3.24.2006

03.24.06 - hella hot in arizona



the start line of the first stop in the NORBA marathon calander. on the line, nick martin and the west coast trek guys, nat ross and travis brown.



the course was cut down a loop - it was supposed to be 5 laps of a roughly 14 mile course and was cut down to 4 laps because of the heat. temps would reach 85 today.



this is a shot on the first loop of a very rough figure 8 course. my dad was able to hand me up some badly needed water. laps were running about 1 hour long. got a good start, but backed it off a little bit because my heart rate was screaming. average heart rate for the day was 170 for over 4 hours.



the goat on the only real climb of the course. this was on the first section of the figure 8 and was super tight single track. once on the climb, there would be no passing.



another shot on the first section. the course was very swoopy and really, really fast. this was my first real west coast race and i can easily say they are really different from the east coast. the biggest difference? i would say the overall speed - i swear i was going so fast in some sections that i thought i was in a road race. imagine super hard ground with little pebbles everywhere. you go into a corner so fast that you are sliding both wheels at the same time, hoping you don't bail into that cactus and trying to get your body and bike ligned up for the next corner. the straights are so fast that when you hit those little bumps on the course, you catch a foot of air and you are not even trying.

man, i really love racing.



ernesto at the finish line. overall, i felt pretty good - all things considered. first west coast race and first race/ride in this type of heat since last summer. i'll try to hit up a few more of these - i love this type of racing.



results list - placed 21rst out of 46'ish guys. looked to be 12 DNF's - names i recognized was nick martin and nat ross. think nat had some tire issues - assuming maybe nick had some issues with the heat? didn't check his blog - will need to check there later for the details.

overall, i'm pretty pleased overall. wish i could of done better, but it's a pretty good prep for 24 hour nationals.

that's it - gotz to get packed up for the early flight out to the 'burgh and out to this really cool italian place down the road.

more pics 'n stuff up later - gotta run.

sologoat out.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

When you leave and head back to the 'burgh....bring the heat!

Rumor has it, your solo pit crew was hanging in the air conditioner while waiting for you!

Glad you faired well, now back to the real life.....37 degrees!

amp

Anonymous said...

aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh.....

Check out the picture on Nick Martin's blog of the poor guy that hit the cactus!

Remember I told you porcupine....oh it is much worse than I imagine.

I am glad that wasn't you!

amp

The Ghost of Jerry Reed said...

Damn, Charlie Storm was there? Whats he doing out West? I guess he got tired of killing it on ORAMM every year. Always good to see East Coasters representing west of the Miss... Good showing!

Anonymous said...

Solo FYI....


Jeff fyi...
All, I am excited to see so much positive energy about the series. As one of the promoters of the Breck 100 we are just excited to be a part of it and showcase our event to an even wider spectrum of riders. This race is and will become a must ride endurance race in North America. The air is hard on all of us. I would not worry too much about even the locals having that much of an edge over you. I live right next to the course and it burns me. It is the type of race you are obviuously going to need the lungs and guns for, but in the end it will be those that have the mental advantadge that get out in front. We have the course even more dialed in this year and have "improved" some routes. We have some great sponors and prizes set up, and should be an exciting race. We do have a relationship with a resort in Breck(very nice place) Beaver Run Resort. They are one of our sponsors and give our race participants a very nice deal above and beyond their off season pricing. It is all on our site. Going to have a bar in town doing a post race party, in the same park that day is a national ultimate frisbee championship, so it should be a killer weekend. Come out to Breck!!! What I would recommend you do is come two weeks before the Breck100 and spend the July fourth holiday in the high country. You could come to a two day race / festival at Eldora Ski Resort west of Boulder and race in our two days of extreme XC madness, check it out at our site www.warriorscycling.com . That is on the 1st, and 2nd of July. The resort is opening up the area to camping, and will be serving beer and food, music ect... Then from there you could come to Breck and race the Firecracker 50 in Breck on the 4th. Great place to be on the fourth! Then you have another week to ride the course and get ready for the Breck 100. Hope to see you all out here!

Scott - Warriors Cycling
970-333-1349
www.warriorscycling.com

Written by: scott - Warriors Cycling at 2006/03/25 - 17:15:38
Oh, by the way we do award the NORBA SS State tilte at Eldora....

Written by: scott - Warriors Cycling at 2006/03/25 - 17:30:37