Rolling through Northern New Mex to The Top of The World
Gather round little kiddies for another tale of road tripping with the family and riding...you guessed it; BIKES! This family loves their bikes.
Last year I had the best racing weekend of my life, winning both the Enchanted Circle Century (aka 100 miles of beautiful roads from Red River to Taos to Angel Fire to Red River with plenty of climbing...and steep too!) and then the next day winning the Top of The World MTB race held at 9200 ft and climbing.
This year my plan of the same was derailed when a screwdriver Matt was using to remove pieces of a broken Carbon post from the Six13 road frame went right through the carbon...of the SIX13 DOHHHHH! With out a roadie I decided against slapping together something that might work and instead work on wood floors in our new dining room. A rather out of character move for me I know but this season has gone long and well I'm feeling a little out of character. I've been racing hard since March and training since last December so I'm a little on the well done side at this point in the season.
Back to the point of this post; Kara, Mace Dog, Myles Bug, and Dirty Daddy loaded up the mini for a quick trip up north to visit Papa Moe and my bro and his family. He's building a sweet house up on the Calvert plot of 10 acres in Gallina north of Valdez. We walked the job site and it's coming along...in a Taos slowly, manana (meaning tomorrow or maybe never) kinda way. He and Liz have a good attitude about it, and their boy Cedar is growing like everything up there in this monsoonal season...crazy! The boy's got the Calvert taste for breastfeedin'!!
Race morning started a little slow, for one of the first times this year, I didn't sleep good. Usually I sleep well at altitude or not but not that night. So we loaded up and rolled through the canyon to Red River and got ready to rumble in the 10th NMORS stop. Jason Quenzler (Q dog) and I warmed up and we were both struggling to get the lungs firing at 9800 ft. He was breaking me off on the warm up and decided to mention the unusual fact so I drilled it and he cracked like the 3 huevo omelet I ate that morning. Did I mention this is what warming up with Q dog is like, he's a hard core athlete and intense competitor so it's all he knows.
At the race start we let it rip and for another first of the season Q dog got the holeshot on all of us and I was watching someone's wheel. Not liking it I drilled it again and started to ride off the front. The course it tough because there are 3 climbs that are 2-4mins and only gain about 200ft each, but they shoot the heart rate into the anaerobic zone...every single time! That's Q dog's type of course since he throws down 2 hr races averaging 180bpm almost every race.
The sustained doubletrack climb out the LongJohn doubletrack to the Piece de Resistance Wheeler Peak and Gold Hill view was super hard and it was making feel like taking a siesta on lap 1. The XC ski trails were the perfect setting for a good MTB course and it took about 24mins /lap with about 700ft of climbing. Lap 2 was stronger because I felt a little better and figured out the rhythmn of the course a little better. Hammer, recover, conserve, then do it all again, then recover big time on the back section before the last climb and recovery section through the finish.
The race was pretty uneventful from there, just doing what I do love...riding my bike as hard as I can. My fastest lap of the day was the fourth and final where I upped my pace by almost a minute...maybe I haven't fallen off of form yet! Yes! There's hope!
At the finish I was pretty pooped, more than expected since it only took 1:36:50sec to do 22miles. The heart rate was high for the race @164 and I know it's because I was working harder than normal to breathe at an average elevation of 9900ft. Q came in2nd @ 5mins back, which secured his NMORS repeat Championship in the 30-39 expert field. He's a great guy to ride with and road trip with because he's got some trunk monkey in him and he let's it rip! Congrats on another great season overcoming some strong challengers....repeating as NM Off Road Series Champion!!!!!
Rich Walters (Richie Rich) threw down a nice race and finished in second in the Exp 40-49 old jammers class. He's had some DNF issues this year but he's out of the woods now. His form is coming back right as everyone else might be falling off so the three way battle he, Casey Cook, and Chris Casey have is heating up. Who can't stand the heat in the kitchen? Who's cooking up some hash, grits, and whoop ass?
But the ride that tops all is my 5yr old Mace Dog's win in the kids race. He put a move on a 10 yr old girl and smoked her on the climb. I know this is like the YAFL parent who goes a little over the top but he worked this girl took his single speed BMX Haro to the top of the climb in 1st then he found his DH rhythmn and solo'd in for the win! He was pumped and won us a free pizza at Capo's corner. Victory Pie! I think he's got the genes...but I know he has that take down competitive attitude. You're going places kid and it's going to be great helping you and watching it!
Myles (who turns two on Tuesday) was more concerned with double fisting all the post race recovery food. He can chipmunk 2 sticky buns at a time and he'll eat his brother (who's 3yrs older) under the snack table. He'll be taking down Kobayashi the world food eating champ soon. Or maybe he'll follow in Myles Rockwell's path, that is up to the point where he won the Downhill World title, not to the 'busted for growing pot plants down by the river' point. Kara caught up with females of the tribe, Jolie (Q dogs prettier half), and JoAnne (King Kong Chris Casey's more well groomed and civilized half).
We had some post race Italian at Capo's and the victory pie that Mason won was some of the best I've had. Can the fact he won it make it taste that much better? After the tab was settled and I bought Papa Moe and Claires lunch I still had a hundo worth of race winnings left over; SWEET!
Now I'm back in my home office eating the second half of BR Mint chocolate chip and trying to keep it off my new hardwood floors. All is well and the undefeated season weathered the high altitude test at The Top of The World. Next up, NMORS #11 @ Cedro Peak....which should be one of the best races of the year on some of my favorite singletrack. I have a feeling some bad boys are going to show up like Geoff Kabush (since he's local) or some Durango freaks so the biggest test of the season is probably upcoming. I better sleep well tonight!
Over and out.
Last year I had the best racing weekend of my life, winning both the Enchanted Circle Century (aka 100 miles of beautiful roads from Red River to Taos to Angel Fire to Red River with plenty of climbing...and steep too!) and then the next day winning the Top of The World MTB race held at 9200 ft and climbing.
This year my plan of the same was derailed when a screwdriver Matt was using to remove pieces of a broken Carbon post from the Six13 road frame went right through the carbon...of the SIX13 DOHHHHH! With out a roadie I decided against slapping together something that might work and instead work on wood floors in our new dining room. A rather out of character move for me I know but this season has gone long and well I'm feeling a little out of character. I've been racing hard since March and training since last December so I'm a little on the well done side at this point in the season.
Back to the point of this post; Kara, Mace Dog, Myles Bug, and Dirty Daddy loaded up the mini for a quick trip up north to visit Papa Moe and my bro and his family. He's building a sweet house up on the Calvert plot of 10 acres in Gallina north of Valdez. We walked the job site and it's coming along...in a Taos slowly, manana (meaning tomorrow or maybe never) kinda way. He and Liz have a good attitude about it, and their boy Cedar is growing like everything up there in this monsoonal season...crazy! The boy's got the Calvert taste for breastfeedin'!!
Race morning started a little slow, for one of the first times this year, I didn't sleep good. Usually I sleep well at altitude or not but not that night. So we loaded up and rolled through the canyon to Red River and got ready to rumble in the 10th NMORS stop. Jason Quenzler (Q dog) and I warmed up and we were both struggling to get the lungs firing at 9800 ft. He was breaking me off on the warm up and decided to mention the unusual fact so I drilled it and he cracked like the 3 huevo omelet I ate that morning. Did I mention this is what warming up with Q dog is like, he's a hard core athlete and intense competitor so it's all he knows.
At the race start we let it rip and for another first of the season Q dog got the holeshot on all of us and I was watching someone's wheel. Not liking it I drilled it again and started to ride off the front. The course it tough because there are 3 climbs that are 2-4mins and only gain about 200ft each, but they shoot the heart rate into the anaerobic zone...every single time! That's Q dog's type of course since he throws down 2 hr races averaging 180bpm almost every race.
The sustained doubletrack climb out the LongJohn doubletrack to the Piece de Resistance Wheeler Peak and Gold Hill view was super hard and it was making feel like taking a siesta on lap 1. The XC ski trails were the perfect setting for a good MTB course and it took about 24mins /lap with about 700ft of climbing. Lap 2 was stronger because I felt a little better and figured out the rhythmn of the course a little better. Hammer, recover, conserve, then do it all again, then recover big time on the back section before the last climb and recovery section through the finish.
The race was pretty uneventful from there, just doing what I do love...riding my bike as hard as I can. My fastest lap of the day was the fourth and final where I upped my pace by almost a minute...maybe I haven't fallen off of form yet! Yes! There's hope!
At the finish I was pretty pooped, more than expected since it only took 1:36:50sec to do 22miles. The heart rate was high for the race @164 and I know it's because I was working harder than normal to breathe at an average elevation of 9900ft. Q came in2nd @ 5mins back, which secured his NMORS repeat Championship in the 30-39 expert field. He's a great guy to ride with and road trip with because he's got some trunk monkey in him and he let's it rip! Congrats on another great season overcoming some strong challengers....repeating as NM Off Road Series Champion!!!!!
Rich Walters (Richie Rich) threw down a nice race and finished in second in the Exp 40-49 old jammers class. He's had some DNF issues this year but he's out of the woods now. His form is coming back right as everyone else might be falling off so the three way battle he, Casey Cook, and Chris Casey have is heating up. Who can't stand the heat in the kitchen? Who's cooking up some hash, grits, and whoop ass?
But the ride that tops all is my 5yr old Mace Dog's win in the kids race. He put a move on a 10 yr old girl and smoked her on the climb. I know this is like the YAFL parent who goes a little over the top but he worked this girl took his single speed BMX Haro to the top of the climb in 1st then he found his DH rhythmn and solo'd in for the win! He was pumped and won us a free pizza at Capo's corner. Victory Pie! I think he's got the genes...but I know he has that take down competitive attitude. You're going places kid and it's going to be great helping you and watching it!
Myles (who turns two on Tuesday) was more concerned with double fisting all the post race recovery food. He can chipmunk 2 sticky buns at a time and he'll eat his brother (who's 3yrs older) under the snack table. He'll be taking down Kobayashi the world food eating champ soon. Or maybe he'll follow in Myles Rockwell's path, that is up to the point where he won the Downhill World title, not to the 'busted for growing pot plants down by the river' point. Kara caught up with females of the tribe, Jolie (Q dogs prettier half), and JoAnne (King Kong Chris Casey's more well groomed and civilized half).
We had some post race Italian at Capo's and the victory pie that Mason won was some of the best I've had. Can the fact he won it make it taste that much better? After the tab was settled and I bought Papa Moe and Claires lunch I still had a hundo worth of race winnings left over; SWEET!
Now I'm back in my home office eating the second half of BR Mint chocolate chip and trying to keep it off my new hardwood floors. All is well and the undefeated season weathered the high altitude test at The Top of The World. Next up, NMORS #11 @ Cedro Peak....which should be one of the best races of the year on some of my favorite singletrack. I have a feeling some bad boys are going to show up like Geoff Kabush (since he's local) or some Durango freaks so the biggest test of the season is probably upcoming. I better sleep well tonight!
Over and out.
posted by D-Rock | 9:43 PM
2 Comments:
Great comeback and win Damian. Sounds like you had a darn good time there too. Too bad about the road bike - but if you need one in a pinch drop me a line sometime - we should be close in size (56cm Titus Drop you road with Campy Record and 58cm Felt with Campy Chorus).
Hardwood flooring? Damn -you put that in yourself?....impressive.
Hows about some photos champ?
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