Todd Wells

Cooked

I rode in the worst headwind ever today for 6:23 hours. The bad thing about doing a point to point ride is if it's head wind, it's head wind the whole day. I even spent about 10 miles behind the truck going probably 35-40mph, Bisbee is 3,000 ft higher then Tucson and it still took me 23 minutes longer today then yesterday. I hate the sound of wind too, I am really a whiner. At least it was a little cooler today to start out but it was still upper 80s when I finished this afternoon. Here are some pictures of the ride from yesterday. 

A lot of this..

Rolling into Tombstone, you gotta have a sign for the OK Coral. 

This is about 20 miles outside of Bisbee. You can kind of see this big blimp thing that was flying in the same place over Sierra Vista all day near the middle of the mountains. I think it is monitoring border stuff but today I rode right through there and it wasn't flying. 

Closer to Bisbee there are actually some trees. 

Bisbee is a really funky old mining town. Here's some random old building there. 

I almost forgot, I broke a spoke about halfway home today and had to do a little wheel truing on the side of the road. Luckily I got it good enough so it didn't rub the brake pads for rest of the ride. What a pain though. 

Mike Wilk is famous this week in the Durango Telegraph. 

I went to the U of A tonight to talk to the cycling team. It was cool going back in the Rec Center, I haven't been there since I was in school there. Got to see High Tower, Chloe and Melanie. I usually see everyone down here but this year I have hardly seen anyone. 

I can't keep my eyes open anymore. 4 more days of base left this year. 

I wonder......

Bisbee

Today I rode from Tucson to Bisbee. Meg and Winston met me along the way with drinks and snacks. I was looking to do a 6 hour ride and door to door it was 6:01. Perfect. I had a big tail wind and thought I would get to Bisbee too fast but it worked out perfect. Tomorrow though I'm going to have a big head wind going back and I don't think I'll make it in under 6 hours even though Bisbee is at 5,600 ft and Tucson is 3,000 ft lower. Rode through Tombstone "The town that's too tough to die" on the way here. It was mid 80s the whole way here and when I hit the Mule Pass climb into Bisbee I was sweating bullets. 

Meg, Winston and I are staying at The Gardens at Mile High Ranch B and B. The place is sweet and Winston can run around with out a leash. We had an awesome dinner at "Santiago's" mexican place. It was really good. We tried to have a drink at the Copper Queen Hotel bar but I forgot my ID so they wouldn't serve me. I was going to have my first ever Whisky on the Rocks at the haunted Bisbee bar but it wasn't too be. Instead we got some blueberry cobbler at the coffee shop in town. 

I'm hoping I make it back to Tucson with out incident tomorrow since I'm suppose to speak at the UofA cycling club meeting at 6pm. 

There was a lot going on in Tucson today; baseball spring training games started with the Rockies vs. Diamondbacks, the Tucson Rodeo is still going on and Accenture Match Play World Golf Championships started today in Marana with Tiger Woods playing his first tournament in 8 or 9 months. I wish I could have seen the Match Play but even if we were in town I still need to ride too much to get up there.  Maybe if Tiger makes it to the final match on Monday I'll get up at like 6am to ride so I could go up to Dove Mountain and see the last couple of holes. 

I wonder how hard the wind is going to blow tomorrow....

Blazing

It was HOT today. It was suppose to hit 90 degrees. I'm not sure it made it all the way up there but it was close. The site hasn't been getting much tlc lately but I'll do my best to bring you up to speed. 

I have 1 week of base left or 35 hours in the next six days. I busted out a 31 hour week which ended today. I've been logging in a bunch of miles on both the road and mtb. Today I went for a ride with a guy named Thomas who's a friend of Susi and visiting from Switzerland. He's a MTB marathon racer and getting for the Cape Epic in a few weeks. 

Meg and I just got back from El Charro where I best carne seca I've ever had. It was the first carne seca I've ever had but it won't be the last. 

Saw Hutch today, he has been getting really bad head aches that he has to go to the hospital for lately. He thinks they have it figured out though, hope so. 

I saw a rattle snake on the trail today up around 4,500 ft where I have never seen a snake before. It's strange to see them up that high this early but I guess they're ready for the summer. 

So Hutch let me in on a good way to have fun next time your stuck in the hospital. You take the finger clip off that monitors your heart rate and it drops to flat line. You then pretend like you're passed out and everyone rushes in to see if you're dead or not. They don't think it's that funny but you can get a good kick out of it. 

Meg has been taking good care of me lately. Since I've been riding so much she has been giving me massages every night, making me great food and meeting me on my rides to give me drinks. It's been awesome. 

CSI Miami is coming on so I'm out. I think I'm riding to Bisbee on Wednesday so hopefully I'll have some good pictures to post soon. 

I wonder if this heat wave is going to last....

Not Much New

I haven't been updating much lately because I don't have much to talk about. The weather is looking good again here, suppose to be in the mid 70s today and 80 in two days. The sun is out again and I'm back to wiping sun block out of my eyes. I'm training a bunch right now, did a 6 hour ride yesterday. The bikes are working good. Here are some shots of me riding the trails around here. Specialized just updated this site. 

http://www.i-am-specialized.com/xc-mtb/riders

I wonder if I'm going to do a double day or just one big ride. 

Just Riding

My hours are bumping up this week and I have 2 days left to hit 27 hours. Usually the weight comes flying off at this point but somehow I've managed to eat less and weigh more. I'm hoping it's just the weight lifting and it will start to come off soon. 24 Hours of the Old Pueblo is going on right now and the Shultzs are killing it. I think Sam had the fastest lap time by almost 7 minutes, a 55 minute lap. Ben Kneller just got 2nd at the Valley of the Sun TT on Friday and Corey Collier won the road race there yesterday. Good job to all. 

Jesse Anthony has been in town and we went training the other day. It's nice to have someone to do these long steady rides with. He's riding for Team Type 1 again. Check out their costumes, I think they look like the sweat suit Will Ferrell wears in Kicking and Screaming. You can't see it in this picture but the legs look like tiger stripes. 

Dan's was wearing his Dad's blue blockers the other day

Meg and I saw some havalinas up in the Foot Hills the other night. Too bad my phone doesn't have a flash or you might actually be able to see them in this picture. 

Then we went to Chipolte, ummmm

Then the other night we went bowling. I've been bowling probably 6 times in my whole life and 2 of those were in the past few months. Dan gave me some tips so next time I go up against Zellman I'm going to work him over. 

My phone takes really crappy pictures. Did a photo shoot with Kris Hanning the other day for Specialized and it was awesome. We got great shots, it didn't take all day and we didn't have to travel far to do it. 

I'm procrastinating going riding right now, just loading up on Mate and waiting for it to warm up out side. 

I wonder if Rude and the German are having fun riding in Moab......

Pooped

I'm really tired tonight, had a long day. I'll start with yesterday. Meg, Winston and I drove out of Durango in a blizzard back to Tucson. The drive started like this. 

Then on I 40 between Gallup and Holbrook it looked like this

Holbrook to Snow Flake was pretty good. 

In Snow Flake Meg and I let Winston play in the park for a while, it was snowy again. 

From Show Low we dropped into Globe and things were looking up again.

They got really good once we got past Winkleman. 

 

I'm too tired to update anymore night. 

I wonder how I got everything done today....

Snow Day

Forgot to post this picture from the other night. Dan, Ty, Ben, Meg and I hit Mama's the other night. It's a must miss but the retro 80s style arcade and decor was pretty cool. This is Dan's famous pose. 

Couldn't even take the time to rotate the picture. Oh well. 

Today we woke up to about 2 inches of snow. I had to head out to the hospital to get my blood tests, pee tests and physical with Dr Lawton and Char. The roads were icy and I had to fast before the test b/c they test for cholesterol too. I have high cholesterol so I've been taking some Niacin and I'm interested to see if it's helping. I doubt it but it's worth a shot. 

Every time I get the first period blood tests they never know what a yGT is. I get it every year and no one knows what it is. Must be some Euro test. 

After that it was out to HBs to check out a Honda 450 F. It's sweet but I'm thinking about getting a bike that is easier to convert to street legal. HB has about 30 motor sport toys in his shop, everything from dirt bikes to snowmobiles to dune buggies. You name it, he's got it. 

Then I had to sign my refi with Simberg Capital lending. If you are buying a house in Colorado or looking to refi you should check out Simberg Capital. I got my rate for less then 5% and Aaron is awesome. 

We saw Chris and Jen at RGPs for lunch and then Snoodle and I went up to Vallecito for a skate ski session.

 It seemed like it took forever to get out there. My skies haven't been waxed in a few years and I think I could have walked faster then I was skiing. 

Winston was having a blast though. 

The whole Junior Durango Nordic team came up to train when we were leaving. Tad even showed up to train with guys. After that it was sushi happy hour for dinner at East by Southwest and a little hot chocolate for desert. 

Now we're watching CSI Miami in HD with the new Dish Network setup. We are living large lately. 

I wonder how long it's going to take us to drive to Tucson tomorrow.....

D-Town

Meg, the black dog and I made it back to Durango on Friday. We're back for a few days to take care of logistical stuff, freeze and burn some calories during an ez training week at altitude. Here's a recap of the last few days. 

Friday: get up at 5:30am to drive to D-town, have to take a detour through Show Low b/c they're blasting at the mine between Oracle and Globe. (So if you're driving from Durango to the 24 Hours of the Old Pueblo either plan on taking a detour through Superior or driving the Globe-Oracle stretch on the weekend or before 6am or after 6pm on the week days). We went through 2 months of mail and went out to dinner with the Bear, Snoodle and the Overends. 

Saturday: Built up my CX bike since it was the only Specialized bike I brought home and went for a short spin. Then I broke out the dirt bike after tracking down my missing tie downs and went roosting in Aztec. It was a little muddy down there in spots but the sand washes were awesome. I had to pressure was the bike after that. Bought a wireless printer/fax/scanner/copier on my new Yotwells Inc credit card. Big time.  I also got my UCI license laminated and made a few copies of it in case I lose one. We hit up Falcs for dinner with Rude and I tried to set up the wireless printer the rest of the night. 

Today: It was suppose to snow a bunch today but nothing really happened. Rude and I went for a spin this morning. Then I went up to Purgatory to snowboard. I hooked up with TT, took about 5 runs and called it a day b/c I was freezing even though it was about 35 degrees and and only snowing a little.

Meg and I hit the famous "Steaming Bean" coffee shop. Ivan(the tool) and Rhonda just bought it two weeks ago so we'll have to make that our new caffeine shop. Then we hit the gym. It's hard to do all my exercises at a gym other then Power and Physique since I have to do a bunch of goofy exercises that require even goofier equipment. We watched the Super Cross, hit Steam Works and now we're watching the Gramys.

It was Locals day at Purgatory but I had to pay full price because I didn't have a special coupon. I thought all you would need was a license with your address on it but I think anyone could have got the discount if they had the coupon. Shouldn't it be called coupon day then? 

The mountain today was packed and every restaurant we went to this weekend had an hour wait. I thought we were in a depression, no one was spending money and all the businesses were hurting. I don't think I've seen town this busy even in the summer. 

Tomorrow I have a big day, UCI medical tests, loan refi with Simberg, dirt bike testing with HB and a few other things. 

I wonder if I'm going to go skate skiing tomorrow.....

Stone Canyon

Last night Meg and I hit up 31 Flavors for $1 Scoop nite. The Peppermint Patti is the best. 

Today I rode out at Fantasy Island. This was what the thermometer read when I got there at 9:55am. That's hot!

After a little lunch and a nap, I met up with Hutch up at Stone Canyon. The course is pretty incredible, 1.5 million to build each hole. 

It was a perfect day, too bad I didn't play that well. I guess you can't have it all. 

They even have water falls out there in Oro Valley

The traffic to get up there is horrible. I guess that's why they have a private airstrip and every home owner has their own hanger out there. That's big time. 

After the sunset it was back into to town, a little Chipolte and Lost. Tomorrow I have to train and hit the gym. I'm tired just thinking about it. 

I wonder if I'm ever not going to be sore anymore.......

New Look

Did a little site management today. Got the Specialized logo up and dialed in on Twitter.com and posted the twitter update widget on the site. That's a big day. 

I have been training like crazy lately and I'm worked. I'm sore from lifting weights and then having to log in the hours hurts even more. I have a few days off coming up on Friday. 

Tomorrow I'm playing golf with Hutch up at Stone Canyon, first I have to train for 4 hours though. Speaking of Hutch we had dinner with him, Tristan and Jill tonight at El Charro. It was good to see the Hutch family and everyone is looking good. 

I have received some questions via the content section of this site but I can't see your email just by leaving a comment so if you want me to contact you directly, you have to leave me your email in the comment. I won't post it but I can't reply to you otherwise. 

I've been loving this T.C. Boyle "Drop City" book. I'm going to Bookmans and buying every Boyle book they have before I go home. I think he grew up in Peekskill, NY which is pretty close to where I grew up. 

Got another shipment of Specialized stuff today, those guys are on it. 

Meg might do a half marathon in Sedona this weekend but maybe not since it's suppose to rain/snow. 

I wonder if it's going to snow this weekend in Durango.