We just spent 5 beautiful days in Durango, Colorado. It was called a team training camp. Wendy is training for her big event in 4 weeks in the Rockies, and I was just... well... having fun riding my mountain bike. We rented two houses. House 1 was occupied by Wendy and I, Stu, Wendy's running teamate for TransRockies, Jeff, damn fast (and small) mountain biker, Jay, whose wife decided last minute to not go, and Greg, who ended up playing golf instead of biking - more on that in a second. House 2 was occupied by the Long's, the Hammond's and father and son combo - the Lee's.
Jay, Stu, Jeff, Wendy and I left Tuesday night and drove to Gallup, New Mexico, so we could ride the next day in Durango. We arrived in Durango around 1 PM, after watching the Tour de France in our hotel room in Gallup. We got to watch the last stage in the Alps, the one that decided the winner of the Tour.
A few of us got ready to ride, and drove off to the trailhead. Unfortunately, when we got there, Jeff forgot his front wheel and I forgot my helmet. Not the start we were planning. Jay and I ended up riding back to the house and Wendy and Jeff drove back. Once at the house, Jeff, Jay and I headed for some trails near the house.
The next day was better. The whole group - Rick, Greg, Brian, Wilson, Jay, Jeff and I, all headed to Dry Fork via the Colorado trail. Jeff, Jay and I ended up riding about 4 hours that day. I unfortunately, hit a rock with my pedal during our third hour and went down pretty hard. Bent my pedal axle, but
the rest of the bike was ok. My right leg was a bit bloody, but nothing serious.
the rest of the bike was ok. My right leg was a bit bloody, but nothing serious.Day 3 was a blast. All of us, except Rick - who also went down the previous day - headed up to ride Hermosa Creek. Jeff, Jay and I rode from town, while Brian, Wilson and Greg, drove to Durango Mountain Resort and rode from there. We all met at the trailhead and started our 19 mile downhill ride - awesome. We all had a blast. Except for Jay's flat tire, Brian's crash, Greg's broken bike (that's right, broken rear traingle) and my broken chain, the day was great.
Greg discovered he broke his bike after we got home and washed the bikes. Fortunatelly, Greg brought his golf clubs (and a collared shirt) so he was able to play golf a couple of times. See the picture of Greg at the training camp :-)
We all had a bit too much wine on Friday night - Jeff cooked for the whole gang - so we eneded up doing some exploring and riding for only a couple of hours on Saturday.
Sunday was the big day. Jay, Jeff and I headed toward Kennebac Pass - a 11,775 ft. high peak. Unfortunately, we missed the turn off and rode another 11 miles before we decided to turn around. Jay was not having a great day and went back home. Jeff and I continued. The climb to Kennebac Pass was not too bad until the last 6 miles, where you climb 3,000 ft. to get to the top. Once you reach the top, it's another 20 miles back to the car, all of it on singletrack... and not flat either. We both almost ran out of water, and couldn't really eat, because we didn't want to use the little precious liquid we had to wash down the food. We ended up riding 6.5 hours and climbed 8,000 ft. in just under 70 miles.
While I was having lots of fun riding my bike, Wendy and Stu ended up running about 65 miles in 4 days. It's hard to believe that they'll need to run twice that much next month when the tackle TransRockies. There, they'll need to run 120 miles in 6 days. Ouch!!! I'll be there as driver and support.... of course I'll have my bike with me and I'll be doing some nice rides in cool weather.
Well, that's all for now. We're headed to Flagstaff Friday for the Flag to Grand Canyon bike ride. A 65 mile easy mountain bike ride, unless I decide to push the pace :-) I'll give you an update next week.
Thanks for reading and feel free to post comments.
