Good Racing, good beers, goodtimes,... and more good beer.

Things are busy for me right now. I just started the second week of my "peak" phase after having a killer weekend out in the Arizona desert. Let's re-cap.

riding in the desert:


Friday:
I headed out early Friday morning, hit the pool for some yards, and then got on the road to Tempe. I got to Tom's office early in the afternoon to meet up with him and Trevor for a pre-ride of the course. We headed over in the 95+ degree heat and got in about an hour of riding on the course. It wasn't marked very well but we did out best. Tom raced the course last year so he got us through most of it.

After that is was back to Tom's for showers and then we got some chronic food to grill.

temp gauge in my truck.. before the ride:


Saturday:
We were up early for coffee and to get ready to head down to the race. It was an 8am race start and we were all using it for a training race for Worlds so we just took our time and cruised down to the race. The temps were in the mid 70's and perfect. I met up with Dan and Travis from Mafia Racing, hung out for a bit, and then got ready to race.

The Race (750 swim,10 mile mtb,3.5 mile trail/road run)

Swim:
I had a good swim. It was wetsuit optional and since I am getting ready for Maui I decided to go without it. Good choice. i love racing without a wetsuit. I am actually faster without it and came out of the water just behind the leaders and ahead of a lot of people wearing wetsuits.

Bike:
I had an Ok ride. There were some sketchy loose sections and just made sure I was riding smart and pushing where I could. On the second lap I ran into a lot of lap traffic and with all the single track and first timers it made for some hard passing. I definitely got caught behind some slow people and opted to just chill instead of taking chances and taking somebody out or crashing myself. Overall it was solid... I got passed by one guy and I kept the rubber side down!

Run:
I felt really good coming off the bike. I ran hard, passed the guy that passed me on the bike in the first mile and just kept up the pace. There was really no one else to catch. I was sitting in 4th overall and just pushed on to the finish.

heading for the line:


results
2nd AG
4th Overall

post race refreshments:


Overall podium:


The race was a good time. We followed it up with cold pbr's courtesy of the mafia crew. After helping breakdown the race site and drinking more beers we headed across Tempe Town Lake for the Tour de Fat. yep... more beers.

me and trevor taking in some of New Belgiums finest:


Sunday:
I was contemplating just getting up and getting on the road, but I am glad I didn't. Tom, Trevor, and I met Brian out at McDowell Mountain park for some super fun desert single track. It was killer. We rode for a couple of hours and then headed back to Tom's and I showered split with the quickness.

some of the fun mcdowell has to offer:


This week:
I am back in full-on peaking mode so it's a mix of intense, race pace efforts and a lot of rest. I am feeling good.

I am now riding/racing for Mafia Racing. Check them out. It's a killer race team that I am stoked to be on.

Here's a bunch more photos from the weekend....

me, trevor, tom:


more fun:


even more fun:


follow me for goodtimes:


post race lunch with the boys:


bikes were every where at the Tour de Fat:


I need one of these:


oh thank heaves... fueling the long drive home: