Frazer Mountain Madness

Last year's hill climb start
(photo courtesy of
Frazer Mountain Madness)

Last weekend I had the pleasure of riding around way up above Taos. I was still tired from Sol Vista... or at least from the drive back, which landed me at home in Albuquerque at 1:30 am and in time to show up at work at 7:30 am Monday morning, where not only did I have four deadlines to meet but the a/c in the office was broken. I was trapped at my desk pouring water over my head as the temperature climbed to 90 degrees by the end of the day. Good thing the water cooler was working.

By the end of the week I was recovered enough from the heat exhaustion to get up north and support one of my favorite NM races, the Frazer Mountain Madness. It's two days of mountain biking up above the Taos ski valley, with a hill climb the first day and an even bigger day of climbing for the cross country race on Sunday.

The people who promote the race do a great job-- they have tons of volunteers, they work to add more amazing singletrack to the course every year, and they round up some great sponsors including Santa Fe Brewing Company, who provide FREE BEER for the racers. Their Hefeweizen tasted so good after a long high-altitude ride.

The Mountain Flyer sent James Rickman up to report on the hill climb. Good press for Damian, Mike, the two junior winners Haley Ruch and Lewis Gaffney, and me.

Gotta love Haley's quote in the article:

Truly amazing, however, was the finish some 37 minutes after Gaffney of 11-year-old Haley Ruch, who grimaced as she crossed the checkerboard flags. When asked what would possess someone her age to take part in the madness, she had a simple answer:

“(The race course) is really close to my house and I like to climb,” she said.