Fontana Dust Bowl

Mitchell Petersen Monavie-Cannondale.com

Kabush and the rest of the Pro mens field at the start.

Heather Holmes Kenda Titus Hayes

Sue Butler Monavie-Cannondale.com

Kathy Sherwin SoBe Cannondale

The Fontana NMBS Race #1 was set in an "urban" setting. It was dusty. Thats all I am going to bitch about.

Mitchell, Sue, Heather, and Kathy all had good rides. Mitchell was the 2nd U23 rider in the Cross Country. A good performance in his quest to qualify for Worlds team.

I dont have any pictures of myself. I races in the Semi-Pro's and had a rough go of it. I was hoping for better than 26th place but that is what I ended up. The course had a bunch of steep ups and downs. It was a very intense interval session. No place to settle into a rythem. Not my type of course. My time would have been 3rd or 4th in the Expert 35-39 Category so Im not that bummed. Motocross Legend Johnny Omara is like 47 Years old and would have been 2nd in Semi Pro. He hauled ass. Fastest Expert time of the day.

I am hoping Mcdowell Mountain will have more flow. Which from what I remember it does. Hoping to perform better this weekend. Marathon on Friday. Then Super D right after I finish the Marathon, Short track on Saturday, and then Cross Country on Sunday. I am going to be worked. Nat Ross says he is doing all 4 events so I figured I will give it a try.

Besides packing it back on.... I wonder what Sly is doing in Rico...

2 Weeks on the Road

I had this new custom seat put in the Sprinter. It folds out into a bed and has 3 Seat belts. My 2 Girls and I left for California Yesterday for Spring Break. They have a full week off. Brought the Tandem and Bella's Bike. A little training during the week. Then Race at the First NMBS race in Fontana on Saturday.

Hopefully I have something good to post after that one.

New Monavie Team Scalpel arrives at Kwaits house on Thursday. Biuld it up. Along with some super sick light weight Reynolds wheels. Pre ride the Course with all the other Monavie Team members on Friday. Hopefully Bart G will be on fire like he was in St George.

www.jamiewhitmore.com

This is Jamie's own words. All I can say is that if I were in this situation I would be "racing in the hospital" as well. This is why Jamie is a champion.

Get well soon,

Pass this on.

Matt

SETTING UP TRANSITION
I am finally home after 10 days in the hospital. I wish I could say that everything is ok but the truth is, we still don’t know what we are dealing with. After 3 different biopsies we know that the tumor originated in the glut and grew into my pelvic area. It is the size of a baseball and is pushing up against my organs and the nerves in my left leg.

The doctors aren’t really sure if the tumor is pushing or growing out of my nerves. Either way I am in a lot of pain. More pain then the bike course of Utah, Tahoe and Maui put together. On a scale of 1-10, (1 being no pain and 10 being a lot), my pain ranges from 5 on a good day and 11 on a bad day. None of the pain meds or “nerve blockers” work well.

The sad part is that it is affecting my ability to walk properly. I can walk on my own but I use a walker for stability and so that I can walk longer. While in the hospital I was up to one lap around the oncology ward in the morning and one lap in the evening. I remember one time as I hobbled along in the morning I was passed by an older woman pushing along her IV drip system. I couldn’t believe I was walking so slowly. I jumped into my competitive mode and tried to hobble faster. At that moment it really hit me, I could have cancer. Three months ago I was racing in Maui living life and today I was trying to walk.

Right now the doctors are figuring out when their schedules are free so they can operate on me. The plan is to just go in and remove the tumor and figure out what it is while I am still open. There are several things they will be looking for. The first is testing the tumor to see if it is benign or malignant. If it is malignant then they need to find out if it is fast or slow growing. The last thing is if it is affecting any of my nerves. Removing the tumor may cause a lot of damage to the nerves. This means my ability to walk properly for one example. Any way you look at this, it will be a challenge.

I won’t go into all of the different scenarios that can happen. I just pray that whatever the outcome I will have God’s strength to get through it. I was reminded by a friend to remember my own mantra “With God’s strength, For God’s glory.” I say this every time while I race to remind myself why I race. It helps me to keep my mind right. I know I will get through this with God’s strength and in the end it will all be for God’s glory!

I am completely speechless over all of the emails I have been receiving on a daily basis. For those of you that know me, I am never without something to say! But I would like to say that I am truly blessed to have so many people help me through this difficult time. I will win this race with the help and encouragement of so many . . . And I’m lucky because I can receive aid from other racers!

Stay tuned because we will keep you updated to what is going on. When I go in for surgery and how my recovery is going. Please keep the emails coming because they definitely keep me smiling!

I hope to see you out on the trails soon.

Powered By God,
Jamie

Note: You may email Jamie here.

Baja Epic

Baja Epic will be one of the Events that the Monavie-Cannondale Team will be attending this Year. If you want to go. Sign up. We will be there. Its going to be fun. As always any help or assistance we can give to our friends is a given.

There may be a contest. Which will include a video no longer than 3 minutes made by the person wanting to join Tinker Juarez and the Monavie-Cannondale Team on an Epic Journey to Baja California. You heard it here first, a sneak peek. In the end the top 5 videos will be voted on. So no favoritism here. Get to work start production on this 3 minuted video. Good Luck.

Update Posted:Dec 21, 2008

We ended up not making it to Baja. With all the Violence that has been going on down there by the border we just didnt feel like taking our chances. The Race went off. They had like 27 People of 50 pre-registered show up. The event went off with out any problems. The Pictures and stories definitly portrayed that this has potential to be a Great event.

Sitting here wondering what will be the Next Epic event for myself??? Trans Andes? Cape Epic? Who know's.....

Porcupine Rim from Town

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXMEpgEwmxc

Sly, Kyle, and I rode Porcupine Rim from town yesterday. 3.5 hours. The Husla was gettin worked on the climbs becasue he had not ate any solid food for 24 days. Did anyone really expect him to be full of energy after that 24 day period? I guess we will see if this diet or "cleansing" is going to lite him on fire. I hope it does. The Video footage here isnt the greatest as I need to work on my Helmet/Camera mounting skills. It might help if they made them adjustable. Nope not this set up. Once you stick it on zip tie it. Your commited. I will work on that one. Cannondale Carbon Scalpel 100 mm bikes were rippin the DH surrounded by a bunch of 160+mm bikes. Ya,Ya, I know. How does it get all that travel with Zero Pivots?
We did get worked at the end of Porcupine that section that I though everyone walked? No those 160 bikes made it look simple. Take a look.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjLLMEAfjs4

I wonder what Sly is drinking right now.....

Training with Bella

Bella and I put 2 hours in on the Tandem Yesterday. Notice her seat is jammed all the way down. This is the first year she is tall enough to fit the Large/Small Cannondale Tandem. Before the Tandem it was a Trail-a-bike. So far the Tandem seems like the way to go. Way more control and much lighter. I think the trail a bike was made out of solid steel. With the "Working Mans Training Plan" this will be an added weapon for training. Bella absolutly loves it to.

Today I rode up to Bart G's house. Went really hard. His Secret is out. He climbs that damn hill everyday on his "commute" home from work. If I did that everyday ? I wouldnt know what to do with myself I would be so fast. I need to move to the top of a bigger hill if I ever want to keep up with Bart.

I wonder what Sly is eating right now...

My First Post

Over the Years my core group of freinds have had many knick names for me. First it was Chippo. Then being an Indurain fan I self named myself Indohran. When you name your self as I found out. No one wants it to stick. Work, Busy life, the knick name Slowran fell into place. Im pretty sure it was Art that came up with that one. It stuck. I never gave up on Indohran and I always threatended he would be back. Over the years there have been a few sightings of this character Indohran. But then for whatever reason Slowran would reappear. 2007 was a break through Year. I worked really hard. Had some good races. Have been on the "Working Mans training plan"and so far all seems on track. Hopefully Slowran will be R.I.P. for a while. Down to 163 pounds in the morning with nothing but my boxers on. This is the lightest I have been in 15 years. I still eat a ton of food. People keep asking me what I have been doing? I have been riding my bike more, enjoying life, and going to races. thats about it. I am the Team Manager for the Monavie/Cannondale Cycling Team which means I get to be on the team just because. This has also helped me with my motivation to do the Jersey Justice. http://www.monavie-cannondale.com/