The cast of our team named 3 Pros and a Con included Art, Gary, Daniel and myself however the real celebrity was the SNOW that greeted us as we arrived at the event on Friday. We left rainy Phoenix in the morning and things just got colder and slushy as we got to the town of Oracle, just north of Tucson.
The snow and rain made the roads pretty interesting. For the first time in a while I got a chance to use the 4WD on the Matrix which was covered in mud by the time we reach the venue.
Later that afternoon the snow and rain stopped for a while which allowed great views of the nearby Catalina Mountains. Walking around the venue was still a mess and a pair of knee-high rubber boots would have been a way better choice over my orange crocs!
With temperatures dropping as soon as the little bit of sun we had went down, we all huddle inside the RV to stay warm, eat and play games. Wendy, Dan, Norma, Jason and Art discuss how to spend the money they have just earned playing "Who wants to be a Millionaire- 24 HR Town edition."
Saturday morning we woke up to more snow and colder temps. At least the snow hides the mud that covers the Matrix, although I had not seen the Matrix covered in snow since Jan. of 06 when I left Minnesota.
Thankfully by 11 am when I started the warm up prior to the noon race start, the snow had melted and the sun had come out to provide some needed warmth. Several layers were still needed while on the bike, including triple gloves (liner, rubber glove, insulated glove). Also notice the duct tape work on the shoes. It was bound to be wet and muddy so I wanted to keep my toes warm and my shoe straps tight. Anyway it didn't work, the duct tape fell off even before the LeMans start.
Where is Waldo??? This is the front line of the LeMans start. From here we ran about 1/4 of a mile to our bikes.
I got nominated to do the first lap of our team and therefore to do the run. So I got two running exercises the week before and that was it. It worked though, by the time I got to my bike, I was in the top 10 already. My legs were hurting and my heart rate was way up but I made it...
...now I just had to ride 17 miles as hard and fast as I could, over big puddles of water and soft terrain and navigating around thousands of cacti. Luckily everything went well and by the time I reached this rock downhill section towards the end of the lap, I was only the second racer to go by.
Art completed the second leg, while Gary and Dan completed our first rotation. Just before dark I went out for a second lap and the trail was getting faster, not to mention the desert sunset made things interesting.
Through the rest of the race we hovered between 4th and 6th place even through the night. Here I am getting ready for my 3:00 AM lap when the temps were near freezing. A light coat of frost covered the trail and made some areas really slippery.
At around 8:00 AM on Sunday, I went out for my fifth and last lap of the race. With a tacky trail, lower traffic and the motivation of being the last lap; I was hoping this would be a fast lap. 
I put an extra effort onto this lap and turned my fastest lap time of the event, just over 1:05. It felt pretty good to go down that rock on the last lap.
In the end we scored a respectable 8th place in the Open 4-person male category. There were over 130 teams in this category, including the pro's from the KONA Bikes Team. Talking about famous, a friend found a picture of me on Cyclingnews.com. Here is the link to it: http://www.cyclingnews.com/mtbphotos.php?id=/photos/2008/feb08/24hroldpueblo/pueblo109
All in all, a great weekend of racing. I could have done without the rain, the snow and the cold but we survived. Now I am glad this week is a recovery week with light training.
Next up is the MBAA #3 at Estrella.
Pura Vida!
Jeff
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