18 days

When I last posted, I mentioned that I would be heading to the Valle Vidal for an extended work trip, with a side trip to Leadville for the Leadville 100 bike race. Ok so let me catch you up on my adventures:

First off, the Leadville 100 went off and I again failed to make it to the finish line. 1000 competitors, including returning champs and Tour de France winner and Leadville newcomer Floyd Landis. My race started fine with the peleton being lead out for about 5 miles. I feel great, the air is crisp and I am riding alongside Kara Durland, giving her SS a push every now and then to keep her from spinning madly. Ok it's time to Climb St. Kevins. Hmm. My legs feel a little weird but at least the crowds aren't bad and I can climb without having to trackstand too much. I climb slow but that is normal for me. I hit the first aid station at 10 miles and the legs are still weak. Ok time to downhill the pavement. Oh no. I am hurting on the downhill. That is when I pretty much knew I was in for a long day. To keep the story short I pretty much suffered from mile 10 until mile 60. I had the lungs and the desire but the legs just weren't there. I could recover on the flats and downhills (Powerline is always fun), but the climbs were just slow (even slower than normal). Cramping throughout my legs (even is areas I didn't know would cramp) made it worse. Thus when I came down from Columbine, I was removed from the race (due to missing the last cutoff). Very bummed and disappointed because I felt I was ready. Only thing I can think of is that all the field work I had been doing for the previous 3 weeks had zapped me. However, on another note, my buddies Scott Daub and Dax Massey rode strong and kicked ass. Scott finished in 8 hrs 28 min and Dax cruised through the finish line in 7 hrs 57 min. Incredible.

Did I see Floyd on the course? Yup. Both him and Dave Weins flew by my at the Twin Lakes checkpoint (their mile 60, my mile 40). Both were cruising. Dave ended up beating Floyd by about two minutes and finished the 100 miles in 6 hrs 58 minutes.
Want to see more pictures from Leadville. Check out UltraRob's blog!


Ok so now back to the Valle Vidal. Restoration work started when I returned from Leadville and we put in some serious hours. I was responsible for neutralizing the chemical we put in the water, which required hourly samples and adjustments to our dispersal tanks. Working overnight and sometimes during the days, I was routinely putting in 12-20 hour days. Check out Peak Nutrients! My buddies dad makes this stuff. The Energy formula gives you a lift like you wouldn't believe, and it actually doesn't taste bad!

Late night work is rough, but the sunrise scenery is spectacular!



However that is not the exciting part of the work trip. Most exciting was the bear situation. Shuree campgrounds are very popular with fishermen and campers, however their carelessness has gotten the bears into trouble. Knowing that their is food, trash and other goodies left out, the bears routinely wonder through camp and check things out. Normally it isn't a big deal, however we did have one bear chew on a co-workers tent (2 nights in a row) and take a swipe at mine. Unfortunately, this bear had to be put down as a result of his aggressiveness. Another bear would make it to camp as well, but he would just sniff. Usually a couple of yells or shrieks (in my case), would scare him back into the trees.

Tough to see but look at the mud/claw marks on my tent



Mr. Bear hanging out in the creek doing some fishing


So the Valle work is done (for now). Next, we will return to see if our removal was successful. If all goes well, we will re-stock Native Rio Grande Cutthroat trout into Comanche Creek. If non-natives still remain, we will start over and do the removals again.

Ok! So now that I back in Rio Rancho, I find out that I have way too many hours. I am told to take some time off. Hmm. Not a bad deal right. Well . . . . I have a ton of house chores to do. Mainly getting rid of weeds, placing flagstone, and cutting back shrubs.

Weed pile. It's now tripled in size!!!!


Help . . . . . this is much harder than work!!!!!!!!!