MBAA State Finals & Another Rib Injury

Well I was planning on racing in Prescott last weekend, but life had other plans for me. Thursday night I was dialing in my rear derailleur for the race. I took my bike out for a quick test ride (wearing my Crocs) to make sure everything was running smoothly. I was rolling back to my driveway and I was in the process of doing a "Cyclocross Dismount" when I slipped the pedal and went down HARD! I ended up injuring my ribs on my left side this time. I just had finally healed up from my last rib injury a few weeks ago and here I go and decide to injury the other side. I am such a dork! (Note to self: No more "Cyclocross dismounts" while wearing Crocs!) So, I again was the "Feedzone Guy", wrench and an all-around Athletic Supporter for the weekend. "If you can't be an athlete... be an athletic supporter!"

On the other hand, Ty had another great weekend racing. They sent all the Juniors out at the same time on a 9 mile hilly course. Ty ended up beating several of the 15-16 year olds and finished 3rd in the 13-14 category. He also beat a rider that has finished in front of him all year. It is a great feeling to start to real in riders that have been in front of you all year. A solid day on the bike for Ty and he is looking very good for the National Championships in July out in Sonoma, CA. It will be nice for Ty to take a little time away from racing and focus on training and having some fun.

Want more pics? GO HERE

The Whiskey Off Road 2006

Believe it or not, Tyler did not race last weekend – I did! I fell off the wagon and did the Whiskey 25 Proof. Epic Rides always puts on great events and this one definitely was an “Epic Ride” for me! It was the toughest day I have ever had on a bike and I loved it! I can say that now, but during the ride I felt a whole lot different.

I had not trained at all for this event. What a great recipe for success! I had considered not even showing up at the race, but made up my mind that I was going to complete this one even if it meant coming in D.F.L. My whole goal was just to finish the race – no DNF. So, I started to prepare mentally a few days before since there was not much that I could do physically at that point. I found that my mental preparation was even worse than my physical preparation.

I started to type out a full race report, but realized that it would be about 10 pages long and take me about 2 hours to write. So, here is a little bullet summary of my day on the bike….

• Total Distance: 35-40 miles (my bike computer broke on a crash early in the day)
• Ride Time: 6hrs 56mins
• Total Elevation Gain: About 4850 ft.
• Times that I got lost: 2
• Place: Next to D.F.L. in the Men’s Open Class
• # of times that my bike had chain suck: 5
• Crashes: 4 (that I can remember)
• Nutrition used on the ride: 2 100oz Camelbacks, 3 GU’s. 2 Cliff Bars, 2 bottles of Cytomax, Gummy Bears, about 15 sugar cookies, 5 pretzels, and 6 electrolyte pills. (it was not enough!)
• Cramps: oh, yea!
• Calories Burned: 4866 or a plethora ("Do you even know what a plethora is?")
• Times that I cussed out Todd (event promoter) during the ride for creating this sick event: 174.5
  

Mission accomplished! (barely) I will definitely be back again next year for this event. I plan to actually train next time and see what happens. I highly suggest you give this one a try if you are into self abuse or maybe I should say... self awareness.

Fontana, CA - NORBA Nationals #2

I know, I promised daily updates and I did not come trough - Sorry! But, we had a great weekend at the NORBA National in Fontana, CA. So much to tell and so little time. Here it goes...

Ty, Ian (Red Rock Racing Teammate) and I head out around 7 PM on Thursday night for CA. We had a pretty smooth trip besides for the wind going through Palm Springs area. I had to make sure and keep both hands on the wheel to keep the car on the road. The 3 bikes on the roof did not help much either. I think we averaged about 13 miles per gallon on the way out there. Not good! We hit Fontana around 12:30 AM and decided to find a cheap hotel around the race venue. A few miles from the venue we found a place that did not look too bad called the Circle Inn Motel. We were so tired that we just wanted a bed and to sleep so we paid $69 for the worst hotel room that we could find. The room was "non-smoking", but smelled SOOO BAD. Bad call on my part. Oh well, we got about 5 hours of sleep and hit the race venue the next AM.

The mornings over there we awesome race weather - 65 degrees and over-cast. The "marine cover" would burn off around 1 PM and we would have sunny afternoons. Typical CA weather. This event was Ty's first stab at the Mountain Cross event. He has been working hard with Melissa Buhl for the last 6 weeks and was excited to apply what he had learned. He practiced on the course all Friday morning and at mid-day, they had the qualifying runs. Ty put in a great time and qualified 8th in the 14 and under category. The Mountain Cross finals were scheduled for 5:30 PM later that day. So, Ty decide that he wanted to also try racing Downhill. I singed him up and off he went to the shuttle to the top of the mountain to give it a shot. He fell in love with the Downhill even though he was riding a hardtail with a 80mm fork. He went up and down the mountain all afternoon and then went straight from his last downhill run to the Mountain Cross for his finals.

Ty waited at the start house while they ran all the other classes and when they call his class, his name was not on the list. He was told to go to the officials at the bottom of the hill to protest. It turns out that 2 other racers that were in the 18 and under class wanted to be "re-classed" in the 14 and under after the qualifying runs. This bumped Ty out of the finals. WHAT!!??? No-one told us about this change or that he now did not qualify for finals. Can you switch classes after qualifying because you did not qualify in the class you entered?? Needless to say, he was a bit heartbroken over the whole thing. Team Big Bear did step up and are giving Ty free entry to the next NORBA National. They also are making some rule changes so that something like this does not happen again in the future. Let's hope so!! After a very long day at the races, we were all very tired. We were so happy to be in a nice hotel for the next two nights. We ate, showered and hit the sack.

Saturday AM, we were back at the race venue at 8 AM for more Downhill practice and Ty's final run. Ty had a great run in his final and finished the course in 4 mins. Good enough to take 4th in the 11-12 division. Wahoo!! Next up, Ian raced Cross Country in the Junior Experts. They were starting off with the Pro at this race for some reason. Ian fired out with the pack on there way to a 30 mile race. Ian's goal was to qualify for the National Championship by placing in the top 10 and he did it - 9th place! Congratulations, Ian!!

Ty was not done yet. He still had his Cross Country race at 3:30 PM. He saved his best for last. Ty won the event by over 2 mins over the 2nd place rider. Wahoo!! AZ's own Pro MTB'er, Dara Marks, placed high in the Pro Woman's division on both the Short Track and XC events.

I could go on and on, but I need to recover from the long weekend. I do not have as much energy as Ty!

More pics from the weekend can be found HERE

Sometimes Life Tends to Get Hetic

Sorry that I have not updated this blog in a while. Sometimes, life tends to get a bit hectic and posting to our blog gets pushed down on the old" to-do list". With that said, here is a bit of what has been going on with the Coplea's.

My rib injury is finally about 80% healed and I hope to be riding strong again soon. I am doing the Whiskey race in 2 weeks and I know that it is going to be a suffer fest for me. Lack of time in the saddle with do that to you. My mother went through major surgery last month and it has been a long recovery road for her. My little rib problem is just a pebble compared to the large mountain that she has been climbing. But, she is healing well and her sprits are high. Thanks to everyone for their support, thoughts and prayers in her time of need. Without your health, nothing else matters much. Life has a way of teaching us lessons again and again.

Tyler has still be doing a lot of racing on the road and dirt. If it has wheels and pedals, he will race it! He won the State Crit Championship last month in an awesome race. Tyler and his buddies, Zach & Connor, fought it out for about 20 minutes. The 3 boys kept attacking each other the whole race. No one's legs cracked though. On the last lap, Ty stood up out of the saddle and basically sprinted the whole lap to take 1st by about 6 seconds. It was a very exciting race to watch!! More pics can be found HERE.

A week later, he was at it again in the Scottsdale Grand Prix. The Waste Management Team put on a great event! This race had a hill the boys had to hit each lap that really zapped their legs. Tyler and two other riders worked together to pull away from the rest of the field. On the final turn of the last lap, Ty decided to make his move and won the sprint to the finish line. They gave his a nice piece of hardware for his efforts.

Last weekend, we were in Payson for the MBAA #4 race. This was Ty's 1st year racing the long course and he did very well in the 13-14 category and took 4th place. Uncle Corey is racing in the Expert class this year and placed 10th. I was just an athletic supporter, again! After the race, we followed Corey along a beautiful route up to Flagstaff. It was great drive through the mountains with some awesome views. Ty saw 6 deer during our 1 1/2 hour drive and this will be our new route each time we head up to Flagstaff. Yet, more pics HERE.

We are off to Fontana, CA this weekend for the 1st NORBA National event of the year. Ty will be racing Cross Country and for the first time, Mountain Cross. He has been working with Pro Mountain Biker, Mellissa Buhl, down at our local BMX track on is MX skills to get ready for this event. Mellissa has been a huge help and she is such a nice lady. Needless to say, Ty is a bit excited for this weekend. I will post daily updates from CA to let you all know how it is going (I promise!).









CC at the Finish in Payson