My first and possibly only mountain bike race of the year happened to be my first, but hopefully not only, 12 Hour race. I had intended to “race” the Idyllwild Spring Challenge for the third year in a row. My training had been going really well up until the Run Through Redlands. That stinking 10K left me incredibly sore and kept me off the bike the following week. The next weekend was a whirlwind, which consisted of the Laughlin River Run, a bachelor’s party in Las Vegas, and then a day at the beach with the wife and nieces on Sunday. For whatever reason that week off the bike broke my spirit and I had no motivation for the four-hour suffer fest that is the Idyllwild Spring Challenge. I had basically put racing out of mind when an old college buddy hit me up about the 12 Hour Rim Nordic race.

My preparation for the event was pretty poor. But what ever I’m doing, it’s been sufficient enough to keep me in decent shape. I may not be as fast as I was a couple of years ago. But my endurance levels are still acceptable. I opted to go second in the four-man line up. The race began at nine, and because the first lap consisted of a parade lap and was pretty crowded, I took off about 10 minutes after 10 am. The first few miles were pretty packed. However, the vibe at a 12-hour race is a little bit different. Much of the traffic consisted of solo racers and they’ll gladly get out of your way. My first lap was my, and my team’s, fastest lap at 55 minutes 12 seconds according to my Garmin. Our team was pretty consistent about turning roughly 1 hour laps. My wife came up to watch me and bring some food. She made it just in time to see me head out on my second lap. Not that it was hot, but it was warmer, and my right quad felt like it might cramp. I went a little easier on my second lap and it took me about 2 minutes longer. Still not bad. But considering the course traffic had thinned out I should have been able to do another 55-minute lap. After I was finished with my second lap I ate and spent my down time recovering better than I had earlier. I think this, and the fact that it was now 6:15 when I left for my third lap really helped. I felt good and my average heart rate reflected it. My average heart rate for lap three was lower than the first two. I managed another 55-minute lap. I was pretty happy with that, but looking back I think I could have pushed myself a little harder and gotten a better time. I really did feel good on the third lap. But oh well, I wanted to make sure I didn’t cramp. There is a climb at the end of the course that I had me worried about cramping.

All in all it was a good day. I had a lot of fun. No one on my team suffered any injuries or major mechanical failures. There were three flats, which cost us some time. One of my teammates suffered a flat on his first two laps. I’d like to think that if it weren’t for the flat tires we might have been able to squeeze in a 12th lap. Our 11th lap ended at about 8:15 and didn’t leave enough time to finish a 12th lap before the 9 pm cut off. No big deal really.
I’d like to be able to say how our team finished. However, the results were a mess at the end of the night and there were a lot of disputes. We weren’t credited a lap and had to dispute that. I guess I’ll just wait until they post them online. I’d definitely do another 12-hour race. It was fun to get out and race my mountain bike again without the pressure felt during most cross-country races.

They finally posted the results. Our team got 7th out of 17 4-person open teams. Not bad. Also, according to them, my third lap was actually my fastest. I have to congratulate my teammates. Rob had to deal with that frustratingly slow first lap, to come in 8.5 minutes faster on his next lap, and even quicker on his third lap, coming in just under an hour. Also, Dennis cut nearly 6 minutes off his first lap and Adam had the most difficult day. Adam was very consistent despite a flat on his first two laps and having to finish out the day in the dark. Great job guys!

There really isn't much to say. Got home from the Coachella Music Festival at 2:00 am Sunday morning, in bed by 2:30. Then I was up by 6 am for the Run Through Redlands. It went well. My goal, while not too ambitious, was to average an 8 minute mile. I actually beat my goal. I averaged a 7:46 mile according to my Garmin. My average heart rate was 177 and my max heart rate was 194. My heart rate hit 194 while I was sprinting a 5:50 mile toward the finish line. I finished 6th out of 35 in my age division and 64th overall.  My wife ran the 1/2 marathon. She did well, a few minutes off of her time from 2 years ago. But she didn't puke on the way home, so I consider that doing better than the year before. I will say that I'm unusually sore today. I've never been this sore after any running event. I'm not sure what I did, or didn't do. Maybe it was the sub 7 minute miles on the down hills.

What possessed me to enter the Redlands Classic criterium? I have no idea, other than I wasn’t able to enter that race in years past. It typically conflicts with another race, a cross-country race to be more specific. When trying to plan a race schedule for ‘09 I wanted to stay very local, and to fill the schedule I had to go outside of my comfort zone so to speak.

Racing a crit was certainly out of my comfort zone in more ways that one. It’s not that I was uncomfortable with the idea of a criterium. It’s just that, I’ve only raced one crit and that was over two years ago. On top of that, I haven’t participated in the local Thursday night crit practice since the summer of 2007. To add further insult to injury, I can’t even remember the last time I rode my road bike (other than during the Redlands Triathlon). It was probably the summer of 2007. The trend, since 2008 has been to ride my mountain bike during the spring and stop riding once it starts getting uncomfortably hot. Great “training” schedule huh? This made the race uncomfortably challenging. I loved my wife’s comment after the Redlands Crit. She told me “You could be good at (criteriums) it if you trained. But you didn’t put any effort into getting ready.”

Truer words could not have been spoken. At least referring to her comment about my lack of training. I didn’t train, at all. I just dusted off my bike and raced it. My results certainly prove it. I placed 32nd out of 35 finishers. I know the race was full and I’m pretty sure it was limited to 50 entrants. Technically that means that I finished in the middle third of the pack, technically. I know that a few guys got pulled and at least 3, maybe 4, guys got tangled up in a crash on the last lap.

My first goal going into the event was to avoid crashing, and my goal after that was to refrain from getting popped of the back and subsequently pulled. In that sense I was successful. The crash on the last lap happened just a couple of guys in front of me. Thankfully I was able to go left and avoid the bikes and bodies scattered over the course. I managed to stay in the race, granted I wasn’t on the front doing the work. But since there was never a break, technically speaking I matched the pace of the leaders. Can’t argue with that. Especially considering A) they ride their bikes, B) they train for Races and C) I decided to spend Friday night and Saturday afternoon surfing instead of preparing.

10th Annual Redlands Triathlon 2/8/09 – Redlands, CA

I competed in my first Triathlon today. Sure it was just a "sprint", but I still feel as if it is an accomplishment. Especially considering some of the set backs I've had to overcome as of late. I originally intended to get my feet wet, in more ways that one, by making the Tinsel Tri in Hemet my first Triathlon. A painful infection kept me from running for months and just the thought of getting on a bicycle brought me much discomfort. I started feeling better around the time the Tinsel Tri took place. But of course my physical fitness had suffered considerably.

Then when I found out about this Triathlon, almost literally in my backyard, I decided that it was time to climb back up on the horse. Irene and I began training about a month ago. But with the short winter days our training was mostly confined to the gym. Except of course on the weekends. This is why we happened to be out jogging last weekend when we were attacked by the dogs. More information about that can be found in my previous post.

We wanted to get our feet wet and we got more than we bargained for today. The rain, while not really heavy, has been steady all day long. The Triathlon itself wasn't very eventful. I felt pretty good though. Wearing the Garmin Forerunner 305 that I got Irene for Christmas allowed me to record some pretty cool stats. For the 5K run I average a 7.5 minute mile. A lot faster than I anticipated and my heart rate reflected that. I averaged 184 bpm during the run, 178 for the bike, and 181 overall. My max heart rate was 191. I've used HR monitors before, but never one that collects the data like the forerunner. I know I've seen 196 bpm before. But what about those times that I've really suffered, was it higher? Scary.  My time on the bike was slower than I had hoped. I wanted to average about 20 mph, but only averaged 17.5. I wasn't going slow though. I think only 2 people passed me during the bike leg and they were on full TT bikes. I felt good, it just isn't the the same in the real world as it is riding the trainer in your garage. The swim is where my lack of training became evident. I didn't feel like a swimmer. If I decide to pursue Triathlons I'm going to need to work on my swim. I didn't feel bouyant. It was odd.

In the end I'm very satisfied with my time. Even with the cold, wet weather I came in much sooner than I anticipated. I finished in 1 hour and 10 seconds. This earned me 9th in my age division and 80th out of nearly 300 people. My wife Irene did very well despite the hurdles she encountered. She rode a heavy mountain bike with slicks and platform pedals. Then when it came to the swim her hands were so frozen that she couldn't unzip her outerlayers. So she swam fully clothed, minus shoes and socks.What a goofball. But it worked well enough for her to finish in 1 hour and 16 minutes, 8th in her age division, and 218th overall. We even made it home in time to make it to church at 11. Not bad.

On most days the benefits of leading a healthy active lifestyle far outweigh living life at the other end of the spectrum. Sunday, February 1st, 2009, was not one of those days. If I had any inclination that Sunday would have been so life altering I certainly would have chosen to do things differently. But, how could I have known?

My wife and I went for a jog with both dogs Sunday morning as we do most weekends. About a half-mile from the house on our way home, three Pit Bull/Boxer Mixes rushed at us through a dilapidated fence. The attack quickly became a blur. I know Irene attempted to swoop up Charlie Brown to save him, but wasn’t able to get him. In hindsight, maybe this was better for her. Irene became hysterical as Charlie was bitten from above. I went into an adrenaline-fueled rage. Surrounded by large dogs, kicking them with everything I had. I know I landed several kicks, but can only visualize one. Neither one of us can figure out how Charlie got free. It isn’t in a dog’s nature to let go. Maybe it was one my kicks, maybe Charlie was able to get the dog off of himself, maybe the dog simply lost its grip. I can’t recall. I do remember turning around to confront the dog coming up behind me. As he went to bite my older longhaired doxie PigPen I kicked him in the neck. The next image in my mind is the dog running away and Piggy laying into him.

At this point neighbors, witnesses, and eventually the owner rushed outside. The owner collected his dogs and hid behind his fence. Everyone else came to our aid. Irene is screaming, “They got Charlie!” and simultaneously I’m screaming at the owner. I quickly look down to PigPen to see how he is doing. His mouth is full of blood and he is beginning to go into one of his seizures. At some point the kind man walking past sacrificed his own health to help Charlie. I calmed down and pleaded with the neighbors to call 911. I swooped up PigPen and placed him in the back of the neighbor’s pickup. Finally acknowledging Irene’s screams, I ran to check on Charlie. He was in bad shape. He had two obvious puncture wounds in his lower back and was going into shock. My immediate fear was that his back was broken and he was paralyzed.

I wasn’t alone in my fear for his back. The neighbor from across the street, who happens to be a RN, feared the same. She rushed into her house to find something to immobilize Charlie so we could rush him to the emergency vet. I was handed a cell phone and briefly spoke to the 9-1-1 dispatcher. We placed Charlie in the lower half of a travel crate and put him in the backseat of the neighbor’s car. The very sympathetic young couple that lived next door to the Pit Bull owner offered to drive us home. She also attempted to console Irene, but was impossible at this point.
We were given driving instructions to get to the emergency vet. We left as soon as we got home. I made Irene run inside to get my wallet and I loaded the dogs into the car. Irene drove as I tried to make Charlie lay still. The poor little guy yelped at even the slightest touch. We were scared.

Once we arrived at the vet we filled out the appropriate paperwork for both dogs and were seen shortly there after. The good news was that PigPen escaped almost uninjured. It appeared that during the commotion he twisted his left front leg. But he didn’t exhibit any intense pain or open wounds. The blood in his mouth might have been the other dog’s. Charlie needed surgery. A visual inspection showed that the puncture wounds tore through the abdominal muscle, leaving him with a hernia. The vet felt that his back was okay (X-Rays later confirmed this) because he could support his weight and walk. Now the major fear was for his internal organs. Only once they had begun the surgery could the doctor take a look around to see if there was any internal damage. She saw some bruising on his kidney and some kind of blood clot. Not too serious. It appeared that Charlie would be okay.

Obviously I wish this would never have happened. But I am very thankful that it wasn’t worse. Both of my dogs are still here with us, and, the Lord willing, should make a full recovery. Irene and I came out of the situation without injury. My leg hurt from kicking the dogs. But I could deal with that. The sheriff’s department and SB County Animal Control have been involved. I’ve even spoken to the owner’s son. They intend to give me payments toward my rather expensive Vet bills.

I’m just going to keep praying to the Lord that my dogs will come through this without any complications. I’m praying that they’ll make a full recovery and won’t exhibit much mental trauma. I know Irene and I won’t be the same. How can we ever feel safe jogging again? How can I ever take the dogs jogging again? Is that fair to any of us? I can’t explain to the dogs, who are obsessed with running, that I just don’t feel safe taking them. Things just aren’t going to be the same…

You can see a picture here.

9/14/2008 - Fairplex Park, Pomona, CA



The inaugural Wiener Dog Race at the LA County Fair was an incredible venue for wiener dog Charlie Brown. Despite being initially unsure whether to enter or not, and second-guessing the decision last minute, Charlie had an awesome race.



2:40 pm.

He was slotted in the fourth (of eight) heat race wearing the orange number 7 "blanket." Before which I walked into the fair and bought him a 7-dollar squeak toy to act as his racing motivation. This new toy seems to have been a lucky charm. Charlie Brown went crazy for this toy. It was a challenge to keep Charlie in place while waiting at the starting line for the other dogs to "stage." Much like a champion race horse his high level of excitement was key. He shot out of my hands running straight as an arrow 50 yards to my wife who was yelling and squeaking his toy. He smoked seven wieners to take the win for which he received a trophy, 200 dollars and entry into the finals at 4:40 pm.



4:40 pm.

After a couple of hours of anxiously awaiting the championship race the call to line up finally came. This time instead of orange, Charlie wore the yellow number four blanket because he won the fourth heat. This time he was lined up next to winning wieners. Channeling his excitement for the squeak toy as well as feeding off the energy of the other dogs Charlie was more worked up than two hours earlier. Sally, a very petite, female shorthaired doxie was the favorite to win. Sally was the 2007 Wienerschnitzel Wienernationals champion and is an avid racer. Sally won the first heat and was positioned off to the left of the track. Charlie was dead center as number four of eight dogs. When the "gun" went off the dogs bolted. Charlie was doing well and running fast but he wasn't in the lead. Suddenly the number 1 (Sally) and number 2 dogs that were battling it out for first place cut in front of Charlie. They were running diagonally across the course, not straight! This cost the number 1 and 2 dogs the lead, losing precious seconds as they continued diagonally across the course. Charlie held his perfectly straight line and maintained his focus crossing the finish line in first place! Charlie was the champion of the Fairplex Park Inaugural Wiener Dog Race. We were rushed to the winners’ circle where Charlie was wrapped in a custom embroidered racing blanket letting every one know he was the champ. Wearing his championship jersey and with larger championship trophy in hand, the three of us were photographed by several photographers. Photos were followed by a televised TV interview where Charlie gave the interviewer a kiss as his closing statement.



With the final race win came the grand prize. 1500 dollars to be exact. Charlie Brown won us $1700 Sunday afternoon. We quickly cashed out the racetrack vouchers and headed home. Where we treated Charlie Brown (and our other dog PigPen) to his favorite dinner. A cheese filled omelet fit for a champion.

9/6/2008



A few months back my wife and I decided to run the half marathon in Big Bear. Why you might ask? Well last year about this time we ran the Disneyland half. As “fun” as that event was we decided not to do it again. Partly because of the $95 a person entry fee. So when my wife’s running club made her aware of the Big Bear marathon we thought we would give it a try.

If you ask her, she would tell you that it was a mistake and that she would never do it again. I don’t feel quite so strongly about the event as she does, but I will say it wasn’t easy.

The only flat part of the course was the first mile. We left from Division Dr. on the north shore of the lake. From there we went east along Hwy 18 toward Baldwin Lake. We eventually turned up into some residential neighborhoods as we made our way back to Division Dr on the south shore. A quick left took us south on Division and here is where the fun began. From there it was all uphill, through Moonridge, past the zoo and up to the Bear Mountain Resort parking lot. Before we hit Moonridge, Irene began to struggle and pleaded me to go on with out her. I kept running while she started to walk at about mile 4.5. At about mile 6 I turned around and saw her behind me. I walked to allow her to catch up. But she never did. She is actually thankful for this. She says that she would have felt even more stressed if I had waited for her. There was a disproportionate amount of climbing to descending and every person along the course claimed it was “all down hill from here.” That of course was a lie, even though I’m sure they had good intentions. After rounding the turn and heading through the aid station at Bear Mountain I hoped that Irene wasn’t crying and or vomiting. She doesn’t do well with hills, or elevation. Luckily it wasn’t hot or she would have really struggled.

From there it was fairly uneventful. Just more of the same, climbing, turning a corner, then more climbing. It started to seem like some one’s idea of a joke after a while. A portion of mile twelve was run on Big Bear Blvd with the uphill finish in the village.  I ran a 2 hour and 2 minute half marathon with Irene not too far behind finishing with a 2:06. I was initially shooting for a 1:58. But that was before I realized how difficult the course was going to be.

Would I do it again? Probably not. Not because the course was tough, but because I really don’t enjoy running in the first place. I just run to do something with the wife and since she didn’t like the course I don’t think we’ll do it again.

7/19/08 Los Alamitos Race Course, Los Alamitos, CA

After attending the 2007 Weiner Nationals my wife and I decided to sign up our dog Charlie Brown for the 2008 event. This included an application process judged on creativity. There were over 140 applications received and only 87 dogs were admitted into the competition. Once we got confirmation of Charlie’s admission into the Wienernationals we began his training.

The 13th running of the Wienerschnitzel Wiener Nationals was held on Saturday, July 19, 2008. A total of 11 trial heats were contested at 50 yards with the winning wieners advancing to the championship race. The winner of each heat race won $100 with the overall winner receiving a total of $1000 and a Wienerschnitzel doghouse.

Charlie Brown was slotted for the 10th and final heat of the evening. Charlie Brown was number four and wore yellow “silks.” This worked out great. Because to show our support for Charlie Brown my wife sewed together yellow & black shirts to look like the Peanuts’ Charlie Brown.

When it was time to line up for the race my wife and I were very nervous. After months of training we would find out whether any of it worked. After all, some dogs never left the gate or ran the wrong direction(s). Luckily though this was no big deal for Charlie and he showed no signs of stress. The announcer welcomed each racer/trainer by name including their hometown as we walked out onto the dirt track. After holding Charlie into the air for the 10,000+ fans I set him down and we jogged to the starting gate. He looked so proud of himself and handsome in his shiny racing silks. After all the owners and dogs were in their proper positions everyone loaded their dogs into the gate. When the gate opened Charlie’s reaction time was slower than in practice. Probably because of the vast differences between his homemade cardboard starting box and the one he now occupied. But he took off like a little yellow and brown bolt of lightning. From either end it was hard to tell how he was doing. But it looked to me like he was in first place. My wife said the same thing. But as the finish line approached he seemed to hesitate. This second of hesitation cost him the win and another dog came past him. Charlie finished in second place. Once back in the stands our “fans” said that Charlie was in the lead for about 2/3s of the 50-yard distance.

We were all so proud of Charlie! He did exactly what we trained him to do. He was great. I was really unsure how he would react in front of all those people and with all the new sights, sounds, scents and of course unfamiliar wiener dogs. But he did just as we trained him to do leaving us with no feelings of disappointment.

K&N News Story

I really don't have a ton to say about this event. I do want to thank Idyllwild Cycling for putting on such a good race and taking care of several of the issues I had with it last year. Registration was better organized. They had additional neutral feeds and they said they took out a hike-a-bike section. Though I can't really recall where.

It went pretty well all things considered. This was the race that made me quit XC racing for the longest time. A month before the race I took my mountain bike off the wall for the first time in the 11 months since the '07 Springe Challenge and started riding again. It even had the number plate still attached to it. I didn't even wash off the Idyllwild dirt until 2 days before the '08 race.

I squeaked in just under 4 hours time for the '08 race. Less than 5 minutes longer than last year. I didn't run out of water this year and I didn't puke like I did in '07. Although I came really close! My stomach was uneasy after the race but I would have been okay had my wife not been in such a hurry to drive down the mountain. So I guess I got more car sick than anything else. We stopped once on the way down because I thought I was going to blow chunks. But I kept my cool. My wife had to get back down to Redlands to pick up her race packet for the Run Through Redlands 10K before 5 pm. Which she did very well at.

I was very lucky not to have any mechanical issues or flat tires. 30 gruelling miles along the most difficult race I've ever done is not some place you want to have mechanical problems. Especially since there really isn't any quick way back.

If you've checked out the results listed on my profile and they don't coincide with the results on the Idyllwild Cycling website there is a good reason. I didn't race Expert this time around. I raced the open class which still does the full course. It's just that I didn't want to shell out $60 bucks for a new USA Cycling license to race 1 expert race. So I chose the Open class and saved myself $55 (they still charged a 5 dollar surcharge.) I'm also too lazy to add another silly class to my profile.

2/23/08 – 2/24/08

2008 Adelanto Grand Prix



Not an event I’ll be returning to next year. It’s a big race in a small town and not well run. I pre-registered for the event and at least it was cheap, only 45 bucks. The course was fun. I found it to be challenging with out being too exhausting like the Soboba GP. But this could be because I was one of the fortunate few who came away from that event without injury. A lot of people got hurt. It’s one thing to come around a turn and find a guy picking up his bike cause he laid it over. But it’s a whole different story to come around every other corner to find some poor soul laying face down in the dirt unable to move. It really was that bad. I didn’t watch any other races, I’ll get to that in a bit, so I don’t know if it was just my race.



I started behind two waves of expert women and expert 85 cc racers. My wave consisted of beginner and novice 125 cc bikes. It was a dead-engine start, meaning when they dropped the flag you had to kick start your bike, slam it in gear and go. I would have hated this had my bike not started up so quickly. I got a good start because of this. It started on the pavement, so I wonder how many people looped it right at the starting line. Some one had to have. I feared doing it myself.



After that we hit the dirt and headed off into the desert. The only flat sections of the course were the pavement. Everything else was abusive whoops or washboard bumps. This was responsible for many of the crashes. I was warned about this ahead of time by a coworker who has raced Adelanto many times. He said no matter what your skill level when you hit a straight section you’re going to go fast, and that is dangerous at Adelanto. So keeping that in mind I kept my straightaway speeds just below the level of losing control. Though I did get close a couple of times.



Another co-worker who lives in the area told me that there was another spot on the course that apparently hurt a lot of people. He said the “drop off” had the police radios buzzing with broken bones all weekend. I think I know exactly where he is talking about. On my second lap I carried more speed over this drop off than I expected and scared myself. I landed it gracefully, but not without saying a prayer to myself. That drop off snuck up on me and probably did the same to others.



I desperately need to spend some time on a MX track practicing. That is my Achilles heel in these Grand Prix races. I’m either not skilled enough, or just not aggressive enough through the doubles. It’s an ugly sight. But I kept the bike upright, something I can’t say for others. My wife saw some painful crashes in the moto-plex area. There is the notorious mud-hole jump. You don’t know it’s coming the first time around. Luckily the line I chose just before the mud jump set me up to go to the left of the jump. This bypass consisted of a horrendous whoop section. But better that than going end over end like a few people did over the mud jump.



Despite nearly ending my race early with a too rich fuel mixture and a plug that worsened throughout the race. I felt like I ran a good race. I rode more aggressively than I had in my last 2 GPs. I accelerated hard out of turns, and braked as late as possible going into them. I didn’t let a downed rider take me out. I still didn’t ride over him though. I had fun during the race. After the race…that’s another story.



The venue was horrible. Parking was 1.5 miles east of the vendor/spectator area. 1 mile south of the starting line and 2 miles west of the registration area. You needed a pit bike just to get around. I was okay, but what about my wife? With cops busting people for riding 2-up and without helmets she was left to walk/take the “shuttle”/or ride the mountain bike that I brought for her. She tried the bicycle at first, but the rude element “racing” up and down the dirt road kept her from doing it again. Then she took the “shuttle.” They had two 10-passenger Econoline vans to carry people during an event that allegedly attracts 30,000 people. What a joke huh?



So how did this affect us? Well she saw me at the start and one other time during the race and that wasn’t even the final lap. So she didn’t know when I finished. I went and waited outside the moto-plex after the finish for a while. She never showed. Then I rode back to the truck and waited there for what seemed like forever. She of course had the truck keys so I had no water/food/or a cell phone. It soon occurred to me that she probably didn’t see me finish and was probably afraid I was injured out on the course. So, dehydrated and in my MX boots, I hopped on her mountain bike, which is several sizes too small, and went looking for her. I never did find her. Then I went back to the truck where she was standing in the bed looking for me. Then to add further insult to injury they won’t have results posted for 4 weeks. This was the straw that broke the camel’s back for me. Granted it is just some beginner’s race, but I would like to know if I got a “podium” finish.



Apparently there is a much better event run the same weekend as Adelanto each year a little further north on I-15. My only problem is that I don’t have, and can’t get, a real spark arrestor for my aging KX125. This keeps me from doing some real desert racing.



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