Flight of the Pigs!

I remember hearing about the Flight of the Pigs and thinking "Those people are crazy!" It was a near 70-ish mile MTB ride with more than half on trails. It also included one of the toughest trails in town (National Trail) on South Mountain. On top of that, there is a time cutoff an hour in so you have to go out hard right at the beginning to make that - and then be prepared to ride all day long after. My Birthday Challenge was a gauge for me to see if I was anywhere near up to this challenge - but that was only 42-ish miles. At the last minute I signed up for the FOTP not really sure if I had a chance of actually finishing. I knew I could handle National Trail end to end (as long as I made the cutoff) and could make it to lunch...but I wasn't sure from there what would happen...
6:30AM Weigh-in: The day after Thanksgiving, it's time to see who's the largest piggy. The weigh-in included all your gear and your bike. I came in at 234 LBS. The biggest piggy -Aaron- came in at a husky 275!
And we're off! We started rolling around 7:30AM. It was a beautiful sunrise. Little did I know that I'd still be riding after sunset! (I did bring lights just in case)
While many riders took the optional Mormon Trail, I thought it was only fitting that I ride National end to end. National is shorter but A LOT more technical and it actually took me longer to get to Buena Vista (the time cutoff spot) but I made it by the cutoff time! So now it was time to ease up and enjoy the rest of the day! Now I could take some pictures!
I was able to ride with the organizer of the ride - Jim Wilcox. As I followed him towards Telegraph Pass on a technical ledge, he suddenly went over the bars and his bike tumbled down the mountain! Fortunately he was able to catch himself and wasn't badly hurt. I was able to climb down and retrieve his bike for him some 15-20 feet below but it shook me up a bit.
After Telegraph Pass it was a nice hike-a-bike up National to near the top of South Mountain.
From here it was pretty much an undulating ridgeline with plenty of ups and downs...
Even though it's pretty tiring at this point, I just love the ridgeline. The views above the Valley are spectacular.
Today we had a rare treat as it was an unusually foggy day. The weather was perfect for riding!
What goes up must come down! The west end of National Trail just drops off the face of the earth. It's a very loose and steep trail that requires a lot of rock surfing. You basically have to use your body to make the turns and manage your braking very diligently. With the recent rain the trail was in the best condition I've ever seen it and it was the first time I've ever ridden this whole section without dabbing (putting a foot down or stopping). It was SO nice!
Finally at the end of National, we took a break at the San Juan Trailhead. You can see downtown Phoenix in the background. We'll soon be rolling out to a series of roads and canals and finally north on 7th Ave through downtown and to our lunch spot - Zoe's Kitchen.
Lunch was fantastic and I needed the break. I was a bit concerned about how the rest of the day would go... After refueling we headed to the start of Trail 100.
After a series of climbs and tunnels I was back on the part of trail 100 I know.
At around Mile 48, I started to get my second wind. It was also the 1st time I really thought I could actually finish this thing!
But there was still some more climbing to do first. I started flying along Trail 100 feeling pretty good!
At the end of Trail 100 we all took a needed break. Even so we all knew that we were burning daylight. Soon we were off again. On to Papago Park and then to the Phoenix Zoo.
We all did our victory lap around Hunt's Tomb! But the day wasn't over. We still had to get back to Jim's house...
We rolled out of the Zoo on the canal and then over the Mill Ave Bridge into downtown Tempe. As we rolled the final miles the sun set quickly...
I cruised along alone but happy into Guadalupe. I was only a few miles away from the end. It was a LONG day. 70-ish miles later - It was a great day.... After that big day it was time to party!Jim & Kim put on one heck of a post-ride party and Kim did an amazing job of supporting the riders throughout the ride. Hoss Rogers made the fantastic medals for the finishers that he & Jim handed out at the awards ceremony.What a great event! I hope to do it again next year and I plan on wearing my new groovy socks!Here's a close version of the route we did - minus the ride to & from Jim's house and the couple of additional "detours" I took as I got lost a few times out on the trails. Good times!

Birthday Challenge completed!

Wow! What a day! I knew it was going to be tough. As Amy said to one of our friends who questioned the mountain biking distance: "It's called a 'challenge' for a reason!" Truth be told, I had my doubts about being able to do the riding portion myself...along with everything else. As you can see there wasn't much that was flat...

The ride turned out to be roughly two laps of Desert Classic to Telegraph to National to Javelina... After the first lap, I joined the family for lunch at our favorite hole-in-the-wall burrito place...
The kids made sure I didn't tighten up...
All fueled up, I was ready for Lap 2.
I set out again with 2 thoughts on my mind. Since I had never ridden this far on dirt my 1st thought was if I would bonk and how I'd manage that. My second thought was that I needed to stay alert and avoid fatigue-induced crashes. Being tired has a way of making you make mistakes and National Trail is not one where you want that to happen...I started to feel pretty good as I finished the last big climb. I had a hard downhill to go but at least it was mostly down. After that downhill I was disappointed that I was still short a couple of miles so back out on Desert Classic I went to make up the difference. It was funny to see only my car left in the parking lot...I got home and started the next part of the challenge - the underwater swimming. When I decided to do the Challenge in July I forgot about the pool getting cold in October/November! The water was chilly but it felt good on my tired legs. I had a good coach/ lap counter that made sure I did all 42! Now it was time to shoot my free throws. We headed over to the park.As the sun was setting I got the free throws in.My helpers wanted in on the challenge by this time...so I helped Giana with her first regulation height dunk!My helpers were wonderful! But it was time for them to have dinner and go to bed. Nothing is better than being able to do the Challenge and also spend time with the family and read a book to the kids and tuck them in too!

Now it was time to go out and finish my final challenge - the 4.2 mile run. I originally wanted to do a trail run but the street would have to do. This is where I hit the wall - at the 2.5 mile mark. It was a good thing I was almost 2 miles from home :) I limped in at a snail's pace of 12:02 per mile but I finished!

So here are the final stats for my personal challenge of 2008!:

42.33 miles of mountain biking with 6,349 feet of climbing!
4.27 miles of running
42 free throws made
42 lengths of underwater swimming in our pool
42 kisses for EACH MEMBER of the family
42 songs on my iPod listened to at least (actually more like 120 songs total)
42 minutes of Texas Aggie football (Ags 24-Colorado 17! I listened to the web archive - Yeah I listened to it live too on Saturday. Whoop!)
42 ounces of Diet Dr. Pepper consumed- at least! (I'm sure it was WAY more)

Some "sort of" coincidental stats - that is stats that became stats as I realized they were close to "42" during the Challenge:

242 ounces of water consumed.
42 ounces of Gatorade consumed.

And finally a TOTAL coincidence that I only realized after uploading my run info. The Birthday Challenge was completed at 10:23:37PM. My ACTUAL birthday happens to be Oct 23rd - 10/23!

It was an amazing day! It's definitely a nice feeling to accomplish something that I really had doubts about being able to do - and finish it with a smile on my face. It's also a great feeling to have such a loving and supportive family there by my side too. Thanks guys. I love you!

1 Shiner was consumed also! After the run, the cold pool felt very, very good!

Now...what am I going to do NEXT year? Who knows... I'm still enjoying this victory lap!

PS: It was Amy's idea that I make it 42 kisses for EACH family member (so she wouldn't get gypped) BRILLIANT MOVE!!! :)

Happy Halloween!

We had a great pumpkin carving night on Wednesday. The kids really got into it. We let them draw faces with markers and then Amy & I helped them cut them out (and fixed them up a little bit). They really did well though.


Amy carved the middle pumpkin and the kids carved the ones next to them (with a little help)....

They were excited to go trick-or-treating tonight! Giana decided she wanted to be a princess...and a lovely princess she was...



Aran was his favorite Superhero - Spiderman!



Halloween was a big success! (Now, how to hide the candy??? - no better place than in my belly!)

Tour de Tempe 2008

It's that time of year again! Aran & Giana were excited to ride and gave each other a big hug before the start. Aran would be riding in his 4th Tour de Tempe but it would be his first time actually pedaling. It sure was nice having him contribute to our movement.


Amy got to tow Giana in the trailer this year. Giana was pretty happy to have the trailer all to herself. We left our trailer at the cabin in Flagstaff and haven't had an opportunity to retrieve it so we borrowed one from a friend. Thanks Art!


Aran really liked the 2 bridge crossings - on College Avenue & Country Club Way.


It was a perfect day for a ride. The Tour was just a little over 10 miles. Giana says she wants to ride her bike next year!

The light is coming on....

After getting his feet wet in his first game, Aran is starting to "get it" and started going after the ball this week. He tracked the ball well with his eyes and played a bit more aggressively.


The boy wasn't afraid to mix it up with the older (& bigger) kids either.



He's almost ready to take on his little sister - Giana :)

Birthday Challenge is postponed due to....my birthday!

D'oh! Well actually it's a bit more complicated but I'll keep the long-story short. Amy's brother had his birthday yesterday and with her Uncle in town from Minnesota the family wanted us to celebrate our "joint birthdays" on Saturday. Aran has a soccer game at 8AM and well the day is just too full of things to pull off the challenge. So, now it's been bumped to next Sunday, Nov 2nd. Stay tuned...

Zip-a-dee-doo-dah....zip-a-dee-ay

My, oh my what a wonderful day!

And so it begins...

Our little boy is now officially on a team. Aran went to his first soccer practice today. It was supposed to be last week but he was sick. No more mountain bike rides for Mom & Dad on saturdays. They are now Soccer Saturdays!


The whole family went to practice. They started by doing some stretching. Giana wasn't about to let Aran have all the fun so she joined in too. Then they chased Coach Ryan around the field dribbling their ball...


Then it was time to try and score a goal on the assistant coaches...


After all that work it was time to get their uniforms! Aran got his favorite number - 1 - just like Thomas!!! He even got his name on his jersey too.


Now that is one happy boy!


His first game is this saturday. I'm looking forward to watching the little huddle of humanity going up and down the field...as the Blue Lightning strike fear into other Tempe Youth Sports teams!