- SFBFL Forum
Use this page to post questions, answers and general comments for the Santa Fe Big Friggin Loop event. Go to the Santa Fe Big Friggin Loop Registration page to register for the event.
2009 New Mexico Endurance Series
This is grassroots endurance cycling.
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dan on 7 – Series Summary David Garner on - El Paso EPR Forum lennygoodell on - El Paso EPR Registratio… David Halliburton on - El Paso EPR Registratio… paul greenwood on - El Paso EPR Registratio…
April 22, 2009 at 11:18 pm |
I am considering doing this event. I work on the weekends and am wondering if anyone is interest in joining me for some long rides on either Wednesdays or Fridays.
May 28, 2009 at 1:59 am |
How will the ‘09 route be “slightly different”?
May 28, 2009 at 3:16 am |
Hi Brad, the route changes and new GPS track will be posted next week.
June 4, 2009 at 6:41 pm |
Looks killer Lenny. Giddeeup on Raven’s and Rio-en-medio.
June 5, 2009 at 1:16 am |
I’m in, again, again.
June 5, 2009 at 1:17 am |
OOPS! Wrong place.
June 7, 2009 at 1:31 am |
sorry ,I cann’t make it ,over and out.I hope to be at the Taos DB.Peace and have a good ride
June 8, 2009 at 2:02 am |
So if you pick up Ravens and descend REM all the way…..shouldn’t the route then go back UP Tr 179-Nambe Creek-Borrego to Aspen Ranch, and then take the old Borrego over to Pachecho canyon road to Winsor?
This would totally cut out the villages of En Medio and Chupadero which are usually hotter than hell – and remove the long section of dirt road and paved road.
Just saying…..
June 17, 2009 at 12:36 am |
Did some recon on the new route today. I found Deception Peak/Ravens Ridge to be mostly hike a bike. My impression of the old route was to maximize ridable trail.
My memory of once taking Rio en Medio trail all the way down, was that there was a lot of hike a bike there too.
Hope this doesn’t sound like complaining. I have finished the race both years. Maybe that will save me from flying daggers.
I realize this is a little late in the game but I never tried to ride Ravens Ridge until today.
June 17, 2009 at 7:45 pm |
Jeff, My thought is that I would rather deal with the downhill technical hike a bike on the REM and Raven’s Ridge then the long and unavoidable hike a bike out of the Rio Nambe. I personally really like the new route and am looking forward to it.
June 17, 2009 at 10:37 pm |
WOW! Massive mileage lopped off. I won’t miss the killer hike-a-bikes on 179 but this ride just got a lot easier.
June 18, 2009 at 12:51 am |
Actually, it only shortens the course by 3 miles compared to last year’s course without Rancho Viejo. With the more technical nature of Raven’s Ridge, we expect the times to be similar.
June 18, 2009 at 2:35 am |
yeah, that was an over reaction
June 18, 2009 at 4:28 pm |
So how much vert does the new route have compared to last year (14,400 w/RV)?
June 19, 2009 at 12:54 am |
Hey Brad,
Looks like it will be about 1K more. Last year w/RV was about 13k-14K depending on your device.
June 19, 2009 at 9:43 pm |
Just hiked Deception from Ravin’s , there is still a lot of snow on what will be our descent from Deception down Ravin’s. The high stuff is clear but the trees are stacked with 4-6ft banks from what I’m guessing is about from 11,900 down to 11,600 or so. We’re supposed to have a warm week up here but even so, I would caution people to hike-a-bike inside of the snow banks on the ridge. We cliffed ourselves out a couple time trying to stay outside.
One more logistical note, both the trail from the towers and the trail down Ravin’s (from Deception) are fairly faint and primitive but there is a big cairn on top of Deception. Just so everyone reaches the same high point I would suggest requiring everyone to go around the cairn before beginning their descent.
I’m really excited. This is the most badass route I’ve ever seen in a bike race.
June 21, 2009 at 4:07 pm |
Thanks for the comments after my 6/17 post. I just need to be patient, do the new route, and see how it compares afterward.
June 21, 2009 at 6:48 pm |
Just rode Deception to Tesuque. So epic. Exercise your brake fingers this week!
June 24, 2009 at 3:21 am |
All,
My step daughter Amy will do the Pacheco Canyon drop for us.
She will be at 2nd Street Brewery for the start to collect drop bags and will drop them at the start of the Pacheco Canyon dirt road. This will be just like last year, i.e. in the trees just off the road on the right. An orange marker will be hung on the tree closest to the road so you know where the drop bags are.
Just like SYDC, everything needs to be disposable, i.e. no one is committing to pick up and re-distribute any drop bags. Someone will pick up the leftovers and gets to keep anything worthwhile for putting in the time.
Any volunteers to do the clean-up late Saturday evening or early Sunday morning?
Thanks
Lenny
June 26, 2009 at 10:35 pm |
For those not on the NMES email… Brent Bonwell sent this…
Hey all you SFBFL’ers, I’m going to put 15 gallons of water on trail 152, right before you cross the Santa Fe Ski Area road. I’ll give details on the exact location at tomorrow’s start. That’s enough for everyone to get at least a quart of water, assuming all 50 that have signed up, show up and take water. There will be no-shows and “camels” that don’t need no stinking water, so you can figure on filing 2 water bottles from the stash.
June 26, 2009 at 10:46 pm |
**** We now have a limited Ski Arera drop ****
All,
Scott Lucido will take drop bags to the lower ski area parking lot and have them in the back of his truck from about 10am till 1pm. If you think you will be off Ravens Ridge in that time window, you have another drop bag opportunity.
Scott will also return stuff back to 2nd street brewery at some point in the day.
June 28, 2009 at 1:35 pm |
The following people did not sign-out yesterday.
Alex Leonard
Birk Jones
Elliott Leonard
Evan M. C. Kias
Leia A Barnett
RJ Ponchione
Trevor Greenwood
I stuck around at the 2nd Street Brewery till just after 9pm. If you finished after that please send me what time you finished. If not, just let me know so I can mark you appropriately in the results.
Thanks!
Lenny
June 28, 2009 at 2:26 pm |
Alex Leonard
Elliott Leonard
RJ Ponchione
Leia Barnett
we finished the entire course in the dark, with head lamps. It us 15 hrs to finish the course, but we did it.
June 28, 2009 at 2:38 pm |
Excellent! Great job enduring to finsh!!
June 28, 2009 at 2:53 pm |
Cleaned up at Pacheco this AM. Saved some stuff that seemed of value. Will drop bag of stuff off at Bike and Sport tomorrow. Sorry to anyone who drove out to get their stuff, but I couldn’t know what to leave.
June 28, 2009 at 3:03 pm |
Lenny, Birk Jones and Evan Kias, stuck with us until the bottom of Raven’s ridge and then bailed, so you can list them as DNF. I think that accounts for everyone except Trevor
July 1, 2009 at 2:53 am |
Trevor was with the group from Ogden, UT that DNF……thought we signed him out with the rest of us, sorry. Thanks to all for the awesome time, see you next year to try again……..
July 9, 2009 at 7:01 pm |
That was a great ride. Thanks for organizing it, and thank you to Amy and Scott and Brent, for the drops. Some of that single track was super fun.
I don’t know what it was like in previous years, but the hike-a-bike around 12,000 ft Plus and along Raven’s ridge was however breathtaking, not as much fun as the Chamisa, sidewinder, Dale Ball, etc… It may simply be that at 12000 feet I am incapable of doing much of anything steep or technical.
I would be curious to know if some of the top finishers were able to float over Raven’s ridge or not. Judging by their times I suppose they did, but for me it was painfully slow, slipping about on my cleats with my bike over my shoulder. Also, although the area was NOT Wilderness, we did get some evil eyes from the hikers, with one person telling us that we indeed were in the Wilderness area. Any comments?
Also, the GPX track was a life saver. I rode alone or separated from my buddies for a short time, and three times the track alerted me to being off-course: Dale Ball, exiting the road on Pacheco, and returning on Chamisa. Now I just have to finish a race before my Garmin runs out of batteries.
Thanks again for a great day of riding.
Eli