Another Great Day

The kids started the day with a TT hill climb. Apparently a legendary one here in town that everyone does to gauge how they are doing. They call it the Telegraph climb. We pre road it on Tuesday and today they went out against the clock.

I was unable to attend, since Donovan broke his bike. I allowed him to use mine while I spent the morning scouring town trying to find a new derailluer hanger. I didn't so we went ahead and rented him a bike for the next two days.

At the hill climb Marcos was the grand champion. He won by just less than a minute. Very well done. However on the way down he just about tacod his wheel and it had to be smashed on a rock to get him home.

After lunch we then met with the great Travis Brown. Hunter's boy hood bike racing idol. We told Travis as much and made sure to get a picture with him. Dude is really cool and even gave Marcos a wheel to use for the rest of our time here. So Hunter dude is super nice. He spoke to us about professionalism and sponsorship and really just about everything.

After that the kids had a little break which they used to just unwind and play cards. The free time was nice.

But the next speaker was a Nutritionist who had us laughing the whole time. The gentleman Rick has been in the game forever and was working with Lance at age 14. He is now working with Tom Danielson and is actually going to be in Spain training him for the next 6 weeks. He said his but chafes after 6 hours of motor passing on a scooter, that and a ton of other great info.

Upon our return I am certain that I am going to have many more tools in my tool box as a coach. I am very excited to take my new knowledge home and use it with the team.

Today's finally was definitely worth the wait. The head coach of the DEVO youth MTB racing team came out and did a skill session with us. We road down stairs, learned how to hop off curbs, and got to play on two different skill tracks. He is an impressive coach and actually produced 7 National titles this year at MTB nationals. We really enjoyed and learned a ton from him.

The moral of this story or the trip, we are super fortunate to have this opportunity to spend time with incredibly smart and talented people. I have learned a ton and I really hope the riders go home truly appreciating this experience.

Thursday Ride - Nobody Died!

So, Newgan decided to go gravel surfing early into the ride this morning. On his face. The guy was a champ, though, and rode the rest of the ride and all the way up A Mountain. I wish I'd had a camera this morning, watching him barrel down Greasewood chasing Christian. Dude's gonna be a hell of a bike racer.

On the way down from A Mountain, Emily crashed into the boulders next to the gate. Luckily (really!), she walked away with only a few scrapes and a cut in her palm. Her bike didn't fair so well, unfortunately. Emily doesn't seem discouraged at all, though. She's ready to get right back on the bike. Uh, as soon as we fix a few things.

~Richard

Durango Day 2

Just walking into my dorm room tonight at 10:30 pm our time here. We are having some really long, fun, draining days up here. Yet I am pretty sure we would not have it any other way. Things are going great.

Last night after I posted we went to a very fancy bike fit studio and spent an hour and a half with Dr. Ryan Siggins. Another really smart dude. He put Donovan on a very high tech machine that then sent D's body info to a computer and told him all of the angles that we need to know. Donovan was hooked up to machines like the Russian in Rocky 4. With stick on electrodes all over his right side. Really cool the technology. Donovan got a professional fit and the rest of the kids got free t-shirts.

After that we spent an hour just letting the kids cruise downtown. Downtown is not much bigger than ours it is just much more infilled like Flagstaff.

Today had us again waking up "early" 7am and on our bikes at 9am. The cafeteria here on campus is quite nice. They do a pretty nice job with the food. Nathan says he would not eat just raw Rahmen noodles for lunch if they had this at school. The baker has also been really nice to us and even gave us a loaf of banana bread today.

As well the dorm rooms we have been staying in are again quite nice. My dorm room at Florida State was more of a prison cell compared to this, so accommodations are pretty sweet. In the dorm building itself there is a game room where we have been able to leave all our gear as well so yet another nice treat.

These guys up here really have been so good to us. I can not say enough good things about this school the coaches and the infrastructure they have here. This is a professional establishment.

So today's ride had us on a completely different trail network. There was even a run called Star Wars that was so fun Nathan actually let out a real yelp of joy. It could have competed with my hollers. So much so that Lizzy thought he was hurt. The ride was about 2 1/2 hours long and super fun.

After the ride we went to a bike shop in town that had over 20 national championship jerseys in
it, aliong bikes that had won major races. Judith your Specialized commuter, a carbon copy, was hanging in the shop, Max will tell you.

NOTE: At lunch Nathan had shrimp with his pasta and had an egg roll. He liked them both and tried them both with out me making him. He really is becoming quite adventurous.

From lunch we headed to Elke's (can't find her last names place) and spent 2 hours learning about stretching, core strength and whole body conditioning. She was also a National Champion MTB down hill racer. This town truely is packed with talent. Heck we ran into John Tomac on the trail the other day. You know just 2 time MTB world Champ no big deal.

Finally after that we got a little nap in.

But then off the race. A short track MTB race. A discipline that we know nothing of. It was described to us a MTB crit racing, but I do not think this was a fair shake of it. It was more like pure pain for 20 minutes for the kids.

Most exciting though was that we got to race the junior bike team from Durango today. The team is called DEVO and they were spectacular. The kids could really fly. The girl Lizzy raced tonight was the National Champ in this Short Track discipline.

The team really hung in and raced well for our first time at 9,000 feet. Things are different up here. Kramer took the El grupo win Max second and Logan third. Best finish was Pablo and Donovan fighting for third. Donovan crashed and broke his derailluer hanger in the last 50 feet and then got up and ran to the finish to tie Pablo very exciting.

We are now finally back in our room after a burrito at the local shop that Pablo said passed the test so you know it was good.

Tomorrow is more riding run and I will do my best to keep this entertaining.

Nacho

Yeah Baby Durango!

This is a totally different world up here. Today at one point on the ride I felt like it was Battle Star Galactica. Durango is another old town built in a valley much like Tucson. Mountains surround the whole downtown and college area, that is small, it's only for 15,000 people, but these mountains are different than ours. They are huge and right on the door step of town. Oh and green and filled with huge rocks.

We got here last night and went straight to dinner so the team was in good spirits from the get go. This after a 6 hour drive and breakfast and dinner at Nickles house.

Thanks Nick. While in Flagstaff we ended up all crashing on Nick's floor. Sardines probably have it better, but since we are not fish it worked out great. We spent the night with Nick watching movies and made bean burritos. Breakfast was egg and potato burros and we were out the door by 9am.

Monday night was just a meet and greet with the coaches up here. Matt Shriver and Dave Hagan. They kind of told us what to expect and not to go outside alone because of the bears. That's right bears on campus. So you know just like home.

Tuesday 9am was the start of our first ride. 9am hello. We usually have to be back at 9am in the desert. WOW 9am. When they told us we were going to have to start early most of the kids just laughed. 9am that's like winter time stuff.

So today's ride was roughly 12-13 miles, of terrian like nothing we had ever seen. The team rode super well and were incredibly polite. I hope that the coaches up where impressed because I was pretty happy. I mean only Lizzy fell into a ditch. She was not hurt at all, heck I was able to take a picture of her once we realized that all was ok.

We rode to the top of Telegraph mountain today around and back. Hard for me to really tell the trails because most of the time I was just smiling too big. This place is just so fun.

After the ride was lunch and a great presentation on Training plans by Matt Shriver. Dude is smart. We were in an auditorium room and the kids all thought the little desks off the arms of the stadium chairs were really cool. I learned a ton and was really happy to ask a lot of questions that I have had for a while.

We are having a great time and really just can't wait to ride some more.

This Week in Tucson

First of all, sorry for the lateness of this post. Here's the rides we're doing this week while most of the crew is in Durango.

Tuesday - cancelled!
Wednesday - 6:30 am - moderate length ride, easy pace.
Thursday - 6:30 am - points race. This may end up just being a group ride, since our numbers are low. Still, the pace will be challenging and we'll split into groups as needed.
Sunday - 6:30 am - long ride day. Mt Lemmon, maybe?

~Richard

Durango Crew MTB ride

This saturday the 24th of July I would like for everyone going to Durango that can to make this ride.

Meeting at the clubhouse at 6:30am. We will head out to Sweetwater and ride for about 1 hour. Just some lower loop runs to get used to the dirt again.

Mark please feel free to come.

See you all there.

Ignacio

New Riders Make the Team

When I left this summer to go on vacation with Daniela and Damiano we had 5 new kids trying out the team. I had given them a practice schedule and the ultimatum to get into shape for a final test that would come on this day the 22nd of July.

This is the first time that El Grupo has had such an introductory/ acquisition of rider process so I was very intrigued to see how it would play out.

While gone the riders worked diligently with Hunter, Alex, Christian and Richard getting into shape while learning about the sport. I was able to call the coaches and some of the riders while gone a few times and I was always very pleased and excited to hear the stories of the new riders.

Coming back to see that all the great stories were true was very exciting. Also I want to make a point to thank everyone who helped in the clean up of the clubhouse. IT LOOKS FANTASTIC!!! I was also told that a ton of that work was done by the "newbies" so again THANK YOU.

So who made it what happened? Well as you know this team is about heart, effort, commitment and drive. If you have these four characteristics and you bring them to practice every day then you have a spot on this team.

So who made it?

Congratulations to D-son, Nugen, and Sam.

All received their jerseys and from today on are full blown members of this team. I was super pleased with the effort I saw them put into the ride today and am proud to have them on the team.

WELL DONE!!

Parent Meeting for Durango Trip

HI all,

Ignacio and I are back from vacation, just in time to plan out all that needs to happen before we take El Grupo riders (possibly your child) up to Durango for a week! We need to meet with you to discuss some important details, fill out paperwork, figure out additional finances, etc.

The tentative plan is to leave Tucson next Sunday, July 25th to drive to Flagstaff to camp, and then drive the second day to Durango to arrive on Monday. Please find the detailed itinerary attached. We will be returning to Tucson on Sunday, August 1st.

We are hoping that you all can attend a parent and rider meeting this coming Wednesday at 6:30pm at the clubhouse. If not, please communicate with us in some other fashion PRIOR TO Wednesday. There are a limited number of spots available so it is very important that you and your child communicate with us on this.

Thanks so much! Daniela & Ignacio

Why Le Tour is awesome!

Click here for some AMAZING photos of the first half of Le Tour.

We also made it!

We got to San Francisco and made it across the Golden Gate Bridge in one peice! And I emphasize that last part because we really almost didn't. So our last two days were in Sonoma Beach State Park, we stayed at the Bodega dunes, and then we stayed at something Taylor state park about 20 miles outside of San Francisco.

Both days were fairly short distances, and the climbs were nothing worse then we hadn't already seen. We had a fairly good headwind, but thats about it. On our last day when Julia and I began approaching the bridge we just started gawking at its sheer enormity. Like that bridge is freaking huge. So we're biking to the bridge, and then realize that we're suddenly like... on the bridge. Like with all the cars going across the bridge, and in case you didn't know there is a shoulder made specifically for bikes and pedestrians. And despite this knowledge, we couldn't figure out how to get onto the shoulder because its seperated from the highway by like a fence.

So we end up on the bridge biking with heavy flows of traffic and angry people honking and shouting at us and giving us like no room, and we're pretty much peeing ourselves. Like holy crap, this is seriously terrifying stuff. But we cant stop and turn around, its a bridge, and we can't just stop in the middle of traffic. So we're riding and we're riding, and suddenly I hear a cop from behind me shouting "STOP! AND GET OFF THE BRIDGE!!" and I do as he says, I slam on my brakes, and he starts shouting "WELL NOT THERE!! STOP AT THE GATE" well I didn't see the gate so he pretty much had to lead me to it, and once I was off the bridge he sped away.

At that point I realized I didn't see Julia. I assumed that the cop had stopped her too and she would be further up the shoulder, so I started walking towards the beginning of the bridge. I still don't see her. After ten minutes or so I see this little like.. golf cart type vehicle with a construction worker in it, and to his side was Julia, and in the back of the vehicle was her bike.

She told me that there are this things called expansion grates on the bridge, and when we were riding trying to exit the bridge as fast as possible, I had biked over one no problem, and she thought nothing of it did the same thing and caught her wheel in the grate and flipped over her handle bars! Thankfully the car behind her was a police officer, who got her off the bridge and tracked me down before I got hurt. Julias totally okay, she's got some road rash on her shoulder, but needless to say we weren't really feeling much like being in San Francisco after that, and high tailed it in the direction of home.

But I think despite all the bad things that happened, we really did have fun. Like we seriously had the time of our lives, and feel seriously lucky that one: we even had the opportunity to do this, and two: we were capable of doing such a thing.

And a lot of that has to do with you guys, friends, family, El Grupo, GABA, everyone, for your overwhelming support in favor of us. I know that after this experience, although not perfect, we both intend on doing a trip like this again, hopefully with less mishaps.

Thank you all so much for the support and the help! This will probabily be our last post, so see you guys at home!

This one's for you Donovan

Not that the headbutt should become comonplace, but this rider did a fantastic job holding his lane open for his sprinter, Cavendish. Who took the stage.

The blog cut off the right side of this video. Here's the youtube link +

hunter

We made it! Bar Harbor to Quebec City and back!

We made it! 621 miles total round trip, and to think that at about mile 100 neither of us thought that we would make it. This trip was for sure an adventure. Way harder than either of us imagined. We had great days of perfection, terrible days of "I hate you and everything around", beautiful experiences and more. Adventures are not easy. They are work, hardship, and strife, but what awaits at the end, the middle, and all the good times, are moments in life that few ever get to experience. To takle such a thing takes a lot of guts and courage (and a touch of craziness), an amount of character that few are courageous enough to ask of themselves, however the few that do are rewarded with memories for a life time. We all have this ability. It is not something posessed by the few, it is just that only the few tap into the heart to make the attempt. For these reasons the girls (Ashley and Julia) will forever remember their trip and they will be different people when they return. They have done it, just as Daniela, Damiano, and I have done it, albeit on the other side of the continent.

Our Maine and Quebec Adventure
Daniela, Damiano, because he has no choice, and I have all decided that this was the hardest bike tour we have ever been on.
Why?
1) The weight of our bikes was more than we anticipated. I have calculated that I was pulling a 100 pound sled around, and Daniela's was not too far behind having to carry most of Damiano's stuff.
2) The terrain. Nothing in Maine is flat. Everything is a rolling hill. Think Craycroft hill over and over about 75 times a day. No joke. The Adirondecks are old mountains that have been worn away over millions of years and they are cut everywhere by rivers, so you end up with never ending rolling hills. All day: up, down, up, down.
3) The weather. We made it up here and left Bar Harbor just in time to experience a heat wave of the kind that old ladies in the pool said they had not experienced in 20 years. 90 degrees plus everyday with super high humidity. Every day by 9am I was soaked in sweat, the kind where your whole jersey is stuck to your back like you jumped in a pool. Every time I took my hand off the handle bar sweat would just pool off my hands. GROSS!!
4) The wind. Oh yeah we littery had a head wind 11 out of the 12 days we road. Not just a breeze but flags standing straight up sort of thing. By day 9, it was at such a point of humor that we stopped caring at all.

The Trip
Day 1 July 3rd Bar Harbor, Maine to Prospect, Maine 46 miles
Of course it was hot, head wind, and hilly, but a pleasant day. We stopped in the old Town of Bucksport and watched Spain play Paraguay. Great game. Camped at a beautiful spot along the Penobscot river. A little isthmus that jutted out into the river. We were practically in the middle of the river.

Day 2 July 4th Prospect, Maine to Palmyra, Maine 39 miles
This was my lowest day. I stunk mentally. I was complaining up a storm and was not fun to be around. I did not think I was going to make the trip on this day. It was crazy hot, the hills were insane, and I was not tour strong yet. I really did not think I was tough enough to make it on this day. The 39 miles were really all I could muster. I could not have ridden 40. On this day though at camp Daniela and I realized that our lives have changed in a dramatic fashion. When we used to camp we would always try and find the most secluded spot. With no one around. No services? Who cares. We really just needed a spot for our tent and that was about it. However, with Damiano we now seek out the people. We want campgrounds with people and kids, pools, and games. Christian and Lori camping, this is not.

Day 3 July 5th Palmyra, Maine to The Forks, Maine 59 miles
Things got better today. We started to get our tour legs. But today Daniela had a tough mental day. Worst part was the section between the towns of Solon and Bingham. We were told to take the rails to trails path along the river. Of course this sounded great and we listened. However no one told us it was going to be sugar sand the whole 8 miles and heavily used by ATV's. We were choking on sand and barely staying up right because of the sand. By the time we hit pavement we were a different color of brown and we were not talking to each other. So up the road we went until I saw a swimable lake, made the u turn and 20 minutes later we spoke for the first time in about 2 hours. Leaving the lake we were desperate for something good to happen, and well it was anwered. In the Forks, Maine (population 30) there is a campground/river expedition company/ brewery. That's right, the campground was home to the Kennebec brewery, a pool, and showers. Salvation.

Day 4 July 6th The Forks, Maine to Moose River, Maine 35 miles
A short day because the Netherlands was playing Uruguay, the insane hills and headwind and this was the last camp spot before we were to enter Quebec. At the camp ground we met the same group of kids that the girls met on their adventure. Just these kids were riding from Portland, Maine to Quebec City. Two weeks totally self contained. No vehicular support for a group of 25 people. None of the kids were cyclists yet all of them were riding between 35 and 60 miles per day with fully loaded bikes. Pretty cool and inspiring to see.

Day 5 July 7th Moose River, Maine to St Joseph de Beauce, Quebec 70 miles
The difference between Maine and Quebec is topographically vast. In Maine you are in what is often called the green tunnel. All you ever see is trees all around you. However, once in Quebec the land opens up and you can see for miles. Much like out west you can see space. The difference was starkly realized as soon as we crossed the border and much welcomed. Spain played Germany on this day and so we stopped in Beauceville to watch it. Yeah they won and thank goodness we stopped, it was crazy hot this day. Our camp spot took us to our first in Quebec. Camping in Quebec is surely not USA style. There it is all about getting close to people, creating a little community and hanging out. We arrived at this spot and it was bumpin. The pool was packed, grills were blazin, and just about every adult had a beverage. It was a party and we partook. Also Damiano met his first camp girlfriend. A "petit blonde" if you will.

Day 6 July 8th St Joseph de Beauce, Quebec to Levis, Quebec 45 miles
We came to the province of Quebec 3 years ago on a bike tour and discovered the Route Verte. A sort of bicycle highway system. It connects, town, cities, and villages, together through a network of off street paved paths, gravel paths, and lightly traveled roads. When we were here we promised each other that with our children we would return because it is so awesome and safe. Well three years later we are back and on this day we road most of the way on this network. Totally awesome.

Day 7 July 9th Quebec City
From our camp ground we were able to ride the city bus to a boat that then took us into the heart of downtown Quebec. A fantastic old city with old world European charm. We spent the day walking the streets, swimming in the park pools, and enjoying the live music of the summer festival that was happening just this weekend. A beautiful day that ended with all the humidity of the last 7 days coming to an end in a fantastic rain storm. One like we have not seen in a few years. It just let loose.

So now Daniela and I have been to Quebec twice together. The first time I got sun burnt and she almost had a heat stroke and broke out in hives. This time it was so hot that on this night we had a whole tub of ice cream for dinner.

Day 8 July 10th Levis, Quebec to Notre Dame Des Pines, Quebec 60 miles
Yeah baby!! This was a great day. We had a tail wind, the only day, strong tour legs, not too crazy hills, the Route Verte most of the way off street style and a day of rest behind us. We flew today. We were fast, and got to camp with plenty of time to enjoy the 5 star camping experiece Quebec style. This campground was incredible. It had a pool that could fit 900 people it said. With slides, lake style entry, water falls, every thing. 500 camp sites, a playground with swings so big Daniela was screaming like a little kid, and a mini golf course. This place was huge and packed with families. Some places were so set up they had extra fridges on the porch and some had extra sheds. Most of them were totally full with beer. Really at these places the kids run around like crazy playing, the parents mostly sit around play cards, drink, and eat. We were taken in by a super nice family and got to partake as a good Quebecer.

Day 9 July 11th Notre Dame, Quebec to Moose River, Maine 51 miles
We again rocked the ride today because we had to. Spain played in it's first ever world cup final and there was no way I was going to miss it. They won of course and very interesting the grocery store in Maine accepted my Canandian money and even returned to me change in US dollars. Not bad, try that in Tucson with Pesos.

Day 10 July 12th Moose River, Maine to Greenville, Maine 55 miles

A quiet day along the water. We road along the Moosehead Lake for most of the day. Really pretty and quiet with some very quaint towns along the way. An easy day because we were totally tour strong at this point. We were used to the heat, the head wind, the hills, and our heavy bikes.

Day 11 July 13 Greenville, Maine to Stetson, Maine 56 miles

This felt like a very workman like day. We know the tour is coming to an end and as though we are going through the motions now to finish it. We have no great destination left and only home to look forward to. Todays ride also had us on the worst road of the trip. Narrow, fast, with really crummy pavement. We did though have a nice stop in a small town Guilford at the library, where the internet speed was dial up quality 1995 style.

Day 12 July 14th Stetson, Maine to Bar Harbor, Maine 65 miles

We got rained on pretty good at night so while looking at the maps in tent we decided that we could make it back in one day. So the day started with a big task in front of us. Luckily Daniela is super awesome and strong on the bike and we road incredible together. We worked really well as a team this whole trip together. We were similar in speed this time and could really help each other. It also helps that we really enjoy riding for sport and today we really did. I am very fortunate to have found such a partner in life. We rocked this last day and were in town at home (Kylee and Ryan's) before 3:30pm.

This was a brilliant adventure that we will never forget.

We will be home on Saturday night, don't know if I will make Sunday practice. I am really excited to see you all and hear your stories of this summer. I hope you have all been having fun riding with your friends and keeping good attendance.

Durango is less than 10 days away and hope you have all earned you spot for the trip.

Ignacio