New Blog

OK so I know what many of you are thinking. Why have I started a new blog if the other one I only had for a couple of months?
Well the simple answer is that I got sick of the name. "The Most Interesting Athlete in the World (Not Really)" was something I came up quickly and without much thought. Even though it was an amusing off shoot of the Dos Equis marketing idea it didn't really reflect what type of blog I wanted it to be.

Where did "Moments of Consciousness" come from?
Well, since I started participating in endurance sports I've always gotten that question about why I put myself through Ironman, marathons, cycling races etc.
There are always cliche type answers you can use, "because I can", "because I like pushing my limits/finding my limits" because it's fun" etc.
So I actually started to really think about why I put my body through such suffering besides the fact that I might be masochistic.

Have you ever been in a race, or maybe training where it dawns on you what you are doing? You sort of get to see yourself doing what your doing, like an out of body experience and you realize just how amazing it is that you can do?
This is a Moment of Consciousness, a moment were you can really appreciate the act of doing an endurance sport, no matter if at that moment you are feeling good or are trying to get though a tough patch.
These Moments of Consciousness are the reason I love endurance sports

So there's the story.....

Triathlete vs. Mountain Biker vs. ????

I was a triathlete for 6 years, meaning I competed at trained for triathlons for 6 years. I had so much fun and I loved it. I met some great people and some great friends. It was only last year that I decided to focus on mountain biking and I do not regret that decision at all. Sure I’ll still participate in a triathlon here and there but that’s not my focus anymore.

I have to say that the triathlon community and the mountain biking community are very different. The more I get into the mountain biking community the more I notice the differences.

(Before I get into specifics I want to say that I’m talking from my perspective and talking about the general sense of each sport/community. I realize that generalities don’t fit everyone but that’s why they are called generalities.)

Let me explain,

Triathlons

                It is intense, very performance orientated but still fun; although some take the sport to seriously and forget actually having fun. People tend to be very healthy minded individuals and are kind. Now there is generally a big difference in mind set between beginners and people that consider themselves more ‘experienced’ in the sport. Generally there is a relatively small percentage that participates in the sport just for the fun of it.

                                The overall feeling that I get from the community (and I’m not the only one) is that it’s elitist, and snobby, and judgmental. This feeling can be intimidating and rude at times.

Example: show up to a triathlon with a POS bike, or one that shows it’s age and it seems like other “serious” racers scoff at you. They write you off as a beginner and “inexperienced”. It seems like if you don’t have the latest, lightest, and greatest gear you obviously are not serious about the sport. It happened to me in a couple of occasions.

It seems the “spend a lot to win” idea is strong. I tried to ignore and even tried changing this overall feeling in the 6 years that I was so involved in the sport. The problem is that the elitism and snobbism seemed to grow regardless of what I did.

Yes, in the beginner circles the feeling isn’t as strong and it’s actually gotten to be a pretty inviting crowd but as soon as you get to the competitive level the atmosphere is thick with elitism; which takes a bit of the fun out of racing.

Don’t get me wrong I think that the triathlon community has many good qualities but the somehow the athletes that bring out the worst aspects of triathlon – elitism, and snobbery – are the ones that seem to get much attention which allows them to expose the rest of the community to this toxicity. 

For the most part the people who are triathletes tend to be wealthier type-A personalities that need to boost their egos by bragging, but I do not agree that this applies to the majority of triathlets. I believe that the majority of triathletes are not elitists or snobby, I believe they are the complete opposite.

The problem is that elitism and snobbism are the impression that the triathlon community sends.  I worked tirelessly to change this impression and know many people that are also working on changing that impression. Unfortunately I also know some people that exemplify the elitism and snobbism…..

Mountain Biking

                It can be intensely competitive if you want it to be or it can be chill relaxed (just go to a mountain bike race). Some ride to compete some ride for fun, there’s a large percentage that rides for fun. They can be health minded people or sometimes they’re not, though that doesn’t mean they can’t ride. Doesn’t matter what level you are there is a lot emphasis on having fun and having a great experience.

                The general feeling and impression in general is relaxed, chill, fun. The mantra “you ride a bike therefore you’re my friend” by Gary Fisher is strong throughout.

Example: in direct contrast with the triathlon community, you show up to a race with a POS bike you become everyone’s friend. People generally admire the guys who ride outdated bike and use outdated equipment while they tend to give riders, who have the latest and greatest, a hard time.

The atmosphere is extremely welcoming. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been riding forever, and/or win races on a regular basis, or you are brand new to the sport everyone seems to want to talk to you.

Instead of doing the sport to boost their egos, mountain bikers tend to ride because they have a genuine love for riding. As I mentioned there are the riders that participate in races to place well and/or win, but they seldom forget to still have a fun time out there. Then there’s a big group that participate in races for the experience, for the fun of it. But unlike the triathlon community that tends to be a bit clickie, there is no differentiation between the ‘racers’ and the non ‘racers’ everyone hangs out together and everyone excepts everyone. Although there is a small percentage of mountain bikers that are ego driven, they are not the ones that garner all the attention.

The community is very welcoming, non threatening; which might be a reason that the sport keeps growing. On top of which there is an increasing number of converts who have come from other sports to mountain biking because of the general chill, relaxed non-elitist attitude, me being one of them.

So would I consider myself a “mountain biker”? Well, not quite yet. There is no question that my personality and attitude is more aligned with that of the mountain biking community and in the short time I’ve been involved in it I have met countless of awesome people almost as many as I did in the 6 years as a triathlete. My friend Jeff (who has been riding mountain bikes for a long time) told me the other day that I am not a “mountain biker” yet but that I was on my way to becoming one.

What then???

This begs me to ask myself the following question…When I did triathlons did I consider myself or identify myself as a “triathlete”? And before that when I was a runner, albeit a slow one, did I consider or identify myself as a “runner”?

No, I didn’t, and maybe it was because I liked doing triathlons and running but didn’t love it. I love mountain biking. There are very few things that I’d rather do that ride my mountain bike. It’s an amazing feeling, there’s nothing like it. There’s no doubt that I’ve found my passion but for now if I had to identify myself something besides “Patrick Warnholtz” I would have to go with “endurance athlete”.

en·dur·ance

n.

1. The act, quality, or power of withstanding hardship or stress

2. The state or fact of persevering

ath·lete

n

Definition of ATHLETE

1111ssjsjjs1. A person who is trained or skilled in exercises, sports, or games requiring physical strength, agility, or stamina

24hrs of Old Pueblo

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged. A lot has been going on since, here’s my 24Hrs of Old Pueblo race report.

After getting everything packed, my friend Brian Lee and I headed down to Oracle to the race site to set up camp early. We left on Wednesday morning (Feb. 16, 2011); we got there around noon and looked for a good camp site. My parents and a couple of other friends where going to catch up on Friday so we had to stake out a good chunk of land.

Once we found a good site we went about setting up our camp. My truck tent was awesome. The weather wasn’t too bad, slightly chilly but very very windy. 24hr town was pretty empty and KONA was still setting things up for the race. We took advantage of the day and went out for a lap around the course. Legs felt good and bike was working beautifully. 

That night Brian and I made the great decision to polish off 3 bottles of red wine, not a good idea in hindsight.  Next morning I woke up to more wind although the sun was peeking out behind the clouds. The morning dew had settled on my tent and to my surprise leaked thru the tent….not good.

Peter, Brian’s friend, showed up late morning. Peter, Brian and I were all doing the race solo. By this time a steady stream of people started showing up and 24hr town started to take shape. Luckily we picked a good spot where not many campers could get to which meant less noisy generators. Another pre ride lap was in order. Managed to find a tarp to set up over my tent.

The Sunday Cycles team had shown up and I headed to their camp to hang out a bit. Tim was the resident cook there and he grilled up some delicious chicken with asparagus.

Friday morning came around and the weather had not improved. Paul, Chris and Jeff showed up and they joined our growing camp. They were in a 4 person team with big Pat. At this point 24hr town was in full swing; we headed down to downtown and checked in. I ran into JP, Bob Laroche, Travis, Mike, and a bunch of other good people. Night started to creep in and still my pit crew, which was made up by my parents and my good friend Adam hadn’t arrived yet. To pass the time we sat around the fire having a good time. It wasn’t till around 11pm that they arrived.

Saturday morning came around and the wind had picked up even more. I got a good breakfast in and got my bike set up and got my strategy all worked out. Chris (who was doing the first lap for his team) and I headed out to the Le Mans start.

Le Mans start is where racers set up their bikes on racks walk about 400yards and when the run goes off run, grab their bikes and head out on the course.

The first lap is always crazy congested and inevitably a couple of riders go down. This was no different, through the first twisty section one lady crashed head first into a cholla (ouch). Luckily I made it ok through the lap. Did I mention the wind was terrible…?

The second and third lap went well, legs felt good and the nutrition was good. For the fourth lap I grabbed my headlamp (it was around 5pm), leg warmers and my rain jacket. The fog had some in and the temperature had come down a bit. The fog turned into some light rain and I got soaked. Finishing up my fourth lap I decided it was better to keep going since I was warm. Bad idea the temperature took a major dive and the rain increased. 10min into my lap I knew this wasn’t a good idea; I tried figuring out how to get back to my camp with no avail.  I decided to HTFU and finish the lap. Rolled into camp and could not feel my toes or fingers…..borderline hypothermic. Time 9pm, after warming up I decided to sleep a bit. My dad said he’d wake up at 3:30am to head back out. Crawled into my warm sleeping bag and passed out.

3:30am I woke up and got ready to head out, some of my clothes had managed to dry from the night before. Adam had also gotten my bike ready; I threw on all my long sleeved base layers (4 of them). It was cold. Fortunately the rain had ceased and the course was in great condition, sticky and tacky. It was awesome and I was cranking at a good pace. The sun started to come up and my head light ran out of batteries just as it wasn’t necessary anymore (lucked out there). I got a good 4 laps in before the end of the race.

9 laps total, my goal was 10 but considering the conditions I was very satisfied and happy with the result. Each lap was 16.1 laps so I got just over 145 total laps in. I managed to place 27^th out of more than 90 solo men.

Thanks to my awesome coach (my mom), my awesome crew chief (my dad), my good friend and mechanic Adam. Thanks to my friends, Jeff, Paul, and Chris and everyone else that cheered me on out there. Next year I’m shooting for 12+ laps J

Till next time…..stay fast my friends

Till next time…..stay fast my friends

Holidays and the 12hr decision

It’s been a while since I’ve updated my blog since life’s been busy but here it is…..

                For the holidays my family headed down to Mexico City to spend it with family and friends. We actually drove to Hermosillo, which is the capital of the state of Sonora (which is the state under AZ), and then flew to Mexico City. We spent a week in Mexico City with most of my cousins, uncles and aunts. The second week we spent in Cuernavaca which is a town about an hour outside of Mexico City where everyone stayed at my aunt’s house, which is awesome. It was great seeing everyone and spending some great time with family.

                Got back on January 2 and brought back some great memories as well as a stupid cough that ended up lasting about three weeks. Thursday rolled along and Casey from Red Rock Company needed some volunteers to help out in Friday at the packet pickup for the 12 Hours of Papago. So I drove down to Landis Cyclery to help out. When I got there Casey asked me why I wasn’t racing and I decided on a whim to sign up to do the race solo.

                I helped out for a couple of hours before I raced home stopping at Triple Sports and the grocery store for nutrition and food for the race. Luckily I had taken my trusty mountain bike “Aria” to the awesome guys at Sunday Cycles a couple of days before so my bike was dialed in and ready to go. So even though I hadn’t ridden in over two weeks and had a good cough going I had decided to race a 12hr mountain biking event solo, admittedly not one of my greatest decisions.

                January 8^th race morning I got up washed down some oatmeal loaded up my truck and headed down to Tempe. Got there at 5 am and had about 5 layers of clothing on and was still cold. I set up my station along solo row and had the Landis guys mount a new rear tire on my bike. I quickly started to see some familiar faces, Bob LaRouche, JP, Mike Melley, Tim Bolen, Travis McMaster and the Sunday Cycles group, Joe Berman, and co. I got Aria race ready and took her to the bike rack. Next to me were two guys that had a small propane heater (which was great) and a girl Nicole that I had met at registration.

                The race was scheduled to start at 7am and the course was a 7 mile loop that included 2 miles on the canal. Initially I had no real goal but thought that 16-17 laps was a good distance to cover in 12hrs. 6:30 rolled along and I started to shed some layers and get down to what I was going to wear for the race. Nicole and I chatted a bit about the race and seeing me with my racelab kit on she asked me if I worked with Gus. As it turns out she happens to work a couple of cubicles away from my dad, small world right?

                Just before 7am I went down to the start line for the Le Mans start. Which for those who don’t know is where all the racers (solo riders and teammates of duo teams, 4 and 5 person teams doing the first lap) line up a distance away from their bikes and when the race starts run to their bikes and start riding. I joked around with some of the racers before going to the very back of the group having no desire to sprint to my bike.  The first lap was a bit of a cluster you know what and the realization that Red Rock had made sure to include every major climb in the course quickly caused me to reconsider my silent goal of finishing 16-17 laps. The canal section was interesting because of the mountain bike pace lines that formed. I settled into a comfortable 12 hr pace and felt surprisingly comfortable for not having been on my bike for weeks, well besides the cough that kept bothering me. One guy actually asked me not to cough up a lung while he was drafting me on the canal. The toughest hill by far was one that came right after the tunnel, for which you had to dismount your bike to cross. It was loose and had a very distinct line that you had to follow precisely. The canal section was nice since it allowed you to relax a bit although the bridge you had to cross at the end before heading back was a pain. The step up was about a foot and a half and even if it had a small dirt ramp up to it the other side was two tall steps that took you by surprise. I think I might have ridden it 3-4 times before I decided to dismount and run my bike across; partially because that dirt ramp started to disappear and I was tired and didn’t want to risk hurting myself or Aria.

                I paced myself well and with the cheers of all my friends racing with me I kept it going strong. Mike Melley was riding his single speed as usual and every time he laped me he would give me a good pinch of motivation. I did feel like I was in the verge of cramping for almost the whole time which encouraged me to take my e caps each lap as well as keep my nutrition going.  After 9 consecutive laps without stopping I decided that it was probably time to take a breather. I laid down elevated my legs and after texting my parents to see when they’d show up to watch me I got in a little power nap. At this time my cough had not improved and had left my abs sore from it. Before I headed back on the course I talked to my mom and gave her directions on where the race venue was. I headed out on a lap and felt a little bit of a renewed energy and coming in to the transition site I saw Heinrich (an Austrian Pro Triathlete and family friend who is staying here for 6months of training) and his family on the course cheering me on as well as my mom and dad. This gave me even more energy and I headed out for another lap. About half way through my 11 lap my energy level dropped and with the cough feeling like it was getting worse I made the tough decision that I was going to stop since I didn’t want to risk getting sicker. I finished the lap and was glad to see my parents and friends. Coach (aka Mom) agreed with my decision to stop and helped me pack my things and take them to my car. I managed to introduce them to a couple of awesome people and give them a taste of what the atmosphere is like at a mountain bike race and why I absolutely love it.

                They left to run some errands and I decided to hang out a bit more at the race. Mike Melley was kicking some major ass and even though there was no single speed division he was winning riding one, the guy is a machine; a couple of my buddies where also crushing it out there and it was great to see them race and cheer them on. After hanging out with the Sunday Cycles team (thanks for the PBR) and meeting some awesome people my next destination was the beer garden which was sponsored by 4 Peaks. The rest of the race was spent drinking good beer and hanging out with awesome people. Melley ended up winning the race and Bob got 3^rd (the guy is fricking awesome, rode a full rigid geared 29 and he’s 49 years old, amazing!!). Nicole got 2^nd in the women’s solo category too which was awesome. After some more drinking and merriment I hobbled to my car content with getting 11 laps in (~80miles) and coming in 26^th place out of about 50 male solo riders. In n Out was my treat afterward before heading home to a hot shower and a comfy bed.

Thanks to all the people that where out there cheering me on, thanks to Red Rock for organizing an amazing event.

24hrs of Pueblo is going to be amazing and I can’t wait for it. 12 hrs of Papago was a bit of a reality pill but it’s motivated me to up my training and I’ve been putting in the time on the bike since then thanks to racelab (racelab.com) for getting me ready for the race. I’m feeling stronger and getting my endurance up which feels good. Sit bones are not the happiest though but I’ll get used to it soon.  A little less than a month to go…wish me luck

“Mountain biking kicks your ass but sooths your soul”

Peace