Six more days til Iron Horse

Six more days until the Iron Horse and things are finally looking up training wise. And it’s just about time! Lots of snow and rain in Durango and I found myself inside on the Bowflex doing leg presses. There were some die hard people out there riding in the rain, but somehow, I think I’d be more a danger to the world and myself riding in that kind of weather. Actually, I’m pretty dangerous on a dry road! More on that later.
We had a great Gallery Walk on Friday night in Durango and I left right after it to drive to Denver for the show with son Ed. Made it to Denver at 4 am and his phone started ringing about 6, so it was a short night. I had my bike with me and was going to ride that morning and the next, but it snowed both days so the only work out was two martinis on Saturday night and and an hour on one of the “eliptical” machines in the hotel. I don’t think I spelled that right, but I could hardly work it right either so it doesn’t matter! Very confusing with arms going back and forth and legs going around and the control panel blinking and the television on the control panel giving me political updates.
I drove back to Durango on Monday and left for California on Wednesday. I was glad to leave nine inches of sloppy, wet snow behind. If you can’t ski on it, it’s worthless!
I got to Los Angeles about 1 in the morning and had my bike as well as Kris’s on the back of the car along with a trailer filled with merchandise for the Pasadena show. I picked her up at 8 in the morning at the Ontario Airport and we went to the Autry National Center to firm up a rug auction we are doing there on June 11. What a wonderful museum! Don’t miss it if you are in LA.
Then we set up the booth at the Pasadena Show and went back to the hotel, thinking we’d change clothes and head to the Rose Bowl to ride around the stadium and up and down some small hills surrounded by beautiful houses. BUT! The manager of the hotel said, “Why don’t you just go up Santa Anita and ride up the hill?”
“How far does it goes?” we asked.
“Just up,” he replied.
No lie, from downtown Arcadia, we went up. And up, And up! In Colorado, this would be considered a real mountain! Here, because it starts at 300 ft. elevation, it’s not, but for the next three days after the show, we hit Santa Anita Canyon Road. 2700 feet elevation. We never made it to the very top because of the darkness the first two nights and the rain the last day, but we came close.
Riding up the first day, I was dying. Kris was in front and we were moving slow, in the very lowest gears, really trying to keep it going. At least I was. She’s a little like a wound spring that just keeps going. I was hurting so bad I closed my eyes for a few moments to just concentrate on pushing when, BAM, I felt this collision. I had run into her rear tire, scaring her and darn near putting me on the pavement! I wobbled back and forth several times before catching my balance.
“What are you doing?” she asked over her shoulder as she continued up the road.
“I had my eyes closed,” I replied.
“You what?” she said, pedaling away.
It’s one of those things that’s hard to explain, but we went on up and coming down was a total gas. I like going downhill!
Now we’re driving back to New Mexico for one last easy ride and then to Durango for the Iron Horse.
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, to everyone for your support. Just this week, another friend was diagnosed with Cancer. Just this week, as you hear all of the things that people are saying about Lance Armstrong, it is important to remember that this man and his foundation have done more to support cancer victims by providing information and support and resources than any other organization in America. Please, take a few minutes to visit: www.livestrong.org where 28 million people have found help and support. It’s also important to remember that he is the single most tested athlete in history. And he’s never tested positive for any illegal substance.
So, I don’t know if he ever did anything illegal or not, but it sure seems like there are a lot of people out there wanting to tear someone down who has made a real difference in the world.
You can know that your donation is appreciated and will help people. Thank you!

To Donate: http://ride.livestrong.org/teamls2011/jacksonclark
Or mail your check Made out to Livestrong Foundation, % Jackson Clark
P.O. Box 2168, Durango, Colorado 81302



Thank you,
Jackson

Mother's Day and Death Defying Events!

In honor of Mother's Day, My Grandkids, Aidan and Gabby who are lucky to have such a wonderful mom in Teresa! And, My mom, Mary Jane, in a Kentucky Hat Shop, getting ready to go to the Kentucky Derby. (she bet on the wrong horse!)

I had two death defying experience this week, one while training for the Iron Horse and one on a different kind of Bike.
The Iron Horse experience first. Training is going pretty well. I’m doing something every day, from leg presses to short flat fast rides to rides up and around the Fort Lewis College Campus.
Today, I planned a two hour afternoon bike ride down La Posta road, south of Durango. But in the morning, I was at the Cabin I live at at Electra Lake (8500 feet) and decided that it would be better to get some altitude training. My road bike was in town, but I had my mountain bike and thought that it really doesn’t matter what type of riding you do as long as you do some!
First, I took my mom’s dog, Jewels, with me as I rode on the road around the lake. She got a workout and I got warmed up. Then, I left her are the cabin and headed south of the dam, down a old dirt road that has a lot of up and down in it. The road goest to Four Bay, which is a small lake above the canyon where the Animas River Runs.
Normally, and the plan for today, was to go about 3/4 of the way down that road and then turn off on another dirt road (path, deer trail) that leads to Haviland Lake, a small recreational fishing lake near highway 550. I would then jump on the highway, ride back to Electra and would have gotten a great two hour workout.
The problem started when I missed the turn off to Haviland and ended up at Four Bay. I definitely did not want to pedal up the hill I just came down and I thought to myself, “I bet there is another trail off to the west from here that would lead me back to the highway.”
So, I started out. Had to ford a stream, carry the bike over a small dam and under a flume, and I did find an old road. It wound around a hill and up and down, then mostly down, then disappeared. I was on a ridge and it seemed pretty smooth, so I decided to ride down it. Mistake.
Eventually, after going over lots of logs and through bushes, I found myself at the top of about a 40 foot cliff. Not a straight up and down cliff, but one that had ledges and places where you could find footholds. Now, I had a choice. If I had gone left, or right at the top of the ridge, I could have traveled to the bottom of the canyon in front of me on fairly smooth terrain. As it was, the only way to get back to that terrain would be to push or carry the bike about half a mile back up the hill. That wasn’t going to happen.
I picked the bike up, put it first on my right shoulder and began climbing down the cliff. About ten feet down, I had to reverse directions, so I switched shoulders and moved the other way. I was doing fine until one of the rocks I was standing on broke loose and a was just able to grab an bush that was growing out of the rock.
I stopped and got myself back together and remember thinking, “No one knows where I am. I don’t have a cell phone. If I fall off of this rock and am not hurt too bad, I might be able to crawl out, but if I were hurt badly, or even killed, it could be twenty years before someone discovered a skeleton with a Monavie biking jersey. And everyone would think the same thing I’m thinking now. “What the hell am I doing here?””
But, no choice in the matter, so I edged down and finally reached level ground where I found myself bushwhacking through a pretty dense growth. Then, about a mile in, I found some survey flags, spaced about 10 yards apart that seemed to head in the direction of the highway.
It is an absolutely beautiful canyon and the flags seemed out of place. I knew is was Forest Service Land. Then It dawned on me. During the Bush Administration with Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton, the Government had approved a trade with the Glacier Club, a very nice high end gated community with a golf course owned by a Texas multi-millionaire, a large parcel of land south of Haviland Lake. In return, the Forest Service got a worthless piece of land of top of a mountain where no one will ever go and a piece of land that gave the public access to the Hermosa Trail, which the public already had access to.
So, I’m sitting here, scratched all up, looking at this absolutely pristine forest that was going to be filled with houses and condos that our government traded for absolutely nothing. Hundreds of people wrote letters and protested the trade, the Glacier Club owners and the Forest Service were the only ones in favor of it, but it went through. I’m not saying there was any money under the table, or any political favors involved because this is the United States and we don’t do that, but it really made me see what a completely stupid decision this was by the people who control those decisions.
Shortly after, I came on the hiking and horse trails that wind through the property and rode back towards Haviland. When I got close, the trail wound again to the south, so I opted to cut through the bush and forest to get to the road. As I came out near the camping area at Chris Park, a young man about five years old grabbed his father’s hand and asked, “Why is that man in the bushes with a bicycle?” His father had no reasonable answer and I certainly couldn’t think of one, so I told his wife Happy Mother’s Day and headed to the highway, back to the cabin and the whole adventure only took three and one half hours. And with the exception of the cliff, it was all good.
The second near death experience came a few days earlier. I just bought a 1980 Honda Motorcycle. It weighs about 500 pounds. The first nice day last week, I road it to the cabin, had a great ride, and pulled into the driveway. I put the kickstand down and got off of the bike, never thinking that the ground was soft from the snow the two days earlier.
I turned around and, as I was taking by backpack off, with my arms trapped behind me, the bike fell over and hit me right in the posterior. The force of it sent me flying forward and into the wood pile where, I am certain, my helmet saved my life. I knocked that pile of wood all over the place and then had to deal with getting my arms out of the back pack and my legs out from under the motorcycle!
At 500 pounds, it took me a while to get the leverage to stand it back up, but there was no serious damage to the bike. My ego suffered a little! So, I am a firm believer in motorcycle helmets. Don’t leave home with out them!
Again, thank you to all you have donated the the Lance Armstrong Foundation and supported me and so many other people in riding the Iron Horse. We are three weeks out.
I am reminded that in every sacred text, all the new age literature and the advice of wise people, the rule is that you have to give in order to receive. As Americans, we are the most giving people on the planet. We should be proud of that.
Remember, every dollar makes a difference.
Ten bucks, three lattes at Starbucks, that’s all it takes to help someone through a tough time! The Iron Horse team has now raised over $57,000!

To Donate: http://ride.livestrong.org/teamls2011/jacksonclark
Or mail your check Made out to Livestrong Foundation, % Jackson Clark
P.O. Box 2168, Durango, Colorado 81302
Thank you!