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