part 1 of 4 back at it again... same time (monterrey), same place (feb. 5th).... 69e clasica de las constituciones this year the “crew” consisted of some new faces and a mix of the old nasties shaun bonivita - always a team player smathers - always by my side kerkhof - the newest and greatest addition to the team willis - human being since 1976 - awesome dude phil w - new sheriff in town... austinite via north carolina anut - a super cool, super talented kid with nothing to lose adam - euro dawg and quickly on his way up - watch out for this one! super lean and super strong t-bone (hollock) - always a threat... and a helluva nice guy holly - willis’s better half... super solid chick and now a veteran in the race caravan and… the surFnick NOTE: so i've joined the ranks of wenger and i’m officially a nerd... i received my new powertap sl and wired up my bitchin’ specialized E5 in time for race day. looks cool but i’m not really sure what i’m going to do with it… it’s all about the bling! i look forward to kicking my season off every year in mexico. the race is crazy, scary, and fun all at the same time. in typical surFnick fashion, we get started a few hours late... and it’s a mad rush to the border. we arrived in to the border around 10pm, got our papers and car insurance, and we’re back on our way. once we make it to the auto-pista (toll road), it’s pedal to the floor and we’re off to the races. we arrive to the hotel around 1am and stumble to our beds… next morning we wake up and head to our favorite restaurant, el marshall, for lunch. this place is da bomb! super cheap, like $3 for a drink and all the food you can eat. i’m talking homemade everything… a true 12k dreamers dream ; ) after lunch we jumped on the bikes and headed up to the famous chipinque climb... this is one helluva of a climb. the first few miles are about 4% but after you get through the city you hit the meat…12mi’s at 12% or greater. it’s a beotch... but it’s well worth it when you reach the top. you can see EVERYTHING.... it’s absolutely breathtaking. after 30 mins of that nonsense, smathers and i decided to forgo any further torture and stopped to wait for josh and boner… who decided to stop and take a picture earlier on the climb. after we rest for a few minutes, it’s now time to zip up the vests and descend back into town. in typical boner fashion, as soon as we turn around he tucks into a tight ball and fearlessly jams down the mountain. about half way down, with speeds approaching 50mph, we hit a patch of water in one of the switchbacks. as i’m coming into the apex of the corner, i’m in perfect view of boner drifting towards an 8” divide in the middle of the four-lane road. i start to feather the breaks, expecting the worse. as i start to prepare for impact... boner hits the curb and bounces off like a basketball off the gym floor… unbelievable! he keeps it on two wheels and doesn’t skip a beat. as i breathe a sigh of relief, i look up to see boner looking back and laughing… that dude rulz. after an eventful first day, we decide to call it a day and head to bed. part two tomorrow.... or friday : )