Quarterly Recap

I wasn't planning to take so long between blog updates, but the short Facebook updates were a lot easier and reached more people that this, however today I figured it would be good time to recap what has happened over the last six weeks and what's coming up.
I had so much fun at Bonelli, where Velonews got a picture of me passing JHK and put it in their May edition, that I decided to race the second ProXCT at Fontana. I got a couple weeks of decent training in Phonex before heading back to California for a showdown in Funtucky. The weather on the days before the race transformed the normally dusty, bumpy course into a tacky, velcro like type of course. In addition to that, organizer added a few more switchbacks to the already long climb which made it a real tough course.

On race day, I found out I would be starting off from 3rd row which was a great morale boost. I lost only a few spots during the prologue lap, however I gained them back on the long climb.



Long train of riders going up the hill on lap 1,



By the end of the first lap I had moved up to the top 20 and rode steadily for the next couple of laps. By lap 4 of 5, I had moved up to 13th place and things were looking great however exhausting was settling in and I probably missed a few opportunities to eat. Once I got to the top of the long climb I felt the bonk coming on but I figured I would recover on the technical downhill and eat something. Unfortunately, shortly after that I cut a corner too short and sliced my rear tire. It took a few stops for the tire to seal at about 15 psi then I redlined for too long trying to regain the lost time and got a full bonk. Going up the hill on the last lap was painful and I had to dismout. Nursing a leaky rear and an engine running on fumes I made it across the finish line in 50th place.

Next day I somewhat redeemed myself with an 18th place finish in the Short Track event. Battled most of the race with this group which included former World Champion Bryan Lopez but he still got me at the end.



Chase group trying to get into the top 10

A little dissappointed, I went home and cranked another two weeks of hard training in preparation for the AZ State Crit Championship. Training included a couple of visits to the highly competitive Tuesday Night Worlds Crits at the Phoenix Municipal Stadium parking lot. Getting a couple of top 3 finishes at those weekly races gave me confidence for the two-day crit event.

Friday before the race, the skies opened up and it rained for most of the night and onto the next morning. That drove a lot of Master racers away as only four of us took the start of the 30+ Masters race. My teammate Craig took off after a couple of laps. Once he had a significant advanted over our group I attacked the remaining two riders and went onto finish second on a wet day on the bike.



Craig and I on the top two podium spots.



Next day, it was the Category 1 and 2 event which was made up of nearly 60 riders. Lost of nerves and lack of confidence kept me in the back of the field for most of the race except for one attempt to join a break that lasted for only a couple of laps.

Finished safely in the pack and avoided some last lap crashes.

The following two weekend I race a couple of criteriums, however at that point my training was completely focused on preparing for the Whiskey Off Road 50 which had a $20000.00 purse and was attracting high caliber riders from all over.

One of those training crits was the Old Pueblo Grand Prix which also had a nice $10000.00 purse on a sold out Pro,1,2 event made out of 100 riders.

Racing at speeds of 30-35 MPH around the a twisty, pot-filled, manhole infested course in downtown Tucson wasn't my cup of tea, however I maintained contact with the main group for 90 minutes of fast and furious racing.



That's me in the caboose position trying to stay in the race



By the end, the peloton had been whittled down to about 50 riders and I finished in 31st. however I felt great about my fitness considering I had been battling a bad cold since the rainy race at the State Crit.

The other training crit was the Focus crit. in Gilbert.

That's me pulling a line of riders from what's left of the Master race after the wind and a few attacks blew the race apart.

At this one I only did the Master 30+ race and although the course was flat and windy which really didn't suit me, I managed to walk away with two prime prizes and a third place. Most importantly I felt all my preparation for the Whiskey had come together and from that point on all I had to do was rest a recover for the big event.

So that's what I've been doing for the last several weeks.

There are some major developments that I'll announce on the next post then a full recap of the Whiskey 50 once it happens.

First Big Race of the Season

This weekend's race wasn't just another race; it was the second event in the Kenda Cup West series, it was the kick-off of the US Pro XCT series, it was one of the many category 2 events in the UCI MTB calendar as well as the first of the three events in the US Cup Triple Crown but for me it was the first opportunity to compete with the best riders in these parts of the world and I don't mean just US riders.

Start/Finish line getting set up on Friday afternoon

As early as Wednesday lots of riders started to converge at Bonelli Park in San Dimas for a chance to test how the legs are responding to the countless hours of training. As always there were many Canadians coming out of hibernation, the Mexican federation sent their entire MTB Team mainly made up of Turbo Team riders all in national colors then there was me.
I made the drive by myself as this event wasn't on my calendar until a couple of weeks ago when another event got cancelled.
After an uneventful 5+ hour drive on Friday afternoon, I made it to the venue just to be greeted by these two guys going for a ride.

Zack and Matt getting ready to pre-ride the pro course

Later we joined the rest of the kids of the AZ Devo team for a pre-ride of the course. Unlike last years course, it was short, more technical with plenty of short, steep, punchy climb and tight, rocky downhills. In other words a true MTB course.
Next morning came quickly and the pro-women were the first one to take on the course. I warmed up as they finished their event then it was time to shine.
Thanks to my hard earned 6 points from last year, I was able to get called up to the line in 44th place or 5th rows behind the leaders.
We got the GOOOOO! at 1:30 for a sketchy prologue lap around the venue then onto the course. There was a lot of chaos on those first minutes of racing. Lots of elbows thrown, gentle and not so gentle pushes and the usual crash. I made it to the top of the first steep climb in the top 30 group. Once on the single track I got into a groove and started picking up riders. I kept it hard but trying not to blow up and this helped me move to the top 20 by mid-race. I rode for the next two laps surrounded by Mexican riders and benefited from the time gaps given to them by their support crew. Eventually I would move up to 15th place by the end of lap 5 of 7... then the engine light came on. My body started to complain and I had to let off the gas, therefore loosing a couple of spots. The fuel light came on at the beginning of the bell lap. By then I had lost a few more spots. I made it through the first portion on the lap on survival mode then lost two more spots on the last climb. I bombed the final descent with blurry vision but very happy knowing that I had given it all I had to hold onto 22nd place on a very stacked field of riders.

Racing strips, that's dirt caked into my head thu the helmet vent holes.

There was another event schedule for that evening, the Super D. These type of event usually consists of a mainly downhill time trial or LeMans start race with a few pedaling sections, however the course we had on Saturday had a lot of going up and less downhill.

If these legs could talk, they would plead to get some rest and a rinse too!

I spun those tired and dirty legs around after the XC event and event took a little cat nap before heading to the start ramp. The sun was starting to set as I rocketed out of the start line and made my way to the finish. I was having a pretty clean run until the downhill on the picture below, where I lost traction accelerating out of the corner at the bottom and landed hard on the fire road gravel. I lost a few seconds getting back up but made it in 21st place.

One of the many technical downhills. Doesn't look to bad, except there was a 90 degree turn onto a gravel road at the bottom of it.

Next morning I made it to the course pretty early for many reasons, one of them well described by this radio station quote I heard on the way there: "you must have been abducted by aliens last night, because you are missing an hour today," but I also wanted to see and support the juniors on the AZ Devo team racing.

Tyler Coplea, Cypress Gorry and Ryan Geiger on the podium of the Cat Junior event

The kids did really well not only taking 3rd, 4th and 5th on the podium but a couple other spots in the top 10. Other remarkable results from AZ riders include Marcus Hayward winning the very competitive Cat 1 race.

Marcus on the top step.

My teammate Steve Hughes took second in the 60+ young category. Nice work considering he lost some ground after an early fall and loosing his chain in the process.

Steve representing BicycleWorld.TV and AZ at Bonelli

Keith Koller also podium and Daryl Mackenzie just missed the podium with a 6th place finish. The Polley brothers also did well in their races around mid day on Sunday. Nice work by the Arizona contingent.

I am smiling to make up for the face of pain I'll have on for the next 20 minutes

After a long wait I finally kitted up for the last event, the short track. I got a good warm up on the trainer to prepare the body for 20 intense minutes of racing.
I got called up to the line around 15th place, so the second row start was a nice incentive to the previous day's work. We blasted off the line and the group stayed together for at least half of the lap. Once into the dirt sections the dust built up and the crashes started. I managed to avoid any problems including a rolled tire by Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski near the start/finish area as we transitioned to the pavement. I managed to gain a few spots on every lap and caught up to the chase group.

Start of the short-track

Barely hanging onto the next well on my way to a 9th place finish at the Short Track event.

Then on lap 7 of 10 after JHK's tire problem, the chase group sat up, so I attacked them, which in retrospective was not a smart move considering the group was made up of names such as Sam Schultz, Raphael Gagne, Barry Wicks and other big names, however this silly move put me temporarily in 4th place. Of course it didn't last and I ended up getting passed by the entire group, however I fought my way to the tail of the group and clawed back into 9th position by the end of the race to close a relatively successful weekend of fat tire racing.
Next up, I am switching to the skinny tires to participate in the Tucson Bicycle Classic stage race starting this Friday. Until then, keep the rubber side down!

Retirement 1.0

In life one makes a lot of decisions, some more important than others, however a few weeks ago my wife and I made a decision that will truly change our lives, mine in particular.
It was September of 1999, when I walked into the headquarters of one of the largest retailers in the US for an inteview. This Friday, I am walking away from the same company with small box of belongins but most importantly, a long list of friends, an boat load of great stories and a universe of experience.
In my almost 12 year at Target, I had the opportunity to work with great people. People that taught me everything I know today; from the basics of how corporate america operates, work ethics and responsibility to overall working as a team.
While leaving all that behind it's hard, I am also excited to start a new adventure. One that not many people have had the opportunity to follow and one that I would forever be in debt with my wife for allowing me to do it.
Starting this Saturday, I will be focusing my entire time to training and racing my bike. I don't have a big team contract to support my dream or a winning lottery ticket. I just want to train long and hard to be able to race my bike more succesfully and see where that takes me. Is this crazy? Yes, it is...however I don't want to grow old wondering what it would have been like to give it a try.
Am I alone on this? Of course not, I have the complete support of my wonderful wife. That combined with the help from friends, family, team and sponsors gives me the confidence to go forward with it. Just time will tell what will happen.
On the other hand, I really think this blog would see a lot more updates as it becomes my main tool to keep my family, friends and sponsors up to date on my training and racing.

Thanks to all for the support and I look forward to seeing you out on the road, trail or race.
Until then, keep the rubber side down!

It's 23 days too late to start a New Year's resolution?

Well, it may be but I am still giving it a try. One of those resolutions was to give this old blog a face lift and keep it somewhat up to date. I kept putting off last year because I felt I had to recap everything I had missed earlier in the year which was a lot, but I'll try to cover that later.
For now I'll focus on 2011.
Three weekend into it and I have already a lot to recap.

We kicked-off the year with a night out with friends a Kokopelli Winery in Chandler. Great wine, great food and great people to start the year with.

Since "New" was the themed, I figure I'd start with some of the new things for year:

• New Team Names - Although a lot of my team mates are still the same we are all trying to get used to what our teams are called. On the dirt side of things last year's HammerHeadBikes.com crew added a few new names and change the title sponsor to BicycleWorld.TV. Look for us at any mountain bike race or trail near you. On the road the old Procon crew merged with Tribe to form the new Carlos O'Briens Racing P/B Tribe. Expect us an any road race, crit or TT near you.
• New Kits - Out are the worned out blue, green and white colors of Procon and grey, red and white of HammerHead. Green it's the new black...at least that's what every other team decided to do this year.
• New Bikes - Probably the part I am the most excited about. I finally caught up to the rest of the world and upgraded to the big wheels for off-road racing with a Niner Air 9 carbon made possible by Mike and Dave at IndustryBike.com. On the skinny wheels, I'll be rolling on an Cannondale Super Six courtesy of Kevin and folks at Tribe. Stay tuned for another post on set up details and pictures of each machine.

Ok, enough with new stuff for now.The first race of the season was just around the corner. 12 Hours of Papago would become the first test for the hours of training I've put under the close guidance of Coach Art. BicycleWorld.TV came out with first and second place in the 4-man competition. I felt good during my laps and ended up logging the fastest lap of the event.

A week later my wife completed one of her long time goals by completing a full marathon. I rode alonside of her for about 2/3 of the course and even on the bike it felt like a long way. I am very proud of my running lady and the time and effort she put into making it happen. Her time was 5 hours and 13 min. Her next goal is to run at least one marathon per year.

Then this past weekend was the first event of the Mountain Bike Association of Arizona (MBAA) as well as the first event on the AZ Cycling (road) calendar.

The mountain bike race took place at McDowell which is the traditional season opener. I ended up winning the pro race, my first at an MBAA event if you don't count the points Championship from last year. I'll write a complete recap of that. Here is the podium picture with Zack Keller (3rd) fellow teammate Tom O'Brien and I.

On the road things didn't start so well. I have been fighting a cold for a few days and although I was able to get through it the day before at McDowell, during the Avondale crit my lungs refused to work. I skipped the 30+ race and lined up for the Cat 2/3 race. I felt OK at the beginning and even chased a break early on the race, however about 25 minutes into the race my breathing became really labored then I started coughing. After a lap of so of this I decided it wasn't going away and better pull off the race.

For the next few weeks the plan is to get rid of this illness and continue training smart. However one of the weekends includes a non-cycling trip to Durango for some fun in the snow.

I hope to continue updating on a regular basis. I guess Facebook has taken away a lot of my time and effort to post, but I like the idea of keeping the rolling journal to look back at how things went.

Until next post...keep the rubber side down!