Santa Fe Century

100 miles by bicycle - beginning and ending in Santa Fe. Here's the map, with North to the left (sorry, it fits in the picture better that way). We started at 7:30am and finished just before 4:30pm. So 9 hours, although my bike computer claims I was rolling for just over 7 hours. Where did I spend those idle 2 hours? At the rest-stops which I've numbered along the route (first one in Madrid). There were 6 of them, which doesn't seem like too many but apparently I spent an average of 20 minutes at each one.

Starting out with the Team in Training group. Not only have we been training together since February, we also each raised thousands of dollars for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. All of my teammates will be doing a Century at Lake Tahoe in June, some of them (those pictured) also came to Santa Fe with me.

First stop: Madrid. Looking good after 26 miles of pure biking fun! That first stretch was mostly downhill, but right after this stop we had a lot of uphill work.

Heartbreak Hill: too bad the great view is behind the cyclists! I'm not in this picture, but I looked exactly like that as I walked up the hill. The best thing about this hill is that it's the last hill for 40 miles.

After Heartbreak Hill, there is a whole lot of flat-ish road through the plains. Unfortunately, in New Mexico it is always windy on the plains. We kept a pace line through most of this which makes the miles go by much faster. In Galisteo at mile 82, we had our last break before heading up the hills back into Santa Fe. Throughout the ride, I kept reminding myself to take it easy so that I wouldn't be burnt before that last 15-mile uphill push. Apparently, my pacing worked because I climbed up Lamy Hill without a problem and flew on through the last 10 miles back to the finish line. Maybe riding along the shoulder of I25 gave me the adrenaline rush I needed to push through those last miles.

Finished! 101 miles and 9 hours later.

April

My brother came for a visit a few weeks ago to witness me getting older by a year... and we had some fun riding scooters, hiking in the Jemez, buying longhorns at Jackalope (can't believe I didn't get a picture of that), and eating birthday ice cream cake.

80 Miles

Today marks the 2-week countdown to the Santa Fe Century ride. In preparation, I bicycled 80 miles yesterday, starting at the Santa Ana Star Casino in Bernalillo to the Gilman Tunnels (photo above from a few years ago), and back again. This was one of the most scenic rides I've ever done. It was tough work climbing the hills up to the tunnels, and I was worried about being able to finish the ride after being so burnt at the turn-around point. The ride back turned out to be pure fun in the sun... but less scenic as it flew by so quickly :)

Next week, it'll be 85 miles. Then finally, the 100 miles of the Santa Fe Century. I'm ready to be done with it. These long rides are getting tough. After this, I may stick with 50-mile rides for fun.

Happy Birthday, Carla!

This photo is likely the first time I actually met my cousins Carla and Julia. I don't know how many more times in my life I spent the 4th of July with them. Usually playing in their pool and watching the fireworks over Lake Saint Clair.

Energy

According to MapMyRide, I burned over 2000 calories during my 60-mile ride and nearly 2500 calories during my 70-mile ride (a loop to Los Lunas and back). That sounded so incredible, that I did a quick estimate of how many calories I consumed while riding... On the 60-miler: some fruit & nut trail mix, gatorade and peanut-butter cookies. It's possible that that added up to 900 calories. But on the 70-miler I only had the trail mix, so more like 400 calories. Apparently most of the calories for these rides get eaten in the days before and after the ride.

The photo is my new perfect bike food: trail mix with pretzels mixed in for extra carbs and salt. I tried eating runner's goo when I trained for a marathon, but it gave me a stomach cramp which defeats the whole purpose of the terrible tasting stuff. So I stick to real food.

Wordless Wednesday (because I meant to post this yesterday)

60 Miles

How to plan a 60-mile bicycle ride: Think of a place that seems far away that you can bike to. Map it out and realize that it isn't actually 30 miles away, then find a circuitous way to get there to add mileage. Make sure there are a few good hills along the way.

So here's my 60-mile west side hill climb ride. Starting at my house (the green circle), I went to the Bosque Trail at Central. Headed south along the trail to Rio Bravo. West to Paseo del Vulcan. North to Route 66. West along Route 66 until I hit 30 miles, and then do it all in reverse. This got me 60 miles and 2000 feet of climbing, on a 75-degree sunny day with just enough breeze to keep things interesting.

Apparently, the West Mesa is indeed a mesa... riding west out of Albuquerque, you will first ascend the mesa by climbing the infamous 9-mile hill. I did this on Rio Bravo/Dennis Chavez. Now if you keep riding west (as I did along Rt 66, aka I-40 frontage road), you will eventually drop off the west end of the West Mesa into the Rio Puerco drainage, home of the Laguna and Acoma Pueblos. The Laguna Peublo has built the Route 66 Casino there (marked by a coffee mug on the map), and a gas station where I was able to re-fuel with Gatorade and peanut-butter cookies. Rt 66 dead-ends a few miles past the casino, so you can't go further west without getting on the interstate or taking dirt tribal roads. At this point, I turned around and went back the way I came.

From Paseo del Vulcan (on top of the West Mesa) south of I-40, looking east. I could see downtown Albuquerque (the camera phone does not capture landscapes very well).

Looking east near my turn-around point, 30 miles from where I started. The massive white building on the right side of the road is the Route 66 Casino. Sandia Mountain is still visible on the horizon, but downtown Albuquerque is hidden by the West Mesa.