Way too long

I know it has been way to long but i have now got lots off the stove and have some time for catching up.

I'm in Phoenix again with Alana and Lisa. Alana's my wife and Lisa is our good friend. We have been looking forward to this for some time. We are here to train. (yes that was a period.)

Funny because we are staying at a beautiful place called Toscana where the conceirge, we are convinced will drive yo over to the mall to shop. Lisa hooked us up and it is nice to be living a little of the decadent life.

We have huge rooms, our own showers, large TV, hot tub and pool. It is also located next to some excellent roads for biking.

The ladies flew down and since I had an extra day I drove. 26 hours of driving with one stop just south of Salt Lake City.

Road Shots:

Montana



Idaho



Huge Budweiser ad on side of silos, must be at least 100ft tall



Southern Utah ( no Snow!!!!!!!!!)



Arizona, by Zion National Park




Flagstaff where they just got tons of snow but it was melting fast.

PHX Part 3

Well know that i am back it seems like a dream. The riding went really well and Alana and I covered some serious ground.

We did a TT style day south of the homestead with long 20 minute Tempo.

Learning from our Sunday ride we revamped the route a little. I did an extra lap of the hill and Alana got a break away bonus. i was to catch her before the Chevron. After 1:14:00 of riding I rolled into the station and she had beat me. Curses.



Refueling at the Chevron. i think they mean cars.

We followed the #87 to Gilbert and that took us to McDowell Rd. A way better route go home on. It has long stretches between lights and a bike lane for most of it. We were just about home when we met one of the "JC Rivers" on a desolate side street. JC Rivers is brand of local beef jerky sold only on the corner of Brown Rd and Meridian. He gave us his run down: 17 years on the corner, less sodium, made fresh each week, only natural ingredients, etc. I must say for a connoisseur of jerky this was some of the best i have had. Maybe because of the long day with Tempo and Threshold work but even today it is still great. It will have to become tradition to stop for some on the way home. the only thing missing was a cold brew.

Wednesday Morning We:



Morning Starbucks before.....




Los Favritos, pretty much the best little taco stand ever. Steak Breakfast burrito-$4.25

. When we arrived it was 21 C. Thursday............10C. What's with that?? We waited out some snow storms.....What's with that? And made the dash to Usery Pass hill to get in a few laps before calling it a week.



Snow on the ground means dressing warmly, no matter where you are. Nice Booties!!!

Sunny Phoenix Daze Part 2

Not being satisfied with just a 2 hour ride Alana and I grabbed $ and a lot of food and just headed out. We have done a fair amount of MTB riding in PHX but haven't been on the road in 4 years. We did a bit of research and knew some of the areas, so we just headed in that direction.



Alana heading up and over Usery Pass. (Got the Phoenix sign in the background for those non believers. Just like the moon walk!!)

This side of Usery Pass is a low grade subtle climb. the other side? not so much! It is 6km and gains 200m. More on this side in another post. We headed up the Bush Hwy, hehe, to the major State Route 87. There is only about 6km of tight road and the rest of the day was pretty nice roads with good asphalt.

North on Fort McDowell Road we saw this:



Pecan trees being shaken up and collected. We knew by the short sleeves and shorts we were not in Calgary but this confirmed it. We rode up a bit farther and sampled some fresh nuts off the tree. Wow what a difference.


We followed this Dirt road up and thought about our Bike friends back home on their cross bikes. We were qutie far into the ride and came upon Rio Verde. A multi course golf community that has no convenience store. We kept pushing on and had a low moment when we found out that we were as far as we were going to get form home but still 25 minutes from food or water. I had run out long ago and Alana had a bit to share.

We made it to Troon and headed home. The fear of dieing was past and we took numerous breaks on the way back.



Alana hitting the 160km mark, a US century ride. Amazing from a girl who only started walking 3 weeks ago after 4 weeks no load bearing on her foot. Bunion surgery be damned, can't slow down the Tenacious Terrier. Well done Alana.

170km in Dec and home just in time for the 55+, Happy Hour. Although a bit late we both felt good and still went riding the next 2 days. More to come.

Now we go to our Reporter in the feild

Thanks Jeff, this is Jeff reporting to you from the sunny and warm city of Apache Junction on the East end of Phoenix.

I have been following the biking exploits of Jeff and Alana while they are on xmas vacation with their bikes. The two took the late Reindeer flight into Phoenix on xmas eve but not to late ot clutter the skies for Santa. "Early to bed, early to put the bikes together. Their was no usual xmas day fanfare as we made a last minute decision to come" says a beaming Alana.

Although they were up just a little late, they were quick to assemble the bikes and go for a 2.5 hour ride before family commitments and dinner.



We followed them up the Apache Trail on their way to Canyon Lake around the corner of the Superstition Mountains. The road is twisty and has some good grades to it. We viewed the pair being slowed up descending by the cars that could not negotiate the curves as well as the 2 cyclist.



Beautiful Canyon Lake minutes from the tiny town of Tortilla Flats, where it rumored to have the best Prickly Pear cactus ice cream.

Its getting Better out there

Burstall Pass 2 weeks in a row?? Yep, but with 15cm of new snow and the white stuff still falling it turned into a good little day. The boys promise me that there is skiing to be had that is not a 2 hour hike in!!!!



Rob coming to a stop after some sweet turns. Did he or did he not fall over?????????




Andrew cruising the pow pow!!




TJ beating the up track into submission.

Balance in Fun and Exercise

I was going thru my phone pictures the other day and found this little gem taken the morning of Grey Cup Sunday. We both were getting our run in before the game and all the beverages and snacks. Who says you can't have both. (well I guess the Rider fan who will go nameless that started drinking at noon S.P.)

The most Beautiful contry in the world!!!

I know a lot of K-Country from biking or hiking but this Alpine Touring is stunning. the small amount of snow we have had has just sprinkled the mountains allowing the contours and contrasts to come out.

We were sporting a bigger group with 6 of us heading up to Burstall Pass. Lots of people on the trial but our group slowly made its way thru.

We saw Brett coming out. He was up early and was testing things out on day one and didn't wan to push it to much. TJ and Meg were up the trial.



Beautiful views and good company. We even got some turns in, although there was the occasional sounds of rocks pinging off skis.

On the way out we met this small man who was just shoveling S%@T.

X Training Season

Even though cycling classes have started and I am in the regime of working out I am looking forward to getting some true Cross Training in. I have spent several years slowly getting my Alpine Touring gear together and got my first day last Saturday. Marty, and Marc played tour guide for Rob B. and I on the Healy Pass trail. This was a fun, no drop, go eat lunch day that proved to be just that and awesome.


Starting out in the Sunshine Parking lot. Ready to go. i made a rookie mistake and had my boots done up tight to avoid heel rub only to find out that causes really sore calves. Within 20 minutes it felt like 2 warring tribes of wood nymphs were have a bonfire contest in my boots. I told Marc this to a "ohhhh, ya loosen those up". Still the damage was done and I would spend the day and even up to 4 days later with sore abused calves. They work fine as long as they are moving but when I get up after sitting I sometimes fall over.

We made it up to one of the small frozen lakes and had lunch. It was the first day out for all but Marc so we turned around while we were still having fun. We had a quest join us for lunch, can you spot him??





Can't wait to get out again this weekend!!

Cross Season Winds Down

With the first snowfall here and our Alberta season over time to get back on the trainer and prepare for next year but some pictures first.

Cross is Fun

i have been desperately trying to get in Cross shape. I have been running hill repeats, setting up practice sessions, but there is no substitute for racing. With all the traveling I went into my first Cross race, The BK Memorial, then our own Beans and Barley. This last weekend was the Cross Madness in Red Deer. First race bad, Second race better, last race 4th!!!!

Here's how you get fourth in open Men:
-Sneak into Open Men category by being Elite MTB.
-work really hard to try to peak in 3 weeks
-what until National CX weekend and race local
-go to start line with 4 other guys
-finish

This is my best cross finish ever!!!!! Too bad the season is over as I am feeling like i could start to be more competitive in 2 more weeks. Ah but it is time for classes and base training.

Huffing and Puffing up the Stairs




The Kid Airborne




Cesar making his Move