Minus Ten Review- 12

If it wasn't a rock, it had a spike sticking out of it that could rip yer flesh open.

Ten years ago on the blog here I was relating my experiences riding in the Franklin Mountain State Park in El Paso, Texas for the first time. It was, understandably, an eye opening experience for me.

By this time in my life I had ridden a mountain bike in Colorado, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, and all over Iowa. But I had never seen rock, rock, and more rock like I saw in El Paso. It was unbelievable. I was overwhelmed by the experience of riding in the desert.

The bike I used was the Dos Niner, and despite the fact that it maybe had 3/4's of an inch of rear travel, I was super glad it had some travel! I remember slamming into a wash so hard I thought the bike should have broken in two pieces. Amazingly, the Dos held up and so did I. I also found out I was way out of shape, but I think I cleaned more than I should have just on pure adrenaline and the excitement of riding in a new place.

I certainly came away with a new appreciation for El Paso and mountain biking in general. It made some things I used to think were tough into child's play. In fact, it kind of spoiled me that way. There aren't too many places I have ridden since then that even come close to how hard it is to ride those trails.

Going steeply up on loose, huge sized gravelly rock, snaking your way through a minefield of thorns. Typical El Paso trail.

While all that was exciting and fun, I had to turn my attention forward to Sea Otter and beyond that, to Trans Iowa v3. Jeff was mostly out of the picture, but at this time ten years ago I still didn't know for certain how little or how much he was going to be involved. Then there were some bizarre requests to photograph the event from oddball folks I never had heard about, all of which I eventually turned down. There also was another, strange, unbelievable request from a guy from Portland, Oregon which I had to field as well.

See, this was a huge transition for me, and I was going through it ten years ago, and I was not at all comfortable with this. Originally I was just Jeff's helper, a "gopher", the route maker, and I facilitated Jeff's desires in how to run things. But here I was with Jeff absent most of the time and me having to field all the requests and questions that Jeff would have normally handled himself. Now I was becoming the "director" of Trans Iowa, only I wasn't really seeing it that way. You could say that I was in denial.

Anyway, this guy from Portland was an author and he kept e-mailing me and calling me with all these questions. He was getting an "advance" from a publishing company to write a book about underground, under the radar sporting events. He had heard about Trans Iowa from Ira Ryan, who was starting out as a custom frame builder in Portland at that time. Ira won the first Trans Iowa.

So, this whole thing was surreal, and I didn't believe it, really. I didn't believe Jeff wouldn't be a part of Trans Iowa.  I didn't believe this guy who said he was an author was for real. But the guy says he is coming, so I wrote about this ten years ago and had the following to say about what it all could mean for Trans Iowa:

"In the end, Jeff and I run the thing and put it on. It's up to us whether or not it is what it is.......for now. I suppose if it gets away from us for whatever reason, we can always shut it down. Are we part of a revolution? Ahh.....well, maybe. I think history, or maybe this upcoming book, will be the judge of that. All I know is, we want to ride our bikes for crazy long distances self supported, and we think you do to. As long as we have that basic understanding, then we have things like Trans Iowa. If that's a "revolution", then so be it."

Minus Ten Review- 12

If it wasn't a rock, it had a spike sticking out of it that could rip yer flesh open.

Ten years ago on the blog here I was relating my experiences riding in the Franklin Mountain State Park in El Paso, Texas for the first time. It was, understandably, an eye opening experience for me.

By this time in my life I had ridden a mountain bike in Colorado, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, and all over Iowa. But I had never seen rock, rock, and more rock like I saw in El Paso. It was unbelievable. I was overwhelmed by the experience of riding in the desert.

The bike I used was the Dos Niner, and despite the fact that it maybe had 3/4's of an inch of rear travel, I was super glad it had some travel! I remember slamming into a wash so hard I thought the bike should have broken in two pieces. Amazingly, the Dos held up and so did I. I also found out I was way out of shape, but I think I cleaned more than I should have just on pure adrenaline and the excitement of riding in a new place.

I certainly came away with a new appreciation for El Paso and mountain biking in general. It made some things I used to think were tough into child's play. In fact, it kind of spoiled me that way. There aren't too many places I have ridden since then that even come close to how hard it is to ride those trails.

Going steeply up on loose, huge sized gravelly rock, snaking your way through a minefield of thorns. Typical El Paso trail.

While all that was exciting and fun, I had to turn my attention forward to Sea Otter and beyond that, to Trans Iowa v3. Jeff was mostly out of the picture, but at this time ten years ago I still didn't know for certain how little or how much he was going to be involved. Then there were some bizarre requests to photograph the event from oddball folks I never had heard about, all of which I eventually turned down. There also was another, strange, unbelievable request from a guy from Portland, Oregon which I had to field as well.

See, this was a huge transition for me, and I was going through it ten years ago, and I was not at all comfortable with this. Originally I was just Jeff's helper, a "gopher", the route maker, and I facilitated Jeff's desires in how to run things. But here I was with Jeff absent most of the time and me having to field all the requests and questions that Jeff would have normally handled himself. Now I was becoming the "director" of Trans Iowa, only I wasn't really seeing it that way. You could say that I was in denial.

Anyway, this guy from Portland was an author and he kept e-mailing me and calling me with all these questions. He was getting an "advance" from a publishing company to write a book about underground, under the radar sporting events. He had heard about Trans Iowa from Ira Ryan, who was starting out as a custom frame builder in Portland at that time. Ira won the first Trans Iowa.

So, this whole thing was surreal, and I didn't believe it, really. I didn't believe Jeff wouldn't be a part of Trans Iowa.  I didn't believe this guy who said he was an author was for real. But the guy says he is coming, so I wrote about this ten years ago and had the following to say about what it all could mean for Trans Iowa:

"In the end, Jeff and I run the thing and put it on. It's up to us whether or not it is what it is.......for now. I suppose if it gets away from us for whatever reason, we can always shut it down. Are we part of a revolution? Ahh.....well, maybe. I think history, or maybe this upcoming book, will be the judge of that. All I know is, we want to ride our bikes for crazy long distances self supported, and we think you do to. As long as we have that basic understanding, then we have things like Trans Iowa. If that's a "revolution", then so be it."

Time For Some Southwest

Spring break is here and that means my first big trip of 2010 is nigh. I will be heading to El Paso, Texas to see relatives and for a brief but glorious part of that time, I should be hitting up Franklin Mountain State Park for a couple of mountain bike rides.

The area is part of the Chihuahuan Desert and isn't like the Sonoran desert area of Arizona. You don't get the majestic Saguaro cactus out here. What you do get are lots of spiny, spindly plant types that are armed with some razor sharp needles punctuated by the tall and easily spotted yuccas which can be seen all over the mountain. Most of the ground cover here is shrub-like though. This lends an air of vast space to where I will be riding. You can see a long ways when you are on top of the ridges.

Another feature of the area that always stands out for me are the rocks. Small rocks, medium sized rocks, and big rocks are everywhere. The trail surface is always covered in rocks. And they "clink" in a unique way due to their volcanic nature. In fact, you'd think you were running over broken pottery at times just by the sound of the rocks. It makes me laugh at times. To me it just seems unreal. Of course, I am accustomed to black earth under my tires, so this place I am going to is pretty unusual in my experience.

The park is fairly high as well. The park is next to the Intermountain Highway, which tops out at 5100ft at the pass and Franklin Mountain itself is just shy of 7200ft. So, here I am, a flatlander coming off a tough winter going to a higher elevation. Yeah..............suck! Wheeze! kaf! kaf!  I can hear it already. But, I have ridden there before, so I kind of know my way around a couple of the trails there. That helps. Still, this place is a tough ride. The rocky jeep road I always end up coming out of the park on is a killer incline. Hike a bike will be part of the days event when I am out there, that's for certain!

Finally, El Paso and the surrounding area is a place of tons of sunshine and no where to hide from it. Coupled with its low humidity levels and you are messing with a recipe for bad dehydration. I'll be packing lots of water in the Ergon BC-3 when I ride out there, you can bet on that! That and some bandages. Yeah, I once was riding out there and got a wee bit off-line. A spiny desert plant reached out and touched me sending a thorn right through my Sidi Dominators and into my pinky toe. Can you say "hot foot"? It was all I could do to stop without causing further calamity!

So, next week may be a week of light posting. I'll try to check in, but it may be at odd times. Hey! I am on vacation after all!

Time For Some Southwest

Spring break is here and that means my first big trip of 2010 is nigh. I will be heading to El Paso, Texas to see relatives and for a brief but glorious part of that time, I should be hitting up Franklin Mountain State Park for a couple of mountain bike rides.

The area is part of the Chihuahuan Desert and isn't like the Sonoran desert area of Arizona. You don't get the majestic Saguaro cactus out here. What you do get are lots of spiny, spindly plant types that are armed with some razor sharp needles punctuated by the tall and easily spotted yuccas which can be seen all over the mountain. Most of the ground cover here is shrub-like though. This lends an air of vast space to where I will be riding. You can see a long ways when you are on top of the ridges.

Another feature of the area that always stands out for me are the rocks. Small rocks, medium sized rocks, and big rocks are everywhere. The trail surface is always covered in rocks. And they "clink" in a unique way due to their volcanic nature. In fact, you'd think you were running over broken pottery at times just by the sound of the rocks. It makes me laugh at times. To me it just seems unreal. Of course, I am accustomed to black earth under my tires, so this place I am going to is pretty unusual in my experience.

The park is fairly high as well. The park is next to the Intermountain Highway, which tops out at 5100ft at the pass and Franklin Mountain itself is just shy of 7200ft. So, here I am, a flatlander coming off a tough winter going to a higher elevation. Yeah..............suck! Wheeze! kaf! kaf!  I can hear it already. But, I have ridden there before, so I kind of know my way around a couple of the trails there. That helps. Still, this place is a tough ride. The rocky jeep road I always end up coming out of the park on is a killer incline. Hike a bike will be part of the days event when I am out there, that's for certain!

Finally, El Paso and the surrounding area is a place of tons of sunshine and no where to hide from it. Coupled with its low humidity levels and you are messing with a recipe for bad dehydration. I'll be packing lots of water in the Ergon BC-3 when I ride out there, you can bet on that! That and some bandages. Yeah, I once was riding out there and got a wee bit off-line. A spiny desert plant reached out and touched me sending a thorn right through my Sidi Dominators and into my pinky toe. Can you say "hot foot"? It was all I could do to stop without causing further calamity!

So, next week may be a week of light posting. I'll try to check in, but it may be at odd times. Hey! I am on vacation after all!