WEAVERVILLE ~ WORTH THE DRIVE FROM THE OC!

Some people ask why I race and what I get from it. Well,,,,, 11 hours in the car, 12 hours on bikes, 3 days away from home, and this is what I have to show for the 12 Hours of Weaverville: a medal from the race and a congratulatory bouquet of flowers from my best friend Miss Gilly. But honestly, my true reward cannot be hung around my neck, or on the wall, or even put into my bank account. What I win, no matter what place I get, are great friends, precious memories and experiences that will last a lifetime.

Hammer Josh, Princesa Bern, Super Mario, La Ruta Lou, and Fuzzy John

The enduro freaks of Team Sho-Air/Rock N' Road Cyclery represented at the 12 Hours of Weaverville. Josh, Lou, and Fuzzy rode solo while Mario and I teamed up.

Super Mario driving us by the beautiful Whiskeytown Lake.

Mario, Josh, and I took turns driving. Although we all definitely had different tastes in music, there were a few things we could agree upon....well,,,basically we agreed that I'd be the "Director of Entertainment" and we'd listen to whatever I wanted. :) Of course Shakira and Moby were on the playlist and Josh almost threw himself out the door,,,,but he didn't... so that was good. We stayed the night at Lou's place in San Jose and from there we drove the rest of the way through Redding and on to Weaverville where we met up with Fuzzy. We checked into the Trinity Motel, laid out our gear, and DMS'd each other. Aaaaaahh, DMS, what did we ever do without it? The boys had some laughs (while I wasn't listening)...something about taxidermy...and Fuzzy's philosophy of hair to hair and skin to skin...but I'll let you read more about that one on Super Mario's blog. Around 5pm, we drove about a mile from our motel to the race headquarters at a local school where we checked in and then pre-rode the course.

Black Widow by my bed in our room at the Trinity Motel

The course immediately started with a long fire-road climb that took about a half hour. After that there was some flat fire road with magnificent views of gorgeous lands with lots of tall trees (something we don't see much of in SoCal). Then it was pretty much all down hill!!! There was some super fun narrow singletrack that took a bit of concentration. I don't think I've ever ridden such narrow singletrack before. The theme of my race became "FLOW" "FLOWING" "DON'T CRASH!" "FLOW" "RELAX AND FLOW" "DON'T CRASH!" "JUST FLOW" "FLOWY" "DON'T FLAT!" "SMILE AND FLOW" "FLOOOOWWW" "YELLOW RELAX LIKE JELLO" It was so much fun and I just got better at it every time I went down. That downhill singletrack was soooooo worth the 30 minute climb....in fact, it was worth 4X the 30 minute climb!,,,,,,,,heck it was worth the 11 hour drive from the OC & 4X the climb!! Yup, I guess I enjoyed it.

Team Sho-Air "rules the school!"

After the pre-ride, we went to a Mexican dinner with Fuzzy, his girlfriend Christina and some other NorCal folks we met. Then we made our customary trip to the grocery store. I've decided that the only time I enjoy grocery shopping is when I'm shopping for a race. Is it because it's the only time I can justify buying Have'a chips, Red Bull, Coco-Cola, and extra super duper plus calorie rich foods??? YUP!! That's right! Then we went home to Motel Trinity and watched one of my favorite shows Deadliest Catch before we went to sleep.

Our pit with our new NorCal friends

Everyone kept asking about us; who we were, where we came from. I think they were happy to have some new folks around. And we were extremely happy to meet new people, ride in a new place, and experience a different mountain bike community. They are so lucky to have such beautiful trails with such beautiful views!

Fuzzy & Christina

Fuzzy started off super strong, but then his sciatica kicked in and knocked him out for a while. He took a long break and then his competitiveness kicked in past the sciatica and he busted out another couple of laps before the pain took him out again. Hopefully he will overcome that obstacle and be back on the podium again in no time!

Hammer Josh rides through the pit

Someday Hammer Josh will really stick to his plan and he'll have the top spot on the podium! But this time he battled the heat and his own demons and stuck in there to finish 2nd in the pro solo male category. Not too shabby!

Secrets of the enduro freaks! BIG 'OL CAN OF WHOOP ASS when you're really in a pickle, PIMP JUICE when you want a boot in the butt, & RED BULL when you need wiiiiings!

Hammer Josh and La Ruta Lou full of dirt, sweat, and cheers!

I think Lou must have drank a COUPLE of cans of "WHOOP ASS" 'cause she kicked some booty and got 1st place! 9 laps for her and when she was done, she ran a marathon, swam Lake Erie, and climbed Anapurna! ;-) (okay, well, she probably could have!)

Fellow adventure racers Scott & Jen

Scott Porter and Jen Ratay were at the race. Scott did it solo and finished with 8 laps while Jen supported him and chit-chatted with me in between laps. I will do an international adventure race with Scott later this year. Jen is great! She's an incredible adventure racer and 24 hour mtbiker too. It was so fun to hang with her and I hope to spend more time with them in the future.

1st Place Over All Duos: Bern and Super Mario with Big Foot

P.S. I DIDN'T WIN THE CHAINSAW RAFFLE AND I MISSED THE BLACKSMITHING CLASS BECAUSE I WAS ON LAP #2.

Weaver- who? what? where?

My races have taken me to some exotic and fascinating places around the world; Southern Brazil, Patagonia, Iceland, Greenland, and Spain for example. But this time, the foreign land is just a mere 11 hour drive north of Orange County: WEAVERVILLE, California! It's just past Redding and a tad east of Arcata. Once again, a place I never would have known about or thought about until this race: the 12 Hours of Weaverville.

Super Mario, Hammer Josh, and I will be driving up to San Jose to meet up with La Ruta Lou. Then we will all drive 5 more hours to the race site and meet up with Fuzzy John. This is Fuzzy's "home turf." He, Lou, and Josh will be racing as solos while Super Mario and I will race it as a duo.

In preparing for the race Super M asked me what else there was to see and do while in Weaverville. And here's what I found:

Weaverville Event Calendar

May 25th- S.T.A.R Dinner- Benefits Southern Trinity Ambulance & Rescue 6pm at Ruth Lake Community Center-Talent Show-Silent Auction-Raffle for Chain Saw-$2ea/3for$5Dinner Menu: Beef, Pork, Fish, Oysters-Great food! Contact: Mike Glading

May 26th-10:00am-Jake Jackson Museum-Beginning Blacksmithing Class-in Weaverville-Call 530-623-5211

It looks like we could enter a raffle for a chainsaw AND take blacksmithing class!!! Hmmmm,,,,now if we win the chainsaw,,,,,can we use it in the blacksmithing class???.....oh, wait, I guess that's totally different. Hmmmm,,,well....maybe we'll just concentrate on riding. I don't know. Whatever we do, I'm sure it will involve bikes, beers, and great times!

Vacaciones en Espana Part 1: MADRID

After the Bimbache Adventure Race I stayed in Spain for a week of fiesta & siesta! I started in the "New York City" of Spain... a.k.a. MADRID! Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. It is a city of great cultural and political importance.

There is incredibly beautiful architecture all around Spain, especially Madrid.

This became the theme of my trip: TAPAS (Spanish appetizers), VINO, & SANGRIA

Everyday from 2-5 PM all the businesses (except bars/restaurants) shut down for SIESTA. This is when the Spanish go home to spend time with their families, have lunch, and take a nap. It's popular for the younger folks to gather in the plazas for beer, sangria, snacks, smokes, and socializing. This is called botellon (from botella or bottle). I definitely took part in the sangria, snacks, socializing, and naps portion!

We stayed at the Victoria Hotel located next to the Puerta del Sol in the heart of the Madrid city center.

Madrid is noted for its nightlife and night clubs. Madrilenian youth are famous for dancing all night long, stopping only to have some chocolate con churros at dawn, go home, take a shower, shave (or not), and go to work.

There was a very popular bar right across the street from my balcony so needless to say, the place was rockin' all night long! Around 6:00 AM, when the bar closed...yes, that's 6:00 AM!! Everyone would finally head home and it would quiet down for about an hour until the street sweepers zoomed by. Then at 8:00 AM, the bar opened back up for business! Yup, that's ESPANA!

During the day we enjoyed shopping and walking through the Paseo del Arte. Some of the most important monuments and buildings in Madrid such as the Plaza Mayor, the Prado Museum, and the Royal Palace were just a short walk away.

We did a TAPAS TOUR where our guide walked us to the hottest spots in Madrid to eat tapas and drink Sangria.

Most everything is fried in olive oil. And I LOVE olive oil, so I pretty much liked all the food! But it did become a little too rich after a while. I desperately had to find some "comfort" food so I found some pizza one night and McDonalds another day.

Some of my favorite tapas were the churros dipped in thick, hot chocolate. Could that be why I returned from Spain a few pounds heavier?

Did you read Don Quijote de la Mancha? I did...in my college Spanish class...or should I say, I was supposed to! Lucky for me they print Cliff's Notes in Spanish! ;-)) This is the Miguel de Cervantes "Walk of Fame" in Madrid.


We ate at La Barraca which claims to have the best PAELLA in Madrid. The Valencian Paella is often thought of as the most quintessential Spanish dish and is a combination of rice cooked with seafood, chicken and chorizo.


We went to the Prado Museum and viewed one of the most famous paintings in the world. Las Meninas (also known as The Maids of Honour), painted in 1656, is a work by the Spanish painter Diego Velázquez.

Madrid is a an exciting city with lots to see and do, but after a couple of days I headed south to Toledo, Granada, and Sevilla---- to be continued...

Team Sho-Air/Rock N' Road Cyclery is in full swing!

Bern smiling through 8 Hours of HEAT!

Lou, Sarah & Bern on the podium!

Team Sho-Air/Rock N' Road Cyclery is killing it at races around California and beyond! The super fast cross country guys represented at the Firestone MTB Classic in Santa Barbara on April 29. The team is collecting points to win the Cal State Series Championship and is in the lead by 16 points so far!

Firestone XC Results: Scott Tedro 1st Place
Cameron Brenneman 1st Place
Brad Stephenson 2nd Place
George Muñoz 2nd Place
Terry Best 3rd Place
Bill Scott 3rd Place Super-D
Manuel Prado 3rd Place Super-D
Tim Zandbergen 6th Place
Justin Rosen 6th Place
Craig Hopps 9th Place
Bill Scott 13th Place
Manuel Prado 12th Place; went from 3rd to 12th after taking wrong turn in the last 2 miles.
Eric Parks DNF after breaking his single-speed singulator (chain tensioner)

Josh hammering through the heat at the 8 Hours of Adrenalin

The same weekend, the team's endurance freaks raced the 8 Hours of Adrenalin MTB race at Hurkey Creek. "Super" Mario Correa and "La Ruta" Lou Kobin won the 8 Hour race in the Men's & Women's Solo Categories! They both rocked the course!

Lou passing the guys!

It was a scorcher out there in Idyllwild with temps in the mid to upper 90's! It was my first "long ride" in two months and also my first HOT ride so it was a tough one. But I was super happy to be riding amongst my teammates on that fun course. And it was great to have Andy Lightle and my best friend Miss Gilly supporting me and cheering me on. It was a perfect training/experimenting ride and I learned some things to prepare me for my next 24 hour solo.

8 Hours of Hurkey Creek Results:
Mario Correa 1st Place Men's Solo
Louise Kobin 1st Place Women's Solo
Bernice Pierson 3rd Place Women's Solo
Josh Smith 6th Place Men's Solo
Matt Nourmohamadian 8th Place Men's Solo

Kudos to my friend Caroline Goulard for her 3rd place finish in the full 24 Hours of Adrenalin!

While we were racing in Cali, Fuzzy John Mylne was spreading the Sho-Air word back east! He took first place in the Pro Single-Speed category at the Dirt, Sweat and Gears 12 Hour race in Fayetteville, Tennessee! He had been off his bike for a while due to back pain, but he headed east and took first at the Cohutta 100 as well! He is just incredible!

Fuzzy and Dejay on the podium AGAIN!