I’m calling it Old Dude Development, and supporting a great cause.  The LG shorts are the most comfy I’ve worn.  I’ve fulfilled my fca-e team obligations for the year, so this kit is going to be worn frequently.  Man, we’ve had an early and robust monsoon season so far.  It should help today especially as the idiots with fireworks were already blowing stuff up at 6:30am this morning.  Enjoy your 4th and be safe!

We’ve been trying to have at least one ride a month for our BOMB group, and the latest one was led by “survivorwoman” Carrie.  She teaches wilderness survival to the nation’s finest, and Ann and I along with 6 others got in a great ride at Cochiti.  We got a lesson on about 500 plants we could live on, if needed.  Gooseberries, thimbleberries, strawberries, raspberries, some kind of rose hips, and I forgot the other 495 things.  Bonus for the day, was an artesian spring she showed us with icy cold water that doesn’t require treatment.

This ride was also a good chance to try out the cork footbeds I made for my bike shoes.  My recently purchased Shimano shoes have turned out to be about the most uncomfortable bike shoes I’ve worn.  They are a mid-level pricepoint shoe and have some good features, but comfort is not one.  I looked into a variety of after-market footbeds that either were too thick, or just too expensive and ended up at my local hobby shop, buying a roll of 1/32-inch cork for about $5.  There’s enough cork on the roll to keep my shoes in comfort for several years.  I cut a template, and installed the cork bed underneath the foam footbed that came with the shoe, and man, I’ve got happy feet now!  I won’t be buying any more Shimano shoes however…….lesson learned.

An old burn area has come back to life

This old alligator juniper was just a young pup in 1900.

It’s been so nice to get up into the mountains to ride and the early season rain has brought out all the colors of spring.  Ann and I got out for an early ride over the weekend, and the air was crisp.  I’ve said it before, but the early morning light enhances vision, and that just makes the ride flow so well.  Time on the trails has been limited with a remodel project going on.  I’ve stained and prepped a half dozen new 6-panel pine doors, and man, they look awesome. Sweat equity big time. Hope to see this through in the next few weeks, then it will be time for some r&r on high country singletrack.

Woke up at 4:30am with a fasting glucose of 109.  Not ready to eat just yet, so downed a couple of soy milk cappuccinos for the 2 plus hour drive to the race with a bolus of 5 units of Novolog.  At 7:45am, BG was at 92, so at 8am ate a banana and half a Luna bar and took my standard 12 morning units of Levemir.  Should have also taken a bolus of Novolog, but didn’t want to start the race too low or with too much fast acting insulin in me.  Nerves and getting ready for the race, I forgot to check BG until 9:30am, and it was 250; damn it’s too high, but better than starting low.  I hate to take any fast acting prior to hammer time, but took a couple of units to help get things stabilized.  Gun went off at 10am, and race nutrition consisted of 2 scoops of Heed in my water bottle, and one gel shot at the halfway point.  Felt pretty good the whole race, but did cramp toward the end.  BG was way higher than I wanted at the end of the race, so took a 10 unit Novolog bolus and waited a bit to eat lunch.  Levels came down quickly, within 60 minutes.  Usually after hammering, my BG will be near normal, then rise slightly while at rest.  The day or two after hammering, I can typically cut the bolus in half, as I seem to be hypersensitive to insulin during that timeframe.

Ideally, I wanted to start the race with a BG of 150 to 200 and stable.  Team Type1 has been doing some interesting research in helping to determine which BG levels are giving their diabetic riders maximum power output.  One of their guys was putting out huge, sustained wattage, with a BG of 170.  Interesting stuff.  One thing I continue to learn, is managing blood glucose for racing is a constant guessing game and I’ve had much better success with things for XC races than for enduros.  Check out Phil Southerland’s blog to see how a pro rider handles things.  Good info.

The 2009 Alien Run Mountain bike race is in the history books and once again it didn’t disappoint.  Mountain Flyer provided some great coverage of the race too.  Thanks again to the Friends of the Aztec library for a great event!  A large and fast field showed up this year and I’m guessing there were at least twice as many racers as last year. A beautiful and cool day, and the Mountain View singletrack flowed awesome. The Alien run loop was also in the best shape I’ve seen.  Ben Sonntag edged Travis Brown for the overall, in a new course record of 1:35. Kudos to Travis for showing so much class, giving a little kid with a video cam a post race interview for a school project.

I was nursing a tweaked a hamstring the day before the race and it felt pretty knotted up, but after a good warmup and some massage, it didn’t bother me at all during the race.  I shaved about 4 minutes off my time from last year, coming in about 1:55 which was good enough for first in the Sport/Cat 2, 45+ Masters, and also 2nd overall.  Ann did the Beg/Cat 3 again and despite having a nasty cold the week before, she shaved nearly 12 minutes off her time from last year, taking gold for the Masters women.

Good to see Jeni and Mike there representing for BWR.  Despite a couple of flats and other mechanical issues, Jeni still snagged the podium, and Mike rode a strong race, finishing in the top five of a very competitive Vet Expert field, which was topped by T. Brown.

Great course, wonderful people, and hope to be there next year for the 10th Anniversary Race and festivities.

T. Brown sportin a pink kit and beard and Ben Sonntag chat after the race.

Slick Rock on the Alien Run loop.

Chris representing for Team FCA-Endurance.