It's been a while since the last update...

I have been pretty busy over the last few week's so I haven't had a chance to update or post any pictures, so this will be a bullet point update. Pictures will come later.

• I won the Arizona State Championship final race at Prescott. My first win as an Expert rider, but it didn't stop there. With the points I had in the series plus winning the final event, I had enough to become the 2007 Arizona State Expert Champion in the categoryof 19-39 years old. Pretty cool, huh!
• A week after winning the championship I participated in the Whiskey Off-Road race. 50 miles of single-track and over 7500 feet of climbing in Prescott. I entered the Open category and finished 9th out of 110 finishers. My friend, Semi-Pro rider Toby Tsosie took second behing Professional rider and RAAM participant Mike Janelle.
• Since then I have taken a break from racing and dedicated to train and other non-cycling stuff like moving to our new house. We are still putting stuff away at our house in Maricopa. There are lots of projects and stuff to hang. A few days ago I went crazy with the drill and made holes all over the place to hang stuff. I also organized the "bike shop" also know as the little cluttered corner of the garage.
• Wedding plans are going OK. I have been told that I need to get more involved, so you may not hear from me for a few weeks again. Norma got her wedding dress the other day. Of course I have not been allowed to see it but I am sure she looks awesome in it. Save the date and formal invitation will arrive soon (gotta print them first, though... talk about getting more involved). Lastly we are going to "pre-ride" the reception menu in two weeks, including the cake. Better find those elastic pants soon!
• I have become a semi-roadie. Courtesy of our friends James and Katia, we got a new bike. It's a steel frame Nishiki from way back when, but it works. My Procon teammates helped out with some parts and I already rode it to work a couple of times. I am managing at least one flat tire per trip, so that sucks but it's cool to ride skinny tires. No word on racing those yet.
• Lastly, I'll be back to racing action this weekend with the 4th stop of the National Mountain Bike Series. We are leaving Friday night for Park City and hope to make it there by Saturday to pre-ride. Race starts at 8:04 AM on Sunday, so wish me luck. My training has not been very consistent over the last few weeks. House projects, work and temperatures over 100 degrees can be blamed for it.

Anyway, that's all for now. Sorry it's so boring. I'll have some pictures from Park City next week.

Pura Vida!

Jeff

Happy Birthday to Meeeeeee!

This weekend, millions of Margaritas and Coronas were consumed in celebration of my birthday...or because a very little known battle back in the day in Puebla, Mexico, who knows!

Since it was my b-day and it was Cinco de Mayo (Fifth of May, for yo'all!) I celebrated by competing on a 50 mile race in Payson, AZ.

Norma helped start preparing from the night before by getting me a really rich brownie with chocolate frosting and whip cream...yum, I only had a little bit since I had big plans for the race next day.


As usual for my birthdays, I end up with a helmet on or sitting on a wet chair. This time it was the BMX helmet I got at the last race in Santa Barbara. After searching throughout the apartment for my present according to the clues Norma was providing me, I finally found a really cool CycleOps fluid trainer hiding in the closet. Can you tell I was excited to open it....


The next morning we drove to Payson where Tinker Juarez and Nat Ross came to crash my "party." They were actually there for the "real party" the Second National 24 Hour race in the Calendar, but it was followed by my "party" of 50 miles in the same course.
In this picture Nat (who races for Subaru/Gary Fisher) is leading the group while Tinker is in fourth on the LeMans start of the 24 hour race.
Last year I did the 24 hour race here, but this year the objectives are a little different, so the 24 hour thingy didn't fit in it.

We were supposed to go at 12:30, half an hour after the 24 hour people, so I had a little time to warm up on my new toy, just enough to get the legs going. After 10 minutos on the trainer it was time to run to the bikes. Even though I wasn't doing the 24 hours, the 50 mile race also had a LeMans start.

Here I am using my secret running technique to get to the front of the pack in the running part...at least the guy behind me thought it was funny!

Once on the bike, I took the things a little more serious. I caugh up to the early leader before the top of the first climb and held on to the lead until the end. At the end of the first lap, the second place guy was less than 30 seconds behind me. Tinker and Nat passed me at the begginning of my second lap, and I didn't let the opportunity to ride with a legend like Tinker, so I stuck to their wheel for the rest of the race. It was quite an experience to ride with those guys. I was pushing it hard, knowing that I only had 5 laps to do. Those guys were riding at that pace with 20 hours remaining on their race. It was cool that at one point, someone from Tinker's pit crew came by and confirmed that I was only doing the 50. It appears they were a little worried about the skinny guy on their wheel, especially when I would get really close to them on the hard climbs.

After 5 laps and 3 hours and 31 minutes, I crossed the line in FIRST place, something that hadn't happened in a while, so it felt really good. I had several 2nd place finishes in the last few months, so it's good to change the routine every now and them. The guy behind me came in about 8 minutes after and the third place was almost 20 minutes off my pace. The next morning, while the 24 hour racers were still on course, Norma and I drove to one of the toughest climbs of the race and cheered people on their last few laps. The picture doesn't do the justice, but this climb where Norma is standing starts about a mile back and it gets pretty steep.

After the climb comes a long downhill followed by a rolling section back to the start. Here I am driving the Matrix through one of the low areas. This the most extreme terrain my 4WD Matrix has been exposed to...I gotta go detail it now!After Payson, we drove to Prescott to pre-ride the course of next weekend's state final race, then made it home late that night, tired and one year older but very happy and relaxed.

Thanks to all of you who called me on my birthday or left messages. Cell phone signal is poor in the mountains so I barely got a chance to talk to a few of you. Thanks for thinking of me and keep coming back to check on us. Viva Cinco de Mayo!

Pura Vida!

Jeff

National Mountain Bike Series-Round 2

This weekend I traveled to California for the second race on the national series.
Norma couldn't go, so I went with James, Katia and Toby, some friends from Prescott who are also racing nationals.
We met up in Wickenburg, AZ, loaded the bikes onto the trailer and drove to California.

You know you are in CA when you get to Indio and see all the "wind farms." We all had our conclusions as to what makes this things so eye catchy. They are unusual, ritmic and tall were some of the things we discussed while driving through Indio.

Another sign that you are in California is the gas prices. Holy Cow!

Thank goodness we are splitting gas cost. Over 1000 miles road trip and with gas at this price....$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Anyway, we made it into Los Alamos, California. A small little town just north of Santa Barbara.

The next morning we went to the race venue and got checked in. Here are Katia, James and Toby walking toward the expo area.

This area of central California is beautiful. The race course even took us through some of the the local vineyards.

The course was a 13.8-mile loop with some steep climbs, fast downhills and long steady climbs. On Saturday we took our time to pre-ride the course and enjoy the view.

Since we couldn't ride the night before, I took it real easy with just a few short efforts towards the end of the lap. My legs were still feeling the 12-hour drive from the day before.
Sunday morning was race time. Katia took the start at 8:00 am in the Women Beginner category and came out with strong 8th place finish. She also cleared the whole course which included steep climbs and loose turns. Next up was Toby in the Semi-pro followed by James and I in the Expert.

My plan was to get in the lead group right from the start then let the course determine who was the strongest. Lucky for me, the initial leader crashed while taking a look back. Another guy and I rode together the rest of the race, taking turns at the front until we got to the second feedzone. Out of the blue came two riders that forced us to chase. We chased hard and caught up to one of them by the top of the last climb. The other one had a gap on us. I charged hard over the last descend but couldn't catch him.

The day before during the pre-ride I had noticed that the last part was fairly flat but bouncy. I didn't want to get to the final on a three way sprint so I attacked on the final kilometer but couldn't get a significant gap. The finish had a hair pin left turn about 50 yards before the end and a wash crossing before that. I started my sprint from the wash and was able to drop one of the guys and get a couple of yard on the other one before the turn. After the turn I charged again with the last bit of energy and was able to beat him to the line by a couple of bike lenghts.

In the end, I finished 2nd place. Katia finished 8th in her category. Toby finished 16th in the Semi-pro while James had to DNF due to back problems. He went a little too hard a the beginning and his back swolled up when he got to the climbs.

The weekend was not completed without the PRO race. In the means category, Geoff Kabush beat Jeremy Holgan-Kobelski in a sprint finish. As you can see these guys were battling it out from the start.

On the left side, wearing a green jersey, you can see Jeff Hall (9). He is one of the few Pro riders that I have raced against. Jeff dominates all the Minnesota and Wisconsin races. Here, though, he finished 34th.
After the busy weekend we still had to drive home. We took turns at the wheel leaving Los Olivos at 5:00 PM, however we didn't make it into Phoenix until almost 4:00 am on Monday morning. For Katia, James and Toby it was even later, as they had to drive up to Prescott.
After all it was a great weekend. Great time with friends and on the bike. This was the first of four races over four consecutive weekends. Next one up is Payson Stampede on May 5th, then MBAA Arizona State finals on the 12th and the Whiskey Off-Road 50 on the 19th.

Take care!

Pura Vida!

Jeff

New Headquarters of Team Pura Vida

As you may have heard, Team Pura Vida will be moving to a new location. Here are a few pictures of the new place in Maricopa, Arizona.

I even rode my bike to work once, eventhough we haven't moved in yet.

Here we are, opening the door of our home for the first time. We have to save on everything to make this come true...color pictures had to go!
We also completed the common rituals. I hit Norma's knees on the doorway in the process.

The house is a three bedroom (one of them a den) two bathroom house, it even came with a kitchen...

Here we are in the middle of our living-room, sitting on our only piece of furniture there so far... a lawn chair. The front door is directly behind us and to the right is the door to the den.

The hallway takes you to the second bedroom and bathroom at the end, then the first right is the hallway to the master bedroom. The other door on the right goes to the two-car garage.

The backyard has enough room to build a BMX track, but that would require the addition of another bike to the estable.

As shown in the picture, Norma and I would welcome you with arms wide-open anytime your travel plans take you to the Phoenix area.

So now you know. Our plan is to move-in in the next few weeks, once my racing calendar allows for time to do so.

Take care!

Pura Vida!

Norma and Jeff

My Debut on the National Moutain Bike Series (NMBS)

It's been almost five years since I participated on my first mountain bike race at Afton Alps in Minnesota. Back then I raced three times as a Beginner, then moved up to the Sport category and a year later up to the Competitive level. The last couple of years I've been racing at the Expert level. However after more than 100 races, I had never had the opportunity to race at a National event until this past weekend when the National Mountain Bike Series had its season opener at the McDowell Mountain Park here just outside of Phoenix.

This year's training plan was set up in a way that allowed me to come into this event in top form and eventhough it was the first event of the year, there were many riders from all over the country, even those that are still enduring winter. To my surprise, everyone was in top form too.
This was a weekend-long of races. With a stage race format, we had three individual races, one each day, but all of them would be counted towars an overall competition too and everything started on Friday afternoon with an Individual Time Trial.

Individual Time Trial
Friday I got up early and drove up to McDowell, so I could start my volunteer shift right at 7:00 AM. My race wasn't until 2 PM, but by working a few hours as a volunteer at the registration table, I would be able to race for free. That saved me over $120.00 in registration, parking and food. Sweet deal!!!
By noon my shift was over and even though my legs were a little tired of standing up for the past few hours, I still had plenty of time to get them ready for the TT.
I got myself ready and started my warm-up in preparation for 7 painful miles. It doesn't sound as much, but when you are going all out for that long it feels like an eternity.
Anyway, the TT has the riders starting in 30-seconds intervals and covers a 7-mile course with ups and downs, a couple of technical sections and a long climb then ends back in the gravel parking lot where it started.
About 15 minutes before my scheduled start time I concluded my warm-up on the road and moved closer to the staging area. I kept riding just up and down the start/finish shute for what I thought were like 5 minutes, however when I got closer to the start line to see how much more I had to wait, one of the officials spotted my number and yelled "677 move you, you are up next." The other riders allow me to get through and by the time I put my front tire on the start line he said " you are going in 15 seconds." I grabbed a sip of water and seconds later I was cranking hard on the pedals to reach cruising speed. Half way throught the TT I noticed something odd and it dawn on me that I had forgotten to put my gloves on, so my sweaty palms were having a hard time grabbing the grips, but no time to put them on during the race. I caught my 30-second man at the beginning of the long climb and passed him, then I caught my 1-minute man before the top. By then I only had less than a mile left and I wanted to go faster but my legs and a horrible stomach cramp didn't allow it. I crossed the line at 23:21 which put me on 4th place in my category. To my surprise I was only 35 seconds down from 1st place, so the difference was still manageable.
That night I came home with a "semi-bronze" medal (since I finished 4th) because they awarded the top 5.

Super D
On Saturday I woke up all pumped up from the previous day's result. I cleaned the bike and got it ready for racing, had breakfast and headed over to the race site. The next race was a Super D. It's very similar to the Time Trial except that the interval between one rider and the other is only 20 seconds. In addition the majority of the course is supposed to be downhill.
I pre-rode the course the day before but much slower that race pace.
I got to the start line in time and with my gloves on this time. "5, 4, 3, 2, 1, go" was the last thing I heard before I acceleraded down the hill at 25-30 MPH picking the best line through the turns and keeping the cadence high. A couple of miles down the trail I had my 20-second man on-sight. I had passed him before the half way point then came the hills. The course was all downhill at the beginning with lots of short, steep hills at the end. I struggled to finish the last climb and barely had energy left to cross the line at 18:36...more than a minute and a half down from the fastest rider, therefore in 23rd place...yikes!!!
I came home that night a little desappointed but I had high hopes for the last race.

Cross-Country
The cross-country was the main and last event of the weekend. It consisted of 3 laps to a loop of 10 miles, so there was plenty of time to make up the difference. Luckily after the horrible finish on the Super D, I was still on 4th place on the overall after two events.
At 8:06 AM we went out and once the start jitters went away and we all set onto a nice even pace, I was in the Top-10 group. I knew it was going to be a long race, so I focused on a good rythm without wasting energy. Slowly, racers from out of town, unfamiliar to desert racing started to make silly mistakes and I started to slowly move up through the field. By the end of the first lap I was in 6th. On the second lap, two other riders crashed right in front of me at two different times and I was already on 4th. Half-way through the 3rd and last lap I caugh up to the 3rd place rider then passed him and went on to chase 2nd place. I caught him too but he stuck to my wheel. I knew I only had one bullet left and I was planning to save it until an eventual sprint, so I rode at hight tempo making sure that he didn't have a chance to attack. We were also starting to catch up to traffic from other categories so everytime I passed someone, he did too. However about a mile before the finish I passed a female expert rider right before a sharp turn and by the time he tried to pass, she had blocked the trail, so he hit a bush and lost his momentum. I didn't even had to look back, I heard the noice and attacked with all I had. At the top of the next up hill I looked back and he was chasing hard but I had a 30 yard gap, the gap grew by the next short up hill to about 60 yards, then I didn't look back anymore as I was getting to the finish stretch, so I pushed it hard until I crossed the line and put 25 seconds on him.
Another medal, this time silver but on the overall I was only able to move up to third. As it turned out, the guy I had just beaten by 25 seconds, was 37 seconds ahead of me at the start of the race, so I got 12 seconds short of 2nd overal


In the end, a very successful weekend and very hard too.

I took Monday off. I didn't ride the bike. Instead I hung the medals on the kitchen's key holder, we had a couple of beers and I even had some birthday cake from a co-worker's party, along with an ice cream cone.

Tuesday, Norma and I went out for a ride of about 1 hour to stretch the legs and get them ready for the training towards the next big race.

Until next time....

Pura Vida!

Third Race of the Arizona State Championship

It's been a while since the last update, however I took some time today to recap what has happened over the last few days.

First, I spent all last week up in Minnesota. It was quite a change going from Arizona to Minneapolis. On Saturday, Norma and I went for a ride at McDowell and it was 97 degreees. The next day I landed in Minneapolis and it was 27....that's a 70 degree change in less than 24 hours for me.
Besides the cold weather, I also didn't bring the bike along, so I had to rely on the hotel's fitness center to keep form, but I only went twice.

I did get a chance to visit my family and some friends. I spent Sunday with my family at my uncle's place in Forest Lake.
It was good to see everyone, including my Godson, Andreas, who's grown a lot since I last saw him last fall.
Here he is, not too happy about getting ready to go to bed.

The rest of the week was busy. I met up with Roberto on Monday and gave him some information to get him started on his training plan for 2007. We even did a couple fitness test on him at the gym. Now it's just a matter of him getting on the bike.

The diet of that week wasn't the best. It's hard when all your meals are from restaurants. Besides, I think I drank way too much coffee during the week, so half way through my race on Saturday, after I had return to Phoenix I noticed how dehydrated I was. Not only that but my legs were heavy and slow and the scale had told me that I had brought back a couple extra pounds. All not good ingredients for a hilly race in the AZ Championship.

I am not looking for excuses, but the long flights, including a 3 hour wait in Dallas could have caused the heavy legs. Not to mention, that on the way to the race that morning, some of the roads were flooded...yes it rains from time to time down here and when it does , there are not many places for the water to go. Anyway, we had to find a detour and ended up getting to the race venue just 5 minutes before registration closed. Norma went to park and got the things ready while I registered, then I did a SuperMan clothes change and got less than 10 minutes for a quick warm up. An out and back on the entrance road was all I could manage before getting to the start line.

The start, as usual was really fast, but I did my best to stay with the lead group.

After the pace settled a bit, there were 6 of us in the lead group. I held the last wheel trying to conserve energy, however my lack of warm-up and the events of the week forced me to let the leaders go. I rode my pace for the first two laps and by the 3rd lap I regained a couple of spots. However on the 4th and last lap, my legs started to give up to the dehydration and started to cramp up. I took the pace down and two guys went by me. To my luck, they both had a couple mechanical issues before the finish, so I crossed the line in 4th. Not bad for a tough day on the bike.

Now it's time to put the Arizona State serious on pause and switch to bigger and more important things, such as NORBA Nationals. I hope my system is ready for this one, since it's going to be one of the most important races of the year as well as my first time racing at the National level.

The race itself consist of three races in one. Things start off with an Individual Time Trial on Friday. Saturday we have Super D race, which is similar to the TT but mostly Downhill, then Sunday it's the main event with the Cross Country race at McDowell Park in Fountain Hills.

I'll also get a chance to see some of the top pros including some of the fellow racers from Minnesota like Jeff Hall, so it should be an interesting weekend.

In preparation for the race I did one hard training ride on Tuesday under extremely windy conditions then Wednesday and today should be recovery rides.

Lastly, the secret weapon for this race passed last week's test with great performance during the White Tanks race. I am talking about the new Larsen TT tires from Maxxis. I installed them the night before going to Minneapolis and raced on them las week. However the real test will be this weekend, as the reason I picked them was because they should provide better cornering control on trails like McDowell.

Well see!

Here is how the Trek Fuel looks like with the new "shoes":

That's all for now, have a great weekend and until next time.

Pura Vida!

Jeff

Peak Phase

I am down to the last training phase before the first A-Race and things are going well. Translate "WELL" into: my legs are so tired after some of the workouts that if I had a little button like the one on a Thanksgiving Turkey, it would be popped everytime I get home from a ride.

A couple of months ago the plan was to ride long and steady, now it's short and hard. Most of the workouts require getting out of the saddle for sprints, hill sprints or climbs however there are also the anaerobic intervals during which I go all out on a flat road for 3-6 minutes until my eyeballs are ready to pop out. It's inbelivable how long a minute seems when your pedaling at 22 MPH, cranking the pedals at 100 RPMs and your hear rate climbs to 189 BPMs...ouch!

To make it harder -like there is a need for that- the other day I also had a flat as I was completing one of those intervals. Keep in mind I am riding my tubeless mtb tires on the road, yet my rear tire is so worn out that a rock made a 1/2 inch cut right on the riding surface. Obviusly the tire sealant couldn't mend that size of a cut so I had to throw in a tube but to prevent the tube from getting puntured thru the same hole, I had to place an empty power gel packet between the tube and the tire. Talk about cheap fixes.
Anyway I made it home, however the tube did go flat later that night.
I have the new Maxxis tires at home, I just don't want to put them on until the Hutchinsons are so worn that I don't feel bad about tossing a $60.00 tire.

Night Riding Adventures

Even though there are no 24-Hour races in the near future, Norma and I have gone out on a couple of night rides. On the last one, we had an early dinner at home then at around 9:00 PM decided to gear up and hit the trails...literally. 30 minutes onto the ride I asked her if we should head back, however she has been telling people about her "No-Chain" feeling while riding and that night was no different. You know, no-chain as in...I can barely break a sweat. Anyway Ms. No-Chain and I continue along for another 20 minutes. I know my light runs for about 2.5 hours however, Norma is riding a Double-beam Night Rider set that I borrowed from Jared Cooley one of Procon team riders, and I don't know what's the burning time on those. In addition, she is running both lights throwing 15W of light down the trail and almost making my light look dim. We make it to what we call the Long Easy loop of Desert Classic and head back, but by then we had been riding for about 1.5 hours. Shortly after I heard her say "Oh, no!" I look back and her lights switched to 5Watts (reserve mode). She is a the top of a short down hill, so I turn around and point my light at the trail. Now my light looks much brighter than hers. She comes down the hill and as she reaches the bottom the lights go completely out. Her front tire caught a little ridge line on the trail and skidded sideways. Norma falls on her left side, skinning almost the whole knee cap of her already scared filled knee. Ms. No-chain goes no skin either.

We still had to get home. It's almost 11 PM, so I gave her my light and followed her as close as possible, so I can use her light to see the trail in front of me. We made it home safely but it's going to take a few days for Norma's knee to heal and have her ride again...wrong. The next day we went to White Tanks and pre-rode the course of the next MBAA race. She rode like three laps.

This weekend we are pre-riding the McDowell course where the NORBA National race will take place then on Sunday I am heading to Minnesota for work. I don't plan on bringing my bike because it's still cold up there and too expensive to bring my bike. Besides, one of my connecting flights will be on a puddle-jumper regional aircraft, so I doubt they'll have room for my bike.
I hope the trip doesn't affect my training, but I am excited to go see my family and friends up there.

Until next time,

Pura Vida!
Jeff

Got Tires!!!

Yeah, we just received our first order of Maxxis tires for this year's racing. Maxxis is our official tire sponsor for 2007.

It was hard to decide what tires to get but in the end, I decided to go with the Larsen TT Tubeless, while Norma chose the Ranchero Tubeless. The main difference between these two is the cornering effectiveness and about 20 grams more per tire. Norma likes the confidence of the bigger nobs so the Ranchero works for her. I am going to give the Larsens a try. They are light and the contact area is wider withouth affecting the rolling resistance, perfect for hard pack trails.

Another cool thing that we are getting with Maxxis is the rimstrips which will allow us to run Tubeless tires on the Giants Non-Tubeless wheels. Currently we are getting about a flat everytime we go out on a ride due to all the torns and sharp stuff that can be found on the desert, so it will be great not to deal with that. I have been running Hutchinson Python tubeless on the Trek and have yet to get a flat.

I'll post a picture of the the bikes once they are sporting their new "shoes."

Let the Pain Beging

As for my training plan, I am getting close the my first A-race which will be the NORBA National at McDowell Park, which means that I am also hitting the final stages of the training. Build I and Build II require shorter but much tougher exercises. The idea is to put my lungs, heart, legs and concentration skills through a lot of stress for short periods of time with short recoveries. After doing a series of Power and Anaerobic-Endurance exercises last Saturday for less than a couple of hours, I wished I could go back to the 4+ hours of easy endurance rides.

Oh well, there is no other way to get around it so I better get use to pain because there will be plenty of it over the next two weeks.

Pura Vida!

Jeff

2nd Race of the Arizona State Series

They say a picture is worth more than a thousand words...in that case the following picture should tell you how this past weekend's race went.

Yup, that's me coming in just a few feet behind first place in the Expert category.

What really bites is that if the finish line had been 30 yards closer, I would've won the race.

I lead the last lap and a half, however when we got to the finish, I got confused and hesitated for a second to figure out where the finish line was and the rider on second place took advantage of that and took away the win.

At least I am hoping to get this as a lesson to always familiarize myself with the finish line before the race.

Even though I finished 2dn, it was a positive experience. The race was tough. The picture above shows us a the beginning of the race. There were to other Procon riders in my group, Rob (#27 at my right) and Art (at my left). Rob had finished 2nd in the previous race at McDowell, the one I couldn't make it to because of the accident, so the plan was to stick to his wheel and see how long I could last.

I made things hard for me from the start by choosing a wrong place at the start. I got stuck behind some slower starters, so before we hit the single-track I was 20 places back. It took me nearly 20 minutes of hard work to catch up to the leaders. Once I joined the leader group, I had very little time to recover because soon the attacks started and the group of 6 got reduced to 5 about 30 minutes into the race, then to 4 and by the time we reach the half-way point of the first lap, there were only three of us. I sat in third for the rest of the lap while keeping the two leaders within visual distance, unfortunately a small crash with a Semi-pro rider that had a mechanical problem slowed me a little and gave me a few scratches on my elbow, however I didn't loose any places and was able to get back and shorten the difference to the leaders on the last climb.

After going through the feed zone and getting a new bottle from Norma, I decided to bridge up to them, which I did half way through the second lap. In the lead was fellow Procon rider Rob Shaver and Zach a rider for SanTan Racing. Rob had a mechanical and yield 2nd place to me, then Zach went off the trail for a second and that's when I got to 1st place.

The rest of the lap, I rode in the front followed by Zach and Rob, then Rob had a flat and a crash right before the end of the lap.

On the third lap, Zach just sat on my wheel all the way to the finish. I knew his only option was to attack me on the last climb, so I tried to shake him off a couple of times but could only get a small gap, so several times I had to back down. Then I decided to just conserve energy for the last part. As expected he tried passing me on the last climb, but we had some traffic ahead and I also had increased the pace to I got to the top of the final downhill first and we flew down while he tried to pass me where ever he though there was a chance. I blocked all his attempts then on the last 30 yards decided to slow down to make a right turn onto the finish, just to find out that the finish was straight ahead. By the time I realized that, Zach had noticed and got the inside line then it was impossible for me to beat him to the line.

After all, a very exciting race. I got second while Rob came back from a mechanical and a crash and secured 4th, so two Proconers in the Expert podium.

The next race is at White Tanks park in about a month, then we head up to McDowell on March 30 for the first NORBA National of 2007, so March is going to be a month of a lot of training.

Thanks to all and have a great week!

Pura Vida!

Jeff

The 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo

So this past weekend I ventured south for the first race post-accident and what a better way to test the fitness than doing a race around the clock. After all, I have to say that I am very impressed with the recovery and felt pretty good on the bike.

For those of you not interested in the details, I'll give you the meat and potatoes up front then, I'll go through the small stuff.

Rode a total of 13 laps with each lap being 15.5 miles long, so if you do the math, I rode over 200 miles. Finished 16th place out of about 85 Solo Male participants (with gears). There was another category with almost as many riders but for singlespeeders.

Anyway the winner of my category was the never aging Tinker Juarez. He rode 18 laps, but he was done by 9:30 am. One interesting thing about me and Tinker is that he lapped me TWICE in CONSECUTIVE laps. He was riding strong but I also had two flats on the same lap. Thankfully I got a chance to catch up to him after the end of the race for a photo op.

The Details

For this race I headed out to Tucson on Friday by myself because Norma had to work. So I loaded as much stuff as possible in the Matrix and left around 10 am. I could have easily have made this into a commercial for Toyota. This is some of the stuff I got into my car:

Large square cooler

Large water cooler

Huge fire-pit

8-person tent

2-person tent

8x10 foot gazebo

Long plastic table

Folding wooden table

Four lawn chairs

Two tool boxes

A bike stand

Three sleeping bags

Three plastic storage totes

A boombox

Two propane lamps

A propane stove

20 pounds of fire wood

4 fire-logs

2 bags with clothes

And three bikes...so that's the reason my car looks so low.

I finally made to the race site by noon. It took me a while to find a camping spot that was not too far from the trail. In the end I found a spot about 200 yards from the trail but really far for the Start/Finish area. There were already over 1800 people when I got there so there wasn't much to choose from.

I got all the campsite set up in about two hours and then went to pick up my number. Later that Friday I got a chance to do one lap of the course before dark. It took me 1;15 to do one lap at about the same effort I was planning for the race.

Once the sun went down the temperature drop a little so I made a fire and sat by it while gazing at the sky lit by stars. After some dinner, it was time to go to bed, however the wind started to pick up and it made it a little hard to sleep. Around 3 am I got up to discover that the gazebo had been blown away and was not resting on top of my car. It was too early to fix it, so I anchored it down and left it there.

In the morning I fixed the gazebo then Norma and her mom got there with her two nephews.

We had breakfast and soon it was time to head to the start.

Shortly before noon I got signed in and placed my bike at the start line.

Then it was time to head to the official start line about 400 yards before here, from where we would run to our bikes and officially start the 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo.

At about 1:20 PM on Saturday, I was completing my first lap. We kept the pit stop to refuel within 5 minutes then it was time for another lap. Laps 2, 3 and 4 were about the same. Lap 5 was not so good tough. We had planned for me to take the Giant for a lap while Norma was going to get the Trek ready for a few more laps, but less than half way into the lap I had already had two flats. I only had one tube with me so, a kind soul gave me one so I could barely finish that lap. I didn't ride the Giant for any other laps.

The night laps were just a tad longer than the day ones and by midnight I had already logged 8 laps. Then I stop to have some food and sit down for a few minutes. My stomach was not feeling 100% and I was having a hard time staying warm. This pit stop turned out to be quite long. From falling sleep on a chair, I went to taking a "short" 1.5 hour nap inside the tent.

I don't know how, but I manage to get up and get going again after 3 am and it took me a while to get warm but the rest helped. I rode two more laps until the sun came up, then with the sun I recharged batteries. I even told Norma that I am like most calculators. We have a back up battery but we work best with solar energy.

Anyway, I completed my last three laps during the rest of the morning by keeping my laps within 1:25. Not to bad for more than 20 hours of riding. My last lap was pretty interesting because I knew there was someone ahead of me with the same number of laps, however I didn't know he had left only 17 minutes ahead of my. I tried to keep a pretty high pace and pretty much used up all the energy left to power through the wind that affected us all day. On the last climb of the lap I started to feel light-headed and nauseas. I could barely turn the cranks but I knew I was less than 1/4 of a mile from the top.

Once I reach the top, I took the downhill to the finish while Norma, Michael and Scott were waiting for me at different points to take pictures.

I never caugh up to the other guy but the results show he finished less than a minute ahead of me. Oh well, I could have moved to 15th, but 16th is just as well.

The support couldn't have been better. Norma was up all night getting me gels, food and Accelarade. She also recharged the batteries for my lights and lubed my bike. Kept track of my fluid and calorie intake and even had time to entertain her mother and nephews. Early on Sunday morning she had to surrender and sleep for a few hours but had left everything ready for me to refuel. I couldn't have done it without her.

The post race was a little off-plan. We spend a while looking for one of her nephews in the crowd of over 10000 people, just to find out he wasn't missing then it took us a while to get the campsite torn-down.

After a quick stop at Arby's for some greasy food to calm my hunger, we drove home and were in bed by 11 pm.

Definetely a fun race and a great come back from injury. I wish the course wasn't that windy, at times I was barely pushing 8 MPH on the flats while facing the wind.

Not sure if I am doing it again next year. I kind of want to get a 4 person team instead but we'll see. In a few days I'll probably be planning on riding solo, so who knows.

Check out the complete results at EpicRides.com. Look for me in the Male Solo category.

That's all for now, thanks for reading.

Pura Vida!

Jeff

I got back on the bike today...

...a stationary bike that is, but it felt good to ride for a little while.

Wednesday and Thursday were pretty busy days, with doctor's appointments, scheduling new appointments and talking to people over the phone. Yes I can finally talk over the phone. At first it was hard because my mouth muscles were not responding the way they usually do, but slowly I am getting to the normal pattern.

I also went to see my co-workers and drop off some papers at HR. It was good to get out of the house and drive to places by myself, although I got long stares from people anywhere I went. The worst was probably while waiting in line at the bank, I don't know if people were looking at my scars or they were wondering if I was going to rob the bank, since I was wearing a beanie cap to protect my bald head from the cold rain (yes it did rain again in Phoenix and it got cooler than normal).

As far as what the doctor said at the appointment, well he didn't give us chance to ask much. Plastic Surgeons must be really busy because he rushed us out of the office after spending 5 minutes taking pictures of my face and half minute removing my stiches. Anyway, we have an follow up appointment for next month. The stiches on the nose and tongue stayed and should disolve themselves in the next few days.

Dr. Huang at Chandler Dental was able to move my dentist appointment to Friday morning, early morning (7 am). He is going to try to do the root canal work this week and do the rest sometime next week. I have mixed feelings about this. I am happy because it's going to get rid of the pain but it's going to hurt a lot since most of my mouth is barely recuperating. I'll let you know how it goes.

Tonight I walked across the street to the gym room at the apartment complex and worked out on the recumbent stationary bike. It took me a little while to warm up but once I got going all the muscles and tendons starting to fire in the proper order. The heart and the lungs felt fine and my knee didn't bother me at all. I rode for a little over an hour at recovery pace (aprox. 138 BPM). Obviusly gym bikes are not the best because the pedals are further apart that they are on a regular bike. Also the saddles are always way too wide for me, so more than an hour it's a little uncomfortable.

On a high note, I've been able to eat more lately, so I am hoping to recover my all time low weight record of 132 pounds soon. I've even spent some time in the kitchen making some of my favorites. On Wednesday I made some Costa Rican Rice Pudding (I don't know what makes it Costa Rican but it sounds cool). I put some coconut and condensed milk on it as well as some cinnamon and cloves to give it some flavor. I had like three helpings that afternoon, then later I night before bed, I tried it with a few swirls of caramel topping...it was delicious. Let me know if anyone is interested on the "family secret recipe." Unfortunately the sugar rush kept me up until past 2:30 am.

That's all for now, I hope everyone is doing fine and enjoy the weekend.
It's late on Friday eve (according to Leah T), so I am going to bed.

Pura Vida!

Jeff

Finally Pictures!!!

Here is visual daily recap of my recovery. Feel free to click on the images to view larger size one.
Today was follow up day, some stiches were removed I was able to eat with a fork and now I can show my teeth...or lack there of.















Yesterday, I ran out of pain killers but I had a normal breakfast, except for the room-temperature coffee.















Sunday, was uneventful but I was able to brush my teeth for the first time.















Saturday I cleaned the bike and looked for any damage but to make sure we took it to the bike shop. Only a bent derrailour hanger.















Friday was not a good day. I was in pain most of the day and little did they tell me about the effects of Percocet (pain killer) on an empty stomach.















But this is what I looked like a few hours after hitting the side of a minivan...

Thankfully I have a wonderful person by side to help me get through it and a bunch of friends and family that have been there to offer their support.

Thanks to everyone for the e-mails, blog comments, phone calls (even if I couldn't talk to you) as well as your good wishes and prayers.


Jeff