Riding Break is Over and Beto's update from MN
After a month off the bike for a short mid-year riding break, last week Norma and I started riding again. Our next goal is Chequamegon and this time we decided to take an organized approach for that race.
We have created a mini training program that includes eight weeks of gradually increase training until race day on September 16th. The plan has several stages: Preparation, Base, Build, Peak and Race. Just this past Sunday we completed the first two weeks of Preparation training with light road rides and some work at the gym with weights and cardio on the treadmill. As you all know it's way too hot to ride at anytime here in Phoenix, so we've had to sacrifice some of our beauty sleep to get up at 5:30 am and ride for a couple hours before the temperature reaches 100 degrees.
But just because it's hot in Phoenix, it doesn't mean the rest of the country is the same. Roberto has been getting great results in the humidity of the Minnesota State Championship Series. Just two weekends ago he competed in the Muddy River Rock and Roll race at Red Wing. Here are a couple shots of him sporting his new racing kit as he became part of Alan Racing Team.


Roberto is currently sitting in 6th Place overall in the Minnesota State series with 4 events remaining in the calendar. I am pretty sure he will be able to climb a couple more spots before the end of the series. This will give him a good competitive edge in preparation for Chequamegon where he will be doing the 40 miles with me. Norma in the other hand will be battling solo (or should I say sola) in the 16 mile race (also know as the Short and Fat) but I always get weird looks when I call it like that, so I stick with the Chequamegon 16.

Keep checking back to see how our training is progresing.

Pura Vida!

Here is another picture of Beto before getting in the tight single track of the Red Wing's Memorial Mountain Bike Park.

The Dog Days of Summer

So it finally got a little too hot for me to ride in Arizona. I was able to continue training through the end of June when the temperatures would reach 95 to 100 by 9 am, but now even by that time it's way to hot, so I decided to take a break. I also considered the fact that there aren't any official races going on right now in the area. Initially I had plas to race one of the National races in Utah but I've decided to move that for next year.
But just because I am not racing it doesn't mean I am not following the sport. With the Tour going and the Minnesota series at full speed, I've been keeping up with Roberto and Gregorio who are blazing through race courses at the Minnesota State Series.
Here is a picture of Roberto and Gregorio at the Chippewa Race in Wisconsin.


After doing a great job at event #2 in Steeple Chase, Roberto went to Afton where he finished 8th in his age group and 47th overall. The following week he drove up to scenic Duluth for the Dirt Spanker Classic at the Fund DuLac resort to get a great climbing work out near the St Louis river and went on to finish 9th and 34th overall.

This past weekend, Gregorio and Roberto crossed the border to Wisconsin to take on the Chippewa Fire Cracker. The tight single track and little climbing race course was perfect for Gregorio who has been riding his singlespeed bike. He finished 1st in the Singlespeed category and 3rd overall while Roberto had to deal with some chain/gears problems but still managed to finish in 5th place in his age group and 55th overall. That is great considering that the Sport category in the Wisconsin series is known as the one with the most participants in the country. At the Firecraker event 262 Sport division racers lined up at the start of the race. Over 200 of those were male riders, so Roberto and Gregorio both finished in the top 25%.

Kodus to those two.