Long road trip

I have been away for a while. My mom was in the hospital for almost 3 weeks. She is doing good. I just havent had time to write or the energy. I have been traing still and everything is going good.



This weekend I attemted again a long bike ride on HWY1 to San Simeon and back. Not sure of ther milage but it was just about doing it. I had a bike trailer so I knew I wasnt going to shatter any records. But it is something I wanted to do. It takes so long to get somewhere with 70 extra lbs attached to the bike. I weigh 170 and the trailer is 70 and that's 240 lbs of bullshit:). Just for thought that is what I used to weigh that much 7 years ago. I didn't need no trailer back then cause I had one attached to my belly already..lol



Trips like this you see all kinds of cool stuff.

This is on top of Naciemento Rd before dropping down to HWY 1. A wicked 6 mile decent. Takes skill to manuver a 70 lbs traier behing you at 40 mph. I got a lot of weird looks.

Pic before heading of into the unkown:)

San Simeaon coast of HWY 1

ride, run ride

thats what I did on Sunday. I rode to the pinnacles, ran for 2 hours and rode home. I didn't feel like traing all day. I figure I would be done by noon and get some stuff done around the house.





Nice day to be in the wilderness















You have eat to keep the energy going











Its all down hill from here
















Let go legs, just a little longer














Wildlife

when things go according to plan

evrything seems to work out. Everything falls into place and your left with a feeling of great accomplishments.
I wish I could say that about this weekend. I set out to do a weekend of riding into the depths of the unknown to me. Not really but sound crazy! Long rides is nothing new to me, but this was something totally different. I attached 50 pounds of crap and a 13 lbs trailer to my rocket. After which sure didn't feel like one. My attampt at a multiple day riding over the weekend was cut short because of pilot error. I left my at 5:30 from my house friday night and was going to see how far I could ride before I needed to rest. I made it all the way to Panoche on Panoche rd. I was hungry, tired cold and wet and late. About 10:00. I worked out that morning also, so by now I had already 6 hours of riding.

I found a nice wide spot on the road and began to unload my pad for the the night. I got my food out, light, and the tent (well that what was suppose to be in it). I proceed to open the tent to find out that there was no tent in the bag, only tent poles, and a tent cover. One of them monents you just wish you could of caught my reaction on film. After settling down I figure I might as well make the best of it and see if I could get some sleep. I just in the sleeping bag and wraped myself in the tent cover. I fell asleep but woke up to wild pigs screaming of in the distance. I was freezing my ass off, cold as hell and by this time critters all over the place. It was almost midnight I made a decision to pack up and head home. I wasn't going to spend my weekend freezing my ass off. I got home around 4 am and called it good. The weekend didn't go as planned but I already I am determind to accomplish this ride. So if you do not exceed try and try again.

Saddle time

This is going to be my new ride for the weekend. Multiday trip.
My plan is too ride out toward Cleer Creek tonight, Set up camp and ride to New Idrea and onward to Los Gatos Creek Are and ride home Sunday. Oh ya I bought a bike traiklar that holds 70 pounds of crap. It hooks up too your bike and trails behind it like its not even there. At least intel you start to go up hill. I think my small ring will get some use finaly.

Cleer creek multiday ride

http://www.bikely.com/

HWY 1 road trip

With all the awesome weather were having I thought I would tale advantage of it, Im glad I did. Here's a Lamborghini, what a sweet ride. Only in Carmel!

A back view before heading down hurican point

Awesome HWY 1 view, one of the many

Some Big Sur art?

Who would of ever thought there is a school for apple pie!

More fall blues

Ahhh man, I wish I didn't have to work all the time. Work has been real busy lately. Not to much training going on. I even slept in this morning. SO hopefully I can make myself productive this afternoon.

Trying to get a race schedule together, theres so many cool races out there I don't know what ones to choose from. I know I will trying to defend my 1st place title at Cool in May for sure. I could use another $1500.00 dollars. But who couldn't.

New ride route

When I see this picture I think of a watermelon for some reason









I find it hard to find new routes here in Monterey county without having to drive about an hour south or north of my house. So I decided to ride over to East pinnacles and take the sinic route on the Santa cruz Blur. It eneded being 6.5 hours long. When i got the Pinnacles park i hit a trail that headed south(bikes prohibited) on a very unused trail I knew this trail ended up to the back side of Topo Ranch. 50,000 acres big, all to myself. Well except for the cow here and there. I think Im the only moun tain ever to ride this ranch. I was also suprised I didn't see one deer.

After another weekend out of town I am really missing being home. But on the other hand it has given me different areas to ride the bike. This weekend was spent in Placeville. I really like that area. A lot of hills and scenery. Really close to tahoe. Well thats all I got.

I was thinking about how all these bloggers wright and post pictures everyday. I wonder how they do that. It's tuff more me. It seems that my blog suffers a lot.

Well its time to get a plan together for racing 2008. I have some good news and will post about it as soon as I get everything together. I will say it calls for out of state races, thats all Im going to say though intel its finalized.

Fall is here

So I went to Woodland, my home town,over the weekend. Its always nice to go somewhere different to ride. Although its very flat in Yolo County. But I get to check out all the old fishing grounds where I grew up casting my shimano real. Know Im turning circle with my shimano gear.
Im glad fall is here. This time of the year my bike rides are so slow even grandma could pass me on the road. Well not that bad but it feels like it. Just now power!

Spent 4 hours in the rain on Saturday and not once did I think about turning around. All my training know is do what I feel like. Like this morning, I felt like sleeping in and I did. If I don't feel like working out i don't. Although I hope this don;t come to work against me starting next season. I here people do this but it's all knew to me. I use to just hammer all the time any time of the year. It has worked well for the last few years but I feel I need something different. Maybe get back to putting the shimano toy's in my hand on not clipped into it with my feet.

Can't get enough of wild life in the country

I bet you didn't think Soledad could produce scenes like this.

Things are looking good again to be pain free in my knee finaly. I went for a three hour mtb ride last night after work and it didn't hurt after words. I still feel a little tingle every once in while but getting a lot better. I don't plan on testing it at this piont though, or do anyspeed work, or a 10,000 feet bike rides. But I will keep thing going they way they are, just steady and what ever I feel like without to any pressure.

Vacation Time

So for our vacation this year we decided to pack up the RV ( recreational vehicle) and head to Yosimite for a week. We stayed at Indian Flat RV park, next to Merced River off HWY 140. It was 9 miles from the main gate to the park entrance. The closest place I could find with full hook ups. It seemed to take almost all day to get there after stopping for grociers and last minute stuff. But we arrived on Friday evening to a nice big river and a lot of pines tree's. Yosimite Valley was awesome, so many hiking/running trails and all altitude. The Yosimite floor was at 4000' elevation. But everywhere we went would top out at 9000'. SO most morning I would ride to where we were going and the wife would meet me there so we could walk around and do some sight seeing. The views were just incredible. One day we went to Galcier Piont. It over looked the Valley floor. You were standing in front of Half Dome and El Capitan mountain.



This is pic of the first long ride while I was there. It ended up being 4 hour ride. And I never got out of the small ring up front. This was the ride to glacier piont. Started out at 3500' elevation and toped out 9000'. Talk about oxigen deprivation








This picture was on top of half dome. I ran up to the back side and climbed to the top. It was 4 hour long run. I was totally wiped out after that for 4 day's. All I could to was hoble the next day.

This was the Vernal waterfall on the way back.

Where did all the motivation go?

Seems like my training is frozen in time. Cant seem to find it anywhere to do anything extraordinary or exiting. The motivation just isn't there. No I'm not lazy! Well maybe a little. Okay dammit a lot lazy these day's. Feels like hibernation time has come. I am looking forward to the first rain ride. Maybe even another snow ride this year if nature so intend to so.

So last night all I could muster up was 14 jars of home made Grape jam. About wore me out. I wonder if I can consider it a recovery workout. Smashing grapes is no walk in the park! I think I went anaerobic a couple of times:) I'll have to wear my heart rate monitor next time.

year 2007 overview

As I think about everything that has happend this year (2007) in a perspective of how my perfomance and or life living has gone. Ealry in the years I had set goals of where I wanted to be.

1. Be a good husband
2. Win some races
3. Get in shape
4. loose some weight
5. Not get hurt
6. Be finatiolly sound at the end of the year. (basically dont be broke )

Allthough I ran thru some tuuf points thru out the year with physical burn out. It happend after my second 24 hour attempt this year in June. I just couldn't seem to get it together training wise. I just couldn't seem to finish any of my key workouts and began to de progress on my fitness at one point. Its real hard to keep a high volume week after week without the proper rest. Although it deosn't stop me from trying. Although I am getting better at doing more low intensity stuff. And that means not hitting hard every work out all year. I had good results in the beganing of the year with all low heart rate stuff.

The reason I wright about it know is that sometimes it takes me a while before I can look at the situation open minded without being to emtional or rational about it. When I have a bad day I always feel like I have to make up for it someway or another to justify or top make me feel better.
I'm very thankful for having a loving and supportive wife. She encouranges me all the time and gives me great support in my training and racing.

I'll write more later

Dinner is served.

Looks like hunting season is officially over for me. I think this Buck might be my biggest one yet. 5 shot's later. The damage was done. 2 missed shot, 2 broken legs. And a neck shot that went through his head and out his ass...lol

The best part was dragging him out of the canyon. Talk about max aerobic workout:)

Can you say Buck Burger!!!

This is what I've been doing in my off Time.

Sing alone with me..

you grab a line and I'll grab a pole hunny

you grab a line and I'll grab a pole babe

we all go down to the fishing hole

hunny babe and puppy!...dueet de deeee

We have puppy sun bathing, yes that is life vest on the dog (hilarious I know), and a smoking 120 horse power force engine in the back ground to push us around the lake at 40+ MPH

The deer were laughing at the puppy in the with the life vest on.

Here's what the deer were saying "Look at that Mom!, is that a bullit proof vest the dog is wearing, We got to get one of those for Daddy"

Here kitty kitty

Last night I am going to consider my official ride back to training again. I rode for 2 hours an although my knee started to hurt some I would off kept going if the temperasture didn't drop so much climbing up Gloria grade. I had arm and knee warmers on but after sweating some I got cold quick. So decided to turn back and go home. It was good long enough ride to know Im feeling better day by day. Even got up at 4 am to train for 2 hours before going to work. Did 1 hour running and 1 hour gym work. Feels good to be going back to training. ALthough it has been nice doing other stuff.

Only a few more day's left of deer season. I got 1 buck early in the season, lucky I guess. Becasuse I have been going regularly with no luck.

Days are fying by

It seems the day's are flying by now that it get dark early. I have'nt been much traing at all. I might of rode my bike a few times in the last few weeks. It is a well needed brake. The first week was tuff not riding, hell even the second week was tuff not riding. But After 5 years of hiting real hard Im tired. And I dont want to get burned out like I hear happens to a lot of endurance athlete's. Although I dont think that will happen, I like to ride to much. I have been constintly thinking of trainig and racing a lot, too much? Maybe. But its what I like to do. Plus you cant get good by sitting on your ass! But it has been hard these few weeks just chillin and doing other things. It's been good catching up on a lot of things and getting ready to train again. Its hard to turn the mind of and chil out for me. I just cant seem to sit still long enough. I can only managa about 10 minutes of doing nothing before I explode, I have always been that way. I have to be doing something. I will start up again in the next few day's. I might have one more race in me.

Fore Sale

2005 Santa Cruz Blur LT

Full XTR components

Disc Brakes

Recovery

It's only been a week since the 24 race and Im feeling real good. Not only physically but mentally about the outcome. I did my best I could on that day and look forward to racing again. I know Im recovering good because I already want to start riding and training again. Again thats good for me. I did a three hour ride on Sunday and still have a lot of fatigue in the legs but felt good otherwise. I wasn't breaking any records out there just cruzing. I did some thinking on pacing and where mty heart rate was during the first hours of the race. Its so hard to look at my abilityi of what I can do and what I should be doing. I felt it was real high, a lot higher than I wanted it to be. Did it hinder my performance come early m0rning? who knows, there are so many variables. But I think it did have some effect on me.

24 hours of Adrenilan Worlds Race Recap

Well it's finally over. And another 24 race in the books. I would have to say this was one of the most difficult races I have ever done on a bike. The temperatures were in the hundreds. People were dropping like flies out there. Even the elite riders were DNF. People were dehydrating only after 2 or 3 laps and stopping.

On these longer races I will tapper longer than normal. So I took about two weeks too get ready. In those two weeks I had low volume and very little intensity's. By noon on Saturday the temps were already in the 90's and climbing. I tried to start out slow but my heart rate went sky high the first few laps. I tried to get it down but there just wasn't enough cruising section to do that. I stayed focus on the job at hand, fuel hydrate and be smart. After the first few laps I caught Natt Ross. Witch shocked me, my first thought was I must be going to hard. So once I caught him I stayed with him until my derailleur shattered and my chain snapped in half. By the time I got going again he was gone and never seen Natt again until he passed me at 6 am the next morning. The first few laps are always tough for me. Then things will mellow out. But not this time. The temps were so hot it was hard to get enough fluids and calories without getting sick. But I managed to keep a constant 500 calories an hour the hole time. And tones of fluid. But in the end it just wasn't good enough for a top ten. Instead I came in 16th overall in the Elite Division. I'm very proud of that and will take it.

I want to thank my one and only Amanda (my wife) for all the help and support. My Mom's and Dad's. And my Aunt Nita for the cheers. And a big thanks for Chuck Martin for wrenching on the bikes. It wouldn't be possible without all of you. Thank YOu!

And a big thank you to all my sponsors: Santa Cruz Bikes, Granite Construction, Smith Optics, Hayes Disc Brakes, Fiberwise Pasta, Carb Boom, Sock Guy, and Fox Shoks. You guys all have awesome products that have help me get great results.

Taper in progress!!

Thanks amigo for the push to post.

So the last few day's have been nice, just chill'n. But before that I was putting in some good weeks of training, did a lot of climbing through out the week. I was putting in about 25000 feet a week, just to get ready for all the climbing for the race. Know that the body is all good to go and all the fatigue is gone I think Im ready to kick some ass at the 24 hour race this weekend. I feel good and ready. There will be a lot of good compition there but my only fear is myself really. I say that because it's usually myself thats kick's my own ass. So I have to keep a level head and stay in my own zone. If I can do this and keep it steady and strong intel day break the next day I will be in a good spot. Where that will be? Who knows. But as long as I can finish the race and finish healthy I'll be good with that.
The wife and I talk last night about nutrition and what I wanted to eat and what drink mix did I have in mind. I am going to be aiming for 3000-600 calories an hour is my goal. Mix it up with Carb Boom Electrolite mix, SPiz, and energy bars, chips, coke, and what ever else sounds good. I have a plan to have pancakes and eggs early morning. I will try to stay mostly liquid for the first 4-8 hours being that my intensity is real high and its hard to eat solids when my heart rate is so high, so when it levels off some I will start to eat more solid food.
My rides are all ready to go and are going to be real fast. There all washed and polished and ready to rip up some dirt.
I have been packing up the new motor home I bought three weeks ago. A 1988 winabago super chief! I m looking forward after the race to take it out camping. I will be heading to the race sight tonight to set up my solo pit and park the motor home in its spot for the next few day's. I have'nt decided if Im staying out there friday or not.

when to do what?

Being a self coached athlete is good and bad. I have been wondering if I have been doing the right training lately. The way I see it though if I have a bad day out training or racing I have no one to blame but myself. I have been questioning my training technique this past year with my spotty result. Although I have some great results I still wonder if I do the right stuff at the right time. Since my Cool 24 hour race I have been struggling on and off to get going and get some good result. I just feel half ass. Just can not seem to get going. Although I'm still training I just don't feel fast or strong most of the time. This doesn't mean I'm going to quit but my observation of myself and how I see it whether I'm right or wrong. I just can't seem to get anywhere close to where I was in May. I guess when they talk about peaks during the year I must of had one hell of a peak for sure. I m trying to be patient but my patients is wearing thin.

As I was looking at the result at downiesville classic I noticed Dezmin Wilder had a good race with a 2:12, now thats fast... Good job Dezmin. Also I seen Yuri had a good race also, kicked my ass again, THANKS:). I will be racing both these guys in September at the 24 hour Worlds, I just hope I can shake the Laguna Seca curse I have been caring for the last 2 years.

I took Sunday completely of, watch the tour and slept a lot. And took Monday of also. Before I would of felt bad but screw it. I work 45-50 hours a week and train my ass of, I deserve a good brake now and then, at least that's how I'm justifying it..! I didn't eat the house down so that was a plus.

The tour has been very exiting. I feel sorry for Vino, he would of been a big threat but not with 14 stitches in his body. And Micheal Rogers from T mobil, that crashed hurt. So with some of the big names gone and Rasmussen going for over all and everybody is real close I think Saturdays time trial with be a big deciding factor for the overall, as long as they don't crash. Oh ya and Robbie Mcewm is out, that sucks. Seem like if you crash your pretty much toast depending on how bad.

Downiesville Classic

I eneded up doing the Downiesville race at the last minute. I wanted to see where I would land in the over all standings. Well I was a little disappionted and my performance. But I am glad not to be injured or hurt. The course can be unforgiving on the dwon hill section. Well it looks like I have a lot of work to do. Yuri Hauswald, and Brock Dicky kicked my ass pretty good. Even though I did come in before Brock, because he had tire issues only. THe Santa Cruz Blur held up flawlessly again, I just wish I could of been stronger.

From the start of the race my heart rate hit a 170 bpm. The hole time I was just trying to get the heart rate down. About half way up ht ehill everybody started to pass me. I kept thinking what the hell going on. My heart is sky high and seems like Im going know where. I hit the top of the hill and just kept it strong and not to get out of control. I was glad to finish strong and not wiped out as usuall. I do love this course. But maybe on a different day. I will now focuse on a month build up to the Worlds 24 hour race.

And your welcome Brock for the help. Anytime!

Im not grumpy, just tired

As my training has kicked into high gear so has my grumpiness. Ass I get home last night all I wanted to do was bite my wife's head off for no reason. Sorry sweety. That's one thing I have to be care full of when my volume gets real high. Amanda ask me why was I so mad at her. I wasn't mad at her at all just miss being home with my wife and hanging out with her. Its not to say I don't like training, I really do but it can be demanding at times, most of the time. Yes I know I don't have to train so much but there are sacrifices I have to make in order to achieve a high level of fitness. Like time with friends, family and loved ones. House chores, washing my vehicles. But this is a choice I have made and I want to do good out there racing. Plus all the chores get done later rather than sooner. Also when the training volume gets high and the fatigue starts to set in the grumpiness comes also. Seems like even the little things will seem like big issues. Oh ya and I forgot to mention also why I'm grumpy is that I'm know 2 days behind on watching the Tour De France, that will make anybody grumpy:). All the pain I go through you cant but wonder why doesn't it get any easier. How come it seem after doing all this training you still sweat the same, hurt the same. The weeks/months/years of doing the training it does seem at one point you could say, " wow! this is getting easy. So after 5 years of this stuff I haven't been able to say that at all. And don't even think about it like that anymore anyway since I heard a quote I think came from The all mighty Eddy Merx. He said " the pain never goes away, you just get faster". He sure knew what he was talking about. So as the pain starts to get high I hold that thought a lot. Im just getting faster ( I hope).


Yesterday I got off early enough to do the Loop. Arroyo seco rd to Carmell Valley over Laurless Grade to hwy 68 and reservation home. I think its around 85 miles or so. I did this route on Sunday afternoon. It takes 5 hours and 4.5 hours of riding. I had a few phone calls and 1 stop for water. Once you leave the valley here you enter into the oven in Carmel Valley. Always a lot hotter there. With and 1 hour 15 minute run n the morning put me at little over 6 hours of training. And the wife wonders why I'm grumpy. Although I know its all self inflicted.

With my training well into high gear Im feeling pretty good about how its going. Doing my build to the 24 hours Worlds on September 1st.

This weekend was a good sign that Im recovered and getting ready. With 7 hours on the mountain bike, and 5 hours on the road bike and 1.5 hours running for Saturday and Sunday is not to shaby. I feel tired today but not wiped out. My pace wasn't anyhting fast but steady. Still trying to keep my heart down, although at times I second guess this method, it just feels so slow and really not what Im used to. But I cant hammer all the time I know that, Although it fun but not productive in the long run for me. Im just trying to build up my body for the upcomming racing and trying to keep it consistant. I cant do that with a lot of intensity's.

Im thinking about downiesville this weekend but I have'nt made a final decision, depending on work and how I feel and if it deosn't get sold out. Also I see that the Distric Road Race championship in ford ord has moved intel after August 10th. I have found another race to for that weekend. Looks like fun, I will see if I can budget that in.

Well se how I feel depending on what Im going to do this week. Although I feel pretty good today seems like the second day I really feel the fatigue.

Ride, Ride, Ride.

This weekend was going to be somewhat of a test to see if I recovered from prior racing and training. I think I am 90 % recovered. Thing went real good and I feel normal again, if that's possible. When I am out riding long I still feel worried about the chest pains coming back. I'm getting better every day at not worrying about it but it will take some time. I even think its a good thing to keep me slowed down for know.
With my new exercise program and keeping my heart rate at a certain range and nor going over that is all new too me. I did a 8 hour ride, 13,000 feet of elevation gain on Saturday and didn't go over my heart cap, I was amazed how fresh I felt afterwords. I could of did a lot more. I was tired but not wiped out like usually. Plus I didn't get that feeling of wanting to eat everything in the fridge. So maybe there is something to this. Who knows but I'm sure it works. Although its king of humiliating at times, I say this because Im going alone and I get passed by this girl and it took all I had not to try and keep up with her. Know that sucks. All I know is I couldn't keep up the pace I was going at and had to do something different. I'm not superman, although I try to be. I have been thinking about all the training and racing. How all the intensity fits into everything. You do need intensity but how much. When does it get to much. Its different for everybody. How old you are, how fit you are, well there are a lot of factors. But for me its seems like a month or so of intense workout/racing is all I can handle. Its like Joe Friel said once that you only have so many matches to burn through out the year, and once there gone that its. So for me at this point its all about getting back to basics and sticking with it. JFT babe! Keeping low heart and getting as big engine built. I saw a discovery documentary on Ice trucks in Alaska last knight hauling big heavy loads on the ice over lakes. Anyway they had this truck on there with over 600 horse power, first I thought of is I had that kind of engine in my body I could shred the peddles of the crank with that kind of engine...

MY focus right know is September race. Its not far away. Speaking of Laguna Seca. On Sunday spent some time at ford ord mountain biking with some friends. I love that place. It has everything. Single track, fire roads. Even a deer jump out in front of me going down trail 50.

I was thinking I don't write enough about my sponsors and there products. So I would like to write today about what bike I ride and why. I have been riding the Santa Cruz Blur for 5 years know. My first bike was a LT with full XTR, boy was on flying high when I got that bike. You cruised alone peddling over bumps and kept going. I remember before when I used to ride my hard tail on long ride and my sides with hurt for days from tensing up going over bumps. Then when I got the new Blur I couldn't believe how much a difference it made. I could ride longer, fell better after my rides and recover quicker. Well a few Blur later that's all I race and ride on today. Yes they are my sponsor this year, but I have been riding Santa Cruz Bikes for 5 years now and think they are an awesome product. Very durable, reliable, and hard to beet for comfort. I 2 cross country Blurs for my 24 hour racing and couldn't do it competitively without them. They cruise over bumps like nothing. Keeps me peddling for 24 hours strong. I never had any major issues that couldn't be workouts. And they have a great warranty if any issues come up at all. Thanks Santa Cruz Bikes!!!

Blood Results ar in

It turns out that the blood result were real good. There was nothing adnormal in the results. I did get wierd looks from the doctor when I told him about the 24 hour races. I didnt think he believed me at first.

Its been almost three weeks since the Laguna 24 (well 12 for me ) race and I have been starting to feel normal again. Still have some fatigue IO working thru but other wise I feel real good and no more chest pains. So I have been training but not as much as before and have cut down my volume for know. I need to get strong and healthy before attempting anything stupid. Im still sticking to my heart rate cap and do not go over that. Its real hard buit it will pay off huge in the long run. I will do tempo and long sustained work but will not go over the heasrt rate cap.

Watched the 24 SOlo race with Chris Etough working on his seventh World title. If you havent watch it you should. As a 24 hour racer I really dont get to see the other side of thing, so it was kind of cool to see what geos on in the pit. I had an IDea of what geo's on but it was an eye opener. I still have the Cd so If you wan to borow it let me know. Also one other thing I took away from the movie is when cris lost he said he has learned more from that race than anyother one, so It made me think about my LAguna seca races the last few years is that I learned a lot from those races. I just have to not repeat them.

I will be doing WOrld in September so that is my main focus for the next few months. Im going to race in the pro division so it will be cool to see where I land.

Change is alway's good

SOme of my afterthoughts on my less than stellar performance at LAguna Seca 24 hour race. Some many thoughts come to mind but I have narrowed it down. I had such a awesome race 5 weeks prior to this race. My pace was so fast I even impressed myself. I hit such a high peak for that race it was almost impossible to hold it. That was nor a bad thing or good but an observation to think about for the future. I think it would of been better nt to peak so high and instead have a more level peak. It took a tone of energy from me. Also I feel at this time my pace was to high in the beganing and burn all my fun cookies to soon. And not enough rest after the race 5 weeks ago. I always get this high from winning a race that I get to eager to hit it hard to soon.
It funny how thing have worked in the past but are not working at the moment. Things change and my training is going to have to change also to keep my results going. I am reading alot of differnet books at the moment and have come across some good infromatiion and things are making sence know. SO I hope I can take this knoledge into my second half of the season. I know there is no quick fix so this is going to takle some time. Change is always good and I ready.

Lets see here, what I have been up too. REst, rest, rest. Its tuff for me just torest and relax. MOst people have a hard time getting motivated to exercise, BUT NOT ME!. Im just the opisite. I have a hard time just lounging around and not training at moch three, breaking the sound bearier...lol Thats just not what I want to do is kick back, but sometimes you just have too. So I have been watching T.V., sitting on my ass eating ice cream and stuff I usually dont get to do. Letting the mind rest and try not to think about training or racing. Although its pretty hard. So in my off time here doesnt really mean I get to sit on my ass all the time. Over the weekend got to explore the outer world I live in. I went to IKea to get some book shelves and new computer desk. WOW! what a place. The reason its so cheap is that you have to assemble the stuff when you get home. It comes with all the screws and hard ware but you have too put it together, wich is fine with me. So I built 10 book shelves, and 1 computer desk. Plus also I build three bike rackes for the garage. So this off time I have been trying is pretty cool after all, but I cant get used to it yet, I still got more kicking ass to do in a few months. So I will be back at it by next week turning the peddles once again.

Time for reflecting...

Amanda here. You know, sometimes it can be a good thing to stop and take stock. To reflect on where you have been and what you have learned. It's nice to see Brian doing that right now. DNFing a race will make you do that I suppose. So I think it's important to remember what we've learned in the last five years and nine 24 hour events that Brian has raced...so here's my list of lessons learned...

1. Always have fun. Always. That is what these races are about. The first 24 hour race thought us that. Well, I should say that Dave Smith taught us that. He introduced Brian to his first 24 Hours of Adrenaline event back in May 2002 @ Laguna Seca where he raced a 5 man team for Granite. Seems soooooo long ago now, doesn't it? My how things have changed. I still remember how burned that Brian was that Dave was pulling faster laps than him all while Dave was going up against his 24 beers in 24 hours goal. Yep, it was all about having a good time out there! :)

2. It's as much about the competition as it is about having fun. The second 24 Hours of Adrenaline Race, May 2003 @ Laguna Seca, Brian sweet-talked Miles Wadsworth into racing a two-man team with him. As I recall, at this point, Brian was still thinking those solo guys were "absolutely nuts." ha ha ha ;) It was all about working hard with a good riding buddy and friend for bragging rights. Miles and Brian both worked hard and pulled out a well-deserved second place with 27 laps that year.

3. Always push the edge of the envelope. It wasn't enough to do it once. It never will be. It's about setting goals, reaching them and making newer even more ridiculous goals! In May 2004, Miles and Brian came back to beat their finish from the prior year and win first at 24 Hours of Adrenaline @ Laguna Seca. None of us were disappointed when they met their goal and won a first place that year!

4. Dream big - you never know what you may accomplish. There was that time where Brian shook his head and said those solo guys were crazy. He may deny it now, but he did - I still remember. :) In May 2005, Brian raced his first year solo at 24 Hours of Adrenaline @ Laguna Seca and he rode hard through that race like it was nothing. We had no idea what to expect, but wow was I impressed. Not only did he do it, he won his first time out on his own. What a difference a few years can make! What an amazing lesson to learn - no dream is too big if you just set your sights on it and go for it.

5. Nutrition is key, so don't get behind yourself. A hard learned lesson indeed. One learned with Brian's first DNF in May 2006 at 24 Hours of Adrenaline @ Laguna Seca. In retrospect today, we knew so little. It really can happen to anyone at anytime. Your stomach just won't cooperate. You're less than your best. There isn't much you can do except be mindful not to get behind. Definitely something we remember and it permanently changed the path of what we do to support Brian from the pit.

6. You can't plan for everything. This includes tornados, disasterous rain, ridiculously bad maps, SuperWalmarts, missed flights - all compliments of the Wisconsin 24 Hours National Championships near Wausau Wisconsin, July 2006. By far one of the most bizarre experiences of our lives - one that will never be topped. At least we hope. But that's the whole point, you simply cannot plan for the unexpected like that...

7. Hard work eventually pays off, as does good planning. After a couple of tough races, all the work and planning that those tough races provoked, paid off. BIG. And resulted in winning the 30-34 age group category at the World Championships of the 24 Hours of Adrenaline @ Conyers, Georgia last year. It wasn't a flawless race, but it was close.

8. Nothing beats having lots of support and a good attitude. Brian always races with a good attitude and we always try to maintain one in the pit. You're only as good as your weakest link or so they say. The Coolest 24 @ Cool California this May was awesome, but I think we learned that it is all about having a positive attitude and making that a priority. It's also nice to have family and friends to cheer you on, isn't it?!

9. And last, but not least, the most important lesson to date? Recovery time is crucial. Brian thought he had learned this lesson when he had to DNF his Florida Ironman last November 13 miles short of finishing the run with qualifying for Worlds in his grasp. This following after only 4 short weeks of rest from his 24 Hour win @ Conyers, Georgia. Five weeks isn't much different than four I suppose. Recovering from the race is still a lesson Brian is learning. It's hard for me to speculate what he needs - how much time, how much rest. It's just not built into him to take it easy. Now his body isn't giving him a choice about it. It should be interesting to see how this affects the future. At this point, I couldn't say, but I can tell him I hope he figures this out soon cause I hate seeing him struggle through this!

All I know is that each race takes it's toll, good or bad. Each race a lesson was definitely learned and it only served to improve his racing, his attitude, his outlook on life. I hope to look back on this post at some point later this year or next and be able to say that this last and newest lesson was finally learned. Until then, at least some stuff will get done around the house and we'll get the quality time together that we've been missing! ;)

24 hours of Adrenilan Race Recap

This weekend was sure to be put in my record books, and not in a good way at all. And a weekend definitely not to be repeated.

Everything started out real good. Got up Early Saturday morning so ready to race. I felt real good and was ready to ride my ass off. I ate a huge breakfast, loaded up the truck and off we went. I had a huge support of family and friends. Witch is so cool. After setting everything up it was time for the race meeting at 9 am and the race started at 10 am. Well we were off racing, I tried to stay out front for the run and to get on the trail in the front off the pack so I can stay out of trouble. After about the the third lap I really started to feel really weird. I know for me sometimes this will pass and go away. I had major pain in my chest and my breathing wasn't the same as in the past. I could understand this feeling after 20 hours of racing but not only 3-4 hours into the race. I kept going hoping it would pass and tried to work through it but it just got worse. Yuri Hauswald and I at this point we changing leads a lot. Yuri would come in front of me and then I would come in front of Yuri. Yuri was real strong this race and I knew he was really shooting for the win. After about 8 hours I ended up getting a small gap on Yuri, but things were getting even worse with my pain and breathing and wasn't looking very good. I tried to keep upbeat about it and also keep real about it. I was going to go Intel I couldn't go anymore without killing myself, hopefully. After the second night lap everything turned to shit! My breathing became very erratic and the pain in my chest grew so intensely I had to stop and walk to the first aid station and catch a ride to the start/finish line where the pit was. When I got back to the pit and laid down my breathing and pain wasn't going away. Thank god I had such a wonderful and caring wife because she wanted to have me looked at by the EMT just to make sure I was okay. Every seemed to be okay with my EKG"s ( what ever that was), but took the ambulance ride to the hospital to get blood work and check everything out just to make sure everything was okay. The blood work came back negative for heart enzymes in the blood when having a heart attack. SO I just over exerted myself way to much. I'm not sure of the cause yet, there are so many variables to go over and think about. So that's what I will be doing over the next few rest weeks. I really hate the DNF monster but it's part of racing, you win some and you loose some. I'm not going to get all depressed like before and I will just chalk it up to a learning experience and move on. I am still sad about it because I have such a wonderful wife (Amanda, I love you) and family and friends support I wanted to do real good for them. So I am a little sad for that. In a way it kind of feels like I let them down. But I feel I gave it 110% and very happy with that. Right know I'm just going to to make any quick decision about anything until the fog clears out of my head and take a break. Again like I said there are so many variables to look at and will go over them the next few weeks and go from there.
I do want to thank my family and friends for there support and good words of encouragement. I just wish I did better for you all. Thanks again!

The big taper

My taper is in full swing. Last week I was so worried and nervous. I had all kinds of weird aches and pains all over my body. I thought I was falling apart. But this week is a lot better and everything is comming together. I rode last night and felt very strong and fast. Rest period does wonders for the body. As I going throught this rest phase before the big day, I always look back at all the training and realize how much work was done, and how on the verge of over training I get. I know I train way to much sometimes but really realize during weeks like this. SOmetimes I dont know how to act without all kinds of pain. Everyday I have to fight not to go out and hammer away. Its like my body is going through adrenilan withdrawls. Only a few more day's left and I can rip it up. The days have been nice though, only an hour or so a day of training. Feels weird though. But in the bigger picture I know I cant keep training like I have been and have good results at the big races. I will not do anything but rest and get the bikes ready on thursday and Friday.

Im Alive!!!!!

Another epic weekend, I'm just glad to be alive. You really never know how a bike ride will go. You might get a flat tire, or have some kind of bike malfunction. But what it usually is, it sure wasn't that way for me on Monday. I knew it would be epic, but shit! I had many thoughts on rides before but none of having to be air lifted out from the middle. I was so close to waving somebody down to rescue me on my epic journey but some how managed to make it. 140 mile total for the day. It never really dawned on me, going through what I did, and realizing when watching the Tour Or the Giro when you somebody having a bad day and could loose up to 30 minutes on a stage. Well I have a new respect for the sport know.

SO my journey started out with an hour swim. Then I drove to King City and park, jump on the bike and headed to Coalinga. Its a nice hour climb tot he top of bitterwater rd down the other side. I turned left onto hwy 25, rt onto Coalinga rd and topped at the fire station for the last stop Intel coalinga. Its awesome out there, no traffic, all along, pretty much on your own except for the occasional rancher. I get some weird looks, like what the hell is this biker doing out here. I was ticking along nicely. You past the entrance into Clearcreek, where all the motorcycles go ride. About here thing started to warm up a lot. And soon as I got to Los Gatos park I knew I was in hell. Kicked up to 90 degree's and it wasn't even 12 yet. Before the last going into coalinga I even thought of turning around but thought what the hell, Im here might as well make a day out of it. SO I get into coalinga, refuel got something to eat. One thing I have to remember is how hot it is and its three hours before the next water stop. I also go back the same way I came. I had 2 20oz bottle on the bike, 70 oz camel back, and three 1 liter bottle in the jersey pockets. Plenty you would think. So I knew I just wasn't in the best of spirits but no time or no way to contemplate anything else but keep going. It a long gradual climb but up too the mountain top flat. Going back you have 5 climbs. The first one is long and gradual rollers. Takes 1.5 hours. Well it took me all of 2 hours. In some spots I could swear it was close to 100 deg. Things just weren't good at all. I had no power, Things started to get real fuzzy and I had hours to go. The next passes were kind of comical. I never had to stop in the middle of a climb to catch my breath. By half way back I could eat, only sip on water. If I would of had cell reception for I would of definitely called for backup. So I got to the fire station, witch is 20 miles form the truck. I took an extend break here to catch up with myself. There usually some fire fighters there. There was a guy washing the fire truck. He was half way through soaping the truck when he walk over to me to talk to me. I really didn't realize it Intel later but I must of really looked like shit to have stop with soap still on the truck. It was nice to chat some with somebody though. I somehow manged to make it eventually. I remember telling Amanda I would be home by 5. Well I didn't get home until after 6:30. She was worried, I was worried, not a good day. So I'M just glad to be alive and feeling pretty good today.

I have two weeks until Laguna Seco 24 hour race, so I'm in need of some very deserved rest. I'm tired, I miss my wife, and am looking forward to our time together the next few weeks so we can get re aquatinted all over again!!!!

One of the greatest thing about the internet is informatin. You can pretty much find anthing your looking for. I have so much info on nutrition and training, and keep finding new stuff on a weekley base.
The reason I say this is because I think everybody can gain something from changing what they eat. Wheather it be what you eat or where it came from. ANd if you are anybody who knows me Im very particular on what I will put in my body. WHen going on vacations I will call near by resturaunts and find out what kind of oils they use to cook with. Or if they use organic foods. Its hard to eat totally organic foods but I try real hard and feel real good about it. With so many people geting diabeties these day's and they have no clye to why> I believe its the food you eat. One of the big main killers is partially hydrogenated oils. If this is in your diet that's bad. This type of oil when going through your blood stream it will attached itself to the walls of your veins. And will intern give you high blood pressure. Another killer is sugar. There is just to much sugar in every body's diet. When I go home from work and the school kids are walking home 90 % of the kids either drinking soda's or eating chips and I cream. Its just sad.

As far as training and stuff goes there are a few sight I love to read. So much good information on training and racing. Gordo Byn is and endurance athlete that has started out like me, overweight, ate unhealthy and started training/racing at the age of 30 or so. Same with me. Then got into endurance training/racing and doing the longer events. Anyway he has always got something good to say about it. Here's his blog. Check it out. I always find something good in there. I know he's a triathlete but were all out for the same thing, do go faster. Also check out Mark Allen online website, on the bottom if the page is some good info. Its what I have been following this season. Pretty basic stuff. But that's what I read.

New jersey's comming in

So I have been working hard on wanting to do something special for all support I get from my sponors. From product to racer support on discount product. So I enclosed a picture of what they will look like. I put an order in yesterday so should see them in a couple of weeks. They look so sweet and the company I have been working with has been so helpful in getting it the way I want. Thanks ZAAVY! The price was right too.

The pic on the left is the front and the back is on the right. A lot of work went into these. Let me know what you think?

Please help me( what my body is saying)

SO last week after adding up the hours in training it scared me. I tend not to keep track because I have been trying to be just happy what I can do these day's and focus on quality stuff and not get buried into someone else training program and stick to what I can handle and not what everybody else is doing. I do this because I get so caught up in everybody else's shit I forget about my own. If you think about who knows what kind of life there living, if they work full time or what ever is. Than when I'm not pulling the hours I start to push harder and dig myself a hole, and the benefits of training diminish instead of moving forward I go backwards. SO I have been just focusing on what I can do or what I can handle, with the full time job, wife, and pets. I'm still on the high end of the hours but train smarter. Also this year I have really focused on my mental aspect of training and racing, weather its stupid shit. What I mean is sometimes I focus on thinking that I'm fast, Strong and can do this. Well it seems better and makes more sense when I think about it. I just try and focus on positive thing about what I do and what I can accomplish. Also getting away from results, although they are nice to win but just focusing on finishing strong and not worrying about where I place but just feel good that I don't get hurt or just finish strong. I can remember a few times last year I got so caught up in my result that I got depressed a few times for not placing real well. Then I would go home and drill myself into the ground in order to get better but my results were still shity. And it seemed I was going in reverse. So I really believe my mental aspect is getting better. I just try and have fun out there and not get to caught up in the racing part or results part. Not saying I still don't drill myself, I just don't drill myself 10 feet into the ground, only 5 feet know. Its easier to dig myself out there. For example this weekend was long. ON Sunday I did a nice 3 hour ride, 1 hour swim, ! hour bike, 2 hour run, 1 hour bike. Without resting at all in between. And a lot of tempo work. I worked out monday morning but took the afternoon, tuesday and wednesday morning off. SO today I feel really good and strong and not injured.
I feel really good coming into my 24 mountain biker ace on June 9th. 2.5 weeks. I will start to imagine my laps and what I'm going to do and it and all the scenarios I can think off. I got some new strategy's on my eating and have been hitting my nutrition needs on all my workouts. So feel really confident with everything.
I will start another build up for one more week. I have to work on Saturday so will hit the miles on Sunday and Monday then focus on getting all healed up and ready.

Another weekend down and one more to go before I can start to slow down some. Im so glad Im so tired today. Things have been so tuff getting back into the swing of things since the 24 hour race. They take so much out of you. Depending on how I feel after next week I might even take it easy for 2 weeks intel the race because I still have a lot of fatigue, and really don't want that going into the 24 hours race at Laguna Seco on June 9Th. I will wait to see though. I suprised my self today. I got up at was out the door at 8:30 am this morning and just got back a few minutes ago and know it 6 pm. A lot of biking, some swiming and a long run. In the afternoon I went to the pinnacle to run and was loviong the heat, I forget how much I love the heat. Well I have Giro to watch and some sheep to count....... See Ya!!

cccx race report. Out of the 9 races series you have to do at least 6 races and the final totaling 7 races. Yesterday I finish my sixth race so I really dont have to race anymore if I dont want to. Im glad for that. They were getting real tuff, they are real hard and its an all out hammer fest for 1.5 hours. I really dont train like that but they do do me some good though to help me get in some major intensity's. The race start's at 1 pm. Kind of nice. You dont have to get up so early. Anyway were were of and just as usuall the pace was real high. Brock and Keith were out front and pushing the pace. Well mainly Brock, Keith was sucking his wheel most of the time. And I was sucking there wheel. I wasn't feeling the best and didn't take any rest for this race so I was just going to see how long I could last. Lap after lap Brock was doing 90% of the work. There were a few times I felt good enough to get up front and give Brock a hand but it was tuff for me to do anything. I just didn't have nothing in the legs. But I felt bad he was doing all the pulling. Going on the third lap I was impressed with myself for still being in this break of 4 of us. I think at one piont during this lap 2 single speeders caught us. I seem to be always in the back getting spit out the back when the pace went up. I managed to stay with this group intel the last lap. Brock put a hard effort on the last little climb and that was it for me. I spent the rest of the last lap in no mans land, suffering like a dog in 100 degree heat with my tail between my legs. Humility is good once in awhile. Keeps me in check. I was real happy with 4th place and felt good afterwords about my effort. And I didn't crash and hurt myself so thats always good. If everything goes good the last race I might have 4th wraped up. For this race it was all about getting in a real hard workout. In the morning before the race I did three laps of the 24 course then imediatly raced. I figure it will help me push ahrd when Im fatigued. It has worked so good so far. I think it helped me so much winning the 24 hours of Cool 2 weekends ago. Its real hard to be rested for all your races, I would love to do good at all the races but its tuff.

I got to brag yesterday

Yesterday I got to speak in front of the Soledad Chamber of Commerce. My friends are always bragging about me in some way or another. So I was ask to tell my story in front of the town peers. At first I thought why, I'm nobody special. But after speaking in front of everybody I know have the answer why? It was real cool to have this opportunity to do something like this. It was even very motivating for me as it was to the group I spoke to. It wasn't a very big group but I feel I did make an impact on a few people. Whether it would be to exercise more or even to start exercising, and also maybe eat a little healthier. I was so nervous talking, my lip kept on twitching while I was up there. I could even see it with my eye's when I kind of looked down. But like I said it gave me a lot of motivation to keep doing what I have been. I didn't realize I could have that much influence on people. There were a couple of people I knew in there so they could elaborate on some of the crazy and insane stuff that I do. Like when I'm riding weather it is raining or snowing. The times people see me riding at night or in the wee ours of the morning. Also it has made me feel a lot better about what I have accomplished in the last few years. I really don't get to see that to much because I'm always focused on today or the next few day's on how I am going to squeeze in those extra few hours of training. I got to meet some really nice people too. Also I am motivated to maybe even speak at some high schools when things cool down on the training and racing. Plus I was invited to speak to the rotary club sometime soon. Again I can't believe how motivated I am.
Training has going good again, slow but expected. I was worried over the weekend about my fitness. I'm not sure why I get so worried. It was only a week after my 24 hour race. Its not like I'm superman or spider man or any other super hero. So I'm glad I got things in perspective here. I don't think it would be real productive to be hitting big volume so soon anyway, although would be nice. Maybe next week if I feel better. I've been sleeping and eating a lot. I did get to see the new spider man movie this weekend so that was cool. It even felt like a date with my wife. She was happy to get to spend so much time with me as I was also happy to have that quality time with her. Although I find it Ironic/funny sometimes when we get to spend so much time together I really don't think we know how to handle all that time together, since most the time we are together I'm either asleep or racing. And vacation are hole other funny topic.
So I will see how I feel in the upcoming weeks as to how my training will go. I am looking forward to the Yuri Huaswald and Brian battle. Since he did win the overall last year I will definitely give him a run for his money.

Let's see, its been 4.5 day's since the race ended. My body has been so tired. I just can't seem to get enough sleep. There has been no training for me. just rest and relax. I can remember after all the my long events in the 9-24 hour range, I would be training again right away. Even then I would know that it was to soon to be hitting high volume of training. But my ego would not let up. Maybe its my age? Not really sure. But I have no desire to dig myself in a black hole no more. Noy saying I'm not going to extend myself from time to time but not week after week anymore. I am going to heed some of my own advise. So my plan is after feeling well enough to train, take 2 more day's easy before starting again. At this point my chest still hurts a lot, and I have a shortness of breath when doing anything taxing.
I did have big plans for this week to get my garage in order but looks like that's going to have to wait. I'm going to spend some time with my wife! This time of ours is well needed & deserved. She sacrifices so much of our time already. But understand what it takes to be on top. Not to many people can grasp that consept or even understand it.