Bring on 2017!

Southern Inyo Double Century

After a very tough and painful 2016, its time to start a new year.

I never really felt quite right in the second half of 2016. Not sure if it was due to the two crashes on the tandem or not.  Although I did finish three very tough ultra-marathon races during the last few months of the year, I definitely did not feel myself on any of them. For one, I had a hard time breathing on all of them, which really caused a struggle.

 I was really off my game.

I especially noticed it on the two-man race at Hoodoo 500 where I really had to push myself when it was my turn during the race. I just was not getting oxygen because I could not catch a full breath. Same thing on The 508 and the 24 hour time trials which I think contributed to other issues which came up on those races.

In January of this year, I figured it was time for a complete physical and other tests to rule out everything.

I was feeling down-right off my game not only while training but at work and home. Tired all the time, dizzy spells, and slight vertigo. I was riding a lot early in the year but it was really a struggle. I even had an incident at my friend Ellen's going away ride where my heart rate wouldn't come down. I checked myself into the ER just in case and everything was fine.

I made an appointment with my doctor and mentioned all my issues with the crashes and how I was feeling.

I went through all the regular complete tests for someone in their 60's. All the blood tests came out great. Normal cholesterol, EKG excellent, prostate enlarged but no problem with it. I got an MRI of my brain to check on the area where my tumor was removed in 1994 to make sure there was not a re-occurrence which could be what was causing my intermittent vertigo issue. The MRI showed no difference between my scan 10 years ago which was my last one. That was a big load off my mind.

About 4 years ago my daughter noticed a lump on my neck. It did not hurt so, like a lot of people, I didn’t do anything about it until it got big enough that it was really bothering me. Well....one of my appointments was with the head and neck surgeon who ordered a CAT scan of my neck plus my brain to make sure nothing was spreading. The needle biopsy was inconclusive so there was no way of telling for sure if it was benign until it was removed.

I scheduled the surgery for the beginning of April right after a barrage of 4 double centuries early on, capping it off with The Southern Inyo Double Century. I did this double just 3 days before my surgery.

 All this was based of course on how all the other tests came out!

I wanted to rule out everything since I never had any tests done after my two crashes in 2016. 

I also told my doc about the crashes and the breathing issue. She figured after the other tests that it was not my heart and could be something to do with the crash. My daughter Cherisse who is in sports medicine, told me not long after the crash that she thought I had some damage to deep muscles in my back which could take a year to heal at my age and could very well cause the issues with my breathing. 

Well she was part right!

 I got my tests back and guess what. I had broken my back in the crash on Santa Rosa Creek road at the Central Coast Double. I had a compression fracture of my spine. The doctor said it was healing and there was nothing to do with it. Now I knew what my breathing issues were.

I still can’t believe I finished 165 miles of that event after the crash and did those three big races plus all the training and double century events feeling like that.

All this was a great load off my mind but I was still not feeling quite right as far as being tired all the time.

I think I may have found the answer.

 My youngest daughter, Nicole who is also in sports medicine, told me many times that I may have a vitamin deficiency. One of my sisters told me that my issues sounded like a friend of hers who was diagnosed with a serious vitamin D deficiency.

Well.....I believe that was it. I never was tested but since I have started supplementing my diet with a D vitamin, I have got my mojo back. I am feeling my old self again.

While all these tests were going on, I kept up my training but was really taking it easy. That issue with my heart rate and the ER visit kind of scared me and I didn't want to push it until I knew there was not something abnormal causing it.

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Camino Real Double Century                                                                                                 Dana Point Harbor

My first event of the year was the Camino Real Double Century. I did the staff ride with some friends and we all just took it easy. A bunch of our friends came out to meet us part way through the ride. Some did about 100 miles with us.

It was a chilly day but I got it done and I had no issues other than being very tired. (I was still having issues at this point and was in the middle of all the testing.)

All in all though, I did not feel too bad.

What a hoot that ride was. It felt so good just taking it easy!!

Rick, Tony, Ellen, Dee, Margaret and Daniel with us at the rest area along San Onofre Beach.

Tony on his Fixie as usual

Daniel and I in Bonsall

Margaret ordered this special snack. I think she ate the whole thing. 

Tony climbing on his fixie in the hills near Fallbrook, Ca.

Or group riding west bound on the San Luis Rey river bike path heading into Oceanside, Ca.

Next up.....The Solvang Double Century and back on the tandem with super-stoker, Teresa. 

We were both not really in shape to do a double century on the tandem. I had just been pretty much taking it easy with no intensity and Teresa had not been training much at all since she moved to San Diego. We got one weekend of tandem training in before the event. 

We both knew that we would have no problem finishing but knew that it would be painful. Been there...done that!!

We chalked it up as a good training ride and had a great time.

We started just after 5:30 am and finished just as it got dark. 

 Still could tell I was not myself. All the little climbs were a struggle and I just did not have the strength on the tandem that I had in years past.

Sunrise at the top of Foxen Canyon above Solvang, Ca.

Cruising in the hills above Morro Bay, Ca.

Our shadow climbing Aliso Canyon on the way back to Solvang.

Heading back to Solvang on Foxen Canyon.

After Solvang I had a really tough one, The Mulholland Challenge Double Century.

I did it with my good friend and 2016 sponsor Quynh. Also along for the ride were friends Joe and Grace.

This was a really tough ride with over 18,000 feet of elevation gain. Since we were all staffing the event, this was a staff ride where we were pre-riding the course.

One thing that was great is this.

I did the Solvang Double the week before on my tandem bike. Whenever I do an event with a lot of climbing after an event on the tandem, it just seems way too easy. On my light single bike all the climbs were hard but I felt like I was in much better shape. Somehow riding on a tandem on a long ride is much like training carrying extra weights.

I felt very light on the Mulholland Double. Not easy by any means but much easier than if I had not trained with the tandem.

It was a great ride. Perfect temperature as far as the heat was concerned. It was very cold in the morning though and got pretty chilly in the evening. We did have a really strong head wind heading up the coast on the second half of the ride. That headwind turned into a nice tail wind when we turned back toward the finish. We were all so tired though. It really helped us recover a bit from the climbing and the wind but we just did not have a lot of energy to really push with the tail wind.

Once we got back to the Thousand Oaks area we had some final climbing to get back to the finish. It was chilly but we got it done by around 10 pm.

Quynh and I at the start in Calabasas

Sunrise from the top of Mulholland on the Rock Store climb.

Grace climbing the beast. Cotharin Road

Joe climbing Cotharin

Quynh looking way too happy on Cotharin

The specatacular view from Cotharin Road

Quynh descending Latigo Canyon on the second half of the Double.

Looking down toward Malibu from above on Latigo Canyon.

Rolling past the naval air station into the headwind before our turn North-east.

Next up the following week was Southern Inyo, my third double in 3 weeks.

The Southern Inyo Double Century is one of my favorites.

Beautiful Mountain and desert scenery, absolutely beautiful and smooth roads on just about the whole course and great desert weather conditions.

It is not an easy ride by any means. On paper the course looks rather easy as far as elevation gain is concerned but the high desert can offer up some of the most challenging conditions and that is just how this guy likes it.

The desert is almost always windy. I don’t know how many times I have done the Death Valley Double in years past but there was rarely an event that didn't have some sort of wind in one direction or the other. Some years it was downright scary!!

This would be the fourth year for me on this event. The year of the test ride we had some pretty good wind but I just loved it and I was hooked on this one. The second year was nice but still a little windy. The third year was gorgeous for the first two thirds of the ride before a major storm blew in causing a horrendous sand storm over Owens Lake in the final miles which made it quite challenging. (This would also be my first crash on the tandem bike but we still finished, broken ribs and all)

This year it was forecast to be a little windy again. The weather service said it was going to die down by 9 pm the night before but guess what......it didn’t.

The wind was blowing pretty hard when we started the ride early in the morning before sunrise. There was a pretty good cross wind coming from our right out of the Sierra.

I started out with my friend and Hoodoo team-mate, Victor and some other friends including Margaret who was our navigator of the 2014 Race across the West.

It was a little scary riding that fast in the dark with that crossing tail wind. I didn’t want to get too close to any riders in front of me in case someone hit something in the road in the dark or got hit by a big gust. ( I was also feeling a little bit of vertigo in the dark with the wind so I was really careful) 

Victor and I were just talking about taking it easy due to this scenario and low and behold right in front of us......our good friend Margaret got hit by a gust that threw her into the rumble strips. She lost control of her bike and went down in a nasty crash. We both had to do some pretty quick maneuvering to avoid hitting her. She went down hard but was very lucky she didn't hit her head and just bruised her elbow. We all thought that she broke her arm. We waited with her until help came to pick her up and take her to the hospital. We were glad to hear later that she was ok.

We made it to the first check point very quickly in that wind.

We made the stop quick so we could make up the 1/2 hour that we lost early on. Now we had a very strong head wind heading back up Hwy 395 to the Hwy 190 junction. It took us a while but it was totally good and not too bad. We slowly reeled in many of the early riders who were really struggling in the wind. We slowed down for some so they could get a break behind us for a while.

 We were hoping that it would be a little easier when we made the turn toward Death Valley National Park on 190.

Well….that didn’t happen!! We had a nasty crossing headwind coming off Owens Lake with gusts blowing sand across the road.

 It was really affecting my eye since I didn’t have my good glasses. Just when I was thinking about calling it a day after seeing some other riders turning around…..the wind just stopped!!

It was absolutely beautiful now as we pulled into the checkpoint.

We had a beautiful ride out to the Death Valley sign for the turn-around with a mild tail wind and some cross wind.

Heading toward Death Valley through Gun-sight Pass with Vic Cooper

We had some good head winds again heading back to Lone Pine and I was off the back of the pack for much of that part. I really felt like my legs were dead from Mulholland the week before at that point. We took a long lunch break in Lone Pine.

Victor heading back toward Lone Pine with Owens Lake and the Sierra in the distance.

Heading back to Lone Pine from Death Valley area. I was really starting to feel my tired legs from the past week at this point

The next section had most of the hard climbing. We had a beautiful climb up a canyon called Tuttle Creek which I had not done before. I just took it easy and hung back taking pictures of my friends up ahead. 

Starting the steep part of Tuttle Creek Road

Tuttle Creek Road. Mount Whitney in the background. Whitney is the peak in the far distance behind all the others.

Tuttle Creek and all the snow in the Sierra was the highlight of this years event

Tony climbing the lower section of Horseshoe Meadows road on his fixie.

After my friend Tony and I got to the summit, I really started feeling great. The lunch had kicked in and I got my Mojo back.

Descending Horseshoe Meadows with Owens Lake in the distance

I flew back down to Lone Pine and really didn’t want to stop. I was feeling so good but then remembered I was not using a Camel-Back so I would not have enough water to get me to Hwy 190 for the water stop.

I decided to stop, pick up water and food plus wait until my friends wanted to go so we could all do the final 50 miles together.

We rolled out of Lone Pine with a great tail wind. We just flew to the Hwy 190 turn and then had a crossing tail wind all the way to Hwy 395 and the final check point. The wind completely stopped at that point as the sun was going down.

Our group rolling away from Lone Pine for a large 50 mile loop around Owens Lake then back to Lone Pine

Rolling back to Hwy 395. A little over 20 to go.

We fueled up and were on our way.

The final 20 or so miles seemed effortless to me!  I just kept a nice easy pace but could have gone much faster if I wanted.

We finished while it was still slightly light out but getting dark.

What a great day on the bike.

Below is a little video I made of the event.

Final words

I had my surgery the following Monday and all went well. My entire salivary gland needed to be removed but I found out that the tumor was benign in nature. My surgeon said that it was the most common of tumors in the gland caused by a clogging of a duct.

Now……Back to work getting back in shape. I was able to get back on the bike training within a few days but I really felt the effects of just having a surgery that required anesthesia.

Next double century event will be The Grand Tour at the end of June. This ride will be my 150^th double century event and some friends are making it a party ride. This will be great fun and I can hardly wait.

6-12-24 Hour World Time Trial Championships 2016

Photo by Vic Armejo
Race Across America.org

The third event in the "Trifecta" this year was an amazing event.

  The 6-12-24 hour world time trial championships is put on by the Race Across America (RAAM) organization and is one of the qualifiers for RAAM.

• The organizers could not have said it better about the location of the race:

"

"Borrego Springs offers the perfect setting. The stark beauty of the Anza-Borrego Desert set against the majesty of the coast range is amazing. Giant metal structures by Ricardo Breceda add to the beauty and add mystique.  Sunrises and sunsets are spectacular. November weather is perfect with warm days and cool nights."

Still, it is in the desert, so anything is possible at any moment as far as wind, cold and heat are concerned. The temperatures at night can be down right cold at times and it is all very unpredictable.

The event encompasses an 18 mile long loop course and a small 4 mile short course.

There are three different races that go on at the event.

• The 24 hour time trial starts at 6 pm on Friday night and racers see how many miles they can ride until 6 pm on Saturday.
• The 12 hour event starts at 6 am on Saturday and racers ride until 6 pm logging as many miles as they can.
• Then finally there is the 6 hour race which starts at noon on Saturday and you race until 6 pm.

All racers ride on the same course. Racers stay on the long 18 mile course until it gets close to finishing time when they are directed on to the short course to finish off the miles.

All riders are issued a timing chip which is mounted on the bike frame. This chip tracks the rider as he/her passes through a timing gate at the start finish.

There is a pit area similar to car racing where riders can pick up supplies from their crew at the end of a lap. Some people crew themselves and pull into the pit to get supplies themselves. Racers with crew may have a crew mate hand off water and food as they pass by the pits.

The map showing the long and short course

• Prelude

My tandem partner Teresa Beck and I had been talking about doing this on the tandem for quite some time. (Actually it was her idea to do it on the tandem)

 We have done many ultra-events on the tandem in the past few years, some of which were filled with adversity. We still persevered and finished despite a couple very scary crashes plus some bike incidents which really made finishing a challenge. (You can read about all of these in my past Blogs)

To this date, after probably 40+ double century and other events on the tandem with different partners, I have never DNF'd on the tandem.

This would be a whole new animal on the tandem though. For a tandem captain and stoker to be successful on a 24 hour event, everything needs to be in tune physically and mechanically.
 Hopefully you wont need to stop much because the clock does not stop in a time trial.

Teresa and I had different goals on the race. I wanted to try and break 400 miles and she had a goal of 350.

I have broken the 400 mile mark in 24 hours on three different occasions on the tandem in the past. All of those events had many stop signs and stop lights and were in city areas that didn't lend well to keeping up a fast speed.

I was thinking it should be easy to break the 400 mile mark on a tandem on a course with only 350 feet of elevation gain per lap and one stop sign right?  Big mistake to even put that thought in my head.

Again I go back to my statement above about everything being in tune and you will see in my story that this course and any course can humble you on an ultra event. Not to mention that I am no spring chicken any more at the ripe young age of 64. These things just seem to be getting harder and harder. I dont feel any older in my head but my body has slowly been telling me otherwise.

I left home at 4 am on race day for Borrego so I would miss the LA traffic getting out of town. I stopped on the way for Breakfast and arrived early in town. This was my first mistake. (I was hoping to get a nap in but it didn't happen)

I hung around the park in town for a little while then I texted my friend Tony to see where he was. We then pre-drove the course so I would be familiar with the turns. The first thing I noticed is how much water I needed to drink even when just standing around. It was so dry and hard to stay hydrated.

Tony and I posing with the dragon

After that we got the bikes and everything in the pit ready.

Our friends Colin and Julie volunteered to drive out and crew for us during the event. Such great people and amazing ultra cyclists too!!

Tandem in the stand and ready for official inspection.

My amazing crew chief from The 508, Ellen, was one of the top race officials

The Check-in desk

Teresa just after finishing the prep on the bike

It was really hot out there as we got everything ready.

I felt like I was totally drained of all bodily fluids by the time I started the race. I was so tired before even starting and needed to relax for a while. I only got a few minutes

Teresa arrived in the afternoon just before inspection and we worked together to get the bike ready after I checked us in and got our race numbers and timing chip for the bike.

Next it was time for the pre-race meeting and we were set to go.

We got changed and the nerves kicked in.

It was starting to cool off so we both wore our knee warmers and dressed early for the cold night which was to come.

Seana set up her pit right next to us.

• The Race

One of the most appealing things about this event is that anyone can do it and race with world champions. If you dont have the conditioning to do the 24 or 12 hour race, you can do the 6 hour and still race with champions. 
It is an incredible experience for any cyclist at any level. 

There was a 13 year old kid doing the 6 hour on a mountain bike and he did great. He even won his age group.

• We had 4 World Champions in the 24 hour race. 

Left to right:

 Seana Hogan from northern California, who holds the women’s outdoor velodrome 24-hour record . 
Next to her is Christoph Strasser from Austria who broke the road 24-hour record last year in Berlin. 
Next is Anna Mei from Italy,  holder of the women’s indoor velodrome 24-hour record. And on the right is Marko Baloh from Slovenia, men’s indoor velodrome 24-hour record holder.

Photo by Vic Armijo

Our friend got this pic of us with the eventual race winner, Christoph Strasser at the race meeting.            Photo: Terri Boykins

Ready to start in the 5th wave

The two person teams and the tandems were the last to start. We were in the 5th wave of riders in a wave start.

It was already getting dark as we started at 6 pm. It was nice and cool. 

Our plan was to do 4 laps before we would need to come in for a re-stock of water and food. We were both using Camel-Bak hydration packs. On a tandem, at least for me, it is much easier to drink from a hose right next to my mouth rather than reaching down for a bottle when a tandem is so hard to control at times. 

As many of my friends know, I cannot blink my left eye all the way due to facial nerve damage (Bells-Palsy) caused by my tumor removal back in 1994. This is one of the toughest things I have had to deal with on ultra-events in cold desert air. The cold, dry, air just does a number on your eyes even when you can blink them. The cold air also makes my facial nerve weaker and further aggravates the problem to a point where my eye hardly blinks at all. (Many people comment that I am never smiling. This is one of the reasons. My left side really doesn't move much when I try and smile and my right side smiles too much which makes for a weird look which I have been self-conscious of over the years.)

For this reason, after my first DNF on an event, I use some really high tech, goggle type, cycling glasses that have the best transition lenses you could buy. The lenses turn completely clear at night and get really dark during sunny days. 

I had the glasses for 4 years and the transitions finally went bad. All of a sudden they went blurred on me the day before the race and I couldn't see properly. It looked like I was riding in a dense fog. It really messed with my already bad equilibrium at night since your eyes compensate for the lack of balance which I have had since my surgery.

It was not long before I started worrying about my eyes.

Long story short......just before starting I had to switch to my clear lens regular glasses which I usually use for driving. My sunglasses luckily had interchangeable lenses with clear ones. 

I changed to those and it was spectacular how clear everything was. The stars were amazing when I could look up at them. 

• We were averaging a really good pace on our first 70 or so miles during the night which was about 4 laps on the course. We were averaging about 19 mph and just holding a good pace in a larger gear which was totally comfortable for Teresa and I. We would just back off a little bit if we needed some recovery. 

We were on a good pace to easily break 400 miles which would require us to average 16.6 mph for the 24 hours. We would have to keep our stops to a minimum though as the clock does not stop running when we stop.

As the night wore on, the temperatures really started to drop on the low spots out in the desert. I think we got a low of around 49 degrees at times which was much warmer and pretty pleasant from what people were saying about former years on the course. It would get warm at the high points on course and then really drop as we dropped slightly. I was fine with standard gloves, a wool base layer, wind vest and knee warmers all night.

It was great riding at night out in the middle of the desert. One of my favorite times and places to ride. No cars, only a few turns, no pot holes, no steep climbs.......a perfect course for a time trial. The city actually had the whole course swept before the event too.  How amazing is that!!!

Teresa was just amazed with the stars and constellations. She couldn't stop talking about it.

"Wow.....look at the big dipper....wow....look at those stars over there."

We had some great conversations out there on the course which obviously could be very boring for 24 hours!! 
Teresa is always so uplifting to everyone. Whenever we passed or were passed by other racers, she was always yelling out encouragement. No matter how much she is suffering with me, she always has a great attitude. 

Cruising through the night. Always a smile on Tiger's face                Photo by Vic Armijo.   Race Across America.org

For a long time during the night we kept leap frogging with our friend Tony. Tony was doing the 24 hour event on his fixed gear bike. We would pass him on the flats and slight descents and he would catch up on the climbs. This went on for hours until one of us pitted. He ended up doing almost 390 miles in 24 hours.

Tony on his fixed gear

At one point during the night, my left eye started to glaze over a bit. When we pulled in to the pits, I thought I would give the bad glasses with the gasket a try. It only lasted one lap because I couldn't see well at all. It was pretty scary. Next loop I went back to the standard glasses and I prayed that my eye would hold out. 

Long story short.......about halfway through the night, I went basically blind in my left eye and could not see anything as it glazed completely over. It not only made it a miserable night but I was concerned about the danger of riding in this condition. If it had not been for the flat easy course, we would have had to quit at that point. I had to slow way down because I could not see well and it was also affecting my equilibrium and depth perception.

I knew my goal of 400 miles was slowing going by the wayside. 

We still actually did pretty good for the first 12 hours and were still on pace to do between 350 and 400 miles. As soon as it started getting light out, the temperatures started to warm up a bit. 

Climbing toward town at sunrise    I always look focused and Teresa is always putting on a good game-face!
 Photo by Natalie Starr  

Vic Armijo got this great shot of us just before we pitted for a clothes change after sunrise.

We pulled into the pit area after sunrise and changed our clothes. We took our warm weather gear off and were off. 

I put my old glasses back on since it was daylight out. I was hoping that my eye would clear up.

It was way too long of a stop and our average speed was now down to about 16.8 mph. Too much stopping time for this early in the race. 

We felt great after this stop and soon our average speed started to go up some again. Could we bring our goals back into reality. Time would only tell!

Lap after lap went by and my eye started to clear up. It was not long after this that Teresa's knee started to act up and not long after that, my knee started to act up some.

We dialed it back a little and began to spin an easier gear at this point but we still were able to get out of the saddle and sprint at regular intervals and push up hills.

It was now getting pretty hot out there in the low desert. On the final climb to town on each loop, the sun was just beating down on us. It got hotter and hotter as the afternoon wore on and the sun was right in front of us to our left as we went from south to north on this climb. I got a max temperature on my Garmin at this point of about 106 degrees as it read the radiant heat coming off the pavement.

With about 4 hours left in the race, my knee got really bad and I thought I had torn something in the meniscus area. It was my left knee and with Teresa it was her right knee. It got so bad at this point for both of us that we had to make the decision to take it out of the big chain ring and just spin easily for the remainder of the race in the middle chain ring.  
We may have looked strong as we passed through the pits but we just were keeping on a good game face. 

From this point on, I dont think I have had a harder time on any of the events in my past. 
My eye, which had slowed us up during the night, had cleared up but now another issue had reared its ugly head.
We went from a fastest lap of about 56 minutes to a slow lap of 1:48. The rest of the race was about survival and just trying to make as many miles as we could. 
I calculated that at the point and average speed we were at and could maintain, that we would make about 336 miles if everything worked out. 
We were now just coasting even the most minute descents and spinning easy on the flat roads.

We made the call with a little over 30 minutes left in the race. Both our knees were so bad and we did not want to cause any permanent damage by pushing any longer. We called our crew and said we were coming in and were not going to do the short laps which were about to start.

All of the above is some of what we experienced on this amazing race. I guess it was about time to finally have an event that slowed us down for physical reasons rather than mechanical or a crash.  

Getting our medals from awesome Race Official Ellen Kirk

All that said.......

I just loved this event!! The whole experience from the pre-race through the event was just amazing and I would do it again in a second. Adversity is just part of doing this sort of thing. I haven't done a race yet that wasn't tough. They are all tough in one way or another. Mental toughness is what ultra-cycling is all about. 
I had a stoker as a partner on this race who probably is the toughest of them all. That is why Teresa got the nick-name "Tiger"!!  Even after the incidents we have had these past few years she stuck it out and trusted me to get us through it and never complained a bit as we worked as a tight team to finish. The same thing happened this time.
I really dont know how we got through those last few hours. We felt like we were just crawling. Our mental attitude is what got us through it.

There were some absolutely amazing athletes out there.

I still cant get out of my head how many times the 24 hr winner, Christoph Strasser,  lapped us on the 18 mile course. He said "Good Job" every time as he passed us like a whirlwind!! I think we were lapped about 5 times by him in the first 200 miles or so. Probably more. 
He finished the 24 hour event with a little over 550 miles. That is just amazing.

Vic Armijo photo of  Christoph cruising by.           We had a similar view every time he passed and said, "good job" to us.

We finished the race with 324 miles total. We were very satisfied with our accomplishment. We have done too many of these ultra-events and know that everything does not always work-out per plan.

All the results can be seen at this link:
 http://my3.raceresult.com/50532/results?lang=en#24_177E1D

A huge thanks goes out to Colin and Julie Stokes for crewing for us. You two did an amazing job!!

 Your support was epic and I wish I could do more to repay you for all your help.

A big thanks go out to all my friends and family who have supported my races this year. It would have been almost impossible for me to get through everything necessary to do 3 of these events this year without your help. It means the world to me.

Thank you to the Adobo Velo family. This club is just amazing with the most wonderful people. Thanks to all for all your support and for cheering me on in all my endeavors.

Thank you to Fred, Rick, Amanda and all the race officials from RAAM. You all put on a wonderful event.

Of course I need to thank my wife Ginny for putting up with my long hours of training, my endurance events and these long weekend trips for the ultra-races. I am blessed to have you as my soulmate and you are in my thoughts all the time when I am out on the bike. 

Click HERE for all the pictures

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