Todd Wells

USA

Man I was lucky to be born in the USA. I don't know if I'd make it as one of those guys that have to beg at the topes(speedbumps) in the middle of the highway for spare pesos in the shanty towns of Mexico. You see some heart braking stuff on the roads from the paradise that is San Pancho to the border town of Nogales. I saw more dead dogs and cats then any other trip. I also saw more deformed/challenged kids on the side of the street begging for money then I have any other trip. It makes you appreciate all we have being born in a place where you have every opportunity to succeed and if you don't there are a million other ways to get taken care of rather then being tossed in the gutter. 

I don't know what it is about New Years Day but there is no one on the road in Mexico. We did the drive from San Pancho to Mazatlan in 4 hours and it usually takes between 5:30 and 6. Then we rolled through Mazatlan in about 8 minutes and it usually takes at least 1/2 hour. The whole way we rolled at about 90 mph and we had hoped to just make it to San Carlos by 6pm but were 4 hours farther along and almost made it to the border by then. 

It is awesome to go on vacation down south but it is such a relief to cross that Fronteria back into the US. Usually I'm done driving for a few months once I reach Tucson but we'll be back in Durango on Sunday night to get ready for this SA trip. Then I'll once again be driving back down to Tucson for the remainder of the winter. I gotta figure out a job once I'm done racing that allows me to spend spring, summer and fall in Durango but winter in Tucson. 

I have a big day tomorrow so I gotta get some rest. I have to check out the new digs for this year, bust out a run with "racer Meg", spin a lap out at Fantasy Island and maybe play some golf. I'm hoping to fit in a bit of Indian food along the way as well. 

I wonder how cold I'm going to be on Sunday night......

Felice Ano Neuvo

Another year in the books, everyone seems better then the last. It was awesome being on a new team this year, being healthy and having great friends and family. Hopefully next year will be as good as this year. 

Today was our last day in San Pancho, not just for the year but for our vacation. We were planning on staying for a few more days but with a big trip to South Africa just over 10 days away, we want to get home, shovel the driveway, wash our clothes and repack. We shouldn't have to add many clothes though, I think it's ever hotter in SA then in Mexico. In the past we have spent a few more weeks south of the border but this year we're on a expedited trip. 

It's amazing how fast time goes. I am excited for vacation all year, a month of no stress, no worry of results, training, diet, etc. and now it's just about over. Well, I still have a bit of time left but my days of sitting on the beach sipping cervezas are done. 

This season went quickly too. It seems like I just landed in South Africa for the first World Cup of the year and now another cross season is in the books. You know things are going well when time goes fast but thats when you wish it would slow down. So we're hoping to make it to San Carlos tomorrow but in Mexico you never know so we have some other potential stops along the way planned out. 

Rude had a good race the other day in Belgium. He rode with Ralf Naef for a while before Naef hit a course post and went down. Rude finished only 2 places behind Hermida. Now Naef and Hermida aren't cross racers per se but they have both won World Cups, Hermida two this year and probably drove from their houses so it's pretty much in their back yard. Great job Rude. 

If you are into cyclocross and haven't watched any of the "Christmas Cross" races from Europe you should follow CXMagazine on Twitter. They always have links up to Belgi TV stations that broadcast it live or Cyclingdirt has also been posting videos after the race. The races look awesome with tons of spectators, cool courses, great filming and bad weather. It's amazing how fast races look with good filming, it's like watching the Tour versus the ToC, the Tour looks so much faster even when they're going up a 20% grade in their easiest gear. 

Maybe next year I'll get a new header for the site. 

I wonder what we're gonna do tonight.....

No Electric

We have been battling the electric here in Mexico this trip. It has been out downstairs and now the electric to the water pump with out too. Now we're battling the electric and the water. Right when we got hot showers too. This thing is still working though. 

This is the family's set up at la playa. Not bad. 

 

Winston thinks he is a life guard. 

 

 If you notice in that picture, Winston is wet. He doesn't really like the ocean, especially in front of the house where it's rough. This trip he has been being very brave though and going in a little. 

My parents have been having a blast since they got here. They had the best steak and banana split they have ever had at Mar Plata the other night. Today we are planning on going in to Old Puerto Vallarta to check out the shops. Near old PV their are sand sculptors that make the most incredible stuff out of sand. I'll have to try and get some pictures. 

Rude has been having fun over in Belgium this trip. His results haven't showed it but he's had some good races going. Hopefully he'll get a result in the next few days. 

I just saw that Tom Zirbell tested positive for DHEA. That's s bummer. I don't know the guy but I doubt he intentionally took the stuff. More then likely, it was in some supplement he took and wasn't even listed as an ingredient. You see, if Company X sells DHEA and a multi vitamin and they don't clean the equipment they use to mix the one before mixing the other it can become cross contaminated. So you might get a miniscule trace of the stuff unsuspectedly. I don't think anyone would take a supplement intentionally that is banned that probably doesn't even work. I mean if it was EPO you know it's gonna work, but DHEA is just going to make you test positive. Anyway, hopefully the guy is innocent and will prove it. 

I think Meg and I are going to bust out a beach run today. It will be my first exercise since Nationals. I need to work off some of this guacamole and cervezas. 

I wonder if its going to get above freezing in Durango today....

Cyclingdirt.com

If you are looking for coverage from the Belgie WCs, Cyclingdirt.com has coverage. 

Mexico

We made it down to San Pancho from San Carlos with out any problems, just under 13 hours. When you're traveling on the highways down here you see some pretty creative people. It's amazing how much crap you can stack on and tie up to your vehicle. Like this: 

 

We must have passed at least two hundred vehicles with this much or more stuff strapped to their ride. I have a bunch of pictures but the internet connection is a little suspect so I'm not going to waste all day trying to upload them. 

It is pretty dead down here in Mexico this year. San Pancho is always a pretty chill town but with the swine flu this summer, the media attention on the drug wars and the economy in the toilet, it's almost a ghost town here. It's nice for us but not for the people that make their living in these few months. We went over to Sayulita last night though for fish tacos and that place is still crazy. The town is so packed and noisy, but it makes coming back to San Pancho, 4 KMs away even better. 

Gilby and I played golf at "The Field of Dreams" yesterday. It's a little 9 hole course up in the jungle, not fancy at all. They just redid the last three holes now and it requires a few more clubs. They even have an elevated island green. 

I was laid out for a day, a few days back with the stomach bug. It seems better now but when I'm down here it's always nice to be close to a bathroom since you never know when you're going to get the urge. The food has been amazing as usual and this morning I had the best chocolate pancakes I've ever had. I also threw back a pretty damn good cappuccino.  

I just watched footage of the last WC in Belgium this morning too, it looked like a super fun course. I also watched some footage from US CX nats. There is some great coverage of the race up on the internet. 

Well Meg is down at the beach so I better head down there. The Gilbys leave tomorrow and my parents come in. 

I wonder what Maddy is doing right now.....

San Carlos

So I skipped a head a lot since my last blog. Like most things, it's on the next one. Nationals was anticlimactic for me. I had great form but found a way to not make it happen. The other guys out there didn't help my cause as everyone was riding really fast. It just wasn't my day and Timothy rode a great race. He was flying and J-Pows too until he TKOed himself. Meg and I made it through the post race party no worse for the wear. Well, Meg and Rude had drinking contests with themselves but I managed to keep things mellow. They both won their contests and paid the price the next day. 

I only had a day to BooHoo about the race before we loaded up the car and pointed it south. We arrived back in Durango on Monday night and left Tuesday morning for Mexico. I was hoping to make it to San Carlos the first day but we only got to Tucson. Today we made it to San Carlos but after sneaking Winston into a "No Pets Casita" last night we didn't get much sleep. The walls were paper thin and he was antsy. 

We made it for sunset to the "Soggy Peso" after setting up our tent at the http://www.totonakarv.com This place rocks. I'm sitting on the internet, charging my computer in a chair in my tent after taking a warm shower. For $12 a day I should move down here full time. We even got 2 free margaritas with our check in. I might be singing a different tune after sleeping on a 1/2 inch sleeping pad on a gravely camp site. At least I'm not worried about Winston barking and it is 70 degrees, about  70 degrees warmer then this time last week. 

Tomorrow we're hoping to make it San Pancho but worst case we have another spot picked out in Mazatlan and San Blas. You never know what you're going to get while driving down here and there are a few safe spots to stop along the way. There were some HUGE waits going back towards the US with trucks backed up for miles. The military guys all look to be about 15 with huge machine guns, desert camo and bright orange vests so they don't get mowed down while directing traffic on the roads. 

It's 8:45 and Meg, Winston and I are all ready for bed. 

I wonder what Maddy(our cat) is doing right now...

Bend Day 3

I'm settling in nicely here in Bend, already getting bored. Rude and I got to bust out almost 1 entire fast lap today. That is a huge accomplishment since there are millions of people trying to train on the course at once. I'm hoping there will be half as many people trying to ride the course tomorrow since a lot of categories have finished already. 

I think the course probably melted a bit today since it was finally above freezing. It was suppose to snow but nothing so far. They say maybe a few inches before Sunday afternoon. When we rode around noon today it was still snow covered, no mud and black ice corners. The roads were melting though and I was covered in road spray when I got home. 

No webisode today but check out the latest from Colt. 

Went to dinner at Baja Fresh today. It was good but we had to drive there. I didn't even need winter gloves tonight though to go outside. Whole Foods was right there so we stopped by and got some over priced groceries and bubbly water. 

I'm looking forward to watching the U-23 race tomorrow. It should be a good one, the guys I'm watching for are Summerhill and Zach McDonald. I'm sure there are some other fast guys too but those are the ones that stick out. 

I have been working hard on that lollipop from last night. I almost have all the color worked off of it. We got some mini canollies and tarts for desert from the WF. I need to put on some pounds to stay warm out there on Sunday. 

The Brake Though Media guys are showing up again tomorrow to get more video footage. Hopefully we can get some good footage. Meg and I are watching Rush Hour 3, Myron is watching Blades of Glory. 

I wonder what Winston and Snoodle are doing right now.....

Bend Day 2

Another webisdoe on i-am-specialized.com:

Rude and I got out on the course today, it's a blast. The whole thing is covered in snow, except where it's just ice. The corners have ice ruts but not banked in the correct way a berm would be. They are banked on the inside of the turning radius so as you lean in, it shoots your tires out from under you. 

There are quite a few ups and downs on the course and it's very short. I think the B-men were doing 6:30 min laps so we'll be in the 5 minute and something range. It will be great for spectating, I just hope they use the 80% rule and pull riders when they are in danger of being lapped, not afterwards. 

Here is a video of me speaking with Colt of cyclingdirt.com about the course this afternoon. 
 

Cycling Videos on CyclingDirt

This site if blowing up with video footage these days, it's so 2009. Now all I need is a new header and it will really be pro. 

Congrats to the Dart for his Mountain Bike Action cover this month. That's a cocky picture with the matching shorts, shoes and helmet for the World Cup U-23 leaders jersey. I would expect nothing less. 

There seems to be a ton of media coverage this year for CX nationals. Last night they had a thing at Bart Bowen's training center where they compared Treboohoo and Craig's physiology on the bike. This town is so cool and is really behind the event. It's great to see them promoting their local pros as well. Everyone here is super friendly also, I don't think I've ever been to a town with so many nice people. Cars will stop at an intersection to let bikes cross even when they don't have a stop sign or traffic light. Crazy. 

So like I was saying, there is so much media about the race I'll talk about something else, here are some photos I've taken the past few days. 

Bend has great candy shops, I'm going to need to go back to the dentist when i get home. 

 

This was the view from the plane flying into Portland last week. Now that's a mountain. 

 

Myron was possessed on the drive to Bend. 
 
 

Downtown Bend is very Christmasy right now. City sidewalks......

 

We're watching Slum Dog Millionaire right now and the Mentalist is up next. Meg just did the laundry with no laundry detergent because the front desk didn't have any. I don't think the clothes will be clean with just water alone but what do I know. 

I wonder what Winston and Snoodle are doing right now.....

Bend

Yup, it's every bit as cold as you've heard it is here. Maybe even colder. We drove down from Portland today in our jalepy mini van. Before we left we had to fill the front tire with fix a flat and buy an air freshener because the car smelled so badly like smoke. Bend seems like a great town, though we haven't seen much of it yet. 

Here is another new webisode up from i-am-specialized.com 
 

I can't believe the domestic MTB schedule is influx yet again. How does this happen. We have 32 UCI sanctioned cyclocross races from September 19- December 6. That's only 10 weeks, with multiple races every weekend all over the country and we can't get a hand full of mountain bike races in the US with UCI accreditation?  Puerto Rico has 2 UCI events in March alone. It's a real bummer for US mountain bike racing. 

CXMagazine.com has a video lap of the National course up right now. I wish we could race tomorrow with the course as it was today, snowy and icy. Maybe it will get even worse by Sunday, I hope so.

Meg and I leave for Mexico on Tuesday, it was 84 degrees at the house today. That's an 84 degree difference in temperature from what it was when we walked home from dinner tonight. 

I wonder if my Marriot points are ever going to get credited to my account.....  

Residence Inn

So we have decided to stay another day in Portland before heading to Bend since there is 8 inches on snow on the ground at our hotel and the high yesterday was 15 degrees. Portland is dry and sunny, though it's only in the mid 20s. Today we're gonna try to ride around Forest Park per Sager's recommendation of low wind there. 

We also found out that hotel has a awesome happy hour during the week so we have to take advantage of that. Last night we hit up some Sushi place downtown, went to Powell's Books which is a huge independent bookstore, Vodoo doughnuts and to some karaoke place to listen to Salam sing. It was so cold last night when we were walking around downtown I had my scarf wrapped around my face like some bank robber. It was a lot of fun though. 

There are three more videos up on i-am-specialized.com. Here they are. 

Meg likes this hotel so much she's talking about moving to one in Tucson this winter. Rude and I have been procrastinating this ride all morning, I think it's time to suit up. 

Tonight we're planning on maybe hitting a movie and Baja Fresh. Umm. Big thanks to Doug for taking of Winston and shoveling our driveway/sidewalk. 

I wonder how many times we're going to get lost on this ride today....