Friday

Let's start out with the "after" picture.
Does Zach look like he's about 50 in this picture or what???

Friday morning I drove into work. The boys had breakfast out, then went to pick up the bike Adam was renting for the race. From there they went to ride the 305.



We all met back at the house for a little pasta dinner. We had to leave soon for packet pickup, but before we left we had time for some sinus maintenance. A first time neti pot experience for Adam.
We finally made it downtown for packet pickup and the 8:30pm rider meeting. Saw some familiar faces and found Christina too. Cruised home right after the race for a restless night's sleep.

Thursday ride

After building Mike's bike, the 3 of them went out for a ride from the Little Granite trailhead. Not a course I would choose 2 days before a 50 mile mountain bike race, but I was working that day.

Here's the Garmin data.



There was only one option for dinner. We went out for Mexican to a place Zach and I have not been yet. It was good.

(This is the before shot)

The Great Moustachio

What the?

Prescott Punisher, Race 6, April 19

Our first ever hometown race. Although there were many events that were essentially in our backyard (DORC, Yorkville Century, Joliet Sudden Century and 4th of July Ride) back in Illinois, we never had a race right in good ole Plainfield.

We were psyched and wanted to help the race support crew out where we could. We started with trail maintenance that was held a week before the race. The plan was to move some downed trees that were left from recent logging in one of the first sections and then ride the course and trim as we rode. I was happy with that plan as I had preridden the course on Thursday the 17th and left that night hating it. For the last few years, the race has been held at the Alto Off Road Vehicle Pit up off of Iron Springs Road. It's miles and miles of rolling, well-banked double track through the pines. Nothing technical at all. The difficulty of the course is the short steep ups and downs as you climb a thousand feet. The short climbs are just long enough that your momentum does not take you up and over. The downhill sections could be fun but it's so dry right now that the layer of decomposed granite makes it feel like you are on a sheet of ice.

I needed to build confidence, so Zach and I went back Friday night for 1 lap and then we each rode a few after trail maintenance on Saturday.

We were excited for this weekend to roll around because Tim and Elizabeth were headed up. They arrived Friday afternoon and started off with a ride up 305. It was Elizabeth's first official mountain bike ride!!! I was impressed. It sounded like they had a great time. After that we all met up at Alto - Zach and I to help set up and Tim wanted to preride. It was a gorgeous afternoon. Later it was back to the house for a quick pasta dinner (Tim, the ex-chef, helped me finish making dinner - wow, did he make it look so easy. Oh, and I should mention that Elizabeth also helped - she washed and cut the broccoli). After that it was off to bed.

We were back at Alto before 7; Christina and Eric pulled in just shortly after us. Zach helped with some last minute set up and I started getting ready. 8:35 quickly rolled around and we were off. Jennifer and Christina were fast off the start. Linden passed me shortly after the start as did Heidi, which was not good. She's the roadie; this is her first year mountain biking. I needed to be in front of her for the decents, but I was hurting already and just needed to be patient. I fumbled on the last climb before we were dumped out into the big pit area and had to push my bike up a second and then hop back on.

I hit the fun downhill section and saw Christina and Heidi ahead. Christina easily zoomed past Heidi. I made my move at the sharp right at the bottom. Once we started moving up the climbs though, she flew past me again. I hunkered down and prayed for that next downhill section to come quick.

Somewhere in that next section of climbing I caught Christina and tried to get in a few encouraging words as I rode by in between my gasps for air. It seemed like we were both hurting.

It took some time before I caught Heidi. Sure enough she was in front of me for the decents. I remember following her through the fun whoopties that lead into the nice left hand banked turn. It was on a short downhill just beyond that, she let up for a second and let me by. Once I got by I knew I needed to put some time in between us.

After that I just tried to stay focused on the trail, and on the third and final climb up "the wall," I caught Linden, who rides a Soulcraft ss. She had to push it up that one.

I was done in an hour and forty-three minutes. A short race, but it hurt pretty bad.

Zach and Tim were up next, both starting at noon. They both looked good as they went by. Elizabeth had her first successful feed zone handoff and Zach did not yet have buttmouth.

Zach had a great day, he finished third in his age group and if I remember right, Tim finished seventh. I took first on the Sycip.

Here's a few pictures.

The start area.
Standing near the finish line.....looking through the trees you can see a short level section before the last sketchy decent that leads into the last climb up to the finish..
Tim finishing up.
Zach after the race.

This is the first fun downhill section and where we moved the downed trees. The CATs that the loggers used really churned up the ground. I'm told that section used to be hard packed and sweet.

Baby blue

The new background color was stolen from Baby Blue, in honor of Mike and Adam's upcoming trip to Prescott. I wonder what kind of awards they will get for winning first and second place in the Whiskey 50.

Eighty

It was over eighty degrees today!

Fountain Hills NMBS (MBAA Race #5) April 6

Back down to Fountain Hills we headed Saturday morning, for the last Phoenix area race of the MBAA series. It also happened to be #2 in the NMBS series. Other than Sea Otter and Chequamegon, this was going to be the biggest race I've competed in. I started racing WORS and the good ole Gussy races in 2000, but had never made it to a Norba nat'l. Zach did the one that was the big mudfest at Alpine back in '02 or '03.

We were trying to make it down on Saturday in time to watch Tim's race that started at 8, but we couldn't get going early enough. We saw him and Elizabeth on the way back to their car right after the race. Tim flatted, but he changed it and finished.

We hung out with Christina and her teammates for a while and then watched one of the Expert Men's short track races. We were planning on staying to watch the Pro short track races that were scheduled for later that evening, but the sun and wind drained us. We drove over to Christina's and Zach helped her tune and clean her bike.

We walked to dinner and were in bed by about 9pm. I'm glad, I was wiped.

We were on the road by 5:30 Sunday morning. Quick stop for some pancakes and we arrived at McDowell before 7. We had plenty of time to do last minute bike checks and find someone who was willing to do water hand offs for us.

Christina and I went and warmed up together; we probably started too soon. We were mulling around for about 20 minutes too long after the warm up and before our race. Man, those last few minutes seem to drag on forever.

As we got in line behind all of the other waves, we noticed the promoters were calling riders up. Ahh, of course, they are calling up those riders that were participating in the stage race. I felt kinda wimpy for not doing the super D but it was Friday night and I had to work that day. Anyway, I wasn't planning on not having a front spot at the start. Luckily, Michelle Peariso, had been called up and squeezed to her left to let me fit in. Thank you Michelle! Christina, unfortunately, was in the second line, so stayed right behind me. If Michelle held her line, Christina would be able to follow me out. And I think that's what happened.

We heard the go and I had a great start. Took the lead and held it for the first mile maybe. I didn't look back, but I knew I had a couple of riders right on my tail. Finally I heard the 'on your left' and was passed by a Twin Six rider. She held a good pace, so I just stayed on her wheel. There was a decent wind, so I thought it might help. The beginning of the course was rolling hills with nice sweeping turns. Nothing technical or rocky, but there were a few sections with some pretty bad breaking bumps. It was on the second or third section we hit that I lost my only water bottle. Crap. We are only maybe 2 miles into the course and I hadn't taken one sip of that bottle!!! Ahhh!! I kept reminding myself that I drank alot that morning and thought about how Christina had mentioned to me once that it's good to end a race slightly dehydrated vs fully hydrated. Okay, with the way I sweat, I can do that.

After maybe another mile or two, the Twin Six girl's pace started to slow, so the first chance I had to make a safe pass I took it. I didn't hear whether the other riders followed though. From that point on, I was trying to make sure I had clean passes and rode smart. The course was freaking fast. Not alot of climbing and only a few really rocky sections. There were a few dry, sandy creek crossings that you could easily sink into if you didn't ride it right.

I spotted the paved road that winds along side the park at one point and made the mistake of thinking I was close to the end of the 10 mile course. Wrong! It really wasn't super far, but it felt like it. I opened a gel somewhere close to the end of the lap and dreamed of my bottle hand off.

I pedaled through the venue and saw Laura ahead. Gave her a wave and then reached down and gave my cage a push; I didn't want to lose another bottle in that same spot.

I started my second and last lap and continued to pass a 60+ expert male or one of the younger women every now and then.

I got in a few good gulps occasionally and thought about how I put too much powder in my bottle. I would have preferred plain water. Oh well. I was about half way through the lap and was putting the bottle back in the cage. One split second later and the bottle was on the ground!!! Arggghhh!! HOW DID I DROP MY BOTTLE! I only drank about two thirds of it!!! There was no way I was going back for it. Let the cramping begin. Luckily I only felt one ping in my left quad. Nothing major. I finished off the lap and pushed it the last few 100 meters. When I crossed I knew I had won my age group, but didn't know how I did overall.

I saw Christina cross and went to search for something to drink. Caught up with her in just a minute and she had second place!! Awesome.

We went and watched the men finish their third lap. Zach passed a couple of people in the last stretch!


After cleaning up and checking for results that weren't posted yet, we went to watch the pro women line up. Wow, was it awesome. So many fast women there. And a few from the midwest - Jenna, Megan Monroe, Kyia. Although we were chuckling a little.... Were the umbrellas a bit much? And they shortened the pro's laps by 1. So pro women and expert women both did 2, and pro men and expert men both did 3. And they did it because of the heat!!?? What the heck. I very vividly remember a WORS race at 9 mile a few years back. It had to be upper nineties that day with humidity in the nineties also. It was a miserable day. Yesterday's high was in the eighties and the air is so dry here that your sweat actually has a cooling effect. I couldn't believe it. But the nice part about the shortened number of laps was that we were all able to compare our times with the pros.


We stayed for the whole women's race. Watched them pass by on their way to start their second lap. And yes, Rachael, I was a total star f.er and took a picture of almost everyone as they rode by. :)

The Twin Six ladies that raced expert were doing handoffs right in the same area as us. They were all in from Denver and call themselves Yeti Beti. They were all stoked to be racing so early in the season and to be hanging out in some nice warm weather. They were fun to talk with. They couldn't say enough about summertime riding in Crested Butte. Hhmm.....

We hung around to watch the awards and then to see the pro men go off. Another exciting thing to see. I took a couple of shots of their start also. Just kept pushing the button as many times as the camera would let me and check out who I ended up getting!! Right smack in the center of the picture.




It turned out to be a great weekend. Zach finished second in his age group, I grabbed first in my age group and overall in xc, and Christina finished second in age and 4th overall.

Next we are staying local for the Prescott Punisher (MBAA race) on the 19th and then the Whiskey Off Road on the 26th! It's a busy month.

Sedona ride

Last Sunday Christina and I joined the Arizona Luna Chix on a ride that started at the Bike & Bean in Sedona. It was part of Alison Dunlap's clinic weekend.

It was a fun ride and the Bike & Bean hosted a BBQ after....Free food and free (good) beer. What more can you ask for. Met some cool women and we got a few good tips from Alison (cornering) and Joell (decending).

And yes, Christina and I were nerds and had Zach take a picture of us with Alison.

A big bite

Wow, what a weekend. Friday night Zach and I both got home around 3:30. We sat out on the deck and had a beer or two. We made dinner (not a good idea for me after even one beer) and I sliced a nice chuck of skin almost off my left thumb.

Saturday morning we met Becker and Robert out on Copper Basin Rd. Our plans were to preride the 50 Proof. We quickly made our way to Camp Pearlstein Rd. It wasn't too long before we were winding our way up the fun singletrack switchbacks. I was not keeping up with the guys at all. My legs had nothing that day! It wasn't long into the ride before we started down a section that has some big water bars....which have never been my favorite. If I could just get past my fear, I would be much better off. So we're heading downhill, big water bars, lots of loose gravel, boulders, rocks. I felt like the bike was all over the place.

Unfortunately, Saturday was not my day. I was taking it pretty easy and tried to go right and stay up high around one of bars. Sometime during that maneuver things went all wrong. Of course it happened so fast. The bike came to screeching halt and my body was being launched forward towards a huge downed log that was on the right side of the trail. My neck landed against a small stubby branch and my chest landed on the log itself. Nice way to start out a 50 mile ride!

I got up and didn't see any blood, so I got back on my bike. I needed to catch up. A few pedal strokes and I noticed something did not feel right. Oh yeah, that handlebar that I steer with, that needs to be squared up with the bike, not angled off to the left. I was definitely shaken up from the fall, so instead of staying calm and trying to fix it myself, I yelled out "Zaacchhh, my handlebars are turned!!!" in a half cry, half screech sort of voice. Makes me laugh thinking about it.

He was already on his way back to me b/c I was taking so long. He fixed my bike, made sure I was okay, and realized at that point that he would not be getting the fast ride in that day that he had been hoping for. He stayed behind me for a while. After the downhill water bar section, the trail stayed fairly level as it wound around the side of the mountain...a nice singletrack section. Then we started heading uphill with a few more difficult waterbars. Eventually we were going back downhill, out of the trees now down a twisty fireroad that was littered with loose rocks and boulders. I had a hard time ever feeling like I was in control through this section. There was one, super steep, super washed out, super loose, super tight technical section. I got off and walked. At some point along this section, Steve flatted his rear tire. He hit a rock which sliced an inch long cut into it. It took a while before he could get it to hold air.

After that long downhill, we were dumped out onto a fairly smooth dirt road. A really nice canyon area, rolling but climbing the whole time. I think it was here that we crossed Copper Creek quite a few times. The end gets steep; a good indicator that you are close to reaching Copper Basin Rd again and the location of #1 and 3 aid stations. Here is the fun left hand turn, down to Skull Valley. The #2 aid station will be located at the bottom, which is where we turned around that day and climbed back up. We passed aid station 1&3 again and kept climbing all the way up to Sierra Prieta lookout.

With Steve's flat and my crash, we had already been out for 4 or 5 hours by that point, so we decided to bypass the last sections of the trail and take a shortcut back to the cars. Which was good....the way we took back was primarily downhill, with a few climbs here and there...and I could barely make it back!!! We ended up with 37 miles that day. How the heck am I going to do all 50????

Zach and Robert at the intersection of 53 and Copper Basin Rd. Getting ready to head down to Skull Valley.
Steve fixing his boot.
Me at the Prieta Outlook.

April Races

April is going to be a big month of racing. Tommorow we head to Pheonix for the Norba National. In two weeks is the Prescott MBAA series race and the weekend after is the Whiskey Off-Road also in Prescott. The Whiskey is 50 miles and nearly 7000 ft of climbing.

Rumor has it that a couple of Illinois stud ringers are making a special trip to AZ to win the Whiskey.