24 Hours in the old Pueblo

Well, we just got back from the first big test of the biking year and all in all things went very well. Never having done a 24 hour race everything was new so there was lots to learn. Above all I learned I'm on the right track for La Ruta. The bottom line is my bottom line took a beating and between chafing the skin off of my you know what and my knees screaming out, I cut the ride shorter then I wanted. Even so I came away with a 40th place, 8 laps and 120 miles under my belt. Above all I learned I need to fit my bike better and to spend more time aboard letting my body get used to the geometry. Beyond racing the weekend was excellent. My wonderful wife Lorian and I camped with my nephew Jason, his wife deven and his race team from the Sonoran Institute. No one could ask for better people to spend a long weekend with then these guys. We partied some, told lots of tall tales and met many fine people from around the world. I highly recommend putting this race on your schedule as it runs very smoothly, blazing through the desert at night is awesome, the people are laid back and fun and how can you beat Tucson in Feburary? www.epicrides.com is the place to learn more. I guess that's it for now.

How about a picture so you know who I am?

Here's a little picture from an excursion to Sedona a while back. I'm happy to report I have lost weight since this picture and am hapy for that. For people who don't know where Payson Arizona is; we are located just below the Mogollon Rim in the east central part of the state. the Mogollon Rim starts west of Sedona and is responsible for the famous red rocks. We are about 70 miles southeast as the crow flies but still below the rim although it is quite different then Sedona. This is Zane Gray country, with thousands of indian ruins, cattle ranches and millions of acres of national forest.

How it's been going so far

Since you come into this somewhere in the early stages, I thought I would let you know what's gone on so far. Pretty much I decided I wanted to do something I had no idea if I could do so I declared I would do the La Ruta de los Conquistodores race in November 2006. To say some people are sceptical is an understatement. Of course I understand but as they say "you gotta do what you gotta do" and I gotta do this.

To date I have been a middle to back of the pack cat 4/5 road racer and similarily successful sport level mountain bike racer. When I decided to ride La Ruta I stepped up my training to around 40 hours a month on my bike and hitting the weight room at least once a week. After two months I hit the wall and completely ran out of gas. Since it was around the holidays I figured it was all the garbage I ate. When it didn't get any better after I came home I took a look at what I was eating and found out I was eating too few calories and what I was eating wasn't the best nutrition. Since then I have straightened out my eating and everything is different. So now you are up to date. Training is going in normal peaks and waves and so far so good.

This is the start of a whole new place

Hi,

I live in Payson Arizona and love cycling. By love cycling I mean riding bikes both road and mountain and doing some racing from time to time. On top of that I love professional cycling and if you have never been to a bicycle race, I highly recommend it.

Over the course of the next year I am going to race several races far harder then anything I have ever done in my life. I thought it would be fun to keep a record of how it goes and share it with whoever cares.

Take care and check in from time to time