El Tour Work Trade - IMPORTANT!

In order to do El Tour (and not have to pay full price for entry) we have the opportunity to do work trade with the PBAA and for the first time this year, with Ben's Bells. All riders between the ages of 13 and 18 must put in 10 hours of work trade, PLUS contribute $20 in donation to charity. This is something that El Grupo will expect you to come up with...either on your own, asking friends or relatives, teachers, etc. to support you in this ride. As for the work trade, here are your options, starting with next Monday, Nov. 2nd.

Monday, Nov. 2nd at Bens Bells (University & Euclid, Geronimo Plaza) from 3:30pm to 6:30pm. Please be on time as we will receive instructions by Jeanette at the start. Painting beads, lots of fun!

Monday, Nov. 9th at Bens Bells - more of the same, 3:30pm to 6:30pm

Saturday, Nov. 14th at Bens Bells- 6am to set up for "indoor el tour" before you head over to the swap meet

There will also be opportunities for packet stuffing and patching tubes, and Nelson is looking into this. More on this to come. But please mark down the next two Mondays for Bens Bells to hang out and paint beads together.

There will NOT be shop hours this next Monday as we will all be at Bens Bells.

Questions? don't wait to ask!

Practice Time Change

This Sunday the 1st of Nov. practice will begin at 8am.

PRACTICE STARTS AT 8AM THIS SUNDAY MORNING!!!

THAT IS ALL..

IGNACIO

Pablo's Broke Bike

About three weeks ago during a training ride of about 50 miles, Pablo and his bike decided to break up. It was one of those uncomfortable break ups where to the two people really still like each other and care for each other but they know it just can't be. Like marshmellows and peanut butter you know you want to eat them together all the time, I mean that fluffy nutter stuff is crazy good, but you just know it's not right.

This is what happened to Pablo. He loved his bike. Called it Sarah. Raced it. Loved it. Took her everywhere he went, we even got it painted for him. Hell he got upset if you touched it. I mean it was love. But it was not meant to be. She was too old for him, and just not ready for that kind of relationship.

So on a ride of 50 half way through, Sarah, the bike, decided to call it quites. She let go right where the head tube meets the downtube. It happened in a rip the band aid right off kind of moment too. No one saw it coming and he was devistated. There were no prior arguments, no tiffs to forshadow the break up. Just one big nasty, I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!!!!

I was right behind them when it happened and really it was all at once. Just a loud pop and it was over.

So if anybody has a 56 cm frame that needs a partner, well we are looking. He is still single and looking for a partner. We recently were introduced to another however she too was damaged and not ready to go.

SO WE ARE IN NEED OF A 56 CM FRAME!!!!

Please feel free to contact me at anytime if you have something, and I do not care if it is aluminum, carbon, ti, or steel. Just something the kid can ride.

Practice Change this weekend

That's right this Saturday October 24th is my 30th birthday, and to celebrate I have always ridden my bicycle up the mountain. The sour one that is. So this Saturday I would like, and have, invited the team to join me instead of riding on Sunday.

So practice this weekend will be on Saturday the 24th. We will meet at the club house at 7am and see how far we can get. It will be a long day in which you will go higher up the mountain than you have ever gone.

Another treat is that Daniela's parents will be here in town and will be driving up to join us. They will also help us along the way with water and snacks. Maybe we will picnic at some point, too. (If others want to contribute snacks, birthday treats even, please let Daniela know so you can get them to her :)

I would really like to have as many El Grupo members around as possible and all other interested parties who want to watch me ride my bike as a person one year older.

thanks and hope to see you all out
Ignacio

Show Low Low Down

You got to look good to ride good, DUH.

I know, check me out, my thighs, my shorts, WOW!! I am obviously ready.

This is how we love to do the do.

Really it's the only thing my car does better than anybody elses (except for Christian's AWESOME truck).

Yes this event happened like three weeks ago, but it has taken me that long to get "over it".
It was hands down the hardest bike ride I have ever been on and from the stories I heard from the rest of the team, I think it was the hardest ride any of us have ever been on.

The event was Saturday the 3rd of October, The Tour of the White Mountain, an event put on by Epic rides. This is the same group that puts on the 24 Hour race that we are all such fans of. So coming into the event I figured that it would be similar to it, a fun flowy course, that was friendly to the masses. Well I was dead wrong!!!

I rode the 60 mile event with Nickle, Alex Stickland, and Zach. Nickle was the only one who had ever done the event and was nice not to tell us of the horror that awaited. The race was to be 60 miles long with mostly single track, however in the middle of the event Alex and I found ourselves lost with about 30 other riders resulting in us riding 70 miles. I am glad we did too because if not I would not have been on the bike for almost 7 hours. That's right it took me 6 hours 51 minutes to do 70 miles.

The 60 mile crew, still stupid as to what to come.

The course was littered with large lava rocks that never allowed you to rest. It was relentless in its punishment. After the race Daniela asked me if it was pretty, if there were any nice sections. I unfortunately had to tell her, "I don't know." Really I never had a chance to look up at the surroundings. Heck I was holding on the bars so tight that by the end of the ride I was having great difficulty opening my fingers enough to engage the brake lever.

As for the rest of the team. Max cried when he saw the finish line he was so happy to be done. He along with the rest of the team did the 35 mile ride. Logan bonked so hard he was delirious and did not recognize Daniela at the end of the race and she made him eat on the spot. Milo and Conner each took over 7 hours to do the course. And Ricardo had to #2 so bad he got 3rd place in the Junior category.

As that goes we finished the event well. Nickle got 5th place in the single speed division. Ricardo got 3rd in Juniors in the 35 mile event, Kramer 4th and Logan 5th.

I was just happy to make it out alive and I think Alex and Zach the same.

The rest of the weekend went super well also. Lizzy, Ashley, and Julia joined us on the trip and I was to take them riding the day after. Yeah right. No way we went it was too crazy out there.
Thanks Ladies for a great weekend and all the help.

I must say though that we love this style of event and wish more races were like this. We get out of town for a weekend. The kids usually get out of school on Friday which makes me seem super cool, and we then get to camp out. Really just a fun way to get enjoy our time together as a team. Torture Anyone, anyone?

I hope we get to do a lot more stuff like this and I want to thank Kathleen, Joe, Kandis, and Nelson for all their help in making this happen. Oh sorry you too Chad.

Thanks everyone and, yes I will say it, SEE YOU NEXT YEAR!!!

That's right for some reason at the end we were still all smiles and talking about next year.

A New way to view more Pictures

Many of you already know this but Kathleen, mother of Logan, has been the Team photographer now for about a year. There is hardly an El Grupo moment that goes by without her cronicaling it with her camera. She then gives me a CD full of images and I try my best to pick a few out. Probably never doing a very good job. But we have solved that problem and hopefully created a new one. Kathleen has given me the link to her MYSPACE page and everyone can now look at all EL Grupo event photos in there entiertly.

Here: http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewAlbums&friendID=177271694

So that problem solved.

The new one: You are going to love one or more of them and want a copy, and so you are going to have to order one from her, but alas not just yet. But soon enough.

Thanks everyone and enjoy the pics

IGNACIO

Bike & Hike Oct. 18th

October 18th, 2009
BIKE -N- HIKE

We are venturing out on a bike-n-hike to the top of the Tucson Mountains this coming Sunday, October 18th. We will be riding out to the trail head and back home, and in between we will be hiking 10 miles to the highest point in the West (of Tucson). Here are some details:

If you are riding (experienced El Grupo riders only)
· Meet at Club House at 7am sharp
· Ride in your riding gear (whatever that means for you)
· Bring a backpack, fanny pack, whatever to carry food and water.
· Bring extra water bottles filled up and snacks
· Bring other clothes to change into (note: there is not a changing room or bathroom, so you will have to be creative!)
· Bring GOOD WALKING SHOES!! This is a rocky trail.
· You will be putting all of this in our “support” vehicle to pick it up when we get to the trail head.


For everyone, it should be cooler, but PLEASE bring sun protection (sunblock, hat, glasses, etc). PLEASE bring lots of water and a comfortable way to carry it.

We will have some extra sun block and some snacks, but bring food you like to eat while on the move, stuff that will keep you energized! And BRING WATER!!

The hike should take 2-3 hours, the ride each way will take about 1 hour. These are guesses but I can tell you that this will be an all day extravaganza. So please be ready!!! Ignacio will have his cell phone on him at all times, and yes Damiano is coming with us.

QUESTIONS?? Call Daniela (777-8629) or Ignacio (349-1701)

Scavenger Hunt

The 6th annual scavenger hunt has come and gone and fortunately it worked. I am always nervous that there is going to be some random grand problem that does not allow it to "work". But again no such incident occurred and approx. 100 people had a great ride around town. What we found out was that an 8 year old girl knows town better than anybody. So for all of you that think you are smart (and fast!) please go back to school with Saskia, the winner, and maybe she can help you out. Granted her father is the City Bike and Ped coordinator and they rode with the guy who draws the bicycle maps for town, and the young lady who works alongside the City guy and coordinates Public Art around town, but we all know who the real brains of the operation was.

I was not on the ride but here is what I heard from the crowd,

Most frustrating clue:
The Forbes building.

Best riddle:
If you see this at 30,000 ft, you wont be at 30,000 ft anymore.

Most dissapointing feature of the ride:
It did not go closer to a brewery

One of the cutest participants:
well, you can see from this photo here!

The winners came in right around an hour, and the dead last came in around 2 1/2 hours. Fortunately they all came in with a smile and bells to hang, ring, and spread happiness with.

I have a ton of thanks to give to many people who made this happen. Jennifer and Tom with the City of Tucson, Jeannette and Bens Bells, Kade at Time Market, Dwight for helping with T-shirts, Kathleen, Greg Y. and most certainly Chad for everything you do, and the whole El Grupo team for being awesome kids that make me want to coach.

For more fun stories about ride please look at
www.tucsonbikelawyer.com
and
http://michaelmckisson.com/blog)

Thanks everyone for a great time!!!!

Ignacio





http://michaelmckisson.com/blog)

rider survey - show low to come soon!

No worries, we all survived the Show Low trip, and came back with smiles (and sore bums!), and will get the full post up real soon. And enjoy this photo of Damiano all bundled up that Kathleen took in anticipation :)

In the meantime, since you are all checking this, please complete the rider survey that I posted awhile back if you have not done so yet, thanks!

Calling all riders...we want your input!

Please go to the link below to fill out the short (only 9 questions!) survey. This will help us as El Grupo understand what everyone's interests are, goals you have for the upcoming year, suggestions you have to improve El Grupo, and so forth.

This will only take you 10-15 minutes, but take more time if you like. The more open and honest you are, the better for everyone. It is anonymous, so no need to hold back! And yes, this is mandatory--we sincerely want your input and expect that you will take the time to complete this within the next week (by October 5th please).

Clink on this link to access it. Let us know if you have troubles doing so. THANKS!

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=SVdk_2buDETvvf9xWWhtnC5Q_3d_3d

Click Here to take survey