Salvando Vidas 12-Hour Ride- San Carlos, Mexico

Jeff, Mike, Lee and I formed a 4-man team called Team Tubac that raced in this Memorial Day weekend race in San Carlos. It was a 12-hour ride with a 8km loop starting at 8pm on Saturday until 8am on Sunday. I was the first one to start (since there was a 200-yard run) and thereafter we each did 2-3 loops depending on the time of night.

We were in 2nd place the entire time, but I had two flat tires in a row on one of my loops and barely made it back to the finish/starting line. I was nervous that we had fallen to 3rd becasue of the flat, but we didn't. We just lost a lot of time. We ended up in 2nd place behind a team from Mexico. In fact, we were the only team from the US. It was a great race.


Post race beer for Team Tubac! Ahhhhhhhh..... From left to right: Lee, Mike, Chad, Jeff



Team Tubac on the podium with the medals

Like most races, the race staff was made-up of volunteers. "There is nothing better than the heart of a volunteer"

In Santa Ana, we ate some caldo de birria (goat soup) and chatted with the owner about her goat farm. At the Nogales border crossing, we rode our bikes around during the 3 hour wait. I got back to my house at about 9pm on Monday, Memorial Day.

Salome Canyon "The Jug"

Beginning of the canyon at The Jug


We headed up for a quick canyoneering trip at The Jug this past Wednesday. I was a little late for work since we were in the canyon for a few hours longer than we thought.



Suiting up for the first natural slip-n-slide


Me at the final rappel

Tucson 5000 Race

Brian and I ran the Tucson 5000 yesterday Click here for the results

I got 33rd place, finishing the race in 19:35. I have the 12-Hour Mountain Bike Race in San Carlos, Mexico this Memorial Day weekend. It starts at 8 pm on Saturday and ends at 8am on Sunday. The post-race activities include sitting on the beach.

Sedona and Fossil Springs

To celebrate the close of the school year, we went mountain biking in Sedona for two days and backpacking in the Coconino National Forest for two days. The first night we camped out in the Manzanita Campground in Oak Creek and ate at the Oak Creek Brewery.

On the second day we split up and I was mountain biking solo around the perimeter of Sedona, doing trails like Cathedral, Baldwin, Templeton, and Schnebly.



It was perfect weather. That night we camped on a forest road outside of Flagstaff in order to avoid traffic and camping fees. The next morning, we drove to Strawberry in order to do the backpack into Fossil Springs. There were 2 rope swings, caves, bright blue water, amazing green vegetation, places to cliff jump. I am going to go out on a limb and say that the "fun-factor" was higher than Havasu Falls in the Grand Canyon and might be the second best waterhole in Arizona (Havasu Falls being #1).

We stayed for two days in the area. We slept outside, under the stars (no tent) the entire trip, but the last day in the springs, I got eaten by a spider. So as I write this I am a little itchy.

Near the tree bridge and source of the spring. We camped above this section, very close to the first tree swing.

One of the two rope swings that we used while in Fossil Springs. It was pretty sweet!


The waterfall at the dam. This used to be an old hydroelectric plant for 100 years until it was decommissioned last year and turned back to its natural state. Notice the round shaped "pothole" that is connected to the river via a small cave underwater.


This picture is me jumping into the river below the waterfall in order to swim under into the cave and into the "pothole."

Click here if you are interested in reading more about Fossil Springs on the Coconino National Forest website.

I hope to post more pictures from Sedona later.

Cinco de Mayo 10k

My friend Brian and I ran the 5 de Mayo 10k out near Star Pass. We finished together. Here are the results from the race: Results

My goal was to finish the race under 44 minutes. At 42 minutes, I almost tied the 2003 race that I ran. Here is a picture taken near the finish line, I was having a great time!

Elephant Head 1st Annual Mt Bike Race

My mom and I drove out to Green Valley this morning to do the 16-mile Elephant Head (part of the AZT 300 that I did 3 weeks ago).
Here is a guide of the drops and climbs: GPS Guide

I started out in the top 5, but I had to pull over when I had some disc brake problems. I dropped a few places after I continued near the Agua Caliente wash. The next section was super rocky, and with my 40 PSI tires, hard-tail bike, it made for a rough ride. I was bouncing, jumping and rolling over all the rocks. It reminded me of my days in Mexico with my biking friends. They used to call me Bronco since I was always bouncing and bucking on my old bike.

Anyways, I pressed on to the flatter section only to find my legs and arms were very tired. I came across the finish line in 8th with just a few scratches. Thanks Mom again for the support and the pictures!

SHAC Run for your Life 5k

Kacy and I ran a 5k this last Saturday. We ran together for about a mile, then I ran ahead to finish in 24 minutes. Kacy finished in about 32 minutes. During post-race raffle, I won a free pass to Jamba Juice! We tried their new Pomegranate Drink, it was very good. Next running race is the Cinco de Mayo run next week.

Mustache May!

Today marks the first official day that I am growing my mustache. I was thinking a mustache with handlebars, but now, I am just going to go with a normal, old-school mustache. I will post some pictures as it continues to grow.

AZ Xterra Triathlon

Justin, Nick and I drove up the day before to do a practice swim. It was supposed get me familiar with the lake but it had the opposite impact: I was more nervous after trying to battle the cold, choppy water. We camped out in Usery Park outside of the Salt River Recreation area on Friday only to get rained on at 4:00am.



We woke up and headed on down to Saguaro Lake. It was a tad bit nipply I must say outside, but the water at a "warm" 66 degrees. I was very, very nervous for the swim section of this race. It was a water start, so we were wading in the lake for about 5 minutes before the race started. During the swim, I had to do the back stroke a few times since I my pace was too fast. I though I was in last place, but after swimming the 1500 meters, I was surprised that I had manged to stay close to a friend Nick. I got on my bike and rode the 13 mt bike miles with little problem, passing a few people. I made the transition to the 6-mile run without any problems (and had no problems with the Achilles). I finished in 55th out of 200 with a time of 2 hrs 39 mins, about 30 mins behind the leaders and 30 mins.


On the way home, we picked up some In-n-Out. Mmmmmm. Attached you will see some pics from the race!

RESULTS: AZ Xterra Results from Race

EVENT DESCRIPTION:
Swim 1500m
Mountain Bike 26km
Trail Run 10km





On the future race calendar:

Elephant Head (mt bike)
Cinco de Mayo Run
Sahuarita May 28th
Show low June 3