Form vs Condition

I know this blog has been lacking updates lately. My computer has been acting up, I barely manage to get an update in Spanish and publish it then goes down. Not much racing going all, or at all. In fact the last time I put a number on was back on June 29th at Flagstaff. There's been tons of training, in fact so much that I'll just do a photo recap...here it goes:
- I went to Minnesota for work. Didn't race, but got a chance to support Beto and Gregorio and watch them suffer riding up Stairway to Heaven in Red Wing....or using the singlespeed granny gear up it:

- Drank and gave beer hand offs at the Thursday night race in Buck Hill.- Came back from Minnesota, then headed straight to Durango, Colorado with this gang:- Rode at least 3 hours every day, some two a days and one final 6.5 hour day. First ride, I left my front wheel at home. We still rode a little later that day down Steven's Creek near the house we stayed at.
- The next day was a Procon + Wilson ride around Dry Fork then over to Horses Gulch for the second part of the day.- Third day we rode on the road to Durango Mtn Resort (Purgatory) then rode Hermosa Creek trail back to town. No camera that day, the trail was pretty wet at the top.
- Fourth day was recovery day, however I still went for a second ride up Haflin Trail. Warning, this is not a MTB trail. I hike-a-bike a lot then turn around after just an hour of climbing but I was dead tired afterwards.
- Last day, Art Jay and I headed for Kennenback Pass, except we missed the turn off by 20 miles...yes, 20. Jay bailed while Art and I headed up for an epic day. We reach the top of the pass just shy of 12000 ft then headed back down via Colorado trial ...which is NOT all downhill.
- Got back from Durango and back to real life, then headed up to Mt Ord on Saturday with the Bob's (LaRoche and Pongrantz), Jonathan and Norma. We did 1.5 climbs then called it a day. A day of more than 7000 ft of climbing.

Jonathan on his way up Mt Ord.

- The next day we rode the McDowell Mtns. I bailed before Sunrise and met with Norma on Permberton.

Norma at the top of Mt Ord a un poco mas de 7500 pies de altura.

- The rest of the rides have been on the road or on Desert Classic.
Now the question is I am in form. The condition part should have been achieved with the long rides now it's matter of resting to get the form.We'll find out next Thursday when AMC start. By the way, the list of notables in the Elite class keeps growing....JHK, Bishop, Tim Allen and now fellow Costarican Manny Prado off his third place finish at Leadville just behing Lance Armstrong. Then there is me!

The bike has also had to get in form. After spending more than 8 hours in the garage this weekend with temps above 100 here are the upgrades:
- New Tires. I finally decided to go with Maxxis Ignitor 1.95 Tubeless
- New bottom bracket XTR.
- New gear cables and housing.
- New brake pads. Two pairs, one metal, one resin.
- New chain. SRAM 991.
- New rear suspension bushings.
- And lastly, for a more comfortable bottom and Selle Italia SLR saddle.Monday was the big gear test, riding on gravel roads around Maricopa. On Tuesday I tested it at Desert Classic. Except for some minor adjustments to air pressure and cable tension, everything is working well.
This weekend I plan to do a final tune up ride to dial in the nutrition and hydration plan for the race.
Now back to the Olympics programing.....

Pura Vida!