Why Did We Leave?

Earlier this week Nate and I decided to milk the end of the trip to CA and stopped in Hurricane, UT to get a few rides in on the way home. We were lucky enough to cross paths with three great pals from Jackson Hole/Victor and met up for a rockin' group ride on the Hurricane Rim/Jem/Gould's Rim loop. Lots of stopping, lots of chatting and of course lots of great singletrack.

Anyone who has ridden this trail knows that it's often times littered with cows...or at least the evidence of cows. They usually don't get in the way and they are nothing but random landscape ornaments. However, towards the end of the ride two in particular provided a bit more entertainment than usual. I was leading us through a singletrack section and came around the corner to see a calf lying on the ground that had literally just been born! The cute little bugger was covered in goo and mom was trying to nuzzle him to get up. We didn't want to disturb them to we hightailed it out of there. Pretty cool stuff.

Nate took some great shots of our adventure:






Now it's back to snow. Yes, I said snow. We got a few more inches on the deck yesterday. Good lord, I think I am really ready to move. I don't know why we decided to come home to Idaho...these photos reminded me that we never should have left where we were!

Santa Ynez Classic

Here's a link to my cyclingdirt post-race interview for the full report.

I definitely had a good day on the bike on a course that suited my strengths. Kenda went 1-2- with Kathy in 2nd and me in 1st. Andy suffered some major mechanicals and still managed a 3rd place finish-what a stud! Now it's back in the car for one last trip to Trader Joe's and a 16 hr drive home. Leaving sunny, warm CA for rainy/snowy/sleeting-temps in the mid-40s Idaho will be a bit rough, but it'll be good to be home no matter how much snow I have to shovel.

Cooling Trend

It's finally getting back to normal temperatures in California. I've had a lovely past few days tearing around the Santa Ynez Classic course in temps in the 60s. Yesterday was even overcast with a strong breeze that didn't feel like there was a hairdryer blowing in your face.

The landscape here is gorgeous. It's a lot greener than it was when we were here in late May of last year and there are flowers covering the hillsides.

There are a few changes to this year's course of interest:

1). Temperature: as I mentioned, it's nearly 40 degrees cooler than it was last year (in '08 it hit 104 deg.)

2). Course quality: it's better! They shortened the lap by 2 miles and kept all the good stuff in. Pro women are doing 3 laps on a now 9-mile lap of wicked fast singletrack. The course is not nearly as rutted, rough and/or cracked as it was last year, which makes absolutely no sense because of:

3). Livestock: There are cows everywhere. Not so many today as yesterday, though. Maybe they finally got tired of spooking up from brightly colored spandex-clad mountain bikers tearing through their otherwise mellow existences? Their presence is only problematic not because of the possibility of hitting one of them (they are easy to spot), but because of what they leave behind from their behinds.

I'm not so hot on the idea of getting a case of what likely kept John Tomac from qualifying for the Olympic Team back in the 90s. Yesterday, I tore through a very fresh patch of cow dookie that had been deposited on a narrow section of singletrack and got splattered. Legs, neck, gloves, jersey, and all over my bike. Yup, even in the face. I was sure not to touch my water bottles after that....or anything for that matter. Hopefully the Cat 2/3 wave starting before us tomorrow will clear the course :)

Kathy, Zeph, Andy and I are all here from Kenda to represent. Wish us luck!

One more cute dog photo for good measure:

Maddy advising me on my grad research.

More CA Photos

It seems easier to update the blogosphere when you have a fast internet connection to upload photos, so here you go...

Cruising Santa Cruz. The singletrack up there is the holy grail of singletrack. The shadows of the gigantic redwoods made the 95 degree heat slightly more tolerable.

Pebble beach for some down time.

..and play time.

Maddy digs digging.

Toro Park in Monterey.

Sea Lion party along scenic CA-1. One of the prettiest drives I've ever enjoyed.

Road Trip Pictures

California sure is nice in the springtime. A few pictures from our travels...

Driving through a snowstorm...takes 2 to watch the road

Maddy gave up helping after a while...

Sea Otter course filled with flowers

Pebble Beach pre-cartwheel

17-Mile Road recovery ride

Monterey Bike Path

Can you spot the see lions....?

This is sooooo much better than the weather in Idaho!

Sea Otter Classic

Ho hum. I wish I had better news to report, but I think my legs failed to get the memo telling them to show up for 2 really hard races this weekend. Plus, a nasty pre-ride crash on Friday robbed me of most of my descending confidence for the rest of the weekend. Bad combination for optimal performance which is probably why I came away with a 19th in the short track and 23rd in the xc.

But the good news is that Sea Otter is always Sea Otter. It's a great time to catch up with old friends, to make new ones and to be comfortably surrounded by thousands of fellow bike nerds. You can't beat the race vibe of this race and this year did not disappoint. The only thing different was that the Larabar booth decided to restrict samples to 2 per person.

However, the biggest bummer of the weekend for me was the decision by race officials the morning of the xc race to cut the distance in half (to 16 miles) for the pro women because of the extreme heat. The men's race was also shortened, but they got to do one long and one short lap. I was NOT stoked about that decision. I'm a big fan of Sea Otter for many reasons, but one important one is the fact that it's one of the few times women get to race the same distance as the men. Mostly I was bummed because I really, really needed that race to be 38 miles long as planned. Typically, the longer it gets, the faster I go. My poor little cold weather-calibrated Idaho body suffered greatly in the 94 degree temperature, but even after the race I still wished we had at least done the additional 10-mile lap the men got to do.

Other than the fact that I raced most of the race with goosebumps rather than sweat on my body, I dealt with the heat just fine. I hydrated well (I drank 4 bottles in warmup alone), fueled well and was really careful to back off the effort when I felt like I was nearing the danger zone. Backing off already powerless legs created a "you are going backwards feeling" for most of the day, but no other option seemed, well...like an option. It was one of those days where it was so hot you recognized how uncomfortable every little body part felt. I distinctly remembering that my earlobes were intolerably hot. Weird.

I think the funniest thing that happened on Thursday was when I was in the middle of the slowest pre-ride lap I have ever ridden at Sea Otter. I was poking along a section of singletrack with Nate and a man came riding up behind me and said "Cool, a Tomac!" He introduced himself as Joel, asked my name, we traded hellos and I let him go by. Later, I caught back up to him and he quickly identified himself as the owner of Tomac and said that Johhny Tomac was right behind us. COOL! It's not very often that you get to ride with the 2 guys responsible for creating and providing you with the nicest bike you have ever ridden in your life. Turns out they were in a booth next to us all weekend long and we had ample opportunity to chat, but finishing up my pre-ride lap with Joel was a great way to open the weekend.

Is it Spring Yet?

Whoa, total deja vu...I just spent another evening packing the car for California in a snow storm. The same thing happened when I was packing for Fontana 2 weeks ago exactly. I was hoping spring would be here when I got back. Right. Instead, it looks like tomorrow's travel day is going to be just like my last exit from ID: slow, slick and snow packed.

Ahhh, Sea Otter. Your timing is impeccable!

CA to ID

Phew, lots going on.

A recap of my last week or so: I had a great rest of the trip to CA with my teammate and superstar traveling buddy, Kathy. She sure is fun to hang/ride/travel/navigate Trader Joe's/chat with. Last Sunday, I raced the Sagebrush Safari, hands down the best race course I've had the pleasure to ride. Yeah, there were a lot of pavement climbs, but the berm-filled twisty turney single track erased any and all memory of that. There were sooooo many people there, a great sight to see!

The Kenda team had a great showing: Andy was 2nd in the Pro Men, I was 3rd in the Pro Women and Kathy was 5th. I rode well, but still battled those darn leg cramps. I felt okay, not stellar, but began to feel better as the race went on. I was a smart cookie for once in my short cycling career, attacked at the proper times and won a sprint for 3rd. Check out the Kenda blog for a photo and cyclingdirt.com for a write up about the race, a video of the course and more photos. I can't say enough about this new website. Amazing, innovative coverage for sure.

Kathy and I rallied hard after the race, drove to Primm, NV to spend the night in our $5.33 hotel room at some random casino and drove 12 hours the next day to get back home. Well, she got to get out of the car in Heber City and I continued on solo to Victor. I came home to a kitchen still in shambles, a very happy husband, an ecstatic dog and a pile of graduate homework to get started on. I also had a class to teach at the rec center and lots of catching up, cleaning and organizing to do at home around the remodel. This explains the disappearance from bloggy-land.

Yesterday, I motivated to get over to Grand Teton National Park for a ride. This is one of the most magical things about living in this area. Every year, the Park service closes the road to traffic and plows the inner road for pedestrians, cyclists-pretty much any mode of travel without a motor. I went over to Jackson, got some shopping, recycling, etc. done-you know, big city stuff- then went for a sweet 45 mile road ride on my knobby-tires. It's the one place and time when it's okay to wear noise-canceling headphones and space out completely with Teton views the entire way.

I even got to pedal a bit with my old co-worker, the fabulous Tim Young of Friends of Pathways. He was riding his new hand-built Erickson titanium touring bike and I swear, that bike is so nice I'll bet anything he is contemplating riding another 40,000 miles around the world like he did back in the 80s just so he can ride it for 7 years straight.

The Good Stuff

This has been one of those weeks that's been full of the good stuff: good people, good rides, good vibes, good food, good times. On Monday, Kathy and I said our goodbyes to the other Kenda-Tomac-Hayes folks, packed up the suby and headed to San Diego. Kathy's family is putting us up for the week in La Mesa, CA and the situation couldn't be more ideal. They are terrific, welcoming hosts and are a real joy to spend time with. They are taking very good care of us and are amazed at how good we are at being complete slugs when we aren't training.

Ryan took us for some hot laps around Fiesta Park for our post-race day recovery ride Monday evening. Low traffic and it was directly on the water. Hel-OOO California!

This bike made me giggle, so I stopped to snap a photo of it because it reminded me of the S*#t bike mentioned so often in Bike Magazine. Turns out its owner, Pete, is also a member of the Kenda family. He stopped at our car after our ride to say hello and to make us laugh. He also invited us to his birthday party later in the week.

On Tuesday, I had a list of errands to run and an easy 1:30 mtb ride. Perfect day for a bit of exploring. Ryan pointed me towards Mission Park and after driving all across town looking for a rack replacement for my bike rack that broke the morning of the xc race (no bike involved ;) I found miles and miles of random, unpopulated singletrack.

Before my ride I spent a good 30 min. chatting in the parking lot with my new friend, George. He approached me asking if he could borrow a spoon so he could eat some kale salad. He said I looked like a traveler because of the sheer volume of stuff that came pouring out of my car when I opened the doors. I helped him out with some silverware and from there we were fast friends. He is a foraging expert and raw foods chef and we got talking about health, nutrition, recipes, and food dehydrators. He is a cancer survivor of the same kind of cancer my mom survived a few years ago (non-Hodgkin's lymphoma) and was just a wealth of information and good, positive energy. He fed me SO many different samples of his raw foods concoctions, I didn't think I was going to be able to ride comfortably afterwards. I left our conversation with his business card, some great ideas for both myself and my mom and a new want: a food dehydrator.

Today was a hard day of intervals for me, so I set out looking for some steep stuff. The Anderson Truck Trail in Alpine didn't disappoint. Really fun, fast singletrack on the way up and down. The legs felt great and it was one of those days that you wanted to ride forever...of course, 75 and sunny didn't hurt either.

Traveling is one of the greatest things about being a pro racer. You meet the darnedest people and see the most incredible things when you have no idea where you are going. It never ceases to amaze me how inherently helpful people really are. This trip has been amazing like that. Plus, this year's team is jam-packed with incredible individual people. I think I laughed and smiled more with my teammates and mechanic this past weekend than I did all of last year combined.

The rest of the week is just more chillaxing in the warm weather, getting ready for the Kenda Cup West race on Sunday, the sagebrush safari. Of course, daily runs to Trader Joes and perhaps a trip to some shopping malls. Don't laugh. We don't have those in my neck-of-the-woods.