OCAthlete in the News!  We were recently interviewed by the OCRegister after word got out about the performance at 12 Hours of Temecula. - Click here to read the article.

The lads showed up in force with for the first race of the 2008 season, with a 3 man and a 4 man team bravely risking the threat of rain, after two major pacific storms prior to the event.

This year’s pit was a huge upgrade with Adam’s 5th wheeler and the McGee RV providing first class accommodations. A few of us headed down on Friday evening to setup camp, picking an ideal pit location right by the transition area. Adam, Craig & Rob did a couple of loops to checkout the new single track with rock drops and switch backs. Once we had our fill on the course, we had the pleasure of a gourmet meal prepared by Bob McGee senior and we settled down to watch mountain bike videos.

After a great night’s sleep we woke rested and ready to lay down the law. The rest of the crew showed up bright and early Saturday morning, but some of the lads were a bit weary after an all night backstage party at a Garth Brooks concert (“oxymoron”). Anyway it did not take long before the nerves started, especially after we spotted a few pros and the 24hour World Champion “Tinker” warming up.

With about an hour before the start Craig jumped on the stationary bike trainer (in his long john jammies) to start the warming up. Everyone was tuning their bikes getting hyped up on caffeine and readying themselves for the start of the race.

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We left for Maui just as most of Southern California was on fire. On our arrival everything seemed to go my way, no bags lost, bike in tacked and fresh legs. (I wore my friend’s compression socks for the plane ride over and when I got off the plane my legs felt great.) Once at the beautiful Maui Prince resort Carolyn and I chilled out by the pool. I’m not much of a sun worshipper so feeling a little antsy I went out for a quick swim in the ocean.

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This is view I have from my room as they setup the site for the race tomorrow. I watched the start of the 10k run this morning from my balcony and then went out early for a swim before the wind picked up. Down at the beach I bumped into Tom and Trevor, some good lads that I’ve meet at other races. We went out for an easy 1 lap swim and as I was making my way to the second buoy I spotted a big sea turtle. It was amazing, I stopped the lads and we dove down after it to get a better look. I joked with the boys about the hammerhead shark that had been spotted earlier in the week but forgot to mention that it had shown up dead yesterday

Tom and I then went for one loop of the practice course nice and easy, but man I’m just busting out of my skin to race tomorrow. One thing Carolyn and I really notice is how relaxed and nice offroad triathletes seem to be. You also get a really unique crowd here in Maui, lots of Europeans, Aussies and Kiwis makes for a fun scene. 

I’ll spend the rest of the day just chilling in my room or by the pool…its great to be in Maui and I’m looking forward to busting out all I have tomorrow.

Got some new tires that are fat, knobby and heavy, but should give me the protection and hookup I need. I’ll keep updating the photo album as the days roll. The lava rock below is bigger than my hand and from first sight you would think they would be brittle, but once you hold one you see its the exact opposite. They are hard as rocks Enjoy.

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Aloha,

I headed out for a couple of laps of the practice mountain bike course today and on the very first downhill I sliced open my new back tire. I was shocked! The terain is nothing that I have experienced before, its double track with hidden loose baby heads just under the surface. The rocks are not smooth at all, but instead sharp lava rocks.

As I was changing my tube, Conrad Stoltz came by and stop to see that I had everything I needed. We chatted for a few minutes about the rugby world cup and then a couple of other riders began coming down the hill, with one of them taking a nasty spill. Conrad headed back up the hill to assist. He was like a roaming  (caveman) medic!

With the tire fixed I looped back around for a second lap and by the time I got to the top Conrad was with me. I followed him down the hill and on the exact same section as the first - I got another flat. Without another spare or inflation hardware I was SOL. Conrad kindly gave me his spare tire and let me use his pump. We road back to the hotel together and had a good chat on the way back. 

I headed straight to the bike shop for some local knowlegde on tire selection as the ones I brought might be great for back home but not for this course. Overall it was good times!

View from our balcony.

Lake Tahoe is one of the most beautiful places I have visited. It’s been a common theme this year as Xterra races seem to take me to fantastic outdoor locations – Maui yet to come. Well this weekend was full of surprises, we arrived late Wednesday night and I took off early to get a pre-ride of the bike course in. I only got to ride for about an hour, but I was able to experience the biggest climb and felt strong the whole time. The rest of the day the kids and I enjoyed hanging out - including pizza at Steamers at Kings Beach, playing in the lake front park at Commons Beach in Tahoe city and then being harassed by angry bees in the hot tub at the hotel. The weather was perfect and we all enjoyed the beauty of Lake Tahoe.

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I woke up to snow this morning and I felt bad for the folks racing the Saturday race and having to start the race at 29 degrees and 4-6 inches of snow on the trail. It’s warmed up today, but there is still snow up high.

Crazy to think we will be sweating it out in Maui in just 4 weeks.

Before we begin the big stud of the weekend was Chad, who won the Shimano Youth bike race - see previous post for a report.

If your not up for the full report you can get a feel of the day from this video: Race Video

4th Again! Grrhhh. Well after recovering from a foot injury, moving house, travelling and generally not training this was a good result. The Ogden canyon was an amazing venue culminating in a true mountain show down at the Snow Basin ski resort.

At registration on Friday all racers were notified that it would be a “No Wetsuit” swim and that this would not change. Well as nature would have it a big storm came through and dumped a ton of rain in the lake and dropped the temerature by 10 degrees. Arriving extra early at T1 I was told that wetsuits would now be permitted and then I realized that I had left my wettie back at the house. Crap!! So I racked my bike and raced back down the canyon to get my wetsuit and made it back in time to catch the shuttle from Snow Basin back down to the swim start. I was a little rattled so I went for a warm up swim and then found the pro women to start the swim with.

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