100.6

No that's not the daytime high in Phoenix, it's too low to be that, but it was my body temperature on Sunday.
Since then I've been dealing with a non-stop cough, body aches and overall not feeling well.

Being sick + Current Gas Prices = I am not going to Park City to race nationals.
I am just not feeling well, so it would be a waste of time. Instead I am looking at a couple of options locally.
A- Race the Flagstaff-Sedona Dirty Century
B- Do the Summit Center Stage Race
C- Not race and just go camping with my wife. Probably do a little bit of MTB riding too.

Decisions, decisions....

I'll keep you posted on what I do.
If you are going to Park City, have fun and good luck at the race. I liked that course, even after the hearty hug I gave last year to one of the trees on the second downhill.

Pura Vida!

Jeff

Dedication, Heat and Climbing

Sometimes it's hard to be a cyclist in Phoenix, especially in June. That right, the time above is when I got up this morning to brew some coffee before heading out for a ride.

The plan was to ride up to the Four Peaks with a bunch of endurance mountain bikers. By 5:30 AM we were ready to roll and the temp ya just 75. There were twelve us and all but one have plans to ride an ultra endurance event in the next few months. Some are going to BC Stage Race, others to Leadville or Breckendridge and us to AMC. Much of the talk on the way up was about training plans and preparation for these events. About 45 minutes into the climb the group had fractioned into small groups. The ride was supposed to be everyone on their on, so we each settle into our own pace to the top. Trever and Mike in this picture are going to BC in two weeks. Dan, just behind them is doing Breckenridge 100 in July. They were all riding strong. I came to the front to snap some shots then drop to the back and cough my way up. I got this cough thing going on since Wednesday and today it didn't help. Mark, the last one in this group is also going to BC as well as the two girls up ahead, Heidi and Jennifer. They are all Canada bound. Mark picked up the pace and left us all behind.
Two hours and over 4500 ft of climbing later we made it to the top. The trail doesn't quite make it to the Four Peak rock formations but pretty close. On the other side of the ridge you can see Rosevelt Lake. We drop down for a little bit but turned around after losing 1000 ft of elevation. You know the Newton Law... Sometime in the future I would like to drop all the way down to the lake, as long as we have a car there to pick us up. By the time we made it back to the parking lot the temperature was over 100. You can see behind me portions of the road that we climb and later descended on today's ride.

Total bike practice time: 4 hours 30 minutes including stops.

You like my "new helmet". Well it isn't new, it's my helmet from three years ago. I left my helmet at the bike wash station after the Afton race in Minnesota last weekend.

Oh well, I was due for a new one. In the meantime this one will be protecting my melon.

Until next time, stay cool!
Pura Vida!

Jeff

More Action Shots from the Afton Avalanche

Cortesy of skinnyski.com, her are some other pictures at different locations of the trail from last weekend in Afton, Minnesota.

Over 36 Elite racers ready to take the start.
The first hill after the start. The natural selection got me into top 7. One of the few rocky sections of the course, this one was really slippery while wet.
One of the many short steep climbs.
Last downhill back to the end of the lap. Pretty cool section.

Thanks to skinnyski.com for the pictures. It's nice to have some shots from other areas of the trail and not only from the start and finish.

Jay Richards is one of the colaborators to skinnyski and he wrote a pretty cool recap of the event. I got a chance to chat with him after the race. I was impresed with how much of our conversation he remembered and added to his recap.

Jeff

Midwest Wedding, Weather and Racing

We just got back from a long weekend trip to Minnesota. The main porpuse of the trip was to attend the wedding of my best friend Roberto Madrigal, however it just happended that it was the same weekend of the second event of the Minnesota series so I brought my bike.

We flew on Thursday evening and were delayed due to heavy thunderstorms in the Twin Cities area, eventually we made it to MSP Airport after a bumpy 45 minute approach. Unlike last year when I paid an arm and a leg to bring my bike on a bike box, this time I used Brenda Moore's method and broke the Trek Fuel appart to make it fit into my checked luggage. The wheels didn't fit, however Art lent me his wheel bag which was our other checked bag. Total cost...$0.00.

The next morning I put the bike together. The plan was to pre-ride the race course before heading up to St Cloud for the rehearsal. While putting the bike together I realized I had an incomplete cassette. I probably left one of the cogs in the bucket that I used to clean it before putting it in the bag, so our first stop was at the bike shop for a new cassette. Norma got Roberto's bike as the groom bailed on us to take care of wedding preps. With the weather changing between light rain, to sun, to heavy rain and so forth we decided to risk it and made it to the trail head. We paid our trail passes and completed one lap of the course. Norma was having trouble with the slick conditions of the trail, not to mention her bike had semi-slick tires on it. After one lap we changed and headed straigh up to St Cloud.

Rehearsal was short then we headed to a family dinner and eventually made it to the reception place where we were supposed to help with the final details, however by the time we got there it was done so we hung around, chatted with people and drank beer.

The next morning I met Roberto for an easy road ride on the knobby tires. I called it "The Last Bachelor Ride." The ride was about 20 miles long on rolling hills south of St Cloud.

After breakfast and getting ready we headed to the church where the wedding went on without a hitch. At the reception one of our friends managed to get her car stuck in the soft ground. Other than that, the ceremony was awesome. Lots of food and drinks. I tried eating properly and drank lots of water and went to bed at around 1 AM. Not the best for racing the next day, however Norma reminded me that the race was secondary...right!

The next morning we had breakfast then drove to Afton to get registered. I jumped on Roberto's trainer for about 20 minutes to warmup then rode to a nearby hill to do hill repeats.

At the starting line I recognize a lot of faces. Unable to tell who is riding well and who isn't I lined up in the second row. The start was a little wet due to big puddles at the bottom of the ski hill. The first hill made the selection of the top 10 and I was in it. By the time we hit the first big climb Brendan had desappeared and I was in a chase group of about 4. I moved a few spots on the first lap and started the second one in third place. Half way up the second lap I got caught by Sam and we worked together until the biggest climb of the course where I went around him to try and make contact with Ben Moore who was in second behing his brother. I managed to pass Ben at the start of the third, however I paid for the effort and he dropped me on Shady Lane. I could see Sam and another rider closing in. On the fourth lap I started to cramp up. The humidity had me sweating a lot more than usual and one bottle of liquid per lap didn't seem to be enough. Now I could see the other rider who was Cam Kirkpatrick from Iowa, closing in and event though I tried staying ahead, he was too strong. At that point I put damage control mode to avoid getting caugh by Sam. On the last and biggest climb of the race I could see Sam at the bottom so I had about 60-90 seconds on him. I keep the pace and rode it to the top. From there it was an easy downhill ride to the finish.

Fourth overall and second in the 30-39 group. Not bad for a very humid and slick race.

After the race I got a chance to chat with Jay Richards, who wrote a race recap here.

Pura Vida!

Jeff

Breaking News

I am really happy to share some good news.
A few weeks ago after the conclusion of the 2008 Arizona Series I was approched by a local team and they extended me an offer to join them.
After a couple of phone calls and a meeting to discuss the details, I am glad to announce that I'll be joining Adrenaline Race Team.

Adrenaline is a fairly new team, but in their short history they have achieved great results and demonstrated that they are a very organized and competitive team. Most recently Adrenaline was crowned the Winning Team of the 2008 MTB Series. The team is made up of around 20 competitive riders in addition to several other at the club level. Among the members there are several state champions as well as specialists in endurance and triathlon.

Adrenaline is supported by the following sponsors:

• Coyotes Athletic Centers
• Vassago Cycles
• Crank Brothers
• White Brothers
• Whey Up Nutrition
• WTB Saddles and Tires
• Flat Tire Bike Shop
• Ergon

There are some details to be finalized, however I am very optimistic about this opportunity. In the meantime I'll continue training and racing for Procon Cycling until all the details are finalized.

Thanks to all of you for your support and stayed tuned for more updates.

Jeff