We are off to on Stage 3 today, and are loving every bit of this race so far. Chris Carmichael and I are having a great time racing together, and have definitely been suffering! Day 1 ended up great with Chris and I placing 1st in the 80+ mixed category, and 5th overall in the mixed teams. Stage 2 was a bit rainy and sloppy, and thankfully was a bit shorter than all the other days, at only 50K. You can check out my Garmin Connect page for a view of the ride.

There is good race coverage on the following site for everyone to enjoy:

Trans Andes Website

A great blog by Jason Sager on Cyclingnews.com

I have also added quite few photos to my Facebook page and to my Flickr account so check them out! We are off on Stage 3 today, and I’ll check back in as soon as I get some quality internet time.

Stage 3: Distance 72 kilometers. Total Climb 2496 meters. Feed Zone 1 Km 26. Feed Zone 2 Km 49.

We are racing today! Stage 1 is all set to go. Day 1 Panguipulli to Huilo Huilo (try to say that three times as fast as you can)!

Trans Andes starts today and I’m racing with Chris Carmichael from Carmichael Training Systems. Greg and I traveled down here with about 25 athletes and coaches from CTS. It’s the royal treatment with CTS and my friends from Adventure Store in Argentina as our support crew. Being in such a big, organized group is a logistical luxury and it’s also great to have so many instant friends to hang out with. The group ranges from a neurosurgeon to tech wizard to a BLM employee. The one common thread through us all is a love for riding bikes. Everyone here is addicted to cycling and are super stoked to be in the Andes. I am the only on in the group who has raced Trans Andes, so my role has been to share my experience and help get everyone excited and prepared for the event. This race is one of my favorite stage races in one of the best places in the world.

Today’s stage is long with lots of climbing. It will probably be a rude awakening for my legs and my body. My training leading up to this race has been less than ideal and breaking a rib also put a damper on things. My rib is feeling OK, but it’s definitely not 100% and falling is pretty much not an option for me during the race. We did a shake out ride today to check out the bikes and the legs. It felt great to sweat and be outside in the warm summer weather. I know my fitness is not where it could be, but I’m excited to ride and I know it’ll be a great training week.

Chris and I have talked a little about race strategy and his thought was “to attack each other as aggressively as possible right from the start to find out who’s boss.”
I’m not sure I like that strategy, but I guess I’ll find out soon enough who really is the boss. With 6 long days in the saddle, perhaps the title off “boss” will change hands a few times.

I am using my brand new SRAM Quarq power meter and Garmin 500. I used them both today for the first time on our pre-ride. Luckily, there are a bunch of Garmin veterans here who have educated me and I’m dialed in with the system. I will be sharing all my power and GPS data on Garmin Connect and Facebook. There are no secrets this week, so you’ll all be able to see exactly how fit (or not fit) I am! Here is the file from todays warm up ride.

Stay tuned. I will check in again from the amazing Huilo Huilo wilderness spa.

Stage 1: Distance 82 kilometers. Total Climb 2287 meters. Feed Zone 1 Km 23. Feed Zone 2 Km 55.
Stage 2: Distance 50 kilometers. Total Climb 2237 meters. Feed Zone 1 Km 22. Feed Zone 2 Km 38.
Stage 3: Distance 72 kilometers. Total Climb 2496 meters. Feed Zone 1 Km 26. Feed Zone 2 Km 49.
Stage 4. Distance 77 kilometers. Total Climb 1892 meters. Feed Zone 1 Km 32. Feed Zone 2 Km 54.
Stage 5. Distance 78 kilometers. Total Climb 2162 meters. Feed Zone 1 Km 27. Feed Zone 2 Km 53.
Stage 6. Distance 53 kilometers. Total Climb 1177 meters. Feed Zone 1 Km 21. Feed Zone 2 Km 38.

It was an awesome training week and felt great to be spinning the pedals in the sun. We are both fresh off skiing and a little bit of indoor riding, but that’s about it. Early season is always so demoralizing because you are building fitness again and trying not to be impatient with results or performances. The only way for me to get hard race intensity is to race. I cannot generate the same kind of psyche on my own. I need a start line and a bunch of other people to motivate me to push extra hard.

Looks Like Idaho

The Tour de la Patagonia is a race full of mostly Argentine and Chilean riders, but there were also a few teams from Ecuador, Brazil and Uruguay. I think we were the only Gringos in the race. I did this race last year, so I knew what to expect and have some friends in San Martin de los Andes who take me under their wing. It’s so much easier to travel to a foreign country where you have a local contact for good places to eat, the best shops, the best rides and other logistics. I am hoping one day my Argentine family here will come to Idaho and I can return the favor and show them my home.

"Hugito" Our mechaninc

The terrain here is really similar to Idaho, so Greg and I felt right at home. The big differences are eating dinner at 10 PM, having tons of beef every day and drinking mate (pronounced: mahtay) like a drug. The race officials also seemed to struggle with Greg’s name since his first name “Greg” is not common, but his last name “Martin” is like Bob in the US. So when they announced our names for the podium, it was RRRRRRRRRebecca and Marteeeeeen, complete with a thick Latin American accent!

Full Service Race Massage

The race unfolded nicely. I was sick going into the event and was nervous about my performance. I definitely wasn’t 100%, but started feeling better each day. The flats and descents were OK for me, but as soon as we hit the climbs, I felt super weak and powerless. Greg was an awesome teammate letting me sit in behind him in the wind and helping me up some of the hills when possible. Team racing is so rewarding when you work well together and can give each other strength and motivation.

The top 4 teams from day 2. Greg and I were stoked to finish 4th overall this day right behind the 3rd place men's team.

Since we knew I was going to be weaker than usual on the climbs, we worked hard on the single tracks and any technical riding in an attempt to get a gap on the other teams. It’s awesome to follow Greg descending because he’s so good that I can just follow his lead and not have to think. The course on day 1 had a 20 minute super high speed single track descent. We got some great video on the GoPro that day and the trees are blurred because we were going so fast. Our top speed that day was 60 km / hr! The video footage will be coming soon.

Finishing Day 2 in Puerto Fuy, Chile

We finished first in the mixed team category on all three stages and won the category, but not by a huge gap. A very young, impressive Argentine Team Pedal Life kept the pressure on us the whole way. They are both just 21 and it was Jacquelina’s first mountain bike race! They finished a total of 15 minutes behind us over three days of racing. We got about 5 minutes on them each day, but that small of a gap did not leave any room for mistakes such as crashes or flats. The best part was that they finished each day with huge smiles. I think they both have a long future in bike racing and I’m trying to convince them to compete in the 24 Hours of Argentina this year.

1 1/2 hour ferry ride to camp

Greg and I had a clean race with no mechanicals or crashes. Thanks to Hugo and Flavio at Adventure Store for keeping my new Specialized Era and Greg’s Specialized 29er HT running smoothly. Greg and I were really happy with result. In addition to winning the mixed category, we were also 5th in the overall rankings. Not bad for a chica and a Gringo

Finish Day 3 in San Martin de los Andes

After three great days of intense racing, we are spending the rest of our time here going to the beach, shopping, working on the 24 Hour race course and just taking in the relaxing vibe of this area. It feels like the first time we have taken a true vacation in a very long time! We leave tomorrow and just heard that we are returning to two feet of new snow at home.

A very rare moment of vacationing on Lago Lacar!

I guess the bikes will go back into storage and the skis will stay waxed and in use for a bit longer. For full results click here.

"Mixtos" Podium

I am in my final days of a month long training and racing camp in the lakes district of Patagonian Argentina and Chile. This is my first winter cycling excursion in this part of the world and it has been a fantastic way to get in some early season riding and connect with the ultra friendly and cycling fanatic community down here. I have honestly never felt so welcome in a foreign place and have never experienced such varied riding in such a condensed area. There are bike parks, jumps, sweeping single track and long adventure rides all around here. The scenery is a mix of Lake Tahoe and Yosemite Valley all wrapped into one. I have also been semi-adopted by a wonderful Argentina family who loves to ride, ski and be outside every day. It’s quite a paradise.

However, a month is a long time to be away from home and I am missing Idaho a wee bit. I’ll be home in the snow by next week, but first I have one more race to top off the training. I already did the Trans Andes and won the women’s division for that six day race. Next, I am racing a three day stage race called Tour de la Patagonia. By the time I leave here, I will have crossed the Argentina/Chile border 7 times! They are starting to question me at the border crossings about my wanderings.

I’m competing in The Tour as Los Chicas de Specialized (team #318) with Heidi Volpe from the US. Heidi and I have never raced together and she is not a pro athlete. But she’s fast and experienced and we are doing this event together as a media and training event. We’re both writing a few stories on our adventure and also hoping to keep spreading the enthusiasm for female cyclists in this part of the world. Heidi’s husband and well-known photographer, Michael Darter, is also with us on the trip so we’re getting some great photos and videos to add to the experience. It’s a long way to travel down here, but we all agree that it’s worth the effort.

There are rumored to be nearly 500 two person teams signed up for this race. It’s only the second year for this event, but it’s already one of the best attended and most prestigious mountain bike races in the country. The format of the race consists of three cross country length stages, interspersed with glorious lakeside camping sites, a ferry ride and two border crossings. The majority of the competitors compete for the travel and camping experience, but there is also a top echelon of serious athletes who will be racing for stage wins and the overall title. We are told that we will also be racing against a Giant women’s team and a Trek women’s team, so it will be the battle of the big bike companies!

The stages are relatively short for Heidi and me and I cannot envision 1000 people in a mass start trying to dive into a single track trail. However, we’ll just take it as it comes. We’ve discussed race strategy, dialed in our S-Works Eras and packed all of our camping gear for three days. No matter how prepared we attempt to be, there are still quite a few unanswered questions about the course, the terrain, the logistics, our competition and how the whole experience will unfold. Part of the excitement of these foreign stage races is the unknown adventure that lies ahead. Of course, we are both competitive and want to ride our best, but there is just no way to be 100% prepared in a situation like this. I think flexibility, a sense of humor, and a few phrases in Spanish will all come in handy.

Stay tuned for our day by day account of the Tour de la Patagonia! We will share our experiences and images from each day, but since we are camping in remote areas during the race, you might not get to read all of the results and stories until we finish on Sunday, so be patient! This IS South America after all. Tranquillo! (translation: take it easy, chill out!?

This week in San Martin de los Andes has been an awesome week of rest, training and the time honored tradition of having the locals show off their home trails.  I’ve had a sweet cabin all to myself and the opportunity to catch up on sleep and emails.  Every day consists of a lazy morning drinking coffee and communicating with the world, then some bike training in the morning, a group ride in the afternoon and home made cooking in the evening. Yesterday I did a great workout and rode up to the base of the ski area called Chapelco.  There was a dusting of snow on the top of the mountain.  I did two 20 minute sub-lactate threshold intervals with the Kings of Leon in my ears for motivation.  In the afternoon, I did a 2nd workout with the local riders during siesta.  It was a mixture of ages from 15 to 45 and a huge variety of downhill and XC bikes from brands I have never heard of to carbon Enduros. The ride was a complete maze of cow tracks, hand built jump trails and dirt roads.  There is a complex network of trails here that are shared by the cyclist, the local Mapuche, horses and hikers.  It seems to work pretty well.  It’s sort of like the streets in the town.  There are no stop signs, stop lights or any sort of traffic controlling measures.  However, the flow seems to work and everyone just moves fluidly around each other in cars, on bikes, on horseback and on foot.  I have not seen one altercation yet.  It’s the mellow South American vibe, I guess.

The other day also included a trip to the local fire station to check out their equipment, say hello and see how the emergency services function here.  The fire community is a family just like cycling.  You can go anywhere in the world and have an instant connection due to a shared passion.

This weekend I went to Chile for a marathon mountain bike race around the volcano in Osorno.  It seems every town has their local volcano. There were supposed to be a bunch of riders from San Martin heading over there, but the weather forecast was for high winds, rain and 40 degree F temps. Most people bailed, but my coach put this on the training schedule so I begged a ride from some locals and went for a good dose of suffering. I figure that’s why I’m over here anyway, so I might as well get in as much training as possible. We drove for 5 hrs, stayed in the Bates Motel, stood in the rain for 3 hrs, then they cancelled the race! To top it off our normal 5 hour drive home took 8, as we were stopped at the border for no apparent reason. It wasn’t a total loss though as I did plenty of EMT studying in the car. It’s a good thing I’m doing all of this riding because this area is famous for three of my favorite things:  red wine, beef and chocolate!

Reba