The 305

This Past Month...

2009-08-25T19:44:00.011-07:00

So much has happened over the last month.

4 weeks ago

we spent my last week of summer before school in Sedona with Daryl and Melanie having some fun and quality creek time with the dogs

2 weeks ago

For Haven's Sake was a blast!!! Tom and Kim had everything nailed and the event ran like a well oiled machine. We raised a bunch of money for a great cause and a fun time was had by all.

Thanks again to everyone who volunteered, contributed, and attended!

Last Weekend

Camped and watched Sara and Tom race the St Mary's Food Bank race in Flagstaff.

Sara and Tom both finished in 2nd in the respective categories.

Also, Jeff, Norma, & Coco stayed with us Saturday night cause Jeff was doing the Skull Valley Road Race on Sunday. Layla and Coco got to have round 2 of their weekend's play. Here is Layla after they rolled in the dirt for hours in Flag.

As of late, I'm just working on motivation to start riding again after some bloody pee, infections, and medication battle.

Really?

2009-07-25T15:29:00.003-07:00

10 years of marriage!

Good thing he didn't kiss me for the first time with that nasty moustache!

Prescott 12 Hours at Night

2009-07-21T16:41:00.007-07:00

Tom, Tom, and Kim drove up this weekend for Prescott's inaugural 12 Hours at Night sponsored by GO Adventure Recreation. It was something new for me. I've never done a 12 hour race that was entirely at night. The race went from 8 pm Saturday till 8 am Sunday. Big thanks to Tom Ament industries for making me some ghetto lights to get me through the event. Tom makes awesome little lights that are super bright with long run times.

As we were getting ready for the race a storm started moving in. Here is me in deep thought looking at the lightning dancing around.

We got some pretty crazy lightning and wind for the first few hours but no rain. The weather added a little excitement.

Getting ready!!!

Starting the race I knew I had my work cut out for me cause I saw that Taylor Lideen a young up and coming endurance racer was there. I've raced with him before and he is super fast. We hit the first 5 laps pretty hard which didn't allow me to get any of my hamburgers consumed. So I was running on Gatorade, water, and GU for about the first 1/3 of the race. On the 6th lap Taylor put a little time on me but I was surprised to see him off the course and packing his car up at the end of the 6th lap. Turns out he had some stitches in his had that started to open up on him. So him dropping out allowed me to slow things down a little and get some solid food in me.
'
Anyway, It was the best 12 hour course I've ridden. It flowed nice and there was not any spots that I really hated. I'll be looking forward to this event next year.

I ended up winning the Men's Solo geared category with 15 laps and 135 miles. I have to thank Sara, Jeff, and Layla for the support. Would have been a lot harder without them.

Kim killed it on her first 12 hour race! She won the women's single speed category with 13 laps which would have been enough to take second in the men's single speed category

Great job to Tom Stack too for his 3rd place finish!!!

Haven's Benefit details

2009-07-14T19:00:00.007-07:00

Mark your calendars and check out the awesome flyer Kim made!
You can register ahead of time at BikeReg.com.
An event website has also been set up at forhavenssake.sports.officelive.com. From there you can register for the bike event, make direct donations, and find links to all of the businesses that have contributed to make this benefit happen!! You can read more about Haven and her fight here.

Event for Haven

2009-07-01T13:27:00.008-07:00

Sara and I will be helping Tom Ament in putting on a fundraiser event for a special little girl who is going through a very rough time.

Haven has been battling Neuroblastoma Cancer and ROHHAD. This link will give you details on what Haven and her family are going through right now.

http://haveyroo.blogspot.com

Misty & Kris of Vassago Cycles (The parents of Haven)are great people and great contributors to the cycling community so we are going to try to do something for them in this difficult time.

Haven is currently going through a very aggressive type of chemo where she has to stay in a "Clean Room" for the next several months. Kris is currently staying in the "Clean Room" with Haven. Here is the latest Vassago announcement

Vassago Cycles

The Event
Mark your calenders cause the event will be held at the McDowell competive loop duing the evening on Saturday, August 15th. It will involve a time trial, night fun ride, beer, food, raffles, and camping.

Specifics and flyer will be posted in the next week or so. Keep an eye out for details.

Jackpot

2009-06-14T20:53:00.004-07:00

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-L-L

2009-06-11T20:54:00.007-07:00

I-N-I

Zach, Layla and I were back in good ole Pville the last week of May. It went by way too fast. I flew back to Prescott after just a week so I could make it to my first day of microbiology. Fun stuff.

It was a nice trip though, action packed but not to much. Spent some time with our families and some good friends. I forgot my camera half the time but managed to get a few (like 5) pictures.

Traffic to welcome us back.

Post Thursday night ride at Adam and Stacy's

Relaxing after a Sunday morning ride

Zach and his parents walking the doodle

Sweet nothings

2009-05-21T20:07:00.005-07:00

(Selle Italia needs a redesign)

Sara: Geeez...Look what I did to my saddle!!??

Zach: Yeah.

Sara: Man. How do you suppose I did that?

Zach: Your giant ass.

Rewind - Mogollon Masher

2009-05-20T15:42:00.015-07:00

BEFORE

What may turn out to be one of my favorite races in the MBAA series and I'm almost a month late in posting about it. We drove up to the Mogollon Rim fairly early Friday in the new VAN. We were meeting Jeff and Vienna to camp for the whole weekend.

The set up in the van. Layla is laying on a nice comfy futon mattress.

The views from our campsite, on top of the rim.

Our campsite.

Vienna getting the dogs settled. My favorite picture from the trip.

Once we arrived, Jeff, Zach and I suited up and went out for a preride. I loved the course. It reminded me a lot of Nine Mile. Alot of people did not like it because there was not enough climbing (huh?), but after the Prescott MBAA race and the Whiskey 50, I was ready for a "flat" course. And despite the protests of flatness, there was climbing. It was nice and gradual, no crazy steep climbs. It was good. Lots of pedaling. That's probably what people didn't like. It was beautiful with pines, aspen groves, and open pastures. The snow had just melted so there were a few mushy water crossings and 2 creek crossings. Fun stuff.

After the ride we got settled in (Thanks Vienna for setting up camp!) and celebrated Jeff's birthday.

The race venue turned out to be about a 20 minute drive from our campsite...yet I still somehow ended up running late. I barely had time for a warmup and we were off at 8:45. The race went well. I loved the trail even more the second day. The course was set up lollipop style; each loop was about 9 miles. The double track up to the feed zone turned out to be a killer and the 2 way traffic section back to the finish felt like 5 miles since it was all uphill.

First place! (dang I look old!)

Zach had a good race with photo finish at the end with his friend Tim (who lives in Chino Valley).

And then he puked.

The altitude must have gotten to Tom. He finished second.

Jeff dnf'd. If I remember he flatted...maybe twice.
After the race we chilled around the campfire. Tim, Robin and their 2 dogs joined us that night. We had 6 people and 6 dogs! We should have gotten up and rode Sunday morning, but we were all feeling a little groggy. We had breakfast and cruised. Stopped in Payson for some killer Mexican food and Zach slept in the back the whole way home.

AFTER

Vassago Love and Flagstaff

2009-05-18T19:33:00.009-07:00

We were just about packed and ready to go to Flagstaff for the race this weekend when that lovely brown UPS truck pulled down our dirt road and brought me a big box of love from Vassago. It contained our kits and everything else we could ever want including a little dolly named Tom.

A big thanks to Misty, Kris, and Vassago!

I you look close you will see that little Tom wanted to drive to the race...

We got to Flagstaff and I did my volunteer work and waited for Tim and Elizabeth to arrive for a nice relaxing evening. We had dinner by the campfire and it was off to bed.

The morning was different than usual because I had to do some more volunteering so I couldn't hand Sara bottles in her race. Tom (Not the dolly) and Kim got there in time for Kim and Sara's race so Tom handed the ladies bottles in their race.

My race was another battle. The top five finishers in our Cat 1 class have been so close the last few races and it was no different this time. Tom Faeh and Tim Allen got away a bit for 1st and 2nd but 3rd - 5th were back and forth the whole time. I wound up in 4th with Marcus Hayward who is leading the series 15 seconds ahead of me and Rob Shaver just a little behind me. It is going to be interest to see how the series shakes out after low races are dropped and the final being weighted heavier.

Rockin the new kit!!!!

Queen Sara sporting her 1st place medal and me with my 4th

After the race we headed to Sedona for some R & R at the Quail Ridge which is now partially owned by the Bike n Bean crew. So it is officially the coolest place for mountain bikers to stay with a great pool and hot tub and is only around the corner from the Bean. Tim Allen met up with Tim, Elizabeth, Sara, and I for some refreshments by the pool Saturday night. Tom (not the dolly) and Kim ditched us for some unknown reason and didn't join us in Sedona.

We did do some hiking at West Fork on Sunday before heading home.

And then there is this guy

For now...

2009-05-03T21:05:00.003-07:00

We had a great weekend camping and racing!! More later, test in the morning.

mongolian bbq

2009-04-30T20:09:00.004-07:00

We are off to the Mogollon Rim tomorrow for #6 MBAA race. This will be our first camping trip in the new rig.

Tim's not coming up for this one. I think he should reconsider.

I wanted to make these for you and Elizabeth last weekend but I ran out of time. All your talk after the race inspired me.

These cookies are my specialty. They are damn good, so if you are a cookie person you should start drooling now.

The Whiskey

2009-04-27T15:24:00.008-07:00

What a race. I have not done many endurance races, but I am going out on a limb to say this has to be one of the coolest. Super fun singletrack with some scary loose rocky downhill sections and you have to love the 11 mile dirt road down to Skull Valley... Especially knowing that you have to climb up and beyond the point where you started to head down. Lots of climbing and then the course ends with some more great singletrack....all downhill after one last short killer of a climb. That's the climb where everyone starts (or continues) to cramp big time.

Zach, Tim and I got downtown with plenty of time to spare. It's such an awesome race...from start to finish. It's so laid back at the start, you can head up with just a few minutes to go and weasel your way up closer to the front. I started with Zach, and Jen, Spring and Heidi were just a little ahead of me.

I had a completely uneventful race, which is the way I like it. No crashes and no mechanicals. I handled the water bars better than last year, made that last torturous climb, and improved on my time from last year. The climb back up from Skull Valley totally killed me. I must have swore 50 times that I would never do the fifty again!! Can't decide if it's more physically or mentally difficult. Couldn't have been on a better bike. The Vassago did me good. It's amazing how awesome I felt on Sunday after that race.

I ended up in 8th place... Not what I wanted but totally appropriate given my experience in longer races and my current level of training. School has ruled my days. There were some serious hard core ladies there like Lynda, Sonya, and Sarah. Wow, they are fast. Spring and Heidi kicked my butt up the road (ya damn roadies :)!! ) and had great finishes at 5th and 6th.

And the fun doesn't end with the riding. As you head in towards the finish line, you have an entire crowd of people cheering you on! It's so great. This year they finished the weekend up with a band on the square. How cool. I love this joint.

Zach had a great finish at 19th out of 139 in his age group, bettering his time by 16 minutes. First time Whiskey Riders Jeff and Vienna both did the 15. This was Vienna's first race!! They both did awesome. Tim's first time too. He did the 50 and was doing great until he stopped to help the dude who peeled the skin off his knee. Elizabeth was a trooper and hung at the house with the Doodle and Oliver during the race. Tom had a pretty good crash that took some time from him but Kim got a FIRST PLACE!! ha ha!

Unfortunately, I left my camera at home and didn't get any pictures after the race, but I did take some pictures of the course the weekend before during a preride.

Here's my bike, the Optimus

Zach, just before the waterbars.

Tim heading down 260.

A view up 260, which was in GREAT shape, thanks to the MAN - John Shumaker.

View of 89A from 260.

And a few pictures of the gang on the square.

The only disappointing thing about the weekend was that our friends from Illinois did not make it out here this year!! NEXT YEAR WE BETTER SEE YOU!!! YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!!!

Bandersnatch

2009-04-19T16:58:00.003-07:00

Been riding mine all week and love it!!! It fits me so much better than the the Fisher did. You gotta love the Vassago Wetcat geometry. Started building Sara's today

Need New Vassago Stickers

2009-04-17T17:19:00.006-07:00

Here is the new diesel 4x4 race vehicle!!!! Plenty of room for bikes and sleeping. Tom and I aren't going to be Element twins anymore. The only thing it is missing is some Vassago stickers!!!

Sara getting ready to do a little wrenching. If you look close she might have a ziptie in her hand.

Who is this guy?

2009-04-17T11:50:00.003-07:00

Fancy shirt that's TUCKED IN? It even looks like he might have groomed his hair!?

The dirt dog

2009-04-17T09:26:00.000-07:00

Sneak peak

2009-04-12T21:29:00.004-07:00

I am sure you can imagine how excited I was when the man from the brown truck handed over this lovely box. Inside, 2 freaking Banders!!! Zach's already got his built up, but I need to work on getting a few parts.

Prescott Punisher 2

2009-04-10T17:07:00.004-07:00

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

2009-04-08T18:04:00.003-07:00

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

2009-04-03T14:13:00.009-07:00

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....

2009-03-19T08:48:00.003-07:00

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

2009-03-17T06:44:00.011-07:00

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

2009-03-16T06:45:00.004-07:00

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

2009-03-15T15:17:00.001-07:00