More day 4 pics

This is Sargents Mesa. Not much in the meadows but long gradual climbs and cows.

This is the only shot I have of Sargents Mesa proper.

This is Alex riding on after getting out of Sargents Mesa. This section wasn't bad at all.

I know it doesn't look like much. At first I worried if there was going to be some carcas parts in these old coolers. Nothing but pop.

Gorgeous night in between storms.

CTR Day 5

Day 5 In the morning, I woke up and Marshal was gone. He’s sick and likes to get up at 0400 and start riding. I can’t. I won’t. I heard Alex stirring and poked my head out to say good morning. He slowly packed up and started off. Letting Alex go was the biggest mistake I could have made. I laid there for another hour and a half before packing up. The gravel parking lot was so comfortable. I think mentally I was still damaged from the day before.

The next 25 miles were nothing but fire road and head wind. I felt ok but began to see the letters again. DNF. “Fuck….do you wanna do this shit all day and STILL DNF?”

I stopped. I’d start pedaling again but with a little less gusto. I got out a map and tried to get my bearings. I knew Lake City was close and Gunnison was close. Which was closer though? I stopped to talk to a rancher. I was about halfway between the 2. I already had about 30 miles in for the day. DNF.

I tried to rationalize things. Screw the CTR. I convinced myself that this year was different than last year. Last year I was forced to quit. This year it was completely my decision. Suddenly I was ok with that. I sat there for a while and thought about things. Part of me was fine with turning around and heading to Gunny and part of me wasn’t. I don’t need to tell you which part won.

Within a few hours I was in Gunny and cleaning up at the bathroom in the park. I looked like absolute shit. My eyes were puffy. My left wrist was swollen and extremely sore. Then I went for food at a café. I figured I’d just sit in town and eat until Heather came to get me. I looked at pics on the camera. I drank coffee. I watched people walk by. Some would look at my bike. The look on their faces was one of, “Who in the hell would ride that thing with all that crap on there?”

The ride back into Gunnison was a heck of a lot longer than I thought it was going to be but it was pretty with plenty of bighorns to be seen.

Last year a bearing on my rear hub gave out and I was forced to quit. This year I was beaten down mentally. I just never recovered from Sargents Mesa. Obviously my ignorance to nutrition is to blame. When I get de-hydrated and don’t eat right, I get emotional. The CTR is not for the weak-minded. I have spent the last 24 months working to get into better bike shape but that’s not what kept me from getting to Durango this year. It was poor nutrition. It was my head. I’ve always had people tell me how mentally tough I am. I’m not as tough as I thought. I’ve not looked at a map or added up the mileage on that last day to see where I would have been if I hadn’t turned around until yesterday after talking with Marshal.

When pushed, the body starts to go through these cycles of ups and downs. The highs are really sweet and the lows are gut wrenching but….they don’t last and that’s what I learned this year. The lows DO end. Ya just gotta ride through them. When I got home, I said I wouldn’t be back again next year. It’s still too early to tell yet but I do know that I will not spend so much time riding 8 and 10 hours on the road this coming year. I wanna do more backpacking and playing with nutrition. I wanna do more things that bring me to edge of mental breakdown. I wanna do more mountain biking. I wanna do a lot more overnighters with my mountain bike and my fly rod. I can put in a 16 hour day but I can’t finish that trail and enjoy it until I get some nutritional things squared away. With the help of new friends like Dave Harris, Chris Plesko, and Marshal Bird, I have learned a ton since getting back home. Thank you so much for the help guys. This weekend I’ll be doing a 70 mile ride through the desert. It’ll have about 15,000’ of climbing. I’ve put more thought into what foods I’ll be eating for this one day ride than I did for the entire CTR.

After much thought, I don’t buy that I’m not cut out for this race. I don’t buy that I’m too skinny. I definitely need to figure out my body. I need to know how to bounce back when I’m already too far over the edge. That’s what this year will be all about.

I need to thank my wife for supporting this obsession for the last 2 years. I need to apologize to her for having to possibly deal with it for another year. Thanks to my friends for all the encouragement. I love you all. To be continued (most likely) AGAIN.

Yesterday the garbage disposal gave up the ghost so I went down to Home Depot to look for a new one. After much deliberation I decided to go with the Badger 5. It has 1/2 hp of RAW churning power. Orange peels are no match for this thing. In fact, it's supposed to grind through chicken bones like no ones business. The install was trouble free and quite fun.

Before I put on some saggy pants and showed the crack of my ass in the kitchen, I met up with Marshal Bird to go over some details of the course that we'll be on this weekend in Moab. The plan is to leave Friday at 1530. Marshal wants to hit the bars and clubs asap but I think the 0500 wake up call is gonna hurt bad enough. I'm pretty excited but I know nothing about the trails we'll be on. This is going to be an excellent opportunity for me to play around and experiment with nutritional things. I've already put way more thought into what I'll be putting in my stomach than I think I did for the CTR. Most will probably carry all their gear on their back but I think I'll bring my seat bag so I can stuff it with extra food. I'm planning on 15 hours to finish and will allow for 250-300 calories per hour but I am going to bring a variety of foods (sweet, salty, etc.) and see if I can pinpoint what my body likes after 6 hours and what goes down easy and gives me a good return.

Great way to start the morning

I've been doing some night riding here lately. I saw tons of deer last night. I could see wildlife all day long and it NEVER gets old for me. These guy were eating the flowers and aspen leaves.

HD

The Direct TV guy just left after installing our new HD-DVR receiver. If HD's wrong then I don't wanna be right. I'm getting ready to watch Rambo First Blood in HD suckas. Good thing it's raining out. Even the commercials look good.

Colorado Trail

Here's a great video that Mike Curiak shot of the CT down near Silverton/Cinammon Pass/Lake City area. Enjoy.

http://vimeo.com/6403852

New news

1. The sky has been really hazy the last few days from all the fires over in California. It's making for some stunning sunrises and sunsets over the mountains. Sorry.....no pictures.

2. I'm really having a good time working at my new school. It's a high school and I've never done that before but my students are really nice and they work so hard for me.

3. I've become a bit of a knife enthusiast in recent years. I got another. I like Gerber knives so this is another one. It's the LMF II survival knife and it's STOUT.