Baja Epic (That's a wrap)

A couple favorite pics from the Baja Epic...

Me & my Bike = Happy.

Smiles for Miles. Heidi & I have ridden a LOT of miles together over the last 20 years & we've shared many ups & downs with one another... Friendship!!

October (Baja Epic Winners!)

Getting ready for Day 4... our final day. 65 miles and 9,000 feet of climbing ahead of us.

Racers lining up.

We get the front row again! :-)

Was gonna show the video that Bob took of the start. Will hopefully get that downloaded later. :-)

Not a whole lotta race photos from today but this mud on Nick may give you an idea of what kind of day it was.

The trails became soooooo muddy from the constant rain that the race had to be called off early (around mile 50) because the mud was clogging up bike wheels. But the bigger problem for riders was low visibility because of fog and slippery trails becoming dangerous on the narrow & very steep downhills. Not a good combination.

Check out this bike!!

I was glad they called the race early because I was having severe knee pain which began early (around mile 11). I was really having trouble climbing the hills. Thanks to Bob who had some Advil at a support stop - that took a little edge off my knee pain. Heidi also had trouble but with her bike. Her brake broke when she fell (around mile 13). Luckily we got it rigged up with a zip tie at an aid station. Her mechanical issue & my physical issue on top of the rain & mud made this the toughest day for us.

By the time we reached the expo in Ensenada the skies cleared and we were happy. We were DONE!!! We held onto our 1st place status too. Wahoo!!

Happy Girl!!

Showered, ate supper then back downtown for the Baja Epic awards ceremony.

1st Place Women's Duo!!!

Friend Dean (middle) took 1st place in men's solo category (age 50-59)

This was the winning men's duo team and the winners of all categories.

Fast guys... skinny too!!! ;-)

Men's Duo Champions (from Brazil). Women's Duo Champions (from USA).

Good times with friends. Fun to pick an event, train hard and see it through to success!

Congratulations to Nick who finished strong and other friends from AZ who did well too.

Thanks again, Bob for your support out on the course and each morning & night getting prepped for the race. Always more fun with you!!

Baja Epic (Days 2 & 3)

Pics from Day 2 & Day 3.

Heidi & I in PINK Baja Epic leaders jerseys. They give them to the leaders after each day's stage.

Lining up for the start.

We get to line up at the front along with the other stage winners from yesterday.

We're off and heading out of the city.

One of many hills. Still on pavement here but 80% of the course is on dirt trails or dirt roads. 

Each day the group stays pretty much together for the first 10 miles but when the riders hit the dirt and the steeper climbs everyone spreads out.

Day 2 was around 55 miles and 7000 feet of climbing.

Day 3 was around 60 miles and 8000 feet of climbing!

Heidi and I in our groove.

A couple teammates in grey.

Nick & Dean... looking strong guys!!! They are a couple really fast guys!

In fact... they make going fast look way too easy.

Heidi... riding great!

These were hard days but we really enjoyed the suffering together.

Teamwork!

Won days 2 & 3!

Wahoo! We're pretty stoked about it.

We even had interviews after each day's stage. Funny!

We're feeling the fatigue from 3 days of racing. Tomorrow is day 4; the last day of the Baja Epic. It will also be longer and steeper than our previous days. :-/

Hoping for good rest, good weather and good legs tomorrow.

Baja Epic (October 10-13)

We made it to Ensanda, Mexico!!

Today, October 10th is our 1st day of a 4 day race. Heidi and I are excited to compete in the women's duo team division.

Heidi's boyfriend, Nick is racing too. He'll be racing solo category.

Bob is here but not racing. He'll be our #1 fan and support each day.

Glad Bob will get in some fun riding in these mountains (when he's on the course finding Heidi and I). Thanks, honey!

Here's our Arizona friends also entered in the Baja Epic. We've all done our training... now it's GO time!!!

Stage 4 is a short prologue... only 4 miles. But it's on a twisty-turny, up & down, dirt single track trail kind of course. It's starts up high on this hill overlooking Ensenada and the Pacific Ocean. Beautiful views... perfect temps... happy smiles... so far so good. :-)

Competitors commuting to the prologue... not racing yet.

A steep hill climb just to get to the start line... Ouch!

Riders in the staging tent.

The prologue is a time trial format. So each solo participant and each duo team starts alone to time their course. Teams must stay together (within 2 minutes at all times) or you are penalized. The next 3 days are mass starts with all racers starting together.

Our turn for the prologue!!! To the line... "10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1....

GO!!!"

A turn here...

A downhill there.

Having fun!

We WON! 

We won today's stage anyway... women's duo division! 

I believe we had the 2nd fastest women's time overall too (includes women in solo division an on a coed team)

Nick did great too. He placed 3rd in his age group!

Now we'll head back to our Air B&B to clean-up, eat-up and prepare for tomorrow's race. 

Tomorrow will longer & steeper... a much tougher day ahead.

Shower Time!