Dawn to Dusk

Off-season racing fun got rolling a week ago Saturday at the Dawn to Dusk mountain bike race hosted by DCB Adventures on the Pemberton Trail at McDowell Mountain Park just outside Fountain Hills. I jumped on the co-ed quad team Cancer Sucks with George, Jo, and Todd for this great event.  I headed up early Friday afternoon to pre-ride the course as I haven't ridden the Pemberton Trail in years and luckily was able to grab a great parking spot.  Turned out this was pretty sweet as the parking lot filled to capacity Friday night and all latecomers had to park down the road and get shuttled in.  Not ideal considering the rain started falling and temperatures plummeted during the night.  We were smart and got a good nights sleep at the Holiday Inn!!!

George lining up for the start

4:30am wake-up to rain was lovely, but George loves mountain biking in the rain and it was a mass sprint start so he got to go first!! I rode 2nd with Todd and Jo in 3rd and 4th.  The first lap was a little chilly but no rain and the trail was running nicely.  We spent the time between laps huddled in the car chatting and trying to stay warm only venturing out to cheer the next rider on or get ready to ride a lap.  The sun made a brief appearance for my 2nd lap and so inspired me to really have a great lap, one of those special, totally in the groove mountain biking moments :)  Sadly the rain came back and my 3rd and last lap was pretty sloppy.

Finishing up Lap 2 (i think)

Fun weather

Base Camp

Everyone had a great time and we won our division convincingly!!! The weather only made it that much more epic.  The drive home to Tucson after the race was probably more painful than the race itself and I definitely felt like a train wreck the next morning!!! Not sure what I am getting myself into racing 24hrs in the Old Pueblo as a duo.  Thankfully my partner in crime Katie Ellis is in great shape taking the win in the solo division.

Post-race team celebration

Since then it has been nose to the grindstone getting in some great training especially on the bike.  Spend this past Sunday out on the 24hr course for the first time and pretty excited about the race in February.  Trail is in great shape and super fun.  

This is probably it for the year as far as blogging goes so Happy Holidays and wishing everyone a terrific 2012!!