Todd Wells

Adios Tucson

I can't believe I'm out of here already, seems like we just arrived. I had a little bit busier off season then normal with a trip to South Africa and driving all the way back to Durango from Mexico instead of just going straight to Tucson. Oh well, it's been another great winter of training. 

This year has been the wettest I have ever spent in Tucson. As I'm writing this it's pouring out again. I can't believe all the water Tucson has received this winter. Everything is turning green, the washes are raging and they claim to be out of their short term drought. I thought the whole meaning of desert was dry area but I guess it's been drier then normal over the past 5 years. 

Winston got attacked by another dog a few days ago up at Lower Tanque Verde Falls. We were the only ones there minding our own business when some lady comes down the trail, tells Meg her dog just attacked another dog and by the time she finishes her dog has Winston's neck in it's mouth and submerging him in the water. Luckily he got away but got a bite on his back and bruised his chest trying to escape. The lady just took off. From start to finish the whole experience was less then a minute. 

Winston seemed a little shaken up but OK until that night. He started to stiffen up and then at 2am he was panting super loud and we took him to a 24/7 emergency vet. He had a fever and had to get on antibiotics and pain anti inflammatory medicine. It was a bummer but the vet was really nice and we were out of there with in an hour since no one else was there. 

He's having a rough week, yesterday he had to go back and found out he's got worms. He's on even more medication now. 

I finished up my high volume, low intensity training block last week with out a hitch. That training takes a lot out of me but I feel like it sets me up well for the rest of the year. Since then I took a little break and have been doing some transition rides and hit up the Shoot Out group ride on Saturday. 

The Shoot Out has been going on for ever and the ride rolled out of town with 150-200 the other day. We even had like 30 or 40 people do the Madera portion of the ride. The most I've ever seen do that part is about 15. The ride was really windy and I got some good suffering in. 

After the ride I had my first USADA test of the year. I've been been tested by the same husband/wife down here for the last 10 years. 

Congrats to Tad Elliot for getting 2nd at the Birkebeinder ski race a few weeks ago. It's one of the biggest races in the country and he narrowly got beat by an Italian racer. Dan Bowman also had a good race at Tour of Langkawi where he was 20th on the huge climbing day. Jean-Christophe Peraud  had a good Paris Nice prologue yesterday in his first big road race since switching from the MTB. He got the silver medal in Beijing and switched to the road this year after winning the French TT national championships last year.   

Meg, Winston and I are heading out to San Diego today. I'm getting my UCI medical tests done at the Chula Vista OTC tomorrow morning. Then we're going to hang out in Del Mar for a few days before going up to Boneli for the first race of the year. It's going to hurt bad but at least I have a month of good racing before the first World Cup. I'm hoping by the time we get to Durango at the end of March the snow is melted or at least starting to. 

I wonder how long it's going to take us to drive to San Diego....

Base

So I'm in my last week of base training for this year. People have different ways they approach this endurance phase of training. Most do some intensity during this period but I don't do any. I figure racing from March through December is enough intensity and I enjoy not putting it in the red zone during this time of the year. That's not to say I'm not training hard though. This week I'll hopefully log in 35 hours at a very steady pace that is about as hard as I can ride after the 5 weeks leading up to this week. Needless to say I'm pretty tired right now. I only have 2 big days left though and then I'll have a nice 5 day recovery period consisting of ez riding and as much golf as I can take. 

The weather has been really wet this year. The washes are still running full blast and it's gonna be an awesome spring with all this water. Should be blooming cactus everywhere. With the cool weather I've managed to ward off the sunburn this entire training period which is usually tough with big hours, no shade and 2,500 ft elevation. These guys haven't been out much but will probably be coming out soon. 

 

I heard a rumor that the upcoming Fontana PROXCT just got down graded from a C1 to a C2. That's a bummer since the US needs all the points we can get for Olympic spots but more importantly I need all the UCI points I can for start position at the World Champs. If you were at the Saint Ann World Cup last year you know the new start is even more crucial then the old one. You have about 2 minutes before you drop into a long single track. 

Meg and I have been logging in the Olympic viewing. I'm either out on the bike, at the gym or watching the Olympics. My favorite event so far was that 15K mens skate race. That was the most exciting race I've ever seen on skis. 

I have also been crushing the Lee Child books. The Reacher character is awesome and ever since the TM, Booby turned me on to them I have been reading them non stop. You can hit up the Bookman's here and get like 10 books for $40. That's a sweet deal. 

Finally, check out this article from Cyclocross Magazine about Cross Nationals. We need to get a CX National Championships in Durango. http://www.cxmagazine.com/cyclocross-nationals-boost-bends-economy-144m?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CyclocrossMagazine+%28Cyclocross+Magazine%29&utm_content=cyclocross&utm_term=cyclocross%2C+cycling%2C+bike+racing%2C+veldrijden%2C+cyclo-cross

I wonder how old Hagen is today.... Happy Birthday.....

Tucson Sun

Man the weather has been awesome down here this week. Mid 70s and sunny with hardly any wind, until today. I've been logging in the miles. I have 7 more really long rides left and then a little break. Gilby is coming down and we might play the course at Dove Mountain where they are having the Match Play World Championships right now. 

How about the women's downhill last night. Jeez those girls go for it and crash HARD! I couldn't imagine crashing going that fast and flying 2/3rds of a football field through the air and landing on ice, sliding the rest of the way down the course. Gnarly. And how about Shaun White? It's pretty cool when people have a ton of hype and pressure, step up and make it happen. Especially in a sport like that where it's just you doing your thing alone. Not like a race where there are other people to push you. 

I finished the "Positively False" book about Floyd. After reading it I can say he truly got screwed and anyone that is subject to drug testing should read this book. You won't believe how it all went down. Even if you think he definitely cheated it is quite eye opening for someone coming from a Western judicial system to see how the system operates, completely different then our US judicial system. 

Ever since the Super Bowl I have been quoting this commercial to Meg. 

Winston injured his paw in a ball accident the other day. He's worried about his season now but I think it will be healed up in a few days if he takes it EZ, which he doesn't. 

Meg and Winston have been driving all over the Tucson area lately keeping me topped up with drinks and chocodiles for my long rides. It's awesome having them there so I don't have to stop so much, I can just keep riding since I do enough stopping with all the traffic lights around here. I have been getting to know the city employees doing road construction on my normal routes. 

Tomorrow I have one of my last big gym days of this preseason. I won't miss feeling sore afterward but I will miss hanging out with John and watching guys bench press 515 lbs. That some serious weight. I have always enjoyed the gym and have enjoyed get back in there these past few years after avoiding it all together for the better part of 7 years. 

I wonder how Durango is dealing with the new year long enforcement of 1-way traffic on Florida road...

Riding

I'm really starting to log in the hours with this phase of my training. I pretty much ride, eat, nap, gym or run or nothing, eat, sleep with some TV Olympics thrown in there too. With my schedule next week I won't even gym it up or run, just ride a bunch. 

I've been reading the Floyd Landis, Positively False book. It's a good read and he has a great story coming from a fundamentalist religious background. Wether you think he's guilty or not, he has an interesting story. 

The international cyclocross season is slowly coming to a close. Today was the last round of the Super-prestige series. Stybar won the 26,000 Euro overall prize. That's some good series overall prize money, especially considering it is just one of three series that goes on over there each winter. Page was 7th today also, looks like he just had a bad day at Worlds. 

Speaking of cross I bought the "Road" magazine with Timmy J on the cover a few days ago. The last time I bought it he was also on the cover Meg reminded me. 

The cross races in Europe in the middle of the winter seem so cool. Snow, ice, steep climbs with tricky descents and tons of spectators. I wish they were like that in November, I would go over there and do them in an instant. That time of year though it seems like fast dry courses or tractor pull mud fests. 

I got out on the new Epic today. It's very similar to last year except for 2010 we are running the Fox rear shock which is less clunky then the old shock. I was pumped to see that the Bugs Spring trail wasn't too snowy. I had to do a little hiking but never off the bike for more then a few steps. Almost 6 and 1/2 hours on the MTB today, that's good training for Leadville I guess. I don't spend too many days on the bike that long. I even ran out of water in my camel back. 

The Canadian National Mountain Bike team is here in Tucson this week for some warm weather training. They are staying about 2 minutes from where I'm staying this year though I haven't seen any of them yet. 

Finally, I have a new favorite beer, Trader Joes "Simpler Times" lager, only $2.99 a 6 pack. You can't beat that, even with all the advertising BL did for the Super Bowl. 

I wonder where I'm gonna ride tomorrow......

Super Bowl Sunday

The training has been going well lately. Our living situation is dialed in and I have more then 1 days worth of groceries in the fridge. Life is good. 

I finished up the first phase of my base on Monday and then had 5 days off. While, not quite off but pretty chill, other then getting back to the best gym in Tucson and working myself over. Kettle bells are way better for swings then dumb bells. Jump squats also work way better with the proper equipment. 

Meg, Winston and I logged in some running miles too. I have been trying to run twice a week this year for my training. It helps keep the muscles in good shape, builds bone density and keeps the weight off. Plus Winston loves it so it's gotta be good. 

I played some golf too. Had my best round going in a while but ran out of daylight the other day. I was crushing the drives though and hit 300, that's big for me. 

Meg and I went to the Desert Museum on Friday. That place is so cool. I hate to look at the snakes but can't help myself. They blend in so well, you gotta be careful when you step of your ride in the desert, there are plenty of venomous creatures waiting to get you like this one.

  

The cactus there are really friendly. 

 

I like this one. Notice my sweet helmet hair. 

 
 They even have mountain lions here. If you live in the west you gotta fear the mountain lion. You don't see them often but if you do it could turn out bad. You can kind of see him here, not much zoom on my phone. 

 

Tucson has been really rainy this year. It has already rained more in the last couple weeks then it usually does when I'm here for months. You don't see the washes running too often in the winter. 

 

Luckily when it rains in the desert it doesn't do it all day(usually). This is a classic Tucson picture. That is a lift kit. Meg is 5'6" so that thing has to be close to 10' tall. 

 

Sram just launched a new site for it's XX stuff, check it out at: http://sram2x10.com  They have a list of bikes speced with the XX, Specialized has 6 production bikes with it and the closed competitor only has 2. That means they give you 6 super light high end production bikes to chose from. Man I'm lucky to be on the Big S. 

Finally, here a classic Flipper shot from our Stellenbosch SA Camp. 

 

I wonder when it's going to be hot and sunny again.....

This is Getting Ridiculous.

The bad weather seems to have followed me from Durango to Tucson. It usually rains one time while I'm here in Tucson all winter and today it hasn't stopped since I woke up. Maybe today is the one day but somehow I doubt it. 

Made it down here last night and am staying with Hutch right now on the North side of town. DT is going to show me a condo tonight though so as soon as I'm set up with a permanent residence Meg and Winston are going to come down. 

So far today all I've been doing is eating and drinking caffeine. I was trying to cut out caffeine for a while but that doesn't seem to be working. What else am I going to do while hanging out at the coffee shop surfing the net? 

I had hoped to tough it out through the SnowDown parade this weekend but I'm a total wuss when it comes to cold weather. How I ended up in a mountain town in Colorado I'll never know. I always had dreams of moving to the beach in Florida but somehow I landed in the four corners. It's so beautiful there 7 months out of the year it's tough to leave. Especially when I can drive 8 hours to (usually) sunny Tucson and so many great people live there. 

Hutch(the Fabio looking guy) was one of the main people that helped get me back into racing once I graduated from the UofA. It was great having him on the circuit for a few years and it's always good to catch up with him. Never short on stories. 

Meg is having yet another birthday tonight put on by Willow and Co. I'm sure it's going to get out of control and I'm bummed I won't be there to be part of it. If you're out on the town tonight I'm sure you'll run into them. 

The rain seemed to have stopped for the moment so I'm going to head back up the hill to Hutch's house in an attempt to get out on the bike or at the very least lace up the shoes for a good run. 

In case I'm not back on line in the next few days, doubtful, good luck to the whole US Cyclocross Worlds team and Kit-Kat. Kick ass over there in Tabor and bring back some hardware. 

I wonder what Winstons' doing right now.....  

Motivation

It's hard to get motivated to ride when it's freezing outside. Now I shouldn't complain since I've been in the warmth for all but a few days lately. I can't decided it that makes it harder or easier to get out there though. The thermometer has been below 0 F when I've woken up the past few days. I've been getting it done out there but certain things about training for a long time in the cold bother me. 

First of all, it's not so bad when you only need an hour or two but when you're putting in over 3 hours, 4 planned for today it just wears on you. Sure there is the normal part about being cold that sucks, getting wet from snow melt or sprayed by cars as they pass that sucks but that's not my biggest pet peeve. The thing I hate the most is the sweating.

See I sweat a lot. So as soon as I warm up I start sweating. That means every thing gets soaked, including my balaclava. Then the wind hits it and after a while it turns to ice. Then, I'll go up a hill, the sun will hit it and it will get soaked all over again. It's like I put it in the sink and then directly on. As soon as I start going back down hill, it freezes again. That's really my biggest complaint about training in the cold. 

I have also had some problems with my feet and hands freezing but with all this new Specialized winter gear, that hasn't been a problem yet(knock on wood). 

Enough complaining for one day. Here is what I have been doing the past two days when I haven't been training

 

That's me shoveling my roof. Durango got 3 feet of snow last storm and the snow from the previous storm hasn't melted yet. That's a lot of weight on the roof so instead of buying a new roof I've been shoveling. Most of the neighborhood has been shoveling their roofs. It's a lot easier then shoveling the drive way because you don't have to heave it up, just throw it off. It's a great core work out too. 

This is what we woke up to when we were trying to drive home the other day and the passes were closed. Our car is under that pile after a mere twelve hours of parking it there. 

 

I have a max of six more days of training here in Durango before I head to the heat until summer. I'm trying to tough it out until then but might leave any day. I'm trying to stay until then because there is a good chance I won't be back to Durango until just before the Texas PRO XCT. From Tucson training I head to CA for the first two US races, then to Pan Am Champs in Guatemala, Sea Otter, first 2 World Cups, Germany HC race, World Cup 3 and then home finally. It's a big schedule but I probably avoid shoveling anymore snow till the end of the year. 

I'm thinking about heading to N.M. to ride today, it's suppose to be 10 degrees warmer then Durango and it's only a 30 minute drive. 

I wonder what the Schmooz and Bundi are doing right now....

Home Again

It was a long trip back to Durango from Stellenbosch. The flight from Joburg to D.C. was a monster and I didn't sleep nearly as much as I did going over. Things went smooth though until the Durango flight when we flew out of Denver in route for Durango only to be turned around mid flight because the weather was too bad to land in Durnago. We were suppose to divert to Montrose if we couldn't land in D-town which is only a few hour drive away but flew all the way back to Denver. 

All flights to Durango were canceled after that so I had the bright idea to rent a car and drive the six hours home. It wouldn't have been that bad of an idea but we missed making it over Wolf Creek pass before it closed at 6pm by 1 hour. We spent the night in South Fork with hopes the pass would open the next day. 

We got a few feet of snow overnight and the pass was maybe going to open anyway around 2:30pm so we waited but it never opened. The two other ways to get to Durango from that area, HW 17 and driving all the way to Santa Fe and around were both closed so we stayed in Alamosa the next day. By that times, flights had started getting into Durango. 

FInally yesterday the HWY 17 pass opened and set out for Durango at 5:30 am. We made it over the pass but it goes into N.M. and the N.M. side wasn't even plowed yet but we blasted through the snow in our Outback rental and made it home. Not the way we had planned to end our trip but what can you do? The funny thing was we only had the clothes on our backs that we had worn from our S.A. departure. No jackets, hats, gloves or boots and we were tromping around in freezing temperatures and deep snow. Ha. 

So here are a few pictures from our S.A. trip. 

Wine tasting in Stellenbosch at Morganhof

 

more of the facilities

 

This is one of four of these type of aging rooms in the world

 

This is the Green Gate restaurant. It is Bobby's office away from his office away from the office. It is also the place you can see tons of cyclists, tri athletes and Olympic track and field athletes eating lunch everyday. All organic and great tasting. 

 

Bobby and Christine at this very establishment

 

So the Dart is always carrying Cherise's purse around for her. Of course I bust on him all the time for this. Here he is trying to avoid a picture of it. 

 

Here is the best shot I got of the two of them the whole trip. Sunset cable car ride down table mountain. Ahh, so cute

 

I wonder how long it's going to take me to shovel the roof.....

Blizzard

I don't want to boohoo about traveling but damn. Spent over 25 hours on the plane and didn't even make it home. Flew all the way to Durango only to have them turn the plane around b/c the couldn't land. They were suppose to fly to Montrose(2.5 hour drive from Durango and an avoidable pass) but in the end didn't want to have the plane stuck there. So we flew back to Denver. We decided to drive but made it to Wolf Creek 1 hour after they closed the pass. So now we're in South Fork. 

We have an able vehicle, 2010 Subaru Outback but it has acquired a foot of snow in the last 2 hours. We either drive over the pass which is about 110 miles to home or drive around which is a 5 hour drive. I can't believe I live someplace where it snows, I'm a bike rider. Riding and snow don't mix well. 

Speaking of not mixing well, I got brushed by a car on my last ride in SA. Luckily the guy's mirror was already ripped off from a previous accident on the left side or it would have taken me out for sure. His windshield was also cracked on the driver's side like he smashed his head into it. 

We have managed to stay awake till 9:20 Colorado time so hopefully we'll sleep through the night. So far this year all I feel like I've been doing is traveling. I'm looking forward to an uninterrupted block of training. 

I wonder what Winstons' doing right now....

SA

The blog has been neglected the past few days. Meg and I have been having a blast here in Stellenbosch. Between, training, gym and sight seeing I've been too tired to update. Plus, I've really been into this "Killing Floor" book. 

I have tons of pictures but the internet is slow so I'll save them for when I get home. Yesterday after we went training, Meg, Dart Cherise and I went for a drive along the coast of Cape town. It was awesome, we saw some of these:

 

and these:

 

After our trip through the best of Capetown's beach towns we went up Table Mountain. The sign said it is the 8th wonder of the world and might be the oldest mountain in the world. Why might, I would just say it is, who is going to know the difference. 

The cable car ride up is pretty gnarly and the floor in the car rotates so everyone gets a good view. We got to watch the sunset up there and then we cruised down to the water front for dinner on the harbor. Quite a day. 

I have a funny story and then I'm getting back to my book. Lene and Sandra(Lene's boyfriend) went to Capetown for Sandra's birthday. They asked Dylan(mechanic) to borrow his car to drive down there. He said sure but was at a half Iron Man so his brother brought the keys over to their apartment and left them there. He said the car was parked down the street. 

They got into what they thought was Dylan's car, jiggled the key and it started right up. They got about 20KMs away but the door kept opening when they went around corners so they called Booby to see if they could use his car instead since the door was a problem. Booby said sure and they drove the car back to Booby's house and got his BMW. They left Dylan's car at Boobys house for the weekend. 

When Dylan's brother who dropped off the keys came to fetch Dylan's car at Booby's house today he couldn't find it. Booby pointed out the car to him but it turns out that wasn't Dylan's car. Somehow they had put Dylan's key in someone else's car and it started right up and they drove it off. 

They were going to go to the police and explain what happened but they weren't quite sure how to explain it or if they would get in trouble. Instead, they drove it back down to the street they picked it up on with a note and some cash explaining what happened and apologizing. The person whose car it was must have picked it up because it's gone now. Either that or someone else mistaken it for their car and took it again. Crazy story huh. 

Well I only have 2 days left here before we head back to the snow. I did the legendary 4 Passes loop today and have been seeing the Bartman and his team on every training ride I do. Today was no exception. 

I wonder what Winstons' doing right now....