Squash Blossom: The High Desert Screamer!

This race was way fun because we got Brad, Kimball, and Jonny to come along! We rode up Friday night and stayed at a sleazy Super 8, where some random Indian guy walked into Kimball’s room at 3 in the morning, and then raced Saturday morning!
Here are the random highlights of the short, but fun trip:

The medals they gave you for winning!
The boys before the race. Such a nice day out! Couldn’t have asked for better weather.
Michael in the hotel parking lot. (Notice our rental car since someone decided to slam into the Honda!)

Jonny got third place in his category! Right after the race with the whole crew!

The boys at the starting line.

Mike at the starting line checking his wheel. He rode up the road with the “cream of the crop” in his category. He was flying!!

Overall it was such a beautiful day and a VERY fun coarse. A favorite of Mike’s. I liked it because after doing Horny Toad, it seemed so much easier and I was a lot more confident ont he technical parts. I was so proud of Brad cause his cassette screwed up, but he fixed it and went on and finished the race. Michael got seventh which was two steps up from last year (considering all the people ahead of him were from up north). I got second overall and first in my category! P.S. It felt good to beat the girl at Cedro who beat me there and Santa Fe. 🙂

Highlights of The Horny Toad Hustle

Horny Toad Hustle is a race on our own home court, the Dona Ana Mountains. We have been practicing really hard because we wanted to make sure we “claimed” our home turf!
These are a little out of order, but here are the highlights of the race!
Jared came and took third in Cat 3 19-29, even with a blown out knee! Brad and Jared raced too in their categories but we never got any pictures of them! Brad has a sweet video clip if I can get it uploaded.

Michael got a great time of 1 hour and 49 minutes and got fifth overall in a VERY hard category!
Here I am coming in after a VERY HOT race. I drank like six cups of water after coming in! I ended up getting second in 30-39 SPORT and third out of all of the girls!


Mike getting ready for the race. P.S. We truly believe that Starbucks oatmeal is the best breakfast before a race!


Overall: A very hot race. The road up to the top of the mountain is the hardest uphill ever, but so worth it when coming down off of it.
Smokin’ Ray gave me a Border Patrol jersey to wear, so during the race I had some guys yelling that they were illegal and running into the bushes.
Another thing about this race is that it is so random. At one point a guy in a grimreaper outfit stands at the hardest technical part and watches you. When I went by, he goes “Liiiizzz Baaarrroow”. I was freaking out wondering how he knew my name! Come to find out it was Pablo from Outdoor Adventures.
What a fun race!