"There Is No Pain Like Mt. Taylor Top 20 Pain..."

click to enlarge

"There Is No Pain Like Mt. Taylor Top 20 Pain..." - a sacredly withered coach moments after posting a 4:47, 16th Overall Finish at Saturday's Mt.Taylor Winter Quadrathlon.

photo by Craig Ilg.




Full story and pics coming to DIRECT LINES Subscribers!

NEWSFLASH - Coach Bludgeons To Victory; Flagstaff 10k Classic Nordic Race

Flagstaff Nordic Center - Sunday, February 1, 2009

click on pics to enlarge

After 3 consecutive weekends of racing in three different winter sports, covering race distances from 10k to 42k, and canvassing 700 miles of travel, Coach cashed in on his final event before the Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon by repeating as Champion in the Flagstaff 10k Nordic Ski Race held today. "It must be a day for the Arizona underdogs! What next? Wait, don't tell me," said Ilg, "The Cards win the SuperBowl?" the 46 year-young Ilg smiled, shortly after collapsing on the Finish Line from his effort. Coach's effort put him 3.5 minutes in the Series lead for the Arizona Nordic State Ski Championship, the final race, a 10k Skate Race, will be held February 22nd.

"I dedicate my training for and effort of today's top step of the podium to New "old daddy's" Everywhere...and to my Beloved Partner Ananda, who might just be the most amazingly conscious new mother during the Kali Yuga...my daughter sure knew which Human Being to pick as her m(om)!...this one is for New Daddies and New M(om)mies everywhere; May we choose to accept our chi-ldren for the Gurus that they are...and use our Training wisely to keep up with their Teachings!"

- Coach Ilg, m(om)ents after tearing the lungs and legs off the field by nearly 4 minutes at the Flagstaff 10k Nordic Ski Race, event number one of two to defend Coach's hold on the Arizona State Nordic Championship title. Ilg won the race in wire-to-wire fashion, repeating his Overall Victory at the same race last year. photo of Coach and 16 month-old Dewachen by Ananda.


"I pretty much double-poled the entire course in 42 minutes of a flagellant disorder ," Ilg said, "I have a lot of domestication-of-selfish-ilg issues in my tissues right now. i needed an old fashioned self-bludgeoning. Nordic Classic is an endurance sport where i can finally unleash my upper body aggression. Today was a perfect purge."
above photo: Coach and Teresa Hunt, who also repeated as Champion. photo by Tim Allen

Coach will return to some bike riding as soon as his lats de-pump allowing his hands to fit onto the handlebars.

2009 MBAA Series

RED ROCK RACER:

GREAT NEWS!
The Red Rock Racing Team will compete in the 2009 MBAA MTB Team Competition. This is a great opportunity for individuals and families to enjoy mountain biking together. The racing season starts in January and gives us all good reason to go to warmer weather and enjoy our bikes when there are feet of snow here: www.mbaa.net.


RRR needs to form a 2009 MBAA team and all you need to do is:

1. Purchase your MBAA Membership online at http://www.mbaa.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=28&Itemid=65 (membership $20.00 per year)

2. email me (Mark Wille) your MBAA membership # My email Flagx@msn.com

3. Review the MBAA 2009 Team Competition Rules.
http://www.mbaa.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=22&Itemid=47

4. Review the MBAA 2009 Race Competition Rules.

5. Optional: Purchase a 2009 USA Cycling License (this will save you 5$ at each Race)
http://www.usacycling.org/news/user/story.php?id=579


As soon as I receive everyone's MBAA membership #'s I will submit our RRR team to the board at the MOUNTAIN BIKE ASSOCIATION OF ARIZONA.

That's it......MORE LATER

Happy New Year!!!

Mark and Deb Wille

Schedule Below:

#1 - DNA CYCLES Whitetanks Whirlwind Saturday, January 17, 2009 White Tanks Regional
#2 -McDowell Meltdown Saturday, February 7, 2009 McDowell Regional Park
#3 - Hedgehog Hustle Saturday, February 21, 2009 Estrella Regional Park
#4 - CTS Gardner Grind Saturday, Mar. 14, 2009 Gardner Canyon
#5 - Prescott Punisher Saturday, April 4, 2009 Prescott
#6 - Mogollon Masher Saturday, May 2, 2009 Mogollon Rim
#7- Flagstaff Frenzy Sunday, May 17, 2009 Flagstaff
#8 -Flagstaff Finale Saturday, June 6, 2009 Flagstaff

Dawn to Dusk - Dec 5 2008

Flagstaff Red Rock Racers,

Here are some nice Photos of The Second Annual DAWN TO DUSK Endurance Race. Big Thanks to DCB Adventures (thanks Dave) with a well organized and Totally Fun Race.

Congratulations to Chris Wilkins and Chris Boselman for there performance. Thanks Deb for laying down some fast laps.

Happy Holidays

Mark Wille

Pics From Flag Cross Series; Race #2 - Thorpe Park

text and pics by coach ilg...lemme know if i messed up anybody's name or something...
enjoy and keep crankin'!! click to enlarge the Chi Hit...if you'd like me to email you the pic, hit me:
steve(at)wholisticfitness.com






you didn't realize how big Cross is in Flag, did you?
kidding...this is USA's Jonathan Page (Planet Bike) on the run-up.
Photo ©: Roberto Bettini/www.bettiniphoto.net
Superprestige #4 - Hamme Zogge, C1, Belgium, November 23, 2008
Elite Men



i just wanted to get you in the mood...






my old training partner from New Mexico; Mike Longmire paid Flag a visit for some altitude intensity before competing at Cross Natz, in Kansas City. even at 55 years young, ML can still dial up the Hurt Factor like few can! great riding and seeing you ML!




the "Run Up" in detail...


RRR Board Member Chris Wilkens NOT contemplating RRR Business...far away...and


...down to the business end of the Run Up!


...about 20 minutes into it...Ben Sullivan (behind Joth) leads Chase #3



one of my faithful HP Yoga warriors, Ben "Patki Dass" Sullivan looking strong on the "Run Up"...





...Tim "The Future" is one of the miniscule handful of creatures that can actually RIDE a cross bike all the way up the "Run Up"...consecutively!





Dewachen, my 14 month-old helped ring the Nordic Bell to inspire the tiring riders and of course, needed to inspect the "Run Up" transition...her report? "Ain't so baaad!" That's Joy, my partner and Dewa's mom, helping out.






RRR Member, Joth Jacobson, getting it done in the cold sun!

How 'bout you?!


hope to see more and more of you start coming to my classes at 5:30 pm each Tuesday and Thursday for IDEAL off season training for you at Northern Arizona Yoga Center!

Free Fall Flagstaff Cyclocross + 2009 MBAA + cosmic deal

Hey all,

Flagstaff's finally getting its act together this year, thanks to the efforts and coordination of Chris Latham and a few other cyclocross addicts. We've had 2 races already this fall, with 2 more to go. Weekly practice sessions are happening on Wednesdays too.

Last weekend i organized a cyclocross race on the lower Jump trails behind buffalo park. There was a good RRR turnout and i think it was a success. Here's a little synopsis from CL himself:

Good times were once again had this past Saturday at the "Upper Greenlaw" Cyclocross course that Ben pulled together. Tim felt a little pressure from Art and in the process of putting some lead in got a flat (and broke his bike), but ended up changing it and only loosing the one spot! I think everybody except the top 5 got lapped (self included) but enjoyed the pain fest none the less. Thanks to everybody that showed up and to Dennis at the Coffee Peddler for kicking down some schwag with on short notice to support the cause, everybody has had the opportunity to walk away with something at both races.

i didn't cheat this time and did better than the week before. go figure.

i'm giving you notice: Wednesday, 4:30, cross practice at Thorpe Park.
And then Saturday:

Linden and Art will be hosting next weekends race at Thorpe Park sponsored by Absolute Bikes and New Belgium Brewing. She suggests meeting at the Basketball courts by 11:30, racing by 12. Probably a group leaving Pay n Take around 11:15. Come with some layers so you can stick around for BBQ and beverages afterwards (I heard something about "skinny tire ale" debuting at our race). Linden asks that some folks bring grillable items, I will bring some extra for those of you that would rather put a few bills in their pocket than some raw meat.

That's right, beer, meat, and bike racing. Can this be for real?

Also, for an at-your-desk adrenaline kick, check out mbaa.net, as they've posted a tentative 2009 race schedule. 2 Flagstaff races and a "Mogollon Rim" race? Looks like MBAA's figured out that there's mountain biking outside of PHX. Badass.

John at Cosmic told me to spread the word - 20-25% off Rocky Mountains right now. dang! they're a steal at that rate. And one squishy fun trailbike "Slayer" is going for 2K. The holidays are coming...treat yourself to a little sump'in-sump'in. Feeling generous? There's a 18" gray Element in there that fits me just great and is lighter than my current hardtail. 5, 10, 500 $ donations accepted to support a fast 2009. thanks y'all.

It's still riding time. get out and flog it.

peace,
-b

Sunday's BBQ Ride

Sunday's Ride and BBQ was AWESOME!! Thank You to all you Red Rockers who came to the ride/bbq - what a great turn out and a beautiful fall day for both riding and eating (and drinking ;)~. It was so great to see all those kits out on the trail - at one point I looked back and Schultz was lined with 11 Red Rock riders - what a great sight. Good Times, Good People, Good Fun. Mark emailed out a ton of excellent photos - I have posted some of them below. Let's do another R3 Session - say Mid Nov or early Dec? Sedona? Leave a comment with your vote!

Red Rock Spirit

The true spirit of a team like Red Rock is someone's first 100K cycling event. Or first mtb race. Or that just plain dusting off that old Bridgestone and riding to work.

My sincere congrats go out to new RRR member Josh K, who made it his summer goal to ride in the Tour de Tahoe, a 100K ride around the lake. Josh had been riding for a couple of years, but never rode more than 40 miles before this summer.

In early September, he rode it like he stole it. Great job, Josh! He'll be at the BBQ on Sunday: y'all can toast him yourself.

A Red Rock Fillet

Yep. There sure was a weekend of racing here in Northern Arizona.

Here're 12 ways to make a Red Rock jersey look good:


And here's what a Red Rock jersey looks like after its been filleted open by a safety-scissor-wielding nurse after crashing at Skull Valley:


Asphalt sucks. Keep the rubber side down, y'all. congrats to all who raced at the Absolute race and the AMC in Utah.

Crazy 88

Red Rockers:

Get out and ride on August 9th, when local singlespeed superendurohero Nathan puts on the Crazy 88.

Read all about it here.

You'll have to drop him a line or comment to join. It'll be worth it, guaranteed.

Use this to tune up those getaway sticks for the American Mountain Classic. A Red Rock condo, 4 days, and some crazy elevation. Mucho gusto.

peace,

-ben

Summit Center Classic Wrapup

Hello Red Rockers,

i'm the new kid on the block, glad to ride with y'all. This past weekend's Summit Center Classic was a good weekend of racing, though very different than the 4-stage Memorial day extravaganza that went down last year.

Day one had a short stage up Snowbowl road, and day two was the traditional road race on Lake Mary Road.

Red Rock jerseys were few, but the team should be proud. Deborah Martin-Wille snagged down a third-place overall in the Masters' Women's category, and Mark Wille was really consistent in taking a 10th place overall in a viciously contested Masters' men category.

Gary Phillips was injured, and couldn't ride, but due to scoring problems was given 5th on the Snowbowl climb and and finished the Lake Mary Road race to be 10th overall. That's the kind of racing i want to learn to do - rest on the couch and still snag good results.

i discovered my climbing left much to be desired on Snowbowl, and got dropped on part of the long climb in the 84-mile road race. Tenacity (and a slow lead group) allowed me to bridge back to the leaders, who i eventually attacked at the bottom of the "steps" with about 10 miles to go. i caught a lone soldier out there and the two of us had a minute at the bottom of the Marshall lake climb. We needed all of it, as the lone soldier held me off for the win, and i took second only seconds ahead of the charging pack. whoa. i finished 5th overall, despite my miserable climbing skills...just gotta be a cagey sucker sometimes.

Two more hard days in the saddle down. Enjoy the long weekend and keep the rubber side down...

-Ben

Teva Mountain Games

There's no event that draws more top level athletes in so many different disciplines of outdoor sports than the Teva Mountain Games in Vail, CO. If you want to be inspired to pick up a new sport or get better at the ones you already do then this is the place to be.

I'm sure the fabulously large prize purses for all the events contributes to the popularity, but Vail also offers the best of all things outdoors. If you like to climb, then this is the place for you. The trails are lush and moist, hardpacked and smooth. Gore Creek flows with abandon and the views are breathtaking.

Four Red Rock Racers made the trip for the mountain bike race. In lieu of having no semi-pro field, Gary made his debut in the Pro field racing big names like Ryan Trebon, Jay Henry, and Ned Overend. Eric Bohn raced the Sport Men, Julie Jay raced the Sport Women, and yours truly raced Single Speed. Gary also took on the road hill climb event and Eric ran the 10K on Sunday morning.

Here are some photos of our adventure.


Vail is beautiful and has epic climbing!

Riding from West Vail to pre-ride the course.
Eric, Kristen, Ara (Julie's sister), and Julie hanging out by the climbing wall where they hosted the IFSC Bouldering World Cup.
Pre-riding the course. Yes, it goes straight up the ski run.
That's Ned Overend in the red that just passed me.
Gary lines up for the Pro race.
And he's off!
Eric and Julie in the feed zone.
Eric finishes strong.
Kristen finishing (and wishing she had a 20 instead of an 18) but happy nonetheless!
Julie finishing her first XC race since college.

Eric and Skylar up on the bank above Gore Creek.
Gary takes on a wave in the very full and fast flowing Gore Creek in his little red boat.
Gary starts the Road Hill Climb up Vail Pass.
Gary and Skylar chilling in the car. Skylar is one of the best dogs I've ever traveled with.

So all in all it was a very cool weekend. Hopefully we'll see more Red Rock Racers at the 09 Games competing in all sorts of events.

Cheers!