Review

(See attached file: review.bmp)
It's that time of the year when there's not to much going on. So this is the perfect time for a review of 2009. My miles and hours were up from 2008 but the number of races were down. Reason for this was because of the broken arm early in the season. So thanks to my Garmin here's the totals, I included hours on the trainer and rollers but the miles don't count towards the total. It's not much but here it is

7027 Miles
670 hours on the bike
most hours in one week 29
least hours in one week 4
most miles in one week 306
least miles in one week 8
26 races
16 Centuries
4300 approximately the miles I spent in the car traveling to races
As of right now I don't really have any specific plans for 2010. A few general things I'd like to do in 2010 get more miles, hours and commute to work more often. Do more races not sure which ones right now. This maybe a huge contrast but my favorite types of racing now are 100 milers, ultras, multi day stage races and cyclo cross. So until I figure out which races I'm going to I guess it's best to ride lots.

Here's my after thoughts on the La Ruta de los Conquistadores. I think the three questions I'm asked the most about are how hard was it, was it fun and would you do it again? First I'll tackle how hard was it. Yes it was hard but it wasn't hard in ways I excepted it to be. The climbs were very long and very steep, but not technical. Allot of the climbing was on gravel and black topped roads so that made them allot easier. The mud that you see all the pictures of was only like 5 or 5 miles long and for the most part was completely unrideable. For me one of the hardest things was the schedule. Getting up and being ready to ride everyday by 4:00 AM, along with the fact of sleeping in a new bed every night became very taxing on me. But from the lack of technical trials it failed to give me the total all over beatdown that I crave. So the answer is yes it was hard but it's really more the miles and elevation gains than anything else.
Second was it fun? Yes it had it's moments but to me they seemed to few and far between. I was under the impression that the race would be in the remote areas of the rain forest. In a way it was but I was envisioning crossing suspension bridges made from ropes and vines and being chased by monkeys or some form of wild life. There was none of that but we were in remote areas that most tourist would never see. I was also a little disappointed that it was accessible by jeep or at least by quad. I had fun going through some of the small villages and getting a quick glimpse of how they lived. Some of the double track trails were fun and challenging but weren't enough to make up for the black topped sections. The other disappointment was because of the weather rain everyday I missed out on what would have been some incredible scenery.
Would I do it again? I'm still up in the air about this one. First I'll list the reasons not to go again so that way I can end on a positive note. It was a little expensive for me but I'm cheaper than most. The language barrier was a little to much for me. It seems like every conversation in Spanish is an argument. Not enough off road sections to me. It's a bad time of year for me it pretty much wiped out my entire cross season. I think there's some more but can't think of them right now. Now for the reasons to do it again and a few things that would have to happen. I know what to expect, stage racing is fun, the weather is awesome even when it's raining, and it was well organized considering the logistics involved. If I went back I'd like to go with a group I think this would make the traveling allot easier. A couple other things about going back to would be that I would have my bike setup better. Finally I would like to go back again to do better. I had a few bad mechanicals but still felt like I should have done allot better.

J