Fort Davis

On our way out of town we stopped by Target to meet Griz for our caravan. His bagging shift is conviently over at 9:00am.

This years Fort Davis was perhaps the most memorable of all time. However not for personal accomplishments, for my own results were not exactly what I had doped for. My memories were instead shaped by watching handsome teammates thrive in the former Apache Indian Territory. The strength, focus, and perseverance depicted in Fort Davis proved to me that everyone on TWM is basically a grand champion and master lover of the universe.

The weekend started with a surprise motivational speaker (Mark "White Eagle" - Shosone Shaman) visiting the team camp and lecturing his warriors on principles of unity, power, and chem-trails. Turns out that "White Eagle" blessed the team and granted each of us special powers. Some received spirit eagles to rest on the crown of their head, others received tigers for leg strength. Juan Benedicto was granted a personal dragon to accompany him on his multiple trail runs over the weekend. The womens squad made out with a bunch of Indian warrior spirits after "White Eagle" called on his ancestors to kiss their cheeks... 25% lucky... 75% jealous. Griz and I purchased magic oil from our shaman. This tincture smells great and according to "White Eagle" all we need to do is put some over our hearts and buy a lottery ticket. He guaranteed that we would win.

After team lecture we had a smudging ceremony in which copious amounts of my own dehydrated sage was burned in a coffee mug. It was glorious and outrageous.




This is how we spent the night before the race... no wonder most of us felt rather rushed and unprepared for the next day.

The hill climb was hard. I was surprised how strong everyone was riding in the peleton. I was caught off guard at the base of the observatory by a quick and powerful acceleration and got dropped. Finished ~15th. Crossed the line with Jesse. He looked super duper strong.

Katiki won the Cat 3 hill climb. Ultra and pro! She was upset at Griz and I for not cheering louder. Whatever GF, maybe if you stopped thinking about making out with Native American spirits you could have noticed us there.

On to the TT... I have never had a wonderful TT experience here. I finished 8th. Somewhat bummed and thinking that I had purchased a bad batch of magic oil. Katiki took 2nd in the TT. She is way fast and aero. At the end of the day she was in 1st place GC!

Day 2 road race was upon us. Storms were on the horizon and there was talk of abandoning the race from my teammates. The thought of cold mixed with moisture in the middle of the mountains sounded horrible to me as well. I was wondering if it would be worth the suffering to defend a 10th place GC. Luckily, the storm abated until after the completion of the race. It turned out epic! My broski Patricio stuck a break away at around mile 40 and slipped into the smoke of a wild grass fire. He won the day! I finished with the lead pack and felt tremendous accomplishment from that. Katiki, won her race. She is pro and ultra. Im really proud of her. She has been pouring her heart and soul into writing this thesis and proved to herself that she doesnt need to train to win races. This now frees up her summer time schedule in which she formerly anticipated training for the Ironman World Championships.

Just like the end of each Fort Davis trip I focused on three things. 1. How much fun I had. 2. How much I look forward to returning. 3. Mark "White Eagle" surly can communicate with my native american kin. I wonder how many white people they have scalped in the spirit world?