Big Wheel Racing

Polar Bear Sprint Triathlon was held Dec 8th, with Nate in attendance for his first sprint tri in nearly 3 years. With distances of 7km (4mi) run, 30km (19mi) bike, and 400m (1/4mi) swim this was exactly the opposite type of racing to the 135mi brevet the previous weekend. A finish time of 1:26:02 was good enough to get 2nd in the 30-34 age group, and 4th overall out of 60 male finishers. Wind on the bike proved to be the primary challange, after running a steady 30min 7k Nate made up ground in the wind with a 46min 30K bike. Kona Cola nuun provided the hydration with that little extra kick from a small amount of caffiene. The Zipp 404 wheels proved once again why they are the choice of so many riders for everything from sprints to Ironman, handling the cross winds well while just being plain wicked fast. High Desert Bicycles in Rio Rancho just happens to have a demo set of 404’s, so you can try before you buy….

With great pleasure Big Wheel Racing would like to announce that High Desert Bicycles & Specialized Bikes have teamed up to provide sponsorship for our team. We are truly thankful for the opportunity to work with High Desert Bicycles of Rio Rancho, NM which is by far the top shop in central New Mexico. With a line up that includes America’s top bike company, Specialized Bike, and their innovative products, High Desert also provide bicycles from Spanish cycling giant Orbea, and American mountain biking companies Yeti and Titus.

Here is part of the now full line up of women’s bikes from Specialized, the carbon fiber Safire!

Since a good majority of the BWR team likes to singlespeed, this bike caught the attention of several team members!

Drool at the Specialized roadie bling!

The women are a huge part of BWR’s team, as we currently have 6 strong female riders. We are always trying to grow the number of women on the team, and now thanks to High Desert and Specialized our teamates can ride in style!

Since we are Big Wheel enthusiasts, no post would be complete without a 29er!

Rich can hardly contain his excitement!

You can even buy a full team kit from High Desert’s road team, which are our new partners in crime!

Nate and Donnie talking with one of the store’s owners, John Kibodeaux.

High Desert Bicycles chose to sponsor Big Wheel Racing because, according to John, they wanted to support the local mountain bike and endurance racing scene. We are very appreciative of this support and we will strive to do our best to represent the shop. We can only hope that we can display a level of generosity back to the shop in equal to the faith they have shown in us. Thanks High Desert and Specialized!

If you visit, the shop, please tell them that you saw this post on the Big Wheel Racing website.

Big Wheel Racing’s newest sponsor is Albuquerque Costmetic Dentistry’s Dr. James Slaman. Dr. Slaman goes way back with team member, Jeni Turgeon. He fixed her two front teeth that were knocked out after a bicycling face plant a few years ago. Jeni’s teeth now look good as new, thanks to Dr. Slaman. Jeni now has two really great reasons to call Dr. Slaman her favorite dentist of all time!

Nate and Lisa saddled up for NM Brevet’s Radium Springs 200K on December 1st. The ride started at Leasburg Dam State Park and followed the Rio Grande north to Hatch, then over to Caballo Lake then up to Hillsboro. After climbing to Hillsboro the route returned south on NM26 and back to Hatch. Riders arriving the night before were welcomed with a steady rain and wind. Rain eased to a drizzle around 6am, and stopped entirely for the start at 7. Soon it was a mostly sunny day, however, very soon the wind started to pick up. By 8:30 wind was building to 15-20mph sustained, and gusts were far higher. Lisa decided the wind was becoming too great an issue and called it a day. A very wise choice, as Nate (who is in possession of about 2x more road huggin’ weight) had his hands full keeping it on the road descending into Hillsboro, and also received a full-body workout fight the 1/4ing head wind on the return south. The combination of Hammer Nutrition Perpetum for nutrition and nuun for electrolyte replacement and hydration worked extremely well (nuun tablets were extremely convenient, just a tube in a pocket and way easier than messy drink powders that would have blown away in the wind). A couple
Honey Stinger gels and a tasty ham and cheese sandwich in Hillsboro courtesy Liz rounded out the days feasting. Nate finished the route in 8:14, and was the first one back to Leasburg Dam with the next pair of finishers 45min back.

John and Liz organize the NM Brevet series and do a great job of taking care of all the folks on the course while providing encouragement and somehow finding the most scenic and challenging riding in the state. And, in this ride which was advertised as 200K, we got an extra 10% at no extra charge for a total of 135miles.

Leasburg Dam provided a great start/finish area, a nice clean campground with extremely friendly and accommodating staff. And, with showers at the campground, what more could you want??

Nate post ride and shower, in his trademark “ahh shucks, I just road 135mi” look.

I did a race Sunday Dec. 6th in the small town of Külsheim, Baden-Wurtenburg, Germany. Having just looked at the results, I only missed 3rd by 30 seconds. So, a 4th place finish. Would have liked to have done better, but given that we’ve moved and I’ve been teaching and going to school too many hours a week lately, I suppose that’s o.k.

Anyway, I wish that I’d realized that I was that close to 3rd place. I had thought there was considerably more distance than that and was more worried about losing my present position to the guy that I’d battled with for most of the race.

So, on the last lap, I turned on what gas I had and left him behind. I was at the line when he came through and he gave me trouble for turning on the gas and leaving him (i.e “Du hast gas geben!”).

It was probably the muddiest race that I’ve ever done. Other than that, conditions were good. Warmish, but not too much and it sprinkled every once in awhile.

One thing was kind of funny though. Many of the people that started with gears, ended with one gear due to the crazy amount of mud. At the award ceremony we had to laugh abot it.

The course was partially pavement, dirt (farm) roads and then about 25% singletrack. On the first lap about half way through the singletrack I heard something running and turned to the left in time to see a deer (think giant poodle sized animal) coming straight for my front wheel. It missed me by inches.

The rest of the race was uneventful other than battling with a guy named Markus for most of the race and the deep and very slimy mud.

I haven’t been on the team long enough to get my uniforms. So, I’m racing incognito in my Black Sheep Bikes jersey (given to my by a friend).

So, as the first Euro Member of the team, I had to do what I could to “represent”. Hopefully, before too long people will know me by the Red, Green & Yellow of the Big Wheel Racing logos. For now, everyone will have to settle with more pics here. As soon as the pics show up on the “official site”, I’ll be sure to drag a couple over here for you.

December 4–Kansas City received some long overdue rain on December 1, followed by a nice cold front with high winds and low temps to make for a tough day of cross racing on December 2. The 2nd race of the season for the Boss Cross Series moved to Parkville, MO and English Landing Park. A rolling course with multiple sand pits (some rideable (if you were lucky), some not), a one-lane bridge complete with indoor/outdoor carpeting and a trip up onto the park stage (no singing please) followed by a plywood ramp off the side made for lots of fun—then add in a howling wind coming off the river and temps in the low 30s, wind chills in the low 20s. Brrrrrr…..

Cat 4 saw 33 entries this week and despite nearly being knocked off the stage on lap 1, Big Wheel Racing’s Brad Davis managed an 8th place finish, followed quickly by some hot coffee and time to defrost in the car. Thanks to those who came out to support and cheer on the racers (lots of cowbell) and the usual BWR sponsors—Moots, BikeSource and Hammer Nutrition.