I'm so glad I decided to make the trip to Prescott a week early and get in a good day on the race course with Tom, Trav, and Chloe. Last year during the race I really struggled with a longer race than normal and not being familiar with the course whatsoever was a killer. I think its going to be a huge advantage this year.
We had a blast ripping the descents on the Whiskey 50 course and I feel it was critical to preview the one hour long 2000ft+ vertical climb in the middle of the race. I'm much more confident now heading into the week.
The ride capped off another big week of training which makes 3 solid weeks of quality volume leading up to the race. Now its time to rest up and soak in all this good training. I'll go out again on Wed and ride the 25 mile course which does not include the Skull Valley climb, but will allow me to dial in all the technical lines. Other than that its going to be full rest mode.
In a few minutes I'm going to be headed out for an easy spin with an old school buddy! Skyler Reeves....yep its been a long time. After our ride yesterday Sky invited us over to Prescott Station, a really nice restaurant in town, where he works with some amazing food. If you are in town this weekend for the Whiskey stop by and say hi. Its been about 9 years since I've seen Skyler and must be another 3-5 since we've ridden together! Can't wait.
Driving across the Navajo Nation Reservation on my way back to AZ I had a ton of time to think about the good times we used to have...whether is was in the Saab or in the Dodge Caravan we covered some ground!
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| Some beautiful scenery thru the Reservation |
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| Love the Southwest |
The only other time I had been to Durango was back in 97. We rallied Sky's Saab on some dirt roads, went cliff jumping, and on the way back managed to catch some air over a cow grate and came down with a flat after dropping our buddy G - Heitman in the 15 passenger van. G rolled by a few minutes later threw a banana peel at us and laughed as we struggled to get the car on the jack on a powdery dirt road. In the end the lid to a Tupperware container gave us enough stability to get the car up and change the flat. Later that night we almost got arrested for playing a little frisby in the buff up at Ft. Lewis on the soccer fields. Finally it was race day...the Cow Chip classic and Derek managed to uphill endo into a scorpion on the pre-ride....so many good times from back in the day!
The plans for the next adventure are coming together....Sedona and Moab on our way home from the Whiskey! Can't wait....but first the race!
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