REZ DOGS DEFEND THEIR TURF: 2011 HIGH DESERT SCREAMER

REZ DOGS DEFEND THEIR TURF:

2011 HIGH DESERT SCREAMER

By Bob 

 

The New Mexico Off Road Series came to Gallup this weekend for the Screamer on the High Desert Trail System . . . and you know how territorial dogs – and especially rez dogs - can be.   A report: 

1.      A DESPERATE DASH IN THE DARK.   The build up to the Screamer officially kicked off on Wednesday night when Bob Rosebrough met up with Chuck Van Drunen and Paul Barry at dusk on the Second Mesa overlook.  Bob and Chuck were marking the course and Paul came out with a couple of beers.  Shortly after Bob pulled up, Chuck announced that Dirk Hollebeek was “poaching” the Screamer.  The specific nature of Dirk’s poaching will remain a closely guarded secret on the pages of this blog, because we are dogs.  We are not rats or snitches.  Chuck looked on, wide eyed with amazement and glee, as Bob - who has always been Dirk’s faithful defender in the intense Chuck v. Dirk drama-fest – insisted that they needed to come up with a plan to mess with Dirk at the Screamer starting line.  To complete the role reversal, Chuck advised caution.  (Yes, you read that right.  Chuck advised caution.)  Needless to say, the topic of Dirk’s poaching, beer and an amazing view combined into the inevitable – yet another desperate dash in the dark back to the trucks.

2.      CLASH OF THE TITANS.   On race day there was fervent speculation about how the battle between Chuck, Dirk and Andy Stravers would end up.   The consensus was that Chuck was the slight favorite – given his strong results this year - but that Dirk and Andy were both very capable of edging him out.  Dirk, after all, showed fantastic form just last weekend and even though Andy has been spent most of the year running instead of biking, he is Andy and that means he is always a threat even against guys in top form.   Chuck – who has been famously unfocused before NMORS races in years past – sent a clear message when he showed up with a fresh haircut, clean shave and a small, light racing camelback instead of his 31-compartment-Gallup-flea-market-behemoth.  After the pros came in, the tension began to mount and the Gallup crowd began moving over to the finish line - all looking to see which one of our top dogs would come over the stock pond hill first. 

3.     AND THE WINNER IS.  Not too long after the top pros in New Mexico (Calvert, McCalla, Brenneman & Nielsen) blazed through the finish area, a tightly spaced group of 30+ Cat 1s came through that included (drum roll please!) Chuck as the first Rez Dog.  At 2:11:10, Chuck was only 38 seconds off the pace set by former Gallupian, Hadji Corona, who finished first in the super competitive Cat 1 30+ category.  Andy came in impressively - less than two minutes behind Chuck. Dirk had a respectable time, but came in well back of Chuck and Andy after cramping up badly.  Although Dirk is continuing to work through some health and diet issues there was some speculation that he was simply suffering the karmic effect of all the pain he dished out last weekend and that, as bad as his cramps were, the pain he suffered was less than 25% of the pain he dealt out to the rest of the pack on the Care 66 ride.  As always:  We report; you decide.  

4.     TWO CLYDESDALES AND A GHOST.    There was no prerace speculation about which of the three Cat 2 Rez Dogs would prevail.  It was a foregone conclusion that Chad “the Ghost” Meekhof, who was last year’s overall Cat 2 winner would come in before the two Rez Dog Clydesdales: Kevin Zwiers and Bob.  Kevin (who only registered 30 minutes before the race and four days earlier became a new father) and Bob swapped places three times on the course before Kevin pulled away from Bob for good at the midway point on Second Mesa to finish in 1:38:07.   Chad won the 19-29 category and was second place overall in Cat 2 in a time of 1:28:41 on the 18 mile course. (photographer's note: Chad was so fast I couldn't even get a picture!) Chad was bumped out of first place overall by a sandbagging Cat 1 roadie who raced Cat 2 on the mountain bike.  The same guy bumped Bob down to second place in the 50+ category at 1:39:19. 

5.     TWO OLDTIMERS AND A NEW STAR.  There were a couple of double takes when old timer Billy McCarthy – who used to terrorize the local road race circuit in the late 80s and early 90s - showed up on a pre-historic Schwinn and put in a respectable effort in Cat 2 in his first mountain bike race.  Mike Heredia won the new 60+ category in Cat 3 and star-in-the-making Holly Herr was the overall female winner in Cat 3.  Following close being was 1st timer Heather Haveman coming in 3rd place.

6.     A BOLO TIE FOR AN INSPIRATING GUY.  This year’s Honorary Grand Marshall for the Screamer was Doug Schneebeck.  Doug is a former Cat 1 rider for the Sport Systems team and a three time finisher of the Leadville 100.  A year and a half ago he was diagnosed with ALS (aka Lou Gehrig’s disease) but he is still riding – although now as a Cat 3.  Doug helped with the start and the awards – many of which went to his Sport Systems teammates.  It was heart rendering to see the emotion and affection shared by Doug and the other racers – and especially his teammates - during the awards ceremony.  Pro rider, Damien Calvert gave the beautiful Zuni bolo tie he was awarded as overall male winner to Doug at the end of the awards ceremony. 

A CONCLUDING QUESTION:  Will this be the first Rez Dog blog report that doesn’t talk about Chuck’s dual personalities – Night Guy and Morning Guy – or mention that Peter T-boned a sheep on the Bread Springs loop on his road bike?  . . . . . . oops . . . . . I guess not.  

PETER IN PURGATORY – NEXT YEAR PARADISE:

MOUNTAIN BIKE MARATHON NATIONALS IN BEND OREGON

By Bob 

            This weekend Peter Tempest traveled to Bend, Oregon, for the Mountain   Bike Marathon Nationals as the only New Mexico rider in the field, but, before we turn to that story, there are some local high jinks to report: 

1.      NIGHT GUY’S WEDNESDAY NIGHT FOREST ESCAPADES:  The legend of Night Guy continues to grow – as does his camelback.  Chuck Van Drunen aka Night Guy and Morning Guy somehow conned Kevin Zwiers and Greg Cavanaugh into going on a night ride in the forest for the Wednesday night ride this week.  Of course, Greg and Kevin - unlike Night Guy - have jobs that require their smiling faces to appear bright and early every Thursday morning.  Here are the broad strokes of Night Guy’s escapades:  Not one, not two, but three – yes three! - separate rides from Bill Siebersma’s cabin in “the eye of the hurricane” with storms swirling all around them and Night Guy constantly fishing out replacement lights and batteries from the caverns of his camelback.  The three finally dragged home just before 2AM – or roughly about an hour and a half after their wives started calling each other in pre-panic mode. 

2.     FROM THE DEPTHS OF COMPARTMENT 25.  Perhaps the highlight of the night in the forest was when Night Guy finally found the pound of hamburger meat and bottle of wine he had been frenetically looking for in his truck when they got back to Bill’s cabin after each ride.  In between rides number two and three, Night Guy was rummaging through his 30-compartment- Gallup-flea-market-camelback and low and behold he came across the missing pound of hamburger and wine bottle (in compartment 25 according to Kevin) that he had unknowingly been lugging around on his back all night.

3.     DIRK DEALS THE PAIN.  Saturday morning while Peter was doing battle in Bend, Morning Guy and Kevin joined Dirk Hollebeek, Tim Pikaart, Sanjay Choudrie and Sanjay’s architect, Tom, for the annual Care 66 Charity Bike road ride into the heart of Rez Dog country.  The route starts with the Tse-Ya-Toh loop, followed by the Red Rock Chapter Loop, and culminates with the dreaded Bread Springs Loop where Peter T-boned a sheep on a road bike.  What?!?  How do you T-bone a sheep on a road bike? Stop!  We don’t have time for that right now. Back to the Care 66 Ride which can be summarized as follows:  The pack would casually start riding each segment to the next support vehicle location for a mile or so when Dirk “the Hollebeast” would start dealing the pain.  Morning Guy would rise to each of Dirk’s challenges and the rest of the pack – in various stages of agony – would grimace and try to hang on as they rode through spectacular terrain and the agitated packs of rez dogs that Dirk would stir up as he blasted around the course.  

4.     PETER IN PURGATORY – NEXT YEAR HEAVEN.   Peter has been making an annual trip to the mountain bike marathon nationals since his early 40’s and he has placed as high as fourth in 40 +.  This year – at a racing age of 49 – is Peter’s year of purgatory and penance before he steps up to the promised land of 50+ racing next year.  This year and next, the marathon nationals are in the mountain bike Mecca of Bend, Oregon so Peter was primarily scouting the course in anticipation of his return to glory next year. 

5.     BONE DRY IN OREGON.  The 52 mile marathon course starts out in Bend on pavement leading to two track and eventually single track that climbs from 3,600’ to 5,600’ on its way toward Mount Bachelor.  Peter said the 40+ group largely stayed together in “dead silence” on the first five miles of pavement and then started breaking up when they hit dirt.  The single track was dusty and powder dry.  Peter compared the single track conditions to the dust at 24 Hours in the Enchanted Forest this summer and said, “When you saw a cloud of dust that’s when you knew you were getting close.”  (Check out the difference in Peter’s before and after photos)

6.     WHAT A DIFFERENCE ONE YEAR MAKES.  In spite of being one of the oldest riders – if not the oldest – in the group, Peter finished respectably in just over 4 hours in 24^th place out of 45 national’s riders in the 40+ group.  His time would have put him in 4^th place in 50+ and on the national’s podium again so it’s a pretty safe bet that he will be chomping at the bit to get back to Bend next year after paying his dues this year.  Peter described Bend as being a hip mountain biking town “like Durango” with a bunch of hot riders who “wildly over-represented” the town on the podium. 

A CONCLUDING QUESTION:  It was bone dry in Oregon while it rained every day, and sometimes several times a day, in Gallup.  And . . . Peter was a thousand miles away as his fellow Rez Dog riders ventured out to do battle with his arch nemesis - the dreaded Bread Springs Loop sheep.  Were we sucked into some kind of weird parallel universe vortex this weekend?  Just asking. 

Two Dogs go up the Hill

            CHUCK AND PAUL’S RIDE IN THE LA PLATA MOUNTAINS

by Paul 

After months of planning and playing schedule tag we finally managed to pull off an epic ride in the La Plata mountains near Mancos, CO.

There ended up being only two on the ride due to schedule conflicts like looking at skinny roadies or knee injuries etc. Chuck and family ended up in Mancos at Paul’s house the night before and once again Night Guy was nowhere to be seen. (editor’s note:  This was two days before the reappearance of Night Guy in Crested Butte.)  Perhaps he is burnt out for the season or needs more practice?

Just as well, since we needed an early start to avoid thunderstorms building in the afternoon. This ride starts at 9,000 feet and goes upwards from there.

We were packed to the gills with water and clif bars, an extra 4 compartments were added to Chuck’s camelback so that the sandwiches would fit.

We knew that it was going to be a long day in the saddle so the pace was leisurely as wound our way up the Aspen loop trail to join the West Mancos trail. It was a nice cool morning and the forest was looking great.

Soon enough Mt. Hesperus started looming over our right shoulder as we climbed up to Shark’s tooth trail head. After 2 hours of mostly granny gear climbing we finally crested the pass at 11,900 feet and stopped for lunch.

Chuck was jealous when he saw 8 clif bars fall out of Paul’s camelback, he wasn’t able to fit any into his 34 compartment behemoth.

We were sitting on top of the world admiring the view with no one to be seen when a super fit female runner comes cruising up from the other side of the pass.

She didn’t even stop, just plodded along while we both had a befuddled look on our faces.

Bombing down the other side into Bear creek was the highlight of the ride, loose scree and boulders line the trail on the way down. Hang on tight boys, easy on the brakes, keep it upright. After descending for a while we were still at 10,000 feet with the valley walls towering above us.

The Bear creek trail is a fantastic meander of 18 miles all the way down to the Delores highway. Single track winds gradually down and the creek lived up to its name as we saw an adult bear with two cubs next to the trail.

Once at the bottom we stopped for a break to prepare for the horrendous climb up the Morrison trail.

This climb started at 8,100 and topped out at 9,600 after only 2.5 miles.

The reward after that slog is a beautiful aspen forest single track towards the starting point of the ride. The legs were feeling it and the camels ran dry at this point.

We were pleased to see the trusty old Subaru at the trail head, a cooler with refreshments was a welcome surprise too.

All in all we covered 42 miles with 5,600 feet of climbing which took 6 hours.

The beers and pizza tasted heavenly that night!

 

 

REZ DOGS CHECK OUT THE TOP DOGS

REZ DOGS CHECK OUT THE TOP DOGS:

Stage One of the US Pro Cycling Challenge in Crested Butte

By Bob

            In the middle of a work week, a mangy group of Rez Dogs including Chuck, Nate, Bob, Chuck W. and Mike B. somehow managed to find their way up to Crested Butte to watch the very best cyclists in the world - including Cadell, both Schlecks, and Levi - do battle in the high altitude of Colorado.  A report: 

1.      Serious TV air time.   Here is a verbatim email exchange between Chuck, Bob and Paul the week before:

·         Chuck to Bob and Paul:  “FYI…I fully intend to get my keester some serious TV air time.  Bob can you cover the legal ramifications of just busting on the course and riding with the Schlecks the last mile to the finish line on our Tomacs??  Public roads right?  I won’t mind a full body cavity search by the Colorado State Police, but I don’t want to do any jail time.”

·         Paul’s reply to Chuck: “Chuck don’t worry about the cavity search or the jail time with the cops, they have a gentle touch and they are cute too!”

2.      Night Guy re-emerges.   It’s been awhile since we have heard from or seen Chuck’s alter ego, Night Guy.  Perhaps the last time was when he famously tied one on the night before Dawn til Dusk in April.  Well . . . Night Guy re-emerged in all his glory with a late night romp in Crested Butte that included a 1am dash downhill (without lights) from the ski resort to the town of Crested Butte, a belligerent cop, and a cowboy bar that Night Guy and some of his fellow dogs were lucky to survive.  And as usual, Night Guy wrote some big checks (more below) for Morning Guy, to cover.

3.      Grinning like the cat who ate the canary.  Excitement grew the evening before the race in the condo when Chuck opened up an email from Scottie Nydom, the former BMC racer who took a bad fall in the Tour of Gila Crit a couple of years ago.  Scottie still works for the BMC team which includes Cadell Evans and George Hincapie.  Attached to the email were photos taken the day before Stage 1 at the prologue in Colorado Spring’s Garden of the Gods with Peter sitting behind the wheel of the BMC support car grinning like the cat that ate the canary.  The general consensus of those who saw the photos was that Peter must have been grinning because he was thinking about taking off in the car for the Bread Springs loop for a rematch with his nemesis. 

4.      Crested Butte’s “signature trail”.  Before heading into town, Night Guy planned a 7am ride with Bob on Trail 401 which by most accounts is Crested Butte’s “signature trail.”  At 6:30am, Morning Guy – against all odds – popped out of bed bright eyed and bushy tailed and started brewing coffee and loading his 29 compartment (yep, it’s somehow still growing) Gallup-Flea-Market- Camelback in spite of Night Guy’s escapades.  Morning Guy then hammered out a fantastic ride that included chest high fields of flowers, raised, wooden wetlands crossings and steep but sweetly flowing switchbacks that climbed 2,000 vertical feet to a high pass above timberline.  So, yes, Morning Guy came through and - yet again - covered another big check written by Night Guy. 

5.      Random impressions of the show:   Here are some random impressions: 

·         The whole scene was astonishing.  The course set up, the entourages, the pre-race festivities, the trade show, race announcers and the crowds were like magically stepping into a live giant screen broadcast of the Tour de France. 

·         The number of cars and motorcycles that drive in front of the racers is unbelievable.  No joke.  There were at least 50 cars and motorcycles zooming though the finish area for over 30 minutes before the first racers came in.

·         Levi took off like a rocket in the final stretch.  Instead of doing a drug test, they should have searched Levi for a jet propelled rocket.

·         Crested Butte is a great place to be in the summer and the ski condo lodging is roomy and cheap.  Chuck:  “Let’s do a weeklong tour of Colorado ski resorts next summer where we stay condos and ride the trails at each resort.”

·         The Americans (Levi, VandeVelde, VanGarderen, Big George Hincapie and Tommy D.) destroyed the Europeans.  Cadell was game but the Schlecks and Basso were non-factors. 

·         There were pockets of Columbians with flags and dressed in their national colors cheering on their climbers - who did better than the Europeans.

·         The crowd at the finish area stayed in place and cheered just as loud for the last riders as they did the leaders.  Way cool!!

6.      Concluding questions.  What is in pouch # 25 of Chuck’s camelback?  A magic potion that cures sleep deprivation and hangovers? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bob and Peter take on the high elevation in Leadville

LEADVILLE’S SILVER RUSH 50:

JERSEY DEBUT, HIKE-A-BIKES & HEAD ONS

By Bob

Our jerseys made their competitive debut in Leadville this weekend . . . in style. Peter and Bob sported their Rez Dog kits in the ultra competitive Silver Rush 50 that included only seven racers from New Mexico in a field of over 750. 

A report:

• A BIG HUG & A PLEA. Here is the scene that played out in Peter’s driveway after work last Thursday: Sarah is giving Peter a big hug and, as she does, she pleads in a mock tone, “Please don’t hit a sheep.” Peter shakes his head and says to no one in particular, “What was once just a family joke is now a club joke.” Yes, Peter. First family, then the club . . . then Gallup . . . then the world. This is way too good a story to keep under wraps.

• CAMELBACKS & BFFs. When not riding the 24 Hours in the Sage course in Gunnison, asking about last week’s plane ride by new BFFs Paul and Greg or bemoaning their failure to borrow Chuck’s 28-compartment-Gallup-flea-market camelback for their post race mountaineering, Bob was pumping Peter for info about his national’s racing history. Here’s the scoop: Peter’s highest finish was fourth in the 40+ marathon in Sonoma - in spite of a broken chain. He has had other top ten finishes in the marathon and top 15 finishes in the cross country. Peter is the only Rez Dog rider with enough cojones to ride nationals and he pulls off great results year after year. He said, “Sometimes, I’ve had better results at nationals than here in New Mexico.”

• SHAVED LEGS, HEART RATE MONITORS & $10,000 BIKES. Peter and Bob got to the start/finish early and marked a starting spot with their bikes. Riders started drifting in and, man, were they a different breed: shaved legs, heart rate monitors and $10,000 bikes. No hand drawn dogs, sheep or grasshoppers for these guys and, yet, in spite of it all, an eerie sense of calm prevailed. Peter: “This is kind of disorienting. I don’t know what to do without Chuck trying to rebuild his front shock minutes before the start or going on a rant about evil roadies poaching a mountain bike race.”

• HIKE-A-BIKES & HEAD ONS. Course beta: Start at 10,000 and push your bike up a ski hill. Climb to 12,000. Ripping descent. Climb back to 12,000. Ripping descent. Climb back to 12,000. Ripping descent. Turn around and do it all again – on two track roads with rock gardens, stream crossings and, in spots, the ever present fear of a high speed head on collision. Six big climbs in total - three of which forced even the hottest riders into granny gear and then hike-a-bikes.

• 11 SECONDS & 55 SECONDS. Peter set a pre-race goal of breaking 5 hours. Bob was hoping to break 6 hours. Their times: Peter at 5:00:11 and Bob at 6:00:55. No joke. Close, but no cigar. Peter was 40^th overall out of 750+ riders and 15^th out of 207 in 40+. Bob was 190^th overall and 22^nd out of 72 in 50+, after his division was corrected. More on that shortly. 

• BOB’S SECOND CHILDHOOD & ANOTHER EMPTY PODUIM SPOT. Last week Bob was on his way to Chuck’s house to meet the pack for the late showing of Horrible Bosses when he spotted Alan on a bike and slowed to visit. When Alan learned what Bob was up to, he popped off, “You are going through a second childhood aren’t you.” Minutes after the finish in Leadville, Bob thought Alan had pulled off an epic practical joke when Bob’s name flashed on to the big electronic scoreboard in 5^th place in 19 & under. Seriously. Ask Peter. Needless to say, Bob didn’t stick around for the podium - again. 

CONCLUDING QUESTIONS. How does Peter pull off such great results in nationals? In fact, how does he always get top results in every big out of state race he goes to? Has he mastered the art of “peaking” for big races? Was Dr. Michele Ferrari – the banned Italian physician - Peter’s classmate at UCLA medical school? Or . . . is it just that when Peter is out of state he is also out of range of the killer sheep from the Bread Springs loop? Just asking.

The new jerseys have arrived.

2011 Rez Dog Racing Kit: