Here comes the Bandersnatch

Last weekend a bunch of Adrenaline Team riders came to the McDowell Mtn trail system to pre-ride the course in preparation for the upcoming two races at this venue; the second event in the Dust Devils series on 11/01 and the 12/24 Hours of Fury the following weekend.

Upon our arrival I saw Darrin who had just completed one of the many laps he did that day in addition to riding from his house, then Tom joined us for what turned out to be the official delivery of the Vassago Bandersnatch frame that I'll be riding. Thanks guys!

I am really excited about building the bike up and start riding it. Except for a few short rides on borrowed 29ers, I haven't ridden 29 inch wheels yet. I am really glad that I get to experience that, riding a bike from a company that especializes on bigger wheeled mountain bikes. Not to mention all the positive reviews that I have heard from all Adrenaline riders who already got theirs.

I'll take a little while to get it build up as I don't have any 29er parts that I can just swap and go for a ride, so I'll keep you posted on that process.

After starting the weekend on that great note, Norma, Kendra and Wendy went for a few loops at McDowell while I completed a few drills prescribed by Art on the pavement. That was the first time I hit my heart rate threshold since the 24 Hours of Payson over a month ago. It's hard to forget that weird taste on your mouth and the burning on the legs but for some reason I really love getting to that point. It makes me feel like I am really training.

On Sunday, I had another long easy ride so I met up with Bob and Jonathan for a ride from Wickenburg to Yarnell and back. It was a little chilly at the start, however less than 15 min into the ride we were already getting rid of layers. The ride up to Congress was steady gentle climb, then from there it's a steep climb to Yarnell. I kept my HR under Zone 1 and rode the climb on my very smallest gear. Once at the top we decided to ride a little further down before heading back. The downhill back to Congress was awesome and scary at the same time while going way above the speed limit a few times.

Jonathan flatted right before Congress, so it was a nice little break before the last few miles back to the car.

Once in Wickenburg we refueled at the House of Berlin. Nothing like German food for a recovery meal. We had beer from the "Oldest Brewery in the World" according to their table coasters, some bratwurst, schnitzle and some tasty potatoes. I guess Wickenburg is the place to go for German food now.

This coming weekend Norma is racing at McDowell. I'll be on bottle hand-off support then riding a few loops afterwards.

Until next time!

Pura Vida!

Super Domestique

I probably spoke too soon about the nice weather finally coming down here to the Valley of the Sun, as mother nature had another week of above average temperatures for the area. That meant we had to drink hot Cytomax tea for a few more days. No Cytomax doesn't make tea...yet, however after you have your non-insulated bottle with grape Cytomax out for any more than an hour, it turns into grape flavored tea. According to Norma, the good part of it is that your body is supposed to absorb it faster, but it tastes nasty and at that point it doesn't provide the refreshing effect that you expect when the temps are nearing the 100 degree mark...in the shade. Unfortunately no one bikes under the shade here in the desert.

This morning though, the temps were still nice, so I got ready for another ride to work. I got two bottles ready, got dressed, put air on the tires and headed out the door. Since I had just finished a cup of coffee and I was planning to ride for 2 hours at an easy pace, I didn't even reach for my water bottles until 15 minutes into my ride. At least tried to. I reached down and all I could find was the bottle cage. I looked down and there is nothing. So with 1 hour and 45 minutes left on my ride, I decided to go back home and grab the bottles (last week I did the same but I had no time to go back, so I rode to work with no water). So I got to the next turn around point and as I was starting to head back I hear someone calling me from the other side of the road. There was my beautiful wife on her bike, so I yell to her that I had left my water bottles at home and I was heading back to the house

-she says, "yes I know! I have them with me."

Unsure that I heard right I decided to stop and wait for her to turn around. I knew she was also going for a ride but we were riding different routes, however as she was getting ready to leave a good 5-10 minutes after me, she found my bottles in the garage and decided to try and catch up to me. So there she was, winded from an all out effort to catch me. She said she was planning to ride as fast as she could to Casa Blanca road (which is where I finally turned around) but if she couldn't catch me she would go back home. The funny part is that I never looked back, otherwise I could have seen her way back as the road follows a straight line for a good 1-2 miles before Casa Blanca.

Anyway, I figured this would be a great time to recognize her for everything that she does for me. I don't think I could have accomplished what I have so far without her support. From supporting me at races and even training rides (like today), to understanding the sport and recognizing what a big part of our lives it plays and everything else in between. THANK YOU!

Training is going steady. I am spending a lot more time a The Gym following coach's plan. By the way he just got done with two different 100K Off-road races south of the border. Check out his blog for more details.

On equipment news, last week I got the OK from my ever supporting wife to order one of this for next year. I am hoping to race a little bit more on the road next season, so this will be the weapon of choice. I should have the frame by the end of the year then I'll see how long it takes me to put it together.

Off-road I am planning to ride like the devil next year. More details to come...

Pura Vida!

Riding To Work

I guess now being GREEN is the new black and the cool thing to do, so in order to increase our coolness level we have tried adapting a few things here in there. In the end is a matter of feeling good about what YOU can do. I realize that it would take a combined effort to see results but I also believe that everyone is responsible for their own actions, that being said it's frustrating to see how many people drastically change their life styles to be more green, then a few weeks down the road they do a 180 turn and go back to the norm or worse than before.

Norma and I have been taking smaller, achievable steps to be more environmentally friendly. Simple things like being more diligent about recycling stuff at home, using reusable bags, turning our AC down or off and carpooling or riding our bikes to work.
Over the last several weeks we have only driven both cars to work on a couple of occasions. Instead we plan our days a little better and either carpool, I ride to work then we drive back or we have left one car at work and we both ride there the next morning. It requires a little bit of planning but when you combine it with your training rides it makes it easier. Our commute is 24 miles, so on a regular day it would take me about 1:15 to get from the door of my house to work. On windy days, especially North winds, or when we both ride to work the ride extends to 1.5 hours or if Coach schedules a little more time than that, I take the long way and make it a full training ride. On the easy days, I scan the shoulder of 347 for odd stuff. It makes the ride go a lot faster. Besides dead snakes and coyotes or water coolers the sky is the limit on what you see, from furniture to ladders, it makes you wonder what would you do if that item happens to fall right in front or <knock on wood> on top of you. Then once you get to civilization, meaning after exiting the reservation, the show is on the left side. Drivers putting on make-up, eating, singing aloud and off course ignoring bicyclists on the road. We have had a couple of close calls, all within the last two miles of our destination. In order to avoid some of this we ride a short stretch on a canal path then we jump off our bikes to connect with the next street. I've been practicing my cyclo-cross dismounts on this section. About a week ago, I gave Norma a good demo on how NOT to dismount when my left foot didn't unclip on time after crossing my right leg over. Fortunately I was going slow enough to hop a couple of times with my bike still attached to my shoes and avoid a face plant.

Anyway, happy rides to everyone and kudos to you if you ride your bike to work, even if it's one day a week!

On other news, the tentative racing calendar for 2009 is taking shape. Among the new items I have my eyes on a little fun ride of 100 miles in a town called Leadville. According to Eric Neat it's one of those races that you have to do at some point during your mountain biker life, so I figured why not give it a try next year. Of course that depends on the lottery thingy but we'll see. Sea Otter is also tentatively penciled in along with 4 other events of the newly created Unites States Cup. Still waiting to hear about MBAA calendar.

Lastly, in addition to training times on the road, the pounds are also going up at the gym. On most of the strength exercises I have graduated to lift more that just the bar. Doing planks on the ball still kicks my butt and makes for the most dreaded 45 seconds of my evenings at Coyotes Athletics but I already can see some of the results on the bike. Now I can ride on the drops of the road bike for more than just 5 minutes.

That's all for now. I have to go see if I can get my road pedals replaced.........
Pura Vida!

Estrella Dust Devils and Training

This weekend was the first event of the Dust Devils series. The series kicked off at Estrella on Saturday with cooler than normal and really windy conditions. I didn't partake in the racing festivities however my other half did.

Norma doned the pink Adrenaline jersey and lined up for her first race in a while. She's been riding consistently on her road bike as well as a couple of off-road rides, so she was pretty stoked about this race.

I was initially planning to do some drills at South Mtn then ride to Estrella, but it was so windy that I asked Norma to pick me up as soon as I was done with the climbing drills. Later on I completed the rest of my training for the day by riding the trainer in the confort of our living room. Yeah, I know I am a whimp! I hate windy days!

Anyway, back to the race. When we got to the venue, the Marathon guys were already on course. There was a big turn out of beginner and sport riders (mostly male riders) but it's good to see more people. The pro/expert class was kinda small thought. There was a nice vibe around the venue. Several bike shops came out to offer support such as Estrella Mountain Cycles and Bicycle Showcase (supporting the Procon MTB guys). I even got a free hot dog from Tim Gillis from Showcase who had his George Foreman grill out.

Norma's race started at 9:30 am and there was a group of 5-6 ladies in the beginner category. She got into third or fourth wheel up the little climb from the start and moved up a place while we could still see them from the start. According to Norma (I have to tell you because it will take her a while to update her blog), she passed another lady on one of the washes. She's been getting a lot better on the technical sections so she gained some ground. The other girl in the lead was out of sight, so she kept a steady pace up the gradual climb in the back. Not too long after the switchback in the back her rear tire slid off course and she went down. She got a few battle scratches to her elbow and fore arm but nothing major. She remounted to discover that her handle bar were twisted a bit. Fearing that the next rider was not too far back she decided to keep on riding, even with the croocked handlebar. That most have cost her a few minutes due to the difficult handling.

Back at the finish I was waiting for her when Jen Sica from Schampa came down and gave me an update on her. I was worried on the extense of the damage but a couple of minutes later Norma was coming down the hill with a big smile. She completed the junior loop and finished strong even ahead of some of the the beginner guys that started a few minutes ahead. Great Job!
Adrenaline had a good showing overall. Zac and Tom finished 1-2 in the marathon, however Tom removed himself out of the race for slightly bending the rules. Check his site for the details. The other Zack won the Pro/Expert event while Kendra and our other Junior Female rider whose name I still don't know finished 1-2 in the Junior Girls race.

It was great to see everyone out there. Even Darrin P and Darrin A were there to support the team!

Training continues increasing gradually. I did my first 3 hour ride on Sunday. That was the last time I rode for that long since AMC back in August. It was nice to be out on the bike for a long easy ride. However my last few miles got a little difficult when my right pedal broke….again! Yes that's the same type of pedal that I broke back in June at the Summit Center road race, so I am trying to figure out what's causing it. I simple got off the saddle at a stop light and when I went to pull up with my right leg my shoe came off. Oh well, it was just a few miles before home so I mostly pushed down on that pedal and made my left leg do the full circles.

That's all for now!

Pura Vida!