Jan 9th AZ Trail Jamboree Charity Ride Tucson, AZ

Here is a great way to give back to the sport of mountain biking: Support the AZ trail building efforts by giving a small donation. http://www.aztrail.org/donate.html 

The Arizona Trail is an 800+ mile multi-use recreation trail from Mexico to Utah.

If you are in southern AZ, make a $30 donation by visiting the link above, near the bottom of this page is a button that says PayPal Donate Now. It will take you to PayPal's website where you can enter the amount ($30), be sure to input the following on item description: AZTJAMBOREE then attend the AZ Trail Jamboree Charity Ride. Info here

Saturday, January 9, 2010
8:00 AM
Pistol Hill 

 

Christmas Day ride Saguaro National Park East

Sunday ride (or hike). AZ trail headed up Mt lemmon. Between Millagrosa and Catalina Hwy.

Pro Tour XCT update

Still can't figure out the race schedule for 2010. If you look in one place it looks like we have a few UCI Class 1 races, if you look on the UCI calendar, we don't...  Hopefully USA Cycling will announce the actual calendar soon.

Sponsorship update

Working on this too, things are coming together, but moving much slower than in years past.  It seems that budgets that used to be approved in October are still in the process. I think I know my sponsorship lineup, but without everything in writing I'll wait to post it...

Road Trip to Incycle

Riding in Tucson is still awesome. You can ride forever up Mt Lemmon, but I stay low (warm) and watch the cars come back down after filling up with snow to make a snowman for the afternoon.

~ mile 3 (of 29) on Mt. Lemmon

We hated to miss the BOD party this year, but got to go to the Incycle party near San Dimas, CA. We left the house at home and took the “guesthouse”.

On the road.

Party time at the BMX track:

Rick going old school

This is how it's done.

some of the Incycle boys

No party is complete without the inflatables.

Lala's down...

posing with Mark and Jason

Now it's time for some Christmas shopping at Incycle, the largest selection of any shop I've ever been to. They also sell online and ship anywhere! Perfect for our lifestyle.

Clinic, Arizona Endurance Series, Erika at Cross Nationals...

Indoor clinic at Sabino Cycles this past Thursday: . Right before the holidays is a good time to review your nutrition. I talked about the tips I have learned, mentioned books that have been helpful and discussed products like Cooper Complete and FRS. We snacked on veggies and water while avoiding the ranch dip. :) Sunday's Kentucky Camp ride (part of the AZ Endurance Series): . 46 mile MTB ride followed by swag, campfire, food and hanging out with new friends.

Todd's group I wore too many clothes, who knew it would be warm.

Topofusion course profile. (Mirre and I added the last ~7 miles, it isn't part of the course.) .

Cross Nationals, Erika Powers: My sister Erika placed 10th out of 50+ in her first big race, Masters 30-34, US National Cross Championship in Bend, OR. She also raced in the Elite race on Sunday but was crashed out on the pavement when another girl looked back and swerved right into her. in her words: "DNF not how I wanted to end the season...made it through the 1st lap without getting hung up in any crashes and felt good, hit the pavement and a girl turned to look back swerved into me and took me out, trashed the right side of me and my bike, broke spokes, rear derailer, handlebar...but it was the most exciting and ...fun race I have been in till that happened and I am excited to go try again next year!!" Pro XCT:

No news yet... . Trips for Kids: Arizona Daily Star article on the Trips for Kids ride I attended a couple weeks ago. . 2010 Sponsorship: Sponsorship is not working out too well this year, same story everywhere, budget cuts... I'll do an update on where I am with everything in the next couple weeks. Still trying to get to Europe for some racing, not sure if that will work out now...

Pro XCT news, riding in Tucson, Ergon BA1

Crazy week in Tucson.

Freezing night temps, rain, hail on our ride, see more great pics of this ride on Chad's blog and on our new Holland friend Mirre's blog. (Read the kind of translated version here.)

Mirre after the hail melted. Pic by Chad.

Snow and ice on Mt Lemmon, Lance is rumored to be in town. US Cup and Pro XCT split, Cycling News article. This is good because we need a change, maybe it won't make for the best year, but hopefully things will improve as a result. My sister, Erika Powers, is attending her first ever UCI cross race, US Nationals in Bend, OR this weekend. She will race both the Masters (Friday) and Elite (Sunday) race. I assume without any UCI points she will be lining up on the back row, so her goal will be to pass and many racers as possible. I'll be checking MTBracenews and following Cyclocross Nationals 2009 on facebook for updates. I got a new pack. Ergon BA1! It fits great, actually, it feels like you don't even have a pack on, zero pressure on my shoulders. I love that it opens like a duffel bag so I can see everything at once. I use every pocket, actually I just found the one on the side that may be accessible while riding, haven't tried that one yet.

Pic stolen from Scott, my go-to ride partner when Todd is busy.

Last crazy thing: Dejay Birtch can cook!

Tucson

Look how big our yard is! We have a great setup in Tucson, Todd is ready to pay for next year to reserve our spot. It is private, no loud neighbors, no barking dogs, and every ride is from "home".

Front yard

You can find someone to ride with every day here. Yesterday we rode mountain bikes to Le Buzz coffee shop, met a group of Cactus Cycling riders (roadies), rode up Mt Lemmon with them (absolutely gorgeous as always), and when it was time to head back down Todd and I jumped on a bit of singletrack, then met everyone for coffee.

Side yard. Today's ride is on the road bike.

How to plug a tire with Genuine Innovations plugs

What do you do when you get a puncture in your tubeless tire during a group ride and the tire keeps spewing Stans? Well, if you are riding with us, you get a quick plug and you are on your way. Last week we plugged two tires. First Todd's, which he continues to run. He has put ~ 200 miles on it since and doesn't see the need to change a "perfectly good tire". Then Saturday we pre-rode part of the Kentucky Camp course and Todd plugged Mike's tire. Although we had plenty of CO2, neither of them had lost enough air to bother with it.

Happy Mike.

Marty Mares, CEO of Genuine Innovations, was kind enough to give us a tour of the facility a couple of weeks ago. Todd and I met many of the employees, saw the operation and got a sneak peak at some new products. It was interesting to learn that they do more than just bicycle products. article here

Some Goodies from Genuine Innovations:

Check out my red and super-custom pink nozzles!! And Todd's Niner 25g CO2s.

New pumps. Todd loves the Campione with simple press-on/replaceable brass fitting. I like them both, I am guessing the Campione will be with Todd's gear next time I go to look for it...

Visit to Genuine Innovations:

Posing with Marty in front of the cases of past and present products which, among many other items, include a CO2 self tanning applicator, a gun barrel CO2 wad shooter (a device to clean gun barrels) and something that helps doctors open up clogged arteries during angioplasty procedures.

Touring the facility

Checking out the Big Air label process