Race Recap from early 2011 MTB Season

AZ State Series #1, 24 Hours in The Old Pueblo, and AZ State Series#2 This years Equipment So far this year I have been rinding my new White with black jaw and STPL OAKLEY JAWBONES. My lenses that are pretty much going to be my got to lenses this season are the Jade Iridium Vent. I am riding a Trek 9.9 Elite hard tail with full shimano components.      Old Pueblo Its Febuary 2011 and its time to start my world Champ Qualifying season. Our first state series race was on my home course. I was super ready for this race, I had been training harder than ever and was as fast as I was at my peak last year. My new team AZ Devo was overpowering in the race. There was about 5 of us in the catagory and we were all resy to show what we have been doing in the off season. This season I was racing on our team sponsored bike, Trek. I am riding the 9.9ssl elite which is easly the greatest bike I have ever riden. As soon as the gun when off I was able to clip in right away and be second into the single track. In the first five minutes it was a group of me and three other of my teamates. I jumped infront on the major downhill because I knew if there was one place I had a disadvantage was on this downhill. The other guys either hasd a 29er or a full suspention. As we came through the first lap I attacked again to be up front for the beginig of the major tech climb. I put out a hard pace to see if I could crack anyone and was able to shorten the group into three guys. The lap when on the same as before and going on our final lap we stayed together on the climb only to have my teamate attack a minute later. I cover his attck but lost out teamate resulting in the race coming down to the two of us. He was keeping the pace hard and I was able to keep it in a ten second gap. I was feeling great all the way to the lond decent. My teamate Ryan is a super downhiller and I couldnt match his skills. I finish not far behind him, but put a 6 minute gap on to third place. I was stoked on the result and ready for Pro Short Track the next day.     After 20 hours of recovery, I was ready to race short track. The catagory was open men and it had some super strong guys. The course was super short and had a steep hill about half way through which I new would decide the race. As soon as the race started I got up front to avoid getting cought up behide other riders. It worked, I came through the first lap in first with a big gap on the main feild and had three guys not far behide. With how windy it was I let them catch up to save energy and from then on I satyed in and recoverd. On the last lap I sprinted and got up front before the hill. As soon as I got on top of the hill I went all out and never looked back. I finished first with a 20 sec gap. The plan worked amazing. this gave me great confidence for the season. 24hrs in The Old Pueblo     I am always excited for when Old Pueblo comes around. I was part of winning 5 man coed team last year and was ready for another win. My team this year was stacked. I was the lucky enough to be picked to do the running start. The first lap had all the fast guys such as Bradiy Kappius and Ben Sonntag. Once the race started I ran as fast as I could to avoid getting stepped on. Some how I was in the top ten getting onto the bikes and was in the lead group. Since it was so windy were ended up pace lining the whole time. About half way through I fell off to about 10sec behide due to a crazy attack by one of the pros. At this time sontag cought me and we were ablt to work back up to the front. Problem was once we got back up to the leaders, he didnt stop going hard and Kappius and I fell off. From here we worked together all the way to the last major climb at the finish. On the climb I kept the speed high and was able to fly up no problem. I cam into the first lap in 5th or 6th and my teamate went out for the second lap. My lap came in at 1:01 which was the 7th fastest lap of the whole weekend. From here my next three laps went as followed; 1:12(Got the crazy wind/rain/ice lap), 1:06, and finally 1:06. Our team won the race with over an hour over second place. I couldn't beleive that it was over and couldn't wait to sleep for 12hrs. White Tanks State Series #2    The last State race I ended up second and was happy yet ready for the win. As soon as this race started I was up front ready to cover any attack. On the first decent, I jumped up front to set the pace. There was three of us that already had a small gap. Things wer going great all the way to my rear tire going flat. I jumped off the bike to through some air in it and realized I a huge tear in the tire. I had to spend the next four minutes putting the tire in and then got on the bike and hammered the rest of the lap. I sprinted like no other hoping to catch the main group. I hit same area that I flatted the previous lap and took a differnet line to avoid the another flat, but by some greater force I flatted at the exact same spot. Unfortunately my race was over and I was left with three mile run back to the venue. I was bumed out, but I guess its better to flat at a local race than at a nation one. Bonelli Pro XCT here I come.