Back to California

Back on the North side of the Golden Gate 

It took two full days of budget airline travel to cover the thousands of miles north before Mary and I got our feet back onto the familiar soil of northern California.  It was surely ample time for some good old fashioned travel suffering, but on the bright side, also an an opportunity for some detailed reflection on our latest trip. 

The 2013 edition of the Trans Andes Challenge mountain bike stage race was the the primary objective of our fifth trip to Chile, along with the opportunity to interweave this competition into a successful travel exploration and training segment that will keep us fit and on track for the long race season that lies ahead. 

Loaded up and ready for the next move 

In many ways it was our best trip yet to South America as we were able to take a little more relaxed pace with all the logistics, often traveling off the highways navigating on smaller back roads and one lane dirt passes, just for the experience.  We took the time to have a good look around while we passed through a sizable portion of Chile's Pacific coast, keeping consistent with our training on the bikes and vigilant in our pursuit of local waves.  

Our transient styles kept us living out of our travel bags and never stationary for long.  Most stop overs were typically just long enough to get in a couple of training rides, perhaps surf a new wave and get an idea of what the area had to offer.   It was great in that we came across a lot of places that we would like to return to for a closer look while eliminating some potential places that are for sure not our style.   

MnM Riding at Punta Lobos Chile*

Another great place to have your Stan's NoTubes Sealant*

Ripping it up for the Camera *

Mary threading through some Chilean pucker brush*  

Mary and I specifically took advantage of traveling with bikes (that is bikes ready to go from our car camping set up) as well as the consistent clear weather to cover a lot of ground and make sure to see a lot of things that would have been easy to miss traveling by car alone.  In situations like this, it is especially amazing and convenient to be able to combine our training hours with having a look around at some incredible places.  With these styles we jammed the maximum amount of seeing and doing into a short period of time.   

Traveling with our two person team throughout Chile is typically laid back and fun.  Chile is a big country with a small population and while it is can get congested in certain areas at the slightest occasion It still feels like there is plenty of room for everyone even in the busiest of times.   It seems  particularly easy "to get away from it all" even if your idea of solitude might be as lofty as your own private sweet little piece of beach for the day. 

We were really happy to have a little extra time after the Trans Andes to see a bit more of this remarkable country and round out our time with some cool explorations and fun with our friends from the south.

Mary Horsing around in Chile

Mary and I have now traded in the long days of the Chilean summer for the early spring/winter of Sonoma County, California.   Considering what many in the northern hemisphere are going through this time of year we are not complaining but it is a taste of winter none the less.  In any case as soon as we stepped into the familiarity of epic California we knew it had been too long since our last visit. 

A couple of weeks of here and Mary and I are now well into our own version of the hard man / woman training camp.  This chapter is all about riding our bikes loads of miles and we feel blessed to be able to do it here.  We have been getting in some great MTB rides up in the land of the redwoods and in between these we have been enjoying the luxury of our road bikes on the oh so amazing, though amazingly decayed, roads of Sonoma county.    It is a great feeling to be back in an exceptional area that stretches our limits.

 Limit Stretcher! 

Lucky solo session on the north coast of Sonoma county 

We are still trying to keep it diverse by getting in the ocean a couple times a week - on the paddle boards if it is flat, and of course always hoping for some incoming swell to light up one of the little known and seldom surfed B waves that cling to the cliffs along the Sonoma Coast.  

Mary descends the Oat Hill baby heads - Mt Tamalpais in the background

Sometimes Relaxing is the best training

The XC racing season is fast approaching and that means change and travel will soon be on the way!  In our short sweet time here we are focussed on digging in and  taking advantage of all that this area has going for it.  Really for us at this time it is all about getting in some serious CHARGING!

Mary puts everything into perspective

HWY 1 is One of the most serious roads we have to contend with in these parts

Our first competition of the season will be the Continental Championships and it is coming up on April 7th in Tafi de Valle, Province Tucuman, Argentina!    Mary and I are excited to open the XC season up by donning the stars and stripes once again and representing our country, team and sponsors at this exciting event!!!! 

We hope everyone is doing their thing how they want to do it - no matter what that thing is!

MnM ready for a great 2013 *

photo credits  *   Vasilios Devletoglou -  

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