Cowboys and Bikers

The final stop on our America road trip was in the cowboy town of Prescott Arizona.  This town of 40 000 country folk was the capital of Arizona from 1864 to 1889, but more importantly is now host of the annual Whisky 50 mountain bike race.   The race attracts most of the top pros in North America, as well as nearly 1800 amateurs for a weekend of high altitude (5500ft-7500) racing.  There are saloons all over the old western town with nightly shootouts and cowboys strutin their stuff.  There’s also an obsession with elk hunting as elk statues, elk head mounts and elk fajitas are found everywhere.  The only elk that couldn’t be found around the area was a smiling live one.

The racing commenced Friday night with the pro men and women fat tire criterium on the hilly streets of town.  It was hanious from the start as 88 men started going round and round and round a very hilly 2:15 minute loop with riders imploding all over the place.  The combination of high altitude, steep streets and having all 4 North American Olympians taking turns setting the pace at the front made for a suffery bike ride. My lungs expanded tenfold during the  hill repeats. It was just the dose of high-end torture my body needed after putting in a huge base the past couple months. 20 minutes into the race, 3 laps from the end I was going backwards and would soon be yanked from the puke parade, being one of the last 25 riders standing.

My teammates survived till the utter end of the massacre, with Spencer Paxson coming in 4th and Wicks in 8th!  Both these guys have been on fire this early season. Kris rolled in around 20th and was the talk of the race as he road the last couple laps with his jersey undone causing all the ladies to get excited like little school girls.  

Sunday the real race went off at 8:30 am with a gentle paved climb for the first 15 minutes.  The pace was going carnival speed so I opted to get a jump-start on the field before we hit the first really steep climb.  I rode tempo off the front and gained a 15 second gap heading into the climb without burning any matches.  A couple riders thought I was attacking, but I was merely just trying to gain any advantage I could, as I new my body was tired and my winter blubber wasn’t going to pay me any favors on the climbs.  Heading over the climb I got swarmed and soon found myself mid pack as we hit the trails.    From here we road gently uphill on some fast dusty single-track before hitting a long 10 mile descent down into Skull valley.  The desert scenery was in full form as we crusied painfully fast back uphill for 10 miles and finally descending a nice piece of trail to the finish line in town.  The finish line was lined with a rowdy whisky drinking crowd which made for a stellar end to a solid weekend of racing.   Nice work Spencer on finishing 6^th behind 4 Olympians!  Wicks (who flatted out of the top 10) finished 17^th, Sneddon 20^th and myself a couple minutes back in 30^th.

We hadn’t been drinking since Sea Otter as Captain Wicks had us on a chisel diet to get ready for our Euro invasion at the end of May.  Sneddon and I were the cause of this as we both have our thick Canadian winter skin on still.  It’s good for hockey and cutting trees up in the boonies but not when your trying to chase pencil necks around on bikes.  In the end we drank like lightweights then celebrated the end of the trip with a cowboy feast of Bison meatloaf and elk Fajitas downtown.

Getting on the plane home I was nervous as all hell as I still had found memories of the nightmare flight home from Louisiana.  Before the flight I was in the washroom flushing my ears out with a syringe as my ear plugged up during the race and was still being a bugger.     This worked until I got a bad case of vertigo and stumbled around the airport like a drunk.  After 20 minutes of shuteye I was good to walk again.  Next up was popping Tylenol Decongestants, inhaling a nose spray and popping ear plane earplugs in my ears.  I was worried about my Eustachian tubes being clogged again and not being able to equalize as the plane climbed and descended. All the preventive measures might have been overkill but I made it all the way home last night which was an unreal feeling.

Waking up in Victoria yesterday morning was amazing.  Fresh moist ocean air, sunny skies, and a lot of unpacking to do as I unload 3 bike boxes full of supplies for the year.

Off to my newest sponsor, Nourish for some recovery food!  If your ever in Victoria make sure you check out Nourish Garden Bistro at 505 Quayle Road.  Set in the Glendale gardens, the restaurant has a great relaxed atmosphere and the food is 100% certified pure and healthy.  Everything is made from scratch and is based around fuelling your body right with natural ingredients and unparralled taste considering how healthy it all is!  And best of all they welcome muddy and sweaty athletes with there arms wide open.  Perfect for a mid ride snack & caffeine boost.

Thanks Dave for keeping our bikes in line and keeping us laughing all week! Big thanks to Kona Bicycles and my Kona teammates for a trip to remember.

Things are just starting to fire up for an epic 2013!