Adventure Ride

Summer in the Sonoran Desert here in Tucson often means monsoon. If you are lucky that is. In a good year we get about 12 inches of rain, but most of it comes in a few storms in July and August and December and January. I have been riding the 30 minute commute to work lately and decided early in the week to go riding after work on Wednesday out to Fantasy Island (http://www.mountainbikebill.com/AZ07TucsonFantasy.htm) a cool local trail system. Rain was predicted for Wednesday, but I wasn't worried, since rain is often predicted but rarely comes. So Wednesday after work rolls around and I am still ready to go ride. I look to the south and the east and see dark skies, but figure I can miss it. You see south and east are the direction I need to head. So I start out and can see and feel the storm coming, but I still figure I can make it. It was probably 20-30 mph wind I was riding into, so I thought good it will increase fitness. After about 30 minutes with 15 minutes still to go the the trail head it starts to get serious with lightning and more rain, but I figure the storm and I are headed in the opposite direction and we'll pass each other. Yeah, that's what will happen.

I was mostly correct. I got a bunch of rain, but missed most of the lightning. Some of it was really close, but luckily I missed any flash flooding. By the time I get to the trail head it is raining lightly, but there is a lot of lighting and the promise of more rain. I decide to press on. About 5 minutes in I get a feeling that I was a engaged in a bad idea and something bad was going to happen. As such, I decided to turn around and head home. I hate to cut a ride short, but I have learned to trust such feelings. I found out later why. About 15 minutes later it really started to rain and my tire went flat. I thought, 'no problem' I have two spares. Well it was a problem, neither would hold air and it really started to rain while I worked on it. So great, I have a 45 minute ride home now with a flat front tire. I try to call my wife several times to see if she can come get me, but the call won't go through. Seems the storm has moved on over to our house. She told me later there was a ton of lightning and rain at the house when I was trying to call. She was worried about me, but figured since I didn't call, things were OK. They were, but it was a long ride home in intermittant rain and lightning.

Only one mishap. As you well know, a flat tire rides decently in a straight line, but doesn't turn so well. Most of the ride was on a bike trail, but small portions were on road. Well on one of the road portions I caught the rim on a asphalt curb transition and went down on my right side. Nothing too serious and I slid a ways on the wet sidewalk, but I did re-cut my knee that was injured at the Sandia race a few weeks ago. Not a major set-back, but it hurts a little bit to bend and the flesh gets stretched. Alls well that ends well. Besides the flat it was a great ride. When it rains to rarely it is super fun to get out and cruise around in it.

So go out and have an adventure ride yourself.

PAIN CAVE

I traveled to Albuquerque the the other weekend for what turned out to be a pretty brutal, but awesome bike race at the Sandia Peak ski area. As you can see from the shot to the left I managed to put my knee into the ground pretty well. I actually lost some flesh on that one, but that was the least of my problems. Continuing the theme: 'Racing at Altitude Hurts' it was a high altitude suffer fest.

The race consists of two loops of a 16 mile course. 8.5 miles up and 7.5 miles down. The climbs took me 1.25 hours and the descent takes about 20 minutes. Serious climbing. It starts at about 7,500 feet of elevation and goes to 10,678 feet. That is high, and the air is notably thin to the likes of me. It was awesome to race on the green, but man it hurt.

The course climbs between grassy ski runs and pine tree forests. Completely gorgeous and luckily cooler in the trees and higher up. Basically it was awesome, but really, really hurt. The altitude put some serious pain on me. To give persepective, it took me 3.5 hours to cover the 32 miles. A similar distance at an Arizona race takes me around 2:10 or 2:15. Wow, that is a big time diferential, so it gives a sense of the immensity of the climb and how steep and tough it is.

Awesomely, I came in 6th which I think was me best finish of the season.

There are a few more New Mexico races coming up next month. Hope I can improve on my finish.

One last shot taken just after the race. It sums up pretty well how I felt.........

Summer has arrived

Hi, Greetings from the heart of summer here in Tucson. It has been over 100 deg. F for most of the past two weeks. That means it has been hot. I can hang with it till about 105, then it really gets to me. The other problem has been that it has also been humid getting ready for the monsoon. That means I am twice as drained. Mostly menas you need to learn from the lizard. Lay low during the day and be active from dusk till dawn. Only problem here is that I need to do stuff during the day and sleep at night. Good think dawn comes early here. In Arizona we don't do day light savings time, so the sun is up around 5:30am or sooner. And then it is hot by 6:30 or 7:00 so that getting up takes on some extra urgency to avoid extreme heat stress and dehydration. My person favorite is getting dehydrated.

So inspite of the obstacles, I have actually gotten out and ridden quite a bit lately. Something interesting about being out there early and alone in the heat. Kind of fun. I've even gotten some intervals in. That is hard though, because I am usually so thirsty by the time I get home I end up spending the next four hours drinking constantly to try to catch up. Mind you I ride with a 100 oz Camelbak and usually drink though that after two and a half hours. There is an interesting article in the latest Bicycling about the differing technology approaches of various teams competing in the Tour de France. Allen Lim with Garmin talks about how much energy is used to stay cool and that to speed recovery you need to cool down quickly after riding. I usually hop right in the shower with only the cold water on. It works OK, but the water isn't really cold. It is ground temperature so it is coolish, refreshing but certainly not cold. I am considering how to build an ice vest to aid cooling my core down. It hasn't been perfected yet. Maybe soon.

Speaking of Rodale press, the last issue of Mountain Bike had a review of the GT FORCE CARBON. http://www.bicycling.com/gear/detail/0,7989,s1-16-84-2212-0,00.html They like it a great deal. Doesn't surprise me, since my Marathon Carbon is fantastic and I imagine the Force is more of a good thing. I am considering if I need one. I would love to see how it rails around the local trails.

till next time

Flagstaff Finale

The last race of the Arizona Series was this past Saturday up in Flagstaff, AZ. Great riding up there at 7,000 feet. Up there being the operative word here. The course was on the Dry Lake Hills and Ft. Valley Trail systems, in the Coconino National Forest. This is easily the best race course of the entire series. Just fantastic riding and super fun. Technical descents, long climbs, twisty single track, it had it all.

The race started at an hour early at 10:30 AM to avoid the expected heat, but it was cool around 70, unlike in years past. It was still the right decision with what the course had to offer. I got the GT tent set up at the entrance to the venue next to the kids race course. Great location:

I was really hoping for a top 5 for the last race of the series. I positioned myself on the front line before the start and felt pretty decent. I had felt horrible the whole week before, so this was a relief. Once we got started I was able to sprint into the lead which I know would be short lived. It was an uphill start into the wind, so others were happy to let me lead. Then once it turned away from the wind I was swarmed and passed by 3 people before the first single track that lead to a rock desecent then a slight uphill to an even longer uphill. After the single track there was a fire road climb. I'm unsure of the distance, but it was about 45 minutes of climbing at that point in and out of the sun. Even thought it was cool, I was sweating pretty heavily. I felt descent, but couldn't bridge up to those ahead of me. Unfortunatley everyone wanted top 5 this race. After the climb there was long off camber descent with big drops. The Marathon Carbon ate it up with ease. Man that bike just rips descents. I was able to pass the guy ahead of me, and make up a place, but there was another hour of racing to come. There were more climbs and more descents, but I never made contact with the leaders again. I actually started to feel strong toward the end, but I didn't have enought left to make to the top five. I had to settle for 10th. A bit of a disappointment, but I guess that's racing. I did the best I could, and that is how it shook out. I need to find some more long climbs to train on to prepare for some more high altitude races later this season.

Wish me luck with my training, because I really want that top five somewhere......

White Cycling Shoes - Redux

I got my new pair of white cycling kicks this week. What can I saw, they are WHITE! Wow, I was a little surprised when I opened the box and they were just so, so, WHITE. But it's what I said I wanted so no backing down now. As you can see I decided upon the Sidi Dragon. They fit very well and are comfortable, so that is awesome. They are also a bit dirtier then this picture indicates, so that is good too. I'm excited to have them for the race next weekend. It is the final in the Arizona Series and in Flagstaff again. Different course, but more similar to the Flagstaff Frenzy of a few weeks ago. I'm glad it wasn't today. I felt pretty tired when I rode today, so hopefully I will be feeling more energetic next week. ..... we shall see.

RACE #3

Ah Flagstaff, what a great place to race. Race #7 of the Arizona Series (http://www.mbaa.net/), the Flagstaff Frenzy occured May 16th. The race went great for me, but I still only came in 7th. I would have liked to do better, but that is how it goes.

Check out the cool rorshach test I ended up with on my chest due to all mysweating during the race:

So back to the race. I had the best start of the year so far. I was on the front row, and this made a much bigger difference then I thought. I usually start in the back row and end up on the back of the back by two minutes in. Guess what, when you start in the front, you can be in 2nd or 3rd spot two minutes in. Interesting how that works. I will need to be up front from now on. It was a climb intensive course, and that usually works well for me. I was in 5th spot at the top of the major climb at the end of the first of two laps.

Let me just say that the Marathon Carbon is a comblete monster on the downhills. I am just amazed at how good it is. It has taken my descending to a new level. That said, you still need to properly tighten your stem for it not to come loose on a descent. I hit a big rock and the stem went sideways on me. Not as bad as it could have been, but a bit distracting, and it caused me to loose a few spots that I was able to recapture on the long climb on the second lap, but it would have been nice to have not lost those spots. Mental note, make sure all the bolts are tight before the next race. So besides the stem that has nothing to do with the frame, the GT Marathon Carbon is completely awesome.

Well there is another race up in Flag in a few weeks and I hope to do better at it. I know the bike won't let me down, hopefully I will have my climbing legs on. Thanks for reading!

Race #2

The race up east of Payson Arizona, the "Mogollon Masher", went down this past saturday. When my wife and I got up to leave at 5:30am in Tucson it was 72deg.....It was a four and half hour drive to the race venue so we got started. It was hot all up to Phoenix and we even had to run the a/c on the road up before Payson. However, once we got to Payson it cooled considerably due to the altitude. By the time we got to the course and the race started it was 58deg. This was great for me, since I perform much better in the cool then the heat, however not great for my wife to spectate, since we had worn shorts, but luckily she somehow thought to bring a jacket.

We arrived about an hour before the start and I was able to convince a course marshall to set up the tent right next to the entrance to the venue. This worked out great and all the racers had to pass the GT tent on their way to the start. Sweet. I got to talk to some nice folks about how great my bike was and handed out some brochures to interested fellow racers.

Interesting course. Mostly flat, but some deceptive actually climbing involved. I heard about 500 feet per lap. Not terribly technical and definitely a power course. Funny thing was that since the snow up there has only recently melted, there were two stretches of mud/ standing water to ride through. So, 9 mile loops with probably 20 feet of mud each lap, and yet somehow the bike and I got completely covered in mud. Cool, it is the Dirt Coaltion afterall.

The race went pretty well, and I gauged my effort well and arrived at the finish line 7th. I actually out sprinted a guy who came in a few seconds later. It was a tough up hill sprint, but I dug deep and took it. Very satisfying indeed. I really want to get on the podium, and I think I need to work on my start. I am always back of pack in the first quarter mile and then move up from there. I can't tell how important the first minute is in a 2 plus hour race, but I would like to be faster out of the blocks.

Thanks for reading