Thank You Brad and Jason

I want to give a huge thank you to Brad Williams MD. PhD and Jason at Signs 928. Brads continued generosity has made many things happen this season and he continued with race entree fee and travel expenses. Jason also help make this trip happen with his generous contribution. His contribution helped with travel expenses. This moves me up in in ranking and am 4th in the state and top 400 in the nation looking to continue moving up for the finish of the season. Words don't put into perspective on how thankful I am for the contributions from all of my sponsor. They are the reason I am able to move up. Thank you again and again.

Missoula XC Trip Pictures

Missoula XC Race Day / Drive Home

Race day woke up to the sounds of the cat 3 racers going off. Felt good, had plenty of time to focus on the race ahead. I ate breakfast, filled bottles, picked out nutritional's for race, and relaxed until warm up time. For warm up I road up and down the road leading up to the resort. The road was either up or down no flat sections which was almost perfect and was able to do hard efforts and cool down and spin with out using to much energy yet being able to warm up muscle properly. I set my spare bottles in the feed zone and got lucky and a guy said he would feed me. At the start line the cat 1 were split in to Jr.'s 15-18, open, and masters 45+.  Jr's started it off at noon and open group went off 2 min later.

I started in the second row out side, was able to get a pretty good line but slipped my pedal and fell back a few spots putting me in about 23 spot out of 30. I knew I had to make a move quick before any gaps grew. I attacked the first long climb moving up a few spots. I continued to grind it out maintaining high rpms I was passing competitors at first but everyone was starting to stretch out. I could still see a couple riders ahead and focused on catching and passing them.  The climbs were slow and steady. The descents were fast and technical. If I could paint a picture for you the trail was bench cut with roots, rocks and lots of washboard from braking. The switch backs went from steep to almost vertical. The best way to maintain speed through each switchback was to power slide each one which allowed me to maintain a higher speed and to take a better line in the corner. I was able to pass a couple competitors in the corners with this method. Main focus on descent was to stay off the brakes. The course left no room for any error!! The first couple laps went by, 3rd lap nothing major happen started to feel fatigue setting in. I took a deep breath and reset my focus. If I lost my focus on the descent it would mean absolute carnage and loosing focus on climbs meant loosing countless distance in seconds. 


The goal for the last lap was to continue to focus and to not bonk. I maintained power on the climbs and keep tire side down on the descents. I was able to pick off one more competitor and chased another but lost sight on the descent. Crossing the finish line was a welcome sight. I finished 15th, there wasn't much I could have done to finished any better. The competition seems to get stronger and stronger. This was a great boost in confidants and a reassurance of all my hard efforts. I know I'm getting faster and better overall which will start to show in increasing ways!!!


The drive home was long, I drove straight through 19 hours. I got home around 8 am instead of 2pm like I was planning. The drive was well worth it, being able to see my kids as they were waking up. Thank you for reading hope you enjoyed!!! 

July Training

In recent weeks training has been going well. I having been doing lots of intervals. Started off hard, to the point of almost not being unable to finish workouts. I have progressed and am feeling stronger and faster and finishing stronger.There is always more to do but feeling great. Most of my rides have been 2 plus hour mtn bike rides on dirt forest service roads. Covering 25-30 miles minimum. Over all speed has increased. Most of my rides I leave from my house and head out Sycamore Canyon Rd to FS258 to Bill Gray Rd and from their the options are  to Sedona or Dead Horse or Llama. Distances range from 26 miles plus. Most of ride are dirt forest service road.  I will upload the gps file on to a page and/or create a link to view in google maps. I have never done this before so it might take a few days.

Over all I'm feeling good, strong and looking forward to the fall AZ State Series.

Missoula XC Drive and Pre-Ride

Missoula XC was in Missoula Montana. The drive was is about 19 hours. The drive was uneventful other than the short ride I had in Utah and the beautiful scenery that surrounded me! I road on a dirt road near The Grand Staircase National Monument for 30 min. The scenery made it hard to drive all I wanted to to do was watch the landscape. I spent the night just past Salt Lake City at a truck stop in the back of the van. Slept well for about 5.5 hours. Arose early and drove the final leg of about 8 hours to Missuola. I arrived at the venue at about 2 pm, stretched out and got ready for pre-ride.

Didn't know much about coarse other than I was told to keep steady hard pace and has lots of climbing. Bottles filled, tires pumped up and I was off. From the start line it was pretty much up hill for 2.5 miles. Below is the map and the elevation chart. The course was hard lots of long climbs, didn't think it would ever end. First section of climb was double track with a slight reprieve and then back to climbing with steep switch backs back to double track steady climb for a short distance and then on to the steepest switch back section. Now its was steady climbs with some descents mixed in. Finally the descent was found here. the descent was much more technical than I anticipated. I took it easy making sure to learn the switch back and washboard sections. Quicker than a blink of a eye it was over. I stopped to look at time and to my surprise it was only 25 minutes. The lap felt like it took 45-60 minutes not 25. I decided to take another lap due to the descent and how unforgiving it was. The second lap was good I was able to find smoother lines on the climbs and faster lines on the descent.

Subaru Mellow Johnny's Classic

This was a long journey and this is how it goes. I left from my house at about 2 am on Thursday and headed south to Tucson to pick up a couple of the AZ Devo Crew. Left Tucson about 6am headed east to Sonora, TX. the drive wasn't bad a few stops for food and gas. Driving past Ciudad Juarez Mexico made me realize how lucky we are as Americans and how much I love this country. Not to poke as the town but what a slum. A few hours later and about 10 miles from Sonora we stopped got out and jumped on our bikes and road in the rest of the way to are hotel. The frontage road we road in was great some climbing bust mostly flat. Very pretty country side. Had a good dinner and went to bed early.

Friday morning woke up early had breakfast and went to spin for a short time. Found a drainage ditch with banked walls and ended up playing in there for a while. Great training work on spinning and balance at the same time! Left late afternoon drove the last few hours to Flat Creek Crossing Ranch which is the venue site. About 3 hours later arrived parked and went to check things out. The venue was nice had good set up and location for everything to take place. Went for pre-ride and course was technical but awesome if I could race courses like that every race I would be in heaven. There was quite a few short technical climbs was able to clear all but stopped and looked at a few different lines. Course had one good climb double track  loose dry dirt and some single track dirt mixed with rock. Course was very similar to riding in the Ozark Mountains. Lots of great single track, really kept you at whits end. Finished hung out, talked some and headed out for the next hotel! thanks your Travis and his dad Damon for getting us the hotel. Went out for dinner and came home and rolled legs out stretched and hit the sack!

 Saturday Travis raced in the elite pros class. Had a good breakfast of oatmeal and lots of fruit. got everything packed up and drove to venue about an hour away! Got a great parking spot up front and set up everything in feed zone. Mark and I handed bottles to TJ, Graham, Travis probably forgetting someone. Feeds went great. Elite Pros were flying around course about 15 min per lap plus a starter lap that took only 3 min. After watching a great race got dressed and went for another ride on course. Check a few things out went back to hotel. After dinner was cleaning bike and found a crack in the face plate of my stem was worried but lots a companies at venue so was going to go ask for a loaner stem. Stretched rolled legs out, did some meditation and hit the sack race day was tomorrow!

Day of race didn't sleep that long but the sleep I got was great. I organized everything night before and filled bottles in morning. had good breakfast. Was really focused on race and was running through lines and mentally preparing myself. Arrived at venue with plenty of time to prepare and warm up. Went got a loaner stem thank you Shimano. Warmed up on road mostly but did start loop a few times. Time to line up got divided up into age groups and the wait for the gun. Open Cat 1 pro class went first then Jr's and finally my group. Gun and we were off. Didn't have a great start but wasn't in last. pace was fast just hold my line was in front group first couple miles. then we hit the climb. The guy in front of me slipped rear wheel and fell over taking me out in the process riders behind saw and ran past as I was pulling my bike from between bikes and was off again. Not so great to start a climb from a stop. but as is racing. got up and off again. lead group of 12-15 riders had broken up and first few was gone. Now it was pull back time. focused on trail and keeping my pace high as I could and maintained good lines, high cadence and climb fast. was able to pick off quite a few riders but most were Jr's, some of my group and a couple pros in the open class. Second lap was feeling good and then i heard a dreaded sound air leaking and Stan's doing its jobs sealing it up the whole. tire went flat stopped checked it out wasn't cut to bad, put some air in it and was off again still heard air leaking out of about half the lap finally nothing I just kept on going and pray for it to seal and not give out. Third lap I passed a few lapped riders and a couple others in my group and a pro that dropped back. As I was passing on the inside going way to fast for the loose terrain front tire slid out and took me and him out. I said sorry, my fault, as i jumped up and started up at a short step climb was not in a good gear and suddenly felt a great push from behind the guy I didn't even look as and crashed into gave me a push and said go get them there not fare. I made the climb not even clipped in and this all happen in front of about 15-20 people stand on the climb. they all cheered and was a great motivator. Going past the feed zone looked for Mark who was suppose to feed me but no wear to be found luckily the had neutral feed got a bottle of nasty bleach tasting water but still water. was putting in a good lap time and about half way through lap passed another in my group I could hear him staying behind me. I picked up the pace and attacked pulled away but also taking a lot out of me! I was able to maintain for the rest of the lap until I slipped my rear tire and put my foot down a couple times on climb and one short steep tech section. He was back I held him off as long as I could I was starting to cramp I eased up new the finish was getting close. took a rest behind him rounded a corner and the sprint was on he had about 50-75 yards on me I closed down to about 20-30 ft but legs were burnt to a crisp. Went spun my legs out for 30mins or so and packed up car and we where on are way back to AZ. We packed up another ride Ty who a supper fast U23 rider. Had a great trip back to Tucson dropped off 3 guys and then on to Phoenix to drop of Ty and back home to Clarkdale! Left Venue about 1500 arrived home at 0630 following morning.

Me at Finish

Sonora, TX

Only in TX

Mexico

Womens Elite Race

Womens Elite Race

Subaru Trek Women Elite Race

Crank Brothers Elite Women 

Emily Batty putting the hammer down to move up after flat on first lap

Cranks Borthers Women Elite

Yes that Is the Womens World Champion killing everyone

Rabobank Elite Women

Elite Women

Emily passing another place 

Finish 

Emily Batty

Elite Mens Start Loop

Elite Mens Start

February Training

Last week I road mtn in sedona. Started on Girdner then to Wagon Wheel, dead mans, Aries, cockscomb, western civilization and finished on last frontier. Great set of trails. This was the last ride for my fork the damper was officially dead. I didn't have much suspension but the ride was still good, covered about 30 miles. Last few weeks have been good only missing a work out here and there due to work or kids. Feel like I'm making good improvement on base miles and endurance. Looking forward to the season at hand should be a good one! Thanks to all my supporters you help me through the tough times and encourage me to push myself!!!

Last couple of rides

Last couple of rides were great wanted to get out and do 4 hours but was only able to get 3 because of time constraint daycare and daughter getting out of school. Any how went out and my goal was to have an over all avg speed increase. Went out solo and had a couple really good rides. Pushing my self a little more than I normally do. I tried to no matter what to not give up and slow way down. Also focused on pedaling I put on my old garmin w/ Spd and cadence and watched rpms. Tried to keep a high cadence over 90 to start and working towards 100 rpms avg. wow it's hard to have a high cadence with mtn. But it's all apart of the process of getting faster. I am learning a lot from graham and his experiences of riding with other high level pro cyclist. thank you! In the end Tuesday I covers about 34 miles in 3 hours and Wednesday cover about 38 in 3 hours. Still not good enough for me but it's improvement. Endurance is getting stronger and speed will come next along with Andy's coaching. Getting more and more excited about the race season to come. First mbaa race is Saturday not sure if I'm going to do it finances are kinda right after the move and shox is still out of service. Till next time thank you for you support !!!!

Training

Training has been going good getting at least one if not 2 3.5 hr rides in a week. Have been slacking some on the weights though. I have been read this great book called "finding your zone" it's really helping me to get better about focusing and getting my motivation to just do it instead of thinking about doing it! I've been riding with someone fast a lot fast and that is really putting into perspective how much I need to work of I want to be a contender on the pro circuit! Getting strong and am in better shape than I think I was in all of last year cross my finger well find out come race day I'm getting excited about mellow Johnny's the first big race of the season. Need to start making plans for race weekend driving flying lodging wow this is an expensive journey but I love it and can't wait to take on a circuit!! Thanks to all my supporters and sponsors it's not possible with out you!!! Thank you from the bottom of my heart this is for you all!!!!