Trail friends and a rubber ducky…??

Last night I raced the 2 Wheels 4 Hope McDowell Nighttime Time Trial. I love this race it’s put on for a great cause and by great people.

I won this race last year and it started off a 4 race winning streak. With the US Nationals and Western State P&F Games coming up, I was hoping to repeat performance.

Unfortunately it was not to be. You see for those of you who live back East you don’t get the fine pleasure of negotiating 2 of the trail obstacles that we do here in the desert. I’m speaking of our friends…Mr. Rattlesnake and Mr. Cactus.

We start the TT in 20 sec intervals and when it was my turn I blasted out of the start box and in a matter of seconds I was on the single track with nothing but a light and instincts to lead the way. Unfortunately we did not have a trail marshal to stop all trail traffic, and as I was still in mid sprint I noticed a rather large rattlesnake smack dab in the middle of the trail. I opted to swerve around him rather than to use him as a speed bump. Wrong idea!!! As I swerved around him I got my tire to the outside of the trail and into the loose sand. My front tire began to wash. As I was careening out of control I noticed I was headed toward our other trail obstacle…YES, Mr. Cactus. I ended up flipping over the bars and landed on my back in a cactus…(after you’re done wiping the tears of laughter at my expense, read on because it gets worse!!)

I quickly rummaged my bike out of the cactus and all I could think of was… where is Mr. Snake? And is he on his way to use me as a evening snack? I knew was I was not going to wait around to find out. I jumped back onto my bike and started to go just as I heard the next rider leaving the start house (is it bad to say I was hoping that Mr. Snake was still hungry?). Once I was back on course I could only imagine I must look like that freaky dude from Hell Raiser because I could feel the cactus needles protruding from my entire body.

I persevered though!! I continued to race. The problem was I had a large cluster of cactus on my left hand which was interfering with me using my brakes. I had no choice but to try and pull it out with my teeth….BAD IDEA. Now I do look like the freaky dude from Hell Raiser because I ended up with cactus on my face and in my mouth. Try to drink from your water bottle with cactus needles on your tongue, NOT FUN.

In the end I was able continue with the race. As I crossed the finish line, I headed straight to the aid station for assistance with my “little problem.” After I got myself cleaned up I worked my way over to check out the race results. Remember in my last post when I talked about what ifs and maybes? Well, I missed out on 1st by…30 seconds!!!!!!!

As a friend of mine always says, “If you’re on wood, it’s all good”. Plus at least I had a new friend to share my bath time with…Rubber Ducky you’re the one!!!!

Arizona state mountain bike series

Well this past weekend was the finals for the Arizona state mountain bike series. The finals were held in Flagstaff AZ on a very difficult course. The MBAA organizers had to put this course together on short notice due to the fact top of Mt Eldon still covered with snow. I must say I think they did a great job. This course was by far the hardest course we raced all year. In my opinion this course favored the best all around rider. You can never go wrong with a course which has short steep technical climbs and long fast technical descents.
So how did I fair? Well not so hot. The altitude was a major factor for me in this race. I’m just not used to being at 7,000 ft. I finished 8th in the race and 6th overall for the state series.

I have to say I am a bit disappointed on how my season unfolded though. This was my 2nd year back racing XC and my first year as a cat 2. I was hoping to break into the top 5 over all for the season, but it was not to be. I missed out on being in the top 5 by 4 points!!!!! Ouch that hurt. When you miss out on your goal by that little there is a lot of what ifs and maybes that goes through your head. I guess in the end, it’s just going to add fuel to the fire and make me want it more next year.

Arizona Police & Fire State Championships

There are one hundred and ninety nine ways to get beat, but only one way to win; get there first: Willie Shoemaker


Last weekend was the first major race of my season, the Arizona State Police & Fire Championship Games. As I sit back now and reflect, it feels pretty amazing to accomplish goals that we set for ourselves. As cyclists we set goals in the beginning of the season. When we lay our goals out in the beginning of the season it seems like that particular event or events we are going to focus on are so far away. As the season progresses we continue to work towards them, but sometimes they seem to be just lingering in the back ground. We work on other short term goals or races, BUT before we know it race day is upon us. At that point, fear and self doubt set in “am I ready, have I prepared right, and many other what ifs and maybes.”

Last year I was just coming back to the XC racing seen and I was not on form. I ended up 2nd in the MTN bike race and suffering in the road race. One year later things were extremely different.

On Thursday police officers and firefighters from AZ, NM, and California lined up for the first of 3 races over the next 3 days MTN bike, Road race, & Time Trial. Each race is a one day, winner take all to decide who the state champion in each event is. There is also a Triple Crown winner. The Triple Crown is for the rider who has the lowest combined time in all three events.

Well, I’m proud to say it was Gary Fisher 29er Crew colors on top of the podium all three days. Thursday started off with the mountain bike race which had me getting on the single track 1st but that was short lived when I found myself 200 yards down the wrong trail with my main competitor hot on my tail. We quickly realized this and we got ourselves back on track. The problem was now 6th! I worked my way back up to the group and finagled our way through the group to get back to the leader. For a short time I set in 3rd and all I kept thinking was “Great I’m going to lose to a firefighter again!!!!” But, as luck would have it the leaders blew a corner and left the door wide open for me to slide around them. Not only that, they did it at the start of the downhill. I had my chance and I took full advantage of it. I knew I may not have another chance so I turned on the gas and never looked back. I crossed the finish line in 1st overall by almost a minute and 1st in my age group.

I have to say it felt good to know all the hard work which had been put in throughout the season truly paid off.

The next 2 days went good as well. I finished 1st in my age group, the road race and the time trial. My award for a solid weekend of racing was 3 gold medals and a yellow jersey for being the winner of the Triple Crown.

Next up for major races, I plan to race the US National Championships and the Western State Police and Fire Games in July. As Mike Tyson said though, “Everyone has a plan ’till they get punched in the mouth”.

Let’s hope I’m the one doing the punching!