Art O’Connor

The final stage was an 80K circuit race in a city park.  Not a lot for me to do today as the caravan will not be following the race, probably just as well as I am feeling the effects of last night.    The guys are pretty happy to have made it to this point.  Hard to believe it is almost over.  The race was pretty basic, a break went away got caught, and ended in a field sprint.  All the guys finished safe and sound.  After 700k or racing as a team we had a few minor crashes, a few flats and a ton of fun.  Now the only thing left is the 24 hour drive back to Salt Lake.

Thinking back it is hard to pick one highlight of the trip.  The fish tacos, talking to the school kids, the club, the battle between Gardie and Alex for the “Yellow Jersey”.  For me the best part was getting to know everyone on the team better.  I am so glad I went on this trip.  It did wonders for me.  My head is clear and I am now super motivated to start training again.  Back in SLC I am watching it snow, looks like a trainer day.

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Thanks for coming back.  Had some server problems the last few days.  I will post a recap of the Mexico trip soon.

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Today was the day I think all of us were really waiting for, the day at the beach.  The stage was pretty basic, 150k mostly flat with a 1k climb to the finish.  The day started in Hermasillo with an out and back on I-15 then 2 circuits in San Carlos.  Even though  it was killing him it was nice to have Brent along to help feed and talk to.  We did a much better job feeding the guys today.  El Gato was the hero of the day; he dropped back and carried about 2/3rd his body weight in bottles back up to Zulle and Jesse in the lead group.  After loading him up we motor paced him back to the tail end of the caravan were he gave a clinic in how the pros get back to the peleton.  Never panic, use the draft, and expend minimal effort to get back to a field moving at a steady 28-29mph.  Anyway, the race was really hard and a Mexican rider from the Chivas team won.   Zulle and Jesse finished strong on the lead group with El Gato just off the back with a broken rear wheel.  Terry, Gardie and Todd were right there in the second group.  Overall I think it was the best riding of everyone this week.  All the guys are getting stronger as the week goes on which is exactly what you want to see.

La Playa

After the race came the moment we had been looking forward to all week.  Fish Taco’s on the beach!  We found an awesome place on the beach.  It is kind of off season so we had the place to ourselves.  Using Zulles language skills we quickly ordered mucho cerveza and the much talked about fish tacos.  Gardie, Brent, Terry and Alex were the only ones tough enough to actually go all the way into the chilly ocean water while we were waiting for the food.  We then ate some killer fish taco’s by the pool.  It was a perfect way to reward a hard day in the saddle.  This is really one of the best groups of people that I have traveled with; none of us can believe that the week is almost over.

Obregon

This trip has been so incredible on so many levels that even our sketchy accommodations in the city of Obregon did not dampen anyone’s spirits.  We got to the host hotel which seemed really nice.  Unfortunately this was not where we were staying. We were at another place a few miles away.  No problemo we go to the other hotel.  Let’s just say the other hotel was the kind of place that rents rooms by the hour.  Not exactly the Ritz.  What was cool is that a few jokes aside no one was really complaining.  We just chalked it up as part of the experience.

I have not really talked much about the food on this trip.  On the way down we consciously avoided Mexican food thinking we would soon get our fill. We were wrong.  The food was not bad; it just was not Mexican food at all.  All our meals were pretty much the same.  Scrambled eggs and cereal for breakfast, pasta and chicken for dinner.  There was nothing wrong with it, just not what we were expecting.  So at this point with the fish taco’s still fresh in our minds we decided to skip the race dinner and find some Carne Asada.  Wow was that a good call.  We found a great little place that was busy (always a good sign).  We are there about 30 seconds and Gardie has already made friends with the table next to us.  They were there celebrating a wedding.  The sister of the bride spoke some English helped us with the menu.  Thanks to her help and Gardies shyness we feasted on the finest Carne Asada any of us can remember eating.

Todd and Gardie Rock the House

After a lot of big talk the old guys (Todd, Gardie, Terry, Brent and me) were the only ones who made it out to the club that night.  We cruised down the main drag until we saw a club with a bit of a line.  They would not let Todd Gardie and me in because we were wearing shorts (stupid gringos).  Terry and Brent went in and those of us in short pants went back to the hotel to change.  A quick change and a brief stop by the local authorities and we were back at the club.  The place is packed.  I have never seen so many pretty girls in one place.  Girls out numbered the guys 2-1.  Brent and Terry had secured a table in the back with a great view of the stage and had a bucket of cerveza waiting.  We toasted to our good fortune of being where we were with everyone safe and waited for the band Nova to start playing.  Their first set rocked, they opened with a Green Day tune and then played some great high energy Spanish rock.  These guys could really play.  After their first set Gardie and Todd disappear.  We kind of wondered where they went but were not too worried.  Nova comes out for their second set and guess who is on stage?  Gardie really should be in politics, the man can work a room.  In his best Spanish he says how “bonita” all the ladies of Obregon are.  The crowd is eating it up.  Next thing you know Gardie is singing  “I Love Rock And Roll”  and has the crowd signing the chorus.  It was then that we notice that Todd is also on stage signing back up!  It is always the quiet ones that surprise you.  It was unreal the place was going nuts.  During the Gardie/Todd show I was dancing with a really cute girl.  After the song she smiles and says something to me in Spanish.  Now I can’t understand English in a club so I reply with the only complete Spanish sentence I know, “Donde esta Santa Claus?”  She looks at me like I am El Chupacabra.  
More to come…

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The course is pretty nice, about 2k with a good surface and turns.  The final turn is a little dicey  for a field of 130 or so riders as it narrows to one lane, but overall everyone is pleased with the course saying it reminder them of RMR.  They are also pleased that the officials have decided that 150k is a little long for a crit.  The race is now 80K.  

Jesse got in an early move for a few laps with Zulle and El Gato patrolling the front.  El Gato got in the next move which quickly got a 20 second gap.  There were 3 Mexican and 4 Candadian/Americans in this move.  They don’t do a lot of crits here so the Mexican riders are a little tentative in the corners.  El Gato said the only way to get them to work was to slow down for the turns so they would not get gapped off.  The built the lead up to a max of just over a minute.  Back in the field Teco’s had all their riders on the front chasing with the rest of the field only too happy to let them.  In the break it was  “remember the Alamo” time.  Symetrics (Canada) sent a guy up the road who was soon joined by a team mate and a Target Training (USA) rider.  El Gato stayed back to keep an eye on the Mexicans who had just figured out what happened to them and were not happy.  The remnants of the break were reeled back in leaving Symetrics and the Target Training guy to fight for the win.  Despite the 2 on 1 the Target Training guy (sorry don’t know his name) got the win.  All our guys made it through with out donating any skin to the hot Mexican asphalt.  In fact there was only one crash and the guy went down by himself.
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Today was the best day so far.  This morning the hotel manager asked us if we could stop by the school he worked at and speak with the kids.  We jumped at the chance.  The school had around 100 students that met us in the quad between the classroom buildings.  Gardie and Alex are the only ones who speak a little Spanish so the answered questions.  The kids were pretty excited and asked about the race, how much the bikes cost (I am not sure the believed us), how much they bikes weighed.  We even signed autographs!  As Americans we are taught that Mexico is a dirty little backward country and the people are all poor beggars or something.  We were all very impressed by the kids and teachers.  The kids were very polite and well behaved.  They were also very well dressed.  Some were in uniforms and some not, but the all wore nice clean clothes and shoes.  I know the kids had fun and enjoyed the visit but we were the ones who learned the most.  Getting out of the border towns you get a feel for what Mexico is really like.  Yes it is different and backwards to us, but the people here are great.  We have been treated with nothing but respect every where we have been.

Todays stage was a killer.  When you are a racer that is spectating, races fall into two catagories.  Races you wish you were in and races you are kind of glad you are watching.  This was a case of the latter.  Lots of leg breakiers in the first 50k, temp in the high 80’s, and a headwind.  Jesse again stayed with the main group with Gardie, Todd and Zulle in the next group.  It was such chaos in the caravan that I was not really able to feed these guys properly today.  They were all cool about it, they realize what we are working with so I felt a little better about not coming through.  Tomorrow is the crit which everyone is looking forward to.  After that we hit the beach and hopefully some fish tacos.

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Today was a 90 mile road race.  Alfredo the race director described it as follows: flat at the start, a 10K climb then a few good rollers to the finish.  Sounds good right?  Remember this is Mexico.

The first part was right, flat.  The first hour they covered 35 or so miles so it was not exactly an easy warm up.  There was a big crash that everyone but Jesse and I think Alex got caught in.  While he was lying on the ground trying to extract him self from the pile a spectator stole El Gato’s glasses.  Brent had to get a front wheel change.  It took quite a while for everyone to get going so I motor paced Todd, El Gato and Brent back to the field.  Just as they got on we went through a town where I think the entire population had turned out.  There were all kinds of kids in school uniforms lining the street cheering like mad.  It was really cool.  Shortly after that it was Terry’s turn to flat.  Another slow wheel change followed by some motor pacing and he was back in action.  Then we hit the 10k climb that Alfredo had mentioned.  Here is where the fun started.  One thing you have to know is any time the road goes uphill the Mexican riders go berserk.  I guess the image of Raul Alcala in the polka dot jersey is still pretty fresh here.  The field is starting to shatter.  Almost every team vehicle is either pacing or actually pulling riders up the hill.  Terry being the cagey vet that he is was quick to grab the van and catch his breath.  We soon caught Gardie and Brent and I followed them for a while.  All this time there are Mexicans dropping off and grabbing a tow from me.  At one point I counted 8 guys that I was towing up the hill!  I saw one Mexican rider get into one of the Federale vehicles thinking he must have flatted and missed his team car.  Thirty miles down the road I see the same guy get out and rejoin the lead group.  A little home cooking never hurts I guess.   When we get to the top I make sure everyone has bottles and food before I leave them to check on the guys up front.  Today we had a closed road so I was driving 80mph  on the wrong side of the road up get back to the action.  I reach the group with Todd and Zulle and drop off a few bottles, and then I am of to find Jesse who is in the first chase group.  I start up this climb that goes a little long for a roller.  After driving another 5 minutes I catch the group with Jesse.  At this point I can see there is a lot more elevation to be gained before we are done with this climb.  I get Jesse set with his bottles and drop in behind his group.  In my mirror I can see Snake coming across solo so I drop back to give him a little Mexican Team Time Trial on to the back of the group.  At the top I wait for the rest of the guys and it is a constant string devastation.  Every one asked me for water or food. I gave some until I was worried that I would not have enough for my guys.

Everyone made it safely to the finish.  Jesse had the ride of the day and finished in the 1st or 2nd group on the road (still have no official results), this kid can ride.  The guys were all completely spent, but laughing about “a few rollers”.  The promoters had food and beer waiting for us at the finish, nice touch.  After fueling up and taking a few pics (even in Mexico the ladies love Gardie) we are off to the hotel which was about a 2 hour drive.  With the first real stage under our belt, sprits were high.  This is a composite team some of us have traveled together and some not.  Today I think we really came together and everyone is starting to get pretty comfortable with each other.  We were rollin to some Snoop Dogg felling pretty good about how lucky we are to be getting to experience this together.  On the way we drove the start of tomorrow’s stage which is going to be another  super hard day, lots of “rollers” again.
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