Rubber Side Down

I’m ignoring it and fantasizing about mountain bike racing in the summer sun.

While pondering summer’s events, I came across this rad race calendar for the whole nation. Check it out!

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Sometimes a ride is awesome in every way, but it takes too many words to really explain it. This time, I’ll just let the images speak for themselves.

Big thanks to Stuart for a great time in his hood!

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There’s a trail there….somewhere

Once more, Stuart told work to stick it, and we made a repeat trip to Corrales — this time with a good chunk of daylight to work with.

We hit the super-tight singletrack we’d skipped two nights before because of mud. You can see above that it’s overgrown to the point where you can barely see where to put your wheels.

Right after I took this picture we stopped, and we could hear a suspicious rustling in the underbrush. We stood quietly, craning our necks in the direction of the sound. Finally, a chubby critter waddled out into sight, heading away from us. We peered at its rotund caboose for the three seconds we were able to see it, and we were pretty damn sure it was a porcupine. We tried to find a way closer to it that wouldn’t scare it off, but there was no way through the punji stick hell of the bosque. We figured a porcupine would be the only animal to feel at home in this brambly mess where you are instantly perforated if you go off the trail.

And speaking of punji sticks…one took Stuart down as we were trying to get close to the river to stare at cranes. As he was trying to unclip and get a foot down, his ankle got trapped between the crankarm and a bunch of cut-off, pointy sticks right at the edge of the trail. He toppled over into the brush, slicing open the back of his thigh, tearing through both his jeans and his lycra shorts underneath. It looked pretty freakin’ painful, if I do say so myself. Thank god those punji sticks weren’t smeared in human feces, or he’d really have something to be unhappy about.

Here he is denying the pain.

He shook it off and we headed out to the “racetrack” area, a fast loop that you can do in something like thirteen seconds if you’re Stuart, who has ridden this area over 100 times.

Here he’s doing it really slow so I can ride one-handed behind him. Check out the cheapskate’s helmet cam.

We made another detour out to the river, along a trail that’s underwater in the summer. It was just getting dark, and we watched Vs of geese cruising in to land. If you’re into birds, like Stuart, there’s an awesome waterfowl refuge near Albuquerque. Thousands of sandhill cranes and arctic geese roost there in the winter, and it’s pretty damn cool even if birds aren’t your bag, baby.

After awhile of this, we fired up the lights and kept on rocking. Corrales has just over 20 miles of riding to be had when you go out and back, and we pretty much hit it all. It was much warmer (a balmy 39 degrees), so we were stoked to be able to ride and still maintain feeling in our feet and hands. Stuart’s damn lucky to have this area right near his house. I wish we had something like it.

At any rate, today’s plan is to rest (since I also hit the gym yesterday afternoon, I’m feeling a bit blown). That will have us ready to rock White Mesa on Saturday.

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…that make you really glad you took up the sport. Yeah, you have to wear every piece of clothing you own. Yeah, you have to bust ass out of work to make it happen. But it is so worth it.

Stuart escaped the cube and we made a run for the North Foothills trails. We were genuinely surprised to find the trails covered in snow. Stuart said he’d never ridden them like this before, and he’s lived in the ‘Querq for six years.

Traction was actually pretty decent, in spite of the conditions. We began climbing, hoping to warm up in the low-30-degree temps. We saw a couple of other mountain bikers and a runner or two, but mostly the whole area was peaceful and quiet. All we could hear was the crunch of our tires in the snow and our breath.

It was definitely weird to see cactus just sitting there in the snow. Plus, you can see the tracks of plenty of other people who had the same idea we did.

While watching the yellow light on the Sandia Mountains turn them to their famed watermelon color, we reached a high point.

We stopped to listen to coyotes, howling and yipping as night was approaching. Their voices echoed along the ridges and valleys, then faded away into silence.

We were starting to get pretty cold at this point. No surprise there. It was about 30 degrees and we were rapidly running out of light. It was time to high-tail it down.

I got squirrelly in a couple of corners, but managed to stay relaxed and upright. I could see some bermed turns under the snow and I could imagine what a fun slalom ride this area could be when it was dry.

As we hit the last sections of trail, it was almost dark. Sharp fingers of light shot up from the horizon, and Stuart took the camera to feed his sunset-photo obsession.

Another rad ride in the books. I’m definitely grateful to be here while the weather is so flippin’ cold in Colorado. Rob told me yesterday that while he was sitting at dinner in a restaurant, his feet were as cold as if he’d been out riding. Holy crap, man. That ain’t right.

It explains why this sweet item is on my Christmas list:

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Along the river in Corrales. Just out of sight are a bunch of sandhill cranes.

Day one of my Albuquerque adventure was windy and cold. But since my bike (that I shipped ahead) arrived sooner than expected, I figured I had no excuse not to ride. Besides, Rob was telling me that it was 7 degrees in Colorado, so it seemed especially wimpy to complain.

Stuart and I headed out pretty late, when he got off work, at about 4:30. He’s got enough lights to power a two-wheeled army, so we weren’t afraid of the dark. However, this scenario meant there were no real photos to be had, so you’ll have to just take my word for it that the trails were fun.

We headed to a spot just minutes from his house called Corrales. You drop off a busy road into the bosque, or tree-flanked area surrounding the river, and soon there are fun singletracks to be had. This area is totally flat, but that’s unusual in my neck of the woods, so I was pretty stoked. It would have been do-able on a cyclocross bike, for sure, so my almost-six inches of travel was a bit overkill. Stuart was on his Niner singlespeed hardtail, a perfect bike for this joint.

The trail whips around through dense underbrush, where you can hear critters scurrying about. Stuart once saw a bunch of raccoons in there, and tonight he spotted an owl. I was totally bummed that I missed it. I heard that coyotes are common in there as well.

Once it was fully dark, we were riding in an eerie tunnel of bleached-out branches and weird shadows. You had to keep your eyes peeled for the occasional diagonal root or patch of ice, but mostly it was pretty fast. I dig night riding; it made me wish it was more viable in Colorado. But usually, by the time of year where it’s dark early, the trails are also under snow. Perhaps we’ll get some warmth and dry trails in Jan/Feb, like we sometimes do.

In the end, we put in about 13 miles, freezing our feet solid by the time we got home around 6:30. Today’s ride will take place in the daylight, at the North Foothills area. To keep you entertained in the meantime, check this crazy shit out:

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Shore ‘nuf, tomorrow is the State Cyclocross Championships. Should be crazier than a metaphysics conference, especially since it includes one of these:

Rob and I will be out there slaying it. In our minds, at least.

And then Sunday’s event should be interesting, to say the least:

I gotta go race it just to see if it lives up to this overly dramatic video. Show up in your boner pants, everyone.

And lastly, I have not forgotten about mountain biking. Next week I’m headed off to Albuquerque to visit friends, family and the ‘Querq’s trail system. Check back here if you’re curious about the riding down there. I’ll have the laptop along.

p.s. — I just now noticed that Sunday’s racers get free burritos and Mix1. Giggity!

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I know it’s barely December, but I’m stoked to see that the Mountain States Cup has already released their schedule for next summer.

2010 Mountain States Cup Series Schedule

This is a good selection of races, and I’m especially stoked to see that Keystone is back. Their Super D is totally rad. Speaking of Super D, I’ve got a new plan for next year’s racing: Drive to all these awesome locations and just race the Super D. Then spend the rest of the weekend riding for fun. If that’s not a recipe for a good time, I don’t know what is.

On a side note, the US National Championships are still at Sol Vista this year. The website I’ve linked to isn’t updated yet, but I assume it will be in due time. I’d really like to make it this round.

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