Prescott Punisher 2

It was upper 30s when my race started at 8:45!!! I ended up taking off the vest and just wearing arm warmers because I knew it would warm up.

We took off and this was the first race that I was out in front at the start. From there is was pretty much 2 hours and 16 minutes of pain and suffering. I seem to remember from last year that elevation change is over 1000 ft per lap. The course has grown on me though. I hated it the first time I rode it last year because the decomposed granite is like riding on glass and you can get going super fast on the downhills. But because it's normally an atv track, the turns are nice and burmed so you can take them pretty fast. Other than a dab on "The Wall" I had a clean race. I ended up in first with Jen in 2nd and Christina in 3rd.


We've got 3 races left in the series. Next up is Mogollon Masher and then we have 2 up in Flagstaff. It will be our first time riding the Mogollon course and the first Flagstaff course. Looks like the Flagstaff Finale is at the same park it was last year.

And just for fun, here's Tim showing off Zach's glasses with Elizabeth in the background.

Prescott Punisher

A great weekend with racing and no traveling. The Prescott race in the Arizona series was this weekend. Tim and Elizabeth came up on Friday and him and I went out to pre-ride the course. I love that I moved to a place where there are races in my home town. I probably rode the lap 15 times in the weeks before the race.

People either love or hate this course cause its is so different from everything else. I love it probably only because I am getting to know it so well. It is really a ATV course with a good amount of climbing. What really makes it difficult other than the climbs is that you have to pick good lines on the decents because of the ridges the quads make and that the granite type soil is pretty washy and loose.

I rode a good race with no issues. I rode with the same three guys most of the race with just one guy ahead of our little group. We were trading back between 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th. It was a lot of fun cause a couple of the guys are riders I'm starting to know pretty well and are great competitors in this series. During the 3rd lap Rob took off and looked pretty strong and we were not able to hold on. He held on for 2nd. During the last lap I made my move and got away on the beginning climb. I was able to hold and finished in 3rd.

Not sure why I look so confused on the podium. Maybe just eating left over GU out of my new stache.










Great to race in Prescott with everyone cheering us on!!!

Lots of fun hanging out with everyone after the race and a great dinner with Jeff, Vienna, Tim, and Elizabeth followed by some fun at the Raven!!!

Sara had another awesome race winning the women's pro division!!!

Nick

I've been busy and slacking a little on the blogs. It has been almost 2 weeks since Nick left. It was great having him here and to show him around Prescott and Sedona.

Here are some highlight pics


On the way to Sedona















St Pattrick's Day
























Hike Time

















Nick is actually up in the high cave













More celebrating and headed to the Bike n Bean for some refreshments




Again it was awesome having him!!!

Forgot....

To mention that Zach told Nick we would not pick him up from the airport unless he had grown a moustache. Can you see it??

Fat Camp Day 1

We picked up Nick on the way back from Fort Huachuca Saturday night. He is spending his spring break out here with us while we are on ours.

We started out Sunday with breakfast at the lake followed by a quick walk for the doodle. It was the first time we've seen these birds. Zach thought they were loons. There was one in the water and he'd dive down and stay under for what seemed like minutes. We had to walk right under this tree.

After that we packed up and headed over to Granite Mountain.

Based on his appearance, Zach and I were not expecting much of Nick. I was thinking we'd ride 347 (which is gradual, but rolling, climbing the entire way) from the Williamson Valley Trailhead then turn around and head back down. We ended up doing 347 to 348 and over to Mint Wash via 352. Rode thru Cayuse and up 349. Back to Cayuse up 346 and finally headed back down 347 to the car. I'm thinking we did around 15.5 miles. Not too bad for a kid from Illinois who's been riding once a week. And he's totally got the technical skills. Downhill, uphill. He was clearing everything. He'd just slow down a little (sometimes alot) on the climbs. To be honest, he was descending down stuff it took me a year to muster up the courage to do and he was climbing technical stuff that I still sometimes don't make. Brat.

At the top of 347, getting ready for our ride down.


We finished the day at the Brew Pub and Coyote Joes, but not before Nick cleared out with the neti pot.

Fort Huachuca

The 4th MBAA race was held at the army base, Fort Huachuca, in Sierra Vista, AZ (which is pretty close to Tombstone). We weren't super psyched to drive the 4.5 hours it was going to take us, but I needed to get this one in. Zach, the doodle and I got down there around 5pm Friday night. On the way I called my cousin Jim who has been stationed there for the last 5 months. Turns out he's on leave and out of town for a few weeks before moving on to his next assignment. Bummer.

We both squeezed in a preride of the black loop which we would each being doing 3 of the following day, followed by 1 red loop. I was glad we made it there in time. It was a pretty tough course and the preride allowed us to scope out the good lines. Lots of climbing and lots of rocks.

Race day temps were perfect. There was a little overcast and it was probably in the 60s. I ended up in first finishing in 2 hours and 6 minutes. The 29er climbed like a champ and made the scary descents super fun. Spring finished up in second, but had to cruise right after the race. She had Zach and I cracking up on Friday night.

Post race.



Here's the top 5 pro men. Man, these guys are fast. The Schultz bros, Tim Allen, Stefan Widmer, and TJ Woodruff.

Fat boy slim

In the house

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.

I've been waiting

for the day to come. IT'S FINALLY GONE!!!