Big Wheel Racing

The Cochiti 100 is the most difficult race in the New Mexico Endurance Series. With three loops originating from the parking area, support is simple, but the three loops can take a toll on any rider. The first two loops are very similar except for the direction of travel, and the third is a little shorter with minimal technical riding. The weather couldn’t have been better Saturday, low temps, mostly cloudy, and occasional light rain, made for cool climbs and fast turns.

Peer pressure. Although he didn’t resort to the “triple dog dare”, Lenny Goodell wouldn’t let me quit after the first loop like I had planned. Around 20 miles, I had cut a sidewall on the rear tire and had to put in a tube, and I had passed through my “fuzzy zone” a few miles after I got rolling again. The fuzzy zone is a long story but I had my worst attack on Saturday.

Crosstown Trail was wearing me out on Loop 1, even with the 32×21 on my singlespeed Specialized Stumpjumper Marathon 29er. I do remember pushing my geared bike up the same steep pitches. Gears or not, I was getting in my strategic walking for the day. Pulling out of Crosstown onto FR 268 with three other riders made me realize that I had not been left too far behind, and three of us rode the 268/Media Dia descent together. And there was Lenny at the gated end of Media Dia. I was telling him I was done, and he was telling me I wasn’t.

Peer pressure. We headed back up for Loop 2 after a stop at the car. With two more riders beginning Loop 2 later, we were the first to head out on the second longest climb of the day. Conversation helped me ignore the climb, and we dove back into Crosstown eventually. By the time we started Motown Trail, I was recovering from the long climb. Motown was unbelievably fun on Loop 2, being a mostly downhill run to Carl Shipman Trail. We crossed Dome Road and descended Carl Shipman, and eventually back to the car for the end of my day. Lenny had other plans.

Peer pressure. I let him talk me into doing the remaining “easy” 20 something miles of Loop 3. And to my surprise, I knocked an hour off my time for this loop from last year. Ok, so peer pressure was a good thing Saturday. After my third year attempting the Cochiti 100, I finally completed the full course! With nearly 14 hours on the clock, I wasn’t the fastest finisher, but I’m one of only three to complete the course and the first singlespeed.

Chris Hereford
“C Cow”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009 at 9:40 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.