Brian Smith raced the inaugural ITU CROSS World championship triathlon ( competing for the USA team) He exited the swim in 32nd and went on to post the 6th fastest bike and 9th fastest run to finish 13th! Perhaps most note able for this blog is that he's exactly 12 months out of Pec tendon surgery from Alpine Orthopaedics and this is just his second triathlon since surgery. Successful!
I joined two other Team Alpine Orthopaedic racers ( Travis Scheefer and Eszter Horanyi) in choosing to race the Whiskey 50 in Prescott Arizona.
This event has been on my radar for a while as it is ridden in memory of our friend Mike Janelle.
Such a great race! An excellent mix of single track and jeep road plus 7000 feet of climbing. Prescott is a cool town and Epic rides put on an event with a great vibe. Add the whiskey 50 to your list.
From all accounts Eszter rode phenomenally in the single speed race. She won both the event plus a trip to IRELAND. She'll have to fill you in more on her race.
My trip has been a spring break with fabulous riding in Durango, Sedona, and Flagstaff. I am happy to say that other than the Whiskey pro Road crit on Friday, my riding has all been on DIRT and it's been amazing.
The pro race started with a ridiculously hard road fat tire citerium. (or slick tires if you knew and bought them with) It had a monster hill that we climbed more times than I can remember. Mainly it just hurt ALOT and I behaved like a slobbering snot monster resembling a cyclist and came home in 10th place.
In the Whiskey 50 mile race. I rode much better. Among a stacked Pro women's field I moved between 5, 6th and 7th place. The 1 hour 30 jeep road climb out of the turn around point saw me in seventh. A minute or so from 6th dropping into the final rocky singletrack back to Prescott. There I cut a side wall of my rear tire. That turned into a bit of a tire change fiasco. Lesson 101 'shortcuts don't work' and 'Stan's doesn't hold in a sidewall cut!' So I wasted a ton of time fluffing around babying 8 lbs of pressure, before actually stopping and putting in a tube. I rolled home in 9th.
The highlight of my day was meeting Joe Breeze. I'm soon to be riding the Breezer cloud nine 29er bike. To meet Joe Breeze and hear his story about Breezer bikes was really neat. He started making mountain bikes again in 2008 because his son outgrew the old generation Breezer bikes and needed a new frame!
Ezster and Travis will hopefully post their reports, A trip to IRELAND.. is super exciting!l
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| Meeting Joe Breeze |
Jenny Smith
Yeah Joe Breeze!
ReplyDeleteThe Alpine Race Team is open to skiers with disabilities who are intermediate or better skiers and who are independent, including equipment management, loading the lift and getting up after a fall.
ReplyDeleteOrthopaedics Las Vegas