Good Vibes

Current Song: Learning to Fly
What I did Today: Had a great day
Energy:Feeling good

Thought I would name today's blog after the shirt I wore all day. It was just that kind of day. Everything seemed to work out and it seems, as though my car may be fixed. Yes no more charging it at night. Also a nice trip to some hot springs north of taos was great.

The main reason I wanted to write today's blog is so I can get my Frazer Mountain Madness Race report out! See the best part about Frazer, is that no matter how hard you train or how great you feel, It will always kick your butt. It is so amazing that I can race all year without ever going into my granny and I hit this race and can't even make it up half of the climbs without it. Well sounds like a great place to train.

The Hill Climb is the signature event. It climbs from the base of the ski valley (a mere 9,300 ft.) to the top of one of the highest peaks in New Mexico, Frazer Mountain at a grand total of 12,136 ft. So almost 4,000 feet of climbing. Oh did I mention it was done in just under 5.5 miles? The average grade is about 18% with a few climbs of 23%. Riding up something that steep makes my legs feel like they may fall off.

This is the elevation and heart rate data from the hill climb.

I had a fantastic race. I was able to jump into third behind Damian Calvert and John Searles. I had to battle with another pro, Jens Nielson to get there but I was there. I tried reeling in Searles but ended up getting a little bit too hasty and wearing myself out in which one of his team-mates caught me. I was able to hold Jens off, through the cloud covered, windy summit. I was fourth overall, three minutes off the leader. Man it was cold. At the top the winds were strong enough to blow people off the trail and the rain had us soaked. Long story short it was a long, cold ride down.

The next day was the cross country. My favorite part about this is that no loop is the same. So its almost like doing a new race everytime. Almost as much climbing but there is many more downhills in between. Overall another great race. I had another good start and sat in fourth behind Calvert, Cameron Brennaman and John Searles. Me and Jens had another great battle but I was able to pull away on the first lap and hold him off. Otherwise I raced the entire race alone. I ended up fourth again. I was really psyched with the way I was descending (especially with the arm) and everything seemed to really come together. It was another cold race. This race has been so different from all of my other races this year and I love it.

Well tomorrow should include some testing of my car, some work and of course a nice bike ride.
Until then, Good Vibes