B-H Shop Ride - Version 2.0

This past Saturday we changed the beginning of the Bicycle-Heaven shop ride.  We took the ride North thru Stone Oak, Northwest past Canyon Golf course and West thru Timberwood Park, before hitting Blanco Road about 4 miles further north than in the past.

This change adds a mile, a hill or two in the beginning of the ride, makes the ride alot more scenic and most importantly, moves the ride north of the increasing traffic and road construction on Blanco Road.

The hill up Champions is challenging for the weaker riders, as is the hill after Wilderness Oak.  There is a nice short cut, however, for dropped riders to rejoin the bunch on Blanco at Bullis County park after these trouble spots.

The "new" ride.  Thru Stone Oak and Timberwood Park out to Blanco north of the current road construction.   Notice how the ride "backtracks" a little bit once in Timberwood park, offering a chance for dropped riders to rejoin the ride at Bullis County Park by heading up to Borgfeld Road, then our to Bullis County Park.

Here you can see where the altitude challenges of the ride are.  Also looking at the heart rate tracing (red line) you can see where the "friskier" parts of the ride are - Persimmon Hill, Spring Branch Road, out of the Guadalupe, 311, Lower Smithson Valley.

Garmin software view of the route, ride profile and heart rate challenges.

Garmin software view of the route, ride profile and speed.

Hope these route changes fit our riders well.  See you on Saturdays at 8am for the ride!!

PACTour Epilogue - Rest and Recovery

Ridge of the Rockies is over and we are in its aftermath.  Back to work (14 days straight) to "repay" the 23 days off for the adventure.  

Will is right back into soccer, as though he never missed a day.  His girlfriend doesn't think he's changed, maybe a little skinnier.  Will is proud of himself for completing the tour (that says alot in a teenager.)  Will may be listening to dad a little (?) not once did he have a negative moment on the tour.  Atitude is certainly everything.

Jim is very very tired, maybe relaxed.  He had hoped to test his fitness in a crit on Tuesday, rained out, probably for the best.  He did lose 12 pounds so that made him happy.  Now the challenge is to maintain and hopefully lose another 10?  5 years of PAC Tour has moved his fitness along nicely.

The boys felt the keys to success included riding with different people on different days, and getting lots of sleep - 8-9 hours/night consistently.  They were tired but never exhausted.  They hit the Boudreaux butt paste from night 1, and had much less chafing issues this year.  Lots of lip balm prevented lip sunburn and erosions.  Listening to the iPod/iPhone passed the miles (and got some work done - audiobook required reading for Will, medical lectures for Jim.)

Jaime and Terri meeting the boys in Las Cruces for the ride to El Paso was the icing on the cake.  Fun, fun, fun.  The ride home with Jahant was fast and a blast.

So what's next?

Well, first recovery.

Jim and Terri's 1 hour spin on Wednesday (95 bpm average HR, 14.5 mph.)

Which preceded their 3.5 mile run, first training run for the San Antonio "Rock n Roll" Marathon on 11/16!!

Next year PAC Tour plans include the Eastern Mountains Tour - 2 less days, 50% more climbing.  Maybe another 10 pounds off for Jim on that one.  This tour ends up in New England which means a day or two with Opa and Peg!!  Hopefully a few Bicycle-Heaven friends will take a serious look at their schedules and do this tour with Jim -  August 8- 25.

If you want a taste of the PAC Tour experience going into this tour try a week in Feb/March in AZ or a week in June in Wisconsin.  Its all on the PAC Tour website!!

Until the next adventure - thanx for reading.

PACTour Day 19/19 - La Familia

The morning started with a group photo.  Jim and Will are tough to spot in this group.

Turk and Jaime wouldn't get into the big picture, but did get in for a La Familia photo prior to their personal PAC Tour stage - 19/19.

Helmets on and bikes ready we left Las Cruces, NM, for El Paso, TX - the final destination!!

The first 5 miles were fast and the group was large.  David and Craig leading the way.

We split off a smaller group and took the pace down after a few miles.

Turk may not have done the whole ride, but still has the best calves in the bunch.

The Franklin Mountains.  Our main obstacle between Las Cruces and El Paso.

Jim and Will waited for Jaime and the Turk at the top of the 5.5 mile climb, peaking at 5280 feet.

The Turk was all smiles finishing the climb.

Cat and Marc with La Familia for a group photo.  Our next group photo will probably be in the Ardennes region of Belgium next year!!

PAC Tour version of the "Mile High Club."  Hard to believe that we put on jackets for the descent mid August in El Paso!!  It was about 80 degrees with a slight threat of rain.

Will descending towards El Paso, patented Slauson tuck.

The Turk gritting her teeth and descending well.  The descent was slow - Jaime has hit close to 70mph on this descent, we were descending at 35 mph due to the big headwind.

Finally, typical PAC tour finish.  10 miles of tailwind to erase the memory of the preceding 1900 miles of headwind.  We joined Cat, Marc and Lon for the last couple of miles.

Ascent view of our day.  Pretty obvious was our main challenge in the middle!!  

Less obvious was the 15 miles of false flat with big headwind after the descent.

Will and Jim put the hammer down on the climb - after Jaime launched them.  Jim was actually able to get his heart rate up to 175, so he must be recovering somewhat.

Ascent documents our route map across the U.S. from Canada to Mexico.

Additionally you can see our climbing peaks challenges.

Final combined data - 1,988 miles, 86,324 feet of climbing, 116 hours (ie approx 5 days on the bike,) average speed 17.2 miles per hour.  Job well done.

Fun, fun ride.  Turk and Jaime lifted the spirit for our final ride.  Jaime took the sprints, Will took the climb.  Nasty, false flat head wind road after the descent put the Turk in the hurt locker.  

The event speaks for itself.  Will, at age 16 has now crossed the U.S. West to East, and North to South on his bicycle.  The PAC Tour experience is second to none and recommended to all.

We'll put a final wrap-up in a day or two.  Appreciate all the positive energy from all following.  Big question?  What's next?!?!

PACTour Day 18/19 - Last day in NM

Last night we had dinner in a nice TorC New Mexican restaurant.  Lon sternly warning us that there was a "Car Back" as we were all in the middle of the road.  Susan nearly jumped out of her skin and we saw Lon chuckle a little...

Andrea's Hot Stuff - Will Slauson!!

Will loves soccer (he rides the bike to make dad happy.)  We had the single funnest experience of the trip yesterday evening procuring some TorC T-shirts from Dukatt '71.  More on this later.

The back of Will's shirt advertising the Buckhorn burger restaurant in nearby San Antonio, NM.  The Chili Cheeseburger is supposed to be second to none.

Dukatt's signature logo, on the back of Terri's T-shirt.

Will and Jim had a good room today (and most days on the trip.)  Close to the bike stands and breakfast.  They call it Rockstar parking.

Morning peleton was sizeable, split on a little riser, then Jim and Will whistled thru rest stops 1 and 2 with the fast guys on the tour - David, Craig and even Chip for a while.

Millions of these caterpillars on the roads the past 2 days.  We tried to avoid them all, but a few will not become butterflies.

Lunch today, mile 66/80 at Fort Seldon Monument museum.

Our nice approach into Las Cruces from TorC today.  Moderate pace, a little head wind.  Nice ride.  

Garmin demonstrated the gently downhill profile today, nicely countering the constant headwind starting late morning.

Almost to El Paso!!  Tonight we overnight in Las Cruces and the Turk and Jaime showed up to spice up the last nights and tomorrow's ride.  Turk says it's about a 2 hour drive from San Antonio to Las Cruces, NM.  Apparently she was "resting her eyes" quite a bit today.

There was one thing that Terri wanted as a souvenir from this trip - a T-shirt from Truth or Consequences, NM.  As mentioned yesterday there is a fond spot for this city in the Slauson's hearts, although they had never been there.  Will and Jim hit TorC yesterday around 2pm and the adventure began.  They stopped and IGA and Dollar General, but no TorC shirts.  Continuing down into town the went into a store with a few T's but nothing really fit the bill.  The lady there recommended Dukatt 71 where all the local shirts are made.  A couple of blocks away, but Dukatt was out and the shop was closed!!  Jim called his cell phone, but the reception was crappy so the boys headed back to their motel figuring that there would be no T-shirts.

Well the owner and local personality, Jeff Dukatt, called Jim back and said to come by around 5pm - his closing time.  Will and Jim rode back down to the store around 5 and had a wonderful time.  Jeff asked Jim what he was looking for and came up with 2 basic T's for Terri.  Jeff got a loose idea of what Jim wanted on the shirts, lettering style and logoing.  He said it would take a half hour or so to fire up the machine, which was fine.  The next 30 minutes covered the history of TorC and Dukatt 71, the battles Jeff has with the local leaders, the truck that drove into the shop, etc etc.  Jim and Will were laughing out loud.  Jeff decided that Will needed a shirt also, picked out a tie-dye orange/yellow T, and promised it would tone down with washing.  No problem the colors are basically that of Espana, where will was this summer.

Jeff asked Will what else he enjoyed besides cycling, Will said soccer, Jeff thought about it for a minute and said "I have just the thing."  Will's shirt is pictured above and Will absolutely loved it.  Jim loved the shirts Jeff created for Terri (as did she when she got 'em today.)  The man is an artist and master at knowing what the customer wants, for sure.

Tonight there is a little get together for dinner, so we'll say goodbye until tomorrow, the final leg of our journey from Canada to Mexico!!  65 miles from Las Cruces, NM to El Paso, highlighted by a 6 mile 1500 foot climb thru the Franklin Mountains.

Thanx for reading.

PACTour Day 17/19 - Truth or Consequences?

Today we rode mostly due south, from Socorro, NM to Truth or Consequences, NM.   ToC was originally named "Hot Springs" in fact we are staying in the Hot Springs Motel.  ToC took the name based on the then radio show host saying he would broadcast from the first town to name itself ToC.  The rest is history.

Truth or Consequences has special meaning to the Slauson Family due to this photo, taken nearly 10 years ago at the Tour of The Gila.  On the final stage, Jim had gotten dropped on the initial climb, but knew if he descended like a madman he could get back on for the ride across the valley.  A photographer was standing at the roadside and snapped this photo, entitled "For some racers, the Gila Monster truly was Truth of Consequences..."

Beautiful start to the day.

Again we rode along train tracks today.  Our am peleton started small, Lon leading the way, Lil hammering with Will and Ray keeping watch over the back.

Due to the slow speeds and headwinds of the day, our peleton quickly burgeoned going into the first rest stop.

Today we rode on a great secondary road, often near I-25.  We only had a 3 mile stretch of I-25 shoulder today.  Although our road was relatively rough chipseal, there was virtually no debris and Jim and Will experienced no flats and there were very few for the other riders also.

After the first rest stop, Jim and Will rode with Jon Jahant.  Jon is from San Antonio and is going to drive back to SA with the family on Sunday.  So the party continues...

Our wonderful ride today.  The keyword of the day was "rollers."  Little ups and downs all day.

Docile pace today.

Nice view of the support vehicle Armada, strategically placed for security and the next am setup.

Good view of the functionality of every inch of the vehicles and trailers supporting PAC Tour.

Today we were fortunate we didn't underestimate our adversary.  Although we rode short (80 miles) with little climbing (less than 3000 feet) and easy, the course was challenging, constantly up and down and the headwind was relentless.  Since we didn't go into it with a "this will be a piece of cake" attitude we did well and got thru the day nicely.

We broke the ride up nicely, riding with a fairly large group to the first rest stop at 20miles, then riding with Jon to the 2nd at 40 miles.   We rode alone to lunch, at 66 miles, maybe a mistake as the wind had really picked up and there were alot of rollers.  Arriving very hungry, Will had 2 homemade burritos.  The last 11 miles we rode with crewmember Karl, which really made the time pass nicely.

The road was perfect today, rolling, snaking and maybe a handful of cars passing us all day once outside our departure and destination towns.  Will and Jim were entertained for a long time by a local merchant, more on that tomorrow.  Nice dinner tonight - Green Chile enchiladas at a nice mexican restaurant.  Tomorrow we roll thru the mother land of Green Chile, Hatch, NM on our way to Las Cruces.

Tomorrow we hook up with Turk and Jaime - they cruise from SA at 0500, we won't even be up by then!!  80 mile ride, limited climbing.  We're tired, but the trip is nearly complete.

Thanx for joining us.

PACTour Day 16/19 - 200km 20mph

Those of you who know Jim know he enjoys 2 things before and after riding.  Coffee and sparkling water.  Susan, added to her list of 1 million things to do, always makes sure Jim has a private cache of sparkling water which he grabs after the ride.  Will gets extra coffee from the motel front desk.  Jim is low maintennance, all he needs is what he wants.

Jim will generally roll the first few miles with the last cup of coffee each day.

Today just after the 2nd rest stop, we hit an area of construction - and had a 30-40 minute wait!!

Some were happy for a break, some were not.  We were there for a loooong time.

Lon drove hard when we were permitted to go, immediately splitting the group.

Only Will, John Newton and Wayne were able to match Lon's ferocious pace.

We rode along a train track alot of the day.  The conductors enjoyed sounding the horn for our pleasure.

Once more across the Rio Grande.

Ascent view of our trip from Moriarty, NM to Soccorro, NM.  Again some spots didn't download on the map view.  Government involvement, for sure.

Although we lost altitude, we rode into a headwind all day.  We didn't quite hit our goal of 20mph (ended at 19.8.)  We even hammered the last 30 minutes to try to push the average there - better seen on the representation of Jim's heartrate, below.

We were a little too complacent to hit our goal of 20mph today, trying the last 30min to get there, but needed to do more work earlier.

Will flatted and also had a chain issue so Jim changed his back tire and put a new chain on.  Why Jon didn't do that for us is a mystery, he practically had Marc's bike apart with Marc looking on!!!

The Motel Van.  3rd of three vehicles which support us.  Our man servant, Jon Jahant, stands at our beck and call at all times.

Jon loads the bags each am (you only are allowed 1 bag on pactour, kind of.)

The racks are set out in the am prior to departure while riders pump tires, fill gatorade and water and bring their bags out for loading.

The Motel Van supports the 2nd rest stop each day.  Next stop is lunch!!

The back of the motel van stores gatorade and supplies, and the riders spare tires.  Lots of those getting used in Arizona for sure!!

The side of the motel trailer stores laptop cases (Will loading ours) and riders "stash boxes."

Each rider choses what they want in their stash boxes.  Jim and Will have extra computer mounts, chains, cleats, tubes, CO2's and spokes.  Jim put new cleats on his shoes yesterday, a new chain on Will's bike today and refreshes the tube and CO2 supply when they use one.

Finally the all important white board which tells where laundry is, where restaurant locations are, what time breakfast and departure is, etc.  Below the white board is the map of our journey, with the Red Line completed each day as we near our destination of El Paso.  Pretty close now!!

Fun day.  Almost hit our goal of 20mph.  We got a bit complacent and sat on a train driven by a tandem (you can only go the tandem's speed in these situations) so let our average drop and almost made it up but couldn't quite.  The tandem flatted with 15 miles to go, and Terri called Will telling him she needed a copy of his driver's license or he wasn't going to get a parking spot at school this year.  So Jim drove hard and Will was extra motivated so we made it to the motel in time to fax the drivers license!!

Rolling hills in the morning were fun.  Lots of headwind, but mostly downhill on the day so didn't seem too bad.  We did ride on I-25 for a few miles, not bad at all - except Will cut a tire so we had to fix it.  We tried blowing the Hutchinson Fast Air in, and got to watch what looked like shaving cream come out the cut.  A little too big for that flat.  Threw in a tube and all was well.

Tomorrow is only 75 miles, so we get extra sleep!!  Maybe a movie tonight, we'll see.  The trip is winding down, the group remains amazing and we can't wait to see what each day brings.  Particularly the day the bring us the Turk (and Jaimie) to ride with us into El Paso.

Buster has asked what the Lon versus Will competition is.  Well, as mentioned it is a secret, known only by Jim.  You recall from last year how strong Lon is and how amazed Will and JW are with him.  Well this year we are riding alot faster coz Will's so much stronger and we often drop Lon.  We don't try to drop him and if he didn't want to be dropped he wouldn't, he's just enjoying the ride.  But, Jim and Will smile when the leave Lon behind.  All good fun.

The boys have a routine each day after the ride.  Will secures the room keys and takes the brief cases and bags to the room.  Will gets ice and extra coffee for Jim.  Jim cleans the bikes, does any maintenance necessary.  Then he starts laundry if its one of those days (which today was, our last laundry day - mixed emotions.)  They settle into the room, Jim puts up the blog while Will chats with GF Andrea and plays Nintendo.  Jim showers, then off to dinner, which is where we are heading right now.

Thanx for reading, only 3 days left!!!

PACTour Day 15/19 - Wild Hogs!!

Last night before dinner, Will had a Jon Jahant special, massage.  Jon is one of the most positive people you will ever meet, a great rider and his massages are second to none.  This is what the Turk has to look forward when she joins us Friday night!!

Last night Jim and Will were watching a movie in their room (Panic, a typical excellent, slightly slow William H. Macy and Donald Sutherland movie - the 6yo son is wonderful, btw.)  They are sure this light was cast from a UFO onto the wall of their room.  After all we are in New Mexico!!  Larry King here we come.  So what if the light was coming thru the peep hole in the door and our room was facing west?

Lon v Will.  The battle continues.  Long shadows on the rollout this am.  Lon wants to take the tour into Santa Fe instead of stopping in Espanol next time around.  Only 20 miles longer... but all uphill!!  See the first 20 miles on the profiles below.

Very cool overpass artwork just outside of Espanol today.

Apparently, the next most popular sport, after smashing beer bottles on the side of roads, must be Rodeo!!

The most popular hobby (neck and neck with gambling) is Flea Marketing.  This one, on an Indian Reservation, is actually located on Flea Market Road!!

Very cool frontage road artwork.

Will got 4 points for taking the Madrid, NM sign today.  Madrid was put on the map recently in the movie Wild Hogs.

The after lunch climb, doesn't look too bad, the last 1/2 mile, however was a steady 15%!!

Will had no problem with the climb, natch.

Yes we are getting further south, where the air is dry and the temps are high.  So if you don't sweat as much as Jim you tend to salt up.

Jim heard a ticking noise around mile 20 today.  He kept forgetting about it at the first 2 rest stops (hey, when the bikes not moving, no ticking!!)  Finally after lunch he investigated and found this staple in his tire sidewall.  This rear tire was due to be changed with 1500 PAC Tour miles supporting a 210 pound man on it.  Following good trauma procedure (never remove something sticking in somewhere that it doesn't belong until it is the right place with the right equipment at the right time) Jim left the staple in for the 35 miles after lunch (OK he did tug on it a bit and stopped when he heard the hissing.)  No significant switchback descents on the way in so no real danger from a rapid decompression.

Ascent view of todays ride.  Not sure why the aerial data wouldn't load in the southeast corner of the map, perhaps related to government projects and UFO's???

Garmin data.  Notice the boys did a little intensity today - from the 1st to the 2nd rest stop, then then the 4 mile climb out of Madrid midway thru.

You can see on the speed data where we pushed it a little from the 1st to 2nd rest stop.

Jim's bike.  Felt F1, Slipstream Chipotle team edition.  (Now obsolete as it is Team Garmin, perhaps collectors item.  Jim has a mixture of components based on his likes.  Campy shifters, brakes, derailleurs, Shimano Dura Ace wheels and SRM DA crank with DA pedals.

Sorry the picture is a bit blurry, we've now cleaned the camera lens.  One thing we hadn't mentioned as to why Jim prefers the Shimano wheels (besides the tubless tires) came up on today's ride.  If you look at the ride map data above, you will see that we headed South, with 2 longish stretches due West then due East late in the ride.  We had a 15mph wind directly out of the south so those stretches were significant crosswinds.  The Shimano DA wheel design seemingly feels almost no wind, making them stable and safe to ride in windy conditions.

Cockpit - FSA 13cm stem (Jim has long torso.) Oval bars wit Fizik bar gel under the tape.  As mentioned Campy shifters - Jim prefers the Campy platform and crispness to Shimano.

Another rocking day.  We tried a little intensity which was tough.  First 20 miles uphill, but rode easy with Lon.  Rode hard from R1-R2, then up the climb thru Madrid.  If you haven't seen Wild Hogs, and you are in your 40's you will probably really enjoy the movie.  Terri and Jim watched the movie in bed and were actually laughing out loud.

Jim was taking a pee by the side of the road, out of sight, or so he thought.   A construction worker, under an underpass shouted out "Cochino!!"  We're sure that means well endowed, devilishly handsome young man.

Lunch was at the bottom of the last significant climb, the last 1/2 mile truly 15%.  We rode that easy since we had just eaten!!  Rain clouds an lightning surrounded us, and we rode on some wet roads, but never actually rode in rain.  

Tomorrow is 120 miles w/ very little climbing, so the boys goal is to get a 20mph average ride in.  Time will tell....