Dawn 'Til Dusk - NOT!!!

We began our trip Thursday morning. Gallup is about five and a half hours from Tucson. Lisa and I were both excited to be getting away for the weekend on a long overdue road trip. After a quick stop by Oro Valley Bike Shop to pick up a new set of grips (more on that later), we were on our way.

Just north of Globe, we began our descent into the Salt River Canyon. Not exactly the Grand Canyon but beautiful scenery none the less. A serious set of switchbacks takes us down from the rim to the Salt River and then back up the other side.

The entire trip was pretty uneventful. It was a perfect traveling day. Very little traffic to contend with and only a slight detour which took us out through Florence on route 79 instead of directly up route 77 to Globe.

We arrived in Gallup around 5:30 and settled in at the El Rancho Hotel where the "Charm of Yesterday meets the Convenience of Tomorrow". The slogan must have been coined in the sixties since the only convenience of tomorrow I could find was the free WiFi.

It was actually quite a charming place. The lobby walls were adorned with pictures of the old movie stars who had stayed at the hotel during its hey day when many westerns that were coming out of Hollywood were filmed in the area around Gallup.

Our room, the Robert Taylor suite, was comfortable and probably one of the better rooms in the place. It featured a set of old

french doors, leading to a balcony overlooking old route 66. The only issue I had with the room was the absence of a shade on the round window in our sitting room which allowed the neon pink glow from the hotel's sign to shine in the room until midnight when the sign was thankfully turned off. We managed to shove a pillow in the window which helped a little.

A decent but slightly pricey meal was had in the hotel restaurant. Chef salad for Lisa and beef fajitas for me. The fajitas were very flavorful and the portions of both were quite large. The rest of the evening, I spent installing the grips on my bike.

Flashback to Wednesday evening; my grips arrived and I mounted the left grip with no problem. Then I set about mounting the right grip but it seemed a little loose. So I did what any good mechanic would do and used a little more umph to tighten the bolt on the clamp. I didn't think I was torquing it that hard but with a snap, my stomach fell as the head of the bolt broke off. Upon inspection, I found I had neglected to insert the Ergon proprietary washer the clamp uses to apply pressure to the grip and handlebar so I wasn't really tightening the grip but only the clamp bolt which must be made to snap off at certain torque preventing damage to the handlebars. I tried extracting the broken bolt to no avail.

Luckily the bike shop had a set of Ergon GE-1 grips from which I was able to scavenge the clamps to mount the GC-2 (minus the barend of course). So Thursday, at the hotel, I was able to finish installing the grips.

Friday was pre-ride day. After a morning tour of the badly gone to seed downtown Gallup and a decent lunch at Camille's (one of the race sponsors) Cafe, I dropped Lisa back at the hotel and went out to the trailhead for a quick spin around the course. The lousy photojournalist that I am, I left the camera in the car which proved to be unfortunate as it would be my only chance to photograph the trail.

The Gallup High Desert Trail system is truly a thoroughly enjoyable romp in the desert. The race was to be held on a 12.5 mile section of the system encompassing Mesa III and the Mesa II trails. The first part of the ride, a longish climb from the staging area along the ridge of the Mesa with some butt-puckering exposures and several tight switchbacks, found me walking in several spots as the 32x18 gearing on my SS proved too much for these old legs. As I rode, I found myself anticipating the next day when I would have the luxury of gears and could cleanly climb the ridge. The views from the exposed section of trail were just breathtaking. Trail art abounds so look out for mountain lions and bobcats (silhouettes) as well as a myriad of rock cairns (Bikehenge) along the way.

A very good dinner meal on Friday night at Fratelli's Pizza Bistro. I did a little carbo loading with a Murphy's Stout draft and a generous portion of homemade peach ice cream to go along with my "Kitchen Sink" pizza.

As is the norm, I slept very little Friday night before the race. I kept waiting for the sleep that had been sitting heavy on my eyelids after dinner to come but I couldn't seem to sink into sleep. I think I dozed off shortly before two a.m. so the 4:50 alarm wasn't a welcome intrusion on my slumber.

I rattled around the room a few minutes before remembering the weather forecast. I opened the balcony door and was greeted by a blast of arctic air, the sound of a gentle rain and a very wet morning. By the time we dressed and left for breakfast, the snow had begun to fall. The wet, heavy snow came down all through breakfast letting up just as we left the restaurant.

At the staging area, we found the race had been delayed until 9:00 but we made our way down the muddy road to the staging area to find a place to set-up. As the sun rose, the weather seemed to break up somewhat finally becoming sunny just before the rider's meeting.




The decision to postpone the race at least until noon was announced at the race meeting under sunny skies but to the west I could see the clouds gathering and knew in my heart the race was doomed. Parts of the course, according to the race director, were unwalkable let alone rideable. The combination of some tricky exposures on the opening climb, muddy trail conditions and 200 or so riders made for a dangerous mix and a prudent decision to at least postpone the start to see what the weather would bring.

I couldn't see the course conditions improving much in the ensuing two hours and decided to head back to the hotel and call it a day. After showering and packing, I peeked outside where it was pouring rain. When we checked out the snow had begun and we had near white out conditions as we left Gallup. I knew for sure at that point there would be no Dawn til Dusk race for me, or anyone else, this year.

At least I had pre-ridden the course on the day before which as it turned out was the best day of the weekend but I was pretty disappointed that I didn't get a chance to compete.

Out for Delivery

Always a welcome message when checking the UPS tracking site. Like Christmas morning, I get all giddy and excited for my latest goodies to arrive whenever I see that my stuff is "out for delivery". So I should have my grips, a nicely cleaned and adjusted bike now it all comes down to the packing. I think layers are going to be the theme for Saturday with temps ranging between 30 and 55 degrees during the race. I know it is sacrilege for us desert denizens to wish for no rain and I don't really, but I hope the rain either comes early or holds off until Saturday night/Sunday.

It is a good thing that today is my last work day this week. Last night on my ride home I was almost taken out by a kid pulling out of a parking lot. He looked directly at me but still nearly plowed into me as I went by him, it refreshed my memory that even though they are looking at you they aren't neccessarily seeing you. Close one that was.

Then this morning I had a run in with another driver. Two in less than two days is not a good omen.

So this morning, less than a half mile from the house, I'm approaching an intersection where I need to turn left. It has a left hand turn lane and the light is red so I diligently look to my left and rear, there is a grey van about 100 yards behind me so I signal my intentions and begin to move over into the turn lane when Mr. Blue Shirt in said van quite unnecessarily voices is displeasure at my maneuver and lays on his horn. Startled and completely taken by surprise I reacted, without thinking, with a single digit wave of my own (my bad) but truly the horn was simply gratuitous. Then as the corpulent swine passed me, after we both made our left hand turns, I couldn't help but stare him down and mouth what I had visually indicated with my upraised finger just moments earlier. What a fatherless, rattus (rat bastard).

I did enjoy the rest of ride though. Having pushed it hard again on the way home last night and in anticipation of this afternoon's forecasted winds (20-30 with 45 mph gusts), I just spun an easy gear helped along by a slight northerly breeze.

The Wheels on the Bike Go 'Round and 'Round . . .

On the Sunday shakedown, I noticed a little play in the rear wheel after I locked down the QR skewers so last night I pulled the wheel off, cleaned, repacked the bearings, and adjusted the pre-load to the correct amount. I have two more nights to finish cleaning, lubing and adjusting everything so I'm trying to do it in logical back-to-front process. Tonight the drivetrain, including cranks and bottom bracket.

I found the cause of the rattle in my shift pod was just a loose (not lost) cover screw, quick fix on that, yeah.

Still waiting for my new Ergon GR-2 grips to arrive. I've been tracking them daily and UPS still says they should be here by the 8th. Nothing like taking it to the wire. If all goes well that should be my last "wrench" duty of the week, installing the new grips.

Stepped up the intensity of my morning commute today but not the entire distance. I figure I need to keep my muscle memory tuned in on how to go hard but I don't want to over do it. Also, I've taken to watching my nutrition this week. I've been upping my carb intake (complex carbs as much as possible, whole grains, fruits and veggies galore) and trying to eat a little bit every three to four hours to get the glycogen stores up for the long ride.

Thursday it is off to Gallup, Friday a pre-ride of the course and Saturday (30-40% chance of showers, low 30 high 53) the big day . . . . must remember to bring warm clothes. Hope the change doesn't throw me off too much, it is going to be 90 today in Tucson so 53 (and wet) sounds pretty ominous.

Wheelbuilding 101, Homemade GOO, Shakedown

My dilemma was that I needed a new 29'er wheel to mount my "city tires" so I could have a quick change between trail and road ready SS machine and the new wheel had to accomodate disc brakes. Alas, I had a spare 700cc wheel that had been lying dormant for a few years now but with a standard hub and I had a spare disc brake compliant 26" wheel from which I'd hijacked a few spokes. The fix, rob Peter to pay Paul, I deconstructed both wheels, with the intention of using the rim and spokes from the 700cc wheel and the hub from the 26" to build my new wheel and my first attempt at wheel-building.

• Step one, nervously tear down both perfectly good wheels knowing that I may be left with a pile of worthless junk.
• Step two, consult The Complete Guide to Bicycle Maintenance and Repair for a clue as to how to begin.
• Step three stop and knock a few honey-do chores off the list.
• Step four build the wheel.
• Step five-ten, true the new wheel.
• Step eleven admire work, marveling in the fact that the wheel is actually true and usable (spin it a few hundred times in the truing stand while staring gape jawed in wondrous awe at the new wheel).
• Step twelve mount the tire.
• Step thirteen test the new wheel on a short ride this morning.
• Step fourteen, save $150.00 (minimum) by reusing parts and not buying a new wheel.

That was Saturday.

Sunday, time to log a little kitchen time to make homemade gel and bars. For the gel, I used the formula/recipe here http://jibbering.com/sports/gels.html as the basis. The result was a fairly palatable product for a fraction of the cost of pre-packaged gel. I made the apple-cinnamon outlined in the article and an espresso flavor substituting an espresso/agave syrup (for the fructose) in place of the apple juice.

Energy bars: I can't remember the webpage where I found this recipe so I apologize in advance for plagiarizing their work here it is with my modifications:

Ingredients

• 3-1/2 cups rolled oats
• 3/4 cup agave syrup (my substitution as it is a lower GI than the corn syrup suggested)
  
• 2 scoops (each scoop is about 4 tbsp.) protein powder - I used vanilla flavored; any flavor will work
• 1-1/2 cups nonfat dry milk
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 2 egg whites
• 1/4 cup juice - I use orange/banana/pineapple juice; orange juice is fine
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 cup chopped dates/cran-raisins mixed
  
• 1 cup chopped nuts (optional and not part of original recipe)
  
• 1-1/2 bananas, mashed

1. Thoroughly mix all the ingredients in a bowl (mix the dry ingredients together before adding liquid ingredients, then mix everything)
2. Put 1/4 to 1/3 cup piles on cookie sheet or parchment paper on a cookie sheet, flatten and shape into bars (think Clif bar).
3. Bake at 325°F for approximately 15 minutes or until the bottoms of your bars are golden brown
4. When they’re done, take them out of the oven and let them cool.

Next up, a final shakedown for the bike. I wan't real happy with the position the stock stem put me in and I'd tried another stem I had laying around and that one wasn't quite right either, too long. So on the way home Friday night I stopped by the LBS and picked up a new stem that sits right between the two sizes I'd already tested.

So I rode up to Dove Mountain along the gravel shoulder to pick up the State Land Trust trail a little 9-10 mile loop with, (I'd forgotten how much), a bunch of wash/sand crossings. The new stem seemed to do the trick and the new suspension settings I dialed in last weekend worked really well on the washboard, hard-pack part of Moore Road, I think the ride will do nicely this weekend.

When I picked up the trail, I noticed a very discernible rattle emanating from the front-end/handlebars which I couldn't seem to pinpoint. Finally, at one point, my fingers felt the cap of the shifter pod move as I touched it and I'd found the culprit. I lost a screw somewhere along the line that holds the shift pod together. Glad it wasn't something more serious. The ride was about 2:45, just right for a Sunday afternoon shakedown. The sand made for a little harder workout than I'd wanted but once I remembered how to ride the sand (spin a very easy gear, like climbing and try not to let the front wheel turn) it wasn't too bad.

I used some of the homemade gel and gatorade to drink with decent results. I think though for the race, the gatorade will need to be weakened a bit. I made it a little more diluted than full strength but it still seemed too sweet, especially when coupled with the gel.

Hurts So Good, Oh Baby Make it Hurt so Good

In celebration of yesterday's glorious weather and in lieu of taking the long way home, I hammered out a half dozen intervals on the ride home last night. A painful but necessary part of training, or so I'm told . . .

Actually the intervals weren't all that bad, I say now several hours and a good nights sleep later. But isn't that the wonderful thing about the human brain, it doesn't really remember pain, the actual pain. You can remember you were in pain but you can't actually recall the feeling of pain. They say women wouldn't give birth more than once if it weren't so.

Nevertheless, my legs felt the results this morning so in the spirit of tapering down my training and laziness (TGIF), I shortened my commute today, driving partway and biking the rest (about 5 measly miles).

I'm going to try my hand at wheel-building this weekend. I figure I'll practice on some old rims and hubs I have laying around to see how it goes. If all goes well, I will move on to building myself a nice set of wheels, maybe some Chris King or Industry Nine hubs . . . schweet!

Also going to try to make my own energy gel this weekend, I'm the quintessential do-it-yourselfer I suppose. I figure if someone else can do it, I can do it too, cheaper and more often than not better.

April Fools

So my youngest (18 yr old) daughter Corinne calls yesterday and informs us she is getting married to her boyfriend and they are moving in with his parents. You see she was supposed to come home in a couple of weeks to live having decided it is a little too tough on the "outside" right now to try to make a go of it in Northern California. So after stringing us along for a few minutes she lets us off the hook with "April Fools", whew!

Just grinding out the garbage miles commuting to work this week. Keeping it pretty mellow for the most part. Been pushing it a little bit on the ride home but haven't had the gumption (does anyone even use that word anymore?) to attempt any intervals or anything strenuous like that. Considering taking the long way home tonight as the winds have calmed and it looks like they will return tomorrow.

Actually on second thought, I remember the last time I took the long way home a couple of weeks ago that they are doing construction on Oracle road in Oro Valley and it was pretty butt-puckering riding the white shoulder line with concrete jersey-wall six inches to the right and rush hour traffic on one of the busiest roads in Tucson screaming by six inches to the left. I think I'll take a pass . . .

My current trail bike is a Specialized Rock Hopper Pro pretty much stock except for the SRAM x.9 transmission and shifters I upgraded to when I first bought the bike. I converted the Specialized 2Bliss (tubeless) ready tires to an actual tubeless set-up but that is about the extent of it. When I bought the bike I tried to get a Stumpy 29'er but there was a six to eight week backorder and I'm not a patient man. The price was right and I've been fully satisfied with the rig. . . but I'm always looking to upgrade.

I'm also riding a stock Raleigh XXIX SS with a 32x18 set-up that I bought this past fall and my commuter is a Specialized Allez Elite which I've had for almost three years now.

I lovingly maintain all my bikes myself. Cleaning and lubing after every ride as well as servicing top to bottom front to back on a regular basis. I can and do pretty much everything except the most advanced mechanical (facing bb/head tubes, etc). Being meticulous with the maintenance really does make a bike last a long time. Of course I'm not bombing huge drops or anything to radical so that probably helps.

After travelling around the blogosphere reading the posts about the current weather in nearly every part of the country with thier tales of snow, hail, sleet, freezing rain AND wind, man, I realized I have absolutely no reason to complain about a little wind (although I probably still will on occasion).

Celebrate it or Ignore it

I'm reading, again, Tom Robbins "Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates" and there was a line in there which I read last night regarding the weather.  There are only two things to do about the weather, celebrate it or ignore it.  

Great sentiment and quite timely for me as I'm getting a little nervous about the upcoming weather for the race.  We've had a pretty unstable weather pattern over the west that doesn't show any signs of improving any time soon.  What we need is a big old high pressure dome to settle in and just keep all the junk out but it is still a little early in the spring for that to happen.   Snow is in the forecast for Gallup this coming Saturday but it is a little too early to prognosticate much past that.  I guess I should just ignore it then and see what the next ten days bring.

I can't seem to find any past results for the Dawn-til-Dusk so I'm not sure how many laps I need to finish to be competitive. I'm racing in the +50 category and hoping to finish at least 8 (104 miles).  Hopefully that will be enough to put in a good showing.

I think I have the long now I have to get the fast but damn intervals are so boring . . .

I observed a strange phenomena on my ride to work today. Invariably I pass numerous runners along my commute especially along the river park and as I approach the university. By far the majority of the younger runners, in their twenties (or younger), all seem to be women. Don't get me wrong,  I'm not complaining but it seems odd that there are so far fewer men of that age running.  Are they just not keeping fit,  or do they exercise in other ways?

Conversely,  most of the older runners (of my age or there abouts) are by far men.  So is it some fallout from Title IX manifesting itself or are there other reasons why so many younger women run than men?