On-Road to Off-Road

Arizona Training Update

2012-02-09T19:42:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe that the winter training excursion to Tucson only has a few weeks left, it really does seem like I just got here. It didn’t take long to get into a nice routine of workouts and learning where to ride, run and swim. Staying at Chris Jeffrey’s place has been great and really made this trip possible. Hunter King gave me a nice tour of Tucson Mountain Park which is only a mile and a half away and there is access to the new Robles trail system and it is easy to get over to the Sweetwater trails as well. I have made a few ventures out to the Fantasy Island trails and out to the Arizona Trail thanks to Bryce Phinney for showing those trails. I am looking forward to venturing out to Milagrosa, 50 Year and Catalina State Park before I leave with fellow Springs resident Russell Finsterwald.

The road riding has been exceptional as well being on the west side of Tucson. I have frequent rides up and over Gates Pass over to Saguaro National Park, the McCain Loop and Kinney roads which provide some nice uninterrupted stretches for the various intervals my coach James Herrera has prescribed. The big ride in Tucson is the Shootout, a hard, fast group ride every Saturday morning. An advantage of living on the west side is its path rolls by the house so it is easy to jump in and not have to head all the way in to town for the start. With so many cycling and triathlon pros that call Tucson home either year round or just for the winter there is always someone out there that will push the pace and keep things rolling. My goals for the ride are to stay near the front and out of trouble from potential crashes. The first couple times I sat in the group pushing as hard as needed to stick in the group, learning the dynamic and route and have slowly progressed in to taking a few pulls up front as my fitness increases. Its nice having Ben Hoffman, TJ Tollakson, Jesse Vondracek out there as well to mix things up with. One of the rides in Tucson is Mt. Lemon, 25 mile from the base at 2,500 ft to the peak at 9,300 ft in Summer Haven and the infamous Cookie Shack. It is a favorite ride for that reason, generous cookie after accomplishing the climb. Which leads me to probably the only unfortunate thing about a house on the west side, Mt. Lemon is on the east side and is a good hour ride to the base, but it is a nice warm up before the assault, but makes for a nice long ride and good base miles.

Pima Air and Space Museum

San Xavier Mission

Laying watts with Jesse and the "Hoff"

The close access to Tucson Mountain Park lets me get a steady dose of hills and trail running without to much strain. The Santa Cruz River Path is close by allowing for some flat paved runs as well. I have been swimming with the Ford Masters Aquatics team for the majority of those workouts at the University of Arizona pool which is beautiful facility. They offer 3 workout times per day, 5:30am, noon and 6:30pm. Since I don’t have a car (I am very close though) and it is still chilly in the morning and I would need some serious bundling on the scooter or bike so I don’t frequent the early practice unless absolutely necessary. I enjoy the later 6:30pm practice but with it being dark, dropping temperature at the end of practice and then needing a good dinner afterwards I haven’t attended many. The noon practice though is awesome, as long as I get moving in the morning I can get in a bike or run before hand then hit that workout and thoroughly enjoy swimming outside in the sun.

Under the Lights Early

Improving my tan midday

Outside of training I have gotten out a few times to enjoy some fun activities as well. Attending a movie event benefiting local cycling organization, Team Colleen, going to a panel about the Leadville 100 featuring Todd Wells and Nick White. After one swim practice as well I stayed around being finished for the day and helped time an exhibition swim meet between the University of Texas, Arizona and a few post grad swimmers. It was great to be able to be sitting right on deck and watch Olympian medalists Matt Grevers, Ed Moses, Amanda Beard and other NCAA champions mix it up at what they do best. Something I really enjoy doing is watching the best at what they do and this was a prime opportunity.

I am very lucky and fortunate to have such a loving and supporting family as well behind me, though i do the majority of this on my own it wouldn’t be possible without them. I just finished up a great couple days in Florida with family celebrating my grandma’s 90th birthday. She is an amazing woman still going amazingly strong and always with a smile. Her vitality is a testament to her healthy active life that she lives and helped ingrained in my dad and his siblings. Thank you grandma, none of this would be possible without you and the work ethic, values and optimism you instilled in all those you have touched through your everlasting life.

6 Cakes 90 Candles

The Grand kids


The Grandsons

Great Opportunity and Starting on the Wrong Foot.

2011-12-31T18:14:00.000-07:00

Setting Sun on 2011

As I entered the 2011 season I had a lot of great hope that it would be a great year. I was the healthiest I had been in the off season and as I started my early season training. Although the few road triathlons I did were not as successful as I hoped my XTERRA campaign was great. Top 5 in 5 of the 6 regional championships, 6th at USA Champs, 4th overall in the US Series. Internationally 8th at the ITU Cross Tri World Championships, 2nd at XTERRA Mexico, 4th XTERRA Canada, unfortunately XTERRA Worlds did not go as well as hoped placing wise but I was closer to champ Michael Weiss than I had been any other year.

I wanted to build on that success and progress in 2011 by focusing on my training and ramping things up going into the 2012 racing season. In order to do this I decided to head to a location with great weather, a large group of training partners and most importantly an area that has a good mix of good roads and trails to ride and run. I considered the Scottsdale/Mesa area but didn't know that many people in the area or how the training was and housing was not something that I had set. San Diego was another option, I was familiar with training, I had a number of friends but Southern Cal is expensive. My decision was to head to Tucson, a number of athletes call it home through the winter, there are great trails and roads to train on, it is a bit cheaper and fellow triathlete Christine Jeffery has a place that I am very grateful to get to stay at.

My plan was to find a part time job at a local bike shop and come down in early December that way I could learn the roads and trails for a while before getting into the serious training at the beginning of the year. After a bit of searching and a few things falling through, the trip south was more and more delayed and I made the decision to come down sans work. The idea for the trip was to get in some great training and that is exactly how I am treating the trip and if I was able to find a bit of work to fill in some gaps.

On the 17th I started my trip down, heading first to Durango to get to spend a couple days with my family. It was great to spend sometime near the holidays, get some great home cooked meals and we did Christmas a few days early since they were headed to see my Grandma over Christmas. This trip is entirely possible because of my parents, I couldn't do this without their love and support and I owe them everything.

I continued down to the Phoenix area and stayed with and old college buddy Eric and his family for a night and got in some great training in McDowell Mountain Park. A close friend was in Mesa for the holidays and she invited me to spend Christmas with her family. It was great to be around such a loving family since I was not around my own. Had a lot of fun going to a hockey game, and a few great hikes as well. I learned some great training areas in the Scottsdale/Mesa area and would definitely keep in in my mind as a place to go. I was torn on leaving but I needed to get to Tucson since that is where I had things set up and planned on being and headed down a couple days after Christmas.

On Wednesday the 28th I planned on meeting a fellow XTERRA racer for a mountain bike ride to learn some close trails. As I was driving over to the trail head, I stupidly looked down at my phone for the directions and wasn't paying attention to the road and traffic and rear ended the car in front of me when the line of cars slowed up quickly for the stoplight ahead. Both airbags deployed, passengers side destroyed the windshield, the hood is dented up and the right side panel is damaged along with the frame on that side as well. Needless to say that there is a lot of damage to the car and it will take more to fix it than the car is worth, not to mention the oil leaks that needed to be fixed before the accident. So it will certainly make things interesting as I learn to navigate a new city without my own transportation.

Thankfully I have some incredible friends, Chris is providing so much already but at least I can get rides from her and be able to get to the store when she goes. Ben Hoffman, former Durangoan, new Tucson training partner and an incredible athlete, it loaning me his scooter so that I can get places as well. I am forever grateful for their help while I get my own wheels back under me.

The S Scooter, thanks Ben

Well my shop will approve.

I may not be ending 2011 on the best events right now but the opportunities and possibilities of what lie ahead are very exciting and I can't wait for 2012. A happy and safe New Years to all.

Lets see what 2012 brings, it looks bright.

XTERRA World Championship

2011-11-29T13:42:00.001-07:00

XTERRA World Championships October 23, Kapalua, Maui, HI
Race day finally greeted us on another gorgeous morning in Maui and I was thankful that it felt cool and was hoping that all the heat acclimatization had paid off. I started with my customary shower and breakfast before doing my final prep for the day to come.

Not a bad view to wake up to.

Knowing that the temperature and sun exposure would really hit me it was critical to have the necessary nutrition for the day. As I lead in to the race I had two bottles I was going to drink before the start, one of water and the other with First Endurance EFS Orange and 3/4 of a scoop of Pre-Race. I set off and rode the few rolling miles to the venue for an easy warm up, and started to get my transition prepared.

I dialed the suspension on my Epic 29er toward the firm side accounting for the 3000 feet of climbing and the smoother trail than courses like Waco, Alabama and Richmond required. With the slightly looser conditions I went with a knobbier Schwalbe Rocket Ron at 24psi on the front and the new Specialized Fast Trak on the rear at 28psi for faster rolling but still great traction. This was not a course for the super slick tires.

Letting it hang loose before the melee.

After lubing up with 2Toms SportsShield and ButtShield to prevent chaffing, I headed to the beach for a little warm up and noticed the water was on the calmer side compared to when I had swum in the days before and there were no signs of the swell that had been talked about. I looked at where the guys were gathering and elected to try to sit on feet aligning to the left side where the strong swimmers were as opposed to try to work out my own line on the right. As we stood waiting for the gun there was an obvious change in the water, waves started crashing down on the beach and the chop picked up, then we were off.

I know I am in there somewhere.

It was a smoother start than expected as people werenʼt pushing around but I was not able to hook on to the feet of the faster swimmers as planned and was in the melee as we headed to the first buoy. As we got further out there was a strong current that was pushing left and it was a fight to round the buoy. During the run between laps on the beach I noticed the carnage from the swim, there was no definitive front group, it was spread out and the gap was much larger than I had hoped to see. I led the main pack through the second lap and had to fight for my position out of the water coming in about 2 min down from the leaders, much further back than desired.

Ah shade, something the other course did not provide.

A nice smooth roll out of transition allowed me to slide my feet in my Sidi Terraʼs and get the Ergon HX2 gloves on before we hit any serious hills or dirt. Right away I notice that my legs were not spinning like I had hoped to start the ride as we headed up a gradual paved path before it kicked up and on to the dirt. Not long after getting on the dirt Conrad rode by and I just focused on sticking to his wheel, which worked until we had to get around another rider and I was stuck until I could find another position to pass while Conrad rode away. I rode well though the technical sections in the first 3 miles but found myself struggling on the hills. Once the trail opened up, I tried to focus on getting in the necessary nutrition and hydration. At the first aid station at 6 miles I sucked down the last of my large bottle of EFS, dropped it, switched my small bottle of EFS to the front bottle mount and grabbed a water bottle. I was in a mix of various riders, but I couldnʼt stick with anyone and, they were slowly getting away. On the last major climb I found a bit of energy and stuck with Mike Vine, a stellar mountain bike rider, and a few other guys he was riding with to the top. Knowing the various skill levels of the group I put in a large effort to be at the front as we hit the downhill and left everyone with the goal of catching as many people as possible and closing down the gap to riders ahead.

Constantly jockeying for position with others

The lush green of the new course

That was about the only thing that went well on the ride as I flew through, closing the gap to a few riders that were well over a minute ahead at the top of the climb. At the bottom grabbing a fresh bottle of water and getting in another gel and more EFS I tried to keep my forward progress over the last small climbs. Then the heat and sun hit. It wasnʼt very noticeable until now but on a dragging climb after the aid station it felt like my skin was on fire. I went back and forth with Chris Legh on some small rollers before a more substantial climb allowed him to put a small gap on me. The affects of the heat were setting in and I was not as smooth on the technical section as I had been during my pre-rides.

Trying to grab everything on my way out of T2

The most critical part of my run was while I am in transition. I had a small insulated lunch bag to keep a bag of ice and an iced bottle of EFS to start the run with. The bag of ice was to help cool my core temperature and a cold bottle of EFS was to help cool me from the inside. This was needed with the heat and knowing how much I sweat. The bottle was perfect and provided me with the hydration I needed for the hot run ahead. I made a conscious decision to leave the bag of ice behind as I struggled to grab everything else I needed for the run and still maintain a fast transition.

The run is brutal, the first 3 miles are 90% uphill and it gets steeper towards the top before you get a nice decent back toward the beach. The immediate uphill makes it very hard to establish a comfortable stride or rhythm out of transition and I set out to use this time to get in as much fluid as I could. I was hoping that the legs would be there on the run more than the bike. I felt decent and my legs were turning over but the one guy I saw ahead still disappeared as the trail started to wind through the trees.

I was glad that I added a bit more 2Toms BlisterShield in my shoes as the heat was really making me sweat and I could feel my feet sliding around in my shoes. I chipped away on the uphill but was inevitably caught by Mike Vine and Tim DeBoom at about the 2.5 mile mark. I was very relieved to reach the top of the climb around a small pond and knew that a decent descent was not long off. I was very happy to have my Inov-8 X-Talon 212 on for the extra grip in the loose dirt as I twisted through the trees and was jumping up over rocks and trees on the way down.

There is a nasty little hill just after mile 5 that really saps the legs but I powered through knowing that it was almost all downhill to the finish. I was able to release the legs a bit on the descent down to the beach just as Ryan Ignatz was catching me. Just after he passed, super fan and friend, Kathy Tank yelled as I was crossing the river bed that Ryan and Lance (Armstrong) were just ahead. All I could think was that Lance was 42 seconds ahead at Nationals and I wasnʼt going to let him get me this time. The last 300 meters are brutal; first is 100m on the beach where I caught sight of Lance before a short flat section, then the last 150 meters uphill to the finish. That is the hardest I have finished a race being in that exhausted state, closing slowly I managed to catch Lance just at the base of the hill, thought better of saying anything as I went by, and just focused on making sure I could open a gap and not let anyone else catch me.

I crossed the line in 20th overall, 18th Pro.  Unfortunately it was not the race I was hoping for or expecting. I came in with two goals. The first, a top 10 finish, which was going to be quite a feat with the most impressive field of athletes ever at the World Champs. The second was that I wanted to beat Lance Armstrong. Though I did achieve my second goal, it was not like how I wanted to cross it off.

What I am excited about is that I can walk away knowing that I was closer to the winner at Worlds than I had been in all the previous years speaking to how competitive the race was. Huge congrats to Dan Hugo who shows what it means to never give up and put in the performance of the day. He pushed everyone to their absolute limit, it is scary to think how good this guy is.

Here is a link to a highlight video of XTERRA World Champs

I am now on some down time letting the mind, body and soul loose and relax and get away from sport for a bit. Hope that you will all do the same until next year.

Ramblings heading into XTERRA Worlds

2011-10-22T20:53:00.000-06:00

It isn't often the desire to actually sit a write a bit happens but on the eve of the biggest race of the year funny things happen when your trying to stay off your feet. In the month from Nationals to Worlds a lot can happen, the hope is that it is all good After a good performance last year minus one little issue on the run a lot of the prep was duplicated for this year and then fine tuned. Prepping for the heat has always been a fun task and things were done in a similar method; dressing in as many layers as was reasonable to build and hold heat in without getting too drenched that on the decent everything would freeze. Brick workouts in conjunction with the Fall Series Cross Country races are a fun and fast way to get in a great workout. The fun part is that when everybody else is dressed in shorts and a singlet or no top for the nice 70 degree day, I look like the ice age is at hand with 2XU compression tights, long sleeve, shorts and singlet and toque on.

Monument Valley Race, flat fast and 3/4 of a mile run upstream just for a bit of a change.

Bear Creek Race: Rolling hills with a rope assisted vertical climb at the end, leading the kids race.

The runs were preceded by a couple hours on the mountain bike in thermal bib tights and base layers under cycling jackets and skull caps just to simulate things as best as possible. There were plenty of strange looks but none of it mattered, that's the prep that needed to be done. I added a few sauna sessions as well, 20-30min each day in a temp ranging from 200-230 degrees, for the week leading up.

In the few days that I have been able to be out on Maui I have gotten to get out on both the bike and run courses which we were not able to do in the past when the race was down in Makena. Coming in no one was that excited from what we saw from the videos and pictures but after getting out there the new course is a great improvement over the old. The swim has the potential to be very challenging depending on the surf, with possible 3 foot swells in the morning which will definitely change things up. The mountain bike is still very physically challenging with 3k feet of climbing and though it is not necessarily technical compared to Whistler, Alabama or Richmond you do need to have some mountain bike skills. The first and last 2+ miles of the course are on some great twisty single track and depending on conditions it could really change things on how packed or loose the corners get. The run will be brutal, straight out of transition we head uphill, there are a few small breaks where you can get your stride back but until you hit 3.5miles you will be suffering. The downhill is a perfect grade so you can really fly, ducking, diving and hurdling logs and trees. It twists and turn up and down the hillside but it is shaded for much of the course and I am grateful for that. There is still the classic beach run for about 200 meters but it is much shorter than the old course before a punishing last kicker of a climb to the finish in the last 300 meters.

It is now a waiting game 17hrs out from the race, getting the last bits dialed in and set up. A huge thank you to 2XU, Pro Cycling, SRM, Rotor USA, Sidi, Ergon, Effetto Mariposa, Colorado Running Company, 2Toms, Inov-8 and First Endurance for all the support this year you guys are the best out there and I couldn't have gotten here with out your help. I believe in their product and support they provide 100% and thank you for believing in me. Thank you to all my friends that have supported me through the years, your faith, belief and encouragement and understanding when I couldn't join you for that night out helped me get to this point. Last but definitely not least thank you to my family, you have been my best supporters from the beginning always believing in me and supporting me through it all, I couldn't have taken one step along this path with out you. Best of luck to all the racers tomorrow time to lay it all down.

The Lance Factor

2011-10-21T13:39:00.000-06:00

There are always many story lines going in to USA Champs each year and this year was no different,. For the guys would Conrad dominate like last year, was Nico peaking perfectly, was Dan going to take the top step, would Josiah bring the US title home. For the ladies, would anybody be able to challenge Melanie, would Shonny’s will and faith overcome her injury, would Leslie speed back? Though all the headlines and stories are more than justified at being the headline going in, there is one that topped all; Lance Armstrong was going to race XTERRA USA Champs. That news changed the race, the feel, the tactics, the scope and the amount of interest. It was impossible to ignore as much as much as someone might try to and focus on what they needed to but when Lance attends things change.

My main focus was singular, I wanted to move up in the over US Series, I had only one option in which to do that, I needed to beat Nico and have at least one person in between us. Now not impossible it was a very tough task indeed. I have only taken Nico down once at the West Champs in Vegas, otherwise he ran me down in Waco, Alabama, and Richmond, and caught me on the bike in Beaver Creek but I was getting closer and closer to him. The course played into his favor with a lot of climbing, minimal descending and minimal technical.

As expected it was a wetsuit swim, and with no wind the only chop we would be dealing with would be from the boats towing the photojournalists around. The swim was interesting in that it the field really split in two there was a group massed to the left and the there was group massed 50 yards to the right, then a bit further right was Ben Allen. When the gun went Ben was gone and the two groups merged a the first buoy and I aligned myself on Seth’s feet and on Lance’s side through the first lap. After turning at he first buoy on the second lap through, Seth lost sight of the next buoy and Lance was leading and was veering way right. I elected to take a chance and take the straighter line and see if I could end up in front. When we hit the final turn buoy, I had managed to gain a body length and was pulling the pack back home. As we headed for home there was a kayak in the direct line and knowing I didn’t want to veer left or right just yelled as I sighted for him to move and drag the amateur racer that was holding on to the kayak with him. Thankfully he did, as we got closer we were mixing in with the slower age group swimmers finishing their first lap and I tried to use them to knock the guys behind me off my feet by noticing the ones the were drifting one direction or another and just making my way past. Unfortunately Seth went left and took the group with him and avoid the chaos and we exited the water in a group.

The sprint for the bikes.

I knew that time would be precious and shot quickly straight through T1 and was off on the bike only to bumble getting into my shoes on the bike. I settled into my pace and Dan went flying by. I was a judgement call I had to make early but I knew what lie ahead, and chasing Dan was not the best plan. Within a mile of starting the ascent of Wheeler Canyon, Ben was now and after thought and complete focus was on trying to keep myself in second. It was short lived as I heard wheels roll up from behind, Lance had caught up and was sitting on my wheel. It remained that way for about a half mile before he passed, then noticed that Conrad was sitting on his wheel. That was a first and all I could think was where was the photographer and camera man to have proof that they sat on my wheel for a while. I managed to stick with them for about a mile before deciding that it was best to let them go and stick to my pace. As we continued on to some true single track I focused on my goal of staying ahead of Nico.

After Josiah passed I knew that Nico was likely not far behind and sure enough just before hitting the middle descent he did just that. I stuck with him but after we hit the start of the second climb he got away and I knew the only way I was going to catch him was a flat or a major blow up. It was very different climbing up to Snowbasin, normally there are a few people at the road crossings and and at connecting trails that are close to parking lots, this year the number of people tripled out on the course. There was one reason, everyone wanted a picture of Lance, in the middle of the race I was very tempted to say to people that they could cheer for people other than Lance when they remained silent as we rode by. Conrad echoed this at the finish saying it was very weird not getting cheered for everything was for Lance.

As I continued up the climb getting time splits I figured that I was pacing myself as best as possible and the others had gone to hard in the beginning as the gaps were slower to open and I was managing well as we hit T2.

In the end I crossed the line 42 seconds behind finishing in 6th, after starting the run 2min 30 seconds down. I was closer than any second place finisher in the Tour de France had ever been. As for my primary goal, well it was unobtainable today, Nico won so there was no chance to jump over him in the series but I had my best season to date finishing in 4th in the series. Now there is just one race remaining, Xterra World Championships in Kapalua, Maui, T-2 days to go.

Racing or Fun Eh?

2011-10-14T10:40:00.000-06:00

I am a bit behind so here is a quick update on XTERRA Canada, expect another one very soon for XTERRA USA Champs

One of the most anticipated races of the year is XTERRA Canada, as a racer it is very hard to beat the riding in Whistler, BC. It is definitely some of the most challenging riding around as well as some of the most fun. It is very hard to label any one place as having the best riding in the world because as each location; Moab, Fruita, Whistler, Crested Butte, Pelham, each offer their own unique challenges. This is why XTERRA is an awesome sport because each venue is entirely different, and the number of variables that can change from race to race is much greater than what a traditional road triathlon offers. The thing that really sets Whistler and BC riding apart is their dedication to developing one of the most amazing trail systems in the world, easily the best I have ever been on. When a community can come together and work with the local government on a specific task anything is possible and Whistler is a shining example.

The weekend started with a quick flight to Seattle and through the graciousness of my former roommate Haven, loaned me his car to use for the weekend since things popped up and wasn’t able to make the trip with me. Once I arrived I put the bike together and headed out to pre ride the course with Will, Josiah and Cody. The course was almost 100% brand new this year and was going to offer a whole new set of challenges, all I was hoping was that it would be as good as last year and it far exceeded. Cal and the XTERRA Canada crew had local Trevor Hopkins put together a course that is a clear favorite for the most technical and most physically demanding XTERRA course worldwide.

Out of the chill and on to fun.

The chilly early morning made using the 2XU V:2 wetsuit necessary to stay warm, I started out quick and settled in knowing it was likely to be a bit of a longer day than normal with a technical bike and challenging run to come. I pulled Conrad though the first 3/4 of the swim before managing a small gap over the last few hundred meters. Exiting the water about 1 minute down from super swimmer Ben Allen with Seth close on his heels.

Down one of the many bridges in River Runs Through It

It was a bit of a struggle at the beginning getting into my Sidi Terra’s and Ergon HX1 gloves due to the switchbacks on the hill immediately out of transition but once I got things set, I gripped down on the Ergon GX2 and charged along to close the gap to the leaders.

Umm? Focused but duhh...

Within the first hill I had one of the lead 3 in my sights and caught him at the top of the climb. I was expecting Conrad to come charging by but increasingly more time had past and never heard his wheels rolling up on me. I hit the first downhill and struggled, I had been nailing the pre-rides but was just off my game. I was pushing to much and not riding smooth, and on this course smooth was fast, trying to push and go fast was not. I eventually caught Ben on a short rocky section and then Seth a short time later when he had to stop to put air in his wheel. A short time later I heard wheels come up behind, Josiah was flying and I did my best to try to get on his wheel and try to get the flow of the course and ride smooth. He slowly got away as we finished the first lap of the bike. Charging up the hill on the second lap Mike Vine caught me, I did my best to try to stay with him but he was to strong. I did manage to relax a bit on the second lap and started to ride smoother through the first section but was still fighting things a bit. The other athletes that we started to lap were very gracious in letting us go by but the fatigue of the course was getting to me and I was making small mistakes again as I finished up the bike.

Flying though the beauty of BC riding

Actually looks like I was running.

Once on the run I had only one goal and that was to hold my position, I hoped I had put enough of a gap on Seth to hold him off. I knew the run would be challenging knowing that we were running the bike course from the previous year but it was one of those courses that just never seemed to stop. The climbing was relentless and the technicality of the running was beyond what I had imagined. The course got harder and harder because as I got more tired I couldn’t take the quick steps and bounce and balance around on the rocks. I managed to hold my own for what I think was about 5k but Seth was much quicker today and I had to concede to him. I semi stumbled home in fourth.

Podium: Me 4th, Seth 3rd, Josiah 1st, Mike 2nd, Kelly 5th.

I did manage to put together a decent race considering I had gotten sick the week before but I don’t think that really affected things. Looking at the good and bad, I did feel much better in the water than I had in a while but I did lose a good chunk of time to the leaders. I rode pretty strongly but I think I over did the pre-riding and was a bit flat on race day and well technically I just sucked which was especially frustrating when I had nailed things on the pre-ride. On the run I was solid for the first half then things started to come undone. I don’t think I had gotten the necessary nutrition in on the bike which was hard to do and with the longer race I started to pay for it in the end. Lessons were learned that will be applied for the next race, XTERRA USA Championships.

Prelude to Xterra Canada...

2011-09-03T23:36:00.000-06:00

On the eve of Xterra Canada in Whistler here is a nice teaser of the truly incredible trails that we will be racing on tomorrow. The guys at Xterra Canada have put together an amazing course the will be sure to test the skills and endurance of the best out there. This is the course that style of course that we need to be racing on for all Championship races.

Emerald Forest Section

Barts Dart Section

River Runs Through It Trail

If you really want to have fun in and Xterra yet be really challenged as well you can look no further than this.

Vamanos Gringo!

2011-08-23T10:25:00.000-06:00

Heading south of the border for Xterra Mexico in Tapalpa with no idea of what to expect but hoping for a fun time and grand adventure. It certainly started off as an adventure with and early morning phone call from Will saying oversize luggage is under an embargo and not allowed on the flights to Guadalajara. A quick check of the airline policies confirmed this and was wondering if this trip was going to be over before it even started. Made the trip to the airport to just make sure and checked in with no issues and even asked if there was going to be a problem and they said everything would be fine to get the bike down there. Travel can't be perfect all the time so one of the engines wouldn’t fire and a part was going to have to be flown in from Dallas. So after deplaning and a quick phone call to the airline for rerouting to Guadalajara the day would be enjoyed at the Colorado Springs and Dallas-Fort Worth airports. Arriving seven hours later than planned meant a email to the race organizers who arranged hotel for the night before getting on the shuttle the next day to be taken out to the race site. Thankfully once in route though it was smooth sailing and all the luggage made it as well.

The transfer was entertaining as well driving up the mountain road provided some spectacular views and edge of the seat excitement wondering if we were going to meet other cars head on. A few circles were driven around Tapalpa before narrowly squeezing between a building and guard rail and after believing everything was in the clear, a quick slip of a tire and half of the running board on the truck was ripped off and a fresh dent was added. The arrival to Valle De Lago where T1 and the accommodations were was a welcome and surreal sight at El Solario a picturesque little Villa.

After getting settled, building the bikes and a fantastic lunch a pre-ride of the course was in order with Will and Karsten. It began dry and clean and ended wet and muddy but was very enjoyable after riding the suspension bridge, climbing over and through gates, sliding through corners, dodging smaller puddles, plowing through the unavoidable ones, enjoying a drizzle and fording small streams and creeks.

The days at Valle De Lago were sublime, prepared home cooked meals, shared with great friends and the most incredible hosts, Santiago and Erika and some of the Xterra Mexico crew. A quick swim in the lake and a trip to Tapalpa to check out the run course and grab some fresh homemade ice cream filled the last day before the customary gear prep for the race.

The swim was a two loop in water affair and although the water was warm enough to go sans wetsuit it was not to be and it made the end of the swim toasty.

The race was at around 7000ft so there was no hard charge off the line just settling into a good pace unfortunately it was not good enough to get on to Seth’s feet. Leaving transition about 30 seconds down from Seth and over a minute from the leader Perez the game was on to catch up. About 4 miles in Seth made a slight error on the course and the lead trading began. A couple miles later going through a small stream crossing there was a clink of a rock on metal followed by a rhythmic clinking signaling that a spoke had broken just the ascent of the steepest climb had started. At the crest a quick stop to wrap the spoke around its neighbor and Seth led by a small margin.

After ascending a bit more the metallic clink was back and another stop was called for to adjust the spoke so that the bike and other components would not be marred and cause further difficulty. Now even further back from Seth, the chase was in earnest as the gap would need to be in the other favor if a win were possible. After reaching the climax and with no idea of how much time Seth had gained, the downhill was the best shot of a comeback. A Conrad style imitation of the downhill was the best approach and it paid its dividends as Seth was back in view once the road straightened out. After the catch and working together for a few miles, there was a decision to either try to hit a bridge that had yet to be ridden or to drop down and ford the last creek.

Out for lap 2 (Photo Courtesy of XTERRA/Kahuna)

Seth went for the bridge, unknowingly to both the gate was closed and he was now chasing in the closing miles to transition. Weaving through traffic on open roads into Tapalpa made things interesting and after a quick change to the run the hunt was on. Seth made up ground fast and after a short battle up the steepest climb, he got the gap and took it home. There were hopes that the downhill would equalized things again but it wasn’t to be and the days effort and the mental fortitude of not giving in when things didn’t go perfectly was victory enough crossing the line in second.

Men's Podium (Photo Courtesy of XTERRA/Kahuna)

Pre Awards Fun (Photo Courtesy of XTERRA/Kahuna)

There are two cyclist on fire a the top riding backwards, ridiculously fun (Photo Courtesy of XTERRA/Kahuna)

Huge thanks the Xterra Mexico Staff, Santiago and Erica for making the trip we couldn't have done it without you, can't wait to come back.

Taking what the Mountain will give you, Xterra Mountain Champs

2011-07-29T10:57:00.000-06:00

Well time to tell how racing with the #1 plate went after the hubbub of getting it and what comes along with it. It was interesting to say the least just picking up my packet, I would get asked what number I was and humbly I would barely murmur "one". A sort of stunned volunteer would grab the packet and well wishes which I gladly accepted, not sure if they were expecting someone else or just that number has certain connotations but I was happy to get through the line non the less. I got a bit of heckling from Trey all in good fun and it helped loosen the mood as everyone got caught up after not racing each other for a month.

T2 set up and ready Inov-8 X-Talon with 2Toms Blister Shield set to hopefully blaze the run course.

I didn't have that great of confidence coming into the race, I hadn't had a decent workout in over a week and was feeling tired and run down. In the last few days coming into the race I discussed it with my coaches and we lightened the load so that I was active but recovering and trying to recharge the batteries. I did feel better on Friday on my last shuttle run of the bike course, where we drove all the way to the peak of the course and rode the downhills, and easy flat sections with minimal climbing.

It was still a very strong field for the race even if you subtract out Conrad and Dan and I knew that I would need to use every bit of my advantage swimming in my 2XU V:2 wetsuit for the swim. Unfortunately the arms never got moving and I was not able to stay on Seth and Chris' feet like normal and I exited about 1min back from them hoping that the legs were going to be there for the bike.

I jumped out on the bike quickly strapped into my Sidi Terra's and tried to conservatively take off after Seth. Over the first 4 miles I slowly gained on him but could never quite real him in. Once we reach a 1 mile road section I couldn't keep pace with Josiah after he had passed and I just focused on trying to keep them in sight over the top of the climb.

4 Miles in Josiah resting for a bit before blowing by and earning what was his.

Though I couldn't keep pace with Seth and Josiah, I was holding off Nico and managed to keep him at bay for longer than ever on the course, I managed to keep his gap small. In what really shouldn't have been a surprise but was was having Brian Smith blow by as we peaked out over Beano's cabin, we rocketed through Allie's Way and then plummeted down the Corkscrew into T2.


Ripping down Corkscrew with my Ergon HX2 gloves and GX2 grips

Brian and I exited about 5 seconds back from Nico but I knew immediately that the run was going to be a tough one, there were 4 guys who could all easily put down the best run split of the day and then me. I could only think that I had to push and hold on, you never know what can happen but if one falters you have to be there to take advantage. It wasn't to be though as Josiah responded to the hometown pressure and took the title, Seth fought gallantly to finish just back in 2nd. Brian continued to blaze though with the fastest run split and caught Nico for 3rd. I managed to keep running and hold on for 5th, with Brad Zoller showing his cycling improvement breathing down my neck as I crossed the line. Though I didn't feel great coming into the race I walked away satisfied at the result knowing that it easily could have gone much worse. I don't know that even if I had felt ready to rock that I would have managed to hold off any of the top 4 with how on fire they were that day.

With the regional championships over it sets up a very close race in the XTERRA America Tour Series between Nico in 3rd and myself in 4th. With a few months to prep and build toward USA Champs in Ogden I have a lot of work to do as the course is more suited toward him. Without the challenges of the races what fun would this be though.

Mtn Podium: Emma, Myself, Seth, Brian, Kelley, Sara, Nico, with Champions Shonny V and Josiah in front.

Pressure

2011-07-15T21:11:00.000-06:00

XTERRA Mountain Championships in Beaver Creek are tomorrow, and leading into the race I have had a bunch of thoughts going through my head. It is common to have little issues add little bits of pressure to what can already be a some what stressful time. Here is small list of a few of the common little pressures that are there almost every race:

Feeling that you are under or over trained
Feel a little niggle of an old injury
Having a little sniffle or sneeze
Personal expectations
Expectations that friends and family have
It your equipment in good shape so you will not have a mechanical issue.

There are also the occasional pressures that trump the little things:

Racing in your hometown or at your Regional Championship
Racing in front of a large group of friends and/or family
Racing the big ones; National and World Championships

Then there are the more rare pressures that come along, as much as you try not to think about them, they are always there, these pressures are different for everyone. For me at XTERRA Mountain Champs this is something entirely new

Race ready! Thanks to 2XU, Pro Cycling, Rotor, SRM, Ergon, Sidi, Effetto Mariposa

I have worn #1 bib at races in the past, but they are smaller local races and I am more proud of it than anything else because there is a good chance I won the race the previous year. This is different, this is one of the major XTERRA championships through the year. Other racers and spectators see number 1 and they have expectations, technically their expectations shouldn't affect you but they are still there. I did get some help getting this number by a few guys not showing up to races, but you still have to race well enough to be in that position and it is something I continually go back to, I have had my best year yet in Xterra finishing in the top five in in 4 of the 5 races thus far, and getting my first top 3. The goal is to have this number be a routine thing, I can only hope that as Phil Liggett says about the yellow jersey in the Tour De France, that having bib 1, give you wings.
A big reason behind the improvement is just being healthy and being able to put in the most solid off-season of training if a few years. The support from 2XU for race, training and wetsuits, Pro Cycling for the Specialized Epic 29er to race this year. Rotor has helped me trick the bike out with super light and strong cranks, stems and seatposts on both road and mountain bikes. To complement the mountain bike I am riding the Rotor 3D+ SRM crank with 53/39 chain rings on the road bike. The SRM has been key to improving my bike strength this year, there is no better or more accurate PowerMeter out there. I have the best cycling shoes in the world to power both bikes with my Sidi's and especially the Terra's which are the only Xterra specific shoe on the market currently. I stay super comfortable as well with Ergon Grips and cycling gloves and stay flat free thanks to Effetto Mariposa's Caffelatex and keep things tight thanks to the torque wrench. The Colorado Running Company has kept me running for years in the right shoes and have introduced me to some great products over the years, namely 2Toms for their Blister Shield and Sports Shield which keep me blister and chafe free in the nastiest conditions.
I can't thank you guys enough for the support and help getting me to where I have worked so hard to reach today. Saturday it is game on and I will put all the best weapons to work with one goal, to keep that #1 bib where it deserves to be in any race.

Capitol Racing

2011-07-11T00:42:00.000-06:00

After XTERRA East Champs in Richmond I stayed out east for the Washington DC tri the following week. Christine Jeffrey and I stayed at Patti and Jon for a few days continuing to train in Richmond. Jon helped us out getting us in to the Univ. of Richmond pool a couple times and Jon and I had a good road ride as well before we ventured off to Fredericksburg. My hometown bud and college roommate TJ let Chris and I borrow his van to get around which we thought looked like a stalker or pedophile van but couldn’t have done without making to transport out bikes and bad around in. We stayed with fellow Xterra racer Suzie Snyder and Chris in Fredericksburg for a few days and she showed us the spots to train and had a great time kicking back. Then late on Friday we swapped cars again with TJ to his Jetta just managing to load all our crap in it and headed up to DC. It was great to get to DC and get to spend the next few days with my cousin Megan who also opened up her house to us going into DC. I was great to get to spend so much time with friends and family during the week between the races. All of you made the week so much fun and your help and support made the trip so much easier.

I did the DC Tri as part of the 5150 series in my attempt to qualify for the 5150 Championship at the Hy-Vee Triathlon later this year. I didn’t have a great race in Miami so I needed to knock out a good one in DC to have a chance to qualify when I did my third race at Boulder Peak a few weeks down the road. I also relished in the idea of racing in DC, I had been once before and we did a quick driving tour of DC but didn’t really get to see the city.

All set and ready to go

The swim was in the Potomac it was a clean swim not battling with other athletes and it was easy to know exactly where you were in the swim with some of the largest buoys I have seen marking every 100 meters of the swim. Though the seams were sharp as I skinned myself on one of them. I exited about 1:30 back of the leader and not to far down from the main group.

The 5150 organizers don’t believe in flow through transition where everyone runs the same distance through transition getting their bike. So because my name is Rakita I had to run farther than Bales to get to my bike or if your a race favorite you get special close treatment as well being towards the end of the rack. Sometimes it is the little things that make a difference in whether you decide you will return to the race the next year or not.

Regardless I was still racing and grabbed my bike and took off on to the course. This was the first race with my SRM Rotor 3D+ crank and I monitored it to make sure I didn’t go to hard out of the gate which I think I have done in the past and I pay for it later. I locked into my power as we rounded the Washington Monument and headed down Constitution Ave with the Capitol directly in front of us.

Locked and loaded.

The light rain make the corners a bit dicey.

A quick U-turn and we then headed out coming with in a couple blocks of the White House and then headed through the George Washington University campus before crossing back and forth 4 times on out and back sections in front of the Lincoln Memorial and the Kennedy Center. I locked in with a group of 4 other guys and we traded off leads for the two lap bike. We did a good job of staying out of trouble as we saw a couple of guys get pulled over for drafting violations. We lost a bit of time to the front group up the road but was hoping that I would have the same legs as I did in Richmond and be able to cruise up a few spots on the run.

Thinking this is going to be a long day.

Slowly making my way past Washington Monument

After a quick transition our group headed out and I was in trouble, my legs felt like lead weights and I couldn’t get my turnover going at all. I was thankful for the overcast sky otherwise things could have gone down hill even quicker if the sun had really been beating down. I tried to dial into a decent pace but it just wasn’t there. Downhills didn’t help get things going, I was just stuck and one pace and it was slow. I lost a few spots and ended in 18th. Again much lower than what I was hoping for and it certainly wasn’t going to help my prospects of getting the needed points to qualify for Hy-Vee.

After I got home I sat down with my coach and we looked at things and decided that it wouldn’t be worth it to race the third qualifier at Boulder Peak and to just focus on Xterra Mountain Champs which were the weekend after Boulder.

After the race though Chris and I packed things up and then after a nice dinner we headed back down town with Megan as our chauffeur and got some great night pics of some of the monuments.

Capitol looming over the finishline.

Looking back across the National Mall at the Capitol.


Jefferson Memorial

Lincoln Lit Up

Vietnam Memorial

Korean Memorial

Washington Monument with the 50 flags around the base

World War II Memorial with the Lincoln Memorial in the back ground.

For more pictures go to my web album here: Washington DC

Racing Downtown

2011-06-20T06:27:00.000-06:00

Heading back east is always an experience to race in, it is almost guaranteed to be humid and will likely be hot as well and I was hoping that my attempt to prepare of the heat would pay off. When I stepped off the plane though I knew that nothing could prepare me if it stayed like it was, 100 degrees and humidity in the 90's. The only saving grace was that according to the always accurate weathermen it was going to get cooler as race day approached, fingers crossed. In the first couple days I spent most of it drenched in my own sweat even when I was standing still. Craig of course got a great laugh out of this because every time he looked at me I was dripping in to my own puddle. Thankfully Will Kelsay, Shelby Katz and I were able to get out of the heat and was very conveniently staying just off of the bike course thanks to Jon and Patti. It was great to be able connect back with Jon after riding together in the Springs in March. Patti destroyed her age group in the 21k on Saturday by 18 minutes, and Shelby was going to use it as a long run until she got stung by a few yellow jackets and just decided to do the 21k and not add on an additional 9k afterwards still finishing mid pack of her AG with a nice stop to change socks with Will.

2XU Compression Tri Singlet and Short

Chatting before the start (blue cap on left is me)

Thankfully nice cool temperatures greeted us on Sunday morning, it was great to be able to ride from the house down to transition for a good warm up. The nice warm water was great for another non-wetsuit swim, and I got to break in my new 2XU Compression race kit as well.

The swim in Richmond is interesting, it is a bit short because for the constraints of the river but there are plenty of times where you can run and you regularly hit rocks as you swim along but the XTERRA crew did a great job of getting things cleaned up and managed to lengthen the swim as well so it was a bit more fair as well. I thought I had read the river correctly with the current before the start but I realized quickly that I needed to start further upstream and really use the current to carry me towards the first buoy. Dan read it perfectly starting further upstream and hit things perfectly to the first buoy and had a small gap on us. I managed to be just off their feet as we hit Belle Isle for a nice 50m jaunt across before diving back in for the second leg of the swim. With the warm water I struggled a bit to go hard but managed to pull things back as we neared the end of the swim. Just before we exited though a kayaker decided that we didn't know where we were going and forced me off of my path to exit in a different location than originally intended. I punched it a bit out of the water to make sure I was still into transition on Craig, Conrad and Dan's heels.

Craig and I headed up to the road chasing Dan and Conrad. Photo Courtesy of XTERRA

We road up on to the highway to get over to the single-track for a two loop bike and Conrad powered away from us, Dan did his best to chase and Craig and I sat in behind for the long bike.

Heading toward the road, Craig, Dan and Conrad are just ahead. Photo Courtesy of XTERRA

Into the forest I sat behind Craig knowing that he was better at the tight technical trails and I could gain by staying on his wheel. I bobbled a bit not shifting to a lower gear before a hike a bike section and couldn't close the gap that opened when I struggled to push the large gear to get going.

Across the concrete bridge solidly in 4th, Photo Courtesy of XTERRA

The big issue that we then ran into was that there was a shorter sport race that started ahead of us and immediately we started catching the slower athletes on the bike. It made the bike interesting for sure but it was frustrating because we were racing for a paycheck while they were out racing maybe their first tri and they were having to get off their bikes to allow us to pass. By the end of the first lap for us we passed 85-90% of the field after starting thirty minutes behind them and swimming a longer course. I felt bad for the sport course athletes because we did not intend to but ruined their race in some respects.

Getting a fresh bottle for the second lap. Photo Courtesy of Will Kelsay

We had about 2 miles or so of clear trails as we started the second lap before we then started to run into the tail end of the Championship race who were on their first lap while we were on our second. The further we got into our second lap we were passing more and more racers who were more competitive and reluctant to let us by until they knew that we are the pro men coming through. I was very happy to be running the Ergon GS1 grips as not to hook any trees or fellow racers through the course.

I came into transition a minute thirty down on Craig, but Dan and Conrad were out of reach being five and seven minutes up respectably. I did the smart thing this week and grabbed my bag of ice from the cooler this time and hit the run. I got Craig in my sights as we hit the bridge and then the flood wall and reeled him in just before the Mayan Staircase.

About to hit the staircase after catching Craig. Photo Courtesy of XTERRA

Reaching the top trying to open up the gap on Craig.

After getting over the top my legs started to struggle a bit, I managed a decent pace but it was definitely slowed compared to before climbing the stairs. I didn't have any time checks to know how far the speedy Nico Lebrun was behind but hit the Dry Way and found a nice route through. I debated but decided to get a time check from Shelby and at first things were fine and Nico wasn't visible. Three seconds later she tells me he's thirty seconds back. I keep it moving but he passes halfway through Belle Isle. As we are in the last mile over the pedestrian bridge across the river I notice that the gap he opened is getting smaller and smaller and I am pulling him back in, I surge as much as I can in the closing mile, it just isn't quite enough. I fall 8 seconds short and finish in 4th. It was a little tough because I was 9 seconds off of the podium last year so to come up just short again, you really think about where you might have been able to find 8 seconds. It is still a solid finish to a great year thus far.

Craig/Jessica (5th), Nico/Suzie (3rd), Shonny/Conrad (1st), Melanie/Dan (2nd), Chris/Me (4th), Photo XTERRA

Moving on to Bama

2011-06-11T12:38:00.000-06:00

A few short days after Santa Cruz I was off again this time to the pro’s favorite course but least favorable weather for me at least, Xterra Southeast Champs in Pelham, Alabama. The course is fantastic with some incredible flowing singletrack, a fast road descent into a technical rocky descent to the infamous Blood Rock section then the loose rock decent into more tight singletrack. The run had a major overhaul from the original thankfully taking out the ‘death hills’ and adding great rolling singletrack. The only issue I have is always the hot, humid conditions that are ever present when we race in 'bama.

Another reason we love coming back is the southern hospitality we receive from the great athletic community that exists in the area. Jerry Ryan has hosted as many as 14 of us at once, though I think we all determined that was a few to many. Jerry is an incredible host, providing a great pre race BBQ, some great stories and what we have coined as Jerryisms. You really feel like a family going to the race and we love coming back.

The weather was as expected and I tried to adjust as best as I could for the heat and humidity but it really is a process I need to start a month out. The cooler than normal conditions in Colorado made it hard to get ready for as well. Before the race on behalf of the pro field I gave Dave “Big Kahuna” Nichols, Xterra World Tour director, a digital thermometer to measure the water temp after the fiasco that was Waco’s wetsuit swim that shouldn’t have been. Though we knew that it wouldn’t be this is for all the times in the future when the water might be a questionable temp. The water was warm enough for no wetsuits so I was in my 2XU Super Elite Suit but cool enough so that we wouldn’t over heat. Craig bolted off the front with the rest of us scrambling to jump on his feet since it was a true swim. Jumping in for the second lap Craig had about 15sec and Seth was about 5sec in front, through the second lap Chris and I tried to work together a bit but couldn’t close it down much as we headed out on the bike.

Jumping in for the 2nd lap, Photo Courtesy of XTERRA

Conrad decided to throw some effort at the swim and was out on my feet so I jumped on his wheel as we hit the trails. I was staying with him but in the process of passing Seth he got away and I was left trying to get by. After a few miles Dan caught up and then we were finally able to get by Seth. In the tight twist tree I elected for the Ergon GS1 grips and on the more technical section gapped Seth as we headed out to the main climb.


Headed up on of the smaller climbs on the course, Photo Courtesy of XTERRA

About 3/4 of the way up Seth caught back up and I stuck to his wheel till we reached the top. We worked together a little bit and hit the singletrack into Blood Rock I rode it cleanly and hit the next downhill, passed Seth after he had flatted. I continued trying to stay steady as the temperature climbed and I worked on getting as many fluids in as possible which is hard on this course. Towards the end Josiah caught up and we headed into transition together.

Heading in towards transition with Josiah hot being me and Kahuna looking on, Photo Courtesy of XTERRA

I made a little mistake as we headed on the run, I had ice in a cooler but forgot to grab it and considered turning around after I had left transition to go back and get it. Once we were out on the road I knew I should have grabbed it, I wasn’t going to run with Josiah and should have spend the time to get the ice to help keep me cool. It was a sufferfest through the run and I just tried to get in as many fluids as possible to prevent further dehydration but it was too late. I managed to just keep moving but it was not pretty, Nico passed me about 3 miles in and Cody went by at about 4 miles and I was just trying to hang on to the last money spot and managed to limp home in 7th. Overall I did swim well and rode the best I ever had on the course but I need to prep for the heat better. You can’t race your best every week so it was just one to learn more lessons from.

Cody, Craig, Josiah, Dan, Patrick, Nico and myself completely spend from the heat after the race, Photo Courtesy of XTERRA

Lets get caught up shall we

2011-06-10T08:19:00.000-06:00

Its been a busy month since ITU Cross World Champs in Spain, after a weekend at home it was back to the road for the next Xterra. It was a return to northern California for Pacific Champs in Santa Cruz. Leading into the race the weather was great, warm temps the course was dry and a bit loose, however a strong rain storm overnight change the course so it was a bit wet and slippery and chilled things down greatly. It was a split transition so after setting up T2, we jumped on the bikes and rode over to T1 for a brisk warm up along the coastline. Thankfully I brought my 2XU Cycle jacket to keep me toasty on the way over.

Pre-Ride to Transition, Photo Conrad Stoltz

The swim was as to be expected a chilly mid 50’s two lap affair through some decent chop to help break things up. The chop made it hard to stay on the feet in front of you but I managed to find my usual spot behind Seth and Chris through the first lap. During the run between laps I jumped to the front and pushed hard to see if I could gap things out a bit more and held strong till we rounded the final turn buoy and Seth jumped back in front.

Chris J, Seth W and myself in 2XU V:2 headed for 2nd lap, Dan H is just getting out of the water, Photo XTERRA

Seth and I headed out on the bike and charged along the first 5 mile section all along the road working together to try to keep the gap we had built out of the swim unaware of how close anyone was behind.

Seth and I starting the first section of the bike, Photo XTERRA

Dan Hugo caught us just before hitting the dirt and that is when I felt my legs go. I felt like I was riding a flat tire but it was not being able to put together great training for the last month with all the racing and traveling. I tired to ride solid and consistent, after a few more miles Conrad powered up to me and I rode hard till we reached a point where he could pass.

Cranking over the top of the first climb, the Ergon GX2 Leichtbau Carbon grips perfect choice, PHOTO XTERRA

After finally peaking out over the top we reached one of two good sections of fun singletrack through the redwoods. The dirt section consisted of three sections, sunny long bumpy, rocky undefined singletrack and road climbs to soft tacky sweet singletrack where it was almost dark from the redwoods over head to a slick, wet dirt road descent where there was no traction and you were just sliding though the corners.

Hitting the descent into the Redwoods staying stable with my Sidi Terra's, Photo Nils Nilsen

I lost one more place to Josiah along the second stepped road climb and lost a bit more time on the descent after sliding out and hitting the deck on the road back down to T2.
I started the run and immediately saw Craig and Trevor Glavin coming up the hill in to T2. It gave me a bit of worry since Trevor had just rocked Ironman St. George the weekend before and was crushing it here. Thankfully the legs responded and I was able to stay steady through the run. Along the way is was inspiring to see Jamie Whitmore out racing again after her battle with cancer and then having twins. Having her out helped boost me knowing that this is nothing compared to what she went through with cancer.

Headed along a short section of beach, Photo Nils Nilsen

There was a bit of fun on the few quick sections of trail, dropping down to a small beach section then along the cliff edge trail back up. It was then a long flat run through farm fields back toward the finish. I held Craig and Trevor off and finished with another solid 5th place.

ITU Cross Tri...simply Xterra by another name

2011-05-18T00:25:00.000-06:00

I am a bit behind and hope to get caught up with Spain and Xterra Pacific Champs in Santa Cruz before I am off to Xterra Southeast Champs in Alabama this weekend. A couple weeks ago I had the chance to be apart of the very first ITU Cross Triathlon World Championship and race as part of Team USA. I have been to a few ITU World Championships before but they were all on the road and I was in the amateur or age group category racing, it is different when you are racing at the highest levels possible. ITU Cross Tri is the same as all the Xterra's I have been racing, swim, mountain bike, trail run, though the distances are a bit shorter, in ITU they elected to do a 1 kilometer swim, 20 km mtn bike and 6 km trail run opposed to the 1.5km swim, 30km mtn bike, 10km run in a standard Xterra. Another great feature of the ITU was a multiple loop format and separate racing so we could actually watch the women's team race and respectively kick arse and have a ton more spectators watching us as well. The multi loop format makes it so you are seeing racers go by more often we aren't disappearing for an hour or more, you see us every 5 to 15min from the same spot. Here are some photos of the race:


Unique pontoon dive start under ominous skies.

It was a simple out and back swim, I found a nice rhythm early and held strong. There were some faster swimmers as I expected and came out about 20 sec back from the lead the question was how could the others handle the mountain bike.

Dry conditions to start.

We started the bike in dry conditions everything was smooth except there were a bunch of non Xterra regulars that seemed to have a lot of problems with the course not sure why. We did four 5 kilometer laps and after the second lap the rain started falling. We were also riding along the edge of the lake for half of the lap adding to the wet muck.


Riding on the lakes edge, add rain and it got a bit muddy by the end.

Rode my way up to 5th before Josiah passed with a few of the regulars ahead, Conrad leading, Seth in 2nd, Marceau 3rd.

Bit muddier getting off the bike once the rain started.

Once off the bike I didn't know what to expect but new more mud was going to be the case, just hoping it wasn't going to be thick and suck the shoes off.

Headed out with Spanish favorite Eneko Llanos on my heels.

Thankfully the worst of the mud.

I hit the run in 6th with Eneko right on me and couldn't shake him, this was probably the fastest and hardest I have really run in a while. I did everything I could but I couldn't hold off Bruno Pais from Portugal and his fastest run split, ended up 8th overall. The US team dominated, Seth took 2nd, Josiah 4th, Craig 10th, Brian 13th and Cody 15th. The women dominated as well with Shonny in 2nd, Emma in 3rd, unfortunately a flat left Suzie in 13th after riding in 3rd on the bike and a back issue and borrowed bike put Sarah in 17th. Hopefully they start a team relay at Cross Tri, we will dominate. Overall the Xterra regulars dominated as well, Conrad taking his 5th world title, and Melanie taking the women's side. Once I get a few more photos I will post more and have an entirely separate album and post of all things non-race as well.

Here are a couple videos, one is in Spanish but some great footage:

Cto del Mundo de Triatlon Cross from photodeporte on Vimeo.

Going Wacko

2011-05-04T09:48:00.002-06:00

After a few short days at home it was off to Wacky Waco Texas for the South Central Championship. I was very excited when this race was back on the schedule, not the type of course I may excel at it is just plain fun. The community backing is superb they did everything possible to bring the race back and hopefully we put on a show to show our gratitude for bringing us back. They set up a great BBQ a few nights before the race, put us in an amazing homestay with John and Genevieve. Craig, Will and I really thank you for providing us with a place to stay, a bed and a kitchen for those few days, I know that we are all looking forward to coming back next year. John and G have a few amazing dogs as well D, probably the largest Great Dane you have seen and two eccentric Border Collies; Trey and Emma, they nearly wore us out before our race.

Out of the water with Patrick on my heels. Thanks G for the Photo!

All too quickly race day approached and we were setting up transition, we were prepared before until the fateful announcement cracked that the water temperature was supposedly 68 degrees, wetsuit legal, Craig, Chris, Seth and I couldn’t believe it we had swum in the Brazo’s River in the days before and knew how warm it was and just didn’t think it was possible that it dropped 6 degrees in the past two warm days. After a quick warm up on the bike I picked up my 2XU Velocity wetsuit back at the house.

Seth and I in pursuit of Conrad on a climb. Photo: XTERRA

After getting in the water I knew the best tactic would be to let someone else push the pace and sit on their feet to not over cook myself in the wetsuit. Chris and Seth led the way in the swim and was leading heading on to the bike. The course is very different than West Championships the previous week which had longer climbs, continuous efforts and is very wide open with no defined track. The course in Cameron Park never seems to head in a straight line for more than 100 feet before you are making some other turn, the longest climb takes at most a couple minutes. The biggest thing that I had to switch were going from my Ergon GX2 grips with the integrated bar end that were great for the climbs in Vegas to the Ergon GS1 grips so as not to hook a tree and send myself sailing over the bars. I had a few bumbles at the start of the bike with my chain dropping and losing traction on a hill but soon got in the the flow of the course and got back by Seth and Patrick who had passed when I had to put my chain back on. The inevitable happened with the Caveman making his way toward the front and about half way through the ride and we would be chasing the rest of the day. At the end of one of the longer grinds he started to power away with the short burst through the corners. Seth got by as well and although he was never more than 20 seconds ahead of me because of the course I never saw him till we transitioned to the run.

About to attack Jacobs Ladder. Photo: XTERRA

After running well in Vegas and really feeling like I was floating through the run there I was hoping for some similar experience in Waco. Straight off you are slapped in the face with Jacobs Ladder which is about 150 steps that range from 4 inches to almost 2 feet tall, the legs got moving after cresting as I put off in chase of Seth. He had found his running form through that eluded him the previous week and I never saw him again. Then all too soon I heard the pitter patter of feet behind me as Josiah flew past with one clear mission, I had no chance and he was gone in pursuit of the leaders. I continued my mission of trying to hold off any further chasers feeling my legs burn from the constant surges that this course requires on the bike. With about half to three-quarters of a mile to go I glanced behind to see Nico. The only thing I could do is try to dissuade him by putting in a surge and make it increasingly difficult to finish the catch. It was to no avail, he grazed past, I took my second podium finish of the year in 5th. I walked away very proud, riding very well on a course that is hard to practice for in Colorado. There is little to second guess and but much to have great faith in with this season, and with how things have been rolling and have a lot to look forward to in the future.

Mens Podium: Me (5th), Seth (3rd), Conrad (1st), Josiah (2nd), Nico (4th)

Hellava Way To Start The Season

2011-04-16T10:25:00.016-06:00

This was almost the trip that wasn't but when others are relying on you to provided a necessary piece of race equipment you make sure that you do what is needed. The story starts actually about two months ago when I began planning a road trip of sorts combining Xterra West Champs in Las Vegas and Xterra South Central Champs in Waco, Texas. In keeping the story simple I set up to use a friends RV to drive to Vegas, use that as lodging there for a group of us, then Will Kelsay would drive the RV to Waco for the next race with as many bikes as we could pack in the RV of people who were doing both races. I would fly back to the Springs for a few days after the Vegas race then fly to Waco and we would have the RV to use as lodging there and after that race I would then drive the RV back home. Leading into the race everything was set and we were prepared for a great trip.

Thursday finally arrived and the plan was to leave at about 3pm, at 7:30am however I get a call saying that the RV broke down while driving it from the house to where it was going to be parked so I could pack it up. It was taken to a shop in hopes that it would get repaired that day but nothing was certain and did we still want to take the RV on a almost 4000mile trip just after it had broken down? I had to figure things out and do it quick. What about renting an RV, well that is really expensive. I can't fly to the race because I have 3 other peoples bikes with me that I am supposed to bring out which also leaves out not going. So my options are to see if the RV can be repaired and we head out or I jump in my own car with everything and go. As the day goes on and we learn a little bit about what is going on with the RV, I figure out that driving myself is my only option. I load everything up in my car and head off toward the greatest parents in the world. I arranged to swap cars with my parents and use their Suburban to travel to Vegas then Waco then back to the Springs.


Bedding down for the night in Kayenta

We met at about 10:30pm in the City Market parking lot in Durango and swapped all the gear between the two cars, I got some wonderful homemade southwest chicken lasagna to snack on and I was off again into the night towards Vegas. I pulled in to Kayenta, AZ about 1:45am rolled the sleeping back out in the back of the 'burban and got a few hours of sleep. I woke up fairly early and got back on the road and pulled into Las Vegas at about 12:30pm on Friday. Thankfully I have some great friends and Will organized lodging for us in Vegas since we lost it with the RV, and Craig had jumped on getting lodging organized for us in Waco. It was great to know in pulling into Vegas that everything had worked its way out.

The wait for the blast Photo: Nils Nilsen

Soon enough race day arrived and it was showtime to see how every one's off season had gone. The water was a nice and chilly 60 degrees so a few days of prep in my 2XU Velocity wetsuit were necessary and I was ready to hit it once Kahuna blasted the cannon. It was a fast start jumping on to various peoples feet on the way to the first buoy. I settled in on Seth and Chris' feet but couldn't stand all the wandering around so I just set my own direct line to the final buoy. It isn't the right tactic and I should have stayed on their feet to conserve energy. I exited the water about 10 seconds down but after a fast transition was out for a brief moment in first on the bike before Seth went past.

Rolling the Wash Photo: Nils Nilsen

I headed out on the bike chasing Seth but he was flying, so I settled in to my pace and was set to just go until the forces behind were going to catch up. I knew I couldn't keep Conrad at bay it was more a question of how long could I hold him off. I did make almost 10k into the bike before came by, I was hoping to hold on his wheel but he was flying over the soft sand. I managed to hold my own and he didn't open up the gap nearly as fast as normal. Going up the next climb I saw him do something very uncharacteristic, he made a mistake, took a wrong turn and was headed off course. I respect Conrad and only want to beat him on a good day but yelling wasn't going to do a thing.

One of the few climbs Photo: Nils Nilsen

I continued up the climb and continued on. I pushed it and held him off again, and this time when he went by I was able to keep on his wheel for a bit, but I knew that it would be suicide for my race if I tried to stay there to long once we were climbing again. On the second lap Josiah caught up as normal and I tried to stay with him as well but fluids and fuel were more important. At the end of the ride I caught Seth as we headed into transition.

Getting my hydration in Photo: Nils Nilsen

As I headed out on the run I couldn't rest, Seth is historically a faster runner so I was thinking I would just try to hold onto him when he went by. About a mile into the course, it never happened and as the road switched back I had put about 30 seconds on him. I continued to push knowing that there were faster runners behind that might be catching and thought if Josiah or Conrad faltered there is always a chance to catch up. Neither scenerio happened though and I cruised home in 3rd. It was a great result, my best in the America Tour and matching my best Championship race result from Canada last year. It is a huge confidence boost early in the season, but there is little rest as there was one week between West Champs and South Central Champs in Waco, Texas. Which I race in tomorrow!

Way to long in coming but RR for MIT

2011-04-07T00:07:00.000-06:00

A couple weeks ago I headed south for the Miami International Triathlon, it was the first race of the 5150 series and I was hoping for a decent placing to get some points to qualify for the 5150 Championship at the Hy-Vee Triathlon in September.

I arrived and stayed in Fort Lauderdale with the family of one of my friends from Colorado. As has been the case with any home stay, Darlene took excellent care of me, I got some great home cooked food a nice comfortable bed to sleep in and she let me use her car to get where I needed to go. I really couldn't do this sport without the help of others, thank you Darlene.

I had a good time leading into the race, visiting Lauderdale-By-The Sea, and getting to watch Blue Fire a local band in an open concert, they were a great cover band with an amazing fiddle player.

It was also the weekend of the largest full moon in almost 20 years. I took a few photos looking at the pier, didn't want to pay the $3 just so I could walk down there.

Saturday before the race I met fellow XTERRA racer Christine Jeffery for a few pre-race workouts down in Key Biscayne. Everyone was out riding and running, nice clean wide shoulders on the roads. If you live in Miami this is where you go to ride which is a bit unfortunate that it is the only nice place to ride in the city that is easy to get to. After a quick pre-race briefing and registration, I headed back and got everything ready for the next day.

One of the biggest things I enjoy about XTERRA races is the later start you don't have to wake up before the break of dawn, but we are racing in a major city and they were closing down some large roads so up and headed to transition at 5am. After a nice dark bike ride to get things warmed up I set up everything in transition and prepared for my first real pro road triathlon since Chicago in 2008.

Thanks to Jeffrey Sanzare for the photo

Headed toward T1

It was a deep water start that seemed to have no true starting line but it was the most well behaved starts with no one really creeping forward that I have been in in a while. I started well jumping on Matty Reed's feet and that carried me to the first buoy. I got tangled with some people and ropes there even though I was not that close to the turn buoy and lost Reed's feet and slowly a gap formed. I tried to close it down but it just wasn't going to happen. I finished the swim about a minute down from the leaders and 30 sec back from a small second group. Thanks to my 2XU Super Elite Endurance suit I don't need to wear a swim skin and was in and out and on the bike and in my Sidi T-2. I am a bit at a disadvantage since I don't have a true triathlon or TT bike but I can say that my bike fit is better than 98% of the pro's out there. I rode solid steadily picking people off that had swum a bit quicker and kept pace with pretty much everyone else that that came up from behind. I had a mid pack ride and came off the bike feeling good.

Once on the run, I didn't feel all that great after I got settled into what I was hope was a decent pace, but one after another everyone was passing me and I felt like I was going no where but backwards. It was hard to stay positive when everyone is passing you but I just tried to think that it is early in the season and that my run workouts had been going well. I managed to keep moving and crossed the line in 20th. The placing was way back of where I was hoping for and expecting. I needed to take some time before I really put some thought into how the race went and wanted to see my splits as well.


Myself, Brian, Melissa, Cam, Ryan, Jillian, Matt @ Improv

After some evaluation it wasn't a bad race for the end of March, chalk a little bit up to not racing road for almost 3 years and how the speed is so much different than in the XTERRA's. Overall my swim was pretty good, I normally get lapped by the leaders in the pool in an 800, so only 1min down for a 1500 is not bad, I need that gap to be 30 secs at the max though. The bike was solid, I feel that I should be able to ride within a minute of the front group and was about 2min off so still some improvement to be had there. My run for me was actually very good, to run low 35 in March is something that I can be happy about for me, the only problem is that everyone else ran in the 33 minute range so I don't have anything i can rest my laurels on just go back at it before the next one rolls around. After the race I did get to have some more fun and went to my first comedy show with a few other friends/racers.

Up next though are 6 XTERRA's (one is not officially that but it is off road), I leave for Las

Ready Set Go

2011-03-09T00:03:00.000-07:00

The racing has begun, in one sense or another and at different levels for a few people. After one of the most consistent off season training blocks I have had in a few years things are looking good. I am still a ways away from feeling like I really am ready to race but unfortunately I can't control when they schedule the races.

Riding Palmer Park (Pikes Peak Behind)

February Road Ride With Kaili

One of the biggest things that helps in a nice solid training base is some nice weather and for the most part the weather has been great for a winter in Colorado. We have had some very cold days but as the pictures show we also have had some great weather.

Swimming back to the boat

After a building my training nicely through January and February I headed to Tampa for a nice family visit and to run the Gasparilla 15k. It is an incredible race that has more than 25,000 people between the 15k, 5k, half-marathon and 8k (or 5+3k as they call it because of that particular races sponsor). The race went very well and it was a nice confidence boost for my training, the only bummer was how sore my calves were after the race after pounding they received from the concrete. It was a gauge of my fitness, my placing didn't matter but my time was the critical factor and I walked away stiffly but happy. Once the race was done is was great to just sit back and visit with my grandma, aunt and uncle. Saturday after the race we motored around Hillsborough Bay and got to see Derek Jeter's 30,000 square foot home, a Carnival cruise liner heading out, the channel where the crew teams from may of the colleges come to train in the winter and where they paint their emblems on the seawalls. Sunday was great as we got to head out on my Uncle's sailboat and live the easy life. The wind was low as we headed out so we used the prop to get to a nice somewhat secluded spot where we laid anchor for lunch. Before we feasted down I used the opportunity to go for a great open water swim in my 2XU V:1 wetsuit and get it broken back in. Being landlocked in Colorado it was great to swim with no walls no lane lines and just go. After lunch the wind kicked up enough that we did set sail and used the power or the wind to take us back home. Once we got back we had some fun in the pool and hot tub. I can't thank my Aunt Nancy and Uncle George enough for the great weekend, it was a nice break and release from everything. It was great to see my grandma and great aunt Nikki and Betty as well. Here is a link to a few photos from the trip to Tampa, I will add a few more once I can figure out how to get them off my new "smart" phone.

My 2011 race schedule is up so you can see where I am racing this year, there are a few possible changes but they mainly are with the Ironhorse weekend and deciding on exactly what races I will be doing in August. If you live in any of the areas where I am racing it would be great to catch up so let me know if you are in the area!

Miami International Triathlon is the first tri of the year for me and I can't believe it is only just over a week away. So look for a pre-race blog and race report coming soon.

And so 2011 begins

2011-01-11T23:43:00.000-07:00

I am now in the swing of things, after a nice break official training has resumed and it is off to the races come early April at the latest most likely will be going at it mid March. After the fun hut trip experience I headed down to Durango the following weekend for Christmas with the family. It was a nice time to get to hang out and enjoy a few days with the family and not have to make sure that any particular thing was done. By far the most relaxing Christmas in a while.
The following week was interesting, slight cooking incident of nearly cutting the tip of my thumb off while I was cutting carrots for dinner. You learn quickly that any limited use of you thumb really makes things harder to do, and the tips of your fingers like to bleed and are hard to stop bleeding. I did get it under control but am still dealing with it. I also managed to get my upper back to seize up after going for a short run. This put a nice damper on things for the following few days and I am not sure how it happened but am still working out the last bits of tightness but nothing like it was! I will say that hot tubs work wonders and that helped out a lot in loosening things up.
For New Years the plan was to head up to Breckenridge for a few days of skiing and time with friends however the back squashed one of those days. In addition a nice arctic snow storm blew in Thursday evening adding some great snow for the mountains but turned the roads into an icy mess. I delayed my trip up to the afternoon of the 31st and things had cleared nicely but the temps were frigged! While up in Breck I don't think it ever got above 0 and with the wind it made it even worse. It was an interesting and fun night with Raena, Chris, Jim and Brigette and ended up being a bit later than planned but smiles and laughter were the ending to the night. The following morning though we did think about getting out on the mountain no one wanted to deal with the temperature of -5F and windchill of -25F. Hot tubing, movies, Rose Bowl and Fiesta Bowl were the order of the day topped off with a great dinner at Empire Burger. I headed home through Denver to have a nice brunch with my grandma on Sunday and as always was well filled up and got to help her out in making sure that her computer was running without issue.
The following day is when it all started, Lisa and James had put together a nice welcome back to training week and thankfully my body is responding pretty well and I can feel everything getting moving and stronger. The only negative is that well it is winter in Colorado and it decided to come on January 1st. We have had some nice very cold days and some snow so it is causing a few trainer days for the bike but I am heading out when I can. Thanks to Will Kelsay and Brian Maslach for the pictures below. I will have photos to share once I get my camera back.

Start of High Drive, may a interval is done in the summer here (Brian Maslach)

Midway point on High Drive, tough in the summer or winter. (Brian Maslach)

Flatirons in Boulder as see from Chateau Kelsay & Katz, pretty decent sight (Will Kelsay)

The Hut Trip That Was Anything But

2010-12-22T00:22:00.000-07:00

Trailhead to Betty Bear Hut

Over the weekend I was headed to the mountains for a new experience, going on my first hut trip. It is actually pretty sad that I had not been on one before so when Sean said he was planning one I was in. Ron at Mountain Chalet hooked me up with a nice set of AT ski's, boots and skins for the weekend so that I could take full advantage of going up to the mountains for a few days. The group met at 6 am Saturday morning in Frisco and headed out to Glenwood for a last fuel stop before heading to the trail head to venture to Betty Bear Hut. After plowing through 10-12 inches of fresh powder for 30 miles we reached parking lot and got the things together and began heading off on a nice trek through a foot of virgin powder, thankfully it was a light and dry snow not wet and heavy. We started a bit later than desired so we needed to keep a decent pace as we headed up the 7 miles from 9,000 feet to 11,100 feet.

Myself, Christoph, Chantel and Aron doing final prep before we skin and snowshoe to the hut

Getting the trail to look like this is hard work, your welcome guys.

As we traveled along and gained more and more altitude the group gradually got spread out. We would stop periodically and get a drink and admire the beauty of the snow covered forest and mountains around us and quietly appreciate what we were doing. After a couple miles the gaps were growing quite large between the group and at the halfway point Sean, Aron and I knew that some decisions had to be made to ensure the safety of the entire group. Sean headed back down the trail to talk to Mike and Josh and give them the reality of the situation. At the pace they were going they were going to make it to the hut well after dark and the hardest part of the trek was the last 2 miles. It was safer for them to turn around and head back to the car and head home than to try to press it to the hut. It is never an easy decision when it comes to denying someone something but safety was the biggest concern. I was still concerned about them getting out and was debating on heading back with them to make sure they made it out. There were a few other things on my mind as well, one was that I had to leave early on Monday to get back to work that afternoon and with the amount of snow expected still to fall it wasn't going to be as easy a trip out as anticipated so I would be leaving either super early on Monday morning or ski out late on Sunday on my own. The second thing was that I didn't get the boots warm before putting them on and skinning up and so my shins were getting bruised and sore with every step. With that in mind I decided to head back as well, it was not what I wanted to do but I would feel better knowing that Mike and Josh made it out and it would take stress off my shoulders about getting back myself for work on Monday. The three of us headed down, Mike and Josh had no problems and would have easily made it had I not been there. It was a tough not going through with the trip but such are decisions that are made.

Adam, myself and Sean deciding who will break trail next.

Once back at the cars we loaded everything up and decided to hit up the Glenwood Brewery for dinner before heading home. The first 15miles of the drive out were cake just following the tracks we made when we drove in. It was then that I noticed as I was driving my speedometer was not working, then the ABS light came on, then the revmeter stopped working, check engine light, oil pressure light all turned on. Then the car just died and I rolled to a stop. Josh and Mike pulled up behind me and I told them what was going on, Josh said that it was probably my battery and or alternator that was causing the issue. After a couple minutes the car started and I drove about 400 feet before it died again, oh crap, there is no cell service still and it is starting to get dark. Josh pulls around in front and we jump my car and let it charge for a little while. Thankfully that seems to work the lights are brighter and all the warning lights are off. Knowing that driving the car helps charge the battery and wanting to hopefully make it back to Glenwood to get the car checked out I tell Josh to keep my jumper cables and to catch back up and I will keep going. I pretty much expected the car to die again before we reached the next small town of Basalt. My Subi stayed strong and I reached Basalt before Josh and Mike had caught up. Now what to do, do I continue to Glenwood or try to drive in circles and wait for them. I elected for the latter but missed them heading through town and we were separated as we were getting off of the small mountain road and on to HWY 82 back to Glenwood. So I made to bad choices 1. leaving the only guys I knew behind with my jumper cables and 2 I didn't have their cell phone numbers to get a hold of them.

Nothing needs to be said.

Now I was gambling as I headed out on HWY 82 to hopefully make it the 20 miles back to Glenwood and not have the car die. So far so good for the first 10 miles, then I started to hit stop lights and as I would slow down the car would start to die. It made it an interesting drive as I was braking and revving the engine to keep things going, and trying not to come to a complete stop. On one occasion I had to make a hard right turn on a red light did a loop in a dirt parking lot and shot back out on the highway. Then about 3 miles from Glenwood the last shoe fell and the car died. After a call to my parents and searching the grand old internet we finally found a tow truck and after a while got a tow to Glenwood which was maybe a 5 minute drive from where the car died. After a few other calls to friends I managed to get a message to Josh and Mike and we got in touch later. I was back in Glenwood about 8pm on Saturday all the auto shops were closed and would open back up on Monday and that is when I would know what was happening to my car. My parents helped in finding and booking a hotel for me that was close by the auto shop and it was now just a waiting game. I was hoping that the shop would be able to fix the car on Monday and I would be able to get out of there but I wouldn't know till Monday morning.

Mary at the Cedar Lodge was great letting me charge my cell phone in the snowplow truck on Sunday so that the auto shop could get a hold of me on Monday. They had a nice continental breakfast which helped save me a couple meals, gave me info about the free bus that ran around town and had a computer so that I could access the internet and figure out what to do and let people know what was going on. I spent Sunday lounging around watching a bit of football then took the bus downtown and to the hot springs, not a bad way to spend my Sunday considering what had been going on. First thing Monday morning the Alpine Motors called and confirmed that the alternator had died. Thankfully they had one in stock and they had me up and running and I was headed out of town by 10.

The route accomplished by the group minus Mike, Josh and myself. We made it about half way to the hard left turn uphill.

As I headed back to the Springs, I thought about a few things, one is that it was a good thing I decided to turn around and head out with Mike and Josh. If I had continued to hike in and left on Sunday I probably would have gotten back to my car alone and it wouldn't have started. I then would of had to of skinned another 10 miles or so to the nearest house to get help, I would have definitely been in the dark then. Or I would have left early Monday morning and then waited around for Sean and the rest of the crew to get out to then get help from them. Either way Mike and Josh saved me from multiple hours of trouble by being there and getting be back to "civilization". Next time we will leave a bit earlier that way we all make it to the hut and we will have multiple ways to get a hold of one another, radios are a very good thing when you are out of cell service.

So it may be a while before I can head back out for another HUT TRIP, but it is definitely on the pail list.

The prep and the Fall Series

2010-11-28T23:12:00.001-07:00

After Ogden everything focused on Maui and getting ready for the heat and humidity, which has been my biggest problem when racing. It doesn't help being in Colorado either as the weather is getting cooler and cooler the closer the race gets. My plan dress in layers and bike and run in the warmest parts of the day. On the bike I had on my normal shorts and jersey and added thermal bib tights a long sleeve base layer, some times a thermal, then a light to medium jacket over the top and a skull cap under the helmet. There was not one day when I didn't feel the heat and wasn't soaking wet by the end of the ride. Running I was always in a long sleeve with a base layer underneath, gloves, a running touk and tights. When I did a few track workouts I added a jacket as well since the workouts were in the morning. I was hoping that all of this would help with my acclimatization for the expected mid 80's race temp with much higher humidity than Colorado ever sees.

In addition to my heat training I also jumped in the local Fall Series Cross Country races that were going on every other weekend. The runs provided a great race scenario for me and I used them as a brick workout riding for 1.5 to 2 hours before hand and just about immediately jumping off the bike, (changing in to dry running clothes since my cycling clothes were soaked) and running the race. The running races were great because they are later in the day and so it was easy to get in a good ride without it being to early or cold and then dealing with the warmest part of the day for the run. There are a total of four races, two were before Maui and two were after Maui. The first race was held about a mile and a half from my house in Monument Valley Park so it was nice and easy to do the ride and end at home then run to the race and back. A unique thing with all the races is that they each have a unique feature, the first one involved running about 3/4 of a mile through the "river" that flows through Colorado Springs. I was a fun race and I ended up 5th. The next couple pics are from the race, because of the river run I elected not to wear tights, the long sleeve base definitely kept me warm on a beautiful October day in Colorado.

Paul (red shorts) and I in the melee of the start.

Running through the river.

The key is to find the hard ground and avoid the water when possible.

The second race was in Bear Creek Park, it is a rolling hilly course and the unique feature is a the wall you have to ascend at the end of the race. It is about a 70 degree slope that you need to use ropes to help you get up and this year they sprayed it down so the bottom half was muddy.

I am easy to pick out, Brooks is just in short and I am dresses expecting freezing temperatures.

Tights, check, long sleeve thermal base layer, check, touk, check, CRC race singlet, check

Sweating my arse off on a 70 degree day, check, hoping it pays off in Maui TBD

Jumping the stream before heading up the wall!

The final two races happened after Maui so I could just dress appropriately according to the weather didn't have to worry about trying to acclimate and I could let off the gas and have a bit more fun. The third race that happened on Halloween was in Ute Valley Park and it is another hilly course with a bunch of up and down and the ankle turning rocks.

Cruising through Ute

Much more enjoyable when you back off the pace and are not overheating.

The fun feature at the end up and over hay bales across the finish line.

The final race was in Palmer Park, it is a great place to ride or run with some very fun and technical trails. It is a very hard course as well with a lot of steep hills that you are going up and down. It was a bit chillier that day so everyone was in some added clothing.

Chilly morning in the thick of things at he finale of the Fall Series.

Sean and I ripping it for CRC till Sean decided he had enough and left me in his wake.

Some hay bales towards the end for fun.

Not a bad place to run, some nice sites too.

Since these races I have run a couple of times and did a Turkey Trot Predict, where you estimate the time you will run and the closest people to their predicted times win turkeys. Since I hadn't run much I had not feeling for pace and was way off what I thought. It was still a fun time and nice to see my legs had some zip in them.

Welcome to the new blog, and finally a bit of an update on the season!

2010-11-11T01:20:00.002-07:00

Alright with an awesome new website going and now a lot more time on my hands supposedly I am going to try to keep a steady update on my blog through the off season. Hopefully staying on top now will translate into when I am back racing next year and race reports will shortly follow races! Overall is was a great year of racing for me, it started off a bit slow but it ended very well. The last time I posted on my old blog I had just made it through the winter and was just about to start racing. I had suffered a knee injury that was very hard to figure out and determine what needed to be done to solve it. Thanks to a team of doc's we were at least able to get things under control and I could for the most part get through the year without sacrificing my running. Here is a basic synopsis of the season:

April: After a leg opener at a road cycling race at the Air Force Academy I started off at Xterra West Championship in Las Vegas as the first important race of the year. Had and excellent swim and was riding great when the worse happened, flatted on the bike while I was in 3rd. I had to run a tube in the back tire due to a mechanical from pre-riding in the days prior to the race. Of course that tube flatted and my spare flatted as well. Will Kelsay save my day/race/season giving me a tube and air 15min later. Got going and raced as hard as I could and managed to work my way back up to 10th, never give up!

The ridge home stretch in Vegas

May: Did a little sprint tri in Denver to hopefully take my title back at after not racing last year but didn't have quite the fitness and lagged on the run and finished 4th. Later that month had a nice road trip to Waco, Texas with Will for Xterra South Central Championships. I again had a great swim, but my legs just weren't there on the bike and I lost time and places. A lack of a base on the run hit me yet again and I dropped a few more it wasn't horrible but not quite what I was hoping finishing in 7th.

Twisting bridge in Waco.

June: In early May I got a surprise email from Xterra asking if I wanted to go to Brazil for the first ever Xterra Amazon in Manaus. That was an easy yes and it was an amazing experience. I will post a long race report that I had written up in the near future. Overall the race was good, fun and interesting swim, hard hot and humid bike and a tortuous run by the end and finished 5th. For all the suffering I wouldn't trade the experience for anything in the world. The following week I got to see the last of my best girlfriends from high school get married, another experience I wouldn't miss. I followed that up with a trip to Richmond for Xterra East Champs. I had a solid race with a good swim, an okay bike but a very nice run that really put a spring in my step and confidence that I just need to push harder and finished 6th. The following weekend I headed to Utah for the Dinoland Triathlon again and defended my title there getting my first win of the year.

Diving in to the piranha infested Amazon

July: The month of July was all built around one race that just about every Xterra athlete guns for because we are just about all from Colorado we all want to do well at Xterra Mountain Champs in Beaver Creek. Things had really gone well in training and all I could hope was that everything would come together for this race. I had great swim and came out of the water first a good sign and just hoped things continued on that path. Out on the bike I held the lead through the majority and came into transition in a fight for 2nd with Seth Wealing and Josiah Middaugh and we were trailing Nico Lebrun by only about 30 seconds. I ran well but Seth was on top of his game and Josiah's fitness was a bit better than mine so I finished a very respectable 4th. I have never been so sore after a race though and it wasn't until a massage 4 nights later that had me in the fetal position that everything finally got worked out.

Podium Xterra Mtn-Me 4th, Josiah 3rd, Nico 1st, Seth 2nd, Cody 5th

August: After Mountain Champs it was all about building toward Xterra USA Champs at the end of September. I set things up to train through Xterra Indian Peaks which is just outside of Boulder. It is an interesting race since it is a time trial start and you just have to go hard because you don't know exactly where you stand with everyone spaced out over the course. I know I started 5 seconds in front of the next guy and as long as I beat him across the line by 6 seconds I would win. I had the fastest swim and bike on the day and had a very good run that was continually getting better. I successfully defended my title and racked up my third win of the year, the second was a minor mountain bike race. Following Indian Peaks I did the Colorado State Senior Road Racing Championships to get in some nice hard training and was able to come in a respectable 5th after trying to solo the last 2-3km of the race and hold off a group of 4. I also competed in Xterra Lory but had two flat tires and that ended my day there, but I did get to see my mom race her first Xterra and see her and my dad win their age groups.

Mom (Black Top) and Dad (#236) Xterra Lory Champs!

September: I started off the month on a nice trip up to Whistler, BC, for Xterra Canada Championships. This was a race I had been looking forward to every since it was on the schedule and had it not been for a last minute trip to Brazil this would have been the race I was the most excited about all year. The riding in Whistler is renowned and it didn't disappoint and it was by far the most technical course an Xterra race has seen. I had a decent swim but was quickly pulled to the front on the bike by Conrad Stoltz (I lead him though the swim so sometimes I get to jump on his wheel and enjoy trying to follow him on the bike). I rode well but a mechanical issue caused a few problems and I wasn't able to keep up with the bullet train of Josiah, Conrad and Mike Vine on the bike. I did manage to have my best run of the year and catch Conrad since he was a bit under the weather and grabbed my first true podium finishing in 3rd.

BC Riding-wood plank bridges

It was then on to USA Championships in Ogden, UT. This is always a big race because it is the National Championship and it is the final race in the America Tour Series. I was really hoping to knock one out and needed a bit of help from some other racers to improve my standings in the series with my slow start to the season. I had an excellent swim getting out right at the front and was moving along well on the bike with Dan Hugo when Conrad flew by us faster than anyone could have thought, he was simply on another level that day. I held strong on the bike but it was equally a very strong field and got off in in seventh. I did set myself up well enough that with a less than stellar run due to some side stitches/cramps I did manage to hold my position. I was #7 going in, I finished in 7th in the race and finished the series in 7th.


Dan and I chasing after Conrad

Well that brings you up to speed minus one race, World Championships. I will bring a full race report for that one soon. Hope you like the new site and I will keep you more updated here in the future! Check back for my Worlds race report and my novel about Xterra Amazon.