Dawn to Dusk

Dawn to Dusk is somewhat of a unique race put on by a company called DCB Adventures. The idea is that the race literally goes from Dawn until Dusk in that the race started at sun up (7:13 AM), and ended at sun down (5:20 PM). Roughly 10 hours of racing.

The course was on the Pemberton loop at McDowell Mountain Park. Starting out with 6.4 miles of a steady, gradual climb leading into a ripping and flowy downhill that turns flat towards the end of the lap and brings it back to the start/finish totaling 15.5 miles.

Here's a look at the course:
http://app.strava.com/segments/842236

The idea of going to this race started when my buddy Jason Downing and I were on a ride together and he suggested that we do the race together as a duo and I decided to race with him. About 3 or 4 weeks later, it was the day before the race and I had a lot to get done. I spent part of my morning shopping for race food which included several varieties of fruits and leafy vegetables, lunch meat, greek yogurt and some applesauce. With having that and several other things to do that day, I found myself hungry and unable to find the time to sit down and find out exactly what I should eat before the race, or even just to sit down and eat anything. By about 7:30 PM I finally got some food in me aside from a few bananas I had that morning, which was a few slices of pizza; not bad due to the fat and carb content but not ideal either. This also caused me to delay my opener. At about 9:45 PM I got to my opener and was home and eating some pasta by 10:45. By about 12:00 AM I finished getting packed up and could finally make my way to bed only to be waking up at 4:45 AM the next morning. I had some trouble getting to sleep that night as well to add on to my inconvenience and finally fell asleep at around 2:00 AM. When 4:45 AM rolled around, I got up, and got ready to head out taking a few pieces of toast with me to eat on the way to the course.

Upon getting to the race course, there was another addition to my inconveniences--mostly all fault of my own--I was too late getting situated into the venue to get a proper warmup in. Before I knew it, I was on the line next to two of my buddies, Mimmo Futia and Zach Keller along with a big time road pro, Eric Marcotte. When the race started, I expected a harder start than we had. I hadn't figured that the race having started on a paved road, that it would have more of a road racing kind of start; much easier than a mountain bike racing start like I had anticipated. A few seconds after going off, I saw Zach and Eric pushing the pace on the front just to my right, I decided that I felt good, and would attempt to make a big attack on the two of them and pick up the pace of the group as a whole. This did not end well for me. Some time after picking up the pace, I looked back to see if I could catch a draft on somebody nearby but the next closest person was about half a mile away, at this point, I just had to wait and do as much recovery as I could before they caught up. Everybody caught back up and I caught the first draft I could. I got lucky and was still seated in a good position all the way up into the singletrack entrance. The climb at the beginning was draining me as I watched Eric and Zach pull away from everybody, I still had it in my head that I could possibly catch up. After almost blowing up a second time, I decided to settle into a pace, catch a draft and wait for the downhill. I caught a nice draft off a tall and fast guy. Perfect for my situation. I held onto him until about the 6 mile mark, just .4 miles out from the top of the climb. On the downhill, I was thankful to slamming a hard pace. I found myself drafting off of one of Jason's Vitesse teammates until I hit a corner too wide and he pulled away. I found myself alone on the rest of the lap, found Jason by the exchange tent and tagged him for his lap. Afterwards, I went back to our tent to hook up on my Compex EMS system and drink some Hammer Nutrition Recoverite to get ready for the next lap

Just before starting lap 2, about 1 minute before Jason's expected time, I was faced with an issue, I somehow lost a bolt out of my right cleat and was permanently locked into that pedal for the entire lap among several other problems it caused. I saw another buddy of mine, Matt Connors who was racing solo, go by. We talked for a little bit until he motored off past me. I found myself alone for most of this lap, with the exception of a guy who was sucking on my wheel the whole descent. This time around the descent was somewhat of an issue. With my cleat being held in by one bolt, half of it would slide down to the lowest setting on my shoe, while the other half stayed on the setting I had it in whenever I hit anything with my rear wheel causing me to have to slide it back in with my foot. I dealt with this for the rest of the lap and still managed to drop The guy that was hanging on my wheel. After coming in and tagging Jason in, I surprisingly found an awesome guy named Jay from Team Vitesse who helped me out and gave me a spare cleat bolt he happened to have laying around.

Lap number 3 was hard. Pain was starting to settle in and the climb started to feel a little harder than before. On the climb, the second place duo team took first from us. Their guy that was out at the moment was Bob LaRoche. Bob and I knew each other from racing a short track series during the summer called Short Track at Papago. He told me to not let 2 old guys beat us. I tried to hold him and not let go. I held him for about 2 minutes until he went off. I spent the rest of my lap in a vain effort of trying to catch up. I did everything I could, even maxed out my gears to hit a top speed of 32 mph on the descent. I railed every corner much faster than I would have if I were at a normal race pace and took risks where I could. I did not let up one bit. Once I came to the flat section leading into the start/finish, I let up a bit and just tried to not blow up making my way back to the start/finish. After this, I also saw our AZ Devo team director, Marty Coplea who was bravely racing solo and was still looking strong after several laps!

Lap 4 I truly understood why people said duo was the hardest race. Just enough time for your legs to cease up and going right into the climb didn't help much. I really needed a draft and my prayers were answered in a good and not so good way; I caught a draft from the guy that was on the third place team just behind us. I realized that I could treat this lap like a XC race. I held on to his wheel for the whole climb and a little bit going into the downhill. After trying to drop me several times, he looked back and expected me to take a pull. This was where my XC racing tactics came into play. I pulled him on the downhill for about 1 minute, just enough time for him to think that I was going to pull him around but not enough time for him to get any kind of recovery from me. Then I made a hard attack on him. He picked up quickly though. I got caught up with another guy who seemed to be pushing about the same pace we were. This made things interesting. Each of us wanted to just get out and beat the other guys on the lap but nobody wanted to take a pull. I found myself off the front until I went a little too hard into a corner coming off of the downhill and into the flat section and almost made the 3 of us get into a big crash. After that, I wasn't sure what happened, but I found myself alone with the guy that we had caught. I had successfully gotten rid of the 3rd place team's guy. I just held in his draft for the rest of the lap and tagged Jason in for his next lap. After this lap I was getting pretty tired. I cleaned off my legs, set up the electrodes, hooked up the Compex and just fell asleep for about 30 minutes.

Lap 5 I felt decent for. Better than I did for lap 4. I knew this would most likely be my last lap. I went decently hard on the climb for having done 4 laps already. I just wanted to get to the downhill. Once I hit the 6.4 mile mark, I started to go for it. I hit the downhill as hard as I could, spent everything I had left. My hamstrings were killing me, much more than my quads and those hurt too. I kept thinking I saw Bob up in the distance but I didn't. I slammed it all the way to where I could tag Jason to take the last lap. I knew at this point I was done and glad for it!

After I finished, I went over to get my long awaited free tacos from Chipotle who were giving them away at the race as the event sponsor. Then I finally went around the venue and said hi to a few old friends, then before I knew it, it was right about time for Jason to come in for our 10th and last lap as a team. We had a great time and a great race out there!

A special thank you to Hammer Nutrition for the mixture of HEED, Endurolytes, Endurolytes Fizz tablets and Race Caps. Also for my Compex unit that kept me going lap after lap.

A special thank you to Stan's Notubes for my stupid light Race Gold 29er wheels.

And one more shout out to Triggerpoint Therapy for my Quadballer that also kept me going lap after lap.

A few thanks for support in the event:
First and foremost, my duo partner, Jason Downing who was doing incredible laps the whole race and Team Vitesse and AZ Devo for helping support Jason and I for this event. I would also like to thank my dad for supporting Jason and I. Lastly, I would like to thank my coach, Brad Wilhelm for helping me get to the level I needed to achieve a podium finish with Jason at this race.

I would also like to thank the rest of my sponsors for their support and incredible products:

Trek
Bontrager
Hammer Nutrition
Bicycle Ranch
Shimano
Genuine Innovations
Feedback Sports
Squirt Lube
The Mountain Bike Association of Arizona
Stan's Notubes
ESI Grips
Triggerpoint Therapy
Baja Designs

Prescott Sixer

It's that time of year where all the races that are mostly just for fun are marked on the calendar. This one however, was a mixture of both fun and brutally difficult.

The Prescott Sixer is a 6 hour mountain bike race on a course that is 9.1 miles over mostly singletrack including four major climbs to total 744 ft. of climbing. My goal was to put in 8 laps but I would have been fine with 7.
Here's a look at the course:
http://app.strava.com/segments/832002

I was only a little late to line up so I couldn't quite get a spot right up front but I got about 4th row which I was alright with. The race started at 9:00 and it started a lot harder than I thought any 6 hour race should start. Once the field quickly spread out, I got with a group of me and 2 other guys and I was leading the group at the moment. I was just about ready to break away because I was pushing a slightly harder pace than they were comfortable with and I could see the lead group with my coach, Brad Wilhelm and my two teammates, Ian Wilkey and Ryan Geiger. After I made my breakaway, there were several times where I had found myself just about to hook on to the back of the lead group. It seemed like I was less than a tenth of a mile away from them and I was sure I would hook on shortly thereafter so I pushed the limits a little and as a result I crashed right into one of the corners where not only the lead group got away from me, but the 2 guys I had dropped earlier had passed me. I worked to catch back up only to find that the lead group had completely dissipated but I found one guy to hold on to heading into the second lap. I almost went down again a couple times hanging on to this guy but I eventually honed my technical skills and made it through just fine. Since this guy had pulled me around for a while, I saw a rocky climb on a decent grade where drafting would be of use and an opportunity to return the favor but I unknowingly had pulled away from him. Going on to lap 3 I caught up with another group of about 5 other guys. Shortly after I hooked on though, one of the guys broke away and I took off on his wheel. He tried to drop me but I wouldn't let it happen and after a while, he just let me hang on. Once we hit that rocky climb again, I decided I would try to return the favor for this guy and maybe he could hang on. I made the same effort I did last time, he couldn't hang on, I dropped him, and I was on my own for the rest of the lap. This was where I realized that I could probably drop anybody that was on my wheel on this climb and it became an integral part of my strategy. Once I came around for lap 4 I was about 10 minutes away from the 3 hour mark and I kept thinking to myself, "Just do that one more time". Lap 4 I caught up with and ended up spending a good amount of the rest of the race with Jeff Frost. Jeff and I kept battling for 4th place until I dropped him on that same climb I was dropping everybody on. The rest of lap 4 went the same way the rest of them did, I just cruised into the next one. Lap 5 a singlespeeder named Hunter Keating caught up with me. He told me about how he had crashed out so I helped pull him around for a bit since I was just trying to cruise through the rest of the race until someone had caught us and passed us both. I wasn't going to let this happen and unfortunately had to leave Hunter in the dust. I decided to hang on this guy's wheel until we hit the climb again where I planned on dropping him and that was exactly what happened. I felt like I was going to be able to cruise through like I had for the rest of my laps until I heard the sound of a freehub behind me. I started to just make efforts to attempt to drop him but it didn't work. Then I realized my rear end was getting a little bouncy and I was loosing air in my rear tire, slowly. Toward the end of the lap I knew I wasn't going to lose him so as we were coming through, I asked him how my rear tire looked and he said it was low. I made a very quick stop by the AZ Devo tent where our team manager, Marty Coplea gave me a gel flask full of Hammer Nutrition's Perpetuem among some other food while my dad pumped up the tire. Just before I got going again I caught none other than Jeff Frost going on his 6th lap taking 4th place. I wasn't going to let it go without a battle. I got extremely aggressive on the trail to catch back up. I caught him and he did not want to give up the spot. I found an opening on a wide part of the trail in the middle of a turn however and took back 4th place. Jeff was still right on me though. We talked a little during the 6th lap as I was leading him out through the singletrack. I planned to put the hammer on him on the same climb I was dropping everybody else on then go a little harder on the next climb than usual as icing on the cake. This worked. I had dropped Jeff again. I cruised into the end of the 6th lap and upon starting the 7th lap, I knew that either this would be my last, or I would barely squeeze in an 8th lap before the 6 hour cutoff. The 7th lap was harder than any of the other ones, though. It started with one guy from Tribe Multisport who looked like he was planning on slamming lap 7 to squeeze in one more and since I had the same goal, I tried to hang on his wheel for as long as possible. I held on for a little less than half the lap and decided to call it quits and try to catch him on the rocky climb. I surprised myself by doing just that. I caught up with him and dropped him just before hitting the top of the climb but I knew I would have to work hard the rest of the lap to keep him off my wheel. I kept him off until the end of the lap but toward the end, I noticed my rear wheel was going low again. I came in with 10 minutes before the 6 hour mark and repeated what I did last time I was going low and got back out for a final lap. This one, I was finally able to cruise the whole time and I needed it. I was almost out of gas and I was just hoping I wouldn't have to worry about anybody threatening to take 4th from me. That was what happened, I was able to just chill out and take this last lap easy. I saw my teammate and overall winner, Ryan Geiger lap me while he was on his 9th lap, a Prescott Sixer record. Then I cruised in to take 4th place, 8 laps completed in 6 hours 38 minutes.

This was one of the best events I had ever been to and it couldn't have happened without Mike Melley, Sage Grossi, and all of Hub Event Productions. It was an incredible race and I plan on doing it year after year.

Thanks to Marty Coplea and the rest of AZ Devo for the support as always and a big thanks to Hammer Nutrition for keeping me going the whole race with HEED, Endurolytes Fizz, and Perpetuem. I couldn't have made it through the race without any of it!

2012 National Championships and Missoula Pro XCT

My parents and I made the trip up to Sun Valley, Idaho again this year for the MTB XC National Championships. The loops I was doing this year included a flyover about half a mile off the start leading into a man-made rock garden then onto a super steep climb up a loose dirt road with some grassy switchbacks mixed in and then finally onto a twisty singletrack descent with some loose switchbacks all the way back down to the start/finish area.
Here's a quick look at the course:


http://app.strava.com/segments/682138

On race day I felt ready to go. I took my Hammer Nutrition Race Caps and Endurolytes to prep my body even further. I was hoping for a really good finish at this race and I felt like I was going to be able to pull it off here. I did my warmup with my buddy Ryan Geiger and made it back to the staging area about ten minutes before the race so I could get a good starting position. I ended up with a decent spot that I was pretty happy with, 2nd row. On the start line I did a quick review of the course in my head and before I knew it, the official blew the whistle and we were off. Everybody was sprinting for position, I saw a few of the guys I knew that I had dubbed my rivals for the race get ahead of me shortly after we started so I got up to position with them. We hit the flyover and I realized my chain had fallen off the drive side of my cranks. I decided that after going down the other side of the flyover would be the best time to pedal it back on; I couldn't get it to pedal back on. I eventually got off my bike to put it back on while everybody I was racing passed me. I got it back on by hand and slammed on the pedals to try to catch up but then the chain jammed and ripped out of my rear derailleur cage rendering the chain and derailleur useless. My race was over and we weren't even five minutes in. It gave me all the more reason to make the next weekend's race a better one.

After taking the DNF, I caught up with my buddy Macky Franklin and after telling him what happened, he gave me his spare derailleur because I wasn't going to have the opportunity to get home and buy another one before the next race in Missoula, Montana. 

The next race went a lot better. I pre-rode the course with my buddy Sam Gross and even had the chance to race it with him one time.

Here’s Macky’s description of the course:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYZ26EqGTHE&feature=autoshare

We got to the course about an hour and a half before race time; more than enough time for a good warmup. After my warmup, it was about five minutes from go time so I got lined up and ready to go. There were about 25 other kids at the start line with me. I again felt like I was in good form and had a good race coming on. Once the whistle went off, we were gone. It was a fast start especially for having to climb right off the line. I held on the some of the faster kids in my category for a little bit but then started to fall backwards and almost fell into the other half of the category that split shortly after we got onto the climb. Everybody eventually split up almost evenly with about a 2 minute gap between each person. Several of the people that started the race either broke their bike or injured themselves bad enough to not be able to finish due to how technically challenging the course was. The race yielded 16 finishers out of the 25+ that started and I ended up in 14^th. Not a bad way to end the season.

One last note upon ending the season, I would like to thank a few people for helping me out:

All of my friends and family for their unwavering support

Brad Wilhelm for coaching and mentoring me throughout the season

Lee-Ann Beatty for being my podium girl

Marty Coplea and the whole AZ Devo Junior/U23 Development Team for all their hard work

Daryll McKenzie for mentoring me and teaching me a lot about racing smart

Macky Franklin for helping me out in that tough situation

I would also like to thank all of my awesome sponsors who have supported me throughout the year:
Trek
Bontrager
Hammer Nutrition
Bicycle Ranch
Shimano
Genuine Innovations
Feedback Sports
Squirt Lube
The Mountain Bike Association of Arizona
Stan's Notubes
ESI Grips
Triggerpoint Therapy
Baja Designs

It was an awesome season and I look forward to an even better one next year!

Epic Rides Whiskey Off-Road

Whiskey was a pretty awesome race for me. I had been looking forward to it all week before the race on Saturday. Friday night was nice because I had gotten to bed early and got to sleep until I just woke up on Saturday morning which just happened to be around 6:00 AM. I woke up feeling good and ready to go. My parents and I got to the venue about an hour early so I would be able to get a warmup in and get my legs going before the race. However, I underestimated just how many people were racing in the 25 mile race. A turn out of just over 700 people made for a not so pleasant surprise to see the people were already lining up when we got there so I did a slightly shorter warmup than I had planned but made it enough to get my legs fired up. I was still fortunate enough to get a good starting position because my buddy Ian Wilkey and I found a few spots right up front where we waited for about 20 minutes before the start. After waiting, we finally got to the point where there was about 1 minute left. I got ready to go. I still felt good and strong mentally and physically; a good sign of a good race. The announcer called out 15 seconds to start and I could feel myself getting more and more pumped for the race to start. Then the gun fired off a few times and we were gone. I was holding on with the lead pack which was about nine or ten of us off the front. I felt good holding on. I never felt the need to back down and I didn't feel like I was anywhere near red-lining. In fact, I felt so good that I considered making a break away but when I looked over at some of the other guys, I noticed that while I was slightly panting and pushing a little bit some of the other guys in that same pack weren't even breathing up the hill. That was enough to hold back my want to break away so I just stuck with the group and waited for something to happen which eventually, something did. I saw some guys take off almost instantly when we hit the dirt while some other guys fell off the back of our group. Eventually, it was just me and my two friends and teammates, Ian Wilkey Dilyn Sheber. We started to form a bit of a paceline, working together but that broke off once we hit some technical sections. It just became too hard for the three of us to maintain. I was the first to break off, my chain had slipped off the cranks and I would have just pedaled it back on but my gearing for the climb we were on was less than convenient and I was better off getting off the bike and just putting it back on by hand so that's what I did and I lost some time but being at the beginning of the race but after the critical part of the beginning, I was fine with having to make it up. After a solid amount of singletrack climbing, I found myself just behind Dilyn. I tried to catch him before we started descending because I knew that technical descents were his thing and that if he beat me there I wouldn't see him again until at least the very bottom. He just beat me to the top of the climb with me following close behind. I started descending with him and watched as he started making ground on me. He got the lead on me and I didn't see him again until we hit the bottom. I saw him again once we hit the next climb but he was way ahead. It looked to me like I would be able to catch him but when I started pushing a harder pace, it seemed like it wasn't making any difference. Once we got about halfway up the climb, I see Ian come up behind me. We started battling up the hill. We were passing people like they were stopped going up the section called "Cramp Hill" where most people were just barely making it up, the combination of my Trek Superfly and Stan's ZTR 29er Race Gold wheels, I felt almost like a shuttle going up it. Once Ian and I hit some gradual descents followed by some mild climbs, I decided that this was where I would put down what I had. I hit the gradual descents super hard which made it easier to get up the following hill. I did this a couple times which seemed to be a good strategy for me because I wasn't feeling worn at all and I was making time on everyone behind me. After all the dirt road sections were done, I knew that I was coming in on the final push of the race which was just some singletrack followed by a 2 mile pavement section. It wasn't long after I hit the singletrack that tragedy struck; I flatted on small lift with some sharp rocks in it. Lucklily, my saving grace was in my back pocket, my Genuine Innovations tubeless repair plugs. I quickly found the hole and stuck a plug in and it immediately stopped losing what little air it had left. Tragedy then struck again, I couldn't get my CO2 pump to puncture the cartridge and after fiddling with it for a few minutes, it blew up in my hand and almost froze it completely. Luckily, though, the photographers near by had found a small CO2 cartridge which did me just fine. I pumped it in and it worked perfectly but of course, bad things come in threes, I was still losing air from the sidewalls of the tire for some reason but I was able to spread the Stan's sealant that was spewing out onto the leak and it sealed up instantly. I was finally ready to go... sort of. With the lost air from the sidewalls, I was left with what I estimated to be about 5-10 psi in my rear tire, probably closer to five. I had no choice but to deal with slop handling coming from the rear. This made it much harder to corner and just ride my bike in general but I made it work. I kept going and made it through the singletrack. I was just trying to not completely destroy my rims by riding really gently but still trying to go hard. I reluctantly let some people pass me here because I knew that once we hit the last two miles of the race which were just pavement back to Whiskey Row, I would be able to push super hard and make up several positions which was exactly what I did. I found myself pushing 30+ mph and catching positions like crazy. I tried to catch a guy on the turn back into the final stretch before turning back on to Whiskey Row when I started to slip off and almost completely lost my rear tire off my rim but my  Stan's 29er Race Golds pulled through for me again and kept the tire on where any other wheel would have pulled it right off. I managed to save myself and keep the rubber side down and made the pass on the guy. I then found myself coming into Whiskey Row and having the challenge of beating someone for position on a sprint finish to the line. I sprinted with him for a bit until he started to stand up and actually sprint and I realized that I should stay down due to the low tire pressure in the rear because I wouldn't want to run the risk of falling at a high speed on pavement just before the finish so I settled with 26th out of the 700 people that came out. All in all, I had an awesome time out there and would like to give a big shout out to epicrides.com for putting on an awesome event!

MBAA Sierra Vista

I had started getting ready for the race the night before. I threw on my brand new Stan's 29er Race Gold Wheelset and re-aligned the brake calipers. I was really excited and ready to fly on the wheels. I had a feeling in my gut that I was going to win this race or at least do really well. 

Once we got to Sierra Vista, I caught up with my coach Brad and his girlfriend Lee-Ann. We went out to go pre-ride the course as an opener and I felt stronger than I usually did before the race. Also I hung behind my coach on the climbs to note where the best lines were. The course was much looser than it was last year so I was sure to push my tires in a little harder on the climbs so I didn't spin out during the race. It was a nice day out and I expected it to be just as good the next day for the race. I had also kept in mind what Brad had told me a few days earlier that it was possible that I was going out too hard in the beginning effectively making me much slower than if I had paced myself better.

We got out to the venue about an hour before the race started to allow time for a proper warmup. It was not the nice day I had expected. It was incredibly windy. Windy enough that I couldn't get even a decent warmup in. I tried warming up on the road near the venue and there was so much wind I found myself almost moving backwards. I decided to quit on the warmup. I got back and ended up hanging out before the start.

I stood by the starting gate and watched the marathon guys heading out Even at the start it was relatively windy. I was still feeling really strong though and very ready to race. I was glad to finally have the confidence in my abilities back. I just had a really good feeling about this race. Then we all got lined up and ready to go.

I hadn't payed any attention to the race director this time. I was just focused on how great of a race it was going to be. I didn't need any of the info anyways. I knew this race: 5 black loops, 5 miles/lap at mild elevation (5000+/- ft.) and LOTS of climbing. I just barely heard the race director say 15 seconds and then everything went silent. I started the timer on my heart rate monitor and got ready to go. Then I counted down 15 seconds on my own and then I heard GO!!!!

Keeping in mind what Brad had told me, I didn't go out nearly as hard as I usually do. I was still up front though heading into the first climb. A few really fast cat 1 open guys passed me and I heard My buddies and teammates Kenny and Cal coming up behind me. I wasn't gonna let them through like I usually do though so I sped up the climb and beat them to the top. At this point Kenny and cal were right behind me. We hit the second climb and keeping a not of where the line up this one was, I flew up it while I saw Kenny off to my left sliding down on a line that looks like the perfect line up but gets super loose and more and more off camber the closer you get to the top. Then as Kenny slipped in between Cal and I, we hit the singletrack which was a huge relief because there was almost no way to pass on the singletrack. I still kept a solid pace though. Then on the first lap I lost my lead. I just barely missed the line I had committed to and almost endoed into a tree. Then Kenny passed me but I got back on just in time to catch up. We kept the same line, just us three going at it. We hit an open piece of trail and Kenny almost missed the turn back into the singletrack. I decided to try to take him here but he got going again too fast and my effort proved useless. I settled on just sticking behind him. On the second to last climb, I saw an opening to take back first. Kenny had taken the line off to the left and I took the one off to the right. It was a pretty open piece of trail so I just went for it without saying anything. I sped up the climb with immense power and just barely beat him to the top then cut in front of him on the descent. Then at the end of every lap, there was a super wide, open section that I for some reason always put a huge gap on Kenny and Cal. Then I hit the feed zone and I realized I still had the half bottle I started with. I didn't grab the second bottle from my dad. I signaled to him that I didn't need it and I kept going. Then the second lap. I was still feeling great and I knew what I had to do for the beginning of the lap; beat em to the singletrack. I knew that if I pushed a hard enough pace they wouldn't be able to pass me until almost the end of the lap. This went through my head every lap; just beat them to the singletrack and don't let them by. I kept it up and stayed in front of them to the finish. Then by the end of the second lap, I wasn't trying too hard to stay ahead but we hit this open dirt road section that lasted for about half a mile that was just before the lap/finish and feed zone. I noticed that I was putting a huge gap between myself and Kenny and Cal. This allowed me enough time to slow down slightly to toss the bottle I had and grab another one out of the feed zone. Time for a third lap. I figured I would take this one a little easier so I would still have energy for the last two laps. I still beat them up the first climb but at the second climb, Cal was right behind me and my tire didn't grab as much traction as I needed to push up the loose climb and I lost my line and all my momentum went with it so I was forced to get off and run up the last 20 feet of the climb. That was alright though because it wouldn't give Cal or Kenny an opening because they were following close enough behind that they would be forced to get off and run it too. Once I hit the top I noticed Cal had tried to get by me on the other side by running up the climb faster and trying to mount his bike faster. We got up at about the same time and mounted at the same time too. This would just be a game of who could make a stronger burst of power. I slammed on the pedals and got in front of him luckily. Then I just had to keep doing what I was doing, beat them to the singletrack; and I did again. I thought for a moment here that I would win the race and that thought stuck all the way through the third lap and into the fourth. By the time we hit the fourth lap, we were all worn out and exhausted. At least I was and I would have to imagine Kenny and Cal were at least feeling something. Regardless of how I was feeling, I pushed on and beat them to the singletrack yet again and I kept my position. I kept the same hard pace I was keeping the whole race and those feelings of victory just got stronger and stronger. I pushed all the way through to the fifth lap. Then something interesting happened. I but a big enough gap on that final descent into the lap/finish that I wasn't really able to tell what was going on behind me but Kenny and Cal started making attacks on each other while I was just pushing a consistent pace. Cal came up behind me on the left and I kept trying to cut off his line to the left where he was trying to pass as usual but he kept moving left and I couldn't quit get my bike all the way in front of him so I couldn't cut off his line completely. He was putting down a super hard attack. I just decided I would keep pushing him left... all the way to the left. I kept pushing his line over and he kept moving over and once I almost got him all the way over, I couldn't match it. His attack was just way too hard for me and I didn't want to blow up so I had no choice but to let him by. Then Kenny passed almost right after Cal did. I was somewhat relieved to not have the pressure of having to slam on the pedals every second of the race just to keep up first place but I was more disappointed in myself than relieved. I took the last lap kind of easy because I just didn't have the energy to match the pace they were setting. I started to go faster and faster towards the end of the lap because I knew it was my last lap and I wanted to squeeze out everything I had. It turned out I ended up with a solid third place finish in an amazing race. I ended up finishing 29 seconds behind Kenny and about 3 minutes behind Cal. It was definitely a good race though.

Once I got home, I looked at my performance from this year over last year. Last year in Cat 2, we did 3 laps of the same course. I took my first three lap times from this year and took nearly half an hour off my time. Definitely something to be stoked about!!

Next weekend is going to be another one in California. Racing Sunday in Fontana, CA hopefully to redeem myself from my performance at Bonelli Park.

Bonelli Park Pro XCT Triple Crown US Cup

I had a good time at Bonelli Park this past weekend to say the least. I had the pleasure of spending the weekend with my friend and teammate, Sam Gross. It was the day before race day and after the 6 hour car ride over to Bonelli Park in San Dimas, CA, we got out of the car, stretched our legs and went over to go check in with the rest of the team. This first day we were all hanging out and just taking team photos. After we did those, we went out to go pre-ride the course. It was not what I had expected. We went out and rode the 5 mile amateur loop. These were our loops. The course was loose, especially at the bottom of the descents. Another surprise at the bottom of the descents was that there were tight, off-camber turns. Loose and off-camber don't go well together but I guess that's what USA Cycling had in mind. The course also included several short and steep climbs. One of those steep climbs was where the feed zone was. The course was also complete with three road sections where we would be able to slightly recover. We rode it once then went back to the AZ Devo tent to hang out until the day was over. Everybody was excited for the race. I wasn't feeling it though. I didn't feel mentally prepared in the slightest.

That night we all went out for a team dinner at an Italian restaurant where we all took down a solid amount of pasta before the big race. Later that night I was lying in bed thinking about how the race would go. I didn't think it was going to go well. I had underestimated the course before pre-riding it and I wondered if I was underestimating the field I was up against. I had mixed emotions going on about it.

Then it was race day. Go time. I started to warm up with my buddy Ryan Geiger. He said he was going out to warm up and I knew that he knew a LOT about training, racing, warming up, cooling down, etc. so I told him I would head out with him. I just blindly followed his lead on the warmup. Then I ran into my buddy Daryll McKenzie. Daryll also knows a whole lot about racing. He's a dinosaur; the dude's been racing for a long time. He gave me this tip, don't look back. Don't even think back. Always think forward and ahead. The guy behind you doesn't matter because you want the wheel of the guy in front of you and what's even sweeter is the wheel in front of him but that's not what you want either, you want the wheel ahead of him. I told him that was great advice and I called it "old man wisdom". I didn't realize how great the advice was though until the race was almost over. After talking to Daryll, I warmed up for a little longer and got ready to go, at least as ready as I could get. Then I went down somehow just in time for the race to start. I got on the line, started talking to the guys next to me before the gun. Then the race director gave us all the info for what we were doing for the race. Nothing I didn't know and nothing out of the ordinary for a XC race. He just gave us info on the course, how long, etc. then the announcer said "15 seconds to start!" I counted the rest down on my own. 15...14...13...12...11...10... Feeling less and less mentally prepared, 9...8...7...6... here we go, 5...4...3...2...1... deep breath, ... GO!!! And we were off.

We all fired off the line. Everybody as fast as they can. I held on for a little bit and gained some mental strength as I held on on the pavement. Then I lost it all. I saw one of the Whole Athlete kids cut off my line in front of me and send my line into the grass off to the side which felt like putting lead in my wheels. Then everybody gaped me. Everybody. The entire field was ahead of me and there wasn't much I could do. They were all flying and I was stuck way off the back. I could hear the all the spectators cheering everybody on and right at the top of the first climb I knew I was breathing hard which made me think it was going to be a bad day. Then I heard one of spectators say to me, "Open up those shoulders! Get some air in!" I thought that was a good idea so I opened up my shoulders. Too bad I couldn't get any more air in. It didn't make a difference in the slightest and it was affecting my technical ability. I did like the fact that there were a huge amount of spectators along the course though. I guess it was an interesting race to watch though seeing as how Cat 1 juniors is just as if not more competitive than the pro class. On the descent from that first climb, I knew it was going to be loose and very off-camber. I hit the bottom just praying to God that my Bontrager 29-3 tire up front would hook up with the dirt which it did magnificently. As I continued on with the race, I saw a glimmer of hope; my buddy Nick Thorpe was up ahead and suffering just as much as I was. I decided to push it a little harder and try to drop him. I had raced Nick before. He'd always crushed me. Not today though. I passed him. He held on to my wheel for a little bit and I decided to push just a little harder to drop him and it worked. He was gone and never came back. Then we hit the second road section and I did some recovery behind a guy's wheel that was in front of me. He was racing for Specialized Sho-Air. He was also racing in the pack of 30-35 Cat 1 guys so we had no reason to be hostile towards each other. We weren't even doing the same amount of laps. I figured to keep myself and him going, I would cheer him on to make him go faster . It was especially advantageous on the road sections because it would allow me to draft him in his slipstream so I could recover and go faster. This guy and I kept going back and forth the entire race. I eventually passed him and dropped him but he came up behind me and passed me on the feed zone climb. I wouldn't have it. I started to get a little competitive with this guy and I caught up with him, stuck with him on the rest of the climb and the descent and by the time we dropped into the third road section, instead of recovering, I slammed it. I sprinted passed him, dropped him and kept a good lead on him. This was perfect and I started to feel good and strong. I started to actually get into "the zone". This was unfortunate though because my race was already almost 1/3 over. I hit the quarter mile grass section that would bring me back to the start/finish line where I would start my second lap. I hustled the second lap. I pushed it through every climb, did everything perfectly and without flaw. Then I hit one of the doubletrack climbs and someone came up behind me. It was that Sho-Air guy again. I decided I would do what I did earlier, just cheer him on and tell him to push it up the climbs. He did put a slight gap on me on that climb leading up to the second road section where again, instead of recovering, I pushed it. I caught him and sapped off his wheel again and the rest of the lap went the same way, I dropped him on the third road section and pushed it to the start/finish to start my third lap. I started my third lap hard and kept going hard. The Sho-Air guy caught me AGAIN. We stuck with each other for most of the lap. I wouldn't let him take me this time though. I passed him on the climb going up to the second road section where he was usually beating me. Then I dropped him on the road section and he was out of sight. As I was on the flat singletrack after the second road section, I saw my buddy Ashley and she told me that Sam was only 30 seconds ahead of me. I thought woah! 30 seconds is almost nothing! This was awesome because I actually had a fighting chance to get back at Sam. He had told me the night before that he better not see me but he had passed me in my second lap. I ended up not being able to make up the time to catch up to him. As I hit the feed zone for the last time, I saw Daryll's wife, Dawn. As she was cheering me on, she told me to remember that "old man wisdom". That was when I remembered it, I hadn't thought about it at all until then but it was too late, my race was almost over. Ironically, that was also when I looked back and saw Daryll coming up behind me. That was when I hit this loose 2 foot step that was incredibly loose by the time I hit it for the third time. I hit it and slammed my tires into the ground as hard as I could to make as much traction as possible. It proved to be useless. Making no speed, I just tipped over. This was when Daryll and the Sho-Air guy passed me. I saw Daryll pass me but not the Sho-Air guy. It wasn't until I hit the final lick of singletrack that lead into the final grass section leading into the start/finish that I saw the Sho-Air guy. I saw him and the gap was just big enough for me to know that my race against him was over. I tried to catch him and I almost did but he crossed the start/finish to start his last lap while I was heading into the finish of my last lap (Juniors did 3 laps while everyone else did 4).

When I came off the course, I was glad to finish. I went back over to the AZ Devo tent to find out that Nick Thorpe had taken a DNF because he broke his derailleur hanger and his rear derailleur blew off his bike. My buddy Cal broke his frame right at the direct mount front derailleur piece rendering his front derailleur useless. This made me glad that my bike was just  fine in the end. I had a good time out there despite the bad result. It was a good experience for a first national caliber Cat 1 race and I hope that I can redeem myself at the next national race in Fontana, California but the next race will be a local one way down South in Sierra Vista but more on that later.

Estrella Mountain Park 2012

Race day started as it always has, 5:30 AM. I had done my race prep the night before to be nutritionally ready for the race which included a warmup, a hard effort, a few sprints then some high carb, high protein pasta. Then I relaxed for a bit and it was off to bed. I woke up at 5:30 feeling especially good. I got all my gear together in a hurry and got out the door. Then it was off to Estrella Mountain Park. I was really excited to race here again seeing as how it was my first real podium ever last year. I tried catching a little more sleep in the back of the car on the way there as packed as it was. Didn't really work out though because before I knew it, we were at the venue. We got there about an hour before the race which allowed me just enough time to check in with the team, check in with registration and get a solid warmup in. I felt good during the warmup which made me feel it was going to be a good race but the course was a little rougher than I remembered it being. No matter though, I am superman, I can handle this no problem. I got back just in time to hang out with my bros for about 10 minutes before the race.

I was second place for points leader in cat 1 juniors. This means a lot to me and I'll admit it, it's kinda cool having your name called up to front just because you've managed to rack up more points than anyone else in the category. It looks a little less cool though when you have to cross the spectator line and run in in the most unconventional manner after they've called your name up. Either way, I got to the starting line just in time for the race. The race director was up front telling us what the race was going to be like. She was shouting to all of us from the front: "1 minute 40 seconds to start! 2 black, 2 blue!" 2 long loops and 2 tech loops, totaling 28.8 miles. I just sat there on the line thinking what this race was going to be like. "Will it going to be good? Will it be bad? Will it be the best race of my life? Will is be the worst?" It ended up being a little of all of these.

The race director up front shouts again, "30 seconds to start!" These thoughts kept racing through my head. "10 seconds!" The adrenaline rush started. "5!" I got into a sprinting position and counted the rest down on my own. Then the whistle and the race began.

I started the race off the same way I always do: WAY too hard. But seeing as how I'm a sprinter and big strength guy, I like to rip off the line as hard as I can: giving all 976.8 watts of power I got. Now that I've hammered off the line, I looked at the guy in front of me. It was my buddy and teammate, Travis. He was racing pro so I decided to let him in front of me. I kept thinking to my self: "Grab his wheel and don't let go!" Of course this was completely unrealistic. Travis is much faster than I am. I held his wheel for about 20 seconds and that part of the pack separated from me. Then some other guys passed me including my other teammate, Kenny. I knew I actually stood a good chance against him so I tried grabbing his wheel. Nope. Didn't work with him either. I eventually caught one of the guy's wheels I didn't even know. I figured I was at the very least upper-midpack. So I stuck on this guy for a while and just sapped off his wheel for as long as I could. I was still pushing much harder than I should have been. I knew there was no way I could hold his pace throughout the entire race but I was going to try my best at it. This was when I realized, Estrella being as rough as it is, is no place for drafting. I wasn't getting the same pull from him as I would normally get from anyone, anywhere else. Estrella was just too rough for it. So I gave up on the drafting thing for the rough sections. Too bad the long loop is just a 9.7 mile rough section. I still tried holding on to his wheel just to keep a decent pace going. At about halfway through the first long loop, I decided I was not going to be able to push his pace for the whole race, a conviction I had already come to terms with. I spent some quality time alone. I actually enjoy riding alone being just a man and his thoughts. I do NOT enjoy racing alone. I start to get worried and preoccupied. But I've gotten used to this, it's actually somewhat common in XC racing. I decided to still hammer but then towards the end of the first long loop, an issue come to light: my arms and hands were starting hurt due to the roughness of the course. I had to do something about it but there's not too much I could do but just endure the pain. I hit my second long loop. I was still alone until I heard another guy behind me trying to sap off my wheel. I saw this as an opening to finally refresh myself. I could still draft a little and sap off his wheel some if I let him by. Turns out he wanted to work with me to catch up. He wanted me to stay on his wheel so I would stay fresh to pull him then him pull me and so on. This didn't work. In fact I've only seen this work once ever in mountain biking. I tried to work with him but he was pushing a slightly faster pace than me and dropped me. By the time I saw the final climb to the dissent, I was really happy to know that the race was almost 2/3 over so I decided to shoot a protein bar down. That felt great and gave me just enough energy to finish up the race. While going up the climb, my buddy Daryll "The Old Fart" McKenzie (he's actually wicked fast for an old dude) came up behind me. He's told me my goal is to not see him during the race, I couldn't live up to it this time. Anyway, after Daryll passed me, I came around the feed zone, grabbed my 3rd bottle from Marty Coplea, our incredible team director and hit my first tech loop. The tech loops were a bit shorter, but way rougher than the long loops but I had done my warmup on the tech loop so I knew what to expect. By now, I was tired and I was beaten down. Now, being that races are invaluable experiences and just a lot of fun, I would never say that I've ever actually wanted a race to end but I would have to say this was about as close as I've ever come to wanting a race to end, I was hurting. I figured I would just hammer out these tech loops and be done with it. I got about halfway through the first tech loop and I hear someone behind me. It was my buddy Zach Keller. I thought, "Wow. I started with him and we're racing the same course. I know he's way faster than me but there's no way that he's about to lap me" but he did. Then some other pros lapped me with him. I really just wanted to finish up this race at this point; I was tired and way passed exhausted. I finished up the tech loop, came in for another bottle and hit the second one then finished the race. 

After the race and everything was said and done, I got a message from my coach, Brad Wilhelm asking for my lap times from the race and from last years race to check my improvement. Despite how I felt during the race, I had managed to take a whopping 15 minutes off my time over last year. This was huge and actually made me feel like I did pretty well. He told me that's really good despite how I felt and how hard I've been training lately. There in lies why I felt it was a fantastic race and not-so fantastic race.

The next race is at McDowell Mountain Park then the US Cup begins with Bonelli Park. These will be some exciting races. Especially Bonelli. But more on that later.