Jackpot

Eighty five dollars = 1st place Flagstaff Finale

One hundred seventy five dollars = Arizona Pro Female State Champ

And I did it on my big wheels.

Thank you Vassago.

I REALLY love my bike

Here it is. The latest addition to the family. Thank you Misty and the team at Vassago. This is the reason why flatting at Estrella was such a bummer. It was my first race on my new Optimus Ti.

I've only had it for about 2 weeks and it's morphed quite a bit already. We (I mean Zach) just swapped everything over from my last year's race bike. I originally had Zach's velocity's but just went out for a ride on MY new wheelset (I deserve new stuff too, right?). I can not believe I rode these handlebars all last season!!??? That's what I call "Zach style."

Here's what it looks like now. I'm still not sure where I want the stem. Might try further down.

12 Hours of McDonalds

My new race strategy was a success! Over the last few years I have stuggled with forcing myself to eat all the way through races like this. Endurox and EAS shakes get old after a while. Too many gels bunge up my tummy. So this race I decided I was going to get something that I love and crave often and nutritionally might not be too bad for an event like this. Before the race Sara picked me up 15 McDonalds hamburgers (7 with cheese). Most laps I ate one burger, 1 hammer gel, 1 bottle of Gatorade, and 1 bottle of water. I never had any problems with cramping or fatigue through the whole race. I usually ate my burger on the road section at the end the lap. People look at you kind of funny when you pass them eating McDonalds.

During my first 7 hours I felt great. The last 5 hours were good but there were some soreness issues. The issues during the race were not my butt. My issues were my shoulders and forearms getting really sore from the "Rocky Bitch" a pretty long gnarly rocky section that I am still trying to forget about. All my other problems were mental. I got a little freaked out over the course of I think laps 9 and 10. Over those two laps I saw 2 rattle snakes, a bat that flew after my lights for about a half of a lap (while I screamed like a litte girl), and a freaky old man wondering around in the dark. These things had kind of messed with my focus.

Tom was just the opposite of me. During the 1st half of his race he didn't feel that great and also broke a chain. Somewhere around 7 hours in he caught me and kept going. I don't how he rode 12 hours on a SS at this course.

I ended up winning the 12 Hour Geared category and Tom took 1st in the 12 Hour SS. We were the only two solo 12 Hr racers to finish 12 laps. We both could have gone out for lap 13 but we both decided against it.

Here are the RESULTS

Our team had some great results in other categories also.

I have to thank my lovely wife Sara and Misty from Vassago for the support and helping me through the race. I never even had to even leave the course.

Here are pictures from the race.

LeMans start.












Heading into and out of the feed zone.






















Tom















Camp.

































Sleeping arrangements and pit crew.

New Clothes

I should have gotten the Noirs but when I ordered I wasn't planning on putting the new stuff on the Sycip.
















Still need to add the juicy's but I'm waiting for a bleed kit for the front.

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)

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.

The Fisher and Bob

Wow, this is getting bad. I'm writing on Thursday about our Sunday ride.

We were meeting Robert at Granite at 7:30. We were a little late. It was hectic trying to get out of the house that morning for some reason. We were very unorganized. I had unpacked Zach's jersey from the Element, so we had to go back and get one for him, and I was riding a new bike. The front rotor was rubbing the brake and we needed to grab the right tools so we could fix it at the trail.

We finally made it Williamson Valley Trailhead and met young Ian (the 21 year old) who was joining the ride also. Didn't know what to make of him, he was in a cotton t-shirt with a Top Fuel. The ride was fun, not super hard, I was glad. I was recovering from the Skull Valley Loop ride from the day before. We stopped alot and chatted. Ian was struggling up the long climb on the way out. Turns out Ian is coaching track at one of the Prescott High Schools and is working on his Physical Education degree! He has been running, but bought the Fuel this summer in hopes of getting back into biking.

This ride was especially exciting for a few reasons. Number 1: I have had the Procaliber for 2 months now. Before we moved, Zach became obsessed with getting me a full suspension race bike. He figured I would get more use out of a second full suspension bike in Arizona, versus keeping 2 steel hard tails. He wanted me to get rid of the salsa to come up with the cash for the new bike (I would have preferred keeping the salsa and getting a new bike, but that wasn't in the cards). So we did it; he found a buyer and ordered the Procaliber. It arrived at Sumbaum's just a few days before we left, so we left it in the box for the move out. Zach built it up in the first few days we were here, but I wanted to get used to the riding out here before taking it out. Plus they forgot to pack the little metal crank arm end protector things. With the way the rest of my crank arms look, I wasn't going to ride it until I picked up a set of those.

The point of all of this is that I had not realized what a freaking awesome bike I had, sitting there waiting for me. The fit is great and the components are incredible!! Check it out. I haven't been this excited over a bike since the Sycip. There are a few minor adjustments I need to make. The pressure in both shocks is too high, and my shrimpy thumb has a hard time reaching the lockout. I think I just need to slide the shifters and the lockout towards the grips a little. Wow, what a bike.

The second cool thing about this ride was that we met a few new people and saw the California group (Peggy, Pete - the 65 yr old, and Jim) at the trailhead. It was neat to run into people that we have met before. Towards the end of the ride, Robert and Zach took the more technical way back to the parking lot (the trail where I smacked my knee cap) and Ian and I took the more tame, haul-ass way back. A rider that Zach and I had spotted on two other occasions followed Ian and I. His name is Bob Berry. You can tell by looking at Bob that he rides a ton. He's on a carbon Trek hardtail that is just beat to crap. I don't know how it's still ridable. He just moved here from Tahoe (Mike, his remarks mirrored yours - loved it out there, but his job didn't work out). Bob was finishing up a 35 mile off road loop. Not too bad for a Sunday morning before getting back to his family. After talking to him for a few minutes, I'm thinking - this is the guy that Zach has too hook up with to ride. Zach has had a hard time finding someone that his looking for the same.....abuse... that he is. We may have found a good suffer partner in Bob.