Back In Action

After a several month hiatus, during which I sacrificed precious travel time to get a job and make some money, I'm back on the metaphorical road. After a few weeks in Utah spent packing for South America, competing in a bouldering comp (14th place... there are some good climbers in Utah), and floating through waste deep powder, I've made my way down to Tucson to train for 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo, a 24-hour mountain bike race in the high desert near Oracle, AZ.

I've only logged 17 training miles this week, and before that I hadn't ridden trail since July/August 2008 when I participated in a race series at Solitude Resort in Utah. We're hoping to get in a longer ride today and a few practice laps on the course before race day this Saturday. Andy Meyer and I are riding as a duo team. Our decided goal is 12 laps, but given decent track conditions--i.e. if precipitation doesn't turn the course into a mud fest--we'll hopefully complete more. Last year the team "Shake and Bake" took first place in the duo category with 19 laps (finishing 14 minutes ahead of the team contesting for first). One lap is 16 miles, making 19 laps 304 miles on single track in 24 hours. Although we haven't trained nearly enough to compete for the podium, we're going to give it our all.

I'll post results and pics after the race. In the meantime, I'm reposting the first in what will be a longer series of posts titled "Vegan Will". The main purpose of these stories is simple, to illustrate the health benefits (and more importantly lack of detriment) of a plant-based diet through my semi-athletic exploits. 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo will be next in the series, tentatively followed by several ascents of high peaks in Ecuador.