Today is my birthday.  Too bad I’m going to be spending a majority of it travelling to Arizona.  I like the travel involved in the sport.  But, sometimes it gets long nowadays, especially compared to pre-9/11.

Luckily I changed my flight so I now have a direct flight to Phoenix to meet up with Trudi, Bromont and Vincent.  I’m not flying until 3:30 now, so I am going to get a chance to go out for a ride.

I’m not really that big on birthdays. I used to try to ride the number of miles of my age, but it was never really a “rule”, so I kind of bailed on that.  Hopefully I can get in a couple hours and stay relatively dry.  Maybe I can do my age in kilos? Yesterday I started too early and got wet initially, then it cleared, but I was already wet. Crossing my fingers for just dry.

I’m a little worried about being unprepared for the whole 24 hour MTB thing.  I‘m been hearing that it can be super dusty, plus smoky around the start/finish area.  I’ve been worrying about a lung deal, nearly everyday I’ve been in Seattle, so the whole bad air thing is spooking me a little.

Plus the heat.  I guess it can be in the 80’s, which really isn’t that hot, but when you’ve been riding in the 40’s in the rain, I’m sure it is going to be brutal.

Really, it is just a life adventure and learning experience.   I’ll have a couple days to ride my MTB bike before the race, so I should know by the weekend what my hip can and can not do.  I’m sure I’m going to be mildly wacked doing around 100 miles off-road when I haven’t ridden a single mile off-road in months.

But, like I said above, it should be fun and a great memory.  Okay, I had better suit up and get out for a ride.  I still have to pack my road bike, etc. after the ride.

Yesterday I rode down these stairs, well not on the stairs, but on the little edge beside the stairs. I saw this from the I-90 bridge and thought it looked fun. I didn’t anticipate how wet it was. Plus, it was steeper than it looked. I got a little crossed up towards the bottom and thought to myself it would have been a real disaster if I would have fallen. LIttle steep and slick for a road bike.

Sorry about not posting yesterday, but we’re a little off the grid.  Actually, I wasn’t yesterday, but I was having electronic issues.  I wasn’t near Wifi, so I did a post on my phone, but right when I was ready to post it, poof, it was gone and WordPress just quit.  Now I can’t access or post anything on my phone, which is a hassle.  Plus, I can’t even proofread a post, so there is almost a zero percent chance I’m going to rewrite what I already did.

I got to Phoenix okay on Tuesday, but Vincent, Trudi and Bromont didn’t get to the airport for a couple hours, so it was nearly 10 pm before I got picked up.  We stayed a night with one of Vincent’s team mates, Kim, who was renting a condo in Scottsdale for an Arabian horse show.  We had to sleep on the floor in the living room, so I was pretty underslept.  I don’t mind sleeping on the floor as long as I’m prepared.  We weren’t.

Yesterday morning we drove to Mesa and picked up a trailer that we’re going to use for the race.  Then we drove up to Fountain Hills and rode some at McDowell Mtn. Park.  I raced there right when they built the trails, back in the 90’s, but haven’t been there since.

It was alittle stressful getting used to trying to ride fast here.  The trails are hard packed with lots of small stones, so super slick in the corners.  I‘m was a little skittish initially.  Especially turning left.  I’m getting better, but for some reason, foreign to even me, I can’t just rail a corner turning left.  I guess it is a protection mechanism for the broken hip.  It has been 8 months now, I’d think I’d be done with that, but obviously, that isn’t the case.

We rode a couple hours then went to the bike shop, McDowell Mountain Cycles, where Harry, the owner and a friend of Bob, a rider on our team, graciously let us use  the shop.    It is a really great shop, with an espresso machine, so I was a little too jacked up after the ride.

I’m thinking about leaving a rigid fork on my bike.  There wasn’t any need for it riding yesterday at McDowell and I hear the course at the 24 Hours of Pueblo is easier.

We then drove down to Oro Valley and stayed out in the desert with another one of Bob’s friends.  It is in an exclusive gated community on a golf course, of course.   It is a super cool setting, but Bromont couldn’t go inside, so we are sleeping in the trailer with him.  It’s a good setup, but once we leave the trailer at the race site, I’m not sure what we’re going to do.

I’m anxious to get to the course and do a couple laps.  I know it isn’t going to be anything like the race, but it is always nice to know the course.  I guess it is pretty dusty and smoky during the event.

Okay, I need to get going to eat something a check out the course.  I forgot how much I like riding my mountain bike through the desert fast.  I’m going to be doing it a lot more often.

Picking up the trailer.

It was nice waking up to Palm trees and warmth yesterday.

Bromont was happy to see me, and I him.

Vincent taking a photo of me while I was taking a photo of him.

Vincent riding.

I fell once yesterday and got this guy stick in my tire. They were also stick in my legs. My front tire went flat and I washed out on a corner. I guess my latex was all dried up. I’m gonna fix that today.

My view this morning getting out of the trailer. Pretty nice.