The Vacuum

Alisha says: We both had a couple of big days on the bike last weekend. Dave did a ride up Mt. Lemmon with his Trisports team during their TriFest. They had quite the big group. Dave had fun racing some out of towners. I think he looks like a vacuum in one of the pictures.

Saturday we rode the Shootout. There was a crazy amount of people, around 185, and things were a bit sketchy for awhile. Once people got spread out it was much better. We also rode Madera Canyon and then rolled back into town with a brisk tailwind averaging around 30mph with a nice group of about 20.

Dave has spring break this week so he has been doing some things around the house, working on his research, riding, and relaxing a little.

Let the Traveling Begin

Stage one road race

Peanut Butter teamwork in the crit

Cold, wet, soggy, stage four

I love these girls: Olivia, Alisha, Kmac, Alison, Cari, Coryn, Lauren, Tayler, Katie

Alisha says: I just returned from an almost three week trip to northern California. First, I kicked things off at a four day camp in Santa Rosa. We worked on a lot of skills, ate a lot of really good gluten free food, had an epic day of climbing, and stayed at a really great host house. Our hosts, the Madison's were such a fun family and took such good care of Tayler and I. When we arrived and there were little goody baskets on our beds, I knew we were in good hands.

Part two of the trip took me to Mill Valley for Peanut Butter & Co/Twenty12 Team Camp. It was really fun to have the whole team together. We were spoiled as we got our new Felt bikes, tons of sweet Pearl Izumi clothes, and countless other sponsor swag. It was like Christmas. We spent some quality time in the saddle pedaling through amazing scenery in the hills and along the coast. We also had many very informative presentations from our amazing sponsors. We have some great equipment this year. Thanks to Pearl Izumi, DZ nuts, Felt, Rocktape, Defeet, Clif, Lezyne, Catlike, Oakley, ZIPP, and Peanut Butter & Co.

Part three included traveling to Merced, CA for the Merco 4 Stage Cycling Classic. The first day was a great road race that was both beautiful and challenging. The team worked great to set up our general classification riders for the rest of the week. Alison Starnes threw down an amazing time trial in stage two to move into the yellow jersey. Stage three was a downtown criterium that featured a 180 hairpin turn. The team rode great to defend the jersey. I don't think I've ever spent as much time in the front of a crit as I did during this one :). Coryn sprinted to a second place finish on the stage. The final stage turned out to be a soggy wet road race. I was put to work right away defending the yellow jersey and worked until I got popped from the group when some massive accelerations came. I hate that feeling. Lauren sprinted for third and Alison finished with the group to win the overall. It was a great team effort and a super start to the season. For some better race recaps check out our team blog http://proman-paradigm.blogspot.com/2011/03/stage-1-tetrick-starnes-debut-brings.html.

After the race it was a dash to the airport, packing bikes, delayed flights, and finally getting home at 1:30am. I was excited to see Dave and even teased him that I had forgotten what he looked like :)

Surprise

Scott, Jenn, Mike, Sam, Jess, Steve

Dave says: I never saw it coming and all of a sudden the other PhD students burst into the office with a crazy-colored cake with lighted candles. Nice! I didn't even know that people knew that it was my B-day. Last week we had next year's students visit campus and I was reminded of why I came to the U of A. This is a great program and a fun group to work with.

Valley of the Sun

Alisha says: Valley of the Sun stage race 2011 is in the books and I think a good time was had by most. A big women's field and a couple full teams made the racing fun. The new Primal team kept attacking which kept things interesting. I was 10th in the time trial, 3rd in the road race, 4th in the crit, and 8th in general classification. It felt good to get out there and get the legs moving. Dave also raced and had a good time. The road race was windy and dry. I had finished my race and was sitting in the car by the side of the course when Dave (who still was racing) pulled up and needed some water as he was all out. I quickly found something and then he was off to finish his race. When we weren't racing we got to hang out at Christine and Parker's house. Her girls are fun and they love the crazy stories Dave tells them about being an Ogre (that's why they think he doesn't have any hair).

Racing Season

Dave says: I can't believe that it's barely February and the racing season has already started. Last weekend it was the big kick off for the Trisports team with a fancy dinner at the Westward Look Resort and a team ride out to Saddlebrooke. Michael S. and I are the new guys on the roster joining Peter, Andre, and Justin under the direction of super-coach Scott Blanchard. The women's Trisports roster is pretty stacked this year and it looks to be a good year for the team.

We had a couple days of "record cold weather" which I put in quotes because it would be about average this time of year in SLC. However, we're back to 70 degrees today and I went riding up Mt Lemmon in short sleeves.

On Saturday, we kicked off the race season with the McDowell Mountain Circuit Race up in Phoenix. We passed by some of the sweetest mtb trails that I used to race as a kid and I was thinking that maybe I brought the wrong bike with me. However, it was a fun little circuit for a road race despite a fast downhill finish. Alisha brought the heat and won the race plus 2 primes. Her form is looking really good this year. I finished with the group but had a good race with some break away attempts that just didn't work out.

Afterwards, we went to Christine and Parker's which was a zoo of family members in town for Allison's baby blessing. We got to see my side of the family and had a nice time.

The blog has been neglected for a bit and I almost forgot to mention that we had our friend Tyler come through town and stay with us briefly. We also bought a red 2006 Mazda5 and sold my Civic. I wanted a car that we could throw 2 bikes and a whole lot of gear in yet still get some good mpgs. The timing was just right for race season. Zoom Zoom.

Tucson Tragedy

Outside Gabrielle Giffords office. This is only a small portion of the well wishes.

Dinner on the back patio with guests Michael and Lauren

Training on Mt. Lemmon with Tayler and Kelsey

Alisha says: Tucson has captured the national news this past week and not for a good reason. It's always shocking when a tragedy occurs but to have one occur not only in the same city that you live but only a couple of miles from your home really makes you stop and think. The morning of the shootings Dave was meeting Alex for a bike ride at 10:30 at the same intersection where the tragedy occurred. The 911 call was placed at 10:11 so just as Dave was getting there police, ambulances and other emergency personnel were all still arriving at the scene. After stopping on the opposite corner and asking around they finally found out what had happened.

Our hearts go out to those who were involved. We thought about going to the mourning where President Obama was speaking but when the line was already two miles long by mid afternoon we watched as the President gave an excellent speech calling on us to make America the sort of country that 9-year-old Christina imagined it to be.

On a happier note we have had some excellent weather and great company. Michael and Lauren stayed with us to get some training in the sun. We especially enjoyed Lauren's great cooking.

We have also been enjoying the wildlife that we get to see around our place. We like to feed the quail each morning. They are getting to where they expect food and are waiting outside every morning for it. We have also seen coyote and just tonight a bobcat took a stroll right through the back yard.

The Holidays

Dave says: December was quite the busy month and as a result the blog has been a bit neglected. Near the end of the semester I was juggling final projects, final exams, and some really interesting ethics research. Since students wanted to participate in the research in order to receive extra class credit, tons of them were signing up.

Our house closed on the day of my last final. It is a short sale that we are fixing up a bit and renting from my parents (they still talk of retiring to Tucson when they visit here in the winters). It is perched up on a little ridge with a great view of the city out one side and of the Catalina mountains out the other. To get to it, the driveway kicks up to 38%. It's lots of fun after a long bike ride.

The previous owner left things a mess and so in addition to moving there have been lots of little projects that we are still working on. My parents came to visit before Christmas and helped us with the move. My little brother Daniel proved especially useful in moving large objects.

We drove to Utah on Christmas Eve to spend Christmas with Alisha's family. All of her siblings came into town and they all now have little ones who are fun to play with. Debbie made us matching aprons (pictured above) as a Christmas gift.

Life has finally been a bit less crazy now that we are back in Arizona. Our annual New Year's tradition is to go to bed before 10 pm and I'm especially looking forward to sleeping right now. The cold weather followed us home and we have become a bit wussy in the last few months. Now we complain about riding outside in the 40s when this would be the best possible weather you could expect this time of year in SLC. We rode to Oracle on Saturday with Alex, Tulio, Doug, and Roger and were surprised to discover that the town was covered in snow. My hands were too cold to take a picture and we rode as fast as we could back to Tucson. Thank goodness that we'll be back into the 60s next week.