AVAdventures

1 stitch, 2 stitch, 3 stitch, 4!

2009-02-02T21:11:00.000-08:00

My inability to stay healthy in the winter has continued for another year. Although, knock on wood, this year hasn’t sidelined me nearly as much as years previous.

Not sure if it was my lack of balance, coordination or trail conditions, but this years incident occurred while mountain biking at S. SeaTac park. What I thought was a simple left hand turn, wound up being a total washing out of the bike and me sprawled out amongst the wet leaves and dirt. My first instinct was to get up and jump on my legs to ensure my hip was still in working order <> All was good until I noticed the rip in my lycra and a bit of blood oozing. I collected my thoughts and rode back to Blue Star and TH to access the damage. Upon arrival the cut was obviously deeper than originally thought. After a debate about going to the hospital or not, it was decided to have it looked at by a doctor. A quick visit to the Urgent Care in downtown led to 8 stitches to heal up the piece of meat hanging off my leg. Quick note, Urgent Care facilities in downtown Seattle are convenient and serve a purpose, but if you ever want to see a little slice of the under belly of Seattle it's worth a visit.

Recent winter injuries:

2003/04 – mononucleosis
2004/05 – torn ligaments in my right ankle
2005/06 – food poisoning, sprained ankle and minor surgery.
2006/07 – broken femur
2007/08 – strained back and patella issue in right knee
2008/09 – 8 stitches in my left hip

Keep on keepin on in 09!

Q308 P&L Update

2008-12-24T05:54:00.000-08:00

Since I seem to be updating my blog about as often as public company’s post their quarterly reports I figured I would provide an overview of my last quarter. Similar to “in the red” and “in the black” my past quarter has been a series of positive gains and areas of opportunities (a more positive spin on negatives or areas that didn’t meet expectations).

August

7/22 - Lease on apartment is up, haven't found a house to purchase and move into friends house. -7%

8/3 - Xterra Black Diamond Off-Road Triathlon - first off-road triathlon since my injury. 10th overall, 2 AG. Xterra racing is awesome. If I could only swim more efficiently I would strictly race Xterra and nothing else. +15%

8/5 - Appendicitis - One day after the Xterra I have huge stomach cramps during work. I think it's a stomach flu and go home. After asking my roommate what I should do I drive myself to the ER. 10 hours later my appendix was removed. After several discussions with the dr. appendicitis could definitely had been a culprit to some of my weird experience I was having throughout the year. -25%

I was so bloated it felt like I was three months pregnant...although i really have no idea how that feels.

8/9 - Against doctors orders I travel to Mazama to attend Marna and Marks wedding. A day after the wedding and 4 days after surgery I rock climb for the first time. Probably not the smartest thing I have ever done, but hey, I've never said I was the sharpest tool in the shed. Flat to PY.

8/27 - Happy 34th Birthday!

8/28 - Friend’s lease is up and I have to move again. Second move in under a month. Move to a house sitting jig. -20%

8/29 - Head to Hood River, OR for some mountain biking and drinking. +7%

9/5 - Head to Tahoe for the Tahoe 100 MTB race. Decide due to recent surgery that the race is not a great idea and instead do three days of epic riding with Heather. Only drawback was getting dusted by Heather in the descents. That girl has skillz! +18%

9/17 - One of my surgery incisions becomes infected. With a local anaesthetic they re-cut back into my skin and remove a pesky suture that had gone sideways. Yuck! -12%

9/18 - Decide to enter a ½ marathon to celebrate two years since breaking my femur. +6%

9/21 - Race first cyclocross race in two years. Although my technical skills were lacking the pain involved in cross racing was quickly remembered. Ouch! +3%

9/26 - Decide to take another Tahoe trip. This time I focused on trail running, but also was able to get a few choice bike rides! +12%

10/1 - House sitting jig is over and still no house. Move into my brother's house...hello one-hour commute. -22%

10/10 - Park City trip with Marna, Mark and Stephanie. Chilly ride, but you can never complain when you are mtb riding on the Mid-Mountain trail in Park City. +15%

10/19 - Cross race at S. SeaTac park. Able to muster a top 15 place after blowing up with 1 lap to go. +2%

10/20 - Bad news...I don’t make the Astana cycling team. Apparently the last roster spot went to some guy named Lance?? -9%

10/26 - Cross race at Ft. Steilacoom and another top 15 finish. +4%

11/1 - Move into new home. First time in two years that all my belonging are under one roof.

My bikes are very happy for their new home!

11/5 - 2nd Anniversary of snapping my femur!!!!!! +7%

11/9 - Cross race in Bremerton. Decide to race with Men's 3 Masters and proceed to get dusted by the competition. Dusted or not, you can't be unhappy when you have finished a cross race. +5%

12/7 - Las Vegas 1/2 Marathon. First 1/2 marathon in almost 3 years. Miss my goal time by 2 minutes, but still go 1:27:56 to finish 55th out of 11,000 runners. +10%

12/11 - Visit NYC. Run in Central Park, Broadway show with Kristie and spread joy with 3000 other Santa's during Santacon. Ho Ho Ho! +21%

12/25 Christmas with the family. Priceless!

12/31 NYE with good friends in winthrop. +30%

It's difficult to place an equal weight to all events, but based on the rest of the economy I would say AV Adventures is trending better than most and is a solid buy for 2009.

Cankle!

2008-08-02T22:52:00.000-07:00

I still need to post the final days of the BC Bike Race and hopefully I will get to the soon. In addition, the second and third installments of the Squamish Saga need to be written. Don't hold your breathe for either of those. In the meantime I am suppose to do my first Xterra Off-Road Triathlon in over two years tomorrow. Unfortunately my race participation took a serious step backward when I rolled my ankle on Wednesday during a trail run. No bueno! I'm still planning on going out to the race and then making a game time decision to race or not.

Good ankle....

Bad ankle - cankle.

BC Bike Race Stage 6 - Carnage in Squamish

2008-07-07T21:43:00.000-07:00

Some of the best 1-track I have ever ridden lives in Squamish, BC Canada. It is also some of the most demanding, well at least for someone of my riding skills. For these reasons I knew day 6 of the BC Bike Race would be challenging. It would combine the wicked courses of the Gear Jammer and Test of Metal into one brutal course.

I guess someone is a tuff guy this morning

Guess who doesn't belong in this picture (I will give you a hint...the goofy one in the white glasses) - from l to r - Me, The Andy Express, Nat Ross and Katie Compton.

Personally my mental fortitude was a bit damaged from Stage 5, but I had a good feeling about the Squamish stage as I had ridden the course several times and Andy and I had spent 3 solid days riding in Squamish over Memorial Day weekend. The stage started with another road climb and I did my best to hang with the lead group, but my legs were simply not there. Andy had to settle back with me as we took our spot in the second group of riders. It sucks to ride back in this group when you know you have the ability to ride faster. Unfortunately after 5 days of riding the chicken legs were sucking for air, as were my lungs. I was actually feeling pretty good on my descending skills until we hit a new section of Psuedo Tsuga trail I had never rode. It was extremely steep, rooted and loose. The gal rider in front of me railed the section and I was trying to follow her line, but somewhere in the midst I fell off line and hit a hole. This sent me flying in my bars and then over them. I did a pretty good job of knocking myself silly, but I did an even better job of knocking the crap out of my bike. I managed to turn the handlebars around twice, ripping my front hydraulic brake line. AWESOME! No front brakes and the hardest descents still to come.

I believe that hose should be connected to my front brake

After a quick fix we were back on our way. The infamous nine mile hill and lava flow climb greeted us next. This beauty is a real bitch when you are fresh, but when you are tired it is down right evil. Thankfully I was able to muster some energy and I climb fairly respectively. Once we hit the rip we were flying. Trying to keep in mind I only had a rear brake. The rip consists of some great open double track descending with a few rock gardens thrown in for good measure. It was in one of these gardens that a rock flew up into my rear derailluer bending my chain and breaking a spoke on my rear wheel. Again - AWESOME! Our only course of action was to remove 7+ links from my chain, which essentially converted me to a 3 speed bike. The remainder of the ride was a good lesson in patience. I spent the better part of the Plunge running and coasting my bike. The unbelievable part was we were passing teams in this section. Riders were so sketched by the Plunges obstacles I was able to run by them.

That extra spoke was only going to slow me down!

We finished the day with a romp through Crumpit Woods and then I received a push from Andy for the remainder of the road/trail section into the finish line.

Finishing the marathon stage

Stage 6 65km - 5:08:48 49th place - OUCH!

Stage 5 65km - The Wheels have come off the A-Train

2008-07-06T22:21:00.000-07:00

Nothing happened today unless you count me riding my bike like a little boy, wrecking several times, pushing my bike and crying as something happening.

Check in before the start of the stage 5 - the pain cave

Oblivious to the pain that awaits

The pros making it look easy

Trying to emulate...not sure it's working.

Today I spent the better part of the almost 5 hours of riding in the pain cave. Every once in awhile I would poke me head out and enjoy a few brief moments of riding, but for the most part I laid in the fetal position, sucking my thumb.

It was one of the hardest days I have ever had on the bike. I guess the previous days hammerfest destroyed me. Not only had my wheels come off, but this sucker was on blocks with no engine either.

Stage 5 65km - 4:55:46 36th place

Heading to another ferry - Reservoir Dogs style with Grande Americano's (in a public display of humiliation for my riding I wasn't allowed to walk with the others)

Image links
Buffed out 1-track
More 1-track
It kept coming
Ton-o-bridges

BC Bike Race Stage 4 - Climb, Flat, Hammer, Blow Up

2008-07-06T11:48:00.001-07:00

A 4:30am wake up call greeted us this morning as we would need to take two ferries this morning to get to the race start in Earls Cove. The geography of British Columbia is amazingly beautiful, but does prove a bit of a logistic inconvenience for the racers.

The support wagon

Catching a few zzzz's on the ferry ride

The Andy Express prior to stage 4 - "All Aboard"

Let's get it on!

Similar to many ferry terminals in Washington once off the boat the only way to go is up. An up is what greeted us. The start was a vertical road climb that dumped us into double track fire road climbing. Unfortunately when the fire roads started my legs didn't. They definitely lacked the spunkiness of the previous day and I was hoping they would warm up after 15km. The first single track descent was beautiful, but I was having difficulty finding a smooth line. The less attractive line was bumpier and I had two instances where my chain was jumping off the big ring. It didn't cause huge time stops, but it definitely took me out of my rhythm. The misfortunes didn't stop with the chain jumps as I flatted my rear tire coming out of a stream crossing. After a quick assessment of the damages Andy sprang into action and we fixed the flat. Although the flat only took 5-7 minutes to fix it occurred at a section that teams were carrying huge momentum and the continuous stream of riders passing us was a bit difficult for the PMA (positive mental attitude).

Once on the trail again I purchased a one-way ticket on the Andy Express and over the next 60 minutes we would drop the hammer and pass close to 30 teams. Ultimately I would pay the price and the little chicken legs blew up with around 10k to go. There was no more HP to lay down and I went into survival mode merely trying to stay upright for the final 1-track section. At 2k from the finish line I rounded a right corner and did not see the large tree hanging over the trail. The tree hit me square on the helmet and I hit the ground seeing stars. After a quick assessment of the noggin, helmet and balance I hobbled the remaining K's to the finish line.

Knuckles - eat that Obama!

Hmmm, looks like someone is cranky!

Stage 4 - 60k 4:17:20 33rd place

Image links
Beautiful BC
Aerial view of the start
Riding BC Style

BC Bike Race Stage 3 - Firing on all Eight

2008-07-05T13:29:00.001-07:00

Stage three marked a personal highlight in the race. It was the first time I felt I was riding to my ability, actually providing some value to our team and allowing Andy to ride at a level that pushed him a little (emphasis on "a little").

Andy hanging with Kelli Emmett before the stage start (not really but we can dream).

Stage 3 start

The stage started with a road ride out of Port Alberni and then squeezed us into a single track climb. The climb was slow as we funneled through the single track. The trail opened up into a fireroad climb and it was great to feel the diesel pistons powering up the hill. We climbed well and were able to pass several teams in our divisions. It was great to be climbing with such strong teams as Cannondale-Mona Vie (mixed team) and Kelli Emmett from team Giant (who was a great rider to draft behind - scroll down). The climb leveled out and we started a rippin 5km fireroad descent were we worked with Robin and Jay from Arrowsmith Bikes to pass half a dozen teams (Robin is a part owner in Arrowsmith Bike Shop and him and Jay are extremely impressive riders. Robin won the Test of Metal in 2007 and Jay won in 2008 finish one spot ahead of Andy - I definitely felt honored to be riding with such crazy strong bikers).

The stage turned interesting with a waist deep river crossing. I was again lucky enough to be behind Kelli and witness her beautiful single speed tattoo. We passed through the first aid station and rode the next 25km with Gary and Todd from Helly Hansen. They were riding extremely strong as well in the previous two stages and I knew if I was able to ride with them things were going well.

The last 10km would finally include some of the single track that was promised in the BC Bike Race. I was a bit hammered from the long day of riding and Gary and Todd dropped us during this section. Andy being the ultra smooth technical rider I merely tried to follow his line. Easier said than done. We finished strong and by far the best stage of the race.

Stage 3 finish - huge smile!!!

Andy and Gary discussing the beautiful singletrack finish

Stage 3 80km - 23rd place 4:33:53

BC Bike Race Stage 2 - A Boy among Giants

2008-07-05T11:58:00.000-07:00

Stage two would be our longest day of the BC Bike race. 128km of mostly fire roads that lead us from Lake Cowichan to Port Alberni. The course would suit my riding style much better than the rooted technical sections that would be forthcoming in the stages ahead. I would be able to tap out a nice cadence in a group pack and settle in for a long day in the saddle.

A quick prayer to the leg gods before stage two, "please, please provide me with some legs to power me over the next 128k"

WISH GRANTED!

Jay and Robbin throwing bike signs...must be a Naniamo thing.

Start of stage two

The stage started with a controlled 10km road start. The pack riding was definitely unsettling for some mountain bikers, but I felt comfortable in the large fat tire peloton. Once off the asphalt we hit the fireroad which would be our companion for the next 100km. We settled into a small group of 20 riders that worked well together and we eventually gapped up to the lead group of 50 riders that contained all the heads of state. It was at this point I realized the magnitude of the riders in this race.

Barry Wicks - Kona Factory rider, XC, Cross and STXC winner.
Chris Eatough - 7-time 24 hour world champion
Seamus McGrath - 2008 Canadian XC MTB Bejing Olympics Team
Tinker Juarez - 24 hour world champion
Jeff Shalk - Trek factory rider and 2007 BC Bike Race champion.
Manny Prado
Andreas Hestler
Max Plaxton
Nat Ross
Kellie Emmett
Wendy Simms - Kona factory rider, Trans-rockies winner, Canadian National cyclocross champion.
Katie Compton - USA Cyclocross champion, 2007 silver medal world cyclocross championships.
Etc

The huge peloton would continue to roll through the undulating fireroads for the next 40km. The riding was fairly uneventful except for two moments of sheer panic and excitement. Incident one would occur with a gradual descent followed by a right turn leading over a bridge. The corner was a bit loose causing some handling problems. In addition, the bridge was narrower than the road which causes a squeezing of the group. Similar to stage one two riders went down hard within a few feet of me. Again, bike parts, lycra, legs and arms went flying by my head. Both riders would be OK and they would eventually catch back up to the group.

The second incident was one of the most spectacular events I have ever witnessed and it defied physics (and common sense). An old white school bus approached the peloton from the right side of a "y" in the road. As we approached from the left side, the driver was hoping to jump in front of the bikers. He gunned the gas, but probably didn't realize the speed we were going. At the last moment, realizing he was not going to beat us to the "Y" he slammed on the brakes bringing the bus to a sliding stop. Unfazed, the driver hammered the gas again and slid in behind the peloton, honking and trying to get around the group on the left side. After several attempts and obvious frustration the driver "dropped the hammer" threw the left side tires into the ditch and "rallied" the 28' bus around the bikers. The bus was half on the road, half on the ditch, tearing off branches of trees and pitching the vehicle sideways going no less than 50mph. Once clear of the bikers he lurched the bus back onto the fireroad, fishtailing and leaving the group of riders in a sense of awe and lucky to be alive. You have to love the Canadian backcountry life on the island.

The first aid station would break up the lead peloton as we were forced to walk our bikes through a check-in station. The lead riders were able to get through the bottleneck quicker and back on their bikes. We hurried as quickly as possible, but the separation was done and the remaining 70k would be long, lonely and hot. For the next three hours Andy would do 99% of the work while I would do my best to latch on to his slipstream and not completely unravel. I managed to limit the damage until the final 5-7k. It was brutally hot, I was toast and went into survival mode. We finally arrived in Port Alberni and compared to yesterday's episodes of blowing chunks we managed to make up lost time.

Stage 2 - 128km 5:03:53 - 25th place

Photo links:
Heading out on a 128km day
Heat taking it toll!
Gary and Todd from Helly Hansen

BC Bike Race (day 1) - BC Bike Race 1, Aaron 0

2008-06-29T18:59:00.001-07:00

The first stage of the BC Bike Race did not go as planned, well at least not the last 3 hours.

Pre-race...notice the look of content...it wouldn't last

The race started with one "neutral" and one hot lap around Shawnigan Lake School. Unfortunately there was nothing "neutral" about the lap. It was red line from the go and you would have thought this was a short track race by the way teams were attacking the small climbs. It was chaotic to say the least. Half way through the lap the course went into a freshly mowed field were 12" blades of grass was jamming and breaking derailluers.

Rounding the corner of our "neutral" lap before heading out on stage 1

On the second lap on a fast descent and right hand turn two riders stacked it 5' in front of me. Their were limbs and bikes flying everywhere. Not sure how I avoided the melee and after a quick check of the drawers, Andy and I were off for 83km of riding.

The next 2 hours included a rock face descent, 45 minute hike-a-bike through a overgrown fern forest and some pretty neat single track. Then the chills reared their ugly head. I had the same problem several weeks ago at Test of Metal. Instantly I stop sweating and start getting gnarly chills. Very similar to a dehydration problem, the only thing is I am hydrated. Needless to say the engine was sputtering and the eight cylinders were running on four...or closer to two. The worse part, we still had the biggest climbs of the day ahead of us and the sun was only getting hotter.

The second aid station was a god send. I was able to take a break, get some fluids, vomit and then eats some oranges. Lovely!!!! The climb would soon start and the wheels would soon come off. The climb was brutal. The granny gear was my best friend, but even with the help of all her teeth I was still worthless. Andy was doing everything possible to help me up the hill (it may have been the heat, but I'm pretty sure at one point I was riding on his handlebars while he rode and carried my bike on his shoulders). The climb, the heat and my inability to ride my bike wouldn't stop. After what seemed like an eternity we finally reached the third aid station.

The remainder of the ride was survival. We had 10km of wicked fast descent, where we were reaching speed of over 40mph, and then 17km of excruciatingly painful flat double track. I did my best to tuck and draft behind Andy while he threw out some watts that would impress Tom Boonen. However with 3-4km to go my engine let go and I was done. The hurt locker was open, I was shoved in and it shut hard behind me (similar to my high school days, although this time my underwear wasn't wrapped over my head). Andy brought us into the finish line and we passed through at just over 5:30. I was exhausted, in pain, in tears and wanting to be held! I figured my debacle cost us around 15-20 minutes. Luckily we still have 6 days of racing ahead of us and hopefully I can get my crap together and not impede our standings any further.

The temps for tomorrow will again be over 90 degrees and with 128km of riding it is sure to be a suffer fest!

Stage 1 - 5:30:43 - 30th place men's open

Keepin the rubber side down...peace.

BC Bike Race - Day Zero

2008-06-27T22:32:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I embarked on an adventure that has been in the works for the past 8 months. An adventure that will take me from a small lake town 30 miles north of Victoria on Vancouver Island, BC to Whistler, BC in 7 days. An adventure known as, The BC Bike Race.

Blue star polishing the red rocket!

The race will cover approximately 580km over the 7 stages and will include some of the best single track riding in the world. Roughly 450 riders (225 teams of two) will be toeing the line tomorrow morning in Shawnigan Lake, BC to do battle with nature and among fellow competitors. I will be racing with my teammate Blue Star Racing. The primary goal for the race is to finish...second goal is to be able to put in a solid effort every day and be somewhat competitive.

Hopefully I will be able to update my blog on a daily basis to give you the latest and greatest from beautiful British Columbia, Canada.

The Pistons....day zero!

Squamish Part 1 - Victory

2008-06-17T21:17:00.000-07:00

This three part story of heroism begins with our hero joining his three teammates for the MOMAR Adventure Race. An adventure of mountain bike, trekking and rappelling in the majestic town of Squamish, BC, Canada, that would test their courage in the face of danger and adversity from a position of weakness.

Armed with their new Gregory Iso Packs from MPGear.com, fueled by Clif Bars and hydrated by nuun our demigods where well prepared for combat. The battlefield was vicious, but led by the fearless navigation and diesel powered legs of MHayz, the team was confident in their abilities for victory.

The contest would start with a 1.5 mile run, followed by a short, lung busting mountain bike ride and then a longer trekking section.

Our competitors would slowly slay one team after another on the trek as they made their way back to the bikes. The team encountered it's first adversity when the saddle of Chris's steed snapped. Unfazed, they slowly nursed the mount back to ride able shape. The repair would cost the team 20 minutes and they would need to persevere to make up lost time. Digging deep into the hurt locker would be needed for the remainder of the bike and into the next trekking section. Adverity would strike again with a errand turn on the trekking section that would take the team several hundred feet down a trail in the wrong direction. The correction was quickly noticed by MHayz and with a drawn sword he would lead the team swiftly back on their way to the rappel. A short run, bike and run awaited our hero's, who in a display of self-sacrifice for one another finished the race with a first place showing in the 4-person co-ed division.

A storybook ending of moral excellence and the greater good, our hero's enjoyed libations and the beautiful scenery that only Canadians can offer.

DFL!

2008-05-04T20:47:00.000-07:00

Those not familiar with the term DFL let me provide some guidance. The first word stands for “Dead” and the last word stands for “Last”. I will let your imagination conjure something for the middle word. DFL is the place I received at the 2008 Sea Otter Classic XC mountain bike race. This is single handedly the most embarrassing race I have ever competed. In hindsight I should not have started (bad knee, no intensity training and a brand new bike), but having a competitive nature, already traveled to Monterey, CA. and feeling the energy from the Otter, I felt compelled to race. Bad, bad, bad decision. The race was tragic from the start. I’m sure my wattage profile would resemble that of my 7 year old nephews on his BMX bike. Not to say that Jake (nephew) can’t throw down some watts for a 7 year old, but probably not the ideal results needed for my race. I have never wanted to pack in a race so badly. Sara (Andy’s wife and super-star support) greeted me after lap one with a smile (a worried smile) and encouragement to finish the race. I can honestly say if she had not been there I would have quietly tucked my tail between the legs and crawled off the course. I’m glad I finished the race, even though the sting of last place is going to haunt me for some time.

I’m not sure where this leaves me. Well, actually it left me in last place, but on the mental side, I’m in some darkness. I’ve counted on exercise as my therapy for the past 7 years, but the thought of getting fat, drinking and partaking in other extra curricular activities is sounding pretty darn good.

On the positive side, my new bike looked like a lightening fast cheetah and the Mafia Team kits were fresh. Now, I just need to get my head on straight, my pistons firing on all cylinders and find a way to get EPO prescribed to me. BC Bike race is less than two-months away! Blue Star is rocking and I need to find some extra HP if I am going to be able to uphold my end of the team.

Trying to find some umph! on the XC course, but could only find ouch!

Blue Star warming up before a solid Semi-pro finish!

Start of the pro men's short track race.

DT Swiss's new carbon mtb wheelset. The pair will cost you around $2400 and your good kidney! I'm tempted!

Top 10 of 2007

2008-01-05T22:51:00.000-08:00

Wow, another 365 days in the books, another year of adventures and another year of great friends, family and memories. I am stoked for 2008 and extremely optimistic for all the unbelievable adventures and people that lie ahead. However, before looking too far ahead I should first tip a forty to 2007. Although this was a challenging year for me there were still many great experiences that deserve commemorating. Without further adieu I give you my top ten of 2007:

10. Easter Day swim in Lake Washington. Some find a cold water swim therapeutic. I found it downright asinine. Bundled in wetsuit, neoprene caps, booties and gloves I managed a 30 minute swim in 49 degree water with three friends. Ouch! I can’t wait for Easter in 2008!

9. I can walk! On February 19th I took my first steps (without assistance of a walker or crutches) almost 4 months after breaking the femoral neck in my left leg. I still walk funny, but that’s my swagger, my street cred!

8. Bamboo forest run, Maui, Hawaii. In late July I went to Hawaii with JP for some beautiful R&R. It also marked the return to running for me. Sloppy, ugly and in general discombobulating, my running was back and it was absolutely beautiful!

7. Haleakala climb, Maui, Hawaii. In addition to my new found running prowess, JP and I also road our bikes to the summit of the stunning 10,023’ volcano. The sights and smells of the climb were numbing in beauty and the descent was white knuckle, insanity with 30-40 mph winds trying to push me off the switchbacks.

6. 24 Hour Racing. I had a wonderful experience racing with two random groups of racers at the 24 Hours of Spokane in May and 24 Hours of Moab in October. In both races I had never met any of my teammates, but in both cases I lucked out and met a wonderful group of people with a passion for life and riding their bikes.

5. A return to tri’s. In late September I stepped back into the world of road triathlons, competing in the Black Diamond Sprint tri. I had only been running (very sporadic) for 7 weeks and was just hoping not to embarrass myself. After a lackluster swim, I threw down a decent bike leg and hung on for the run for a solid 2nd place age group and 13th overall.

4. Victory on the bike. Late June marked my return to mountain bike racing at the Indie Series Race in Winthrop, WA. My goal was to race solid and hopefully finish in the top 10. I did 9 spots better and won the race. After being heckled and called a sandbagger for racing in the Sport class I will be moving to Expert in 2008. Let the suffering begin.

3. Adventure Racing Victory. 2007 marked a year of “returns”, as it seemed my broken leg caused a long enough lapse in competition that each sport I entered seemed like a return to it…you know, huge PR events, media, fans, kissing babies, etc. I hooked up with my MerGeo.com teammates Matt, Murray and Yumay for the Challenge the Port Sprint Race in Port Angeles. My teammates rocked the house and we took home top honors in the four hour race.

2. Endurance Mtn Bike Racing 101. For my 33rd birthday I went to Park City with my buddy TMH for the Endurance 100K mountain bike race. This would be my introduction into endurance solo mountain bike racing. After 70+ miles, over 10,000’ of climbing I finished on the podium in 3rd place. SICK!

1. Friends, Family and Harley. I can not thank my family enough for the love and support they provide for me. My Mom, Dad, Brother and his family are solid and I wouldn’t be were I am today without them. 2007 was another year of amazing friends, both old and new friends. You rock! And last, Harley, my fluff ball of a cat that is scared of his own shadow, but provides a toasting foot warmer on cold days!

Project Carbon Goodness

2007-12-28T11:28:00.000-08:00

The sweet goodness of carbon arrived on Christmas Eve by the gentle, caring hands of Santa (aka UPS Driver) and thus started Project Carbon Goodness (PCG). PCG is the project to develop a sub 20lb XC mountain bike. The project will be directed and engineered by Blue Star Racing. I will provide funding for the project and in no way handle any of the assembly. My main role is sideline encouragement, try not to get in the way and nourishment (I will also bring food for wages).

Are you kidding me?

The frame is disgustingly lightweight, to the point of being a bit scary. I think the scarier part is once this bike is complete it will be too fast for the rider. Combined with its older sister, my current Specialized Epic Carbon FS, I will have two of the faster XC bikes on the market. And let’s be realist, I am in no way worthy of riding either of these bikes. It’s like owning a Ferrari and only being able to drive a VW. A bit pointless, but hey, half the battle is looking good on the trail…right? What’s the other half???

Sick!

The biggest question now is what bike to race at the 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo? Decisions, decisions…poor me! The race is less than two months away. My training is going very well and I think there is a good chance of finishing top 5 at this race. My teammate for the race, TH, is in limbo for the race and my backup teammate would be my Mafia Racing teammate Travis, but I am still waiting on his confirmation. I am truly lucky to have the opportunity to race with either and hopefully I will have a solid answer soon, so I can stop stressing.

I am not worthy

Until next time…Keep it Fresh!

Lady Latte III Ride

2007-12-14T22:59:00.000-08:00

This winters training is an absolute blessing compared to last year. I have been dealing with a pesky back issue that has limited my training to biking and lifting, but I am not complaining. I am also not complaining about my recent weekend road rides. This is the first time since living in SoCal in 2004 that I have been able to establish some great base miles in the winter. I plan on building my base for another 5 weeks before I start working on some speed. Although, enough about training and let’s get back to the pertinent information in this blog…the Lady Latte.

The Lady Latte espresso shack is located on Broadway Ave in Snohomish. Andy and I were lucky to stumble upon Lady Latte during our abbreviated Pie Ride. The Pie Ride is a great 4+ hour ride to Snohomish with a pit stop at a Pie Shop in downtown Snohomish. The pie is great, but the espresso at Lady Latte is heavenly. The white foam that covered the brown goodness was light and sweet. The coffee was hot and peaked out from under the soft white foam just enough to allow your taste buds to imagine the sweet beverage before drinking. Once cradles in my hands the latte provided warmth and comfort, but lacked a bit of longevity. The relationship ended as soon as it began and it was back the bike for the cold ride home.

Ride – 4 stars
Coffee – 3.5 stars
Ambiance – 4.5 stars

One Year Anniversary

2007-11-05T22:07:00.000-08:00

Today was the one year anniversary of breaking the femoral neck on my left leg falling off my road bike. To say the last year has been difficult would be an understatement. Besides breaking my leg I have been through multiple challenges and although I can not say I grown from each one of these experiences, it has definitely made me appreciate aspects of my life I had previously overlooked. I am looking forward to the end of 2007 and the start of 2008 and a new beginning.

But now, on to more important items. In relationships, it is customary to provide your significant other with paper as a present on your one-year anniversary. Paper? This may take the form of a book, stationary, board games, coupons, etc. Seriously, this is what I have to look forward to if I ever get married. Where do I sign up! Since my body and I have a wonderful relationship, I have decided to buy myself carbon fiber for my one year anniversary, roughly 4.5 lbs. of it. I will post some pictures of my anniversary gift when it arrives in a few weeks.

I think it’s sweet that relationships can survive on the gift of paper, but instead I will save a tree and give the gift of the beautiful composite material of carbon fiber.

Keep on, keeping on!

Stay Puff Marshmellow Man

2007-10-26T22:10:00.000-07:00

These past several months I have been feeling very svelte. My weight is at a healthy state, my performance has been pretty good (sans Moab) and I've had a positive attitude. Then I received a photo from the road triathlon a did a month ago in Black Diamond and I look puffy! It may have been the several beers I had at the cross race the night before, but I doubt that could have a such a toll. Man, not the image I wanted to see, especially in my arms which usually provide some level of definition. I don't know, but I better be careful around the camp fire or some kid is going to poke me with a stick, roast me and sandwich me between two graham crackers and a piece of chocolate!

Umpa-lumpa on a bike!

I Passed Chris Eatough - 24 Hours of Moab Report

2007-10-18T22:10:00.001-07:00

Yes, it's true, I passed Chris Eatough during the 24 Hours of Moab race. However, I should probably include a caveat to this statement...I passed him on my third lap at 7am in the morning, whereas he was probably on his 11th or 12th lap. My total riding time to that point was roughly 4 hours and he was nearing 20 hours on his bike. Yes, I know, pretty impressive. I should be hearing from Trek any day on that 6 figure sponsorship deal!!!!!

I'm not exactly sure how to comment on this race. I was thinking of a Haiku poem or maybe a short story, but since I am pressed for time and my venture back into the corporate world has been a bit taxing I will simply jot down a few numerical statements.

1. The Moab course is challenging! Between the technical riding and the sand riding your mental and physical game is constantly ON!

2. 24 hours of mountain bike racing is brutal. I've done 24 hours in adventure racing and it doesn't seem nearly as challenging. Hell, I only did three laps and I was pretty beat up. I have a new respect for 24 hour soloist. My hat is off to Mr. Hart!

3. I will do a 24 hour race solo!!!

4. My race was a Jekyll and Hyde situation. My technical skills were solid, but I my power and climbing ability were FLAT. It's a bit of a mystery, but there was no juice in the pistons. Very frustrating, especially with the amount of training I had been doing.

5. My team rocked. I could not have lucked out any better with a group of 4 dudes I had not met prior to the race. Solid group of guys, that raced hard, worked well together and encouraged each other along the way!

I will update with pictures as soon as possible. Until then here is the link to our teams photos from the race.

Tick Tock...

2007-10-09T22:05:00.000-07:00

Or is it Tik Tok...I don't know and I'm not sure it really matters. Any lit majors out there? Which is correct? In any case, I need the father time to slow down for a bit. Simply too much stuff to do. My life goal of being a superhero would be very beneficial now. I could simply fly around the earth in reverse and turn back the clock of time. Although, I’m guessing if I was a superhero I would probably have to save lives and wouldn’t have time for extra curricular activities. In addition, I always wanted to be Spiderman, not Superman, so I’m not sure Spidey could rotate the Earth in reverse. That would be one massive spider web. Wow, did I just digress. Actually, to the point I have no idea what this blog is about.

Oh yeah, I am Leaving for Moab, UT tomorrow for a 24 hour mountain bike race. My bike, which had an unanticipated part failure, was completed today and I will pick up tomorrow morning at 10am, tear apart and put in its bike case and then try to get to the airport for a 1pm flight. In the next 6 days (in this order) I will fly to Utah, sign and fax over a new job offer, compete in a 24 hour mountain bike race, take over a lease for a new apartment downtown, fly back to Seattle, start a new job, pick up keys to my new apartment and move in!

It may sound like I’m complaining, but in actuality I love it! I wouldn’t have my life any other way! Yes, I should step back every so often, smell a few roses, kiss some babies, shake some hands, but I’m pretty sure I can do all those things will still riding my bike, sending an email, eating dinner and finishing a Sudoku puzzle.

Check out the race results of the 24 hour race here! I am racing with an male team called The Dropouts (named after a ride in Park City).

On The Road Again

2007-09-30T20:19:00.000-07:00

It has been over a year since I competed in a triathlon (off-road), but it has been 3+ years since I had raced a road triathlon. As my leg is starting to heal and I can run again, the itch to do any race is intensifying. With the triathlon season winding down I decided to compete in the Black Diamond Sprint Tri held September 23rd.

The plan was to have a solid swim and bike and try to hang on during the run and lessen the damage, both to my ego and legs. I was extremely nervous for the race. Lack of any speed work definitely increased my anxiety, as the thought of only racing for 60-70 minutes seemed frightening fast.

The water felt reasonably warm for being in September and Deep Lake is synonymous for being a bit on the chilly side. I had a great starting position and when the gun sounded I found a nice swimming lane to find my form. Unfortunately my form never came. In all honestly it was the least amount I had been hit, bumped or pummeled at the start of a race, but for one reason or another I could not find a rhythm. I was hoping for a sub 14:00 800m swim, but instead settled on a 14:58...ouch. My swim was good enough for 25th fastest among the men, but I knew I had some work to accomplish on the bike.

The aero position, once a common position, could not have felt more foreign. It took a few miles to warm up, but once comfortable I started picking off competitors. I had a great battle with a gentleman in a QR Lucero tri bike. He passed me and I tried to encourage him to keep hammering, but he looked at me as if I was speaking Japanese. I will never understand why fellow competitors do not reciprocate a compliment. This really pissed me off. C'mon, we are not in Kona racing for world championships and we are certainly not professionals racing for a paycheck. We are recreational triathletes racing in the backwoods of Washington state. Give me a break. Regardless I used this energy to smoke by him and his $8000 tri bike. That's right chump I was the one who passed you on the road bike riding on the hoods. PUNK! I then went on to pass 7 more competitors to finish with the 7th fastest bike split.

I felt amazing coming into the run transition, but I knew the pain had not begun. Both my transitions were a bit slow since I hadn't practiced them in some time, but my second transition was quite funny. My legs were a bit wobbly from the bike and my hip is not strong enough to balance on my left leg so trying to put on my right shoe caused me to fall over. It wasn't graceful either. I could only imagine it looked like a tree falling in the forest. One fluid motion, no hands to catch me...wham on the ground. I quickly sat myself and my dignity up put on both my shoes while sitting in the grass and started the run. My current run gait is somewhere between Egor and a kid with polio (not funny, but sets the visual). I somehow managed to maintain a 7:10 pace and only let one racer to catch me on the run.

My final time was just over 1:10:00, which was good enough for 2nd in age group and 11th overall. I am usually not satisfied with any results, but I must admit I was not expecting a finishing place this high.

As all competitors I sat back after the race results where posted and tried to determine where I coulda, woulda, shoulda placed if I was completely healthy. I could have posted :45 faster on the swim, 1:10 on the bike and 2:15 on the run. I also could have eliminated close to 1:00 on my transitions. With all being said this would have put me in the top 5 of finishing times. Looks like I still have some worked to do if I want to podium.

Again, great race and definitely a nice spring board into winter training. I doubt I will do any more road tri's next year, but this revs the motor Xterra in 2008.

Back to the (race) Track

2007-09-17T18:29:00.000-07:00

I traded in my cycling helmet for my old motorsports helmet this past weekend for a kart race. It has been years since I have put on my old helmet and fire suit and even longer since I raced a kart. The last time I raced a dragster was back in 03 and the last time I raced a kart was back in 99.

Ready for qualifying

Rusty was one way to describe my first practice heats. The track was wet from on and off rain showers which didn't help conditions, but when I wasn't driving the kart into the corner too hard and pushing the front end, I was letting off too early and unloading the chassis before the corner...either way the end result was spinning the kart. ROOKIE!

On the grid ready to rip!

Qualifying wasn't too much better and track conditions were worse. I decided to run the rain tires in the hope to gain more grip. Instead the track wasn't wet enough and it made the kart squishy and sluggish around the corner. I qualified last! Not too big of a surprise, since most of the other racers were surprised I could even get the kart around the track within a few seconds of the top qualifying speeds (pole was 32 seconds and I was at 37 seconds).

Coming out of corner 7

The skies opened up for heat 1 and everyone opted for rain tires. The embarrassment started early for me as I spun the kart even before the race started. The field waited for me to catch up, as all the karts needed to be up to speed and in a bunch for the rolling start. Heat 1 went well and the difference between the winner's fast lap and my fast lap was only 4 seconds. OK, now we are getting some where.

At this time I was really starting to feel the kart, how it chassis was rolling in and out of the corners, and really getting a handle on braking and acceleration points. Heat 2 was my best race. My fast lap was within 3 seconds of the leaders and I actually passed a few competitors.

I'm not sure I am ready to jump back into karting, but it was sure fun to feel the acceleration and braking power of these little machines that reved to over 13,000 rpm on the back straight away. To put these karts into comparison here is a power to weight ratio of some of the fastest race cars that run on road courses (I've been blasted by some of my engineering friends for some past errors in my mathematics, so in this case Power-to-Weight ratio is a measurement of actual performance of any engine). The equation will simply be Power (P)/Weight (W)

125 Tag Kart (kart I was driving) - 40 hp (horsepower)/200 lbs = .2 (hp/lb)

IRL Indy Car - 600 hp/1600 lbs = .375 (hp/lb)

Porsche Daytona Prototype - 500hp/2125 lbs = .23

Formula One Car - 730hp/1340 lbs = .54 (wicked)

Mr. Potato Head and me back at it again!

My nephew Jake ready to tear up the Kid Carts!

The Five Developmental Stages of Finishing a Race

2007-09-07T19:49:00.000-07:00

Over the course of my 33 years I have noticed that many of life events occur in stages. There are defined theories as in the 5 stage Kuber-Ross model of dealing with tragedy and grief or Knapp’s Relationship Stages Model which explains how various relationships form, progress and dissolve. There are scientific based findings including the stages of alcohol on the mental and physical human body. And then there are also less academic models such as the 5 Stages of Online Dating (This is hilarious…not that I would have any idea about online dating).

I thought I would provide my own personal observation on the five stages of dominating a race (or merely finishing one). The five stages are sequential, meaning the stages are followed in the order in which they are presented and each stages builds upon the other.

It’s On – Stage 1 represents the initial formation (registration) of the event and is usually proceeded by several micro stages of positive affirmation and increased self-confidence including, but not limited to mass emailing to friends and family, who may or may not care or better yet not understand, about your next adventure, water cooler boasting at the masters swim class, track workout and/or trailhead or the ever increasing incoherent and irrelevant blogs on your personal blogging site. The “It’s On” stage varies in length and can be as short as 24 hours, but has been known to last up to 10-12 months.

Toeing The Line – better known as “It’s Go Time” (IGT) is the second stage and allows the racer to move from formation to activation. IGT can be difficult for some participants as the emotions during this stage are usually the most intense and confusing. The racer is usually in a Jekyll and Hyde battle with their internal and external persona. Internally they are rationalizing their training program, setting realistic goals and trying to manage their anxiety. There external identity is usually taking shape in one of two forms. One, they are downplaying their ability by over-exaggerating minor injuries or ailments that would cause a slower race time. By using this disclaimer prior to the race you can avoid any embarrassment from the poor finish or more commonly it allows you to boast about your strong finish, as if was some miracle that you overcame the hangnail on your middle finger to finish top ten (Tiny Tim would be proud. Tiny Tim of A Christmas Carol not the musician). The second identity created by the external self is the one of over confidence. This is rarely seen, but is used in practice during smaller or less importance races. The confidence can sometime also include a disclaimer of “I feel great for this race, but this is only a B race so I will be taking it easy.” Again, using the disclaimer as a verbal recognition of the races non-importance and the racers lack of concern for his/her results. The IGT stage is relatively short and usually lasts less than 1 weeks and up through the first part of the actual race

Wanting It – This stage occurs in the first stumble by the racer or a competitor, normally around the middle of an event. When related to individual racer, the first moment of weakness is usually when the initial internal dialogue is had. Normally the dialogue is encouraging, but on occasion it can be quite hostel in nation. Luckily for the other participants, spectators and children (please remember the children) the hostilities and subsequent vulgarities are all done with the racers inner voice. When the stumble is had by a competitor this stage intensifies. The “Wanting It” can come from quick physical exertions to pass the competitor and try to deposit them directly into Stage 4 (see below) or it can allow the racer to analyze their competitor from behind, pressure them and ultimately try to crack them. In either case, the racer must verbally or internally say, “you got to want this”, to signify the beginning of this stage.

The Hurt Locker – The intensity and brutality of this stage is sometimes too hard to watch. The internal dialogue turns from friendly banter to crucial bargaining. Emotional instability and loss of critical judgment are common in this stage. The racer at this point is reaching a moment of darkness, often promising ice cream for one last effort up the hill or a training day off if you can just pass the person in front of you. This however is a very important stage in the development of the racer for several reasons. First, they need to enter into this stage in every race and try to grow more and more accustomed to the pain associated with digging deeper into the locker. Second, they need to understand the management of this stage and avoiding falling into stage five!

The Wheels Have Come Off – Also known as “running out of gas” or “bonking”, stage five is the point of no return. Visualize a motor vehicle driving with no tires/wheels and limited gas. Not pretty. You have exhausted all reserves and are merely hoping for survival. The internal bargaining no longer exists as your mind is not capable of rationalizing let alone developing any thoughts. You motor skills start to lessen, vision is blurred and verbal communication slurred. It is really a state of confusion, disorientation and staggering gait. Personally, I think it is a good recommendation to try reaching this stage once or twice in your athletic career, so you can understand that the Hurt Locker may be painful, but still manageable.

Grandma Nellie 1911-2007

2007-09-03T19:51:00.000-07:00

My grandma was an strong, loving and happy woman who had the most infectious smile. I was very fortunate to be able to spend time and learn from this great person. She passed away peacefully in her sleep at the age of 96 years.

Grandma Nellie was born in Niewenhoorn, Holland, and along with my grandpa, moved their family (including my father) over to America in 1948. They initially moved to Kent, WA where they started farming for another family. In 1953 they purchased their own farm and moved to Enumclaw, where she would raise her family and live throughout the remainder of her life.

One of my grandma's greatest gifts was gardening. An absolute perfectionist, her garden was a statement of hard work, beauty and love. A life full of adventures, love and principles, grandma was loved by most everyone that came in contact with her. She was so caring and would strive to put your happiness before her own. I see so much of my dad in my grandma. I don't think it has completely sunken in that I will not see my grandma's smile again. This will especially be hard during the upcoming holidays because of so many fond memories. I will miss my grandma dearly.

Christmas 2006

Endurance 100 - Podium Finish?

2007-08-30T18:30:00.000-07:00

Endurance 100 – Podium Finish?

I just arrived back from Park City, UT and competing in the Endurance 100 race. I traveled down with my good training partner and arch nemesis TH. Beltro was also supposed to accompany us down to the race, but recent doping allegations sidelined his plans (see media update blog below).

I knew there was trouble when I was gasping for air building up my bike and walking up stairs. Similar to Superman’s vulnerability to Kryptonite, the 7,000’ elevation at the base of the mountain was immobilizing me with pain and suffering. My little sea level legs and lungs were no match for the forces of less oxygen. We would need to be strategic in our attack of the race.

Our strategy for defeating the villainous Park City was to wear it down…take it slow the first few laps and then unleash our astounding, superhuman attacks on the field and mountain. The first part of the plan (taking it slow) has never been a problem for me. However, unleashing any type of attack, let alone after 40+ miles of riding would be comical.

The race started; yup you guessed it, with an immediate climb. We rode on a fire road for roughly a mile then it shot us right into single track switch back climbs. The remainder of the race would see 95% single track…amazing. We rode very conservatively, as planned, the first lap and everything went well. I started the second lap a bit sluggish, but this started to feel much better. I picked it up half way through the second lap and into the third lap. The climb out of the transition area in lap three was simply nutty. Little did I know we would do this climb again on the fourth lap and then climb another 1,000 ft immediately after…BRUTAL. Going into the fourth lap someone shouted that I was only 10 minutes behind 2nd place. What? I was feeling good, but 3rd place??? With my new found energy and excitement of possibly placing on the podium I picked up the pace. This is a bit overstated since picking up the pace at this point meant my cadence went from 76 to 77...simply viscous!!!! When I reached the summit I was told I was only 6 minutes back on 2nd, but since the final 12 miles were descent my goal was to keep the rubber side down and secure 3rd place. I crossed the line in 9 hours and 17 minutes. Good enough for third place and the podium!!!!

Vicious attack!!!

The course was as follows:

Stage 1 – 20 miles, 3,000 ft vertical gain
Stage 2 – 23.5 miles, 3,590 ft vertical gain
Stage 3 – 11 miles, 2,054 ft vertical gain
Stage 4 – 17 miles, 3,055 ft vertical gain

The total distance was 71.5 miles with almost 12,000’ ft of climbing.

Machines ready for battle!

TH corresponding with Velo and Cycling News

Who doesn't belong on this stage?

E100 Media Update!

2007-08-23T14:23:00.000-07:00

MEDIA REPORT - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Beltro withdraws from E100; cloud of suspicion looms darker.

Rapid rise to mountain bike stardom has some people questioning training tactics.

Anacortes, WA. The mountain bike world was rocked today when Jeff Beltro withdrew from this weekends E100 race in Park City, UT. The sudden withdrawal and the recent news of increased dope controls at the E100 have some second guessing the timing. The former Ironman and Xtrerra triathlon superstar, who has taken the 2007 Indies Series expert mountain bike series by storm this year, was rumored to be targeted prior to the E100 as one of the “men in black” – riders who try to avoid out of competition controls by training in anonymous clothing in out of the way places. The reason for the withdrawal is not clear at this time, but inside information tells us trichomoniasis may be the cause.

Beltro was the city of Anacortes big hope for taking the E100 title and wearing the cities colors for 2008. The withdrawal by Beltro leaves the victory podium stand a wide open race. Fellow sea-level stand out athletes AVW and TH would be the natural choice for filling two of the podium slots, but the high altitude could put these two in the hurt locker before the mid way point. In addition, AVW has never bested TH in their previous 16 match-ups. There is also rumor circling that Expert NORBA racer Andy R could be filling in for the battered Beltro. Phone calls to Andy R’s agent were not returned.

Wrench for Hire?

2007-08-19T21:33:00.000-07:00

It was always a family joke, or more less an understanding (actually the entire racing community knew) that my dads mechanical genes were not passed onto me. Lets just say people where not beating down my doors to wrench for them. I remember vividly thrashing one spring...actually the thrashing of race cars was an annual VanderWaal Racing tradition. Some families attended church during the holidays, others cut down the family christmas tree...our family loved to assemble race cars at the 11th hour! It was usually two solid weeks of working on the race cars. We would finally fire them up the night before the first race weekend, make sure everything was working properly or close enough, put the cars in the trailer, get to bed around 1am and then drive to the track the following morning at 6am. No testing...straight to qualifying and then racing. Probably not the ideal race preparation, but it was an adventure. Sorry, I digress...back to thrashing to get the race cars engines together...I was actually helping with the assembly instead of relegated to senior parts washing, food gopher or janitor duties...my job was to install the valves so my dad and brother could do the more important part of setting the tolerances of them. The installation of the valves included two little valve lashings, which were the size of your little fingernail and slippery. There should have been a disclaimer on the package on how difficult these things were to hold onto. In any case one of the little buggers slipped from my hand, fell through an oil chamber, past the camshaft and somewhere into a cylinder, oil pan or ?? I can't describe how many emotions went racing through my mind at that time, but fear, rage and embarrassment where definitely at the top of the list. I sat there motionless like Ralphie in the Christmas Story when the lug nuts go flying from his hand..."Fuuuuudge", although I didn't say fudge either! I can't remember exactly what happened next, but I'm pretty sure I ran out of the shop cursing, spitting and crying, yes I said crying (can't a man cry sometimes). The best case scenario would have been the lashing fell into the oil pan...oh no, not so lucky. It was missing somewhere in the motor and the fear of turning the motor over and having the lashing scratch a cylinder wall or crush in the crankshaft was too risky. Instead we had to take the entire motor apart until we found the lashing sitting in on top of one of the pistons in a cylinder. Needless to say my wrenching abilities were not called upon too often, however, my part cleaning and janitorial skills increased immensely.

This past weekend, I dug my old Simpson wrench apron out of storage and worked on my mountain bike. It was fun to work on the bike and although quite a bit simpler than working on race car engines the tolerances for many of the parts are tighter and the bolts smaller...eek!

Reliving the glory days!

I spent several (successful)hours getting the red rocket ready for next weekend E100 race in Park City. Oh yea, I also spent a few moments cleaning her...I still have the touch! :)

What a beauty!!!!

I am definitely not worthy of riding this bike...way to pretty for me.

Col du Knoble Knob and Col du Suntop

2007-08-19T21:04:00.000-07:00

The Col du Galibier is one of the most impressive climbs in the French Alps and when used, is the highest point in the Tour de France (TdF). The climb to the summit starts at Valloire and is 18.1km long at an average gradient of 6.9% with a maximum 10.1% near the summer. It seems this is a challenge for the light weight roadies of the TdF, as the commentators often use phrases such as "the riders are literally tearing themselves inside out battling up the Galibier". Hmm, must be difficult to ride a 16lb bike up a paved road with tires inflated to 110psi.

However, in training for the upcoming Endurance 100 I needed a bigger, more difficult challenge. TH and I set out to tackle the Col du Knoble Knob and Col du Suntop in the beautiful Cascade Mountain Ranges. The weather was absolutely beautiful for our ride and the ride proved to be a great confidence booster for the upcoming race. Below are the statistic for our ride and you can also find a link to our GPS Motion Based log of the ride here.

Distance - 43.24 miles

Time - 5:59:27

Elevation Gain - 9,120'

Average Grade - 9.0% (eat that Contador)

Image of Mt. Rainier near the summit of Suntop!

I am still going to suffer in the E100 and yes, it is very likely I will be found weeping in the fetal position somewhere along the trail. But I promise myself that I will eventually pick myself up, change my diaper and finish the race.

Super Adventure!!!

2007-08-13T14:07:00.000-07:00

Yowser, my life is turning into the greatest Choose Your Own Adventure book of all time. I have made more decision in the past 12-16 months than I have in my entire life and I do not see any end in site. Not sure if this is good or bad, but at least I haven’t turned to a page that has resulted in fatal error (falling into a snake pit, getting caught in a bear trap…set by the bear, harpooned while trying to save the whales and uncover lost treasures!!!).

My most recent change has been the most nerve racking of my life, but is also providing a sense of freedom and elation I haven’t felt in some time. My split with Katherine 12 months ago was scary, but we both knew it was for the betterment of both our lives so that provided some consolation to the final decision. I will get into details of my latest life change in upcoming posts. Until then, I will have much more time on my hands to train and work with my brother in our real estate development company.

In the meantime, I have recently returned from Hawaii, were I enjoyed some splendid weather, great adventures, good food, libations and good company (thanks JP!). The top highlights from the trip:

1. Excessive pouring to the gods and several unscheduled trips down the steep ravine at the 4-Seasons. (sorry had to be there).
2. Running in the bamboo forest (very first run since breaking my femur 9 months ago!!)...it was ugly, but I swear it was running or some form there of!

3. Swimming in the waterfalls at the bamboo forest. I kept getting out looking for leeches on my body...ala "Stand By Me"
4. Sea Kayaking in 3-7’ swells.
5. 7am ocean swims…unbelievable yet extremely eerie! I kept looking around for ocean critters...mainly those of gray color and sharp teeth.
6. Eating dinner on Maui in a dark, rustic, windowless Italian restaurant while being served by an old, yet charming, ex-Vegas cocktail hostess “Roxy”. I was so confused that night!
7. Biking up (and then down) the 10,023’ Haleakala Volcano! One of the most magical and breathtaking rides of my life.

I am trying to figure out how to upload You Tube videos...hand tight I'm kind of slow at these things!

It is now less than two weeks away from the Endurance 100 in Park City, Utah. The level of fear, excitement and anxiety is reaching new levels. The weekend will serve as my 33rd b-day weekend (my birthday is on the 27th if you want to send presents or cards. I love cash, shiny new carbon bike parts and Kenneth Cole shoes! Cheers

Keepin the rubber side down (most of the time)!!!!

Split Decision Goes to VanderWaal

2007-07-18T22:17:00.000-07:00

I fought a tough battle with the Gear Jammer (see previous Mt Peak at 3pm post) and overall was pretty happy with the results. I would even say if the judges had to go to the cards I would have won.

The morning started out pretty uneventful. It started to rain just before the race and I was starting to worry. The trails basically consisted of tight, twisty single track laden with roots and rocks. Definitely not the trails that I want wet and slick. Thankfully the rain let up and all was good in the world again.

I did my usual warm-up and found a nice spot near the front of the starting chute. The gun went off and we were off. Definitely not as nerve racking as the start of the Test of Metal, as there were only 300 riders compared to 800! I found a comfortable pace and settled in near the rear of the lead back of 40-50 riders. The first 3 miles of the course is a grinding up hill. It was nice to spread out the field. The first hour was a blast I was riding well and keeping the bike upright on the tricky trails.

The second hour of the race was another story. There was a deadly steep climb up to Power Smart that lead into a tight...I mean tight single track descent. I had several bobbles during the descent and allowed three riders to catch me. Some of the dudes and gals in Canada have some sick downhill skills. Their uphill skills are a bit lacking, but they can tear up the downhill. The darkness continued as I rode the Recycle trail. I was tired and my skills were tragic. I took three hard spills on the switchbacks, with the last one being a hard over the bars crash. I sat on the ground for a minute or two collecting my thoughts, stamina and dignity that was strewn across the trails. Luckily no one was around to witness my falling from grace. After collecting my pride and emotions, I was actually impressed with how well I calm myself down and focused on the race again.

The last hour was great. I nailed the powerhouse plunge trail, only getting off the bike twice for some pretty hairy bridge crossings. My last two climbs were solid and I ended up finishing in 3:17:05 which was good enough for 11th place in age group.

Again, this was not my kind of course, but was a fun race. I would much rather do the Test of Metal again rather than the Gear Jammer, but who knows, you could see a rematch of me versus the Gear Jammer in '08.

Mt Peak, 3pm - Fight!

2007-07-13T22:25:00.000-07:00

Long before the octagon was made popular by the UFC, there was Mt. Peak in Enumclaw. Many disagreements, feuds and general displeasures where settled at the base of the mountain. Growing up in a small town, fights were as popular as Friday night football and Mt. Peak saw its fair share of fist-a-cuffs. I was definitely not one to be involved in the activities as a participant, but I cheered on my share of scuffles. I knew better than to try my hand at bare knuckle brawling. As a 5'10", 135 lb teenager I saw the inevitable writing on the wall and decided I was much better off as a spectator rather than a scrapper. Let's just say I understood my place in the Darwin world...I'm a lover not a fighter.

However, I think I can relate this evening with the feelings and anxiety of pubescent boys who decided in third period gym class after a heated game of floor hockey that they were going to dual at Mt. Peak. At the time of the argument, tempers flare, but after fourth, fifth and leading into sixth period I am sure one of the boys is having second thoughts of their earlier actions. However, at this point there is no turning back. News of the fight spread through campus quicker than the class slut shedding her dress on prom night. The under card was sent, the train of cars after school looked like a funeral precession. No turning back!

Today I pre-rode the course for this Sunday's Gear Jammer race in Squamish BC Canada. The 50km mountain bike race uses some of the same trails on the more popular Test of Metal, but there is much more technical single track. Technical single track that destroys your hands, kidneys, back and in general your entire body. My endurance is slowly starting to build up, but my technical riding is still sub-par...and sub-par is disastrous on this course. My original intent was to try and ride a top 10% finish, but now I am thinking a top 30 or 40% would be satisfactory. Hell, if I finish I will be happy. Throw in a recently acquired Plantar Fascitis and I have all the makings for a serious thumping.

At this point there is no turning back. I have picked the fight and now I must pay the piper. I'm just hoping to get in a few good licks before all hell breaks loose. Who knows, maybe I will connect with a haymaker early in the fight and salvage my dignity...I can dream. Until Sunday, I'm going to continue to talk tough..."you and me at Peak at 3pm...you're going down"...LET'S GET IT ON!!!!

NYC and The Bellmont

2007-07-02T18:03:00.000-07:00

I made my first trip out to the Big Apple several weeks ago. My friend, Andy, and I went to visit our friend Adam for a little big city adventure. Also part of the trip itenirary was the Belmont Stakes horse race. The city itself was amazing. I was impressed with the infrastructure and the forethought by the city planners 100 years ago to invision a city of 10 million people and the transportation means necessary to commute the people from one part of the city to the next. I'm not sure I could ever live in New York City, but I would definitely like to go back and visit again.

Time Square - Advertising Wonderland or a Cluttered Mess.

Lady Liberty

McSorley's - NYC Oldest Bar

The Belmont Stakes was an adventure to say the least. Adam's friend Adam charters a bus each year and we all dress up in our finest or not so finest seer sucker suits for a day of betting on the ponies and shenagins. I think I lost on multiple levels...bets, dignity, a few years off my life, etc.

Go Baby! Go!

A couple of Dandies!

NYC is so fashionable!

Need I say more.

Its Been Awhile

2007-07-02T17:49:00.000-07:00

Sorry to all my fans that have not received their daily dose of AVAdventures. The hate mail is not necessary. I've been busy training, taking some small vacations and actually racing a bit. My leg is healing well, although I am still somewhat discouraged that I can not run yet. I think this is really starting to wear on me mentally. My job has been mentally exhausting, so I think between the mental drain of my professional career and my inability to run really has me down.

I was in Squamish this weekend pre-riding the Gear Jammer course and visiting with Seegs and Ty. They are such wonderful people and I am very jealous of their situation up in Squamish. I guess the grass is always greener, but the riding up their is amazing. In regards to the riding...mine was horrific. I couldn't get my HR high and my technical skills were laughable...not by me, but anyone watching me. It was wet, slick and rooted and I was on my butt 8-10 times during the ride. I lost track after the 2nd or 3rd over the handle bars. I ended up getting lost several occasions and never did finish the course. This should be interesting as the race is in 2 weeks. Wish me luck!

On Sunday I rode 9 mile hill and the rip with Jen. Again, couldn't get my HR to elevate. Argh! It was a beautiful ride none the less.

Back in the Saddle - 24 Hour Race

2007-06-12T22:06:00.000-07:00

Oooh-weee did it feel good to be back in the saddle for an endurance race. Memorial Day weekend I teamed up with four other gents for the 24 hour mountain bike race in Spokane, WA. At first I was hoping to do a two-person team, but in the end, my body would not have been ready for that kind of thrashing.

The S-Works ready for battle.

The race went well for the team and we ended up with a podium finish (3rd). We started off the first several rotations in first, but our team faded in the night and we could never recover our losses. The team was not ultra-competitive, but a wonderful group of riders to tear up the trail and share some laughs.

2nd lap - fast split of 56 minutes...only 4 minutes off the fastest split of the race.

I still have notions of wanting to do a solo 24 hour mountain bike race, but I need to be realistic at this point, listen to my body and aim for something next year.

Stretching it out (too lazy to rotate photo...common theme starting)

Preparing for the night time festivities!

Five laps down and feeling stout!

Podium!

Comeback Tour '07

2007-05-15T21:28:00.000-07:00

I am throwing my hat back into the ring, er trail in this aspect. I have officially signed up for my comeback race of the year…actually two races, but only one being the main P1 race. My original intent was to race the Leadville 100 in Colorado, but my entry was not accepted. Instead I have signed up for the Endurance 100 in Park City, UT on August 25th. This will be 2 days before my 33rd birthday and what a better way to celebrate than busting my lungs over 100 miles at 7000’+ elevation. I will use the Gear Jammer in Squamish B.C., Canada as my warm-up race.

The media build up to this event is going to be huge. Yes, Basso and Landis are receiving much of the attention right now, but once this news bit gets leaked to the press, watch out. I am fully aware of the naysayer’s and cretins who feel this is beyond my ability level and to you I say, “yah, you’re probably right, but what the hay!” I’ve never been one to use my intelligence in signing up for races and I am consistently biting off more than I can chew. So why change now?

I am stoked for the race and a bit nervous. Endurance mountain biker god Tinker Juarez won the race last year at just over 11 hours, so I can only imagine that my bootie will be in the saddle for well over 13. It should be fun or at the very least an experience soon not to be forgotten.

Media inquires can be sent to aaronvanderwaal@yahoo.com. I am available for photo shoots (nudies optional), autograph signings and appearances. Cost is determined on a case by case basis.

Acceleration

2007-05-04T16:20:00.000-07:00

In previous post I have acknowledged that I now prefer the rawness of human power over that of mechanical. However, when I read the below blog from a drag racing fan recently it made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. Some of the information below, even if you are not a fan of motorsports, is astounding and almost defies physics. Enjoy

* One Top Fuel dragster 500 cubic inch Hemi engine makes more horsepower than the first 4 rows at the Daytona 500.

* Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 1-1/2 gallons of nitro methane per second; a fully loaded 747 consumes jet fuel at the same rate with 25% less energy being produced.

* A stock Dodge Hemi V8 engine cannot produce enough power to drive the dragster supercharger.

* With 3000 CFM of air being rammed in by the supercharger on overdrive, the fuel mixture is compressed into a near-solid form before ignition. Cylinders run on the verge of hydraulic lock at full throttle.

* At the stoichiometric (stoichiometry: methodology and technology by which quantities of reactants and products in chemical reactions are determined) 1.7:1 air/fuel mixture for nitro methane the flame front temperature measures 7050 degrees F.

* Nitro methane burns yellow. The spectacular white flame seen above the stacks at night is raw burning hydrogen, dissociated from atmospheric water vapor by the searing exhaust gases.

* Dual magnetos supply 44 amps to each spark plug. This is the output of an arc welder in each cylinder.

* Spark plug electrodes are totally consumed during a pass. After ½ way, the engine is dieseling from compression plus the glow of exhaust valves at 1400 degrees F. The engine can only be shut down by cutting the fuel flow.

* If spark momentarily fails early in the run, unburned nitro builds up in the affected cylinders and then explodes with sufficient force to blow cylinder heads off the block in pieces or split the block in half.

* In order to exceed 300 mph in 4.5 seconds dragsters must accelerate an average of over 4G's. In order to reach 200 mph well before half-track, the launch acceleration approaches 8G's.

* Dragsters reach over 300 miles per hour before you have completed reading this sentence.

* Top Fuel Engines turn approximately 540 revolutions from light to light!

* Including the burnout the engine must only survive 900 revolutions under load.

* The redline is actually quite high at 9500rpm.

* The Bottom Line; Assuming all the equipment is paid off, the crew worked for free, and for once NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs an estimated $1,000.00 per second.
The current Top Fuel dragster elapsed time record is 4.428 seconds for the quarter mile (11/12/06, Tony Schumacher). The top speed record is 336.15 mph, as measured over the last 66' of the run (05/25/05 Schumacher).

Putting all of this into perspective: You are driving the average $140,000 Lingenfelter "twin-turbo" powered Corvette Z06. Over a mile up the road, a Top Fuel dragster is staged and ready to launch down a quarter mile strip as you pass. You have the advantage of a flying start. You run the 'Vette hard up through the gears and blast across the starting line and past the dragster at an honest 200 mph. The 'tree' goes green for both of you at that moment. The dragster
launches and starts after you. You keep your foot down hard, but you hear an incredibly brutal whine that sears your eardrums and within 3 seconds the dragster catches and passes you. He beats you to the finish line, a quarter mile away from where you just passed him. Think about it, from a standing start, the dragster had spotted you 200 mph and not only caught, but nearly blasted you off the road when he passed you within a mere 1320 foot long race course.

That folks, is acceleration

Riding the Red Rocket

2007-04-20T23:53:00.000-07:00

Yesterday marked the maiden mountain bike voyage on my new bionic leg. It was also the first time I had ridden my new bike. I was embarrassed to have this amazing beauty between my legs and not knowing how to ride it properly (bad flashbacks to first high school girlfriend…more things to discuss with my therapist). When I used to race cars I would often snicker at some of the So Cal racers that had the nicest, newest race cars, but couldn’t drive to save their butt. It was almost a gimme when you lined up against them. I am now one of those blokes, sitting other side of the fence while real mountain bikers snicker at me. My bike is cherry, an amazing piece of technology that should be ridden by top level athletes. Instead she is stuck with me…for better or worse, however she doesn’t have the opportunity to leave. It’s like owning a Ferrari, but only capable of driving a Yugo. I have yet to name my new bike as I am waiting to see what kind of attitude she brings to my rides. Sassy? Courageous? Fierce? Fast? Is she more like a cheetah, a gazelle or a race horse? Time will tell and I will keep everyone informed on my new baby’s name.

Back to the ride…it was a gorgeous night and 8+ friends showed up to christen my new leg. I decided to stick to fire roads and avoid any single track to lessen the chances of falling over or stopping immediately. We decided to ride up to Poo Poo point as the sunset would be amazing. Amazingly I felt pretty good on the ride. The gradual climbs felt fine, but I was definitely suffering as the gradient steepened. I’m pretty sure I deposited one of my lungs on the trail. I was even more surprised that the fast descents didn’t bother me. I was very comfortable at the high speeds and maneuvering my bike. The view at Poo Poo was beautiful. It took me 54 minutes to get to Poo Poo, which is about 8-9 minutes slower than when I am healthy. Hopefully I can start shedding that time down soon. The ride back to the parking lot was a bit more difficult as my leg was weakening, but all-in-all it was a good ride with great friends.

Until next time…keep the rubber side down.

The beautiful view from Poo Poo Point (check out hang glider on the right)

My new baby and I on our first outing

Roger and I enjoying the view

What was I thinking?!?!

2007-04-13T14:52:00.000-07:00

Lake Washington in April is a toasty 49 degrees...perfect tempature for a lake swim. Not so much! Unfortunately wiser minds did not prevail and several of us decided it was the perfect time for a open water swim. After the initial shock of the cold and all blood in my body quickly racing towards the vital organs that felt like shutting down, the water didn't feel all that bad, albiet my face and other vital parts of my body were numb. I was extremely grateful that one of the other swimmers brought extra pair of gloves and booties. If not, it would have been much uglier.

Wheels on the bike go round and round...part duex

2007-04-13T14:44:00.000-07:00

I felt freedom for the first time (again) last weekend when I took my first "true" bike ride without training wheels (trainer) since my accident. The ride was relatively short from previous rides "pre-accident", but it didn't matter as just the ability to ride felt great. I have since been on several additional road rides and each one is progressively better in intensity, duration and pleasure. Wait, what am I talking about??

On the road again...keeping the rubber side down!

Epic Jealousy

2007-03-25T21:43:00.000-07:00

My leg is continuing to heal and I am slowly gaining back my strength and fitness. I am happy to see these improvements, as when my physical health improves so does my mental health, which has been unstable over the past several months. The most difficult part to deal with now is watching good friends participate in EPIC races. Please don't get me wrong...I will be sending positive vibes and cheering as loud as I can for them. The difficult part is not being able to race in these races or any races, regardless of length.

My Xterra buddies Tom and Jim are in South Africa competing in the Cape Epic Race. This is a grueling 8 stage race in beautiful South Africa. You can follow their adventures on their blog. They have completed the first two stages are doing extremely well. Sitting around 137th out of 450+ male teams.

On the AR side of my world the boys and girls from DART-nuun are having some fun at the Baja Travesia adventure race in Northern Baja California, Mexico. This race looks like an absolute blast and a definite on next years race schedule. DART is throwing two teams into the mix. The race started today, but I am unsure of their current position. Updates will be shown on the teams blogsite.

Good Luck to everyone. Keep the rubber side down, keep safe and kick some heinie!

A Tale of Two Races

2007-03-06T21:50:00.000-08:00

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times", actually it was pretty good time and unlike Dickens masterpiece the events take place in Southern California not France. Oh yea, there is no war either, just some good clean racing...actually the NASCAR event was quite dirty, but more on that later.

I grew up around race cars and to think there was any other racing that compared to motorsports seemed preposterous. However, as I stopped racing cars and started on my new life of fitness several years ago, the sound of 1000 horse power motors was replaced with the raw power of the human body. I still enjoy motorsports, but they do not have the same effect on me as they did years ago. Several weeks ago I took a few days off from a business trip and visited an old racing buddy who has also started to dabble in triathlons and running events. We spent Saturday at stage 6 of the Tour of California and Sunday at the AutoClub 500 NASCAR Race. I was interested to see which style of racing had more of an impact on me.

The Tour of California was amazing. I have never seen a pro cycling race before and I was impressed with the cyclist. It was beautiful, yet gritty. The stage started in Santa Barbara and made its way to Santa Clarita where they did three laps around the city. The breakaway pack and a 4 minute lead heading into the first lap, but the pelaton erased that lead and caught the pack 1 mile before the finish. The race came down to a sprint with JJ Haedo from CSC taking the stage victory. The sprint finish was spectacular. The cyclist were throwing their bikes side to side as they hammered at 30+ mph to the finish line. Levi Leipheimer from Discovery was the GC winner of the tour.

On Sunday we packed are bags and traveled to California Speedway in Fontana. The 90,000 spectators at the NASCAR race was definitely a bit more than the 8,000 or so that showed up for stage 6 of the cycling race. Getting to the race track is half the battle. The other half is getting to your seat. We missed the drop of the green flag, but we were in our seats by lap 20. I am still impressed with NASCAR and how close these cars race to each other. However, after about 120 laps I had had my need for speed and was ready to beat the crowd home. California Speedway is also not the most exciting track to watch. The small bank oval does not provide the same excitement as a high banked speedway or short track.

Besides the obvious difference between the two sports (human powered vs. machine powered) the spectators are an amazing contrast. Most of the cycling fans are cyclist them self or somewhat fitness minded. You may see an occasional team jersey or hat, but that is about it. NASCAR fans on the other hand live and breathe their favorite driver. The Christian religion could take some lessons from NASCAR as the drivers are worshipped beyond any religious figure. Yes, I truly believe the number 8 (Dale Earnhardt Jr) will become more iconic than the Star of David, The Cross, Buddha, etc.

Waiting for the lead pack to arrive...wait, who butt jumped in front of my camera.

Breakaway group hammering to stay in front of the pelaton.

Pelaton with eventual tour winner Levi Leipheimer.

Sprint finish!!!

Big George Hincappie of Discover - post stage finish.

World Champion Paolo Bettini - post stage finish

Enjoying a victory salute with my crutches.

NASCAR at California Speedway!

Can you feel the thunder!!!

180 mph on the front straightaway

There is much drinking to be done at NASCAR

Dead soldier...put up a good fight, but in the end my thirst won!

You have to love NASCAR fans...this dude stood up every time Matt Kenseth drove by...literally 250 times!!!

One Small Step for Aaron, One Giant Leap...

2007-02-19T20:09:00.000-08:00

Actually there was no giant leap today and I don't know if I can draw comparison to Neil Armstrong's walk on the moon and my first steps since breaking my femur. However, we also don't know if Armstrong DID walk on the moon (holla to all my conspiracy theorist friends), but there were eye witnesses to my 30' walk down Stuart Jones PT Clinic. Will I get a hero's welcome for me feat, probably not, but I'm not in this for the notoriety and wealth. I'm doing this for the children, because they are the future of this great country...what the hell am I talking about.

To wrap this up, I took my first steps today without the assistance of crutches. My gait was a bit shaky and my hips uneven, but with each step I was able to smooth out the walk and near the end of the clinic was walking similar to a 14 month old baby. Giddy-up!

These feet are made for walking

Wheels on the bike go round and round, round and round!

2007-02-16T21:13:00.000-08:00

Tonight was the first stationary spin on my road bike since that infamous day back on November 4th, 2006. My bike and I had a long talk before the spin and decided that it was neither of our faults and it was simply a unfortunate circumstance that lead to the crash(however, I still believe it was the bike fault...but I'm not here to place blame...stupid bike). I had been spinning on the stationary bike at physical therapy, but this was the first time on a real road bike, albeit on the trainer. I was worried that the harder seat might put more pressure on my hip, but everything felt fine. My physio is allowing me to ride at home, but he stresses that I limit the duration and resistance. The resistance level was set on one and I was able to muster thirty minutes of spinning before my leg fatigued and tightened. Not exactly earth shattering performance, but it felt good to get on the bike and elevate the heart rate. Tomorrow I am going kayaking for the first time since the accident. I'm stoked! The weather looks favorable and the company should be excellent!

Not sure why I look so pissed...honestly I was enjoying the spin.

Packing in some nutrition with yummy Clif bars. Best bars on the market

Fun in the Snow - Winter AR

2007-02-12T22:14:00.000-08:00

4th Dimension Adventure Racing held it's very first race this past weekend at Hyak on Snoqualmie Pass. 4th DAR is a new event promotion company started by my teammate Roger Michel and his wife Yumay Chang. Roger is no rookie to endurance sports and with the structure provided by Yumay I am expecting bigger and longer races.

The race focused on disciplines of snowshoeing and navigation. Estimated winning time prior to the start of the race was around 3.5 hours with a final cut-off time of 7 hours. The field was composed of veteran AR teams and quite a few new faces, which is always welcome to see. A majority of the teams arrived the night prior to enjoy pre-race nutrition loading and a good night sleep instead of opting for the early morning trudge up to the mountain. I opted for the former, as I was handling registration and helping Yumay keep Roger mental state in check.

The morning came way too soon, as registration opened back up at 5am. Everyone seems pretty stoked to get the race going. Roger provided final instructions, the raffle was held and maps were distributed by 7:30 with an anticipated start of 8am.

Everything went smooth and by 8:05 the gun, or in this case Roger's voice, sounded the start of the race. It was clear to see that the field would separate rather quickly. The lead teams easily ran across the slick bridge while other teams cautiously walked the bridge. Three teams set the early pace included DART-nuun and MOMAR, which was not a huge surprise. The race continued like this for most of the day with DART eventually pulling away for a solid victory with MOMAR finishing 2nd. The race course and conditions proved rather tricky for many of the teams. The lack of features available from the snow definitely caused some havoc for navigating and CP3 turned out to be the Achilles heal in many of the teams.

All the racers were treated to a great post-race food bonanza by Bruce. I am looking forward to future races by Roger and Yumay and hopefully my gimp leg will be healed and ready for battle.

Until then...keep the rubber side down.

On your marks...get set...

Dart-nuun taking 1st place

MOMAR with a great 2nd place effort

300 Club (update)

2007-02-06T12:33:00.000-08:00

My quest to reach the Herculean 300 Club ended today at 6:55am. The crowd on hand was light, but emotions were running high. Since my quest started I had befriended a couple of older gents to be workout buddies on my MAX day (MAX refers to the ability to lift as much weight as possible in one controlled rep). Both in the mid to late forties, one rather portly and the other just plain fat, we have had some humor in my dedication to reaching my goal. Upon arriving today I let it be known that I would be "maxing" today in an all out onslaught to enter the club. The odds were definitely stacked against me. It had taken me years to reach my previous record of 285 and now I was trying to surpass that goal in less than two months. I was hoping that I was gaining "old man strength" and age alone would help me. With little media on hand (actually none...I was hoping the Enumclaw Cuirier Herald would run a feature story, but it sounds like there was a new calf born at the Van Hoof farm which garned more attention) and only a few eyes watching I slowly warmed up. I warmed up with 135, than 185, than 225. I was feeling good, but extremely cautious of the challenge in front of me. We put on two more tens and a five putting the weight up to 255. With Eminem singing to "lose myself" I entered the zone for the lift. The lift off the stand felt good, Eminem was blasting now, telling my I "had one chance to make it", this was it, I lowered the bar, the music is pumping louder and I am visualizing the execution of the lift. The bar touches my chest and the explosion of power was nothing short of a firecracker, as I struggled to finish out the repetition. BAM, I slammed the weight back against the rack as I was a challenger in a Tough Man Competition after lifting two cars. Wow, I had just lifted 255lbs and I knew there was no way in hell I was going any higher. We laughed, we cried, we hugged. It was a valiant effort for the entire crew, but I fell short of my goal by 45lbs. I'm sure there are fans out there shouting for me to continue and not give up. I hear you, but I need to focus on getting back to cardio shape. I have been given the green light to start weight bearing PT and this is now my focus. I have gained 14 lbs. during my injury and I need to start shedding some of this muscle. Before I wrecked I was at peak racing weight of 162lbs. Today at the gym I was just over 175lbs. By no means heavy, but definitely 10 more pounds that I do not need in my upper body for biking and running. I am sorry to disappoint my fans out there, but I will give you other reasons to cheer me on during the year. Thank you for your support and see you on the trails.

Breaststroke, backstroke, stroke of a genius

2007-02-06T12:24:00.000-08:00

I have logged more swim time in the past three weeks than in my previous year of triathlon training. OK, maybe a bit of an overstatement, but not by much. I'm not a swimmer. I enjoy swimming to some degree, but it is not a natural ability of mine. However, with the inability to walk, run or ride at this current moment of my life, swimming is my main cardio fix. My previous swim workouts would be 800-1600m splash around, normally siding on the shorter side of the workout. Lately though my workouts have been 1600-2000m arm-burning hammer fest. Without the use of my legs, my shoulders and tri's are definitely receiving a workout. I need to be careful not to develop any tendinitis from overuse though. I still haven't had a euphoric epiphany to love swimming, but I am definitely enjoying my time in the pool.

Proud Papa!

2007-01-10T21:42:00.000-08:00

Today I took delivery of my new baby. Weighing in at just under 23.5 lbs., I took delivery today at 2:32pm from Black Diamond Bikes. She is healthy and ready to join her three siblings, including the Yeti.

I am still somewhat concerned with the reaction of the Yeti to the new arrival. I'm sure there will be times of guilt when the Yeti is not getting as much attention as before, but she will always be my first and I will set time aside just for the two of us. I am ready for some regression, but I am taking steps to assure a civil family. I am making t-shirts that say, "I am the big sister" and help create new roles for the Yeti to make her feel proud and useful.

Did I seriously just write this blog. I've reached a new low (or possibly a high depending on who you are)...It's time to get help! :)

Proud Dad...23.5lb bundle of joy!

One big happy family

One of the most trusted names in biking

AR 101 Presentation

2007-01-07T19:31:00.000-08:00

Several weeks ago Eric, Roger and I presented an introduction to Adventure Racing to a group of 15-20 eager attendees at Seattle Running Company. We went over the basics of Adventure Racing including races distances, gear, disciplines and Roger ended the presentation with a great slide show from a race he did in Patagonia.

Adventures of Another Type

2006-12-25T18:45:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays everyone (all two or three of you who read this). The holidays for me are filled with many fond memories of childhood and spending time with my family. I am sure this is similar feeling for many people, but as I grow older it is less about me (surprising I know) and more about creating these same memories for Jake and Hanna (my nephew and niece). I also feel it is an moral obligation to help the unfortunate children during this time of year. This year it was a bit difficult for me to shop (broken leg) so I donated money to the Make-A-Wish and Toys for Tots. I will also be dropping off food later this week to Northwest Harvest. I know my contributions are not large, but if everyone could help out it would make a bigger difference.

I know it's cliche that kids grow up so fast, but it really is true. This year Hanna was more aware of the Christmas spirit, well at least that Santa and relatives give lots of presents. The opening of presents was a whirlwind of activity. Jake was tearing through them like a starved cheetah chasing a gazelle on the Serengeti. I think there was one point he didn't breathe or blink through 4 gifts and I'm not sure he even knew what he opened before the next prey was spotted, caught and ravaged apart.

I have a new appreciation for my parents and my brother and Lenor (his wife) for the amount of energy it take to have and raise children. After breakfast I was exhausted and promptly passed out after cooking some eggs and cheese with Hanna on her Dora "The Explorer" Kitchen set. The sounds of a Star Wars Light Saber whizzing over my head woke me and my body felt like it had been through a 4-6 hour training ride/run. I mustered the energy to dawn some 3-D glasses and look at the constellations on Jake's wall and then take a few family pictures before heading home. I'm wasted, looking forward to a good night sleep before hitting the gym tomorrow for a workout of much less intensity!

Hanna walking the runway in her new pink coat and purse.

Two Elmo's??? Which one...touch decision for a two year old.

Uncle with young Jedi and Hanna (on cell phone)

Hanna with cell phone and pony. Eric is going to have his hands full with this one.

My brother, 95 year old grandma and me.

Vandylicious

2006-12-21T18:12:00.000-08:00

I'm the V to the A-N-D-Y
And can't no other man put it down like me!
I'm Vandylicious
My body stay vicious
I be up in the gym
just working on my fitness
I'm Vandylicious

It's so delicious
I'm Vandylicious T-t-t-t tasty, tasy
D to the E to the L-I-C-I-O-U-S
to the D to the E to the L-I-C-O-U-S

The 300 Club

2006-12-21T17:00:00.000-08:00

This is not the pint size version of the very odd, conservative Christian show hosted by Pat Robertson, but I'm willing to go "Christian" if Pat would lay his hand on my forehead and "heal" my leg and get rid of a few "evil spirits" whiles he's at it. The 300 club is an infamous bench press club at my old gym. Although I am not a member, my old workout partner Matt and I were giving it our best shot during our lifting days. I believe our MAX was 285, a mere 15lbs from reaching godlike status! However, now with my gimp leg, I think I am going to try again for the wealth and prosperity of the club. My paltry lift of 185 today is like Star Wars, in a galaxy far, far away...from the three hundy club!

12/21 Bench Press - 185lbs
12/28 Bench Press - ??

I'm Weak.....but happy!

2006-12-15T13:02:00.000-08:00

I’ve stated in early post about my addiction to all bike things that are shiny, new and lightweight. Yet, with countless internal conversations, 8 week detox program and several self-help books I have given into the temptation and purchased another bike (actually, I am still in discussions with my bike shop on pricing, but it sounds like they will work with me). And to make matters worse, I am purchasing the frame only, so I can piece the bike together exactly to my twisted, obsessed specifications.

The bike in question here is the new Specialized S-Works Carbon Disc. I looked at several bikes, including another Yeti AS-R or Orbea Alma, but after research I concluded that the Specialized would be best suited for my needs (if I can not reach an agreement with my bike shop then I think I will look more seriously at the Orbea).

The latest reports on the Specialized are extremely favorable. The bike from the factory with spec parts weighs in at 23.9 lbs. I am confident with the right components this can be lowered to 23 or 23.5 lbs. Does .4-.9 lbs. really matter in the big picture? Absolutely not, but I am a weak and feeble human...but, I’m happy!

My annual fix was replenished with the juicy goodness of the Specialized S-Works Carbon

Touching the Sky

2006-12-15T12:23:00.000-08:00

The last visit to the orthopedic was a dose of reality, but my understanding of the severity of the break and the rehabilitation process is much clearer. I am definitely in for the long haul, but I am optimistic that if everything heals correctly I should be back to 50-75% by mid-summer. The fracture which is classified as an intracapsular fracture, which is more severe than a extracapsular fracture, as the break lies beneath the bodies blood supplies. My orthopedic’s main concern now is that the blood supply is not disturbed and we avoid avascular necrosis. Avascular necrosis is a disease that results from permanent or temporary loss of blood supply to the bone. Without blood the bone tissue dies and the bone will collapse. Avascular necrosis occurs in roughly 20-30% of patients with an femoral neck fracture. I am optimistic that with my good health and fitness that I will be in the 70-80% that this disease does not occur.

The planning for my first race is already in motion, but I am cautious not to get too excited. I am aiming for the Leadville 100 “Race Across the Sky” Mountain Bike Race. The race is enormously popular and the only way to enter is through a lottery system in January. Lance Armstrong is doing the race this year, so that should definitely up the lottery entry. The race itself is a 100 mile “out and back” high-altitude race. Starting in Leadville, CO at 10,152”, the race never dips below 9,200” with the highest point at 12,600’ above sea level. To be classified as an “official finisher” you need to complete the course in 12 hours. I am fairly confident that if I can gain my aerobic capacity back and 75% of my strength than I can compete in the race.

If you have a moment send a prayer to the healing gods care of “Aaron VanderWaal”. Your kindness will be rewarded! Peace.

35 Days Later - My Leg is Still Broken

2006-12-11T17:32:00.000-08:00

Today marked the 5th week since the surgery to repair the femoral neck break in my left leg/hip. I met with a new orthopedic surgeon today to assess the break. Sometime over the past several weeks I conjured the illusion that I would be able to start bearing weight on my leg after 5 weeks. My doctor quickly extinguished those dreams with reality.

X-ray (above) and illustration (below) of the nifty hardware that is now holding my left femur into my hip.

The break is healing very well and he was actually surprised how much bone calcium/callus was already forming, however, I am still 4 weeks (minimum) away from putting any weight on the leg. First, 25% weight bearing and then the rehabilitation process will be approximately 25% more each 4-6 weeks. I appreciate my doctors candor, but it was a difficult pill to swallow knowing that I will not be full strength until August, September or October of 2007! He could obviously see the disappointment in my expression and in a touching doctor to patient moment he said, "you are healing well, you are young and active and you will be healthy again, but you need to let this heal. Patience is a virtue!" Ahhh...my moment of zen!

However, Is patience really a virtue or is this a generational saying that is suppose to give you a sense of peace to balance out the frustration you feel when you hear the word “be patient”

Patience originates from the word patient, so I looked up the meaning. The meaning fit with why I was told patience is a virtue. The root word was what caught my eye though, since patient derives from the Greek word pEma and the Latin word pati, both which mean to suffer. Hmmm, now I think we are arriving to the root of the real understanding.

I admit, I am not the most patient person. I expect immediate results and they should have been done yesterday. However, I think I will heed the good docs advice, let the bone heal and come out of this as a stronger, more bionic, person.

Inspiration

2006-12-05T19:50:00.000-08:00

My first memory of inspiration was in the dentist office. Odd yes, but I remember reading the inspirational and motivational posters that my dentist had on the walls 10, 20 times, trying not to gag on the "bubble gum" flavored fluoride paste dripping down my throat. You know the posters I'm referring..."The true reward of a thing well done, is to have done it" or "The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible". These quotes were usually preceded in the poster by a like picture. The pictures were usually of some type of natural occurrence (visualize a frozen plain with a beautiful red tulip blooming through the ice as it was a sunny spring day...Perseverance!) that visual stimulated the mind and created a cohesive mental image stronger than the quote or picture isolated by them self.

As I grew older I found inspiration in other ways, mostly from my family, friends and other athletes. However, since I started doing triathlons several years ago, the story of Dick and Rick Hoyt, no matter how many times I hear, is still the most inspirational and overwhelming story. I could try to paraphrase their story, but I wouldn't do it justice. This link will shoot you to an excerpt from a Sports Illustrated story. There is also a short video at the end that captures the spirit and strength of this father and son. I was lucky enough to be at the Ironman World Championships this year to see the Hoyt's and although their race did not go well, the image that I saw will forever be ingrained in my mind.

If Harborview Manufactured Bikes

2006-12-01T20:24:00.000-08:00

I received my first hospital bill today and I hope I have good insurance. Not including my ambulance ride, my three night stay in the luxurious Harborview cost just under $33,000 and I didn't even get a room with a view. Matter of fact I had to share my room with what I can only assume was a mental patient.

OK, so I'm sure we have all been sticker shocked over the cost of a new mountain bike. The new Specialized S-Works Epic Carbon Disc retails at $6500 (although this is one sweet piece of bike @ss)! However, this $6500 is nothing if Harborview made bikes. The titanium plate that is now fastened to my broken femur cost $3754.60. From what I can tell the piece is around 4 square inches, which equates to $938.65 per square inch! Let's try to equate this into a cost of material in building a new bike (I said try...I'm a little rusty in my mathematics).

For simplicity sake let's say the tubing diameter of our Harborview titanium mountain bike is 1" (front triangle, rear triangle, etc.). Using my Yeti AS-R as the measurement model I have measured approximately 106" of tubing. Using pi, which is the ratio of a circle circumference to it's diameter, a 1" diameter tube would equal 3.1415". Our Harborview bike would measure 333" square inches of titanium material and equate to a retail cost of $312,569.51!!!!! Oh yea, this is only the cost of the frame, but seriously what is another $3000 in components at this point.

The new Harborview full suspension titanium mountain bike...so sweet, so fast, so economical! Starting at $312,000 (frame only).

AV's Top Ten of 2006

2006-11-26T17:22:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year, the turkey has been carved, Christmas lights are being hung, the retail shopping frenzy has started and the first snow has dusted the Northwest. It's also that time of year when everyone post ambiguous top ten's for the year. A couple of my obscure favorite are the Top Ten Urinals, MSNBC's Top Ten Wimpiest Cars of 2006 (now that is news...sorry if your car is on the list), Top Ten Weirdest USB Drives (WTF!) and finally, the Top Ten Worst Album Cover (A couple of these are really disturbing. My hat's off to #3, Ken "By Request Only"...Ken is one smooth cat).

To keep with the spirit of top ten's no one really gives two craps about; I will submit my own top ten of 2006. However, to spice things up I will try to perform mine in third person. Why you may ask? Well, first, because I can. Second, I have a broken leg so that's puts me in a distinct category of sympathy and allowed to do stupid things and third, it's me and everyone loves me! (editor note - for those that know me I am 100% smart ass with no credentials. For those who don't know me I am 75% smart ass with no credentials and 25% narcissistic)

OK, with our further ado, AV's top ten of 2006:

10. Aaron VanderWaal enters first expedition race with Nuun Mud and Flesh Wounds in Moab Utah. Aaron and team race well, but Mother Nature cuts the race short by 30+ hours.

9. The Raid Series US stop this year was in McCall, ID and Aaron VanderWaal and Team MerGeo.com fought it out with the top international and domestic AR Teams. The race went well, but there were many mistakes that mitigated a better finish.

8. Aaron competes in the Test of Metal and breaks the 4 hour mark. The tendonitis in Aaron's right wrist definitely created some pain during technical section. Aaron's goal for 2007 is to break 3:30.

(OK, I can't do the third person anymore it's going to make me puke)

7. Competing in the Xterra USA Off-Road Triathlon Championships. An amazing race, with great friends and a top notch production.

6. Completing the Cascade Triple Crown with Ruaraidh, Matt and Aaron R. Awesome.

5. Racing in the 2006 Sea Otter Classic mountain bike race in Monterey, CA. An amazing event and I actually finished well considering the tough competition. 11 of 95 in AG and 35 of 720 overall.

4. Finishing 4th place overall in the 100 mile multisport Mountain to Sound Race (mtn bike, road bike, kayak and run)

3. First place Age Group victory at the Xterra Vashon Off-Road Triathlon.

2. First place overall victory at the 12-hour Trioba Adventure Race.

1. Anything that involved my bike, my running shoes, a cocktail (or two) and friends.

Cheers to a great 2006 and a rockin 2007!

Pill Popping and Needle Pushing

2006-11-24T20:36:00.000-08:00

In the course of 5 minutes I have stuck a needle in my stomach, popped 4 oxycodone, 1 morphine sulfate, 1 coumadin, 2 Tylenol PM (please I want to sleep tonight), 2 senna laxative and 1 ducasant (spl?). I haven't done this much pill popping since my mid-twenties. The circumstances are different (recreational vs. medicinal), but the end results are eerie similar; dry mouth, anxiety, lack of cohesive thought process and in general a mess. Damn I am one fine piece of ass these days! (editor note: I did get a hair cut today, so at least I am no longer a wooly mammoth)

I am happy to say that I am slowing weaning myself off the goods, probably sooner than the doc expected, but I want my mind back. I'm not the smartest cookie (wait, does that even make sense), but I want to salvage whatever brain matter I have left. Someday soon I will have to be a productive component of society and the sooner I can get off the little brown, red and green pills the better. Until then I will welcome my morphine induced dreams with open arms and ride the candy cane roller coaster as it plunges through a waterfall of creamy, milk chocolate.

EPO, Testosterone, dna manipulation....sorry, just a little blood thinner. I'm clean. I know hard to imagine with a race resume like mine that I could be clean!

Cascade Triple Crown

2006-11-20T12:43:00.000-08:00

(Sequence out of order. This event dates back to July 2006). The Cascade Triple Crown is the Puget Sounds mountain bike version of an ironman. A devastating 10+ hour ride of pain. The CTC links 6 separate trails, 3 separate peaks (11,000+ climbing) and over 50 miles of riding. The first CTC completion was back in 1997 and there are relatively few people who do it each year. It is my understanding that we were the only group to complete the Triple Crown this year.

I was accompanied on the ride by Aaron Rinn, Matt Hayes and Ruaraidh Stenson, all of whom I adventure race with and all of whom are probably a step above me in riding prowess. I always love riding with riders that are better than me. It allows me to push myself and I can also learn from their skills. We decided to add a bit of twist (and distance) to our ride by turning the ride into the "dirty" Triple Crown, meaning we would avoid all paved roads or limit our usage of them.

Uber mountain bikers Rinn, Stenson and Hayes before CTC ride.

(Excerpts from Ruaraidh BBTC write up in italics)

The weather was mixed from really cold, as in flakes of snow on top of Crystal to misty to sunny.
Left the airstrip at 6:30 which was a bit later than planned. Getting up to Crystal summit took a while but the single-track climb was easily manageable and quite fun. Saw a little bear about halfway up. He just ran 15 ft right in front of me, so we figured that if there was little one there must be a wheelie bin sized one pretty close by. Instant about turn and pegged it downhill 1/2 mile and waited for 10 mins. No sign of the little fella or its mum on the way back up.

Did they seriously see a bear?

Got a major mechanical when Rinn's seatpost bolt sheared at the top of green valley. Luckily it was a 2 bolt type and we were near the Summit restaurant where we "borrowed" some rope to lash the saddlerails to the frame. Mighty strange to see 4 grown men trying to jimmy rig (fix by any means possible) a bike in the restrooms of Crystal Mtn, it was however nice and warm in there given it was about34 outside! Headed back down Crystal on some fun single-track but took a wrong turn somewhere just past hen lake.

Views like this are worth the pain.

Green trails not much use here as there are a myriad of trails with no signs. We got one that started wide then narrowed to nothing. Bushwhacked for about 2 miles loosing quite a bit of time. Once off Crystal we headed for Corral pass, that road is nasty but we did it non stop so were probably back on schedule after that. Nobody had done the ridge section before and it was such a blast. The sun came out and gave some great views off the Palisades which were uber cool!

Views from Palisades.

Down those switchbacks and steps before taking a left onto Whiteriver trail. Fun crossing of the suspension bridge! Trip along Skookum was OK although I flatted. Getting up Suntop was much harder than when I did it the day before, wonder why?? Again we didn't stop on the fireroad and VanderWaal and I got dropped but still reached the top feeling OK. The trail down is really fast but unfortunately there is the issue of that single-track climb which was hard, we all felt tired at that section which just seemed to be never-ending. Suntop trail once we started going down proper was slick and quick, quite fun to end the ride as it's not punishing on the body especially the hands and wrists which were hurting at that point.

Ruaraidh was quite nice to me in his write up. Truth is told the last climb up to Suntop was brutal. I was wasted and it was impressive to see Hayes and Rinn hammer up the hill. Ruaraidh stayed back with me, as he had previously done the Ramrod (Ride Around Mount Rainier in One Day) on Friday and Suntop on Saturday (we figured it out later that he climbed over 30,000 ft in four days...sick).

Our final ride statistics for the day were as follows:

63 miles of riding
11,800' of climbing
11.5 hours of riding time

The completion of this ride was euphoric. It was an amazing accomplishment with a great group of friends.

Next Chapter

2006-11-19T10:23:00.001-08:00

"Like sand through an hour glass, so our the Days of our Lives" (start intro music) First, let me admit, that yes, I did watch Days of our Lives in the summer of my sixth grade year. Not sure why, but I'm guessing it was some pre-pubescent stage I was going through (You have to admit that for a 12 year old boy, Hope was pretty damn hot). Second, my life does not resemble anything of the show, well except continuous love triangles, searching for serial killers in my down time and performing the occasional exorcism on demonic possessed relatives (but seriously, who doesn't). And finally, this post is not consistent with my usually adventures as it relates to my extracurricular activities, but is more related to my life.

The house I owned in Laurelhurst with my ex-fiancé official closes tomorrow and I look forward to turning over the hour glass and flipping to the next chapter in my life (and receiving the equity check). The relationship with my ex has been over for months and the closing of the house is the last component of my previous life. I have much respect for my ex and wish her a life full of happiness that she truly deserves. I am excited to enter the next chapter in my life as I look forward to meeting new people and discovering new adventures. Breaking my femur has definitely stalled the process slightly, but even from this setback, I have met new wonderful people, spent more time with my family and friends and will have a new appreciation for life once I am healed. Today marks the two week anniversary since my surgery. I will probably skip the cake (unless someone brings me a tofu/soy cake) and instead start dreaming about my first run. I'm not sure if this next chapter will be an assortment of short stories or a long plot/character building chapter, but I promise a lot of photos and pop-up pictures!

Chicken Anyone?

2006-11-17T19:08:00.000-08:00

My legs are often been referred to that of a chicken. Not sure if it's their pasty white tone or the silky smooth feeling from shaving them. More than likely it's that lack of muscle on the lower or upper extremities that causes this reference. OK, so I have legs that resemble that of our barnyard friend the chicken! However, I am amazed that these little guys have enough power to ride and run over the steep hills that I often encounter during training ride/runs and races. Admittedly I am not the fastest, but take those in front of me, eliminate 50% of their leg muscles and let's see who is leading who. Enough with the alpha male BS...not my thing. This winter was supposed to be the season of transformation for my legs. I had vowed to run double and triple Mt. Si's weekly with my teammate Roger and hit the weight room. Roger is training for the H.U.R.T. 100 miler in Hawaii, so he had no problem agreeing to this weekly event. It would also be advantageous for him to get me to perform this weekly workout, so he would no longer have to tow my skinny ass on steep trekking ascents.

Unfortunately the mighty alteration of my legs into might diesel pumping power houses went out the window when I decided to do my best impression of Joseba Beloki in the 03 Tour. I have accepted this fate, but what has surprised me the most is the atrophy is my leg since the injury. I am just shy of two weeks since I broke my femur and already my left leg, even with swelling, is 1.5" in diameter smaller than my right leg. I find this amazing since there wasn't much muscle to start. This actually terrifies me a bit...how much smaller can my leg get. I am hoping not much, but will keep you updated on the amazing shrinking leg.

Nostalgia

2006-11-15T17:19:00.000-08:00

My broken leg has definitely afforded me with some additional time on my hand (around 10-14 hours extra a week since I cannot train). Yes, I could be productive and do my job, plan for the future or work with my brother on our real estate projects. But, somewhere in my morphine induced laziness I find it much more productive to search the Internet for all the new bike goodies coming out in 2007, new training tips and in general waste my time. Today, during a 5 hour long conference call with my boss in Atlanta I started going through old photos and reminiscing about the good ole days. Since I'm 32 now and we are nearing the year 2010 I can justify calling the 80's and early 90's the good ole days! I was mostly looking at old race photos and came across a kick ass one of my brother Eric sporting a mean ass mullet. Dude, this kid wasn't messing around! Short on the side, short on the top, don't touch the back!!! I need to scan the photo so I can upload it. I found one of him, but you can't get the true appreciation of my brother's ability to grow the weed!

E. Vanderwaal circa 1990.

It's funny when you look at the past and remember how easy things used to be. Granted, my brother and I were very fortunate to have kick ass parents, but still no bills, limited responsibilities and the freedom to do or be anything you wanted. Our old family photos focused around several different activities; Holidays, a few vacations, riding motorcycles and drag racing. Our life was pretty much consumed with drag racing from 1988-1997. I wouldn't have given it up for the world, because I meant some great friends, traveled the US and spent some quality time with the family. I will get the staples out of my leg tomorrow morning, but I think I will spend tomorrow afternoon reminiscing through some more photos and enjoying a little nostalgia.

VanderWaal Brothers, 1994, Sonoma CA.

Xterra USA Championships

2006-11-15T14:54:00.000-08:00

First off my current blogs are not sequential. I currently have a gimp leg (broken femur) so I am randomly catching up on events from my year of racing. I was lucky enough to qualify for the Xterra USA Off-Road Triathlon Championships. I've raced at this race for the past 3 years and each year I am consistently out performed by many of the national age groupers. I've accepted this, but the enjoyment of this race is the atmosphere and friends I have made through Xterra. This year I would again be staying with a group of friends for Colorado and Arizona.

The course is set up as follows; 1500m swim, 35K mountain bike and 10K run. The swim is two laps of 750m in beautiful Lake Tahoe. The bike is epic!!! You start with a 1200' 5 mile climb up a

Start of the Flume Trail after 1200' climb. Swim start was at the far right side of lake.

sand box to the Flume Trail. You then enjoy a rip through the famous Flume Trail which sits 1400' above Lake Tahoe. The trail pops out at Marlette Lake and you then have another 1200' climb up to the top of the climb and then you have 6 miles crazy descent through loose sand back to transition. The run is 2 twisty laps in and around Incline Village.

The Yeti ready for battle

My goal was a top 15 in age group and around a finishing time of 3:18. This would be 22 minutes off last year, but I was comfortable that all components of my fitness were much stronger than previous year.

Sunday morning was beautiful and I was stoked to get the race going. I did some pick-ups and felt great! As the race start approached I grab the wetsuit and went down to the lake. The water was a chilly 58 degrees, but I felt great warming up and was confident with my race plan.

Self portrait before race. Wearing the glasses to hide my fear and tears!

The start is a mass start (pros and amateurs) of around 400 racers. I had a great starting position, but when I hit the water the wheels came off. My breathing was erratic and I was struggling with my stroke. 3 minutes of swimming and I thought I was going to die. I started to hyperventilate and actually had to stop and tread water. Unfortunately, when I stopped I was run over by all the racers behind me. Shit!!! OK, my swim sucked and I was blasted coming out of the water. I was 8 minutes slower than expected. Dude, my biking legs better be on today!

Mommy!!!! Why am I such a shitty swimmer. I know I am uncoordinated, but really, that bad!!

I was so happy to be on the bike and started to tear up the trails. The climb up to the Flume Trail was beautiful. I was making up great time and then got stuck behind many slower riders on the Flume trail. Unfortunately the Flume trail is single track and passing is not possible. On your right is a rock cliff with boulders protruding out into the trail. The left side of the trail is a 1/4 mile plunge into Lake Tahoe (ouch). My attitude was good and once off the Flume I was able to hammer again. The rest of the bike was uneventful and I was able to shave 5 minutes off last year’s time!

Done!!! Where is my beer!

Off on the run. I felt great and there were no surprises. I dropped 6 minutes off last years run which equates to almost 1 minute per mile. Booyah! Unfortunately my swim was terrible and my finishing time was 3:31, much slower than expected, but overall I was happy. My finishing place was 24th out of 40 in age group, but at this time my focus was on the after party. There is nothing better than a bunch of skinny-ass triathlete trying to drink each other under the table. It's complete amateur night, but always good for a few stories!

Oh sweet nectar of the gods!

You have to love the local talent. One of Lake Tahoe's finest cougars!

Ironman

2006-11-12T20:23:00.000-08:00

I was in Maui several weeks ago for some R&R and I realized that my vacation was overlapping the Ironman World Championships in Kona. I have sort of lost track of Ironman events since I started devoting more time to AR and off-road triathlons. However, I couldn't pass up on the opportunity to see this amazing event. I purchased an inter-island trip the day before the race and was heading to the race start 12 hours later.

I am finding it difficult to describe the experience of this event. It was magical, exhilarating, inspiring, extraordinary...it was simply epic!! There was so much energy between the athletes and the fans cheering for them. The whole event was oozing fitness and health and I've never seen so many fit people in my life (athletes and spectators).

2006 Ironman Champion Norman

Stadler starting the run.

I watched the top pros and age groupers finish and decided I needed to start making my way back to the airport for my 10pm flight. Instead of waving down a taxi I decided to walk the 7 miles to the airport along the Queens K Highway. This is the infamous highway that the marathon portion of the race is run. Walking the highway in the dark with athletes who had been out on the course for 13+ hours and still had several hours to go was very emotional. Some of the athletes were overcoming "off" days while others were performing to their highest ability, but the amazing thing was their positive attitude, good humor and mental focus on the finish. The 2 hour walk/jog to the airport along the Queens K Highway during the 2006 Ironman Championships will never be forgotten.

3rd place finisher Kate Majors

SNAP!

2006-11-12T19:46:00.000-08:00

I don't know if I believe that "all things happen for a reason", but I definitely think opportunities and set backs occur and it is our responsibility to learn, understand and make the most out of each situation. I am not a philosophical person, but the past 7 days I have been thinking a lot about myself and how I would handle my current personal physical setback. I have been pretty fortunate in my life to not have incurred more serious injuries based on my activities. In my 32 years of existence I have ruptured and had my spleen removed, broken each arm, two concussions, fractured foot, broken nose, tore ligaments in my right ankle, multiple broken ribs and several less tendonitis issues. However, this past weekend I broke the femur in my left leg during a casual road ride. The pain was excrutiating and it is still pretty intense.

12" scar (on the posterior of my left left) from the surgery to fix my broken femur.

The fracture occurred on the upper femur as it nears the hip. I now have a plate and 4 screws holding my leg together. No cast, no brace, just my limp leg. The hardest part of the injury is knowing that I will not be running for 5-6 months! I will be able to swim, pool run and spin in 6-8 weeks, but no running for 1/2 year. And then it will be another 2-3 months to regain my aerobic base and another 1-2 months to gain back my speed. I am seriously looking at this time next year when I will be back to running with the same endurance and intensity. This is an extremely difficult pill to swallow to someone who is used to running 4-6 times per week. Honestly I am having difficulty
with this situation, but as each day passes the light is getting brighter. I am looking forward to the first day I can jump in the pool, spin for 15 minutes and lift a few weights. The best part of this situation is the intense appreciation I am going to have for each run, bike, swim and kayak once I am healed. Until then I am enjoying the extra time to spend with my family and friends.

100 Year Storm

2006-11-12T19:33:00.000-08:00

The Moab Xtreme Expedition Race was suppose to be my first introduction into expedition style racing. The plans was for me to enjoy and learn from the experience in hopes that I would be ready to compete in 3-5 day races in 2007. Mother Nature had other plans for this race. The worst storm to hit the Moab Desert in 100 years and I got to experience it! The race was scheduled for roughly 3-days of racing for 300 miles. I was teamed up with Martin Buhr, Mike Chan and Marna Kagele from nuun-Mud and Flesh Wounds.

Teammates Marna, Martin and Mike

My current AR team gave me the green light to race with them as the pace would be a bit slower than I'm used to, but give me a good perspective on how my body would react to 3 days of racing. The race director was continuously trying to re-route teams and find other options, so that all of these adventure seekers could continue on! He finally had to surrender to Mother Nature's wishes early Saturday morning around 1am. For safety's sake, racers were returned back to the start/finish line to complete the race.

Marna and me in a brief DRY moment of Zen before race start!

The race was insane. Roads have been completely washed out, boulders were falling from all directions and slot canyons turned into raging rivers. We pushed our bikes through shin deep mud, summitted an 11,000ft peak at 2am while soaked and trying to hide from the wind and scrambled up a cliff side while trying not to get blown away by the 60mph gust of wind.

Over the shoulder shot of a Marna on bike tow.

Flash ruined the images, but the altimeter was reading 10,700'

However, in all the disaster, there was beauty. The white river rafter section was amazing. The red rock canyon walls turned into amazing water falls. Hundreds of rain induced waterfalls were raging over the tops of the cliffs. There definitely was dissapointment that we could not finish the race, but we had fun and the team work very well together. The trip was not a complete waste, as the weekend turned out to be beautiful and we had an amazing hike in Arches National Park on Saturday and an epic ride along Poison Spider Trail on Sunday.

Hike at Arches National Park

Sunday ride on Poison Spider Trail

My New Steed

2006-11-11T18:04:00.000-08:00

OK, I have a problem. I don't push needles, I'm not a pediphile, drunk, pervert (not totally), etc, but I love new, shiny, lightweigh things, especially in the form of bicycles and their parts. I wrecked on my old road bike during a multisports race earlier this year. For the most part the bike was fine. The aero bars were junk and the rear deiralluer and brake were pretty messed up, but the bike would have been operational with some work. No way...it was tainted. It had tasted the dirty road and I wanted nothing to do with the dirty, dirty bike! OK, I'm being a bit over-dramatic (just a little), but I thought this was a perfect opportunity to purchase a new road. Similar to other additictions this may have been a component to my failed engagement (she's a great girl and will find someone better to make her very happy). My AR teammate Roger was in the market for a used road bike, so the timing was perfect. We had one last spin together. It was emotional, but we both knew there were better things in the future for each other (wait am I talking about my relationship or the sale of my old road bike). I dropped her off (the bike) at Roger's and now started my search. Carbon, carbon, lightweight, lightweight, carbon...yummy! I an effort to help my pocket book, since I don't race road, I decided to purchase a new Flyte bike through my mountain bike team. Flyte is the new Airborne bikes. The SR3 is their lightweight carbon race bike. John and Tom at Triumph Multisport sold me the components and built up the new work horse. I didn't weigh her, but I'm guessing she comes in right around 18 lbs. My first ride was kick-ass. Super responsive and comfortable. Good times ahead (or so I thought...see future post).

MerGeo.Com Wins 12 Hour Trioba

2006-11-11T17:12:00.000-08:00

My first big AR Victory! What a crazy good feeling. I have won mountain bike races, triathlons, smaller Adventure Races and even drag races in front of 10's of thousands of people, but their was something about pushing yourself to exhaustion and then beyond and coming away with a victory that feels so good. I am writing this blog 5 months after the fact, but the feeling still resignates in my mind. My teams race recap is below.

Eric, Yours Truly, Julie and Ruaraidh enjoying a post race photo!

The second stop of the 2006 Trioba Adventure Racing Series was triumphant for Mergeo.com as they won both the overall and 4-person coed division, beating series favorite DART-Nuun by over 17 minutes.

The race took place in and around beautiful Snoqualmie Pass, WA and involved a quick 1 mile run to separate the field, followed by an 8 mile kayak, 17 mile mountain bike, 17 mile trek and finishing with a leg burning 8 mile time trial style mountain bike along the Iron Horse Trail.

The team included Eric Bone, Ruaraidh Stenson, Julie Heidt and Aaron VanderWaal, and even though the four teammates had never raced together as a team, chemistry and communication were a major factor for the victory. “Our transitions were smooth, we carried a positive attitude throughout the race and we shared equally in the physical and mental components of the race,” stated Eric Bone. This chemistry would eventually lead to the fast trekking leg of the day and ultimately seal the victory. “It was exciting to beat DART,” remarks Aaron, “the weekend prior 3 of the 4 of us raced individual in a 100 mile multi-sport race, so we didn’t know if are legs and body would recover, but once we started racing our bodies felt great and we kept fueled through our Clif Shots, Bar and Shot Bloks!”

The victory now puts Mergeo.com in first place in the Pacific Northwest Championships. The overall winner of the series will likely be whichever team beats the other at the season ending 24 hour race being held in late September.

100 Mile Multisport Iron Race

2006-11-10T17:09:00.000-08:00

The Mountain To Sound started at Snoqualmie Pass at ended in Golden Garden on the Pacific Ocean. The race was a 100 mile relay or you could opt for the iron division where you mountain biked 18 miles, road biked 50 miles, kayaked 14 miles and ran another 20 miles! Hell, if you can do the whole thing yourself why wouldn't you! Of course with several teammates off my adventure racing team, MerGeo.com, entering the iron division the stakes were definitely increased. Not that we are a competitive bunch, but I think we would compete in anything including who could pee the longest (duration), farthest, yellowist, clearist, etc. OK, maybe we are a bit competitive, but our ability to laugh and have fun far outweigh our competitive nature.

The plan of my race was simply, hammer the mountain and road bike and then hang on during the kayak and run. The race started with a quick 200 yard out and back dash to separate the field before jumping on the mountain bikes and riding the Iron Horse Trail. Bang...the race starts. I take a comfortable 2nd place position drafting behind a gentleman who would bring me into the mountain bikes and allow me to jump on my bike in 3rd or 4th position. I wanted to get into the Snoqualmie Tunnel before the masses to alleviate any type of accident. Perfect plan...in and out of the tunnel with no problem. The mountain bike course was less fun than I imagined. It was basically a double track fire road for 18 miles. Booo! Regardless I finished the mountain bike section 2nd for the iron racers and was stoked to jump on my road bike. The first part of the road bike was a scary fast decent leading into North Bend. It was awesome to rip this section and gain some momentum leading into the town. Once in town I tucked into the aero bars and was getting comfortable for a 46 mile road ride. Snap!!!!! The flag girl did not see me coming and was not waving the flag until too late. I tried pouncing on my brakes, but my bike came out from under me and I was not sliding on the pavement at over 25 mph!!! Ouch. I have never wrecked on my road bike, let alone going that fast. I slid into the sidewalk, where I got up and quickly checked for broken bones. Everything felt together and I quickly jumped on my bike to start my race again. I had blood streaming from abrasions on my right leg and arm. Good Stuff. My bike was also more damaged than originally inspected. My rear derailluer was bent and I could only shift in my bottom 4 gears. Not a good thing with several large hills looming. I muscled through the hills (and believe me there is not much muscle in my legs) and was happy to be back on the flats. Once there I wasn't able to pick a cadence that was create enough power and speed. Something was wrong. Either my legs were zapped from the wreck or my bike had further problems. After stumbling through several more miles, I decided to re-examine the bike. Ah ha...my rear brake was also bent during the crash and rubbing my rim. Argh!!! I tried several ways to bend them back, but in the end loosened the cable and released the brakes almost completely. Not the safest thing to do, but I was more worried about gaining back time than safety. The rest of the ride was uneventful and I tried to salvage my legs and energy for the kayak and run.

My support crew (mom, dad, brother, sister-in-law) were ready to roll when I arrived. My first order of business was to clean my wounds which were an ugly, dried, yet ozzing mess! We loaded my kayak into the water and I was very happy to be off my bike and into the kayak (and I'm not much of a kayaker). I needed to make up some time and surprisingly I did. I was hoping to finish in the middle of the pack, but I ended up with the 4th fastest iron division split. OK, I'm back in the game.

I still haven't seen my two AR teammates Roger and Ruaraidh, but I was feeling good and looking forward to the run. I parked my kayak, ate a gu and threw on my running shoes. My legs were a bit tired from the kayak and also tight from my wreck, but after the first 3 miles everything was loosening up. The tempature was also heating up and unseasonable warm for June. Tempatures were in the 90's and this was defintely having an affect on many racers! My fiance at the time, Katherine, (we are now broken up) met me at mile 8 to give me a fresh water bottle, a fresh towel for my head and words of encouragement. They definitely helped and I was feeling good. I caught up to Roger and passed him at mile 12 and now had my sites set on Ruaraidh. I was also feeling good becuase there were several reports that I was in 4th place overall in the iron division. The last feed station was at mile 13. I fueled up, chatted with my parents briefly and continued on with the race. The final 6 miles were brutal. The course ran up Stone Way and then up over the Fremont Hill. On a normal training run this is not a big hill, but after 8 hours and 94 miles it felt like I was climbing Everest!

I could finally see Golden Gardens in the distance and was ready to start shutting it down and coasting into the finish when I saw Northwest Ironman and Tri stud Michael Blue hammering down on me. I could not let him catch me. I dug into my reserves and was able to hold Michael off by 30 seconds for 4th place overall in the iron division. Ruaraidh finished 3rd overall (10 minutes in front of me) and Roger came in 5th place.

The race was brutal, but a beautiful accomplishment. I am looking forward to participating in more iron multisport races like this in 2007!

Test of Metal (and will)!

2006-11-10T16:33:00.000-08:00

Squamish B.C. Canada is a beautiful, little town roughly 30 miles from Whistler. It is also a multisport athletes dream town and home of the infamous "Test of Metal" Mountain Bike Race. The race is epic, maybe not to the scale of La Ruta in Costa Rica, Trans Alps or even the Trans Rockies for that matter, but for the competitive age grouper in the Northwest this is THE race. Registration to the race opens up each New Year's Day at 12 midnight and normally sells out within the first 8 hours. The race is limited to 800 riders and unlike many races the start is a mass start. No pro, expert, sports, etc by age groups. Nope, 800 mountain bikers swarming through the streets of Squamish before hammering the 67 KM mtn bike course.

It was suggested to me on multiple occassions to preride the course. Unfortunately, my race schedule leading up to the race was not condusive to such a treat (note to self, preride the course for next year!). Fellow adventure racer and all around around multi-sport star, Jen Seggers and her fiance Tye (they are now married - congratulations!) were nice enough to let me crash at their place for the weekend. Jen also drove me up nine mile hill and showed me a few of the other key areas of the race course.

The energy on race day was amazing. Arriving several hours early was key as there was no staging structure. You basically showed up as early as possible and placed your bike upside down in a starting chute. First come, first serve basis. Approximately 15 minutes before race start they lifted the rope and 800 people went to search for where they staged their bike. It was very comical to see riders have no idea where they had placed their bikes 60 minutes early. The start was a bit nerve racking. You were ass to elbow with every rider around you and knowing that some of these people didn't have any road riding experience and all road etiquette (crossing wheels, riding blind, etc.) would be out the window.

The gun sounded and we where off. The sound of 1600 mountain bike tires was eerie, but beautiful. A buzz that sent chills up my back. Seggs suggested I hammer the first road section of the race to make sure I was in the top 1/4 of the pack leading into the first single track. This would help alleviate too much bottle necking and slowing down my progress. I felt strong on the road and kept to the plan and entered the first section somewhere near the top 100. This felt great and I was able to relax a bit in this section. I felt extremely good during the next several sections and was confident heading up to 9-mile hill. I had been racing for 6 weekends straight leading into this race including a 36 hour adventure race the weekend before in Idaho. The intense race and training schedule also attributed to tendonitis in my right hand. The tendonitis made it extremely difficult to shift and brake. Amy Hayes (my biking friend Tom's wife) was kind enough to have a fresh water bottle for me and the start of 9-mile hill. The hill turned out to be fun, as I passed several riders leading up to the top. Unfortunately, this is were the race started to turn sour. Ring Creek Rip and the Plunge were next on the course. Normally fast decsents are favorable to my riding style. However, with my recent wrist injury, these two sections turned problematic and disasterous for me. I fell several times (not hard, but enough to throw off my rhythm) and ended up running much of the plunge. This is definitely one of the sections you need to pre-ride. I limped through these two sections and much damage had been done. The rest of the course of undulating, technical section that under normal circumstances would not be difficult to ride. However, I was hammered and sore and the freight train of riders where passing me by as I was have difficulty staying on my bike. I was able to recover and actually gain a bit of second wind going into the final three miles. I cross the finish line and essentially collapsed! My finish time was 3:49 and some change. Good enough for 194 overall and 36 of 142 in age group. My goal was to beat 4 hours, which I did, but I pretty confident I can knock off 15-20 minutes in 2007!

My bike, My brother and Me makes Three

2006-04-30T20:32:00.000-07:00

Hit Hood River, OR for a quick getaway over Easter weekend. My bro and I rode Post Canyon on Saturday. It was a slimy, wet mess of cable clogging clay. I was really proud of my brother for sticking the weather out. He is really getting in much better shape and good to see his riding form come back around. We parted ways at the bottom and I went and did a 4 mile climb up the fire road. Hits some snow near the top and had a blast bombing down the fire roads. Had a good race going with a Toyota 4x4 pick-up! I let him win!

Sea Otter 2006

2006-04-10T13:34:00.000-07:00

Billed as the "World's Largest Cycling Festival" the Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, CA definitely lived up to its billing. Held at Laguna Seca Raceway, the event included road racing, XC racing, dual slalom, dirt jumping, short track and more. Throw into the mix were all the top manufacturers and pro racers from around the world!

We (I attended the race with two local expert racers Tom Hayes and Andrew Rigel) arrived to the course Friday morning. Time to get our credentials, build our bikes, fixed any damage from the airlines and then off to pre-ride the course. The several weeks of rain leading up to the event left the course muddy, slick and in parts dangerous due to the washouts caused by flowing water. Several racers were injured during pre-ride including a broken back (no paralysis)...definitely bad jojo going into the race. Our pre-ride went well. No major accidents and only small mechanical problems due to mud in our derialluers. The course was just over 20 miles with 3200' of elevation including two steep climbs of over 20% grade and a grueling 3KM climb to the finishing descent! OFF to clean our bikes, which we soon discovered would be the norm with all the mud and water.

Saturday we watched Andy take 3rd in the Expert Men's 30-39 Short Track Race (a fast anearobic XC race around a one mile course for a predetermined amount of time). The course was so muddy that riders ran 50% of the course with the bikes on their shoulders..ala cyclocross! Thomas and I did some additional climbs and start burst to keep our legs loose for tomorrows race.

Sunday started bright and early at 4:45am. Up for a liquid breakfast, Starbucks and out to the track by 6:00am for our 8:10am start time. I would be racing in the Sport 30-34 category with 95 other races. The start of the race would combine one mile on the pavement prior to sending everyone onto the double and single track. My strategy was to get a clean start and tuck in behind and draft behind the leaders saving my energy. We lined up several minutes prior to start and after several pre-race farts by several competitors the gun went off. OUCH! Heart rate went from 85 bpm to 170 bpm in 200 yards. Don't these jackasses know we have 20 miles still to race...apparently not. Trying to keep up with the Jones's, I tucked into the peloton (weird to say that in mtn bike racing) and tried to hold my line between several other races. Normally in mtn bike racing there is not such a large group, but like road racing there was much elbowing and tire rubbing tying to gain position. I decided to make my way to the outside and get a run into the tight left uphill corner. I knew I would have to use my brakes and could get a good run leading up to the dirt course. It definitely paid off as I moved from mid pack up to around 25th. The next several miles included position swapping and juggling until we came to the first big climbs. This definitely split the field up and allowed for some breathing room. I felt strong from miles 10-14 and gained several positions until someone went down in front of me. I managed to avoid them, but the wrecked definitely disrupted my momentum. I struggled to find my form for several miles. With 5km to go, which included 4.5km of climbing, I was strong again and making several surges on my climbs. Many of the other competitors were hurting at this point, so I was able to pass 10 riders in the last climb (not sure how many were in my age group) and bridge the gap between myself and Tom (I had passed Tom once on the course, but was passed by him after the wreck). He was know only :15 in front of me and I figured he was shooting for a top 10, so this was a very good sign. Unfortunately, I could not bridge the gap any further. Tom finished in 10th and I finished 11th out of 95 (78 finished the race) in our age group and 35 out of 720 overall. The final 1km of the course was a downhill bomb on the road course. The finishing chute was amazing with several hundred fans cheering you on!

Can't wait until next year!