Yesterday morning, I peeled myself out of bed at 7AM. It was like trying to flip a pancake that wasn’t ready to be flipped. After enjoying some French Roast made in my new french press I got for xmas from Mom and Dad, I suited up and headed out for my last ride of the week in the QQ.

I was going to enjoy a 3.5 hour mountain bike ride and was having fun riding on the icy trails until… “WHAT?!?!” My front brake lever suddenly pulled straight to the bar. I released, and it was flapping in the wind.

This part fell out… which abruptly ended my ride. Turns out, you kinda need your front brake to stop going at high speeds. I already knew that, but had a few “fun” moments when I was going too fast and tried to slow for a corner. I simply rode back home after that, but still got in 2.5 hours. I think there is an evil brake leprechaun who lives in the North Foothills of ABQ because in November, I was mountain biking up there and my rear brake died. It was an easy fix (just needed to be rebled).

It appears I have sold my Scott Hardtail to someone on MTBR which I will be kissing goodbye after next week. I am excited for someone else to give ‘er a whirl! And guess who scored the Cannondale? The brother of Survivorman who is also survivorman, part 2. It’s hard to let go, like watching your 5 year old go to school on the first day for the very first time. *Sniffff*

I am off the bike for the next 2 days. Today is hiking with Superkove and tomorrow, we are going snowshoeing. I also splurged for a bottle o’ champagne to celebrate 2009. It’s going to be a great year!

- language translator for my foreign readers. One condition… you must comment in your own language. I am a language junkie!

- race calendar. It syncs with google calendar so you can come say hi at my races if you are there

It was sunny, not a cloud in the sky…Sunday was a 5 hour ride to finish up the training for the week, topping out at 22.5 hours in the saddle and feeling good!!! Here are some pics from the ride:

Rode down to the Bosque path, as usual. This time, I went South all the way and then turned around and came back. I used to get on a road that went west to these small volcanoes. A few years ago, a van pulled out 50 yards in front of me and dumped 2 huge bags, peeled out, and left. Riding by, it looked like dead bodies of small humans. I even saw an ear. One panic attack and 2 guys riding in my direction later, we found that it was the body of 2 huge dead dogs. 1) Sketchy 2) Wrong 3) Not riding that way alone again.

A realtor sign. Fun.

I went up Tramway as usual… pretty cool. 1000′ of climbing in maybe 7 or so miles. I started riding some of my favorite short climbs. Here in ABQ, we call them “the fingers.”

Starting with La Luz:
2 miles, 1000 ft of climbing.

BLUE SKIES!

Why is the road called Tramway? There is a tram that used to be the world’s longest tram, going from 6000′ to the peak of the Sandias at 10,500′. It’s pretty cool. So I rode to the tram house for fun.

Then I road up toward Elena Gallegos – a trailhead/rec area.

Instead of riding more road climbs, I hopped on the foothills trails for a loop and headed home.

After that, it was hanging out with the Blickems and Moriartys, dinner and beers (CHAMA BREWERY!!) with my dear friend – Jeff H, and then another beer with my old office mate, Jason. It was a great day. I very much love Chama’s Sleeping Dog Stout. Yowzers, makes my palette purrrrrrr.

I enjoyed my rest day today although there was not much rest involved!!! I worked in the morning, then had a spicy New Mexican lunch at Sadies with my family. I have been going there ever since I was a little girl. I used to put honey on the chips and eat BLTs there because I used to hate spicy food!!! I hung out with some great friends from high school at Satellite, cooked dinner with the folks, and then met my friend Jolene (we have been buddies since 4th grade) at Flying Star. I love all these places. I think Flying Star would make a KILLING if there was one in Boulder.

It was a great trip, but all great things must come to an end. I am going back to Boulder tomorrow after doing a 3.5 hour ride on the trails in the early AM. It is always a bittersweet ending because the second I get back to Albuquerque, it feels like home. I feel like I have a life in 2 places half the time. No matter, I will be back to the Querque in 1 week’s time to finish up my base miles with a 30 hour training week. Zoom zoom… or maybe more like put… put… pffffff… maybe. This week will be 26 hours of aerobic fun. I’ll be going home to Mr. Kerkove and the flatirons. Things to look forward to! We are going snowshoeing for New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, so that will be great fun to go trudge around in the big mountains. I will be equipped with hot chocolate in my thermos, and champagne in my hydration bladder.

That was my ride yesterday, and it felt like I was in Colorado!!  It was about 20F out when I left the house and warmed up to about 27F.  The wind was blowing at 20mph.  It wasn’t so bad because I dressed warm.  At times, I felt overdressed.  I was doubling the fun, wearing 2 pairs of bike shorts.

The ride was pretty uneventful… until I flatted.  I must have gone through a patch of goatheads when I was blinded by the ice/snowstorm on Friday because there were a bunch of thorns in my tire when I felt the inside. I thought, “No prob, I have a spare tube and my awesome Topeak pump.”  After wrestling with my tire, which was very tight on my DT Swiss rims, I freed it, and pulled out the punctured tube.  I semi-inflated my spare tube to give it some shape, when all the air rushed out very quickly.  I tried again – you know, maybe I was accidentally pushing on the presta valve; to no avail, the tube had a hole in it.  “Good thing I have a patch kit.”  I pulled it out, and my money flew out of my pocket down the road.  I started chasing after it because it was 2 out of the 3 dollars I had. I preceded to patch the hole and thought I was in business.  I put the patched tube in the tire and got it all fixed up and inflated it.  20 seconds later, it was flat again.  I called my dad and warned him that I may need some  help, but that I was going to walk to a bike shop which was maybe 2 miles away.

Fortunately, I was broken down by my old hood, so I knew where the closest shop was.  It involved walking to the UNM campus and through it – a trip down memory lane (weird to think I graduated from there almost 4 years ago), down Central and into Bike World. I used to go there about 5 years ago – they are located right down the street from where a long-time boyfriend lived. Lots of good memories in that area – like a flavorful wine. You can really taste it. I had 3 bucks in my pocket and was hoping the guys working there would give me a tube and I could come back later and pay them for the other half of it. They were so sweet that they took the remaining 3 bucks I owed out of their tip jar to help me out, and put sealant in the tube to keep me from breaking down again. THANK YOU!! I think the guy’s name was Mark, and I didn’t catch the other guy’s name. They saved me, like superman. Funny how something as small and insignificant as a piece of inflatable rubber can be so big. After some chit chat, I was on my way again and tried to avoid going off road since I didn’t have a spare anymore. My legs felt good yesterday, and now riding back to back 4-5 hour days is not an issue. I remember just 1.5 months ago when riding 2.5 hours a day made me tired and sore.

LESSON LEARNED: Take more than 3 bucks on a ride. More like 10 or 20…

Another highlight of my ride, and this time, good, was running into Mr. Matt Turgeon on Tramway. I was doing one of my low RPM intervals, and he flipped around and was on a singlespeed road bike. That is hard core!!!

I am finishing out my 22 hour training week today with a 4.5 hour ride. I was hoping to do it all on trails, but they are still pretty icy and I don’t want to deal with anymore problems after the last 2 days!! See ya later!

The weatherman was a bit off today for the Albuquerque forecast.  They were saying that there was a 30% chance of rain and snow starting at 1 PM, so I thought I would miss most of the storm if I was out the door by 10 AM for my 3.5 hour ride.

There was a large cloud sitting at the peak (10,500 ft) of the Sandia Mountains and the wind was howling and blowing at 30-40 mph.  As soon as I got up to the trail, the big cloud swooped down over the top of the mountain and I knew the chances of staying dry were slim.  It was about 40F out, so I wasn’t too concerned about a little rain.  However, I thought it’d be smart to head to the South Foothills trails since it had started to rain and things looked clearer in that direction.

Suddenly, the rain turned into ice pellets that were pegging me at 30 mph in the face.  It hurt and I was holding one hand on my cheek to stop the stinging.  I figured, “Hey!  It’s Albuquerque… this storm will be out of here in no time and the sun will be shining”  so I kept going.

The start of the weather moving in.

Eventually I couldn’t see in front of me from the snow and frozen rain, so I decided to head back.  By the time I got to the road, I was totally soaked.  My core was still warm, but my legs and butt were FREEZING.  I was only wearing leg warmers and booties and the wind wasn’t helping.  All I could do was try to stay warm and ride home, but I didn’t do such a good job.

The bike path was a river in town and I couldn’t feel my hands anymore.  I didn’t want to stop and go someplace warm because it’d be even harder to get back on the bike and go home.  Temperatures had dropped significantly.

That is not a bad case of dandruff, that’s ice and snow frozen all over my jacket. My Endura Stealth jacket is definitely waterproof and warm. Now that I have worn this jacket through a multitude of weather conditions, I am comfortable writing a review about it! Stay tuned for that.

That would be ice in my hair. My helmet was frozen and the vents were full of ice as well.  My dad had to help me get my jacket and helmet off because I had lost all dexterity in my hands.  It was a fun adventure.  Fun meaning sick, twisted, and painful, but it is actually a good thing.  They don’t stop races when bad weather moves in, and by training in these conditions, it makes it mentally easier to endure in a race.  I had to take a cold shower for awhile because warm water was too painful.  It felt like all my fingers had been slammed in a door.

Tomorrow is a new day and it’s supposed to be pretty cold, but also dry.  Yipee!!

Today was another lovely day in the Querque. Admittedly, it was a bit chilly as temps were in the upper 20s when I left this AM. However, it warmed up so much that I was melting under my thermal jacket by the end of my ride! The Land of Enchantment is what New Mexico is called… just look at any New Mexico license plate. It truly is an amazing place. Today, I was lucky enough to ride 3 hours on the road followed by 1 hour on the trails. The trails were still covered in snow, but today they were snowpacked and slippery. I was feeling a little more pushy on the downhill and almost lost my front wheel a few times in the slippery snow. It was kinda fun! I gave my upper body cannons some extra work with all the handlebar micro-adjustments!

I found this interesting. At 6800 feet, the trail was all snow. There was not a patch of dirt in sight.
The Suunto.

The view

Descend 500 ft and you have…
The Suunto

The view.

Today was the first day in a long time that I didn’t feel sore and I actually felt really strong and was pushing bigger gears at the same effort!! I can tell that I am getting stronger and all these miles are paying off. It’s exciting to feel and see the shift.

Hope Santa treats you well tonight!

Don’t worry, this blog isn’t going to turn into a “sonya selling her stuff” blog. This is just one bike that needs to go. Sniff.

Click here if interested.

Yesterday was a nice 4 hour day in the saddle. I headed down to the valley and by the Rio Grande and through some small ranch style towns. My legs are definitely sore on a daily basis, but that means I am going to get mucho stronger!
This is about 1/3 of the river.

Today, I woke up to clouds and about an hour before I was planning to ride, the snow started to fall.
ARGH!!

Fortunately, it stopped and the sun came out.

Looking to the east….

Looking to the west…
It looks like 2 different seasons!

I rode up to the foothills and suddenly the ground was snow-covered.

At first it was only about .5 inches of snow, but the higher I got, the snow on the ground started to pile up to 2 inches.

The snowtrack wasn’t super slippery, more like riding through sand so my sore legs got extra workout. It did get a little sketchy on the rocky sections, but no worry, the snow would provide a soft, yet cold landing. Fortunately, I didn’t have to see for myself.

I was glad to get out today since riding on the trails when they are snow-covered doesn’t hurt them. I wasn’t even making contact to dirt with my tires. It does more damage to my drive-train than anything else, but there wasn’t a lot of dirt spew and I kept washing it off with my water bottle and since it wasn’t cold out, the water was not freezing on my bike. Tomorrow will be muddy up there, and that is when you can potentially damage the trail.

Cutting trail.

Today was a day that I would have loved to have a helmet cam. It was really fun to lean back, let the brakes go, and let the wheels roll and the snow fly up into my face.

I arrived in Albuquerque Saturday afternoon, and was in a mad rush to hop on my bike as soon as I barreled through the doorway since I had to ride 3 hours, and I had exactly 3 hours of daylight left. The mountains are on the east side here, so I get an extra 45 minutes of sun compared to Boulder.

My rear brake was still not functional after bleeding it once, so I cautiously stuck to mostly flats minus Tramway (a very gradual climb from the valley to the mountains).

Spinning on the Bosque bike path

Sunday was another 3 hour day in the saddle. After downing many ounces of Turkish coffee and fueled by homemade Baklava, I hopped on the bike and headed to the east side of the Sandias and out on South Hwy 14. I rebled my rear brake that morning, and it worked in a wonderful fashion.

I ran into a few of my friends out riding – Damian and Rich, and then Nina later on. There is a bit of snow on the back side of the mountains, and much holiday cheer.

I happily watched multiple cars go by with a wreath on their front grill, or fuzzy, stuffed antler horns on top.

There were also a lot of little trees decorated.

This week is the start of a new training block and my last month of base miles. I’ll spend many hours in the saddle, but greats gains will be made!

I met some of my very best friends later that day that I only get to see around Xmas. To top off a fantastic day, there was a breathtaking sunset.
I had to snap this in the parking lot really fast.

Followed by a fun xmas party with my parents with some delightful red wine. Time to go ride!

C-ya Colorado winter!! It’ll be 40+ degrees every day in NM for at least the next week. Woohoo!

I will have to jump on my bike as soon as I get back and hit the road to get my ride in today. More later!