Frazer Mountain Taos Trip

This is Kris:
A few days after we moved here, we were in a bike store looking at bikes (big surprise) and I stumbled across a flyer for a bike race. It was a Saturday hill climb up from 9,000 ft to 12,000 ft at a ski village near Taos. I thought it would be a fun motivator for me to get into shape after living in cycling purgatory--I mean Rhode Island/Residency--and I thought it would make for a fun weekend trip. It also had a kid's race that Max could do, so I thought it would be perfect. With as much as we've both had to do around the office, I thought this would make a great diversion and Ginna agreed. We registered to race and planned the trip.

Friday:
Initially, I thought we would camp up there, but since baby number 2 is just a few months away, we decided to splurge and use one of the sponsoring lodges. Friday is the busiest day of the week in our office and so we weren't able to start our 1 3/4 hour drive until 6pm. But, I'm getting ahead of myself...the day actually started with Max throwing up first thing in the morning. We took him to the office, made him stay in the back and the staff babied him. He seemed fine and although he didn't eat much all day he didn't barf anymore, so we didn't stress it. We made the drive uneventfully, and for the first time in years, Max fell asleep in the car.
Because it's the off-season, the race got a great deal on lodging. We staying in a condo on the ski slope. The resort that hosted was a lot more quaint and down to earth than most of the ski resorts I've been to. When we finally got to the condo, they had printed out little signs with our name on it and taped them to the doors. Max was super excited to see our name on the door and he even had his own room. He fell asleep again, as soon as he hit the bed.

Saturday
When we woke up in the morning we realized just how beautiful Taos ski valley is. Here is the view from the condo balcony.

Max was very lethargic and obviously not feeling well, but he still managed to explore the surroundings a little in the shirt I got for racing.


Max and I got dressed up in our lycra--given his current fixation with car brands he was ecstatic to wear the volvo jersey.


Ginna and Max walked me down to the start line after I warmed up. The views were amazing although the rainy clouds kept us from being able to see the top of the climb. Since I abandoned the gears on my bike after they broke a few years ago, I had to race in the singlespeed category.


The group of racers was a mix of pros, amateurs and true beginners. I'm pretty sure the clydesdale behind me in this picture was in the latter category and I sure hope I beat him to the top.


Here is another view of the group.


I started at the back of the group because I prefer passing riders rather than being passed the whole race by the true hardcores. This picture is like a where's waldo. See if you can find me.


For the next 1 1/4 hour, as I sufferred up the mountain, Ginna took getting-sicker-by-the-minute Max back to the condo to watch movies. Max got so weak by the time I got back, that he didn't even have enough energy to ride the kid's race. We felt really bad for him. The funniest part of this picture is Max wiggling his loose central incisor It was hanging by a tread.

Max slept on Ginna's lap as we sat through the awards ceremony, which dragged on forever, only to find out that I got 4th place and wouldn't get a medal. But, I did win a raffle--maybe the first in my life. I got a gift certificate.


Poor Max is still not feeling 100%, but we had a great weekend and are looking forward to our next diversion. Special thanks to Ginna from me, for letting me have the time to train for the race and then taking care of Max during it. Actually, Sultan deserves some props too for sitting in the car for 12 hours on Saturday.