Photo update

Rode a trail that was best for hiking day after the race - Noah's broken frame hurt worse than the leg

Prescott (pronounced Prescett)

Whiskey finish

Update

Finally an update here - it's been a while. A little bit of a tough week for me after the Whiskey Off Road in Prescott last weekend. I had an off day there and have been trying to recover since. I think there is hope for this weekend in Idyllwild though after my shortened rides the last 2 evenings. It's my last big goal race of the "spring" before a couple weeks off to re-group for the summer races.

I raced 3 weekends in a row in March, had Easter weekend off, then 4 races in a row including this upcoming weekend... No wonder I'm having to cut back the riding so much to stay fresh!

Prescott was pretty cool and I do recommend the event. I was expecting a "fun" ride with a few guys racing at the front, but it was much more of a race right from the start. My lack of warm-up combined with underestimating the altitude had me hurting from the beginning. The sweet single track sections near the beginning and end made up for the discomfort somewhat, but the 25 mile jeep road section in the middle was terrible... Overall great event in a cool town though and after finishing I immediately hoped to make it back next year and put in a good ride there...
The Idyllwild Challenge this weekend is also a killer race and anyone wanting to visit SoCal to do a race - i recommend you come to this one next spring.

Time to book hotels for some auction winners coming to see Dancing with the Stars...

PS - Beth is taking on her first half ironman at one of the biggest triathlons in the US this weekend - Wildflower - wish her luck!!

Joy

You'll always grow more through defeat than through victory... to remain joyful and thankful through the defeat is an even harder lesson to learn...

Ryan set an American record at the greatest marathon in the world, but some people still consider it a defeat because he didn't win.

His perspective is pretty amazing.

http://ryanhall.competitor.com/

Otter

Early in lap one of the 2010 Sea Otter.

Things didn't change much from this photo for the rest of the race. It was fast and hard, but also short and tactical... 31st out of 125 starters (15th American) was still a solid ride for a race that didn't suit me so well.

I had a great weekend otherwise hanging out with Beth in Monterey - enjoying some great weather in a beautiful place. I'm really thankful to be so healthy, fit, and have a great time at the races with a lot of cool friends. Beth and I were talking about how Mountain bike racers are some of the coolest, most interesting people you will ever meet. Very serious about their health and training, but also really laid back, loving the outdoors and experiencing life.

Balancing training and rest is everything during this time of the season with racing almost every weekend. I'm learning that I do need to be on the bike at least 5 days per week still, but being in the 2nd and 3rd month of back to back weekends of racing, only 1 big workout per week is my limit, and 2 short hard ones is better than one big ride. It doesn't seem like enough to only do 30-45 min of efforts for an entire week, but anything more and I'm not 100% fresh...

I hope Ryan Hall is having a good day in Boston, can't wait for the replay on Universal Sports tonight.

Bday

Figured out what I want for my bday - whatever this thing is Ryan Hall soaks his legs in...

http://twitpic.com/jvrej

US Cup Santa Ynez

It's amazing how the little things can make a difference. Last night I was driving home from the races ready for a good burrito - and the Garmin finds a Chipotle close to the hwy 38miles down the road - perfect. At the time I wasn't too hungry, but by the time I was getting closer I was starving and had to pee really bad. I knew the burrito would be worth it though. Then I got comfortable in the slowest Chipotle line I have ever seen. The 2 ladies working loved cleaning the trays and filling them up with new stuff from the cook (even though they weren't empty) instead of just making some burritos. 20 minutes later I was having trouble even standing up and finally got to order my burrito. The whole stop was killing my drive time so I decided to eat in the car instead of getting home even later. I of course dropped crumbs everywhere, and didn't even enjoy the thing...

Anyway, the US Cup was a good weekend of training and ok weekend of racing. The Saturday XC was a solid race with 30 pros including some fast dudes such as Tinker. I felt surprisingly strong on the 1st lap and Ryan Woodall and I barely missed the front group and chased the entire lap at about 15 seconds back. It's such a wide open course the only things making it tough were the bumpiness and wind. So missing the group made things hard and I faded some the 2nd half of the race (1 lap race and 2 lap time trial for me) to get 7th.

Sunday morning I put in a 1:30 spin to open the legs and for a little training before the short races in the afternoon. I think this weekend proved that the schedule the US Cup is using this spring is NOT a good format. Come 2:30 only 11 riders of the 30 from the XC were back for the triple crown... and possible prize money... It was even windier than the day before and now threatening to rain. We had a fun 15min short track. Fun because I think we all knew that we were all crazy, racing around an empty field, in the howling wind, on a lame course, only because we love to race.

Sid and Morka must not have loved it as much as the rest of us because after their 1-2 finish they took off before the Super D that immediately followed. It was a pretty funny race though. The few of us that remained had a nice spin to the top of the hill and then sat on the ground behind some old wood downhill start ramps to hide from the gusting wind. Once our legs were good and frozen they started us on the 5min tie trial and we literally tried not to get blown over. It didn't feel good, but in a weird way it was pretty fun too!

http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/santa-ynez-valley-classic-ne

Continued

Finally got back into my normal routine after the weekend. And now a cold / allergies / sinus issue - not sure which yet. Beth was having trouble with it all last week, but was tough enough to get in her training anyways, but I need to be a little more careful potentially racing the US Cup Triple in Santa Ynez this weekend and Sea Otter being a major goal the following weekend. It's a normal thing to deal with as an athlete though, and the hardest part is trying not to stress about it too much. Exactly "trying not to stress" and i'm already not off to the best start.

I'm really happy with some great rides I had over the weekend - 10 repeats on a sweet climb above newport Friday - a long tempo climb to Santiago Peak and sweet descent on Holy Jim Saturday - and rode to La Jolla and took the train back Sun - Awesome!

Real Life

This week has been a tough adjustment! It's not so much the schedule as just being straight up tired from racing Sunday and traveling so early Monday. I had to skip my ride yesterday, making it 4 off / easy days and I think I'm finally ready to train today. It will be a little easier since the office will close a little early for good Friday.

The 50 degree weather also seems freezing after being in Puerto! I'm hesitating riding to work right now because it's in the high 40s... Looking forward to some good threshold / tempo climbing today and tomorrow followed by an endurance ride towards San Diego taking the train back Sunday. It's all about getting ready for Sea Otter now. That's normally a staple ride during base at the beginning of the year, but with all our rainy weather I don't think I've ridden down there since last fall. I should have some good photos at the end of the weekend.

Have a great Easter weekend! He has risen!