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.