Santa Fe Century

"Craig Brossman" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

If you are in this boat, don't get disappointed that you were slower
than others, take pride in the fact that this was perhaps harder for you
than many others, and you did it. Every single one of us started
somewhere, and had more than one hard ride in our life. Just keep

peddling!

Quoted message said:

Being fast is like being rich. It means different things to different
people and in the end, it isn't what it was all about anyway!

Quoted message said:

I
wanted to say to each and everyone, don't give up,

My wife, who at 66 yo, rode 25 miles including a couple of hard hills, worked
as hard or harder than the hotshots who sped through in 5 hours.

Almost everyone was very nice with the exception of two road bikers who were
extremely rude to my wife as she was going down a hill with rumble strips.
They yelled at her to pull over, but the place where she was supposed to "pull
over" had about a 5-10% increase in slant from the riding area on the shoulder,
and it would have been extremely unsafe for her to pull over into that slanted
area.

They acted as if this was a race, not a ride, and, besides, they were riding
one of the short routes - if they wanted to play big time biker, they should
have been on the century, not the 25-50 miler.

Anyway, my wife is not at a loss for words, and was able to properly verbally
discipline the young whippersnappers! They probably won't forget that
"grandmotherly" type who told them where they could get off in no uncertain
terms.

Also, the rumble strip was much gentler than those we have in Colorado, and I
soon discovered that you can cross the strip with little or no problem, and
these rude folks could have easily passed to the left cross the strip.

But, it was a great day. So sad about the injured biker who was getting his
bike out of the of his car when the person to the rear missed the brake of her
car and hit the accelerator, instead. He is in critical condition.

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Denver C. Fox said:

Quoted message said:

I
wanted to say to each and everyone, don't give up,

My wife, who at 66 yo, rode 25 miles including a couple of hard hills, worked
as hard or harder than the hotshots who sped through in 5 hours.

Again, good for her.

Quoted message said:

Almost everyone was very nice with the exception of two road bikers who were
extremely rude to my wife as she was going down a hill with rumble strips.
They yelled at her to pull over, but the place where she was supposed to "pull
over" had about a 5-10% increase in slant from the riding area on the shoulder,
and it would have been extremely unsafe for her to pull over into that slanted
area.

They acted as if this was a race, not a ride, and, besides, they were riding
one of the short routes - if they wanted to play big time biker, they should
have been on the century, not the 25-50 miler.

Anyway, my wife is not at a loss for words, and was able to properly verbally
discipline the young whippersnappers! They probably won't forget that
"grandmotherly" type who told them where they could get off in no uncertain
terms.

Good for her, I found everyone to be very nice and tried to say hi to
everyone I passed or passed me, except the fast peleton, they just
cruised by too quickly.

Quoted message said:

Also, the rumble strip was much gentler than those we have in Colorado, and I
soon discovered that you can cross the strip with little or no problem, and
these rude folks could have easily passed to the left cross the strip.

Somewhere after the 50 mile turn around, the sleeper strip becomes more
like the ones we are accustomed to here in CO, but poorly placed. Not up
against the white line, closer to the middle of the shoulder 🙁

Quoted message said:

But, it was a great day. So sad about the injured biker who was getting his
bike out of the of his car when the person to the rear missed the brake of her
car and hit the accelerator, instead. He is in critical condition.

I didn't hear about the injured rider, I hope it works out OK for them.

Quoted message said:

http://members.aol.com/foxcondorsrvtns
(Colorado rental condo)

http://members.aol.com/dnvrfox
(Family Web Page)

I kind of wish there was some sort of get-together after the ride, we
just sort of showed up, rode and left for home. You meet a few folks on
the ride, but you end either passing them or being passed. The ones who
ride at the same pace are always a fixed distance in front of or behind you.

--
Craig Brossman, Durango Colorado
(remove ".nospam" to reply)

TM said:

"Craig Brossman" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

If you are in this boat, don't get disappointed that you were slower
than others, take pride in the fact that this was perhaps harder for you
than many others, and you did it. Every single one of us started
somewhere, and had more than one hard ride in our life. Just keep

peddling!

Being fast is like being rich. It means different things to different
people and in the end, it isn't what it was all about anyway!

Agreed, but it may become discouraging to some when you are slower than
others. I hope it isn't.

--
Craig Brossman, Durango Colorado
(remove ".nospam" to reply)

Quoted message said:

kind of wish there was some sort of get-together after the ride, we
just sort of showed up, rode and left for home. You meet a few folks on
the ride, but you end either passing them or being passed. The ones who
ride at the same pace are always a fixed distance in front of or behind you.

We went to the lunch afterwards, and did meet some nice folks.

As far as teh rumble strip, we decided not to ride on I-25, so we parked just
at the turnoff to 285, and then road out to Galisteo and back, so we
essentially went the 50 mile turn around route, just not I-25.

Four years ago I did the full century, and my wife road by herslef. She really
wanted me to ride with her this time, and I am not yet in shape for the full
century, so it worked out fine for both of us!

The scenery is so spectacular on the way from 285 to Galisteo. I love that
section.

http://members.aol.com/foxcondorsrvtns
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http://members.aol.com/dnvrfox
(Family Web Page)

"Craig Brossman" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Not a race at all, some folks were faster than others, but everyone had
a good time.
My hats off to the organizers, good snacks at the frequent rest stops,
well organized, lots of good signs for directions, a very pleasant event.

We saw riders of all sorts of abilities and ages, some rode 50 miles on
knobby tires, a couple of groups of racer types in a peleton of 12 or so
folks, some folks who appeared to ride very infrequently.

Let me just say, my wife and I ride a lot, this time of year we are
training for the Iron Horse race here in Durango, at elevation, almost
all climbing. We are training just to better last year's time.

I don't want to say this and appear mean spirited, we were both very
impressed with the folks we saw who appeared out-of-shape and
overweight, plodding through the miles. I don't know how many miles they
rode (there were several options starting at 25 miles), and often they
were on mtn bikes or older road bikes. But they put on the miles with a
smile, worked through the same issues we all do on a relatively long
ride (whatever that means for you) and performed in fine fashion. I
wanted to say to each and everyone, don't give up, this is hard on all
of us, the fact that you keep going is more impressive than anyone who
flies by at 25 mph.
If you are in this boat, don't get disappointed that you were slower
than others, take pride in the fact that this was perhaps harder for you
than many others, and you did it. Every single one of us started
somewhere, and had more than one hard ride in our life. Just keep

peddling!

Quoted message said:

Oh yeah, and those guys who were 20 years my senior and road past me
like I was standing still, you I don't like 🙂

--
Craig Brossman, Durango Colorado
(remove ".nospam" to reply)

Nice post, Craig. I just wish all bikers had the same attitude as you and
your wife. I do a lot of riding and I find 99% of the people I encounter
on the trails are great but it's that 1% that can give fellow bikers a bad
image.

Beverly said:

"Craig Brossman" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

--
Craig Brossman, Durango Colorado
(remove ".nospam" to reply)

Nice post, Craig. I just wish all bikers had the same attitude as you and
your wife. I do a lot of riding and I find 99% of the people I encounter
on the trails are great but it's that 1% that can give fellow bikers a bad
image.

We are very fortunate here, biking is extremely integrated into the
town, everybody knows everybody else, and 3/4 of the folks you know are
into some form of biking.
Not that this is my motivation, but if you are a jerk on the trails or
roads, odds are someone you know saw you doing it, and you'll hear about
it later ... or you are from out of town, but you may still hear about
it at dinner in one of the local restaurants.

Now all we have to do is keep reminding all the new comers that this is
NOT California or Texas, our rules of courtesy may be more rigorous than
they are used to 🙂

--
Craig Brossman, Durango Colorado
(remove ".nospam" to reply)