Sunday May 31st 6:30 am start

I Ignacio will not make it to practice tomorrow. I need to hole up with Daniela and take some away days. Thanks everyone for understanding and I will come back soon, healthy, ready, and excited to play. So don't look for us for the next three days please.

There still is practice though, Alex and Christian will be coaching. thanks

Summer Practice Schedule

Yeah Summer is here, so is the baby, and hot early mornings. In an attempt to not have to battle the sun too much and to give you guys, and parents the rest of the day to enjoy, practice times are changing to early in the morning. I am going to have ride options for four different days. I would like to make Wed and Sun mostly mandatory. Like if you are in town without a pretty darn good excuse I want you at practice. There will be optional rides on Thursday and Friday of which if you are in town I would really like it if you made it to one other one. So three would be great and I expect two.

So schedule as follows:

Wed. 6:30 am
Thursday 7am
Friday 6:30 am
Sunday 6:30 am

There will be mountain bike options available as well. Those times and dates will come later. Also I hope to be able to go swimming and do some bike and hikes, and take some camping trips this summer. We will see how things go and do as much as we can.

Ignacio

She's got Boys!!

That's right boys, plural, like two of us in the house. On Tuesday May 26th at 1:14 pm Daniela delivered Damiano. He came out weighing 7 pounds, 15 oz at a lenght of 20.5 inches. He did not scream one bit on his exit even though his hands and feet were pretty pruned as if he had been in a pool way too long. He's got some fuzzy hair, long fingers with nails, and feet so big they did not fit on the given paper where they make a carbon copy of them. We are all at home now trying our best to figure each other out.

So how did it go? Well things got started on Sunday morning early. We woke up and she was feeling some light contractions so I did not attend practice. Instead we decided to walk up Tumamoc with Her Mom, Dad, niece and nephew. We only walked up once even though as we came down she said she could have done it again. Those light contractions lasted all day long and by the late afternoon they were starting to pick up. But really compared to what happened later, these were no biggies. She did great through out the whole day, we were all just anxious though waiting for the "big" stuff to come. So that night we went to the birthing center just to get a check up and heads up as to where we were. They told us to go home and rest and get ready.

When we woke up on Monday morning we again went on a walk but this time on flat ground with the intent of making it to the fig tree on campus. This is a walk Daniela and I take all the time that usually takes us about 1 hour. This time though it took us 2 1/2 hours. She was needing to stop, rest, and "get through the contractions". We did make it to the tree though and we came home with a bandana full of huge plump figs. Note: please do not go looking for the tree

By the time we got home things really started to light up. It was about noon and active labor started. We were all still at home and she was doing great. Thanks here to Olivia, a mom of an old El Grupo rider, Ian, who is a nurse at the Birthing Center who came over and helped us all day long.

We stayed at the house until about 7pm, when she felt like it was time. Also making this easier was the fact that Michele her great friend came over to help. So in the car we went. Daniela, myself, Roseanne, her mom, and Michele. I drove the van over as the women were in the back on the floor of the car doing everything they could.

By 8pm we were well situated in the hospital at TMC and things were on. I mean holy moley this is crazy like on. She was incredible. The room was freezing though I just had on a pair of shorts and a long sleeve shirt, so through out the whole time in the hospital I had a blancket wrapped around me like a kilt. I wore a "skirt" the whole time. Daniela though was burning up. She could not wear anything or have anything touching her. Even though after each contraction we would all want to put some blanket or something on her, but each time she told us no.

We stayed in this state of effort and level of contractions until 8 am the next morning. She was in super labor for 12 hours unable to get to ten centimeters. She was stuck at 9cm. Why? Well the baby was sunny side up, as the nurses said. He was face up instead of down, making it much harder to exit. So after all her hours of amazing work, she was cooked and needed rest and fluids. She was totaly dehydrated and exhausted. So we decided to have an epideral and an iv. Incredible what western medicine can do. She was totally cooked and literally within minutes of the iv she was a new person, and the epideral stuff is incredible. I mean she went from having to be the strongest person in the whole world, to being able to sleep through the contractions in about 20 minutes.

Once she was able to sleep, we all fell over as well. The whole team. Mom, Michele, and Olivia. We were also cooked. The women had been up all night helping Daniela masaging her and helping every way they could. All I had the mental strength to do was sit next to her holding her hand. Really that's all I could do. Without the whole team we could not have done it. Thank you everyone for being there. It takes a village for sure.

By 12 noon Daniela was waking up and back to strenght. We were ready. And sure enough by 1:14 pm she had done it. Damiano came out all smiles.

Thank you everybody for all your supprt, well wishes, and love. Damiano will soon be able to play and I cant wait.

Baby?

Not yet. Monday 1pm active labor is on and we are doing our best. She is strong and hanging in. From the bath tub to bed and around. Will post when we know what it is and action is over. For now we are healthy and in good hands.
Ignacio

Practice Schedule

Alright forks here we go:

Friday May 22nd-- Sprint practice/ TT Practice on Aviation Pathway
Start time-- same as always 4:30 pm

Sunday May 24th--- Mt. Lemmon start 7am sharp
Why the Lemmon-- becuase I love it and the TT is coming

Against the Clock

Time Trials are all the rage right now in the Arizona bike racing world and some of the El Grupo riders are taking advantage of all the fun. This past weekend a group containing Kramer, Connor, Sam, Max and Logan headed down to Sonoita and raced to Patagonia. A 12 mile course that was down hill and fast. The boys said they had a great time and that the wind was at there backs. It was Sams first race ever and Connor first time trial. Thanks for the effort guys. Also thanks to Max for not being a quiter he actually broke his derailluer cable in the first mile of the race but continued on and still had quite a fast time.

Good racing guys!!

Results can be found at this link:

http://www.saguarovelo.org/results/09sonoitaPatagoniaTT.html

So there are more to come and this weekend it happens again, in the form of the Three Bears TT just north of town. This one is a 30k. It starts super early in the morning on Saturday and should be fun and fast as it is on a newly paved road. I will link the web site that has more info. It costs $5 and all are invited to give it a shot. Please let me know as soon as possible if you want to do it so I can help register you.

http://www.summitveloracing.org/files/raceFlyers/Three_Bears_Flyer.pdf

No BABY yet. I will post the good news when it comes.

Ignacio

In the Beginning

El Grupo Origins

4 years ago in a place far, far, away in the Sonoran Desert a group of kids asked me for more after the turn of the century. I had been teaching a bike riding class at a local small high school in downtown Tucson, City High, where the kids decided that it was just not enough. We had done a few charity events, centuries and such and students from different school were starting to come to practices. I mean kids were willingly going to a different school to participate in a school thing. I had a team on my hands and it was because they wanted it so I obliged. The kids were not jocks or sport types, no one was on the basketball team and none of them could afford there own bikes or equipment. They were just high school and middle school kids who needed something anything to get excited about. They came from every walk of life and different neighborhoods.

The team was created for the kids that asked for it and it has become my favorite thing to do. We started with no budget, no place to meet, no team bikes, no uniforms, really nothing but spirit. So we proceeded by fixing up bikes that we obtained from our local bicycle recyclery, that we worked for, we wore hand me down shorts, mismatching jerseys, and tennis shoes. So on we went with our 1970’s and 80’s steel bikes and we started to ride with more purpose and goals.

When we started all practices met at my house, in the back yard, practices ended at my house with my wife, who rides with us, making the kids toast, because it was affordable. The kids with my help then as now all fixed there own bikes and put them together using all recycled parts and they still fight over who is going to get the newest pair of used shorts. Funding at the start was what my wallet could handle but thanks to my wife, the executive director, it has grown a bit.

The team has grown as well over the years and we have quite a few trophies, prizes, and accolades to our name. The bikes we ride though havent changed a bit we still ride old steel with old recycled parts but now most of us have the cool clip in shoes. We now have a club house, really an over grown locker room where we meet and end practices, team jerseys, and a fleet of recycled bikes mountain and road for the team to ride. We have gone on many bicycle tours, we have been invited to races in Mexico, we have won State Championships, we have won every El Tour we have ever entered in our division.

However I must say though it is not the State Champions on the team that I am most excited about, not the races we have won, not the many first’s the team has been a part of (like being the only kids team ever to race the 24 hour Mountian bike race, co-ed no less with two teams in 09), it’s the fact that most of the kids from the original team have graduated high school and gone on to college, that the team now is compromised of good kids who expect things from themselves and are willing to try harder then they ever thought possible and that they are setting and achieving life goals that have nothing to do with cycling but everything to do with being good individuals.

That’s why I coach. Thanks Team!!!

But don’t worry we’ll be ready for the races, and yeah we will still be out there with our steel bikes and down tube shifters.

Sonoita- Patagonia Time Trial

Ok folks, Another chance to have some fun pushing yourself to the limit.

This is a time trial just you against the clock. Nothing more nothing less. No pack, no working for position, just how fast can you go.

The race starts in Sonoita and goes to Patagonia.

It is 11.7 miles long and it is really fast and mostly down hill.

The cost is $2 if you have a license, which most of you do.

Please call me for more details oh and the good news.....

It starts at 9am. With same day registration starting at 8am so not so super early.

More info can be found at http://www.saguarovelo.org/infosonoita.htm