24 HIOP

It was a great trip with Laura out to Tucson and for the 24 HIOP. I didn't do well again but we had a great time seeing old friends and riding in the warm desert.

The rig.

Salt River Gorge.

Race clothing ready.

24 Hour Town.

Me on one of my first laps.

Mike Hileman.

My Ti Airborne rig. New Stan 355's laced to my Kings for the race.

Dean, Kiviok, Myself and Lenny before the Le mans start.

The crazy Le man's start. Helter Skelter.

Shawn getting ready.

The Hemperley setup.

Sunset in the Arizona desert.

Chowing some food before the race.

Joe Baumgarte, his bro Tim from Oregon and Tim's buddies from Oregon as well; John and Christian.

Grandfather Judson Hemperley 1919-2010

Rest in peace Gramps!!! My grandfather passed away on February 10th. He was a WWII Army Medic hero.....Bronze Star and Purple Heart recipient. He saved many a life and won an Emmy award this past fall for a short documentary that was produced about his WWII experiences as an Army medic....Saving Life's, Not Taking Lives. look for it on YouTube. He lived a full life to 90 years young. Long time resident of Grants, NM since 1960. He will be dearly missed.

24 Hours in the Old Pueblo

It's 4am on Thursday morning and we are getting ready to head down to Tucson for the 24 hour race at The Old Pueblo. I personally haven't seen any old Pueblo's but whatever. I think I'm ready for a good run at the podium. My best finish at this race in the past 6 years as a solo single speeder was in 2008 with a 2nd place with 15 laps. The weather is looking superb with lows in the 40's and highs in the low 70's. My goal is not to crack myself in the first half of the race as I tend to do sometimes. Remember, it is a 24 hour race.

As well I just had my King hubs laced to some Stan 355's and 2.0/1.7 dubbel butted spokes. Dropped 1 pound off of the wheels I was currently running. The guys at Kokopelli Bike Shop in Cortez hustled to get these done for me as I had a cracked rear rim apparently after my last 12 hour race in Temecula. Thanks guys!!!!

Sunset in Seal Beach

After the weekends activities it was time to go get some dinner and beers. We went to a small restaurant in Seal Beach and ended up afterwards at a sports bar near Keevo's house shooting pool. A great way to end a weekend. Than it was time for a 12 hour drive back to Rico come Monday morning.

PCH Road Ride

After the hard effort on Saturday in Temecula for the 12 hour race it was time for a nice and easy 50 miler down the PCH from Huntington Beach to Laguna and back with Keevo and Heidi. Roadies were everywhere. And with the recent week long rain fest I'm sure everyone was itching to hit the road in SoCal.

And after our 3 hour road ride it was time for an easy 30 minute run in the local park near Keevo's house. It wasn't so easy. Thanks you two!

Laguna Beach.

Keevo and Heidi enjoying our Sunday cruiser down the PCH.

Keevo checking out the views.

It was nice to see the beach.

12 Hours of Temecula- 2nd Place

12 Hours of Temecula 2010

Great weather for a 12 hour race!!

Wow, what an adventure this past weekend. I was hell bent to drive to SoCal to race the 12 Hours of Temecula and had to drive through one of the worst storms I have experienced in some time. It was pretty dangerous at times with the white out snow conditions and wind. I ended up making it to Kingman on Thursday evening just before ADOT closed down Interstate 40 for the night. That was 9 hours of driving at this point.I was now hoping the rain and wind would subside going into Friday for the race on Saturday. Turned out the drive from Kingman to LA wasn't so bad. The rain and wind were on and off all morning and when I arrived in the Huntington Beach area around noon it was raining steady. The forecast going into Saturday for Temecula wasn't looking so good. Rain/snow into the early morning was called for. I kept my positive attitude hoping it would break sooner. By late afternoon on Friday; Keevin, and the boys from Vegas (Hileman and Pace) had thrown in the towel for making it out. Also out was Matt Turgeon, from Durango, whom had called it on Thursday with all the snow coming down in the four corners area. Me; I was on a mission. Saturday morning came fast and at 5am I woke up at Keevin's house, looked at the forecast for Temecula, and the weather had blown through and clear skies were being called for. I drove into Temecula looking at clear/partly cloudy skies. It was going to be a good day after all weather wise. Now to see what the course looked like with rain all week drenching the area. After arriving at the Vail Lake the trail didn't look so bad. Pretty sandy conditions with clay in spots. The racers were piling in as the morning progressed before start time. I had not one person I knew at the race and set up my truck on the trail to self support myself. I had everything dialed in for a long day on the bike. The first lap of the race wasn't bad; a little wet and loamy but not bad for many of inches of rain falling on the course. As the race progressed the course became slower and slower with the loamy conditions and the moisture wicking up to the surface. Definitely a leg zapper on the climbs on the single speed. Turned out to be 15 solo single speeders in my class. I took off at the start and led for the majority of the race until lap 10. During the first few laps there was 3 or 4 of us pretty close together and I had only minutes leading mid way of the race. I just kept pushing hard and skipped my pit a couple of times to try to increase my lead. By lap 7/8 I was in front by only 6 minutes and just kept pushing hard. Lap 10 is when I started to fall apart. The train was coming detached. On a hike-a-bike section one of the guys had caught up to me and passed me. At this point I could not get my heart rate up and I had to let him go. I was bummed to not be able to chase on but it happens and I held on for 2nd place overall in the solo single speed class. My plan before this juncture was to keep going and if I had gotten to the start/finish without anybody passing me I would have went for an 11th lap but I had no gas to chase this guy so he ended up going for an 11th lap with us only a minute apart going through the transition. But like I said I had no gas to go and decided to stop and settle with 2nd place. A great battle all day with these guys. I'm feeling pretty confident going into the 2010 season with an early season podium for sure. Look out Old Pueblo!!