Ok, just kidding on that last part.

12 mile skid

Sunday is run day, or at least it was the day after my DGG attempt.  We awoke to a world of white snow covering the ground, and by mid afternoon all had melted and everything was dry and good to go.  Jeni and Jia Li got a head start by hiking up Skyline and I ran up to them about a third of the way.  The ridge was in great shape and I only saw two people up there.  From there it was around the college, down Chapman and up Lion's Den for a nice ~12 mile run, 2k climbing run.

The Hokas are nearing the end of their life based on worn tread.  I'm going to try their new shoe, the Biondi Evo B which looks to have better and perhaps more durable tread.    Weird how mountain bike tires last longer than shoe tread.

Six more miles...

Durango Gravel Grinder 2012

Well I only wish there had been a start line.  The weather man scared the absolute hell out of everyone with a forecast of 90% rain/snow, so I was the only person to show up at the 7AM start.  There was actually one other person out there - Brian Trebus started at 9AM and got in over 100-miles as well, but we never ran into each other.

At Durango Joes, I ordered a small coffee and waited for other cyclists but none came. I looked at the light gray sky and saw no dark gray so I rolled out to loop 1 and had it all to myself.  I saw a ton of deer and some patches of blue sky opened on CR 125.  The roads were in great condition as the county did the spring dirt road maintenance and several sections were recently graded and mag-chloride treated.  In fact CR 136 was smooth - and not full of hub deep ruts like last season.  I finished the ~70 mile loop in 4:15 time and then started out for loop 2.

Loop 2 was when I noticed the winds picking up, and after I got through the Horse Gulch I thought perhaps I should just ride the loop in reverse direction since I was the only one out there and I had just done this loop the previous Sunday.  It also would mean that when I hit CR 510 and the killer hills that the wind would be at my back.  Now that is some good thinking!  All worked to plan until I got near the gas plant and it the snow started.

It came down sideways as the wind kicked up really bad.  I was dialed in for the clothing - had on my Assos thermal tights, Showers Pass jacket, and even had my neoprene cycling gloves in my pocket if needed.  I put on the Showers Pass cycling hat, but missed one small component - ear protection.  The snow was wet and clod and my ears frozen big time.  I took turns covering one ear with my glove hand, but the storm got really bad.  I almost got blown off the bike a couple of times and in a moment of fear, I thought it was time to bail.  So I headed back to town and the snow turned to rain.  It was still miserable at Elmo's Corner, but by the time I rolled on 160 back by the Ford Dealership it stopped.  In fact the sun poked it's head out when I rolled back to the Gulch parking lot.  Doh!

I went home, cleaned up and watched the skies the rest of the day.  It was mostly clear until around 5-PM and then we got a lot of snow.  I most likely would have finished in this and was on track to do the whole 160-miles in a little over 10 hours.  Of course though the little storm I got caught in near the gas plant was heading in the direction I would have been cycling, so I may very well have been in that mess for a couple of hours if I had not bailed.

Durango is a relatively strange town when it comes to cycling.  It is a mecca, but it seems at times to lag behind.   Dave Harris warned me that the ultra-endurance scene was non existent in Durango before we moved here, and he has proven to be mostly correct.  The concept of a early season gravel grinder is certainly out of the ordinary for this town, while exploding in popularity elsewhere.  This town has a long and deep tradition of people riding on their road bikes "nose-to-tail" up to the passes to prepare for the Iron Horse this time of year.  Like the song says, It ain't me, I ain't no USAC cycling son.

I'm torn about closing down the DGG - as the Dawn Til Dusk Race was  - again - affected by rain/snow (shut down after 2 hours) and the promoter has said they will look for a new weekend to do this race.  If the DGG survives and stays on this 2nd weekend of April, then it has to go up against the Bike Polo tournament and the a local road bike race.  3rd weekend of April may be best, but that is really pushing my limits of desire to ride a cross bike on dirt roads, as singletrack is open that time of year!

The DGG can be ridden any day of the year from my house, out here in the fields.  That may be best for this.  The exodus is here.

Broken BOA

Actually make that two broken Boa systems.  The one on the left had the tension wheel stripped and the one on the right actually had the lace broken.  I've had these shoes for a few years now, and mostly they have been under thick neoprene shoe covers and on either the cross or road bike, with very little walking.  I did use them in last years Vapor Trail without the shoe covers and a few cold weather mountain bike rides, but otherwise the shoes are in good shape, save the Boa Technologies lacing systems.

The stripped tension wheel perhaps got stripped from the thick neoprene shoe cover, which while some what tight, it may have caused a traction on the dial surface.  Boa would never have anticipated a surface traction as a "normal" load for that and perhaps it caused the plastic ratchet mechanism to not be aligned properly.

The broken cable however is just unacceptable in my opinion.  Boa states on their website that if it breaks, then just "tie it in a knot" to get you back home.  Well, as the photo shows, the cable broke right at the little eyelet where the cable goes from internal to external.  That little eyelet caused a wearing on the cable and now as broken, it is left in a state that is impossible to "tie a knot."

The BOA website does look promising for repair, and they are located in Denver - so I will contact them today and see about resurrecting these shoes.

The apparel and shoe industry generally does not want to see products repaired, they would rather you buy new and replace broken or worn items, but these shoes are in fine condition, save the lacing system of course.  I have a closet full of running shoes with no tread on the bottom as proof of this.  Take note that the running shoe industry will tell you to retire a shoe with worn tread due to loss of shock absorption properties as the foam breaks down.  However since I paid over $100 for the shoe and the bottom tread wears down in less than a year - sheesh I may just want to wear them with jeans and go hiking when done as a running shoe!!  Let me replace the bottom tread for that use at least. Our new economy is based on products made over seas and that are now somewhat disposable.  I wonder if someone has estimated how much of our landfills will soon be occupied by these foreign made objects that decompose in 387 years.  But I digress.

Back to the Boa issue.   If these had been regular shoe laces I could just pop a new set in.  I know this system is becoming more popular (Specialized uses the same Boa system) - but there is no redundancy or back-up system in the event of failure.   Imagine if someone on the CTR broke a lace like this - your whole 535 mile experience ruined because of a stripped ratchet or broken lace on a shoe!  For an ultra-endurance cyclist it could only mean serious trouble.  Three strips of Velcro or one buckle and two Velcro strips seems to be the more reliable system in my opinion.

I will update as this attempt to save my shoes progresses.

Update:  I ordered two new ratchet and lace repair kits ($8.00 each) and shipped to my house with tax came to $21.56.  Nice and cheap, not as cheap as new shoe laces, but I'm happy so far.

Masters Weekend

The good weather trend has continued, and even though the winds were a bit high on Friday, I rode repeated loops protected down in the Gulch upper meadow.  Saturday started in the Gulch and I ran into Danny over by Three Springs so we rode the south rim and then ventured over to Twin Buttes, which is in awesome shape right now.  This town does not mess around as there are so many riders here that trails get packed down fast.

 I built the Ybb bike back up after sustaining some damage at last years Vapor Trail 125.  The sliders must have been a bit offset and as a result I got some tire rub during the race.  When this happens over the course of 125 miles, the tire can actually wear down a small groove in the chain stay, and that was the case for me.  I still rode the bike at the CB100, but given that it is my endurance rig, I wanted to not worry about a potential crack producing notch.  The whole thing cost me less than $100 bucks to fix including shipping both directions.  Amazing.  

 We also took a family trip out to Carvers and the little one already wants my iPhone.  

Sunday's ride was the back nine on the Durango Gravel Grinder, which more specifically is a 90-mile loop starting in the Gulch and over to Ignacio, Bayfield, Airport, etc.  The head winds while on County road 510 and it's 15 hills of hell was a bit brutal, but other than that it was a nice ride.  I hit some other stuff around town for a nice 100-miler on the x-bike.  

Prior to the ride, I pulled out the trimmed down road tires from inside of the mounted cross tires and lost ~200-grams per wheel.  It was noticeable immediately.  A tough thing to do as I really like the bombproof nature of that setup, but it is warmer now and with no snow and freezing temps, changing a flat if it happens is not the end of the world, or at least my fingertips.

Durango Gravel Grinder this weekend and it looks like it's going to be a blast!

Post Diversion

Boogie Chillin.

Spring brought in some rain and a dust of light snow in the higher parts of town after a weekend in the 70's.  It was needed as the trails got dusty really quick.  I did a run up Skyline then along Raiders and down around the college and it started with with a sprinkle of rain at the start, and then a full on blizzard on the ridge which made the run really surreal.  Now it's back to sunny, dry and today should be the return of the mountain bike after two days off from the diversion.  

Colorado Endurance Series kicks off this weekend with the AntiEpic - looks like fun, but the Front Range is a looooong drive from here, so I'll stay local and hit the Durango Gravel Grinder the following weekend.  It is probably the last year we do it as it just has not gotten traction locally, unlike the Durango Dirty Century.  Fun course and easy to manage for the 160-miles, but it is hard to want to do when singletrack is open.  But much better than doing circles in Gallup as I again sit out the D2D.

Been listening to some JGB lately and here's an awesome 82 track playlist.

In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida

The Iron Butterfly theme might sound good for this post.

Eighty miles of riding in the Horse Gulch System the last two days and I'm going top hit it again later today.

 The BLM lifted the seasonal closures this week and the trails are dry, save for a few select areas.  I even got to ride Skull Rock, but on the singlespeed it was brutal as I was busting crust from unused trail.  

 Anasazi was sweet and Telegraph is in good condition.

 Click the photo below to see the fly caught in mid air.  Sort of looks like Mothra flying over the Animas Valley in search of Godzilla.

Not many folks out on mountain bikes south of Telegraph, but the Meadow is near full with riders.  Animas Mountain is supposed to be open as well, but I may hold off until midweek.  Whatever the case, just get outside and enjoy the weather as much as possible.