Biking to Albuquerque and Other Places

For Thanksgiving Break the NMSU Race Club decided to celebrate by biking to Albuquerque, NM. The plan was to leave Saturday morning at 7:00 AM to allow adequate time to get to the half way point of the 230+ mile journey. I had just gotten a new bike saddle too and was excited to try it out since my old Italia saddle was just not doing it for me. My new saddle was the ADAMO ism and it felt TERRIFIC! There were 7 of us going and the plan for the first day was to just bring enough food to get you through the day. My nutrition plan was the power bar variety pack (and a handful of pecan nuts I picked up from an orchard we rode through).

About 5 miles into the ride (still in Las Cruces) Brianne's shoe clip broke off in her pedal again. The good thing about this is that we were still in Las Cruces and it was just a matter of going back to get another screw. Yep the day was warming up nicely. My feet were no longer ice cubes and I was feeling good. Taylor made up a game to keep our spirits high while riding. Seeing a train was worth 1,000,000 points, a Roadrunner was worth 5,000,000 points, seeing a exotic car was worth 50,000,000 points, mooning an exotic car was an automatic win, and seeing a tractor with pink wheels beats everything.





After a couple of hours my ass was really starting to feel the miles. I really liked my new saddle and the pressure it took of of my special area but my sit bones were killing me! Lunch was a nice break. Mmmm... Powerbars. I think it was Truth or Consequences (yes that is the name of the town) where we stopped for lunch which was a little over 8o miles. After lunch we had a wonderful tailwind. We were averaging close to 20 mph. and hardly pedaling. Pretty soon it was getting dark and finding a spot to camp came up. We drove off a random dirt road into the desert scrub and threw the tents up. Xavier was so funny as we were trying to go to sleep. He must have been so spooked out because he kept saying "Did you guys just see that! A shadow just moved across the tent." Then he proceeded to tell us that cowboys slept with their boots on so they could jump up and onto their horses at a moments notice. "I'M SERIOUS!" said Xavier. Well then we had better sleep with our bike shoes on since we don't have any horses.



Around 11:00 PM or so the strangest thing happened. The wind picked up to a pretty serious level. It was dead calm when we went to sleep. The tent was flapping around like crazy and I was sure I would never get back to sleep. But don't worry, I did. Then a couple hours later some Coyotes began to howl. T-Ride in a dozy, sleepy state shouted "HEY!" Yup you definitely scared them off. I thought it was pretty funny. Then about this time the gale just stopped. It was so weird.

Morning was cold cold cold and the tent was stinky stinky stinky. Poor Deanna had to sleep with 3 smelly guys who ate hard core Mexican for dinner. Even for me it was almost unbearable. Once on the ride I'm glad I brought my toe warmers. They saved my life. The second day, unlike the first there was a constant cold head wind. Instead of averaging 18 mph we were only managing 11 or 13. It was very discouraging. By the time lunch rolled around we had covered only 50 miles and everyone was exhausted. My butt had seen better days too. Riding close to 200 miles in 2 days on a brand new saddle will definitely turn it different shades of black and blue. The big idea for lunch was to gorge at the New Mexico Tech University cafeteria. Really it was pretty good or I was just that hungry. I must have eaten my weight in food but that is pretty easy to do when you have bonked.

We made it another 40 miles or so before it got dark and cold. Taylor (the energizer bunny) kept going all the way to Albuquerque. Maybe another 30 miles. The rest of us had had enough of all this fun and we drove the rest of the way to Albuquerque. At Deanna's house we promptly ate a big bowl of home made chili and cornbread then basically collapsed on the floor and fell asleep.

Deanna was so kind to share her home. A warm dry place was heaven on earth at that moment. Monday (the next day) was our rest day. We spent it at the Albuquerque aquarium (yeah there is a pretty nice aquarium in the middle of the desert) and botanical gardens. We must have spent half the day at the aquarium just watching this fat grouper do laps around its tank. The other half of our time was watching the sharks swim around. Then we realized this wasn't just any shark tank but it was the tank that housed all the injured or retarded fish. For example there was the "Hunchback of Notre Dame" sea turtle, a blind turtle, and and albino turtle. Most of the sting rays had chunks taken out of them or kinked stingers, and the sharks and barracuda had bad over bites or under bites. "Hey I'm a Dork-fish. Caught me on a corn dog." Didn't really need to say all that. Okay moving on.

Tuesday, (the next day) everyone except Brianne, Tyler, and me stayed in Albuquerque. Tyler wanted to rest so we let him and said we would call when it got dark. Soon after leaving Deanna's we were back on the highway heading south. A little while later on the other side of the highway was a truck with a blown out tire. He shouted something at me but I couldn't hear him. He shouted again and it sounded like he said "Do you have a tire?" I shouted back "Tire?" and he nodded. Ummm yeah, as a matter of fact I have a truck tire here in my back pocket. What kind of stupid question is that? Do I look like I have a truck tire on me? I am riding a bike here. Just weird and funny.

Tyler picked us up after Brianne and I ate then we decided to spend the night at Tyler's Mom's house who only lived an hour away. Then the next day we would have somewhere new and exciting to ride. The motto for new and exciting was massive hills and mountain passes at elevation. The morning started out okay but after several passes over 7,000 ft. and after 300 miles being tired was an understatement. The traffic was ridiculous too. Where were all these people coming from. Hardly anyone lives out here. Frustration levels rising, we stopped at a redneck casino, and I repeat redneck, to eat something and regroup. I felt much better but the hills I think were getting the best of Brianne. Finally we crested the high point of our ride at the Apache Pass at something like 7,500 ft. It was downhill the remaining 40 miles or so all the way to our stopping place at Alamagordo somewhere around 4,000 ft. Brianne and I called Tyler and then celebrated by having three delicious hot chocolates each at the local Denny's.

Now I'm sitting here at my computer thinking about this crazy fun filled adventure which strangely makes me a little sad. It will be a long time, most likely, before I top this adventure and the things I saw. Things like riding through the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge and seeing the thousands of birds and cranes, the complete solitude and peace while watching the sun set behind the rocky New Mexico mountains, the crazy wiener dogs that come barging out of their yard determined to rip your legs off, and the tractor with pink wheels that Brianne supposedly saw. I can't wait to just do it all over again.

Stars

Here are just a few pictures of the stars I saw the other night while watching the meteor shower. Brianne was kind enough to go with me so I wasn't too terribly creeped out. Actually I did get scared a couple of times but only because some of the meteors were so bright and illuminating. The first good one must have been just below the northern horizon. It looked like an atomic bomb exploded 100 miles away or something. Lots of red and orange flashes. I never actually saw it but I'm assuming that was what it was. The second really good one was directly over head. I was falling asleep and my eyes were closed but I still saw it streaking right for me. I sat up so fast and abrupt I definitely spooked Brianne for a good couple of minutes. It was a good show. The stars here in the high New Mexican desert are perhaps the brightest I've ever seen.

Lots of Learning

For the past two and a half months I have decided to quit training for triathlons. I like to take on physical challenges and reach my goals that I set for those physical challenges. With triathlon I reached those goals. I proved that with hard work and dedication I could be fairly successful. Maybe not the best in the sport but do fairly well and be satisfied with myself. Well mostly. You see, I seemed to figure the swim part out okay. For whatever reason the swim came very quick and easy for me. Yes I put a lot of hard work into it but I saw huge results of my training. The run was the other easy part. I grew up a runner and being, I guess, naturally athletic or inheriting good traits from my parents, I was able to run fairly well without putting a lot of work into my run. The bike was a different story.

At first I approached the bike like a did with running. More miles at the beginning and intensity towards the end of the season. Of course I got better just because I was training hard but something just seemed off. For instance at first when I started swimming I was decent just because I was in good shape but there were a lot of much faster people than me whom I swam with. Over time I learned technique and form. Within the next couple of months I could see how one swims fast and could see myself being the best swimmer at the pool if I simply put in the time. But not with the bike. I put in so many incredibly hard miles and hours on the bike only to get completely blown away at races. I could just not see how it was possible to ride that fast. I was frustrated, without answers, and completely over trained.

I took five or six weeks completely off missing my last race of the season (Lake Stevens70.3) to regroup and take a break from beating myself up. During that time I really started to think about the bio-mechanics of biking form. All along I was simply pushing with my quadriceps. Well the quadriceps is a huge muscle and gets tired very quickly so I discovered. I watched some videos of Lance Armstrong and other top cyclists and noticed how they push down with their toes pointed up then through the bottom of the petal point the toe and pull through the bottom of the stroke. I had a lot of learning to do. When I started back up I tried this method and instantly my calfs and hamstrings cramped up. My true cycling muscles were, as I saw it, highly underdeveloped. I kept my cramping Lance Armstrong technique up for maybe an hour 4 or 5 days a week. Just four weeks of riding like this I had my major breakthrough race.

Going into the Elephantman Olympic Triathlon I had no expectations because I was in (as I saw it) abysmal shape. The bike just clicked for me at this race as it never had before. I felt I had reached one more major goal in my journey through triathlon. I could now see the mountain peak and a clearer view of the rout. I will get a second chance to see how this bike training works on December fifth when I try the local Polar Bear Triathlon at White Sands. After that I plan to scale things back quite a bit then slowly get back into things after I feel I've had a good rest. That's my plan as of now. Subject to change which it probably will.

Organ Mts.

Went for a nice hike up the local Organ Mountains the other day. I really wanted to get to a higher point but I got a late start and didn't quite get as far as I wanted. Some day I will make it to the top. Here are just a few pictures of my little hike.


The plants are so unique. Here we have Ocotillos, Agaves, and Yuccas.


A prickly pear cactus growing out of the top wall on this abandoned old house.


Chimney Rock with yuccas.


Old rock house and cliffs.


My view atop one of the ridges.


View from atop the ridge.


Soledad Canyon. I saw a huge rattle snake here but couldn't get a picture of it before it zipped back down its hole.

Soma Triathlon

Its Friday afternoon and I just go back from work. Suddenly my phone rings and it's T-Ride. "Hey Adam, do you want to go to Phoenix?" I thought for a minute and about the 4 weeks of laundry I needed to do and if I had enough cloths for 2 more days. Then I said, "Mmmm...Okay!" Four hours later we were on the road to Arizona blasting and rocking out to old classic rock hits and 80's rap.

T-ride is one of those guys that knows everybody. As we entered Tuscon we found and met up with Chris Green and his brother Cameron. They were both triathletes and raced for the University of Arizona. Chris and Cameron (but mostly Chris) were big party guys and being Friday night we had somewhere to go. I was pretty tired and hungry during the party so I was pretty lame but I did get in a nice game of darts with Cameron. After the party we spent the night at the Green's in our sleeping bags on the floor.

The next morning, Saturday, was a brick workout with the University of Arizona Triathlon team. Tuscon, actually, was recently named the best place to live if you are a triathlete. You could ride down any busy street and see other bikers everywhere. The cars were very respectful and patient too. The weather is fantastic basically all year and there is an infinite number of routs, trails and pools. The brick workout we did was very quick and easy. Maybe a ten mile ride and a three mile run through the university campus. It was pretty slick throwing in monster attacks on my Pinarello while racing through traffic and flying around corners. That kind of riding really helps your handling skills, something I lack. After the ride we stopped at the famous TriSports.com shop. Pretty much amazing. If you need anything at all for the swim, bike or run this is the place. Me, I got some hand paddles. I guess I will have to start swimming again.

So now we're in Phoenix and its 90 plus degrees. Weather in the desert southwest during fall is picture perfect. We dropped T-Rides bike off at transition 2 and then worked on where to stay for the night. We had a couple of options but nothing seemed that good. We were running out of ideas and ready to pitch the tent in a park or the back of the truck when T-Ride remembered the website couchsurfing.com. If you don't know about this site (like me) it is a site where you sign up and when you need a place to stay in a new town just call a person on the list and see if its cool to sleep on their couch for the night. We scrolled down the list and saw a dude with a guitar named Ari. He lived really close to the race start too. We gave him a call and he agreed to meet us when he got off of work at 9:00.

Ari was so amazing and his house was pretty sweet as well. He and his 3 other room mates were musicians and artists. Lots of talent in that house. We talked for a little bit and then hit the sack. It would have been nice to stay up a little longer and learn more but I was exhausted. We left at around 4:15 in the morning to get to the race with about 2 hours before race start so we never saw Ari again.

The Soma half ironman triathlon was much bigger than I thought. There were over a thousand entrants including several professionals. The course was pretty dang flat and the run looped around the reservoir. T-Ride kept trying to get me to race it but I am pretty sure I would die if I did. I could race an olympic on pure bike training but running a half marathon on no run training might be kind of painful. Instead I just offered to take pictures as T-Ride zipped around Tempe, Arizona for the rest of the morning.

I was so excited watching the race. I was running around like a madman with my camera trying to get as many pictures as I could. I mean what else am I going to do for 5 hours. T-ride had a pretty good race despite bonking on the run. That's okay man, it happens to everyone, you'll figure it out next time. After the race we had our meal, said our goodbyes, and got back in the car for the long ride back to Las Cruces. It was yet another fantastic weekend. I am so glad I found this sport and the people in it. It makes life so much brighter.

Exploring My New Home

There is so much to see and explore around Las Cruces. The only problem I have with that is there is no way I will ever see it all. Just taking my camera out for a couple bike rides and a hike I found some pretty neat stuff. Here are some pictures from those outings.


This dog came out of his driveway to see what I was doing parked at the side of the road. Apparently the hill was too much or I was too boring because he turned around.


There are lots of Pecan orchards in the Mesilla Valley. I liked the way the trees made a tunnel over the road here.


I see roadrunners almost every time I hop on the bike. Luckily I had my camera this time.


Chile field with the Organ Mts. in the background at sunset. Too perfect.


Cotton tail rabbit.


Desert Datura.


Organ Mts. during a rare cloudy day.


Not sure what bug this is (it is a true bug) but the ant at the top of the picture was hell bent on bitting me as many times as it could as I was trying to get a picture. The ants are crazy aggressive here in the south.


A rare cloudy day in the Organ Mts. with a bloomed yucca.


More clouds in the Organ Mts.


Spiderwort.


Cloudy Organ Mts.


My room mate likes peaches.

Elephantman

There are a few things I would like to say before I get started here. First of all, none of this would have been possible if it wasn’t for my awesome Race Club teammates. They basically did everything for me. They drove me, fed me, housed me (well it was camping, but still), entertained me, and even provide me with a NMSU uniform to race in. Bottom line, RACE CLUB ROCKS! Second, I had not been training much nor was I in very good shape what so ever. I had swum maybe 5 times since late July and had run even less. Let’s just say I was scared for the swim and run. Finally, I had made a big change to my TT bike. Having a long torso and being constantly disappointed with my bike leg, I decided to set up my seat like its set on my road bike. In order to do that I had to move the seat back, not a little bit, not some, but all the way back. This is like a 1.5 inch change! Plus I tilted the nose up on my seat so I’m not sliding off of the saddle. I really think it made a huge difference and I'll explain why in a little bit.

Racing for NMSU was a pretty cool deal. It allowed me to start in the first wave and race for a cause but like I said earlier I was not ready for the swim. I decided to just leave my wetsuit at home because I figured what’s the point of wrestling it on and off if you are still slow. Also the water was pretty warm too. The announcer said it was in the mid 70’s but it felt warmer to me, even though I was still shivering at the beginning. I was completely chill and calm before the start, no nerves firing or butterflies in the tummy, just ready to have some fun. So off we go.

I started at the back because I really didn’t care. Everyone immediately closed in around me and started pushing me towards the middle. With all the pushing and adjusting I didn’t get pummeled too much, probably because our wave was on the small side. After everyone settled down and found their rhythm the swim went pretty smooth. The conditions were calm and the orange buoys were easy to spot. For a little while I was actually swimming next to Brianne, who is fantastic swimmer, so that made me feel pretty good. After a while I she must have turned on the jets because I never saw her again. Overall the swim was very relaxing for me. I got out feeling quite fresh and was not winded at all despite swimming very, very little. Swim time was 28:08 for 1500m.

Now I was excited. It was time for the bike. I think this was the first time ever; I was excited for the bike. Leaving T1 I tried to keep my efforts conservative until I felt fairly warmed up. Despite staying conservative I started flying by my fellow competitors like they were lane lines on the Autobahn. I thought, “Hmmmm… this is most peculiar. I hope I’m not going too hard or something.” Then around mile 6 I passed a dude on a hill, still in reserve mode. At the top there was a Suburban with its emergency flashers going. It was traveling at the same speed I was and it was getting kind of annoying. I’m like, “Get out of the way or go faster or let me pass.” Then I realized it was the lead vehicle. Huh?!? This is only mile 6 or so and I’m leading the bike segment? I’m not supposed to be a fast biker; at least I have not proven it. At this point I was feeling fairly warmed up and decided to go for it. Since the only training I had been doing was just riding my bike around I was going to try and squeeze everything I could out of this bike leg.

I blasted up the hills putting myself deep into the red zone. I continued this momentum over the top digging my calves into the petals and popping my leg back over with my hamstrings and hip flexor. I have been experimenting with my pedaling action on some of my rides and I seem to feel stronger longer using all my muscles except my quads. Yeah, I know, weird, but I think it works. Anyway now that I was leading I really wanted to ride out of sight by the end of the bike since I knew my run was going to be ugly. Surprisingly I accomplished this by around mile 10 or so. I finished up my water and picked up a little extra around 20 miles. I didn’t take any GU or Gatorade, just water. Coming into transition all of the NMSU spectators went crazy. It was so cool. They were just amazing! I can’t thank them enough for all of their support. Being first off the bike was an experience to remember. Something I thought would never happen. Bike time was 1:08:39 for 27 miles. It was a great high point in my race but now things were about to get ugly just like I knew they would.

Getting off the bike I was so completely trashed. As I put my shoes on and began shuffling out of transition I started having major doubts about what lay before me. I had not just some run training in me, I had not even a little bit, I had zip, nil, nata, run training in my system. So let the fun begin.

I ran about 400 meters and went behind some bushes out of sight from the spectators. I didn’t feel very good at all. My guts hurt and I felt heavy. I stopped to stretch and touch my toes. BLLLLEEEEEEGGGGGHHHH!!! Out came some pressure from my stomach. I felt a little better; I really should keep running (shuffling) on I thought. Oh no here it comes again, BLLLLLLEEEEEEGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!! I had to stop. At this point I thought there is no way I am going to run 6 miles like this. I have to drop out or walk. I feel just too gone. Luckily I am getting pretty good at these mental battles and I decided I could continue on even if it was a slow shuffle. After a while the dirt road gave way to pavement. I felt a little better and was able to do a little more running and a little less shuffling. I kept thinking short smooth strides. Around 2.5 miles I was still pretty full of water and another wave of up-chucky-ness hit me. BLLEEGGHH! Not so much this time. I was also expecting to see someone any minute closing in on me fast but I never did. At the turn around the second place dude was probably still three minutes back, and he was moving. Double huh?!? My lead off the bike wasn’t that big was it?

The last three miles there were only two things going through my mind, “Yes you can and no you can’t”. One minute I was confident I could take it all the way, then in a flash, I was ready to walk and settle for just a finish. As I came up on the finish I heard the music and saw my NMSU friends. Jill and Dez were at the bottom of the last hill and pretty much went nuts. Still, any moment I was sure someone would pass me but I made it to the line in time for my first win. A wave of nausea hit me like a brick wall when I finally stopped but luckily I was able to maintain my composure and not blow chunks all over the volunteers. Not that there was anything left in there anyway. My run time was 38:58 and fifth fastest overall. Not only had I held everyone off but I maintained my lead. I loved T-Rides expression upon hearing this, “Yeah, I’m pretty disgusted with you.” Although I must also give T-Ride the credit for having the fastest run of the day by whole minute and stating afterward, “Me, I run fast.” Haha, priceless.

However, there is a little twist to the race here. Although I was first over the line and won the college division I was forth overall, but surprisingly by only 3 minutes. Pretty cool. I was happy. Unfortunately this looks like it will be my last race for a while. School is getting rolling and although I would love to train my ass off and get out there and mix it up I will concentrate on my studies. It will be hard but the right thing to do I think. Thanks everyone for your incredible support.

Adam