Race report: 12 Hours of Mesa Verde, v. 3.0, part I

What do you do for Mothers Day when you don't have kids or a mother that lives locally? Race the 12 Hours of Mesa Verde for the third year in a row! This year Drew and I joined forces as Team Stone Fox and Bunny for this disco-themed, ultra fun mountain bike race on the Phil's World trail system near Cortez, Colorado.

We started last week early with a couple of nights stay at the condo in Moab. We intended to do some easy rides, but maintenance chores took up the entire stay. It was very lovely in Moab though, and we had a few moments to enjoy the nice weather on the patio.

On Thursday we headed over to Cortez and checked into the VRBO house we had rented for the weekend.

 Wow, what a beautiful house! Two bedrooms and a gourmet kitchen.

 
Outside was a hot tub, greenhouse, hammock, and observation deck looking out over the valley. 

Nice place to base the weekend and spend time with our friends Jim and Shelly. This was a far cry from last year's adventure in Bobke.

Thursday evening we took a lap on the race course and remembered why we love this race; the 16.5 mile loop is one of the funnest 16 miles you can ride on a bike!

 To those readers that don't mountain bike, this next picture may look a little boring, but if you bike you can recognize the fast turns and little bumps.  To be truthful, this section was just somewhat fun.  The real fun parts were so fun I couldn't stop to take a picture.

After the pre-ride we had dinner at the brewery (poor service and mediocre food, but good beer) with teammate Doug and honorary teammate Jeff before heading back to the house to meet Jim and Shelly.

On Friday, Jim, Shelly, and Drew pre-rode the course while I fulfilled a 3-year desire to go to Mesa Verde National Park.  My cousin Milissa from Colorado and her clan (hubby, his siblings and their spouses and child, who we met at the Pierre's Hole race last year) were going in, so I tagged along on two ranger-led tours.

First, we went into Cliff Palace, the largest of the Ancestral Puebloan People's dwellings.

To access the site, we descended some cool stairs.

Up close, we learned that they built this site around between 1190 and 1280 and occupied it for only 60 to 100 years before they moved on. What made them move is a mystery, but theories include prolonged drought that made the Mesa top non-arable, resource depletion (soil, large animals for hunting, trees for building and firewood) and/or warfare (probably due to resource depletion).
 
Archeologists think Cliff Palace, with its 129 rooms and eight kivas, was home to about 60 to 90 people. 

 The kivas (below) were ceremonial pits. They had roofs, but those are gone now so we can see into the structure.  The thin vertical rock to the upper right of the central fire pit is a deflector stone which deflects the draft coming down the ventilation shaft behind it.  Another ventilation shaft is positioned on the side close to me, which created air circulation.  The little round hole on the floor a few feet down and left of the fire pit is the sipapu, or symbolic entrance to the underworld.  

As a hydrogeologist, I found it interesting that both the very existence of the alcoves in which the dwellings were constructed and also the water source for the inhabitants is due to the particular hydrogeology of the mesa. The rock overhanging all the cliff dwellings in the park is the Cliffhouse Sandstone Formation. Underlying the sandstone is the Mancos Shale. Precipitation falling on the mesa top percolates through the porous sandstone until it reaches the impervious shale and then it must move laterally. Where it emerges on the cliff wall a seep spring is formed. Over millennia, erosion and freeze-thaw cycles break down the sandstone and create the alcove. The seeps provide enough water for small communities.

 In the picture above the darker area at knee level is one such seep.  Here is another view.

To exit Cliff Palace, we had to climb up some narrow rock steps, next to which were the real hand and foot holds pecked into the rock by the Ancestral Puebloans.  I tried them out, but I have bigger feet than they did.

Next was Balcony House. To access this site, we got to climb a big ladder.

 
Balcony House is a smaller site and about half the alcove was devoted to storage of grain, water and food behind a big masonry wall. Our guide was convinced this was for defense purposes.

 On the other side of the wall were the living areas.

















 Ranger dude showed us the metate and mano corn grinding stone sets and explained that the sandstone grit incorporated into the corn upon grinding is what killed many of the Indians by grinding their teeth down to nothing.

It is truly amazing how well preserved these ruins are. The only work that has been done is to stabilize about 20% of the walls. The juniper wood is still structural, the plaster still has color, some of the art and decorative paint (below, orange) is still visible, as are soot stains (below, black) from the fire pits.

 A cute shot of Christian and Milissa

before we exited through a skinny tunnel

and climbed a ladder and crazy trail to exit the Balcony House site. 

Back in the day, there were no ladders or even ropes - everyone entered by climbing down this steep cliff using hand and foot holds.  How did they do that carrying baskets of grain and water?!

The tours and the park were really fabulous!

Next up: the race.

Mesa Verde on Dwellable

Race report: 8 Hours of Boggs and 5 Mile Pass

The mountain bike racing season has begun for the Jordans. Last weekend Drew traveled to northern California with his friends Kathleen and Chris from San Jose to race the 8 Hours of Boggs, and I raced the first local Intermountain Cup race at 5 Mile Pass.

8 Hours of Boggs

The 8 Hours of Boggs is north of Napa, California in the Boggs Demonstration Forest. The course was an 8.75 mile loop consisting of about two miles of fire road and the rest smooth, buff singletrack through the towering ponderosa pines. Each lap had 1100 feet of elevation gain. The race has a very strong grassroots feel and environmental ethic. All camping had to be self contained and you packed out what you packed in. Drew had it made on this front - he camped in luxury in Chris and Kathleen's motor home. He was cush and comfy thanks to good friends.

Drew completed 8 laps for 70 miles in 7 hours and 46 minutes. Even after that much time on the bike, he had only good things to say about the race, the course, and the company he kept!

5 Mile Pass

Meanwhile, back in Utah, I raced the comparatively puny 23.5 mile course of 5 Mile Pass. 5 Mile is one of my favorite courses because it is easy to pass/get passed and the are no crazy steep climbs or really technical descents. Seeing as how my training this spring has consisted of riding when I feel like it at whatever pace suits me on that day, I was not expecting much. But I felt strong and I like the course, so that is probably why I won the Expert Women class!

Though no one stuck around for awards, there were actually seven of us racing, including some new faces I had not seen before and some old rivals.  It was real nice to have success early in the season, but now I feel like I should probably race more Icups to see if it was the fluke I think it was.

AWG-SLC Silent Auction and Wine Tasting - 23 years!

A few weeks ago I posted about a great mtb ride during which I "earned" many glasses of wine.  You probably thought I was just a lush, but the reason I was earning my wine was so that I could fully enjoy myself that evening at the Association for Women Geoscientists - Salt Lake Chapter 23rd Annual Silent Auction and Wine Tasting Scholarship Benefit.

This is an event I've been involved with for several years now, and each year it seems to get better and better.  This year we were able to award $3750 in scholarships to bright women geology students.

The event is our one big fundraiser of the year.  We were at the top floor of the Zions Bank Building downtown Salt Lake City for the third year in a row.  There is a great view from up here.

We get donated items like rocks and minerals,


 art, handicraft, and all sorts of random things.

Our attendance was up this year - 147 people, including several of my friends.

And it showed - we took in $4718 dollars! 

 It is a great group of women that puts a lot of work into this fun night.

Cat wars

We have two cats, but until yesterday, had only one Tower Of Power on which the cats could perch.  I saw a good deal on this one at Costco, hoping to alleviate the nighty episode where Max rudely kicks Marley out of the top seat.  Last night, poor Marley was resting peacefully on the new cat furniture when Max once again bullied her out of her spot.  Kids!

No Easter Bunny - but Orchids

Happy Easter.  Drew is on the road again, so I tried to make today special by going to the Utah Orchid Society spring show held at Red Butte Garden.  Here are a few of the exotic blooms.

 This was my favorite.  It has a cool pouch and the wild colors caught my eye.

After I took in the show, I wandered out in the Garden.   Most of the blooms are bulbs and flowering trees. Daffodils cover the hillside.

Because I was feeling all lonesome for Drew, I went back to the Herb Garden, where we got married almost 6 years ago.  I can almost picture Drew standing under the pergola at the far end of the garden, waiting there with all our family and friends for me to join him and tie the knot.  It looked rather bare today.

 But back in July 2006 it was beautiful.

Ah, fond memories...

2012 Science Fair Judging

For a few years now I've been coordinating judging and presentation of special awards at the Salt Lake Valley Science and Engineering Fair for my local Salt Lake Chapter of the Association for Women Geoscientists. I had help from several of my fellow AWG members judging 3 age divisions. This year I actually got to judge two divisions, the 5th and 6th graders and the 11th and 12th graders. 

There were some typical projects and some unique ones.
 

Our chapter president awarded the prizes with me.

It is super rewarding to interact with girls who are getting interested in geosciences.  I encourage everyone to judge a science fair!

Great ride

Stephanie called for an Epic ride on Saturday.  Six of us started at the zoo at 9:20 AM.  Stephanie, Sally, Rachel, Rhonda, Jennie and me.  We rode the BST with every diversion I could think of.  They were good sports about that.


Here we are after the climb out of the roller coaster.  First glass of wine earned!

The wind was picking up but not enough yet to obscure the gorgeous view of the Salt Lake Valley.  This is why I bike!

We continued on past Huntsman, up Dry Creek, and over to the drop in to Bobsled.  This is where crazy Sally suggested, no insisted, on a small cross training session.  She thought it would be a fun to run up to the top of the ridge.  We were game!

It was so crazy, crazy windy we had to lean into the wind to stand up.

Sally showed us if you look at the world from a different view point, it looks all brand new. Crazy Sally.

Then back down to the bikes.  Second glass of wine earned.

From here, the group split up.  Sally, Stephanie, Jennie and I went down on Bobsled (not dry yet) to a trail crossing, then back up the super steep singletrack to BST.  Jennie's pedal came off, so Stephanie and Jennie headed back, but Sally and I persevered all the way down into City Creek and up to the saddle at the radio towers. 

From there it was down the singletrack to City Creek and back to her car/my house via pavement.  Big day of 30 miles and 4700 feet of climbing in 3+ hours of riding.  Lots of glasses of wine earned!