La Vida Loca

El Reto Del Quetzal 2010, Stage 1

2010-10-14T21:09:00.000-07:00

Well, here I am again!
Sorry for the lack of posting, but life has been a little busy this whole year.
Anyways, after doing El Reto Del Quetzal last year and finishing 3rd place overall, my brother Cisco and I decided that we would give it another try this year and have a better finish.
I took with me in this adventure my friend Kate and Maciej, 2 friends and fellow racers from the wors series. They sounded interested in trying a true mountain bike race! We got there few days earlier, did some mtn bike riding to get used to the altitude and get the legs ready for those nasty long climbs!
Stage 1, Antigua G----Panajachel

We staged at the central park in Antigua with a paced leadout of about 10 kms. The race organizer said gooo and off we went in a easy pace to the real start line.
We got to the start line and Cisco and I lined up at the front, the race organizer said Gooo and they unleashed the dogs in the battle of 98 kms...BUT we didn't. Cisco decided to take a leak right before the start and I had to wait for him and watch everybody take off. So, we started from the back, passing some people going up hill--it was hard, because the start was at the bottom of a long 10-20 minute double-track climb.
10 minutes into the race and we are already sitting in 2nd or 3rd place. We were battling mostly with another duo team from Guatemala/Salvador; they were riding strong at the beginning and we saw them taking off in the climbs, but this time I was weak and Cisco was strong. The first team--Manny Prado and Eddy Perez--was out of sight right away. Those guys looked like they had rockets in their seats.
Half way in the race we started some nice technical climbs and fun descents and we caught up with the Guatemala/Salvador team, and after a 5 minute fun downhill, we dropped them and never saw them again.
Later on, we caught up with the first solo guy, he was from Costa Rica and he was hurting a little bit. He rode with us a good portion of the race but then took off when Cisco crashed on a fast descent which was a gravel road, that was the end of racing hard for us: Cisco took some time fixing the bike and then I had to stop to take a leak.

After all that descent, we had to go up a really long asphalt road which made my legs scream. Thankfully my dad was halfway up the climb, he gave me some coke and that felt so good that I felt a little bit more energy.
After that climb, it was a good portion of flat and then the insanely technical dh to the last village before hitting the finish line. That descent in some sections was in good shape but in other sections it was in bad shape due to too much rain in the previous weeks. There were some mudslides and sections were you had to dismount your bike and walk through. Cisco rode some of them, I could have too but I decided not, since I was using my road shoes and I didn't want to find myself with bad balance, clip off and have no traction when hitting the ground.
All in all, it was a good day finishing with a solid 3rd place overall, 2nd in the Open duo class and 1st best Guatemalan Team.
Gracias a los amigos que llegaron a la salida y a los que estuvieron durante la primera etapa dando porras y dando aguita! :D

Thanks to the fine sponsors this year: Alterra Team, Hayes Disc Brakes, Manitou, Voodoo Cycles, Sunringle Wheels, Answer products and AdventureGuatemala.

With out them, we wouldn't have made it to the race and to the fine podium!

More pix here ,here and more to come!
2nd Stage re-cap coming in the next few days!

Thanks for visiting!

WORS Iola Race #1 down!

2010-05-05T17:10:00.000-07:00

Well, here we are already in race season!
How crazy is it that you have to wait months of winter for the race season and once you the first race is done, then the days start flying by really quick.

Anyways, last weekend we had our first race of the WORS Series and man, I was kinda nervous about it because in past years I never finish good in the first race. So before the race, all I had was pretty much like 400 base miles in. All the miles were like long rides to Madison and back, some 35 mile road rides around the 'Sha, the H8TR and the Platteville time trial.

I would say I wasn't ready for this race, but like one of my buddies at work said, "Dude, don't worry, when you're the less prepared for the race, you relax and that's when you do better".

Sure enough, I just lined up like any easy group ride and finished in the top 20. I didn't think I was going to do that well. It makes me happy and gives me some hope that if I can keep riding a little more than what I have been doing, eventually I could get back to where I used to finish few years ago.

As far as the race went, I felt really good and I was riding back and forth with 4-5 other guys. Most of the time I was at the front of the group and didn't feel weak at all and I had my game set for the last lap...and then I crashed on lap 4 and the group went by, then some comp guys that we had lapped.

I got up right away and started to chase the elite guys. They got to the singletrack and I could see them close but then I caught up with a comp guy, I asked him to let me by and he wouldn't move and the elites got out of sight. So I kept my pace and still finished right at 20th place and 7th in age.

I feel that part of my good results this past weekend are due to the great products I have on board for this year.

Thanks to my awesome sponsors for their top notch products Voodoo Cycles, Rudy Project, Sunringle, Manitou, Hayes Brakes, Answer Products. They are a big reason for my good finish and I'm now motivated to keep doing my best to keep turning the cranks harder and harder! :D

Awesome pix courtesy of Bubba and Velogrrl.
Thanks for snapping those great shots!
Until then, See you on the road or at the next event!

Un buen Inicio al 2010 Con Francisco!

2010-04-18T22:25:00.000-07:00

Este posting es solamente para felicitar a mi hermano Francisco por su esfuerzo en los juegos panamericanos de cross country que se realizaron la semana pasada en el parque Naciones Unidas, Guatemala.

Estoy orgulloso y es increible ver el desarrollo que a tenido desde que le regale su primer bici.

Aun recuerdo los dias en que yo competia en las carreras locales y nacionales y el me acompañaba con el resto de mis cuates, aqui hice una pequeña recopilacion de fotos de como todo empezo.

Aqui, comiendo unas tortillitas con carnita azada despues de una de las buenas carreras que organiza Christian de la posada de mi abuelo, lo unico que recuerdo fue que fue un "Run & Bike", buen evento y ahi Francisco cuando tenia como 12 años.

Aqui montando conmigo en mi primer visita de regreso a Guate en el 2005, su primer bici de montaña, Specialized, marco de cromolio

Aqui con mi papa en una de las primeras carreras en la colonia, su primer triunfo!

Aqui practicando la tecnica

Aqui nuestra primer carrera de montaña juntos, noviembre del 2007

Trabajar en equipo tiene su resultado!

Una carrera de la serie en tecpan, 2008

Cuando ya empezaba a hacerse notar como uno de los mas jovenes y fuertes de la serie

Finalmente nos volvemos a juntar en equipo para el Reto del Quetzal!

Terminando en 2do lugar debido a problema mecanico 25 minutos dentro de la carrera

Finalmente 3r lugar despues de algunos problemas mecanicos dias 1 y 3

Y finalmente llego a su primer carrera contra ciclista internacionales

Despues de terminar la ardua batalla abriendose paso desde el final del grupo hasta colocarse en puesto 14.

Buen papel para el equipo chapin!

Y pues a la vez agradezco a bikeguatemala por el apoyo que le a brindado desde que empezo en el ciclismo de montaña, y HBG que si no fuera por el producto ligero y de alta calidad, no estuviera donde esta!

Fotos del panamericano cortesia de bikeguatemala.com y Trek de Guate.

Bueno, es todo por hoy, un pequeño relato sobre mi contrareloj de ayer mas adelante!
Que tengan buen inicio de semana!

H8TR

2010-04-12T20:07:00.000-07:00

The night before the H8TR, I was H8Ting the fact I couldn't be at the Pan Am XC Race back Home and race it with my little Bro. So, to keep it low, I had some fun with the Polska crew. And as for the H8TR;

Is done and marked as the training race/ride of the year. As of now, I h8t to be sore, that's right sore, sore. I was not ready yet for that kind of pace at the begining. As they said, it's just a social ride but hell no, once DJohnnyMac lets you go, it's on and man, I just went to grab some wheels but unfortunately I couldn't keep the pace and got dropped before the tunel. So I rode solo the the rest of the way, got a beer handed to me and on the way back I couldn't pedal anymore, my @$$ was hurting so bad due to the lack of riding, so I had to stand a lot in order to keep pedaling. Finally made the it to the portion where I had to ride on the road and go through some little hills, only in that section and got motivated and pushed the throtle all the way, caught up back with the mofos, gave him a double pair and rode away. Unfortunately that road and climb was my last effort, once I got to back to the gravel trail I was spend and started feeling the tweaks, so I slowed down then this fast girl went by with the mofos , I tried to grab their wheels but started to feel the tweaks coming back, so I said screw it and went on my own pace standing on the bike and pedaling for long sections and seating for short sections, I couldn't take it anymore, then I came across a family that were on the side of the bike trail, the guy had a mechanical and I offered my help, he didn't knew how to fix a broken chain, so it was he's lucky day and my perfect time to take a break. :p

So, overall I feel good that I got to see some cool peeps and help a recreational family on the trail.

This is all for the weekend adventure, more updates about my little bro later when I get to talk to him.

'Till then, keep up turning the cranks yo!

Bouncy Ride!

2010-04-04T20:22:00.000-07:00

So, it has been a long weekend and unfortunatelly I couldn't ride on friday neiter on saturday, friday was too freaking windy, I took my bianchi out and started riding west and after few miles in, I said, screw this and turned around, my legs didn't feel good pushing hard on the wind.

That was my friday and instead of riding, I played with Carlitos and worked on my basement.

Saturday, it was just another good day to wake up late and waste my time watching movies and playing again with Carlitos and took him to this place for some fun.

Sure Carlitos is gonna be ladys man, and here you can see that! :D he's playing the game already :D

Saturday night, I rode one of my bikes around town and some how got dragged inside Taylors. :D, made few calls and arrenged a ride for today with some buds at Emma to Muir and back! And this is how I wrapped my weekend!

I decided to ride the Hustler cause I knew we were gonna be doing some stops and since it was not a hammerfest ride, more like a social ride, it was good choice and still I did a lot of work with that bike cause it waits around 30lbs, its 1 by 9 with a gear 11-23 cassette and 34t chainring. This is my dh ride for the Wors Cup and I was kinda testing the whole bike, except I have dh wheels but ofcourse I was not gonna ride with those at kettles

So, pix below are some of today's ride

At Emma getting ready!

Mark was testing a Giant 29er, which he hated the whole ride, "Why Am I riding this crap? I shouldn't leave my parker at home"

Zac getting ready

Relaxing at Muir

Mark notices something not good in Zac's bike "Dude, is that a nice dent on your toptube?

My Hustler again

Snapping while riding in the woods

Still putting the hurt on Zac!

Another break, Mark "Dang, my back hurts like a bitch and I really hate that 29er bike"

Mark riding some kind of international style!

And this is it for the day boys, I might ride to work tomorrow but defenitely I need some more riding before saturday!

Enjoy yer week and have fun riding!

Nursing the legs!

2010-03-30T21:27:00.000-07:00

Recuperando las piernas despues de un fin de semana largo en bicicleta. Lunes llame a mi cuate Zac para invitarlo a salir en bici por 30 minutos nada mas. Solo para relajar las piernas, pues se sentian un poco pesadas y adoloridas despues de mi primer recorrido largo hecho el fin de semana. Casualmente resulto que era su cumpleaños, asi que fue aun mas lento y al estilo casual, jeans y formalito y despues a cenar (Taquitos mexicanos y una michelada para satisfacer mi dia.

Zac & I on our way to cyclesmith to visit our friend Colin and talk about some Sram XX stuff! . I guess Zac is getting an upgrade! :D

And me, just as simple, rolling deep yo, Velocity B43

Zac doing some drafting but as you know, that doesn't work for him when riding with me :p

And finally we made to the mexican place, las nenas afuera esperandonos mientras cenabamos :D

Hasta la proxima!

H8TR100 y unas Contrareloj de montaña!

2010-03-29T13:46:00.000-07:00

Bueno, que rico se siente estar de regreso en la bici despues de un largo invierno.
Este fin de semana me aventure por primera vez en el año a relajar las piernas. Usualmente para empezar el año y aflojar los musculos acostumbro a empezar con 30-40 millas y conforme los dias pasan voy aumentando el millage o el ritmo de velocidad.
Bueno, esta vez, me fui de lleno empezando mi entrenamiento con mi primer vuelta de 152 millas. Monte de mi pueblecito Waukesha a otro pueblo donde antes solia vivir, Madison, un recorrido de 76 millas con un clima moderado y con un poquito de viento en contra, mmm que dolor al principio. Llegue a Madison con un tiempo de 4.5 horas, cene y a dormir. Dia siguiente (Domingo) me levante a las 10am, algo adolorido del recorrido anterior pues las piernas no tenian nada de fondo y mucho menos acostumbradas a un recorrido asi de largo para empezar. Comenze mi jornada a las 2:15 pm y llegue de regreso a casa a las 6:15pm y para terminar de joder, con mas viento en contra, como que el fin de semana no estaba de mi lado :'(.
Bueno, este recorrido largo es mi preparacion para la carrera de'l H8TR100 que es en un par de semanas, y en la cual estoy en primera lista :). Despues de eso sigue una contrareloj en Iowa, y pues tambien necesito estar en buena forma para poder terminar en mejor posicion que lo hice el año pasado. Claro, estas carreras el proximo mes no son parte de la serie, asi es que no es como que tenga que sacar las garras montar fuerte, pero no esta nada mal dar una buena impresion a la competencia.
Bueno, esto es todo por hoy, hasta la proxima.
Keep riding!

Es Hora de Entrenar

2010-03-23T21:58:00.000-07:00

Ha sido un invierno largo con frio y nieve, algo que me a obligado a bajar de vez en cuando al sotano y hacer rodos por 1 hora o hasta donde las piernas aguanten.
Lo bueno es que con el cambio de hora, pues ahora me queda una hora mas de luz al terminar de trabajar y mas chance para salir a rodar un poco en la bianchi. Los dias son un poco mejores con temperaturas que si mucho llegan a los 55 °F pero a veces aun con algo de frio, cosa que no se siente mucho al empezar pero el problema es en el retorno cuando el sol a caido y empieza a obscurecer.
Bueno, con todo eso dicho, puedo decir que el domingo sali por primer vez con Carlitos y halarlo por 40 millas no es nada facil cuando se a pasado todo un invierno araganeando viendo peliculas.

Igual, fue un buen inicio de entrenamiento, a pesar que mis manos se empezaron a congelar en el regreso debido a que me confie en lo linda que era la tarde cuando empezamos a rodar. Espero montar a mi trabajo el resto de la semana y 40 millas diarias no esta nada mal para empezar revivir las piernas.
Las primeras carreritas locales empiezan el proximo mes, y pues hay que dar un buen show o al menos no ser descolgado del grupo.
Bueno, eso es todo por hoy.
Hasta la proxima!

Back in the game!

2010-03-01T23:00:00.000-08:00

That's right, I'm planning on hitting some more dirt this year. Last year I didn't have much time, way to much stuff going on with been a dad and not been used to it, it has been hard for me as for Sonia to set a schedule for riding and making things work out smooth.
Sorry I haven't update this thing, I feel bad I didn't post a re-cap of my adventure doing El Reto del Quetzal back home with my brother last year. I didn't do a lot of wors races, pretty much only the fun ones and Ore 2 Shore, which I think I finished ok without having to much training/racing time in my legs. The only think I focused last year was for El Reto, just 2 months before the race I started doing some 4 hr rides or riding to madison with Sonia and Carlitos . That was my whole preparation for the 3 day race and gave me a good results , we could have finished better but Cisco had 2 pinch flats and I did once on day 1 and he broke his chain on day 3. Even with all those mechanical, we kept motivaded and pushed harder and harder to get back on the good positions and at the end, This is the result of it. Thanks Voodoo, we are looking so bad to line up at El Reto Del Quetzal again and do better with the help of these super light frames and better luck!.
And as for this year at wors, Sonia and I are planing on making the come back, hopefully for most of the races, or we'll see. It all depends in how the construction of my house back home is going and how we're doing with $$$.
'Till then, I hope to see y'all soon and keep updating this thing.

The last Treadfest fun!

2009-09-15T08:14:00.000-07:00

Finally another update!.
All I have to say is that this year was one of the worst years of my racing experiences, I have been sick or something is wrong with me.
Anyways, I have many reasons that made me stay at home sometimes and not race a lot. It is fun to stay at home and have fun with hurricane Carlitos.
Treadfest was to much fun and since the pre-ride on Saturday I knew it was gonna be my last race of the wors series, I wasn't expecting any good results, but I was expecting to have lots of fun and see if my technical skills were still around, I guess they are. That's all it matters to me for now.
My next stop will be Fall Color Festival, then after that is time to pack the Supreme and head back home for the Fun Adventure that I'm doing with the lil' bro Cisco, who's kick @$$ in the series back home. We'll see how this one goes.

'Till then, I'll see you all next year and for those who I raced with and battled sometimes, all I have to say is it was Good times.

MY NEW JOY IN LIFE!

2009-07-22T10:24:00.000-07:00

So, as many of you have noticed. I'm not racing the way I used to. I got new hobby, spend time with my son hurrican Carlitos, he's my new joy and I love to be around him, watch him grow up everyday and see how everyday he tries to walk by pushing toys around or holding himself on the side of bed or couch and move around.
It makes me happy and is fun to play with him, now he's making some funny sounds too. I think he's gonna like riding bikes and drinking beer just like his dad :).
I know there are other guys with kids just like Carlitos too, but I would say everybody has different life styles if I could put it tha way, not to make excuses for my bad finishes, sometimes I could go for a ride but after work, I gotta pick up Carlitos, get home and do some other stuff and pretty much feel tired after work. The only thing I can say is that I'll finish this series, probably not finishing strong since I'm already out of top 20 and there's no way I can make it with up there with 4 to go, only probably race for some pay outs or go hard only in the fun courses.
Well, this is it. I hope I don't get another dnf crystal ridge. :)
See ya.

2009-07-21T13:09:00.001-07:00

Testing, testing
Yo.

Race season is here finally!

2009-04-23T19:08:00.000-07:00

And that means is time to start riding the bike a little bit more often :P.
This past weekend I had my first race of the year, which is the one I always kick off my race season, it is not wors series, but you know what. NON WORS races I believe are way more fun, technical and with lots of single track.
There are 2 races up in Platteville every year and those are the only 2 opportunities you have to ride those awesome trails; Kick off the season with the Platteville TT which is fun and competitive and depending who's there like this year the winner was Brendan More who is a pro from minnesota. The second one is the Block House Roll and this one is always fun too and more competitive . This year at the TT I finished 3rd, and it looks like my time was faster from last year, but I gotta say probably last years time could have been the same as this year, this year the course was dry, and last year was wet and slipery.
Anyways, there is another TT up in decorah, which I already register and for what this guy said about the forecast, all I have to say is that it's only thursday and things changes all the time, so I wont assume anything till saturday. Today the temps were really good, so I called Sonia and told her I was gonna show her some good place to ride in waukesha, so I picked up Carlitos, got the sidecar ready and we were off to that secret place :). My ride was just fine and pretty much was all about horse power. Sonia and I splitted up at some point were I couldn't ride anymore and did few short loops around and waited for her at the end of the single track and while waiting there Carlitos was enjoying a sweet nap.
Anyways, that's all for today.
Till that, see ya at the Decorah TT or Iola.

The Transition!

2009-04-06T17:50:00.000-07:00

Hey y'all.
It's been awhile huh, well as y'all know I'm always lazy to update my blog and now with Carlitos it's even harder to slack a little bit. No time to sit in front of the computer and blog or surf :) , there are occasions when I can sit and check out other peoples blogs but I don't get motivated to blog about my life or what's around me.
Anyways, the season is right around the corner and it's time to start getting the stuff ready. In my case I don't ever buy a stock bike. I go piece by piece and put it together like a puzzle. So for this year since Sonia is getting back in the race scene and as you can see she's already doing her work outs with Carlitos. So I order another Kona frame, that's right, the same frame as mine from last year so we will have the same bike, which will be nice if I do any endurance races--I'll have two bikes with similar set-ups. (That's also the nice thing about being the same height as your wife). Also I placed an order last night for some sweet Rudy project gear and they should arrive on Wednesday, sweet!
On the other hand, as my title says Transition, I'm kinda making the move to the big wheels as it seems like everybody is getting more 29ers this year, mm nah just messing around, I would never give up on my little wheels, I might go 69er once in awhile like I did last year. I like to be in between those 2 worlds and yes, I built a 29er but it's not really mine, I got a conecte with the frame and if I like it and if isn't to big, then I would give away some $$$ for the frame and keep the bike as it is. You might ask why are those crappy pedals on the bike, well, I build the bike with whatever I got laying around in the basement just to have the bike rolling and test it outside. I might do some improvements but that will depend if I buy the frame or not.
Well, is kinda late and got a big day tomorrow stickering some awesome wheels .
'Till then, hope to see you at the TT .
Cya!

Rudy Project!

2009-01-27T10:27:00.000-08:00

Hello everybody again.
After racing for 5 years, This is the first time I get a Sponsor and definitely having Rudy Project on my side, I would push my self to the limits. Umm probably this is too much talking right now, well lets just wait till the season starts. Definitely having them with me in the following 3 years would help me to get motivated to train more and push myself a little bit more on the races. Also I have a big motivation for this season besides Rudy Project and He's my big motivation. So, till then I gotta go back to work now and see you on the road.

Back to the city!

2008-12-27T18:21:00.001-08:00

Today we got back from a really nice place outside the city of Vancouver, it's call sunshine coast and its located like an hour away north from the city by car, and also we have to take the ferry to get there, it was a beautiful place, Sonia and Kyla got there last Saturday, there at the cabin was Kyla's parents already. Melvin and I got there Wednesday night since he had to work half day. Tuesday night started snowing again and kept going all day through Wednesday and finally stop snowing last night. It was a challenge to drive in the streets since some people is not used to this kinda of weather. Sonia apparently had some nice work out shoveling snow, I guess everybody did a little bit of shoveling, once Melvin and I got there we got our work out too, I shoveled the drive way, these little towns don't have snowplows and if they do, then they only clean the main roads, screw the people that lives in the outside of the town, so you gotta have your awd or 4x4.
Right since Sonia is back, then will go check out the city and go to some tourist places since she's been out side the city since she got here. I posted more pix of the little place called sunshine coast on my flickr pages 1-4.
See ya and enjoy the rest of your holidays.

Hanging around in Vancouver

2008-12-22T21:02:00.000-08:00

That's' right boys, since I had time off of work I opted to run away from the snow storm in Wisco and visit my friend Melvin in Canada.
We left Thursday and got to Vancouver around 4 pm or something, our surprise was Vancouver had some snow during the day. While in the airplane, I took some pix when we were flying somewhere over Vancouver. Friday we went for a walk around and it was like been in Wisconsin, I was hoping to ride my friends bike there as much as I can, but unfortunately I thing we brought the snow to Vancouver with us. Saturday morning Sonia and my friends wife left the place and headed to some island which is like an hour or so. Saturday I finished building a fixie and took it for a ride around the snow, it was fun and I guess I was one of the few ones riding bikes around, not much traffic, started snowing around 10 pm again and stop until Sunday around 3 pm or somewhere there, I'm kinda of surprise because Kyla said they haven't have snow like this in probably the last 4 years, usually only snows like crazy in the mountains and they usually get only rain. Anyways the city is not prepared for snow and they have only few snowplows and they only clean the main streets, and all the small streets don't get clean, everybody stops driving, riding their bikes. Everything gets screw up, Sunday morning I pulled the fixie out and went for like 10 minute ride to a cafe, got in and everybody looked at my like who's this crazy dude, after I got my coffee the girl told I was bad ass riding my bike in the snow. I said I live in Wisconsin and I'm just visiting a friend in Vancouver and I'm usually ride my fixie in the snow. She said "Why did you bring the snow with you". Well as of right now I don't have much to say, but I have some pix I will share with you. Hope you enjoy them and Merry Christmas to y'all and see you next year.