Volunteering at Dawn to Dusk

Still plan on heading up to volunteer at this race. Although I have not received confirmation from DCB Adventures, I figured just showing up and asking how can I be of service might work. If for some reason I get denied, I might just jump on the track and do a few laps assuming weather permits. Max had to bail since he is getting sick so I am going on this trip solo.

Sedona Big Friggin Loop?

Still working on this one, but it might be around 55 miles, 8,000 feet of climbing, with a refuel available in Oak Creek. As in the classic NMES tradition that inspired the AES series, we would be starting at a coffee shop and ending at a brewery. Not sure about name yet, but that stuff can be figured out later.

Asked Dave C for some advice about the race; he basically concurred that it seems like a good idea. I will wait to get some more suggestions before launching another race. Tentative date would be April 26, 2008, a week after the AZT 300 and a month before the Coconino Dirty Century.

More running

Did a quick 3 miles today before I headed to the gym for my long swim. I still have a slight pain in my Achilles, so I am going to ease off the running a bit longer. Hopes of starting running again are getting diminished with this small pain. I want to start when I am 110% better, so for, I will wait.

New Rocky Mountain

About 3 years ago, I started riding my mountain bike with more frequency while living in Mexico. The bike was a wal-mart bike with some ghetto shock on the front. Once I moved back to the states, I bought my next hardtail, a Rocky Mountain '04 Vertex. This past week, I bought another mountain bike, a Rocky Mountain '04 Element.

Besides my first full suspension bike that I got this week, I also have officially started running again after more than a year plagued by runner-related injuries. During the past year, I shifted my focus from running to mountain biking. I hope to equate the both during the next few months.

First on the list of runs to complete is my dream of running up Mt Lemon via Romero Pass (in a day). The route will start at Catalina State Park and end at Sabino Canyon, +10,000 feet of climbing in a little under 30 miles.

Rocky Mountain 2004 Element 18": The upgrades: Egg Beaters and the tires to Specialized Pro Roll-X on the rear and a Hutchison Air-Light Python on the front. SRAM X9 and the front shifters SRAM X0's.

Tucson Mountain Park Night Ride

I arrived at the TH around 4:45 and rode until about 6:15; saw Max as I was getting back to my car. It was a nice ride after finishing the Kentucky Camp Epic pre-ride.

More Kentucky

Headed out to finalize and re-check the cue sheets for the upcoming race on December 8. I saw about 10 deer (see picture below for two of them) and one coyote; there were few people out in the area, no hikers, just one car that passed me during the trip.

The new full-suspension Rocky Mountain Element (same frame as my hardtail, more or less) is brilliant. It is about the same weight as the Vertex, just with hydraulic brakes and 3.0 inch travel in the rear. My descending speed has multiplied two-fold since I started riding it this weekend.

Fall colors in Kentucky Camp



two deer that scared me as I went over a cattleguard; they jumped out of a tree as I was speeding down




GPS view


AZ Trail sign


Nice view of singletrack at the second highest point on the course (5,900 feet)


More fall colors


The new Rocky Mountain

Eye on Olympics

Another great article in the NY Times this morning. It contrasts the change from serious to fun/relaxed competition. Headed out to Kentucky Camp, Sonoita again this morning.

Kentucky Camp Epic

Each time I do the Kentucky Camp loop, I am amazed by the beauty of the route. The route does not offer the best singletrack rather it is the combination of mountain biking and views that make this one of my favorite routes in southern Arizona. I made the cue sheets today for the Kentucky Camp Loop and put up a few yellow ribbons to help those that will not be using GPS's on the day of the race. I am hoping to minimize the amount of people that get lost (Tour of the White Mtns being a great example on how not to design/mark a course ). Although I think these endurance style races should have people that are more map literate, I do have some responsibility on my shoulders since I am designing the cue sheet. That said, I decided that a few markers might aid in any mishaps. We will see if they are still up when I go out again on Monday to ride the course again and finish off the cue sheets. Pictures from today's 25 mile ride:

Flight of the Pigs

Thanks to Jim W. and other volunteers for a great ride. Here are some pictures from the FOTP:

Max resting at San Juan
San Juan

Zoe's lunch break

Yuri B.

Max and I resting at Tatum


3D Profile of the Ride


Stats for the FOTP.

66.6 Miles (my car was at Safeway)
6:34 moving time
7196 climbing elevation
10.1 average mph
24.3 max speed

Pics and summary to come.

Getting older, but swimming better

Stumbled into a copy of the NY Times today while I was drinking some ma and pa coffee in Phoenix. I ran across this article about Dara Torres, an Olympic swimmer that is making an amazing come back after years of being out of the pool.

PEEer

Picture of me heading to climb the McDowells (in the background)

The race: We all started out with a short jaunt to the T100 course. I was up in the pack early, but some weird chain problem forced me to dismount and get to the back of the pack. After we passed some joggers, I decided I should try to move up to the front of the pack. The section with the old man critiquing was classic. Troy managed to clear the entire section while I was hiking my bike behind him. The old man belittled me, "Why did you get off your bike, that guy made it up [pointing to Troy at the top of the mountain]." I passed a few guys and saw Dara in the distance. Thought it might be one big group ride until I saw two guys on the side of the trail.

Chris and Doug had a flat; asked them if they were ok and moved on. I then managed to go a different route at which time Troy yelled at me: "Dude, dude, dude" is what I heard as I looked down at my GPS and realized I had gone off course. The Flagstaff crew (Troy and Dara) stopped at the T100 parking area as I continued down the bike to find Brian looking riding and glancing back at me.

Brian and I rode together. After reading the MTBR postings about peeing in races, I decided to try my luck at peeing on the bike. Spelling your name is hard, so I just decided to not get any one me. It worked. John and Yuri, glad you saw my mark.

Near the wood plank at the canal, we saw Scott looking confused. I looked around and saw another route down the steep, rock embankment. I took and rode ahead. We rode together until the start of the McDowell, where Scott and eventually Brian left me behind. I periodically would catch up to Brian when he had a question about the course. Chris C. (fetish bike) caught me on Sunrise and we rode to Dixie Mountain where I flatted. The flat took me sometime to change.

The descent of windgate was great trail; passed Chris C and gave him a tube. Had some major GPS problems on the road out of the McDowells and was forced to use the cue sheet, but by that time I was completely lost. I glanced at the GPS off and on, hoping it would bring the track back up but never had any luck. Stopped at a juice and coffee bar to ask for directions and juiced up. Also, watered up at the Arizona Falls and had to eat some Gu.

Got back to Yuri's house and was greeted with taquitos, brots, beer, veg lasagna, and some good salad. Mmmmmm.

Nutrition: ate 5 gels, with HEED in water bottle for 9 hours of riding.
PEE: 90 miles, 9094 feet of climbing,

Great route. Great race
Big thanks to Yuri for the race and hospitality.

2007 Race Schedule- A preview of the past year

Starting to think about what I am going to do in 2008.

I started riding endurance mountain biking in February of this year at the 24 Hours of the Old Pueblo with the Luchadores. Team Luchadores was a very strong, 4-man team (Mike, Brett and Toby) that got 16th in this highly competitive field. My big jump into the enduro world of mountain biking was when I decided to do Scott's Arizona Trail 300-mile Race. It was the first time I had ever ridden on a mountain bike with the intent of sleeping for 2-3 nights. Unfortunately, I had to bail due to a lack of warm clothing on the top of Mt Lemon.

I also jumped from marathon running into the world of triathlons. My first triathlon was the Arizona Xterra Race at Saguaro Lake. A summary of the events I raced in '07 with the link to the results website:


Arizona TriCats Aquathlon
24 Hours in the Old Pueblo
The Arizona Trail 300
SHAC 5k
Cinco de Mayo 10kTucson 5000
Elephant Head Mountain Bike Race
12 Horas de San Carlos, MX
Deuces Wild Olympic Triathlon
Deuces Xterra Triathlon
Swim and Run 2007 Schedule
Mountain Man Triathlon
Pacific Coast Highway Tour
Mt Lemon Time Trial
La Jolla Open Water Swim 3-Miler
Double Boundary Race
Tour of the White Mountains
Off-Road Triathlon
Rock y Road 50/50 Race
Prescott Monstercross
Phoenix Endurance Experience
Flight of the Pigs
Dusk to Dawn
Kentucky Camp Epic

I am still working on the 2008 Calendar and have a few races up already. The next big race is the 24 Hours of the Old Pueblo that I am doing solo this year.

Twin Six Argyle 08 Jersey

Mike has the hook-ups with a guy in town. Looks like we are going to both be sporting the first twin six 08 jerseys in the state:



I have never been real excited about a jersey, but since I got their 07 model, I love it. Going to pick it up tonight. Should be sporting it at PEE this weekend (assuming my cough goes away).

Arizona to host two Ironmans in 2008?

That would be good for me now that I Achilles tendon is back to normal. Check out the story here. I had to postponed signing up for the ironman in April because of tendinitis (I think it sold out in early September).

Disgraced Rider

There was a good article on David Millar in the New York Times today.

I am still feeling under the weather so I requested today off to sleep/rest some more.

Sick

So what I thought was just soreness might be the flu :( Loading up on Vitamin C, tea, echinea (sp?), zinc, etc

Post BOB trailer ride

Profile from the BOB trip


Cleaned the bike, tuned 'er up after the bad showing up at PMC (bent the hanger a bit and broke my new eggbeater pedal, still under warranty.). The newest additions are some new grips and smaller tires for the PEE this weekend. Testing both out tomorrow on a night ride in the Tucson Mountain Park (testing on my Minewt Dual that I scored at interbike for $100).




Post ride with the BOB and later ultimate frisbee has not treated me very well. Still a little sore from the run (achilles has made a 100% recovery!). Still doing stretching exercises before I really get back on the running program I was on. Headed to the gym for my swim and soak in the hot tub....Ahhhhhhh.

PEE

Next race is this weekend, up in Phoenix. Yuri put together what looks like one of the best races this fall... the Phoenix Endurance Experience.

A free 88 mile (7192 ft. of climbing) ride departing from Phoenix and encompassing single track, double track, canal paths, bikeways and roads within the confines of Phoenix, Scottsdale and Fountain Hills.

Meanwhile, the Arizona Endurance Series has add another race to the schedule (due in large part to Scott M and some chatting with Jeff Handy). Here is some info on the APC:

When: January 27th at 7:00 am
Where: The Station, in Oracle, Arizona
What: Antelope Peak Challenge, an endurance mountain bike race

Down the Arizona Trail and over to the Old Pueblo 24 hour course. The ride is somewhere in the neighborhood of 72 miles and approx 8500 feet of climbing. Sounds like fun, eh?

The nice 3-D map courtesy of Scott at Topofusion.com



And the profile of the climbing

Prescott Monstercross

(Pic courtesy of Scott)

Some stats from the ride:

55.91 miles
8079 feet of climbing
6:42 moving time
3:30 stopped time (digging and trying to navigate)

Great riding. Thanks again to Dave C. for putting on such a great race.

BOB Trailer Trip

Loaded up the BOB trailer for a trip.

Stats from the trip:

120 Miles
9:17 hours of moving
7590 feet of climbing
Max Speed: 29 mph
Camping fee: $1

The BOB fully loaded with camping gear and food for two:



Had to do the trip on the road bike since my bike was in the shop getting the fork fixed. I noticed the BOB/bike set-up was a little more wobbily when compared to our Pacific Coast Highway 300 Trip (see touring archives to view this trip). The slick mountain bike wheels I used then let me speed down those PCH a lot better.

War

Saw this on my friend Matt's blog. Great article on how much the US is spending on the war on terror in Iraq and Afghanistan. Funny how we are focusing on war these days instead of things that really matter.

Arizona Endurance Series

The Arizona Endurance Series (AES) website is getting a good number of hits and responses. I have been adding races to the AES, with the help some friends, Dave, Scott, Jeff, and Matt to name a few. If you have not visited it, make sure to check it out. I decided to add a duathlon to the race schedule in order to have more than just mountain biking.

Pictures from the Prescott Monstercross

Courtesy of Dave, Flagstaffer and amazing mtbiker. Check out his blog. Thanks to Dave and Dave for letting me ride with them for a bit, Dave for putting on the race, and Scott for keeping me company while I was waiting for the biodiesel to get warm in my Benz.