".....you'll find it in the Grand Canyon at sundown"

....or out my front door


...Or at Effies cabin

   Too many rides to recount. The Century was GREAT fun last week. Rode it with Anthony and Todd"Bubb"Glatz. Weather was ideal and no mechanicals. Saw a guy riding fixie for the century. He said he was doing the whole thing. At 6000 ft of elevation gain, He is da man.

full retro kit

BTI volunteering there time to take care of riders at the first foodstop in Madrid


Chilling above Nun's


   One night I met Todd up at Chamiza trail after work. We climbed up Chamiza and took sidewinder down to burn and took that down to Winsor and climbed that back up to Chamiza and climbed that back to the saddle and then descended that back down to the car for a lovely after work ride. My feet were cold though from the many stream crossings on the Winsor.


Todd climbing the Chamiza on his RIG




gotta love the burn section.





The climb from the Winsor up Chamiza to the saddle is always a grind for me. The sun began to fall.

Whenever you are riding trails like the Winsor you need to always remember to wear protection.



   I met up with Todd and Ray for some Beaver Pond goodness. It was a good day and the Beaver Pond was higher then I have ever seen.


Bland Canyon





The skies here are unbelievable.


Todd enjoying himself some double track

you really learn to enjoy even the smallest stream.




Todd crossing over to the other side


The beaver pond was quite a nice spot to stop rest and then descend



the headless biker



Is this the desert?




    Got a ride report from an Old friend the other day. Eric took his mono cog up to Ithica to visit his good friend and went for a nice road ride loop that took him by Taughannock Falls just outside of Ithaca. His ride stats are here.
        Ithaca Is Gorges

    What is in your audio player? I have Husker Du Candy Apple Grey in mine. Taking me back to High School. I used to play this album all the time. Good Times

                Phir milenge

Switchback Smorgasboard

   Had a great ride on the south side of the Dale Balls and Atalaya with Mister Anthony. We both snapped off a bunch of fun switchbacks pictures since there are soooooo many over there on that side of upper canyon. It was also the first run off the backside of Atalaya that was pretty much snow free.






Anthony climbing up a tuff switchback




   Then it was time for a break and a snack of Justin's Nut Butter
After a rejuvinating respite it was on to the fun stuff. We went off the backside over to Pacacho and beyond for some fun and frolic.



Anthony about to come skiing into a tight corner









Where Dale meets Dorothy


Huffing up to the Dorothy Stewart split

So there you have it. A study in Switchbacks. A veritable cornucopia of switchbacks. I always enjoy myself when I park at St. Johns. I am gonna have to do it again soon.


   Then, being the consumate tailgator. Anthony brought along some beers in his cooler. So we sat and drank a couple while keeping an eye out for the ever vigilante security gaurds.

    What is in your audio player? I have the new Death Cab For Cutie album Narrow Stairs in mine. On the my space page they have a good youtube video of them doing "I Will Possess Your Heart" on Letterman. I really want to see them.
    Santa Fe Century this weekend. Come on out and have some fun.

                           Automatic Redemption



                           Murabeho

2 Legit 2 Shift in Gallup

DAWN .........








   Well Dawn til Dusk has come and gone. There were some last minute casting changes. Anthony came down with a bad bug the week before and had to bail. I thought I was gonna bail too then Ben from my work stepped up and volunteered to race in Anthony's steed. I ended up driving down with CottonKennedy who was gonna go and make a solo attempt. So we caravan'd down to gallup with Ben. To get the trip started right we met at Santa Fe Brewery's tasting room to fill some growlers and drink a pint before embarking on our journey. We finally got on the road later then we should of and it was snowing pretty good here in Santa Fe. The drive was uneventful as I fell asleep as Brian drove which wasn't what a good navigator does. OOops. We got into town and found a GHETTO grocery store to buy some provisions. IT was a Lowes grocery store and had to be one of the most horrendous grocery stores I have ever been in. Ben and I proceeded to check into our hotel which was rather Ghetto as well.Brian was camping out so he split to go set up camp and go to sleep as well.Ben and I decided to go get something to eat.

    We decided on going to this place. I would suggest you keep driving when you see this sign.



    So feeling like crap after eating some dinner we went back to the Days Inn for some sleep. We watched some of the Spiderman movie which I was enjoying till we dozed off into a restless slumber. We awoke the next morning not really wanting to get up and get ready. I stalled untill the last minute. Finally got up and out the door and made it to the race and proceeded to not be able to find the crew of people that we were setting up shop for the day with. After some tense searching we found them and got dressed and Ben was gonna do the first lap so he made his way to the start to find no one because we were 5 minutes late for the game. Ohh well, It was about 20 degrees at the start and the temps climbed slowely through out the day. We camped out with Frankie Flats and Death Ray who were doing a duo team in the masters division. They ended up with a 3rd place finish.Also we were camping with CottonKennedy and he rocked it solo pulling in 6 laps. We also camped with a nice couple with a new son They were also from Santa Fe. I think there names were Tim, Kai, and Dax was there sons name. The rest of the race went well. We ended up with just 9 laps and had a ball. I hope that they have a SS duo class next year. I think there would be plenty of entrants for it. I didn't get many shots at all but I did sneak off a few.

Ben getting ready before the sun hit our camp.



The RIG waiting for some action


Brian after a couple in a row comes in for a snack and change


Frank was riding an old Fat Chance SS


I guess Frank is a fan of GW


This was Tim Kai's, and Dax's casita that they had just bought. IT was really cool inside.






Ben coming in from his last lap. Had I known he would pull a good lap time I could of gone out and gotten back in before 7 and we would of had 10 laps. :(

If you notice this Big Wheel Racer got a little off track. I thought she was gonna wreck into those rocks in front of her but she pulled it off.

Here is another BWR it seemed like every other racer I saw on the trail was a BWR. Soon all of New Mexico will be on BWR.


You have to love streamers

I saw this guy coming in and thought it was DeathRay cause he had a Bike-n-Sport jersey on but alas it was not him

and then.....

I saw Nate at the race shooting pictures og his fellow BWR peoples. He did the race solo. He has a nice digital SLR.



When I got back to camp Ben was all ready to start consuming some malted beverage.


Some people camping next to us had New York plates on there car. That is a long drive.

Ray comes strutting back into camp


   So we packed up Bens car and rolled home. Stopping on the way back at the El Rancho for the free lasagna dinner put on by the fine folks who put on the race.


......till Dusk


   When we got to the El Rancho I saw these purdy Black sheep bikes


    All in all it was a great time. prolly do it next year again.

   What is in your audio player? I have the new Portishead in mine. It has been like 6 years since they put out an album. It is a lot diferent from there last 2 studio albums. I dig it. It is growing on me every listen.





                Later