Vamos pa' México hermano

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The Hat
Team MTBNJ Halter's
random encounters

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Patrick

Overthinking the draft from the basement already
Staff member
going through 250 miles! looks like a little downhill trend coming.

yeah baby!
🤜🤛
 

Steve Vai

Endurance Guy: Tolerates most of us.
Wonder if Buena Vista was all booked up and forced him that far off course? There's a campground right next to where the dot stopped so maybe he's making S'mores?

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Pampa

Well-Known Member
Hi All. I had to call it quits yesterday at Buena Vista. My legs just gave up and my body in general couldn't recover fast enough. Yesterday I was walking a lot and making a lot of mistakes, even riding very slow (some because I was riding very slow). At this speed/in this state I didn't want to go into the mountains again. The penalty for mistakes on these trails is pretty serious most of the time and I didn't want to risk having a bad accident. I spent several hours in Buena Vista eating and resting to see if I felt any better but that wasn't the case. Even after calling my wife to see if she could pick me up in the evening I did a few miles to try it out and I felt without anything on the tank/tired even though I was riding on the road.

The lack of physical preparation caught up with me and and the lack logistical preparation cost me a lot too. My training for this had been going OK up until 3 months before the race. Then I had a stupid/bad accident that put me out of a bike for 5 weeks. After climbing 25 miles and doing all the work that counts, I went down way too fast a very steep and windy paved road and went down hard at a hair pin. To be honest, the stupid part is because I was racing a car down. I crashed when I hit 45 mph at the hair pin, according to Garmin. I had a separated shoulder, a concussion, 3 jammed fingers and several scratches. Never happier to have been wearing a helmet with MIPS.

Not having studied the route was a big problem. I had a spreadsheet with distances, elevation gains and the main resupply points, but that's not nearly not enough info to do this. The HABs in this route are insane (not only long but there are a lot of parts that you're climbing stuff with your bike) and weather variability can also throw any calculation out of the window. Knowing how to budget food for 2+ days/eventualities is key. I made another mistake here on the second day. I jammed pack my bike with stuff that morning, but it wasn't the right stuff and it wasn't enough for what I had ahead and the speed at which I was riding. I also made a wrong turn I took an 8 mile detour (4 mi climb and back!). As a result, I ran out of food the day before yesterday and had to make a 10 mi detour to get some - silver lining is I got to meet Jimmy :) - Speaking of random encounters, the same day I ran into Jimmy someone comes to me at the bottom of a DH run and asks me if I was on the MTBNJ team. It was Ben Tufford, whom I had talked about coaching several years back but never met in person before. Those two encounters gave an emotional boost in shitty day even though they were very brief.

Overall, it was a great adventure for me. The places I was to, and the trails I rode were incredible. I don't think I'd ever go there or ride those type of trails "on my own".

Thank you for all the support and messages!
 

Pampa

Well-Known Member
Wonder if Buena Vista was all booked up and forced him that far off course? There's a campground right next to where the dot stopped so maybe he's making S'mores?

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Buena Vista WAS booked up! I didn't know the town so, like on any small town like this, I head straight to Main St to look for a place to eat (I had not seen the Subway on the other side of the road on my way in). The place was busier than Boulder with tourists! Lines to the street on every place to eat, etc. After wandering for a while and asking locals I found my way to the Subway and eat there. Then off to a park to nap under the shade of trees. After a couple of hours I decided to try to ride to the next town to meet my wife earlier. It was 28 mi with a 9 mi climb out of BV. I did 2 miles on a 3% grade and I was dying so I came back to that Domino's to wait for my wife rescue me :)
 

mattybfat

The Opinion Police
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Great write up Segundo. Experience will only make it easier the next time. As much as your probably say never again now you know you'll be back. Great job my friend!!!
 

jmanic

JORBA Board Member/Chapter Leader
Staff member
JORBA.ORG
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Yikes on the accident, glad you were able to rebound.
And fantastic job!
I admire your sense of adventure and willingness to commit to these big rides.
Keep the adventures coming my friend!
 

Pampa

Well-Known Member



Nice views. (short video as pano didn’t make justice to the place).
 
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Pampa

Well-Known Member
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Riding at night and sleeping without a tent was both, cool and creepy. Second night I had a pack of coyotes going crazy very near me. I barely slept.


First night there were lots of stream crossings grown by the rain from the day. This one is shallow but others were not.
 

Pampa

Well-Known Member
Food

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When you see the bike stuffed with food you think it’s too much. Then you find out the HABs and all the pedaling ask for more cals.

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Trail magic/ good karma. I was pedaling to an alternate food supply running on empty. I saw this wrapper on the trail and for a split second I thought “fuck it, I’m not stoyto pick this up “. Then I did and I found that it still had one fig bar inside. I rationed it in 3 for the next 3 hrs.

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Stuffing myself at the off route food stop.
 

rottin'

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
@Pampa those views are unreal....great to see! The pic of you in the sleeping bag is awesome...I can relate to the feeling of cool/freaked out sleeping in open air, I used to feel that way when I would camp open air a while back. What is the food in the frame bags? One looks like pigs in a blanket, and the other looks like sea glass lol...clearly not those but curious.
 
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