Stagecoach 400 - Almost Ready

Some days I think "I got this" and then some days I think "are you absolutely crazy ?".  So goes the preparation for Stagecoach 400.

It's a relatively new race, started by Brendan Collier in Idyllwild, CA.  First ran in 2012 I think about 8 out of 20 something people finished, and Jill Homer called it the hardest thing she had done.  ( Coming from a Tour Divide finisher ! ).  The route is slightly modified from that one, starts in Idyllwild, CA, runs south past Anza, does a turn southeastward into Coyote Canyon and goes to Borrego Springs.  Then swings through a sandy Fish Creek Wash, with about 18 miles or so of sand and a bit of hike-a-bike and hits pavement on S2 with a hopeful first day stop at Aqua Caliente State Park.  Next day's plan would be up Oriflamme Canyon, a stint on the Sunshine Highway, then a bit of Noble Canyon, and up and down and up and down Indian Creek until we hit Hwy 79.  Then through Decanso, and Alpine, southwestward to Bonita and Chula Vista and up the Coronado Strand with a ferry crossing back to where the Midway is docked.  Up past Sea World, to Torrey Pines, to Escondido, Warner Springs and on the California Riding & Hiking Trail to Anza and back to Idyllwild.  About 380 miles and 40000 feet of climbing and supposed to be done in 5 days, all self supported.  ( See about the crazy part ?? )

Stagecoach 400 Route

So ... the bike is mostly packed, and it's been on a few fully loaded rides.  I really want to make Aqua Caliente the first day, Alpine the second, be in the San Diego area north of the Bay on the third and back near Lake Henshaw for the fourth night.  I think the main focus for my ride will be to just keep going, not burn out trying to keep up with strong people right out of the chute, and just ride my ride and keep the food and water going.

The Bike

Thought I would write down the gear list ( for any gear-heads ) that are looking at this:

Bike:

Pivot LES 29 hard tail with SRAM X01 group set.  A single 30T ring in front and an 11 speed 10-42 cassette in the rear.
Seat is my tried and true Stella ( that went cross country on the Big Ride and has been to Death Valley and Cochise County )
Pedals are Shimano XTR's
aerobars are Profile Design T3+ Carbon
bar ends are Ergon GS3 carbon
Fred Bar is the thing that the aero bars mount to, and it came from Siren Bicycles
tires are Saguaro 2.2's on the stock DT hubs that came with the bike
installed a new 30T ring, new cassette and new chain for the ride
VIS 180 rechargeable rear light
Fenix light mount for Fenix flashlights

Revelate Viscacha Rear Bag

one Qtubes 29er tube
Mountain Laurel bivy bag
Sea to Summit Thermolite REACTOR extreme sleeping bag liner
Therm-a-rest Prolite pad
SOL emergency bivy
plastic bag with Park Tool brush, small Prolube lube, and a cloth
Patagonia jacket

Revelate Gas Tank Front Bag

SAWYER squeeze thru water filter
2 oz bottle of STANS

Two Revelate Design feed bags

( the iPod is in one, the other is empty to fill with food )

Revelate Design Tangle Bag

left side has toothbrush, small toothpaste, some floss, a small first aid kit, Ibuprofen, Asprin, fingernail clippers
Topeak pump ( with a bunch of duct tape wrapped around it )
right side has cell phone charger adapter & cable
sunscreen
dozen GU's
8 packets of Acclimate
buff to keep neck warm
Park Designs pack of tire patches
tire patch kit
Park Designs chain breaker tool
spare brake pads

Revelate Design Jerry Can

all the tire fixing stuff ....
2 CO2 cartridges
Park Tool hex tool set
tire levers
2 oz bottle of STANS
CO2 adapters ( 2 of them )
valve core remover
tire plugs
tweezers
cholla comb
SRAM 11 speed master link

Navigation

taking my Garmin Edge 500
my main navigation is Garmin Etrex 30 with extra sim card.  Tracks are on internal card and SIMM.  The SIMM holds an openstreetmaps.org mapset image.  And I have a map.  Also the SPOT tracker is mounted on top of the rear bag and a track for the race will be available at  http://trackleaders.com

Lighting

2 Fenix flashlights that run on alkaline or lithium AA batteries.  One is a spare !  The main lighting one is attached to the handlebars.
( plan to think seriously about a dynamo setup, but I don't have it now and this light seems to be enough for dirt roads .. )

Backpack

None.  Plan is to go with 2 water bottles and for dry sections take a couple of bottled water throwaway's in jersey pockets.

Alternates:

plan to consult the weather and "maybe" take a front bag with a full sleeping bag and Zpack Solo-Plus tent.  Right now it looks like Southern California might hit 100 degrees next week, so we might have just enough warmth to be able to be comfortable if I need to sleep out in the Cleveland National Forest someplace or close to the ocean.

Cochise County Cycling Classic 2014

Can't believe it's been a year since I went down to Douglas to do the Cochise County Cycling Classic bicycle race last year, but time flies.

Have been training but have had a little bit of trouble trying to get the right intensity going since doing TD and Barnburner.  It seemed like I was loosing a bit of edge or something and not finishing both of those races was starting to gnaw on me.  So I really wanted to do well at CCCC this year.

Lauren and Jennifer had volunteered to SAG for me this year, so the three of us loaded up and headed for Douglas on Friday.  Got the packet stuff at the Fairgrounds and then off to the Gadsen to check in.  We were hungry so walked up the street to a Mexican restaurant which was pretty good.  The waiter was more intent on doing his homework, but the food was good.  We finished up and went to the Fairgrounds for Dinner #2 a plate of spaghetti.  Met Sarah and Sandy there and saw Carolyn who was also doing the 165 race that I was going to do the next morning.

Headed for Tombstone

Up at 5, out of hotel at 5:30, lined up for a 6:30 start.  Pretty warm, had a light jacket and handed it off to Jennifer and away we went.  I don't think I pushed as hard as I did last year in the early part of the race ... last year the 92 mile people passed me a bit past Cochise College and this year they passed me after the Mule Mountain descent, so that part didn't seem to make a lot of sense.  I was with the second group of fast 92 people, with Dan and some other guys, but could only hang with them for about a mile or so, then ever so slowly, found myself dropping off the back end and alone again.

Lauren and Jennifer kept fixing me up with fresh bottles of water and Carbo-Pro and snacks from our cooler and I kept going.  Pretty soon we were in Benson at Ocotillo Road where they waited for me to get up I-10 towards the Dragoon exit before they left and then met me at that exit.

Kept rolling along and getting resupplied and kept going and pretty soon the race was over.  We had a great day, not much wind at all... I could see the smoke from the Apache power plant going straight up as I closed on US 191 ( a really good sign ), and no wind in my face this year when I saw that sign that said 57 miles to Douglas.

I think we kept the stops short, kept the calories and hydration going in.  Didn't eat a lot of solid food at all, mainly GU's, some chips and Cheetos, but a lot of juices, the Carbo-Pro, a few 5-hour's, some AZ iced teas and San Pelligrinos and that seemed to take care of things.

Finished with about 9:53 of elapsed time for 164 miles, about 1:15 faster than last year, so I was really happy with my time.  And it was 9th place out of 23 entrants.  Good to have a success under my belt.

World's Best SAG Crew !

Back to the hotel, a couple of Margaritas, and a late night party which woke me up, that was on the balcony outside of my room, but it was all ok.  We had a good ride back to Tucson, except for my bicycle falling off the roof rack somehow ... we hear a big "thump", it wakes Jennifer up, I look in my left mirror and see my bike hanging off the driver's side of the car ... get to the side of the road and reattach it ...  it seems to be ok, but what a scare ... not sure what happened with that !

Next event is Bike the Coast a Team in Training event in Oceanside, CA on Nov 1

Barnburner - incomplete day

Off to Flagstaff for the Barnburner MTB.  It's a mountain bike race held on a bunch of forest roads just northwest of Flagstaff.  The 104 mile race that I signed up for is 4 laps of 26 miles each, around the Kendrick Mountain Wilderness.

Get there on Thursday and get my packet. Off the next morning to find where the event is going to be held. The instructions on the riders guide published online plainly say to take a right where 245 runs into 171.  So me and a bunch of guys in a truck with mtb bikes on it in front of me both did, and promptly managed to miss where the event is going to be held.  Only when we got west of the Kendrick area did we figure out what we had done.  Back to the intersection, take the left, then about 1/4 mile or so and take a right across a bunch of pasture and we were where we were supposed to be.

Got the bike out, rode about 5 miles or so in each direction, and then headed back to Flag.  As I was getting to the hotel a cloudburst came down, which was the same big rain that would turn the parking area at the event into a mudhole.

Went out to eat something on Fri night and was feeling really bad.  I have been at altitude before and still don't think that was it, but when I looked something up, the symptoms all seemed to match.  Long and short of it is that I wasn't sure at 8pm if I would even get up and go to the race in the morning or just go home.. I felt that bad.

4 am comes and I get up, say screw it, and head for the event.  No breakfast places open, so bananas, coffee, a fruit bar and a gel for breakfast.  Navigating my Subu through that field of mud was interesting, watching pickups in front of me spinning and turning 90 degrees in the mud !   The race start area was pretty muddy, and they cancelled the Lemans start normally held ... we just did a standing start at 7am right by the wooden gate that fronts FR 793.

My first lap felt pretty good, considering I was seriously thinking about packing it in the night before.  I finished up and took a detour after passing the timer, to my car and had some chips, a Coke and some other stuff.  Then back to the course.  I also dropped off my rain shell which I had for the first lap.  The sun was out, it was nice and warm and the course was drying out, just really pleasant.

My second lap also went pretty good.  Other than getting out of control on a descent and electing to just run off the road into the weeds rather than try to "save it" ( which worked well, by the way ) I didn't have any trouble.  Through the barn, and got a time ( which included the actual ride plus time between 1st and 2nd lap eating something.

Off and away from the car for the third lap.  It also seemed to go well, until big drops of rain began to fall and my rainshell was left in the car from the end of the 1st lap.   A pretty amateur mistake, made when I was trying to hurry back out.  So .. I got wet, as in really, really wet, along with being really, really chilled. We had a very cold rain, lots of hailstones ( little ones, but they stung ! ), and I rode pretty hard trying to generate some heat.

When I went through the barn for the period between the end of 3rd and the start of 4th, I had every intention of finishing, but I needed to go for the car again, to eat something and to try to warm up.  I was starting to shake a bit from the cold and I fired up the car to run the heater and try to warm a bit.  Was pretty sure they announced the cutoff time had been reached, and I was still at the car.  Technically I could have got back on the course, but I was still really cold and I kept the heater on all the way back to Flagstaff.

So.... two take aways ...  just keep the rain shell at all times, even if the sun is out, and for Barnburner, I noticed that lots of solo folks had a little support crew there with their goodies right outside the barn, nice and close to the course.

Next up, back to do the Cochise 164 mile ride again, along with Bike the Coast in Oceanside and El Tour de Tucson.  Lots to be done !

Tour Divide 2014 Day 10 Falling Apart & Done

It was a pretty clear night in the dewey grass in front of the restaurant at Horca and I got cold.  It seemed that it was colder than on top of Burned Mountain, even though the elevation was a couple of thousand feet lower.  My mind started worrying about the brakes that weren't quite right on the bike.  I had problems slowing down on the descent down La Manga Pass into Horca last night, and now I was beginning to fear going further into Colorado and having to deal with the passes there.   I didn't want to give it up and thought that I might be able to get up hill, figure something out where my phone would work, maybe get to Santa Fe and get the bike fixed and then continue on.

So when the sun came up and finally warmed the sleeping bag, I was cold and tired, thinking my gear is not up to the task ahead.  I packed it all up and then I sat at the intersection of FR150 which would lead to Platoro, CO and Highway 17 that would lead back up La Manga Pass to Cumbres Pass and then down to Chama, NM.  Couldn't figure out what to do and I just sat there.   Then something made me head up that 9 mile hill and that started the end of my ride.

The ride up La Manga was nice.  I got into a good climb, it was a little bit steeper than Mt Lemmon, but not that big of a deal and the sun was out.  I stopped at the top of the hill, saw a couple of road cyclists, and then crossed a railroad track for the Cumbres and saw the train station that appears in the "Ride the Divide" movie ( where the fellow says "this here's Bandit").   A few hikers were there and we could hear the train in the distance and I waited for it to show up.  A fully functioning coal driven steam locomotive.  Interesting to watch the support crew at the top of the pass with their infared thermometers checking on the temperatures of various connecting rods and wheels.  The locomotive and train pulled away and I headed for Chama.

Train Schedule

Beautiful Technology

In Chama I found a restaurant and contacted my niece Lindsay for a ride to Santa Fe, with the expectation that I would find a bike shop the next day, get it fixed and get back at it.  But someplace on the long drive to Santa Fe ( it was nearly 100 miles - was surprised at how long it took in Matt's jeep at 60+ mph to get there ), I guess I gave up.   I stayed with Amanda and Dustin that night and the next morning we loaded the bike into Amanda's car and went looking for a rental.  Had to go to Albuquerque to get a one way rental and around 2 pm or so, I was on I25 headed for Tucson.   When I passed the Continental Divide and the turn to Antelope Wells on I10, that I had taken 10 days before,  I was not a happy person, as I guess I really did just quit on myself, so I get to deal with that for the next year.  I didn't get saddle sores, I didn't even take an Ibuprofen, and other than being tired from riding 9 days or so in a row, I felt pretty good.   As they say this race, the Tour Divide, is more than physical, it is a lot mental, and as I said on my Day 1 blog post, I broke.

Well, the brake pads were worn down and both front and back needed bleeding, so it wasn't all in my head, but am still disappointed.  I did do a hard State, and did it by myself without any outside assistance, so I am proud of that, but as I sit here and look at the still active TD riders, I can't help but want to be out there on the Divide someplace.

I played a song "Silver Stallion" by the Highwaymen LOTS of times during the ride and these lyrics kinda hit a sentiment for me ... So Till Next Year

I'm gonna chase the sky forever,

With the woman and the stallion and the wind

The Sun is gonna burn into a cinder,

Before we ever pass this way again

And we're gonna ride, we're gonna ride

Ride like the one eyed jack of diamonds

With the devil close behind

We're gonna ride

Tour Divide 2014 Day 9 Brazos Ridge & Horca

It was a cold night on Burned Mountain.  A lot colder than I thought.  My sleeping bag ( Western Mountaineering ) was supposed to be rated to 25 degrees, but I was pretty chilled at different times during the night.  So the sun coming up and hitting me was pretty welcome.  And as soon as I started rolling I saw big RV's and knew I had crested Burned Mountain and was close to the Hopwell Lake campground that I had planned to get to in the first place.

At Hopwell Lake, I refilled my water, washed up a bit and then did a fast downhill on Hwy 64 until I got to FR133.  There was a short climb and then several miles of rollers through grassland and woods.  At one point I was above a creek and heard a group of animals and looked to the west..  I had startled about 25 elk and they were running up a hill out of shade into sunlight on green grass.  Since I was higher above the creek, I had a nice perspective on them, akin to what you see on Nature, where a film of a small herd of animals is taken from an aircraft.  It was pretty cool !

FR133 kept going and then turned into rangeland once again and got rough.  At some point I heard this banging around sound in front of me on the bike and looked down to see that my Garmin etrex had popped loose from it's mount and was dangling from the lanyard.  At some point I remembered reading on bikepacking.net that you should tie your Garmin to something because it WILL pop off and if it isn't tied down you're going to have to go back and hunt all over the road to find it.  Only took a few seconds to reseat it where it was supposed to be and then move on.   I crossed more rangeland, and finally got to the Rio San Antonito a really pretty little river.   Ate something at a grove of cottonwoods and then climbed more.  The rest of the early afternoon would be all climbing to the Brazos Ridge that overlooks the Cruces Basin Wilderness.

The sky got a bit darker and I am still climbing.  At one place a bit of rain started and I stopped and got my warm stuff on.  About 5 minutes later the sun came out, so then got to take the rain stuff off !   The road got harder to navigate and turned into a rock garden and then as I got closer to the top became mostly unrideable for me and I just pushed the bike up the mountain to the 11,000 foot level.

The top of Brazos Ridge was pretty.  Not very many trees and a little bit of snow under some of the trees in a couple of places.  On the north side there still was a drift of leftover winter snow.

And then it was time to descend and I began to realize that I didn't have a lot of braking power left.  My front brake had seemed weak for the last couple of days, but now the rear was a little weak also.  Once again, the map shows a good descent, but that's not quite true, there's always a hill or two around !  After several more miles, I see the sign that says "Leaving Carson National Forest" and one that says "Entering Rio Grande National Forest" and that is the Colorado State Line.

There were still a few miles to go to get to Horca, with a last little climb to cross the Cumbres & Toltec Railroad ( an old fashioned coal fired, narrow gauge, steam engine railroad ! )   Highway 17 was in front of me and I finally got to a 9 mile descent on pavement to Horca.

At Horca I found a restaurant and had a great meal, sweet iced tea, meat loaf, mashed potatoes, bread with honey !  Lots of calories went onboard.  But I didn't find a campground and I ended up back in the bivy in front of the restaurant and fell asleep.

Rangeland before the big climb

Top of Brazos Ridge

FR87 ( pretty rideable here ) on Brazos Ridge

Me

Slightly down from the high point of the Ridge - beautiful

Rio Grande National Forest - This is Colorado !

Cumbres & Toltec Tracks

Tour Divide 2014 Day 8 El Rito & Canon Plaza

Woke up and tried to figure out what day it was.  I am loosing track of time on this trip ! Apparently it's Friday morning and I have been out over a week now and I packed the bike and got ready for another big day.  This day would take me into the Tusas Mountains on the way to Colorado.  I didn't expect that  I would clear it all in one day, and planned to make Canon Plaza and maybe get to Hopwell Campground for the night.  Had a great breakfast at the Inn, and then headed out.  As I rode to El Rito a car slowed and a fellow asked me if I was doing the Divide.  He said he knew Mary from the movie, and gave me some encouragement.   The ride to El Rito was paved and went well.  In El Rito I stopped at a liquor store/grocery store and bought stuff for the night to come.  It was about 10:30 and the clerk said the restaurant in town didn't open until 11:30 and offered a shady place under trees in the back to rest, and I took him up on it and took off the Camelback, leaned up against it and napped for about an hour.

When I got up, I headed for El Farolito's.  Lunch was a burger, fries and a shake, and then a stuffed sopapilla with meat and beans and cheese, all wrapped up for the trip.  With that, a bunch of energy bars, some apples, and a couple of Cokes I headed out.  Right outside El Rito, the road turned to dirt with some sand and a bit of a grade.

Scene from "Ride the Divide" - a pay phone used to be on the left side of the building

El Farolito's   Great Mexican Food !  

The next village I would pass is Vallecitos, known for having a bunch of loose dogs, and I found that to be true ... as I entered the last part of the little town a Rottweiler came out from a house ( with the owner standing around in the yard, by the way ) and chased me.  I knew these guys were going to be there and out ran him, but he could be a little dangerous going the other way as there is more of a grade to go up.  I think some riders may even have used bear spray in the past on these dogs.   Another smaller dog came out, but he was slower and not as big of a threat.

At this point the road became paved and it was all the way to Canon Plaza.   In Canon Plaza is the "Summer Store", a little store operated out of a tuff shed building on the side of the road.  I stopped and saw their sign that says "Honk Horn".  Since I didn't have one, I tried the pickup truck with the forsale sign on it, but that horn didn't work.  Stood around for a few minutes and an old dog from a house came down to the store and lay down.  That appeared to be the house of the owners, so I waited and then went up to the house.  Checked the doorbell and no one home.  Then I ran into a puppy,  a little black and white felllow that still had that puppy smell  about him.  I wanted to take him with me, but no room in the Camelback.   So I decided to leave and headed up into the forest towards Burned Mountain.

As I climbed I passed an old mining camp with a pretty spring, and then began to smell smoke.  Yes, there was a small forest fire off to the south and west of the road that I was on.   For just a bit I was concerned that I might have a problem as I saw a little bit of visible smoke across the road, but the wind quickly cleared it.  Climbing further it was behind and the wind was blowing it away from me.  The shadows grew longer and longer and I climbed more and knew I was above 10,000 feet once again.  I knew I was close to the Campground that I had intended to get to, but it was getting dark enough that I decided to stop in a clearing where another FR91 piece turned off.  At this height as soon as the shadows lengthened it got cold.  So I drank one of my Cokes and ate the stuffed sopapilla and got ready for the night.

Another clear and cold night with coyotes howling in the area, more elk making noises in the night and an OHV that came from someplace down FR91B and then went down the FR91B-something and turned back.  Wasn't sure at all where he came from.  Next morning it was pretty apparent that he was from the campground area that was only about a mile over the ridge.  I was closer to the top of Burned Mountain than I though I was !

Burned Mountain Campsite

Supper - Delicious !

Tour Divide 2014 Day 7 Abiquiu

I knew the ride to Abiquiu was going to be hard and had some dread of it.  Out of the hotel and a short ride up the main street of Cuba, a right turn onto 126 and then out of town.  The road began to climb and I found myself with a Mt Lemmon type climb of about 10 miles.  The grade was a little steeper, but it all seemed to come together pretty nicely.  Near the top the route turned onto a Forest Service road and it was absolutely beautiful.  The grades were not that hard, the surface was good and I had my lunch sandwich of steak and tortilla packed away in my pocket.

As I neared 10,000 feet I began to run into rougher road and finally got to a place that I couldn't ride and just got off and walked.  A little bit of a rock garden.  Just above this the road was rough but still rideable, although hard, with me trying to pick out the right line from one side of the road to the other.  I was surprised at how much of the time on this whole trip that the right "line" seemed to be on the left side of the road...  in many cases it had either less gravel, less sand, a harder pack or a bit of all of those.  Not sure why that was the case, but lots of times I was following the track of the other riders before me and that's where they were also.

So, this piece of road went on for quite some time.  At one place I passed a fellow, his wife and little girl who were collecting small diameter trees, clearing off the limbs and making poles out of them.  They had an old pickup truck and the back bumper was almost on the ground from the weight of all of the poles that were in it.  How that truck would ever get off the mountain stayed in my mind for a while.

All in all this part of the ride went well, with more climbing and a glance at the Adventure Cycling map showed that I had a nice descent at the end into Abiquiu, so I thought I was doing well.  Then came FR27 !   This road started at a bit above 10,000 feet and would take me to Abiquiu.  The first couple of miles were not too bad, a bit rocky, but navigable.  Then I discovered what happens to missing beach sand on the Atlantic Coast -- it gets deposited on this road !   It became one long section ( downhill grade ) of sand and rock ...  reminded me of trying to ride in the Santa Cruz back in Tucson, hard to steer, hard to pedal, no real speed, just slugging through.  And again, when I though I was done, there were still several miles left to go.  But finally a sign showed 7 miles, then 5 and I knew it was almost done for the day.  Then a turn onto Hwy 84 and the search for a place to stay began.  I turned into the village of Abiquiu and found nothing there and looked at Bode's store and it was closed.  Finally asked someone pumping gas and he told me about the Abiquiu Inn just 1/2 mile east of where I was.

I was in luck, the Inn had a vacancy, and the restaurant was open, so I got a good meal, and a place to sleep for the night and get cleaned up.

Santa Fe National Forest Jemez Mountain Trail

Steep and Rocky at about 10,000 feet