WOW! What an amazing two and a half weeks we have had! Earlier this week we drove back from our adventures at The Sea Otter Classic and The Whiskey Off-Road, two of the biggest off-road cycling events in the nation. I had taken a laptop with me so that I could blog, (thank you Taylor!), but I was so busy taking in every moment of our trip that I just couldn’t bring myself to sit down and write. So here it is…Part One of the Adventures of Team Uranga!

Two weeks ago from Friday was Carlos’ race at Sea Otter. After our pre-ride of the course we knew that this wasn’t just any XC race. This was practically a marathon for him, and despite not being at a high altitude, it was like a marathon in the mountains with all the climbing! Maybe it wasn’t that bad, but it sure felt like it to us flat landers! The course was one ginormous 22 mile loop with fast and flowy singletrack and lots and lots of jeep road. He started his race with the mentality that he was going to have to really pace himself in order to finish the grueling 44 miles.

The event is sponsored by Volkswagen, so the entire four days we were there we got VIP parking right next to the entrance since we were in our pretty little Jetta! It was awesome!! So we got there early that Friday to catch the end of the short track race. It looked brutal with a huge sand/gravel pit that was probably around 75 meters long. Afterward Carlos suited up and spun his legs for a little bit. When it was time to line up it was so cool because the start was on the actual Laguna Seca racecourse.    Before I knew it they were off and I was left to hang out and chill for the next few hours figuring out the best way to get to the feed zone. There was one at the end of his first lap, and then another half way through the course. Carlos came out of his first lap and when I asked him how he was doing he said, “not good!” But he kept on going. Uh oh! I asked the course marshal how to get to the second feed and the only way was to descend 4 miles down a jeep road. I went back and forth in my head if I should go or not. My race was the next day and I knew it wouldn’t be very wise to climb four miles the day before to get back out of there. I felt so bad and just prayed that he would be okay, knowing there was plenty of water and nutrition out there.

I waited and waited till his head finally popped out over the hill to the finish. I was screaming and yelling, “Good job Baby! You’re awesome!” And then as he came down he slowed to tell me, “I didn’t finish, but that was so much fun!!!” He let the officials know that he had DNF and rolled down to the car. So he was already feeling signs of cramping in his first lap and knew the second lap wasn’t looking very promising. The climbs in the first fifteen miles are a tiny bit shorter than the long climbs in the end, and also a little more punchy. His legs really locked up when he was around mile 30 and when he got to the feed zone in the middle he decided to take that four mile jeep road back out. Murphy’s law right? The only way to get out was uphill! Yikes!

He was so excited afterward! Although he didn’t finish the entire race, he had so much fun with the guys he was racing with, the trail was super flowy, and everywhere you looked it was soooo pretty! It was the perfect training ride that we couldn’t have gotten back at home!

My race was Saturday at noon and the field was STACKED! Not like it isn’t always stacked at this level, but this time there were 43 women and from all around the WORLD! Several whom are Olympic medalists, National Champions of not only the U.S., but also their respective countries, in all sorts of disciplines of cycling from cross-country to cyclocross to track. I knew the course was tough, the competition was STEEP, and it was going to be an experience of a lifetime…and it was!! I had a good start and stayed smack in the middle of the group throughout the track where I didn’t have to work very hard. Once we hit the dirt I stayed about mid pack and got to ride with Rebecca Rusch for the first handful of miles. That was pretty cool! Carlos was waiting for me From my pre-ride to race day my descending was a little better, but these girls were just bombing it down! I then realized that without having the longer climbs back home like there were here, you don’t really have the same opportunity to practice descending, which was appearing to be one of my limiters. I did the best I could while keeping the rubber side down and was so excited to clear a super rutted out descent that I had trouble with earlier that week! I was also so happy to make it down this one descent that was pretty steep and the entire way down was about a foot deep in super fine SAND! That thing was tricky! As the race went on, and the climbs got longer I just couldn’t keep the pace. I dropped back a few spots and finished in 35th. As I rolled through Emily Batty was there and she gave me a big, “Good Job!” All I could tell her was, “You girls are amazing!” I was happy to have finished, happy to be in one piece, and happy to know that we can only go up from here!

The next morning we set out to our next adventure in Arizona, The Whiskey Off-Road. We figured, why not take the scenic route and drive down Highway 1?!? Life’s too short not to squeeze everything out of it! It was so beautiful!! No regrets there. That was a looooong day of driving and Carlos did ALL OF IT! I’m starting to really believe that he thinks I’m a really bad driver, or he just doesn’t trust me with the bikes in the back. Haha! But whatever the reason may be, I’ll just stick with, it’s because he loves me THAT MUCH! 🙂

We arrived in Sedona, AZ around midnight and we were both pooped! We checked into our room at the Sedona Summit where we would be staying for the week, complements of Steven and Deborah!!!! We couldn’t say THANK YOU enough!!! Our room was so nice with everything we could possible need or want on our last week away from home, with a full kitchen and a jacuzzi right around the corner that had a beautiful view of the canyon! Finally, a whole week in a quiet town with nowhere to go and miles of singletrack to explore…