Jonez World

So this is crazy. We get to the host hotel last night, register and then they tell us they ran out of hotel rooms. That is were the adventure began. We eventually bartered our way into two rooms for 7 dudes. Kind of crowded, but managable. This morning, same crap. What time do we start? What kind of course will we do? Chaos insues.

They finally make up their minds and we ride neutral from here to the U.S. At this point about 30 riders don’t have visas and can’t cross, so they wait at the border. We proceed to a sponsor’s business, sit for 1/2 hour, they inflate the little start banner and we roll neutral back to the border. As soon as we hit the border the race is on.

Today’s race was billed as a 52k point to point. Since the stage is super short and all 160 guys have fresh legs, it t was CRAZY. There were crashes everywhere! At one point we were doing 40 mph on the wrong side of the highway into oncoming traffic. To spice things up a little more, we went through some toll booths with huge speed bumps and those oversized bots dots. After traveling on the highway we finally turn right to the finishing climb. I had learned from a teammate that it was 4k to the top from the left hand turn. So I kept to the front and just waited. Finally the left hand turn came and the marshalls told us to do a 180!

We then proceeded to head back down through the oncoming caravan to the bottom of the climb and in the process picked up every single rider who had been dropped before. At the bottom we turned around to climb to the top again. I was dizzy at this point. We climbed up again, dropping the same guys, and finally made the left turn. I was in a fairly decent position at this point until the guy in front of my teammate chris and I dropped his chain. Classic. I finally made it up, pack finish. Crazy day. My roomate Chris said it was too sketch and headed back to the States.

Thanks number one fan.

Phew we made it!

Today was a long one. I finished all of my homework for the week, cramed down some food for lunch, then headed out of El Paso. We finally landed in Nogales, MX. and that is when the fun started. Half of our team arrived on time and the other half about two hours later. This created a little problem because our team “manager” failed to collect UCI licences ahead of time. So we had to wait until the whole team arrived to registed for the race and receive our hotel rooms. While we were waiting all of the rooms were given away. Not a good way to start the race! My roomie, Chris Wilson, saved the day. With some slick talking and good looks and bingo I’m now sitting on my bed in a hotel room.

<---------This is Chris Wilson

Due to my attendance of the ABQ training camp I skipped out on an important event in my buddy Kyle’s life, but it looks like they guys embarrased him without me. I’m not sure who was responsible for this, but I think his initials are Neil Shirely. Run now Kyle, get away while you have a chance!

Ah Texas. I have entered the land where everything is BIG! We’ve stopped over in El Paso for the evening on our way to Nogales, Mexico tomorrow.

I’m tired. Goodnight.

I’m not sure if there is an english website for the race, but here is a link to the race flyer:

http://www.fmc.org.mx/common/convocatorias/ConvocatoriaVueltaSon-Ariz2006ingles(4).doc

You every have one of those days that the instant you wake up you know it is going to be and awesome day? Well, day was one of those days. We had a free day so I decided to ride up to the top of “The Mountain” which is 10,500 ft tall. This ride will go down as one of my all time favorite rides, it even deserves the title epic ride. I rolled easy to the base of the climb and then the fun started. The first 8 miles were easy then I hit the dirt section. A lady at the gas station said the dirt section was about 5 miles long, remember my comments about local knowledge, well this was more of it. It turns out the dirt section was 9 miles! So after grinding it out on the dirt for about an hour fifteen I was relieved to reach the ski resort and have some soup for lunch. There are some pictures of my ride below, take note of how much snow there is at the ski resort.

We take off for the Vuelta Sonora on Sunday. I’ll try to keep you guys updated as much as possible but who knows what internet access will be like in Mexico. Just know that I will be eating tons of Mexican food! Since we don’t have good Mexican food in the east, I’ll have to fit 12 months of Mexican into one week. Just call me muy gordo!

This morning we made visit to Polar, one of Cycling Center’s sponsors, headquarters. Their place was very cool and they have a ton on new technology coming out on the market. Cycling Center will be testing a prototype for them this year. I’m not sure what it is called but it is very James Bondish. This new system will allow the director to monitor every rider on the team during a race or training ride from his laptop in the team car. He’ll be able to see what each rider’s heartrate and power output is. This is a great idea and one I wish we’d had on past teams where teammates would say, “I’m blown” or “I just don’t have it today” just because their lazy, fat sprinter butts don’t want to work hard for a climber but expect us to kill ourselves for them (sorry I have a little pent up anger).

After the trip to Polar, a local dude met up with us to guide us on the days training ride. Today we split into two “teams” and switch off faking a flat and chasing back on. This was kind of fun and spiced up the usual riding in the cross wind all day. After a couple of hours of this game we hit the climb of the day. The local dude who was supposed to have local “knowledge” said the climb was 5 miles long. Bernard gave us the green light to attack each other and that was all we needed to start the festivities. About 3 miles into the climb our group was split in half. At the five mile mark I looked up and saw there was still plenty of climbing left, so gave it a dig and shed a couple more guys so we were down to about 5, two of which were altitude dudes from Bolder, CO, (translation - punks who can actually breath at 7,000 ft.). Eventually, 8 miles after we started, we hit the top of the climb. When I say the top I mean where the asphalt stops and the dirt starts. Apparently this dirt road continues for 5 more miles and heads up to about 10,500 ft. Tomorrow I’ll pack the Ipod and head to the top. I’ll take the camera and post some pictures tomorrow. Overall, it was good to get a decent ride in and the weather was beautiful so the ride was a success.

Remember when you were little and and you learned to spell states’ names like Miss-iss-ippi, well apparently I skipped the day when we learned how to spell the city of Albuquerque. Every time I check the weather I have resorted to using the airport code (ABQ) to avoid spelling Albuquerque. Maybe I’m the only one with this problem…

So the spelling word of the day is = albuquerque. And yes their will be a test on this.

Thanks for checking in,

Chris

Where do I start? Perhaps with a picture of our hound…

To make a long story short, our transportation was messed up and we had the privilege of spending 10 hours riding the ‘hound. Quality.

Transfer via Greyhound today. Stay tuned.

Phewww. The first race of the season is over. I had a great time hanging out with the San Diego crew at VOS many of whom are riding very fast at the moment. It now feels like racing season and I’m looking forward to the next few weeks. Tonight we’re in Tucson but will be relocating to New Mexico tomorrow.

It is Olympic time and I’m addicted. Tonight the biggest waste of TV time, ice dancing, is on. Lame. If they are going to waste TV time why not put the ToC on? Or sticking with Olympic events, curling would suffice.

Nice save of the day - Bode for his Super G save.

Win a freaking medal award - Bode.

Punk of the day award - Shauni Davis.

Ahhhh the ice dancing is back on! I can’t change the channel though, a Bode interview will be on in 12 minutes. The marketing people have me hooked!