Raven's Ridge - Pecos Wilderness Boundary

An interesting and insightful discussion took place this week in the mtb community regarding cycling on Raven's Ridge and areas above the radio towers to the south. The towers sit on Tesuque Peak, on bike or foot you can follow a faint (unsigned) trail north to Deception Peak, then descend west down Raven's Ridge to the wilderness gate on Winsor. Raven's is a steep and technical descent, hike-a-bike in places. The volume of bike traffic in such a difficult area is in dispute but may be a side discussion to the greater concerns of environmental impact and wilderness mandates.

Treeline on Deception Peak. Will Wissman photography and Mellow Velo graphic

Of note was the condition of the current trail, the fact that the trail actually wanders across the wilderness boundary in several places and is therefore not technically bike-appropriate, and references the illegal tree cut north of the ridge that has been in the paper recently. There were several vigorous defenses of mtb trail access, most notably by Brent Bonwell who has taken lead on most if not all of the new bridge crossings along the Winsor over the last couple years.

Several comments discussed the need for a national forest trail other than the service roads to the top (Aspen Vista, and Sunset), or Raven's which is quite technical and apparently off-limits to bikes in sections due to wilderness designation. Lack of signage was brought up, a constant and ubiquitous problem with area trails and access issues (see Deception Peak ridge trail above).

A fascinating and enlightened discussion by all. Recommended.

Google Groups - Fat Tire Society

Related Posts:
 - Trail Running Santa Fe Baldy and the Three Peaks
 - Ski Touring Deception Peak
 - Explorations in the Pecos - Nambe Creek Trail-160
 - The Columbine Hondo Wilderness Addition - Taos/Red River

New Mexico Trail Racing Season

Fall trails in Nuevo Mexico are the realist

La Luz is on the calendar next weekend and so it begins. Was chatting about all of this earlier in the week with friends and trail companions, always exciting to prognosticate and gauge fitness. August/September/October are the golden months to be charging up and about the hills. 

Right, so my own fitness could use a lot of work which is why I turned instead to updating the site's race calendar in a bid to distract. Found several event items in the calendar worth noting:

Big Tesuque Trail Run is just ten weeks away and online registration is now live. Race date is Saturday October 3rd and it's gonna be another big year. I know all this because I assist Pete Fant (race director) with some of the setup. 31st year for this Santa Fe classic. Dustin Martin seeks to defend his three year reign at the top.

Dustin Martin floating the Big Tesuque descent

Oh shit, La Luz is next week! Always a mix of elation and physical horror at this thought. It will be the 50th running of this grand old race. A run-down (run up?) of this year's Santa Fe contingent ought to be up shortly. Several local runners in the mix this year.

Pajarito Trail Fest is a jewel of the Los Alamos racing scene though long overshadowed by ultras and triathlons and generally inaccessible to most of the Santa Fe running community as it shares its race weekend with Big T. Not this year. The race moves back two weeks to October 17th. Stoked to see this change, planning to race myself into a swifter me by about that time.

This June's FIBArk White Water Fest in Salida had a trio of running events. A hill-climb, a trail run, and a road race. Awards were given out for the triple crown as well. Been needing an excuse to make this event for several years now and now it's a done deal. Believe they raced MTB too. An earlier start will set me up a bit stronger for next year's La Luz and help lever-off the gravity of middle age for just a bit longer.


Other Area Events:
- Buffalo Thunder Half Marathon
- Taos Up-and-Over
- SF Waldorf Trail Run - Arroyo Hondo Trails

Big Tesuque Trail Run is on the Horizon

A few of the iconic area trail runs passed me by in the month of August. Both the La Luz Trail Run and the Pikes Peak Marathon and Ascent seemed to scream right by when I wasn't looking. Taos' growing trail event, the Up & Over Trail Run passed as well. Imogene Pass is tomorrow.

All of this means that Santa Fe's premiere trail run - The Big Tesuque Trail Run - is just four weeks away. Saturday Oct. 6th to be precise. This year will be the 28th iteration of the venerable event. Race director Peter Fant has all the mechanics of organizing in motion, and expects another beautiful Fall morning with coffee, breakfast burritos, prizes and raffle, as well as a field of the finest high altitude trail runners in the area. So if you haven't registered just yet, mark it on your calendar and start running laps on Atalaya to bring those climbing legs into form.

Results from past events are slowly being compiled and presented on the new Big T webpage. Similarly the page includes links to registration, a course map, details of the race's gracious sponsors, and links to past photo albums. Yes, I may have had a hand in all of this. Twenty-eight years of history add substantial value to an event, and when gathered up in one place, the weight of it all carries a bit of glory to all of the runners who have challenged themselves on the course through the years. 

An overcast morning on Big Tesuque in 2008 - photo by Max Mujynya

View Aspen Vista Trail (Big Tesuque Trail), Santa Fe, NM in a larger map

Big Tesuque Trail Run Report - 2011

Big Tesuque 2011, Hadji, Eric and Mike lead out the field

Big T baby! Alright, what a fun morning. We had a damn fine group up there on Saturday, terrific weather and a whole lot of blue sky and scenery. From the looks of the pre-race crowd I figured we'd have a larger than normal field of racers but in the end we were about even with previous years. This preserves the ratio of coffee and burritos per racer so no harm done.

Well, it was obvious from the time of the starter's instructions how this thing was going to play out. Bernard Langat had come up to run and was the de facto champion before the gun even sounded. Former champion and trail racing royalty Rachael Cuellar as well as three time Big Tesuque champ Mike Ehrmantraut were in the field so there were the likely women's champ and men's runner-up. Eric Peters was lined up, Joachim Marjon was there, mountain-runner Jacob Waltz, Antonio Lopez, the esteemed Dave Simpson, Matt Dreier, and my ghost from last year Andres Santiago of Flagstaff was back. I talked with ultra-runner Ruthanne Hamrick, Caldera marathon runner-up Whitney Dreier, Erin Sindewald, Mariam Browne, Liz Jaramillo-Lopez, and Erica Micander. Who else showed up to run? You never quite know who's lurking at the start of one of these things.

Dale, supervising registration - photos by Max Mujynya

As for myself, I'd been off my feet a bit coming into the week but had my eyes on crushing the ascent. The downhill section would have to be a wait-and-see type of deal. A steep and technical downhill of pain and uncertain footing was not really going to help with the foot injury I'd been nursing. Last year the descent destroyed me, pretty much ending my running for several months. Ok, well with the gun, off we went. I eased on up the trail and found myself toward the front without much effort. I ran for a bit near Rachael and thought she might just be taking it easy over the first section, but we hit the first mile in 8:22 so it seemed we were both moving well. Feeling good, I just hammered away with my choppy little climbing stride at what felt like 200rpms. After the first couple miles Rachael had set up 50m ahead of me, Joachim was another 80m or so beyond her. The gaps didn't seem to move much the rest of the way up.

Liz Jaramillo-Lopez and William Ek leading a pack of runners at mile 1 - photos by Max Mujynya

Here's one of myself on the escalator lined in gold - photos by Max Mujynya

I was trying to get in a hard workout for the first time in several weeks and for that reason never did glance back to see what was behind me. I know that someone bridged a gap and ran up on my heels at around mile 3. It rankled that I was running slow enough to be caught so I boosted my turnover for a few minutes and the footfalls were gone. It probably took some work for whomever it was to move up onto my hip, and then when he arrived and could get a bit of rest I pressed ahead. That had to have sucked badly for him. However it made me feel like badass Clubber Lang handing out a beating. That happy thought carried me to the top and past the now descending front-runners. Bernard came jogging past near the chairlift. Mike came by at the steep hairpin. Joachim closer to the towers, then Rachel right up near the turn-around.

Assorted wildlife

At the mountain edge my watch stopped at 55m30s, my best climb by 2min. Fantastic except that I didn't think I'd be ahead of so many people at this point. If I could help it I'd rather stay ahead of them all until the finish. Quite the dilemma I'd found myself in. It started to slip away from me fairly quickly though. I lost my legs around mile 8, they just didn't have the miles in them to control the fast decent and I wasn't very confident that they could prevent a stumble or fall. I had to focus pretty keenly on the footfalls and keeping my strides and pace under control. Soon after, Mike Rahmer out of Albuquerque came blazing by with a long powerful stride and just disappeared. I felt an unpleasant bonk coming on and stopped for several cups of gatorade at the water stop at mile 9.5. Jake Lawrence and Andres Santiago sped by together as I stood there like a rube. Back on the trail I closed the gap on those two over the next mile, and then Andres jetted away out of view. As the trail leveled out a bit in the last mile I was able to sprint a few of the flat sections without the worry of falling on my face. I closed pretty well on Jake but ran out of real estate, but so did the guy behind me which I figured had to be Waltz. It was Waltz.

Bernard on the descent - photos by Max Mujynya

Rachael a few places back in fourth - photos by Max Mujynya

Whitney Dreier with the aptly named Aspen Peak in the distance - photos by Max Mujynya

Ok, good showing. My foot seemed stable and wasn't all jacked-up. I hadn't fallen hard on a bunch of rocks which is a big plus, and I had climbed strongly and avoided a complete tank on the descent. That's a pretty good hand son, maybe a full house. Mile splits on the way up were something like: 1/ 8:22, 2/ 10:00, 3/ 10:00, 4/ 9:30, 5/ 9:20, 5.9/8:18, descent/ 37:00.

Seeing that Bernard finished in a fast - but not record fast - time of 1hr 21min I asked him if he had been running hard. "No, no," he said (he's been running the trail all summer and reportedly put up a 1hr13m run in that time). He was getting in a workout for upcoming pacing duties at the Toronto Waterfront Marathon in two weeks. 81minutes on that trail is quick (the quickest time in the last 10yrs is 78min), and he took home some pottery and a certificate for a free pair of trail shoes from Alpine Sports. Joaquim Marjon moved into second on the downhill section, Mike Ehrmantraut finished third. Rachael ran away with her second women's title in roughly the same time she put up in 2009, 1hr 31min which is near the women's alltime record. The turn-around at the towers has moved a bit since the '09 race adding an extra minute to course times. She also received a trophy and free pair of trail shoes. Albuquerque's Stefanie Tierney held on for second, and Santa Fe's Whitney Dreier closed for third.

There were a number of falls in this year's race and the EMTs had their hands full. I know that Chris Chavez took a tumble, as did Kevin from Carlsbad, as did Vince Hesch, as did about a half a dozen others. No broken bones it seemed but possibly a few scrapes requiring stitches. Hope everyone was feeling a bit better the day after. 

Pete Fant did another standout job directing the event, his 14th straight year, and our fine sponsors provided support, race donations, and awards: Alpine Sports, San Francisco St. Bar & Grill, Santa Fe Screen Printers, Souder Miller Engineering and Survey, Paseo Pottery, The Santa Fe Striders, The Running Hub, Java Joes, and the Santa Fe Baking Company. Race proceeds, as always, benefit WINGS of America running club. Hope to see you all again next year.

Annie McCoy, Melissa Smith, & Mariam Johnston - photos by Max Mujynya

                                        Overall Results - Big Tesuque Trail Run 2011

Finish	Name	Time
1.	Bernard Langat,	1:21:39
2.	Joachim Marjon,	1:27:07
3.	Mike Ehrmantraut,	1:27:48
4.	Mike Rahmer,	1:30:45
5.	Rachael Cuellar (W1)	1:31:21
6.	Andres Santiago,	1:31:42
7.	Jake Lawrence,	1:32:22
8.	Kevin Brennan,	1:32:27
9.	Jacob Waltz,	1:32:49
10.	Hadji Corona	1:33:39
11.	Peter Vigneron	1:34:17
12.	Eric Peters	1:37:13
13.	Matt Dreier	1:38:24
14.	David Schoenwald	1:39:32
15.	Dale Hoskisson	1:40:00
16.	Antonio Lopez	1:40:46
17.	Kyle Dickmen	1:41:32
18.	Dave Simpson	1:41:41
19.	Robert Baker	1:42:06
20.	Vinnie Kelley	1:42:51
21.	Stefanie Tierney (W2)	1:42:54
22.	Herman Agoyo	1:43:11
23.	Chester Tepple	1:45:20
24.	Philippe Muller	1:46:51
25.	Jeremy Milligan	1:48:41
26.	Dan Tallon	1:49:19
27.	Alden Hoskie	1:51:01
28.	Brandon Johnson	1:51:05
29.	John Wilp	1:51:21
30.	Ty Lujan	1:51:39
31.	Whitney Dreier (W3)	1:52:17
32.	Jose Nava	1:52:50
33.	Laura McClellan	1:52:57
34.	Erin Sindewald	1:53:53
35.	Mariam Browne	1:53:58
36.	Shawn Edwards	1:54:00
37.	William Dearholt	1:54:23
38.	Vine Hesch	1:54:56
39.	Luke Washburn	1:55:56
40.	Ruthanne Hamrick	1:55:58

Full results and Max's photo albums can be found here

Waltz has his race report up here:
2011 Big Tesuque Trail Run

Last year's race report can be found here:
Big Tesuque - 2010






View Aspen Vista Trail (Big Tesuque Trail), Santa Fe, NM in a larger map

Big Tesuque Trail Run Preview

Myself, the triple chair, and the valley below

It's that Big Tesuque time of year. A fine time. My initial try at a race preview was defeated by Comcast and their network of doom. I'm good for a second effort though. A quick look back then before writing up today's race report.

Herman and I got up on the trail at the end of August. It was beautiful. Don't think we saw many people up high but the trailhead was packed on our return. I think it was Herman's first time up on Aspen Vista which sounded ridiculous to me. I just don't believe you sir! A conversation about the strange lack of wildlife up there was followed by a deer sighting, a little family of grouse (ptarmigan) that scooted by, and then a noisy group of wild turkey hanging out in the trees. It snowed up there the following weekend.

Herman at the summit, with (l-r) Baldy, Deception Peak, and Penitente

New Mexico's highest outhouse, just below the towers (11,950ft). Reassuring to
know that that fellow stands guard up there just in case duty calls.

Good stuff. Well, we made it up there once again this last Sunday to make sure we were familiar with all the turns and rock-placements. No sign of the wildlife or the snow. We scouted the trail with a group of the Santa Fe Striders, Jim brought paint to spot and mark up the old mile markers stakes for Saturday's race. Chatted it up with Herman and Todd, Vinnie, Syd, Mariam, Sheila and her dog Kaya. We saw Vince Hesch up there on his way down. Made the summit in 1hr8min and down in 2hr which were the exact times Herman and I had done four weeks earlier. What are the odds of that happening? Pretty badass. Another nice day to be up in the Hills.

Striders crew hiding in a wind-shadow at the tower out-building

My man Uffe, originally from Denmark, rocking the minimalist gear at the summit. The guy is a seriously legit minimalist runner. He stood up there at the summit and gave us all grief about our weak-assed running shoes. Tough crowd.

Ok this was more a collection of recent Aspen Vista trail stories than a race preview. For a better preview head over to Jacob's writeup at SantaFeTrailRunner - Big Tesuque Trail Run Preview (9/25).

For last year's race report try:   
Big Tesuque Trail Run Report - Oct 2nd, 2010

For a list of recent top times, maps, and other stuff try here:
SF Striders - Big Tesuque Trail Run Page

random photo of wild turkeys

a grouse and its characteristic sinister disposition

View Big Tesuque Trail - Aspen Vista Trail in a larger map

Big Tesuque Trail Run Report - Oct 2nd, 2010

Saturday’s run at Big Tesuque was fantastic as usual.  We had a large field, great weather, and were surrounded by a great Fall turn of golden aspens (if one were to look up).  5.8miles to the towers and I was ready to rock this thing.  Just a great morning to get out on the trail.

 The climb went reasonably well although my quads locked up before my lungs burned out.  Felt pretty light on my feet but not all that swift.  Mike and Eric drifted away pretty early, then at around 1.5miles Rachel Early out of Abq. cruised by without making a sound.  I figured I was carrying at least 60lbs more than her to the top, so the math wasn’t going to work in my favor - I would not be seeing Rachel again until the finish.  Clark Fox came by at about 2.5miles, huffing and hacking and making a giant ruckus.  I was fairly certain Clark would come back to me over the next couple miles, but the guy’s ruckus was steady and unbending, and after a bit he was gone.  Too bad, so sad, and my focus turned to those towers.   

Race director Peter Fant had told us at the start that he’d moved the turn-around back a ways so we’d have to run around the towers.  I’d thought he was joking but he really wasn’t.  Coming up around the nasty switchback at the top of the chairlift, I found the turnaround was 100m further up the road than in years past – right up to the edge of the mountain which falls away into the Pecos Wilderness.  By my watch I made it to the aid-table in 57min 36sec.  Mike later told me he thought he’d made it to the mountain edge in less than 50min. He also told me he ran with just one sock. 

The race down is a 36min dash where you generally strain for any sign of the guy (or gal in this case) that might be just ahead at the next switchback.  Spying someone to chase down kind of narrows your focus and keeps the turnover high.  I never saw a soul so I had to descend with the paranoia of someone running behind me just out of hearing range.  I heard random clapping for this guy all the way down, then thinking I’d picked up speed and put some distance on him only to hear the little-bit-too-close clapping again and again.  I’d learned not to look over my shoulder on this downhill, or even up at the familiar faces still on their way to the top or you risk laying out on the stones and rock.  Not advisable. Vinny might have been our lone casualty this year, he went down in the last mile or two and scraped himself up pretty good.  Said he had to have his knee drained at the hospital later on, but he still made it to the party later that night and I personally saw him wrecking a plate of about five different desserts.  Good on ya’ Vin.

 On to the line, and I came through the finish a bit faster than last year.  I would guess the extended turn-around added about 60-80sec to the race, so not a really big deal.  My chaser was Andres Santiago out of Flagstaff, AZ.  Good guy.  He told me he was frustrated that he kept pushing and couldn’t close the gap on me, and I told him I was racing on fear, and we both got a laugh.

The race timing system gave out with the field up on the course so there was a delay in getting the times and placings together for the award ceremony.  The burritos from Posa’s kept most of us busy until then.

Mike taking it home in a cool 85min

Glazed and imprinted pottery bowls from Paseo Pottery were handed out to the overall, masters, and age-group winners.  I got in on some of the announcing and awarding, and Peter and Jim Westmoreland handed out a few pint glasses and hats from last year. Another fine race, and other than Vinny’s knee we all seemed to make out alright.

Jacob over at Santa Fe Trail Runner put up a great race report earlier this week.  A nice tune-up for Duke City especially since he didn’t smash himself on the descent.

My bros Lucas and Aaron stomping down a quick 12miler in the hills.

David over at EnduranceBuzz.com picked up the race as well, and did a fine write-up on the goings on.

Max, of course, took hundreds of fantastic photos on his way up.  They can be found along with the race results at the Striders website. I used several of them here as well.

Pre-carnage, pre-cake Vin

Update:  Misty Davis of Albuquerque put together another nice race report of the morning, posted originally at endurancebuzz.com.  Ms. Davis deftly weaves a tale of her morning's heroism and bravado while bagging on the race front-runners with their gaunt and stoic features. Well done Misty, this is the kind of writing we here at HDD can get behind.        

                                                                          

Brown taking command

Andres Santiago chasing me to certain doom

Mariam receiving an addition to her collection

                                          

Place	First	Last	Gen.	Age	Time
1	Mike	Ehrmantraut	M	42	1:25:40
2	Rachel	Earley	F	27	1:31:28
3	Clark	Fox	M	48	1:32:21
4	Eric	Peters	M	41	1:33:53
5	Kevin	Brennan	M	34	1:34:17
6	Andres	Santiago	M	37	1:34:41
7	David	Simpson	M	40	1:36:23
8	Michelle	Born	F	22	1:36:47
9	Marvin	Fernando Jr.	M	34	1:40:16
10	Hadji	Corona	M	33	1:41:10
11	Jacob	Waltz	M	38	1:41:17
12	Kristiaan	Rawlings	M	27	1:41:28
13	Bill	Carey	M	52	1:41:49
14	Vinnie	Kelley	M	59	1:42:18
15	Chris	Chavez	M	51	1:43:11
16	Philippe	Muller	M	51	1:43:44
17	Steve	Barrett	M	37	1:44:02
18	Bryan	Press	M	42	1:44:59
19	Tanya	Collins	F	25	1:45:35
20	Vincent	Hesch	M	47	1:46:39

Women
Place	First	Last	Gen.	Age	Time	Overall
1	Rachel	Earley	F	27	1:31:28	2
2	Michelle	Born	F	22	1:36:47	8
3	Tanya	Collins	F	25	1:45:35	19
4	Kerri	Cotlle	F	35	1:50:03	25
5	Therese	Trujillo	F	35	1:50:27	27
6	Robin	Dressel	F	46	1:51:34	29
7	Ruthanne	Hamrick	F	45	1:52:32	32
8	Sheila	Van Cuyk	F	40	1:53:28	33
9	Amanda	Arthur-Stanley	F	32	1:55:37	38
10	Maria	Prentice	F	35	1:56:47	40

       Full 2010 results here







View Big Tesuque Trail - Aspen Vista Trail in a larger map


Related Posts:
  - Pikes Peak Ascent - Race Report
  - Pajarito Trail Fest - Jaguar XC Races
  - Area Trail Records
  - 2011 Trail Racing Calendar 

Related Links:
  - Big Tesuque Race Report - Santa Fe Trail Runner