6 hour Endurance Mountain Bike Race this Saturday @ Bonelli Park!!!!

It starts at 9 a.m.  Multiple fun up and down 6 mile loops. For six hours. You can race day sign up. Several categories for all. Going to be a hot one. Bring fluids that you can leave in your pit area.
              Dug up this vintage pic from a Bonelli race. Racing on one of THEEE first single speeds let loose in the area back in the day. It was a Cannondale 1FG. Which stood for one fu#^=ing gear. I remember it well. And I dug it. C'Dale headshock. Lockout at your fingertips. Mechanical disc brakes. Simple. Light. Fast.  Oh and those now pretty much obsolete 26" wheels! Sure worked though.

Tuff Races behind Tough races ahead

With Nutty/brutal Mt. Baldy Time Trial race to the ski lifts done. Even nuttier so the off road Snow Valley duathlon run/bike/run done:  Jodi's long haul/by/herself/roadtrip to Ironman Canada Whistler all behind us (all in the same month)  It is time to chill just a tad. Chill as in still swim around the O'Side Pier. Run the sand to Carlsbad and back. Still bump out a hard ride here in our local San Gabriels.......... With a few potential Hawaiian World Championship triathlon races coming up, being slack ain't happening right now.
      But do get in some dang good surf sessions and long open water swims every time we are down in Oceanside. This shot taken by Robert L. from the O'Side pier Saturday eve. Take off. Bottom turn. Pull into the tube. Repeat. Stoked. Big. No pressure. Good vibes.

Jet Settin' Jodi departing for Whislter Canada

She has trained properly. Tapered correctly. I just packed her bike. It's off to the airport where I will drop her curb-side. It's all good. It's just that 99.9% of the time we travel and race together.  With us down to one lab from the last of three we can not leave our little 'ol girl Roxy without one of us here. Having her failing sucks 100% more than me not going on this trip. Jodi is a great traveler, experienced world wide competitor and will be just fine. And ready to rock the Ironman course. Go girl. We will be with you the whole way.

Hotter Than Hell Mt. Baldy Time Trial his morning

That's one demanding climb. Very much so with the words Time Trial attached to it. Just as long, just as steep as last year. 2012 I took  1st place  category with one hour 16 minutes. This year one minute and 36 seconds faster ( I attribute it to the cooler temp albeit hot as hell still)  Good stuff. Done in my 11-23 cassette. A glutton for punishment yes. Racing attendance seemed double in size. Yet I seen VERY few locals. Wonder why that is? Can't seem to quite figure that one out. Show up. Clip in. Head up the mountain. See what you can do. 

                                                                   Nice going David Robertson. Nice going Scott Palmer. Thanks Robert L and thank you T. for the awesome moral support and pics..and ice freeze down the back of jersey 

Mt. Baldy Time trial: Ironman warm up

This is Jodi just ripping Mt. Baldy TT up last year. If you are familiar whatsoever you know any and every segment is brutal steep. May be the toughest climb in Cali. At least one of 'em. The TT is again happening this Saturday. With Ironman Canada up for Jodi in two weeks she will actually race her TT bike up it this weekend for kicks. Certainly not a TT bike course. But after hammering up this this beast, Whistler will certainly feel a little tamer.

Xterra Duathlon Snow Valley

Gary and Carla McMurtrey and their whole team from Inland Inferno put on the one of the best races in California. They offer the longer tri race, the shorter race, trail run races and the off road biathlon. Biathlon like mid 80's biathlon: Run/bike/run. Only this is off road. At 7500' elevation.

           Thanks to all the crew, volunteers, new friend Paul Hubbell  (dude built like a tank on the left) who made it one heck of a fun and challenging day. He and I battled from start to finish.

           Great to see long endurance/athlete/guru Paul Romero today also. You rocked it. Jodi rocked it. The Carnahans rocked it. Jeff Henley rocked it. John Skelton won his division. Anyone and everyone who did this monster of a course rocked it today. 

           The McMurtreys put a huge amount of love and effort into this event.( the awards must have taken a week each to make)

 Because that's who they are and what they are all about. Only wish it was more common these days..

         

Ironman coming up for Jodi

Banged out well over a half dozen races out of the gates so far in 2013. Mountain bike races. Some Xterra off road tri's and a handful of road tri's. But as I as I have always said: There is no better training than racing itself. It's just another training day with that 10% extra effort. And we love to train. Hard. In the heat (5 hour day today in 105 degree furnace like air). On the most challenging terrain we can find around here. And we have some the best. The gnarlier the climbing the better.Yep a little nuts. Maybe a screw loose. Or maybe we just like going fast no matter what the conditions.

   Jodi has Ironman Canada in Whistler coming up. It is an inaugural. I think she may hold a course record for her age group from this Ironman when it was in Penticton, B.C. That was five years ago. She is now in a new and older age group. And she is faster and stronger than before. That's pretty cool. Yep. I think she will rock Whistler. We have been training big, long, hard and in the heat. Why?  Because that is what we do. Makes most any race course almost feel tame.(with exception of Kona and Maui) we do not wish to upset Pele'.   : )