Kevin Bonney

Moving on

2011-11-15T17:15:00.000-08:00

I will no longer be riding for Airborne Bicycles. After two awesome years full of great memories and great opportunities I decided to step down from the team for next year. I leave on good terms with Airborne and the "Flight Crew". Great company, full of awesome people. Thanks for the memories!

Collegiate Nationals

2011-11-03T13:36:00.000-07:00

Collegiate Mountain bike season wrapped up last week in Angel Fire, NM.I had this race marked on my calendar since summer but was unsure if I would be able to go due to some class conflicts. Got exempted from class, good to go.

Mizzou had 3 guys make the 15 hour journey down south. When I heard nationals would be held in New Mexico, I thought it would be a nice break from Missouri weather. I pictured desert and temperatures to be hot....I was wrong. Forecast said high of 40's and snow, they weren't kidding. Wendsday night before the Friday XC race it snowed several inches, up to 7 inches at the top of the mountain.

I heavily debated on even doing a pre ride of the course. I read that it was 3 miles up the mountain and 2 miles down, seemed simple enough. I contemplated pre riding and risking a mechanical from the crappy conditions or just riding around town to loosen up the legs and having a fresh, clean, working bike for the xc race. Peer pressure pre-vailed and before I knew it I was ankle deep in mud.

The course was literally 3 miles straight up and 2 miles straight down. The climb did not have one technical aspect to it, other than the mud. Downhill was fun but seemed very short. On the pre-ride the first mile of the climb was not ride able, but once you got higher up the mountain the ground became frozen which allowed you to ride.

I lined up for the Division 1 XC with 80+ other riders from all over the country, pretty awesome. Our race did not start until 12. I would have rather raced at 9 in the morning, when the ground was still cold and there had not already been two races ran on the course. I knew the mud would be worse then pre-ride but I had no idea how bad. The first lap was miserable, with the start of the climb only being .25 miles from the start it was a frenzy trying to get up the mountain. The course was in bad shape and only got worse. First lap, 75% ride able. Second lap, 60%. Third lap, 40%.

My race went extremely flawless. It was a long hike to the top of the mountain and a fun ride down. Other than all of the walking we had to do I had no bike or body mechanical's. I ended up 52/80. Not too shabby considering the last time I rode outside of racing was mid August.

Saturday was short track. I was not entirely excited about this race. Short track racing has never been my strong suit, so I was not too thrilled to be lining up against some of the fastest racers in the country. Lucky for me my race ended after just one lap. I was navigating the switch back at the top of the first climb when some dumba** T-boned my back wheel. I have no idea what he was doing, but he was going straight while I was following the course and turning. Anyways, it knocked me off balance but I just kept going not thinking too much about it other than wondering why someone who clearly can't even ride a bike was in this race. I came around to the start/finish and began pedaling when before I knew it I was on the ground wondering what just happened. Long story short, the guy knocked my wheel a little bit out of the drop outs and when I began putting power into the pedals my wheels basically rolled right out of the dropouts.

Thankfully nothing was hurt, other than my ego. I finished 57/80 with the DNF.

Awesome weekend with a bunch of awesome people. Brent Davidson represented Mizzou with a 10th place finish in downhill and a 12th in Dual Slalom.

Will I be back next year?.........Of course. After cross season ends I am going to take a few weeks off the bike and try and figure out what my goals are for next season. Bike racing has always been something I have loved, but now I need to figure out if it is something I want to fully commit myself to next year or just wing it like this year.

Dogfish Hermann CX Under the Lights

2011-09-20T08:08:00.000-07:00

This is by far the best cx race of the year, and always is. Hermann always has a great course that is a perfect mix for roadies and mountain bikers. I was pumped to find out I would not be traveling for collegiate season, so I would be able to race. Some people only like to race cyclocross if their road season or mountain season is over, my mountain season is far from over but it's all the same to me really.

Andy Prunty, Ben Tiefenbrun, Brent Davidson, and myself were the only brave soles from Mizzou Cycling to make the venture. Andy and Ben were scheduled to lose their cyclocross virginity's, while Brent was going to film the night's shenanigans.

I lined up for the cat 3/4 race with 40 other racers, three rows from the front. Not ideal, I wanted to be as close to the front as possible for the first lap. I know how bad cyclocross racers are at staying organized and not crashing for the first lap, so the closer to the front the better. They staged us by bib numbers. Since I had not pre-registered I was stuck in the back. After being staged I realized that the whole right hand side of the front row was completely open. I did not hesitate to move up and fill that gap in. A couple of the guys in the first row did not like that too much, I didn't see a problem with it and neither did the official.

The whistle blew and we were off. The start of the race was a pavement section that bottle necked into a grassy corner. When I hit the grass I was sitting 5th wheel. Half way through the lap I slipped back a couple spots and sure enough there was a wreck, and I got stuck behind it. The leaders opened up a pretty big gap.

The rest of the race went pretty smoothly, I found a pace and hammered for 45 minutes. I was feeling pretty good, so good that the bell for the last lap caught me off guard. I was not ready for the race to end, but I had one more lap to gain a few positions. I passed 3 guys on the pavement and bridged up to a group a 3 guys before hitting the grass. At the stairs I passed two of them and held onto the wheel of the third guy for the rest of the lap. The second half of the course was definitely my strong half. The guy in front of me was not gonna let me pass, after several attempts I figured it was a waste of energy. I knew I would not be able to catch anyone else before the race ended so unlike usual, I decided to race smart. I knew the finish was a pavement section and if I could just hang onto his wheel I could make my move there. I let him set the pace, we hit the pavement and it was ON! We had a pretty close sprint finish, I came across one wheel ahead.

I ended up 17th place. Not too bad considering it's been almost a year since I raced cross last. The conditions of the race couldn't have been better, with a full day of rain leading up to the race it was muddy and wet. Disk brakes on a cyclocross bikes in these conditions was definitely the way to go. I had absolutely no problem braking and plenty of braking power, which was a nice change from canti brakes.

The highlight of my race was not racing at night in a great atmosphere or winning a spring finish. It was watching the awesome videos Brent made.Brent was hard a work filming all night and running around the course. I would say his hard work was worth it, check out the video he made for the 3/4 race

Also, the 1/2 race

LW Collegiate Weekend

2011-09-12T20:59:00.001-07:00

Collegiate mountain bike season kicked off this past weekend down in Columbia, KY at Lindsey Wilson University. A 24 mile xc race, short track, and dual slalom was on the menu for the weekend. We had a good group of 9 mizzou racers heading down for the weekend. Unfortunately, training has come to a halt with school starting back up. I can count on two hands the number of hours I had ridden the past 2 weeks leading up to the race.

Saturday started off with short track race, 20 minutes plus two laps. The course was pretty short with a majority of the course being a climb. 20 of us lined up at the start line for the A race. It was pretty awesome to see that many guys in the A race, considering last year there were only about 12. It started off fast, as expected. I knew I wasn't fast enough to contend so I tried to stay mid pack. I ended up 14th out of 20. Not too great but kind of expected considering my fitness.

It was onto dual slalom, since I am still figuring out the whole dual slalom game I signed up for B class. Lindsey Wilson has a ton of dual slalom/bmx racers so their course is always top notch. Conditions were muddy for practice but by race time the course had dried up considerably. I took a couple practice runs but my legs were still feeling it from the short track race so I decided resting up would be a better option then burning up my legs on practice runs. In qualifying I over shot a berm on the last half of the track, which seated me last in the bracket. Round one went pretty smooth with no mistakes I was onto the next round. Round two was a close race but with a time penalty I advanced to the finals. Finals went flawless, I knew if I made it down with two clean runs I would have it. I managed to pull off a 1st place in B class.

Sunday XC, I had raced this course last year and knew it was going to be tough. The course consisted of 3 pretty big climbs, but was mainly flat or downhill. It was 8 mile lap, with A racers doing 3 laps. My legs were feeling pretty toasted from the previous day so I took the first lap easy, riding with Brent. Not too long into the race it began rain pretty hard and wouldn't stop for the rest of the race. The course was super sloppy and getting pretty tore up. Second lap, Andy Prunty and I began pushing it a little harder and started reeling in some guys ahead of us. My legs were feeling great. Going into the third lap Andy and I caught more 2 guys. Half way through the lap I had a link in my chain seize up, I don't know what caused it could have been the clay/mud or rain but either way it slowed me down quite a bit. Pedaling got harder and harder and I was unable to shift out of the big ring up front and had a lot of shifting in the rear. I was not too upset about it, when racing in wet/muddy conditions mechanical's are almost inevitable. I would take a seized link over a flat tire or broken chain any day. I finished 12th out of 20.

Overall, great weekend and great racing with awesome people.

Tall Oak Challenge 6 hour

2011-09-01T13:32:00.000-07:00

I had no intentions of doing this race until the monday night before, it's not that I don't enjoy endurance racing I'm just not very good at it. I don't know what it is, my body, my mind, external factors but every endurance race I enter I don't do well results wise. That being said, I find endurance racing a ton of fun and super challenging which is why I keep doing them. Results don't really matter anyways, right?

I knew I didn't have the legs for the 6 hour solo class, so I teamed up with a fellow mizzou cycling team member, Byce to crush and destroy the dusty trails of Jeff City, MO.

It just so happens that my teammate grew up in Jeff City, so this trail was his home turf. I however, had never ridden the trail prior to race day. We decided that Bryce would go out on the first lap since he knew the trail better. Getting a good spot going into the single track and not weaving through lap traffic is key in this type of race.

The race course was only 7 miles, with fast lap times ranging from 30-40 minutes. This "relay" race was different from any other race I have ever done. Usually on team races you have at least an hour of rest time in between laps. For this race you realistically only had maybe 15 minutes before you had to get back on the bike and loosen up for the next lap. I knew it would be a suffer fest.

Bryce started off our team with a solid 39 minute lap time, putting us in the upper half of the field. By the look on his face when he handed the baton off to me, I knew it was going to be tough.

Lap1

I managed to jump into the single track right behind Peat Henry, who was racing the solo category so he already had one lap in him. He set a pace and I chilled behind him for the first couple miles, just to get to know the course and follow his lines. My legs were feeling good so at the first grass field I opened them up and passed a hand full of people. For the rest of the lap I was riding as smooth as butta. I came through with a 35 minute lap. Not too shabby considering the fastest lap at that point was a 34 minute lap. I would later see the results and see my time was crushed with a 31 minute lap later on in the race.

Lap 2

After a short break I got back on the bike for my second lap. Bryce came through with another consistent lap and now it was my turn to throw down with the course. After my previous lap I felt like I knew the trail pretty well. It was a pretty simple course, twisty, with almost zero climbing, and FAST. I came in with a 36 minute lap, a little slower then my first lap but I was still happy with that time.

Lap 3

Bryce flatted on his lap so he lost a little bit of time on his lap, but only a couple minutes. I could tell he was hurting by this point. This was my third lap but our teams 6th lap. It is this point in the day when the previous laps begin to wear on your body. Eating and drinking plenty of water is essential to keep the body going. My legs were feeling a little tight but nothing unexpected. I began losing small amounts of tire pressure through out this lap. Nothing huge but somehow I dropped 5 psi by the end of the lap. I came through with a 37:56, I was hurting. I could feel a cramp coming in my right leg, I knew this was not going to be good, considering I had 2 more laps to go.

Lap 4/5

Bryce came through and handed me the baton, I waited a minute so that I could check up on him and see how he was doing. He was worse off then me, he said his legs were camping pretty bad and asked me to do a double lap. OUUUUUUCH this was going to be brutal. I had a goal of staying under 40 minute lap times all day. I was still confident up to this point I could attain that. Knowing I would be doing a double lap I pulled back the throttle a little bit. My cramp hadn't gone away but it was manageable, I could only feel it when I really mashed on the pedals. I knew there was no chance of it getting better, only worse. I came through lap 4 with a 41 minute lap, I didn't feel like I was going that slow but with the evidence of my lap time I knew my body was beginning to shut down. I lost around 8 psi in both tires, so after quickly pumping up my tires I was off for lap 5.

After riding the course 4 times already I had several spots I could do time splits. I was half way through the lap right on target for a 40 minute lap. I am not sure what happened between there and the finish line but I had the dreaded bonk. My right calf was throbbing at this point from the cramp. I couldn't push it up any sort of incline. I had to make it back in 40 minutes so that Bryce could go out for our final lap, any longer of a lap time wouldn't make the cut off at 6 hours. I was in the final four minutes of the race when I heard the gun fire go off, signaling the end of the race. I was bummed....I came through with a 45 minute lap time, way past my goal and forcing our team's race to end, instead of continuing for another lap.

Overall, the race was a blast I knew I didn't have the legs for this type of race at this point in my season so I am pretty happy with my lap times, excluding the last two. I had 5 laps, somewhere around 35 miles all together although it felt like way more then that. I would compare this race to doing 5 short track races with a 20 minute break between each race. The intensity of every lap kills your body and you are drained with not much of a break before going out again. Definitely putting this one down on my calendar next year!

full results http://midwestfattireseries.com/images/stories/2011results/2011_binder6hrresults.pdf

The leap

2011-08-03T17:31:00.001-07:00

For sometime now there have been top secret plans to overhaul the drive train on the goblin. It is now ready for the public to see:

It's quite the change, and something I have been wanting to do for a long time. The stock x7 2x10 rode exceptionally well but was beginning to get tired after almost a year of wear and tear. I am very happy with how it turned out, not only does xx out preform any other drive train I also managed to drop some weight with the upgrade. I've added a few other subtle upgrades over the past couple weeks also. I converted from crank brother pedals to shimano, man have I been messing out. I also said goodbye to the Ergon grips and put on some new ESI grips per the recommendation from Eric McKenna. The goblin is now sitting at a record low weight, 23.08 lbs (without pedals). This bike gets faster as the months go by!

I am finally back to riding after my incident at castlewood and I am feeling great. I did lose some fitness while I was sitting on the couch, but I am back on track.

One step forward and two steps back

2011-07-11T08:12:00.000-07:00

I decided to bump up and race CAT 1 this season during the winter. I am beginning to out grow CAT 2 races and I may not be fast enough to contend with the top guys but that's not why I am doing it. It's all preparation for collegiate season this fall. It's a longer faster race with more experience riders, that's exactly what I need to get faster.

I lined up with 16 other CAT 1 riders in the blistering Missouri heat. The course was fairly short but had quite a bit of climbing in it. I choose to ride conservatively up the first big climb to feel out the race and figure out where I needed to be. I grabbed another riders wheel and would stay there for the next 2 laps. I was feeling pretty good. Like always, I started the race off way too slow.

The race was my first real time spent on tubeless tires, and I have to say I am a fan. I have always felt that corning on an xc bike was my weakest link. Tubeless is the answer to my problem. I could confidently push through corners and know that the tires would hook right up, and they did. I still have some adjusting to do with finding the right psi but that will come after I spend more time on them.

The CAT 1 race did 3 laps, on the 3rd lap I decided it was time to try and make my move. I began picking off riders ahead of me half way through the lap. I was pushing it pretty hard, on corners, climbs, and technical parts. I came to the last descent and gave it my final push. I remember thinking to myself that I was starting to lose focus, I was making silly mistakes. However, I ignored those signs because I knew the finish wasn't too far away.

I came to the last turn of the downhill, this part of the trail was rutted out and covered in loose rock. I grabbed the wheel of a rider in front of me with the intention of passing him right after the corner. I am not entirely sure what happened but I leaned in to turn and my front tire clipped a pretty good sized rock that was laying on the trail. The bike began sliding out and I began to fall on the right side of my body. I tried to correct and save myself from falling by turning the opposite way. This however immediately threw me off the bike. I can't remember the last time I crashed on my mtb so I was a bit confused. My left knee took the full blow of the crash onto a rock. Without thinking I jumped back up and rode away. There was around a mile left in the race, mostly smooth flat trail to the finish. I saw a lot of blood coming out of my knee but figured it was just a normal cut that was bleeding a bit excessively.

I finished the race and immediately sat down in some shade to figure out what was wrong with my knee. I was almost positive it was nothing bad or worth going to the hospital for. Not too long after I sat down people started coming over to see if I was alright. I told them all that I was fine and I just needed something to clean it up. I still could not tell how deep the cut was because of the blood.

Karen Holtmann came over and told me she would clean it up. Not too long after she started cleaning me up she said I was going to need stitches. My heart sank, thoughts came running through my head of how long I would have to be off the bike for, if I would have time to get back in shape before collegiate season, etc....

Dan Miller and Carl Hoffman came over with some first aid kits while Karen pulled debris out of my knee. They told me that I needed to get to the ER and that it would take some stitches to sew it up.

Lucky for me Andy Prunty rode his bike to the race so he was able to drive my car up the the hospital. Long story short I got out of the hospital with 5 stitches on my knee. Half the cut was too wide to stitch up so they did the best they could. Doctor said two weeks until the stitches come out and not to start riding until the stitches come out. It definitely could have been much worse.

I finished the day with 13th place overall. I have been beating myself up about the crash since it happened. I feel like I was finally in good shape, riding stronger and then this had to happen. Two weeks off the bike is not the worst thing in the world. I won't lose all my fitness and I will have time to get back in shape before collegiate season. Thanks to everyone who helped me out at the race, I really do not know what I would have done without all of your help!

Photos courtesy of Dennis Fickinger.

Late to the party

2011-07-08T18:42:00.000-07:00

After riding the Goblin for the past 8 months with tubes I have finally converted to tubeless. I know, I know I am a little late to the party but this will be my first experience with tubeless tires. Tomorrow I will not only be trying them out for the first time but I will also be racing on them. What a great way to break them in.

Set up was surprisingly easy. I went with a bontrager 29.2 up front and a 29.3 in the rear.

My thoughts to follow....

Thursday night Dirt Crit #2 got canceled last night due to torrential down pours.

This is why I own a mini van:

While waiting for the race to get canceled I was able to keep the bike dry and myself while watching the rain come down.

Dirt Crit #1

2011-07-06T09:49:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday was the kickoff race for the 5 race dirt crit series. I scrambled to get to the race in time, with 5 minutes to spare I had barely enough time to get my number plate and line up. I didn't know where my fitness level was at, I have been riding but not very consistently. I decided I would sit in the back and then move up if I felt good. After the first lap I knew I was feeling good so I started to move up. For the rest of the race I kept on advancing several riders per lap. By the end of the race I was riding with people I have never been able to keep up with in the past. I know I am faster than last year it just doesn't quite feel like it. I ended up 21 out of 40 or so riders. There's is defiantly room for improvement. Number one thing I need to work on is my starts, I need to be pushing harder the first lap to get a good position for the rest of the race instead of trying to pass people the whole race. Overall the race was super fun and a big confidence booster. Can't wait for 4 more of them.

Photo shoot!

2011-06-15T08:57:00.000-07:00

Check out this awesome video of the Airborne Bicycles photo shoot during this past Sea Otter Classic. http://www.pinkbike.com/video/201097/ You might recognize some familiar faces.

Ballwin Days

2011-06-05T19:43:00.000-07:00

This was my first race since sea otter. I didn't feel like I was in very good shape going into the race but I have missed out on enough races this season. Anyways, the venue was really awesome, the course outlined a carnival. The race was a short track xc/cx race. The first half of the course favored mtb's and the second half favored a cx bike so it was a pretty even match up. I have been itching to test out the delta cx bike so I chose that over the 29er.

I got to the race 30 minutes before the start. I don't know why but it always seems like I am rushing to get ready before races and never get there early.

The race was HOT. I felt pretty good, I did not know where my fitness was at so I took it easy at first then picked up the intensity accordingly.

The only time that I really felt like the cx bike was a disadvantage was in the 3 sand pits. The first sand pit was ride able but I couldn't manage to carry enough speed through the 360 turn at the end of the sand pit leading into the next sand pits, where as the mountain bikes did not have a problem.

However, the staircase and "green monster" definitely made the bike choice worth it.

Hafner is looking like he will be super fast this collegiate season

Scooter was looking uber P-R-O as usual

Mr. Ploch would go on to make the course his stomping group and win

I'm not really sure how I finished, somewhere around 10th or so. I wasn't really worried about how I would finish, I mainly wanted to get a good solid ride in at intensity. It was an awesome day on the bike and a great event. Thanks to everyone involved in putting it on.

I RIDE FOR.....

2011-05-15T16:39:00.000-07:00

I first heard about the Unity campaign some time last year. The Unity campaign is designed to celebrate the cancer survivors that have impacted your life while raising awareness. It wasn't until my recent trip to Sea Otter that made me think more about the Unity campaign. While walking around and looking at all the different bike companies I noticed that many of the factory racing teams had stickers on their bike that said, "I RIDE FOR Tyler Blick." I asked one of the Trek mechanics who Tyler Blick was. He told me that Tyler was the young son of industry veteran Steve Blick, and has been battling cancer since last June. When I got back to the hotel that night I looked up more information about Tyler. Here is a little information I found.

"Last June our buddy Tyler (son of industry veteran and friend to all Steve Blick) developed a fever that lasted 8 days, leading Steve and Jen (mom) to take Tyler to the hospital for testing. After extensive blood and bone marrow exams it was revealed that Tyler was suffering from ALL Pre B (Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia-which is a type of Blood Cancer). Since then the Blick’s have been riding the non-stop roller coaster ride to beat cancer. "

Cancer has affected not only my life but my whole family, and I felt it was time to do something about it. So for the 2011 year I will be riding for my Grandma and good friend Todd Haskins.

Geri Sell:

In April 2009 my grandma was diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer that had spread throughout her abdomen. It was hard news to take in and a bit of a shock. She battled through surgery and chemotherapy. She recently finished another round of chemo and is getting good test results.

Todd Haskins:

Todd is a good friend of mine, I first met Todd in April 2010. Todd is a fellow Airborne Flight Crew member. On February 4th 2010 Todd was diagnosed with colon cancer. Although the first time I talked to Todd was in April of 2010 it wasn't until April of 2011 that I actually had the opportunity to meet Todd. Todd was unable to make it to Sea Otter 2010 due to the cancer but he wouldn't let anything come in the way of being at Sea Otter in 2011. Todd has battled through and come out on top, beating cancer. He is now clean and back to riding his bike. Read more about Todd on his blog here.

Who do you ride for?

I just wanna ride my bike

2011-05-06T15:37:00.000-07:00

It's been 3 week since Sea Otter and I have only ridden twice since then. We had a terrible winter this year and a terrible spring to follow it. It seems like every other day it pours down rain. I am beginning to think I live in Seattle. The other reason for lack of riding is that annoying thing called school. I have been pretty swamped with school work the past week and it's only getting worse. Finals week is next week so I will be confided in my dorm studying for the next week which equals no riding. I am missing Greensfelder XC race this weekend because of school work. Next weekend is the Cosmo Park XC race and I will not be attending that either, mainly due to the fact that I am not in very good shape. I had the Indian Camp Creek 3/6 hour race marked on my scheduled, that didn't last long. I will not be able to make that race either. It really bothers me that I am missing out on all these great races. On the other hand I don't really need to be fast right now or racing. With collegiate season not starting til August and cx season ending in December it's going to be a long season. I'm hoping to hit local races all summer but it will all be preparation for collegiate season this fall.

Plans are already being made for collegiate nationals this year and I am planning on being there. Mizzou Cycling is losing a lot of fast guys this year but we should still be able to put together some good races. Andy Prunty, Brent Davidson, and I will be representin' in the A class with the hopeful that more guys make the leap up to join us.

The worst thing about not being able to ride is staring at this rig while I study:

Unfortunately, I have only gotten one ride in on it so far, but that will change once school gets out. I am pretty pumped about the disk brakes, actually being able to brake on a cross bike will be a good change. Cross brakes suck! I am going to ride it stock until race season. I have a couple modifications in mind for it to get it race ready.

Sea Otter XC

2011-04-25T17:52:00.000-07:00

Like I have said before, sea otter is always hard to prepare for. It is the first race of the season for me, so you have nothing to gauge your fitness going into the race. Unlike California, Missouri has winter and this year it was a terrible, terrible winter for riding bikes.

What's a better way to prepare the day before an XC race then cheering on some Pro's racing Dual Slalom. Check out those sweet shades.

Going into the race I had two goals, beat my time from last year and get a top 10. I lined up on the start line with 20 other guys. My goal of a top 10 was much more attainable then last year's 40 man field. Which made my goal mean a lot less to me. I was also in a new age bracket 19-24, so I was one of the youngest.

Marty, Wendy, and I before my race.

Lining up for the start is way a foggy, chilly, misty morning. However, about 5 minutes into the race the sun came out and it got very, very hot in my long sleeve jersey. Bad choice on my part. Damn mother nature.

Lined up on the start line. Whose the idiot in the long sleeve up front?

The race started and as anticipated it was FAST. But it felt comfortable, I didn't feel like I was pushing too hard on the race track section. By the time we hit single track I was the lead group of 4 guys. We had a pretty good gap on the rest of the field. The first 30 minutes of a race are always the toughest for me so I just kept pushing to stay with the group. The first real climb came and the group was sticking together pretty good and putting a decent gap on the field. With the first big climb came the first big descent, it was a gravel descent that went into single track. The sea otter race course single track is no where near as technical as the Missouri single track that I am used to. Knowing this I moved to the front so I could be sure to control the race through the single track. It felt good to be in the lead, this however did not last for long. After the single track we hit another gravel climb and I got passed by what ended up being the race winner. We didn't see him again for the rest of the race. Someone from the main group managed to catch us so it was four of us again with the leader putting time on us. I latched onto the back and let them pull me up the hill.

Not too long into the race we caught the 15-18 year olds that started ahead of us. It was awful, but there isn't much you can do about it. By this point I was burning up in my long sleeve jersey, completely unzipped and constantly pouring water down my back in attempt to not over heat.

I wasn't sure how far into the race we were because at Sea Otter 2010 I lost my garmin and still haven't replaced it. I also forgot to bring a stop watch on the trip so I had no idea what my time was looking like. I knew where I wanted to be and when I wanted to be there. I yelled to a volunteer asking for the time and he replied 8:45, exactly one hour into the race. I was shooting for a total time of one hour and thirty minutes. I knew we were getting close to the white road. The white road is the last gravel climb before the finish. Last year it was a 4.5 mile gravel climb, this year they replaced about two miles of that with a single track climb. So it was 2 mile single track climb to a 2.5 mile gravel climb to the finish. This is probably the most critical part of the race, it is where you win a race or where you lose a race.

My group of 4 riders was still sticking together, we wound our way up the single track climb and I was feeling okay. About a mile into the climb the rider in front of me bobbled on a switch back and without hesitation I made my move and passed him. I wanted to try and put some distance between me and the small group cause I knew once we hit the gravel it would be a battle. I was sitting in second place when I hit the gravel climb. I had a small gap on the group behind me but the caught me pretty fast. I was feeling pretty confident at this point that I had a chance at a podium spot. All I had to do was hang onto the group up the climb then there was a small single track decent to the finish line, I decided that's where I wanted to make my move. The climb got tough and I was running out of gears so I flicked my left thumb do down shift my front der. in anticipation of having use all the gears I had left. There was no reason to down shift at that moment but I was just trying to set my self up for the rest of the climb. I hit the trigger and it happened......chain drop.

My heart dropped as I watched 2nd place, 3rd place, and 4th place ride away from me. Frantically I jump off the bike to put the chain back on. I completely lost all focus and composure. Back on the saddle I was scrambling to just maintain my position. I was sitting in 5th place looking over my shoulder and seeing 6th and 7th rolling towards me. I was in complete panic mode just trying to hold on but it didn't last 6th passed me and then 7th passed me. End of the race. I was extremely disappointed.

It's hard to want something so bad and loss it to something that is just out of your control. I ended up finishing 7th with a time of 1:39. The exact time I got last year, weird. The course was around 10 minutes slower then last years course because of the single track climb at the end. So in my mind I crushed my time from last year.

As I thought the group that I was with going into the gravel climb battled to the finish. All 3 of them finishing within 20 seconds:

First place had a fat gap finishing in 1:34

2nd 1:37.31

3rd 1:37.35

4th 1:37.54

What an awesome race!

People always say cycling is a mental sport, I always shrugged that theory off. How could a sport with such a high level of fitness be a mental sport? Well, this race showed me that mental strength is as equally important if not more important then physical strength. I believe I was physically strong enough to podium this race, but mentally......no where close. A chain drop is what, a 5-10 second set back? It is a bike race, things like that happen. If I could have kept my composure I like to think I easily could have caught back up or held onto 5th and not gotten passed by 6th and 7th place. But I didn't, I blew the last mile of the race. If it were a 19 mile race I would have done better, but it wasn't it was a 20 mile race. You gotta be able to put together a solid 20 miles to win and I just couldn't do that.

I think this race was good for me though. I learned A LOT from what happened and I feel like I am a better racer because of it.

All in all it was an awesome race. By far the most intense race I have ever raced. I came away with a top 10 and beat my time. Both of my goals were accomplished, how could I be mad about that. Thanks a lot to Airborne Bicycles for having me out to Sea Otter for another fantastic year, the flight crew, and the Airborne staff for all their support!

Thanks to Wendy Davis for the photos, she went onto completely K-I-L-L-E-D it in her XC race later on that day.

Other flight crew racers:

Marty pulled off double top 10's in XC and DH. Nice!

Neal Bryant crushed it in his first DH race finishing 20th out of 31 riders.

McCall Schilling represented the flight crew in the women's DH race finishing 8th. SICK!

Dan Lucas also had some miss-fortune in his DH race, flatting half way down and still pulling off 5th place. Damn!

Jerry Hazzard destroyed the mens cat 2 DH field with a 12th place finish out of 40 riders

Brent Davidson rocked the third place platform for the cat 2 Dual Slalom podium. SICK WHAT!?

Adventures!

2011-04-10T13:46:00.001-07:00

Last week was Mizzou Cycling's annual spring break trip out west. This was the first year I got to par-take in this event, and it was a blast. 13 of us rushed out of Columbia, Missouri Friday afternoon as soon as class got out for six days of mountain bike heaven. The plan was, 3 days in Moab,UT and 3 days in Fruita, CO. After what seemed to be a never ending car ride, we finally arrived in the most famous, MOAB.

After setting up camp, we hit the legendary "slick rock trail"

Riding slick rock trail was like nothing I had ever done before. Your tires miraculously grip to the red rock like glue, very hard to get used to at first.

Day 2: LPS, some TAKA time

LPS trail is about 20 miles of predominant downhill riding.

A downhill bike was a bit over kill for this trail but it gave me some much needed time on the Airborne TAKA.

Day 3: Amasa Back

Of all the trails in Moab, this one was probably my favorite. It is pretty much an out and back ride that goes up some steep technical climbs that you later get to go back down.

After 3 days in Moab we all agreed that was more then enough. Moab is a cool place to ride but after a couple trails they all start feeling the same, a bunch of slow technical climbs with long not so technical descents. Still plenty of good time. Off to Fruita.

Fruita was probably the best/coolest places I have ever had the chance to ride.

Day 4: North Fruita Desert

We set up camp in the North Fruita Desert, home to many famous trails including; kessel's run, zippty-doo-daa, chutes and ladders.......etc. Pretty much all the trails start at the top, you ride down and then ride a gravel road back up and do it again.

Day 5: Kokopelli Loops

On behalf of the Trail Pimp himself, John Donjoian we loaded up the bikes and drove across town to some of Fruita's best riding. Mary's Loop, Horsethief, Steve's Loop were some of my favorites.

Day 6:

Our last day in Fruita was pretty much spent riding the North Fruita Desert again and packing up camp. Everyone was pretty wiped out from the past week of riding so we had a shuttle truck running all day to drive riders up the gravel road instead of pedaling up to the top.

Check out my video I made from the week of riding here.

The trip was an awesome time and I am more then happy I decided to go. We got in about as much riding and good times that you can get into a week. Next on the agenda, Sea Otter!

All photo Credit goes to my great photographer, Nick Parker. Thanks!

For your viewing pleasure

2011-04-05T19:22:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago some friends and I got out to the local downhill course for some much needed dirt time. It's been a wet winter here in Missouri, so it was awesome to get out and ride nobby tires. Check out the action here video.

It's been too long

2011-03-22T10:38:00.000-07:00

It has been awhile since I have posted a serious blog and I think it is long overdue. It is always hard to keep a mountain bike blog going through the winter months when you live in Missouri and there is no mountain biking going on. I haven't hit single track since the Berryman Epic 60 mile mountain bike race, almost 4 months ago. But don't think I haven't been pedaling. This winter I have spent a ton of time on my cx/road bike. It is really easy to get out and ride for 3 hours on the road now when you have several awesome team mates to ride with, makes it much more enjoyable.

If you haven't heard yet, I was chosen to be on the 2011 Airborne flight crew once again. It has been such an awesome experience so far and I cannot wait for the 2011 season to begin. As a member of the Flight Crew I will be heading out to Sea Otter, again and I am even more excited then last year. I will be racing the XC race this year (again), but I am not really sure what to expect. I am racing the collegiate category which is new for me. I think it will be a good spot for me, a nice transition between CAT 1 and CAT 2. My legs feel good, I have a ton of base miles in them but hardly any intensity which makes me worried. I feel stronger then last year but Sea Otter will be my first test of fitness for the season. Early season races are usually pretty relaxed because here in the midwest you have the comfort of knowing that everyone else's riding throughout the winter has been restricted through the winter just like yours. However, that is not the case racing in California. Their season doesn't stop when it hits the winter months. That is not an excuse for me though, just means I need to work harder.

My plan was to race the Mesa Cycles Lost Valley Luau this weekend for a good gauge of my fitness before Sea Otter. But as you all know thing change, plans change, and things come up instead I will be spending a week here riding my bike. Not a bad trade off if I do say so myself.

The 2010/2011 winter has brought one good thing: my new pimped out Airborne Goblin 29er.

CARBON!

Gold Hubz

This bike is sicker than the swine flu, and I absolutely cannot wait to break her in out in Moab.

Big thanks to Airborne and Hayes bicycle Group for helping me complete this build.

In search of the 2011 Airborne Flight Crew

2011-02-25T19:32:00.000-08:00

Ever wondered what it would be like to be a fellow member of the Airborne Flight Crew with me? Get free bikes, schwag, and a trip to sea otter classic!?!?!?!?! Well Airborne is looking to fill 5 spots on the 2011 Flight Crew, for more information on how to apply click here http://www.facebook.com/Airborne.bikes

2011 Airborne's

2011-01-27T10:56:00.000-08:00

The guys over at Airborne have been working really hard on putting out a new line of SICK bikes for 2011 and I think it's safe to say that they have nailed it. As a member of the flight crew it has been awesome to sit along on this experience for the ride, help out, and put in my input whenever I can.

First up in the new bikes is my personal favorite, the Airborne Goblin 29er. Many of you have probably seen me riding an Airborne 29er prototype since October, same bike with a new makeover:

I have really enjoyed riding this bike over the past couple months and it is a super fun bike. Several hundred miles have been logged on this bike and it's all smiles every time I clip in. Be sure to check back for my personal full review on the bike in the upcoming days.

Airborne Delta CX:
This bike is bound to turn heads whether it is on the cx course, gravel roads, on the road with a pair of slicks. This bike can do it all. With the UCI now allowing disk brakes in cx racing, it is guaranteed that you will see many more disc cx bikes. Once again Airborne did a stellar job on creating an affordable cx bike that can fit all your needs. My personal favorite part about this bike is the custom carbon fork with disc brakes. CRAZY! I can't imagine what it would be like to race cx and actually have adequate stopping power.

Airborne wingman dj:
let me start off by saying this bike is a complete blast! I recently took a trip up to ray's mtb park, Milwaukee with my collegiate cycling team and got to spend a lot of time on this bike while there. Being a xc racer turned dirt jumper I have only been doing this whole thing for a couple months but have come a long way. The wingman is your basic 26' hardtail dirtjumper. The wingman is perfect bike for a beginner like me all the way up to experts. Pictures just do not do this bike justice, it isn't until you see this bike up close that you see the custom tube shaping that makes this bike so original. After spending 3 full days on this bike it was truly hard to leave it, just too much fun. Even ended up nailing a back flip in the foam pit before leaving.

for more info on the bikes or more pictures, check out the Airborne facebook page http://www.facebook.com/Airborne.bikes

IM BACK

2010-10-13T18:58:00.000-07:00

Its been a long time.....a real long time.

Colligate Season: The season went really bad for me, had no good luck and nothing went my way. I feel like I under preformed the whole entire season half way through the season I got a virus that kept me off the bike for 2 weeks which really sucks considering colligate season is one month long. No nationals this year but maybe next year. One awesome thing about the season was that I got into dual slalom and downhill. Airborne hooked me up with a DH bike which was awesome

Airborne: Lots of things going on at Airborne and it is super exciting to be a part of all of it. I recently got an Airborne 29er prototype which is SICK! More to come on the 29er and other additions to the line coming soon (hopfully)

For now thats all i got next up BT epic? well see how that goes ive been off the bike for a month so Im hoping I can get in some last minute training

So long!

Greensfelder

2010-05-10T18:53:00.000-07:00

I was super pumped for this race since it was being put on by GORC I knew the course would be prime and tons of fun. My legs have been feeling strong since I got back from the Otter but didnt know how I would stack up with the local boys since this was my first local mtb race of the season.

I did not have a chance to pre ride the course but got some key info from some of the course designers. The race started with a gravel climb then a crazy sketchy downhill. I grabbed third wheel going into the downhill right behind a team mate who pre rode several times, so I knew he would lead me down the hill on the fastest lines. After the decent it was all single track for 6 miles. The group stuck together halfway through the first lap which was pretty surprising. We hit the first major climb which was fairly technical I moved up to first while a few others behind me bobbled and got caught up. I managed to open up a small gap but wasnt sure how long it would last. It stayed this was until the second hill where I looked back at the top of the climb and no body was there.

I rolled through the start/finish still in first and headed out for my last lap. I knew I had quite a gap on the field so all I focused on was keeping the pedals moving and riding smart. I finished the race and managed to open a larger gap. Total time was 1 hour 38 min, 3 or so minutes ahead of second place. I was happy with my results it was the first real win that I felt I really earned in a long time. Big thanks to Andy Prunty for leading me out first lap. Next week Rhett's run....maybe, if I can get some gas money together. Things are starting to look like its gonna be a good season.

Post Otter

2010-04-28T08:29:00.000-07:00

Its been two weeks since sea otter. I havnt got much riding in since sea otter I took a couple days off last week because my legs were fried from the beating they recieved. I raced the tour of stl crondolet crit last saturday it was the only race i was able to do because of it being prom weekend. I got third place because my sprint is god awful and needs a lot of work. I dont know how much more road racing I will do this year as mtb racing will be picking up next weekend. THere will be no racing for me this weekend Im spending the weekend getting some miles in before May 8 greensfelder mtb race. I got a new fork, magura durin race. I raced with this fork out at sea otter and loved it. I dont have much time on magura forks but I was very impressed so I decided to give it a try. Its quite light with a lockout. I am unsure about tire choice for greensfelder. Last year I switched my tires out maybe two or three times but this year I have a couple of fresh new sets that I am planning on switching up combinations.

This season will be a very long season so I am not that excited to get out and race every single race in the saint louis area and be toast by august. I will be racing colligate mountain bike and cx this fall/winter so I may hold off on diving full on into racing for the next month or so. I have invested a lot of time on the bike this past winter and spring and will continue to carry that on but need to keep next fall in mind.

2010 Sea Otter CAT 2 XC

2010-04-18T18:58:00.000-07:00

I went into this race calm, open minded, and just ready to have fun, more so then any other race I've done. Reed Pike and Jeremy Mudd from Airborne really took care of me and made sure I was at the early 730 start time an hour before to get warmed up. I lined up to a field of 40 or so racers front row. The race started and it started FAST caught me off guard but since we started on the raceway before hitting single track i had time to get back into it. Halfway through the race way section some kids got tangled up some how and ended up crashing and taking down several other guys, apparently riding on pavement is pretty technical to those kids. I managed to dodge the crash but it really broke up the field and by the time we hit single track there was already a gap.

I knew I would have to play catch up for the next couple miles. The course was a mixture of single track and wide open dirt roads. The single track was much different then here in st.Louis, its wide open and not technical at all.

I began to settle in on the first big climb and start picking them off one by one. Feeling more comfortable with my position after every hill. About halfway through the race I was running towards the front with some of the "big dogs" I was not impressed with their single tack skills but very impressed with their climbing. Climbing has always been one of my strong points and each hill these kids just opened up a bigger gap. I started to back off on the climbs and save for the 4 mile climb to the finish. With my new tactic I got passed by a couple kids but was certain I could catch them where it counts on the last climb.

We came out on the road a looked up at our last long climb ahead of us. After the climb was a little downhill then a bunch cyclocross type weaving around on rutted up hills so I knew if I were gonna make passes it would have to be on the hill. I caught a couple kids and maxing out my heart rate i tried to just keep the pedals moving. I got to the top of the hill and realized my plan had failed I don't know what I was thinking to try and catch these kids on the climb.

Riding down the hill towards the venue and finished I tried to just soak it up. I had a gap on the people behind me and to big of one in front of me to catch anyone so I just enjoyed the ride.

All in all it was by far the most fun race I have done so far. It was really awesome racing on a course that the top pro's raced on a day later. I ended up 21 out of 40 or so riders. I feel like I could have certainly done better if I were properly trained like the nor cal boys I was racing who were peaking in their season for state championship coming up. Huge props go to Airoborne Bicycles, Magura for the fork, Funn for the bars and grips, Kenda for the tires, Reed Pike, Jeremy Mudd, and the rest of the flight crew for cheering me on. I would highly recommend this event to anyone who has ever considered it is every type of racing and riding jammed in one event with tons and tons of booths to check out. Now only if I can find a way there next year........

footage from the race from my GoPro Helmet Cam:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BR3Jw9f-9HU

Sea Otter Recap

2010-04-17T18:57:00.000-07:00

Before I left for sea otter I told many people including myself I would post something every night......fail.

Day 2

Day two was mostly spent pre riding the cross country course. I confirmed my suspicions, this was not a course well suited for me. Out in cali its all wide open and when you do get some single track the "technical parts" consist of rutted skidded out downhills. This just gave me more of a reason to just have a great time racing.

Day 3

I spent day three resting from the previous days pre ride. Reed Pike from Airborne scored some sweet parts to lighten up the bike a bit. Big thanks to Magura for the fork, Funn for the bars and grips, and Kenda for a set of small block eights. I took some short little rides nothing big just to keep the legs loose. I got to watch some downhill and dual slalom which was pretty amusing. There is so much going on every single day at sea otter its really tough to see everything. I managed to meet a couple people walking around including these people.....

Sea Otter Day 1

2010-04-14T21:00:00.001-07:00

Today was the first day the flight crew got to meet each other. We spent the afternoon at the location of the event helping set up and walking around checking out the other tents. It really didn't hit me how big this event was until I saw all the vendors even though there were no people there you could just imagine the crowd that will be gathering the following days. We were then treated to dinner and learned more about the company's story. Following dinner we took a drive along the coast and got our feet a little wet. When returning to the hotel we were presented with some awesome gear.

Tomorrow the event begins, some of the day will be spent working in the booth but the rest of the day is free to roam, ride, or do whatever. Walking around today we spotted several pro's just hanging out with their companies which was pretty awesome. I also hope to pre ride the course for Saturdays race tomorrow.

Big News

2010-04-08T18:07:00.000-07:00

Ive been itching to tell all the news but have tried to keep it on the down low until everything was worked out. I was chosen as one of ten riders to represent Airborne Bicycles. Airborne Bicycles is back in business and launching six new bikes this spring, they kick it off at the Sea Otter Classic. What this deal includes is a complete Airborne bicycle of my choice, a helmet cam to record my test rides, gear, and an all expense paid trip to Sea Otter.....pretty unreal. While at sea otter I will be spending time in the booth talking to other riders about Airborne's new products and racing CAT 2 cross country mountain bike race on saturday April 17. I leave next tuesday April 14 for Monterey and return to St.Louis sunday April 18.

The Sea Otter Classic is one of the largest cycling events in the nation. It includes everything from road crits to mtb downhill, with races from beginner to professional. Sea Otter also has a large expo where many top company's bring out their newest gear for the year to be tested.

When I first received the news and began thinking about what bike I would choose I immediately thought hardtail. After review bike specs and thinking about it I decided to go with a full suspension. I thought it would be nice to add a different weapon to my arsenal. The bike I chose is the Zeppelin Elite. I am a little apprehensive about racing a full suspension out at sea otter because I have never competed on one. I have ridden them but always felt more comfortable on a hard tail. I am very excited about getting on the new bike and fine tuning it before Saturdays race.

Going into this season I decided to race CAT 2 cross country in hopes to race better faster riders then me so that I can progress as much as I did last year. Signing up for the Sea Otter I was very tempted to downgrade and race CAT 3 because I know I will be racing some of the best racers in the country most coming down in altitude while I will be going up. It didn't take long before I decide not to downgrade and race CAT 2, I'm not looking for a podium spot while out there I want to learn as much as I can, meet new people, and have a great time. Hardly ever do I go into a race with this mind set but my training this winter was to peak in aug.-sept. not April. But I have managed to get a couple weeks of training in and feel confident I will be able to race a strong race.

In other news GORC's greensfelder race is coming up in May and I highly encourage all types of riders to come out and try racing or just come out to spectate and have a good time more info can be found at greensfelder.blogspot.com

I will be racing tiles park crit this weekend not sure how it will go but I will be there and be looking for daily updates while I'm out at Sea Otter!

Winter

2010-02-09T13:12:00.001-08:00

This winter has been pretty uneventful which is why there was no need to update my blog for the very few people that actually read it. Anyways a few things have happened this winter.

Training, this winter I have been more dedicated than any other winter to training. Although much of my riding has been done on either rollers or the trainer I have spent a lot of time doing some cross training. I went into the winter hoping to go into the first race with many base miles in the books........not gonna happen. I have only got in a handful of long base mile rides due to school, work, and weather. This does worry me considering I have cating up and plan on bouncing around between sport and a couple marathon races. I have chose to do some marathon this year because I am really trying to focus on improving my endurance this season. I know going into it that I will be less then a threat to the other marathon racers but each race will be training for bigger 6 hour solo races I hope to race this year.

I have added another bike to my collection, a specialized allez compact. I was planning on upgrading my mountain bike this winter but after some consideration I decided to invest in a road bike. This will mainly be used for training but I hope to get in a few road races this spring before the mtb season really picks up.

This winter I have also spent time filling out college applications and narrowing down my choices.

As of now I have decided to go with Mizzou. I feel that the college has a lot to offer and I really liked the campus. It also has a cycling team which made my decision easier. I have always liked Columbia and I hear it is a perfect city for a cyclist.

CXMAS

2009-12-22T12:47:00.000-08:00

....ridiculous, riding on ice with 130 plus people, falling on my ass on the slick ice. Awesome event. (The end)

State CX

2009-12-08T09:59:00.000-08:00

Sunday was the final chapter in my first cx season. Like every race this year I went into it not knowing what to expect. The weeks before I debated whether to race juniors or cat 4 I knew if I raced juniors I had a shot and that if I raced 4's I'd be mid pack....maybe. After seeing a few familiar faces pop up on the roster in junior I decided to do that race. I think 6 juniors were signed up, but I was a little disappointed to find out not all six showed up. I lined up next to a 16 year old from KC, we chatted for a little bit while we waited to start. Since I had never raced with him I wanted to be the one to set the pace and crush his hopes, the whistle blew and I was off with him on my wheel. I was unhappy that they staged the women in front of us considering they went off 30 seconds ahead we still managed to catch half the field by the end of the pavement, when I got to the first hill that had the little barriers there were people all over most at a dead stop and some even on the ground this really slowed our race down but after the hill we were past and everything was good. Two laps in I was still leading with the KC guy on my wheel, I decided to switch up my tactics a little bit and let him pull me around the course this lasted about half a lap when I realized he was not fast enough and I attempted to pull in front and drop him but nope he stayed right where he wanted on the back of my wheel. I continued to pull him around for the rest of the uneventful race. The only real place I found to attack on this course was on the pavement. Anyways, final lap bell rings and I still had not dropped him. Final lap I just put my head down tried to zone him out and ride the best race I could. I knew it would be a close race and it wasn't until the last turn going onto the pavement that he attacked with a sprint finished I managed to stay a wheel length ahead and get the win.

This was my first win all season and it was a blast racing with someone my age and similar skill level. It was only junior class nothing to brag about but it still felt awesome and it was the perfect way to end my season, not just cx but the whole crazy year of mtb and cx. Throughout this last year I have learned so much and cannot wait to put this knowledge into use next year. Not a bad year of racing, 3rd place mtb state, 1st place overall Midwest fat tire category winner, and 1st place state cx finish. Next year I will be CATing up in both mtb and cx and hope to get a road bike before spring and do a little road racing. Racing for mesa this year has been such a pleasure and couldn't imagine not having them behind me. I went into the cx season knowing a few people and came out with a ton of friends and that in itself is awesome. Big thanks to everyone who has helped me in this past year and cheered me on!

Photos from TTM...thanks Jim and Wendy!

Bubba #9

2009-11-30T16:17:00.000-08:00

This week I did something no bike racer likes to do......a class down grade. I decided to do this after some advice from others and wanting to be racing in front instead of back. Well I went into it a little over confident I feel much stronger after racing in the B's and more experience but my fitness was nowhere near where it should have been for the second week I barley got any riding in, this is becoming a bad habit at the wrong time if I want to finish the cross season on a positive note.

Lined up at the line I was feeling good, a little tight but ready to race. I noticed a few other B racers droped down maybe for prep for next weekend idk but I knew this race wouldnt be as easy as I thought. First lap I went out fast in a group but was feeling it after the second lap it took a lap to fully recover. My legs felt awsome but I just didn't have the lungs to go with the legs, I guess this is from my lack of riding. The cheer section on the back hill was awesome and pumped me up every lap. Hopefully a week of training will lead to better success next week.......we'll see.

Bubba #8

2009-11-24T21:17:00.001-08:00

The week before the race went by quite fast before I knew it, it was saturday and I did not manage to ride once since the week before. Got to the race on sunday and knew I was in for a hurtin, it was going to hilly and painful. Decided to once again get my beating in B instead of racing out front in the C's (why I do this I dont know) Went out for some pre ride laps and it seemed to me the course was a level playing field for mountain bikers and road racers it had some surprising technical parts and long soft hills that seemed to get bigger and bigger after every lap. Race started fast and once again I found myself in the back praying to atleast finish without a mechanical. First couple laps went by slow before I began picking people off. I gained gaps on almost every hill except the monster where I had to dismount and walk up along with all the other riders but my calfs were so tight every step got slower and I would lose time on people ahead of me. There was not one easy part on this course, ended up finishing 35 out 45 alright I guess.........kinda sucks but see you next week.

St. Vincent CX

2009-11-17T09:50:00.001-08:00

So coming into this race it was like starting the season over, I decided to move up to the B race to get more experience and learn more figuring I could follow some different lines at a much faster pace.....didnt turn out so well. I made my way to the back for the start so I could figure out where I could hang without getting run over by the fast guys. Well, race started and I was almost in dead last, it was only half way through the first lap and I was struggling to not be dropped by the whole field. I managed to make up some time on the staircase as some of the other riders dismounted and ran instead of riding the side. By the end of the first lap I was beginning to pick people off, I was still in the back but probably 9 or so riders up. Fourth lap comes around and I'm going through a wooded rutted out muddy section the guy behind tried to pass so we were two wide, slid off the course and slammed my back wheel into a tree tried to make a quick fix but the wheel are derailleur were so bent the wheel would barley move. So i threw the bike on my shoulder and finished the lap walking to DNF myself. It appears my lack of mechanical in the mountain bike season is beginning to catch up with me, or maybe it's that my bike is a piece of sh**. Put the bike in the stand when I got home but with my lack of mechanical expertise I quickly decided I didn't know what I was doing and to take it to Mesa so that it will be ready by Sunday. Turns out it was just a bent derailleur hanger and bent wheel so with a new hanger and trued wheel I should be good to go for Mt. Pleasant.........See you there!

BUBBA XI

2009-11-09T17:20:00.000-08:00

Coming into the race I was feeling good, my mind was in the right spot and my legs where feeling awsome. After my hour long drive to get to the race I got out of my car and almost imidiatly broke a sweat, it was some crazy temperatures for a mid november day. Conditions were perfect for me, long course not muddy and border line hot. Since I'm still a newb to this sport and weak I signed up for C once again. Made sure to get to the line first for staging so I would get stuck in the back like always, some how I still managed to get half way back.....oh well. Race started and I managed to get up closer to the front before the first turn. Things were finally starting to fall in place. Found a wheel to sit on but I could not manage to stay there for long. It seemed like it was attack, attack, attack maybe it was cause of my inexperience but I could not stay in one spot. With around 2 laps left I found my self hunting down the third place rider. Got within 10 feet from him on a small uphill when I droped my chain, dont know how this happen and had to stop to fix it lost about 3 places for this small little fix. 2 laps left now it seemed like I was running out of time I felt like I could be running with the top 2 guys but didnt have enough time to get there. Last lap I was in a chase group with 3rd place rider me (4th place) and 5th place rider, couldnt chase down leaders but made up a lot of ground. Last turn neck and neck for a battle with 3rd place I went inside he went outside came out of the turn spinning much too high of a gear and he beat me. Oh well ill take a fourth place finish on my fourth race any day.

Overall it was a good day and good finish. Although I was frustrated with my little mechanical not bad for going the whole mountain bike season and cyclocross with just one small one. Next week giving B a shot........seeyou there!

Cyclocross begins

2009-11-03T17:31:00.000-08:00

Mountain bike race season is officially over for me so now it is time for some cx. I went into this weekend with only one other cyclocross race under my belt so I was pretty confident racing in the C race. Well turns out I was wrong.

Saturday night I came with a fresh set of legs, since I had the Bt Epic last weekend I made sure to take some rest days so my legs wouldn't be fried. Got to the race and relized it was cold and muddy to say the least, which I was fine with considering I spent 7 hours in it last weekend this was nothing. I managed to get in a couple of warm up laps in before the race began. Lined up and ready to go, I was staged about half way back in the group with at the time I was fine with because I had not yet raced any cx on the stl scene, I was wrong. Race started and being inexperienced I started it same as a mtb race at a pace, bad idea. It wasn't until about 2 laps in that I stepped up the pace. From then on it was a matter of picking off the next rider in front of me. I had clue where I had finished hoped for a top 10. Found out sunday I was 4th, not bad.

Sunday, planned on not racing until about 10 am was trying to hold off and wait til next week to pay another race fee (this stuff is expensive!) but just couldn't resist it. Got to the race to pre ride and conditions were almost perfect, the course was mostly dry and tacky except a few muddy spots. I was excited to race but my legs were not. The race started and again I blew it on the start and had to start picking off riders. I was feeling it big time once towards the front of the field I tried to ride on wheels but just couldnt keep it up, 2 laps left and I bonked. I signed up for the C race but got scored under juniors which I was not thrilled about. But after a little guessing I'd say I finished around 12 or 13 in class C.

I have a lot of work ahead of me if I want to get competitive at this. Have the technique down but really need to work on mashing for 40 minutes straight no brakes and mainly my start. Hopefully next weekend will be better.......

Bt Epic

2009-10-29T16:02:00.000-07:00

I came into this event not knowing what to expect at all. Since this was my first big solo endurance race I did not know what to expect so the night before all I did was get as much advice as possible. Woke up sunday morning early to get everything packed and ready, I was feeling good because there was no pressure to finish good in this race like there were in every other race this year. I started off the day with one goal and that was just to finish this would be my longest race ever on the bike so finishing was all I was concerned about. Before I knew it, it was time for the race to start. I started off slow which turns out was a good thing because there was some big congestion on the trailer/bridge going over the deep creek. Once over that I just got into a zone and pedaled trying to find a pace I could keep for the rest of the day. Once I hit the single track I was feeling awsome, by the first checkpoint at berryman trail I was feeling so good. I rolled in and up to some friends from GORC who had extra water bottles and food waiting for me. Didn't stay long stopped to get a gel and put on my ipod to give me something to keep me occupied cause I knew it was about to get tough, took off to start the berryman loop about 2 miles in it was almost like I hit a wall I was confused on what caused this since I had been drinking and eating plenty anyways it took awhile to get out of it. I came up to a jeep road crossing where I saw a couple momentum guys on their way down back to berryman campground after a motivational highfive from brian busken I was determined to get up to the top of the trail as soon as possible. I had no idea where I was at in the field but expected that I was a little farther back then half the field, which I thought I would be. Once on the jeep road back to the camp ground I made sure to get some food in me and try and regroup. I rolled into berryman and before I could stop I had my water bottle's in my hand and the one and only Jim Davis and Scott Whitaker cleaning my chain and trying to work out a little shifting issue. After a little pep talk from kirby about the upcoming section of technical single track I was off.

I was improving I had a good pace while keeping my heart rate down. This was a cructial part in my ride in was the last section and it was tough. It was all I could do to get to the top of the hills and try and keep up with my bike on the downhills. When I thought it couldnt get any worse.......it started raining and raining hard. I tried to stay calm and keep pushing on cause I knew this could be a breaking point. Crossed another jeep road where I saw Jim Davis in his truck he threw me a totse roll and told me just what I wanted to here "Hard parts over from here on a little up hill, a lot of downhill." Those words sounded amazing, I hit it I was determined to finish. I was so happy when I came out on the road where I started the ride back to Bass River. I was taking it one pedal stroke at a time, I came up to the deep creek crossing that I was at about 7 hours before except there was no bridge, I started pedaling as fast as I could right through the deep cold water, it was awsome. Well my first edurance race was over, I came in at 7 hours 40 minutes, 90th place. I was a little disapointed but after considering the fact that my only goal was to finish I did a good job. Can't wait til next year so that I can crush my time. I realized in the next couple following days that this is what I want to do, I want to focus on edurance racing......there's a lot of work and training to be done this winter to say the least. Cant wait!

Hello!

2009-10-29T15:41:00.000-07:00

Many of you probably don't know me, I race mountain bikes and cyclocross. The 2009 mtb season was my first full season of racing. I raced in the junior category, got first place overall in points, so next season I will be moving up to sport category which im super excited about. Just trying to meet more local racers and get my name out there, I will try and post on here weekly about whats goin on. Feel free to follow me and read!