SEPTEMBER 30 - ABQ East Mountains
Cost: Free
Party: Happening! Food and Music starting after noon.
Camping: Not this year. Maybe next year...
Start location: Oak Flats Picnic Area. Google maps link: maps.app.goo.gl/tEhzr7BHZ6guhLuY8
Start time: 9:30AM
Entry Limit: Each Course Has a Limit of 74. Picnic area has a limit of 500 so bring your friends and family for the after race party if they're looking for a good time.
Donations: Will be accepted for the Dukes Track Club
We reserved the Oak Flats picnic area for the day, this allows for a BIG group, so plan for a party in the afternoon. Of course there will be coffee from Michael Thomas in the morning, we also will have food from our restaurant sponsors, YC and the Moondance Kids will be playing starting at 1:30, and recovery beverages from a local brewery will be available. Bring family and friends for a fun ride and a bike party!
Rules: Sign in before the race and sign out when you finish. Make sure to sign out! If you don't and we can't reach you, we will call search and rescue and your mom. When you sign in we'll give you the run down of using the Time Machine to get your finish time to log on the sign out sheet. Roads will be open to traffic and trails will have other users on them. Any vehicle on the course is not expecting to encounter a bike race on these roads so please stay to the right hand side of the road. Don't ride like an idiot. Be nice to other people. Ride within your abilities. You are responsible for your own safety, navigating the course, and addressing any mechanicals that may arise. You will need a gps device and the gps file. Last and most important have fun.
Details: After the ceremonial popping of the tube, we will descend 337 in a neutral fashion to Juan Tomas, where we make a right turn. Soon after we make the turn the race will be on. The Juan Tomas climb is sharp, switchbacks await before a transition to dirt. The road then climbs in steep steps to the top. The ruts are big this year, use caution descending on Juan Tomas. This is where the riders electing to take the medium route will turn right onto Mahogany (more on this later) and the long route will continue straight onto the Juan Tomas descent. This is a fast, dirt descent with some sweeping long turns. The road turns back to pavement and hits a few rollers before crossing 217. Use caution at this intersection, cross traffic does not believe in speed limits. East of 217 we turn left onto Barton. This road transitions to dirt and then heads over some big rollers to the town of Barton. Here we turn left on an unnamed dirt road that parallels the highway before starting the Sedillo dirt secteurs. If you haven't ridden these and you live in the area, you're welcome. They're rad. Fast rolling and fun. Trouble is, there's numerous intersections. This is not where the race will be won, so enjoy these and be careful at the intersections. Alas, all good things must end, and at the terminus of the Sedillo secteurs we will head west on 66, get our kicks, and continue on our adventure of dust and speed.
Left Turn! Bartolo Baca, which becomes Kennedy. Some of the nicest pavement you'll see. We then take Forest Road 462, climbing steadily. We take Forest Road 12 to Meadow Ridge Trail, leave a little in the tank for this, this starts with a very steep and rocky climb. This trail has some brief rocky sections and connects to FR 13 which takes us near the Cedro Tower. Then we descend a fast gravel road to Juan Tomas to climb it again to Mahogany. Now, both the long and medium courses follow this to the Juan Tomas open space single track and short course, these are all fun beginner singletrack. A brief stint on Oak Flat Rd takes you back to the Oak Flat Picnic area and finish.
What Bike Should I Ride? One you like! Probably either a "gravel"/cx bike or a mtb. I know someone that rode this last year on a road bike with 30 mm wide tires, he's a good rider, and he bought a cyclocross bike after that experience. I'm riding a gravel bike with the fattest tires it can fit, but I pretty much always do that...
Short course: 6ish miles, 500 ft climbing. Strava Link: East Mtns Short
Short tcx file: East Mtns Short TCX
Short gpx file: East Mtns Short GPX
Medium Course: 16 miles, 1200 ft climbing. Strava Link: East Mtns Medium
Medium tcx file: East Mtns Medium TCX
Medium gpx file: East Mtns Medium GPX
Long Course: 43ish miles, 3800 ft climbing. Strava Link: East Mtns Long
Long tcx file: East Mtns Long TCX
Long gpx file: East Mtns Long GPX
Course Hazards: Many intersections, though none are busy. The ghost of Andre.
If you have any questions drop us an email at neroveloce@gmail.com.
See you on September 30th
