Swiss Trophy Bike Race Bern, Switzerland

            

This past weekend I raced the Swiss Trophy Bike race which was not only one of the sweeter courses I have done in a while, but one of the muddiest races I could remember (of course that is coming form a kid who has done a good chunk of his racing in Arizona). The Wednesday prior to the race we made the 2+ hour drive to Switzerland to do a little pre-riding. Going over a race course in Europe is a must due to the fact that they always have some sort of crazy sections that you don't want to be surprised with on your first lap.  In the US, 99% of the time you could race without any overlook on the course and come through the first lap doing fine. If you took this same thought over to Europe, well lets just say you wouldn’t be coming through your first lap or any laps for that matter.

Race day called for a 4:30am wake up call at our home base in Germany where we quickly threw a breakfast together and hit the road for the 2hr drive to the Swiss race. After a bathroom break and driving all through Bern, Switzerland trying to find the entry to the course, we rolled up to the venue with about an hour before go time. This was actually fine considering it was pouring rain outside and none of us had trainers to warm up on. My game plan was to hit the road about 30 minutes prior the the start and knock out a few solid efforts followed up by a delicious Vanilla Cliff Shot. This combo had me dialed and just like that I was lined up on the start line next to the son of Thomas Frischknecht and the JR Swiss National champ ready for a hour and a half of racing/ running threw the mud. Start gun blew and off went our field around the start loop which luckily allowed me to move up into the top 8 quickly. The next three laps consisted of a full on sprint up the flats and climbs, and getting off and running a good chunk of the u-turn corners and the steepest of climbs. My shoes would slip on the mud a few time a lap and getting back up off the ground seemed like it took minutes. My legs were so tired for the harsh combination of riding in the mud and running. An hour cyclocross race in these conditions is hard, but when you tag on another 30 minutes on and throw in some crazy descents, you have yourself a Euro mud fest.

With a less than 2 laps to go, I was sitting in 5th place going all out to catch the lead three. As I went for a pass down one of the sketchier descents, I found myself sliding out in the corner causing a tweak in my front chain protector which would lead into not only a constant chain suck up every climb, but a tweaked chain. This package of mechanicals caused my finishing of the race to be impossible. I watched as the field passed me on my way to the pit and just like that my day was done. Man I was bummed I had to end this amazing race like this, but it was sure good to know that I can hang among some of the fastest Jrs in Europe. This helps the confidence for sure leading up the the Canadian and New York World Cups that are to come in the next few weekends. Now, I'm back home in Boulder and have a nice two weeks of training before I hit the road again for 6 weeks of what's sure to be the most fun racing I could ever ask for. I just first need to get over my depression of no longer being able to walk 5 minutes and get the most delicious waffles in the world. Life is so hard in America :)

Grand Prix of Europe

!!! Euro Racing Time!!!

        A few weekends ago I moved up to Boulder, Colorado and within 10hs I was on the couch in the fetal position battling a nasty stomach bug. This would end up resulting in 30+ hours of zero food or water intakes, which took a pretty gnarly toll out of my body. After about 3 days of hell, I was able to start riding again and begin to enjoy all that Boulder had to offer. I wasn’t able to race that weekend due to obvious reasons, but I was looking forward to throwing down a few more sprint workouts before leaving for Belgium Thursday. The flight to Frankfurt was a lot faster than the previous year. It seemed like I watch three movies straight, dinner, sleep, breakfast, and then arrived.  Once we all got together in Germany, we hit the road for our first race, which would be the Grand Prix of Europe in Belgium. Unfortunately it was another 3-hour drive to the race course which was brutal after just getting of the plane. I woke up Saturday morning feeling like a zombie due to the 9-hour time difference and the little 5 hours of sleep I got that night. Luckily we were all greeted to a pretty solid breakfast followed by some super sweet shredding of the course. The Belgium xc course was unlike anything I have ever done before. It seriously went straight up, followed by more straight up, then with a little diversity of somewhat straight up. The craziest part of the course was the little rest it provided. Somehow the descents were even steeper than the climbs so they were over in a matter of seconds and you were still hitting max heart rate due to the constant chances of massive crashing. I was pretty stoked on how I handled the descents and was feeling quite strong given the circumstances.

       On race day we all woke up after at least 8 hours of amazing sleep and were ready to race some Belgians. We rode about 40  minutes to the course from the house were we found that there would be a start loop that consisted of about an 8 minute straight up climb with a quick turn onto the end part of the course taking us down the most sketchy descent of the day. This was all crazy enough when pre-riding, but with 40+ other kids we all knew some serious contact was going to go down. My teammate, Ryan, and I were unfortunately on the last row, which wasn’t too bad considering that the start loop would provide us a great chance to move up. As soon as the start gun went off it was full on. I was able to move from the last 40s to about top 20s by the top of the climb. The next 2 laps were easily the hardest 40 minutes of racing I had done in my life. I was feeling pretty spent after the start loop, plus I still was battling the stomach bug that seemed to not want to go away. Going onto my third an final lap, I was feeling great and moved up to 12 place/ 2^nd American finishing behind Shane Skelton in 11^th.

 I was totally stoked on my mental and physical comeback and even more stoked on how many guys I passed on some of the gnarliest of descents. I am finding that Euro races are all about taking some crazy chances and not letting off the throttle for even a second because you will get passed and you will get dropped… HARD! After the race, my teammates Shane, Lucas and I hit up a recovery ride that was followed up my some recovery pastries. Our search for Belgium waffles was a no go, but later that night we were served some awesome Tiramisu, which went down pretty nicely after a long day of racing and bike commuting.  We got up Monday morning and drove 5 hours to our base home in Germany and got in some solid rides before the next race in Switzerland. There has been many waffle and pastry stops along the rides and a great end to our day involves going to town on the local FroYo shop. Now some good recovery before the Swiss Cup Sunday. Well... not before a recovery waffle shop stop in the AM!

Whiskey 50 Off Road Recap PART 2!!!

After the sufferfest that was the Fat Tire Crit Friday night, I went on a spin Saturday with my awesome coach TJ Woodruff and was joined by the Cliff Bar and Luna Chix Teams. We pre rode the first and last 8 or so miles of the course and was able to give to aid on the monster hour climb out of skull valley that's about half way through the race. After some recover waffles, I headed home and went straight into rest and relaxation. Later that night, I had a awesome dinner with the AZ Devo guys and watched them stuff their faces with whatever food was in arms reach due to the fact that they all race that day and were ready for some refueling. Considering the fact that in 12 hours I would be burning some serious calories, I ate quite a bit myself and was one happy kid.

I woke up the morning of the race feeling pretty great. Legs were not feelin too sluggish and my mind was super relaxed. With our start time around 8:30 am, I hit the bike an hour before to get a good little spin/ warm up in. On the start line I was so stoked out of my mind to be throwing it down with all these fast broskis! The gun went off and after about a minute of a hard pace, the group slowed down a tad with the knowledge of all of us still having a good 20+ minutes of road left before the single track begins. I stayed with the main group all the way leading up to the pavement to dirt transfer and was feeling shreddy! I threw down a hard effort to get up as far as I could before the single track so I wouldn’t get too bunched up and succeed for the most part besides 3 or 4 guys that were a little scary on the descents. I did some serious work to move up before the long descent, and then I went about 48.9% AARON GWIN on the descent.

Once I got to the bottom we then had a 20 minute climb, 25 minute descent, and finally the hour climb to the tippity tip top. From here I just set a solid pace and left it there. From pre riding the race and talking to all the other guys, I found it was best just to keep it steady and prevent my legs from exploding. I did just that beside for being interrupted 3 or 4 time with  broken zip tie that allowed my derailleur cable to snag on my tire. After about 30 minutes of here a “motor”, TJ caught up to me and handed me some electrical tape and just like that, problem solved. I got to the top of the climb and barreled down as hard as I could down some of the sickest in race single track around and just prayed my legs would not run out of batteries. The craziest part of the race was that I was probably around 55th/ 60th at the bottom of the climb and after passing all the guys that went too hard too early I found myself in 39th descending to the finish. I was with three other guys going into the finishing road section which is about 5 miles long. After a solid pace line it was everyman for themselves going into the final turn and lets just say I at least was able to put up a fight, but found myself tanked after throwing down a little power in the pace line and watch top 40 ride away. I ended up 42 or 43rd and was happy with a mid pack finish for sure. If I could do anything different next year it would be to give a little more at the start to get further up before the single track, and also to up my pace a little bit ascending the hour hell climb. All and all I was cazy stoked and couldn’t wait to take a shower. I already can’t wait till next year. Bring it Kabush, 2013!

Whiskey Off Road Rewind PART 1

Whiskey Off Road Rewind 

PART 1 

The Whiskey 50 is a must for me every year. After 3 years of racing the 25 mile event, I stepped up to the epic 50 miler, which has everything the 25 does with the addition of a hour climb that makes or breaks every riders race. The last two years, Epic rides (promoters) has turned the Whiskey Off Road into one of the biggest races in the US. With the combination of amazing singletrack and a $30,000 cash purse, they bring the fastest pros in North America to battle it out. After getting back from the Sea Otter Classic earlier in the week, I drove a few hours north to throw it down with what was sure to be the fastest competition yet.





I got out of the pro riders meeting around 1:30pm on Friday and had a little under 5 hours before the race weekend kicked off with Fat Tire crit. We stopped by this little mexican place to get some good eats and then hit up the oh so great Trader Joes to grab the normal cyclist shopping list consisting of Almond Milk, Rice Cakes, Granola, Bananas, Pears, Chocolate Milk, and my favorite find being Gluten Free Waffles!





I rode to the race course from the house making sure my legs were nice and warmed up for what was sure to be the fastest/ hardest 20 minutes of my life. I came up to the start/ finish line after a few pre ride laps on the course only to find half the pro field already lined up. Myself along with guys like Kabush, Woodruff, and Shepherd all were able to squeeze up to the front of the race due to an opening on the right side. Once all of us got situated we looked forward and all we could see is a stack of hay bales covering a few signs in the first corner that wasn’t any farther than 100 feet. I look bad to 3 of the top pros staring back at me hoping to go I had a quick start and was able to avoid the “wall of hay” ahead of us. I looked down at the road pedals I put on my MTB bike and gave them a look that said “my bad”.




The start gun went off and I started somewhat fast for having road pedals and 90 feet later we had 80 pros sliding and leaning on one another in the first corner, just hoping everyone would keep it up right. This lead us into the climb which involved 100+ meters straight up , 10 meters of flat right hand corner, then another 100 meter climb before we turned once more and descended to the finish. My first lap was stellar considering I was top 20 and feeling fast. Then I hit the climb again going at maybe ⅔ the speed due to the solid rock that was in my stomach that I wasn’t sure if it was the Mexican food from earlier or a scene for the movie Alien and the crowd was about to witness a alien ripping out of me. From here I lost a good 4 spots a lap until I was pulled with 3 to go. Not exactly the way I wanted to start the weekend but hey, at least I was able to open my legs up and at least was able to know my legs were ready from the hell of a race that was sure to be upon us on Sunday. Now it's time for recovery and some food!but I think I will stay away from Mexican food.

Another Extra Crispy Sea Otter Classic

Another Extra Crispy Sea Otter Classic

       After the Bonelli Pro XCT I was able to spend a few weekends at home and get some solid training in while the weather was amazing in Arizona. For one of those weekends I was able to shoot down to the Cycling House down in Tucson for a weekend to get not only some of the hardest training in, but the greatest relaxing and recovery. The Cycling House is basically a cyclists dream house. There's amazing trails and roads right out the door that meet all your training needs only to welcome you back with a beautiful poolside lounge and espresso machine. After a “weekend getaway”, I headed home and spent the next few weeks longing some miles and putting down some power. Before I knew it I was awaken one Thursday by my alarm at 3am for my 5am flight to to Sea Otter.

   

     It's always a great time at the Laguna Seca raceway where you get a combo of awesome racing and new product releases. It’s pretty much InterBike in April. I arrived Thursday afternoon and started to dial in my brand new BMC Team Elite 29er.... CARBON! Ever since receiving the aluminum version back in March and getting stoked out of my mind on the way it rode, I couldn't wait to hop on the new Carbon model at Sea Donkey. Once it was all set up I took it out on a lap of the course. Besides for it being under 21lbs, I was blown away by how much snap it had on the climbs and how insanely smooth it was on the descents. I got back from my pre ride and went to town on my new post ride addictions that most people know a the Cliff Bar Protein Bars or as I like to call them... Chocolate Peanut butter covered CRACK! From hear my teammates and I headed on down to our hotel for a much needed shower to wash of the California dust and the airport guck. After a little pre race ritual meal of some awesome Mexican food I hit the sack ready to tackle what was sure to be one of the longest and hottest races of the year. I arrived at the racecourse a few hours before the start and it was already a quite toasty. Lucking I was able to hammer out a shorter warm up and stay a little cooler thanks to the Ice Vest I happily made up the night before. 

                  Little VIDEO of the craziness that was the start! 

    On the start line I couldn’t tell what was more abundant, the heat or the nerves coming off all the riders. We all have had a month home to train and get our heads cleared and now was time to go to work. The gun went off and immediately everyone was strung out like an arrow. I was sitting about fifth or sixth wheel, which was perfect due to the strong head winds that were sure affecting the guys pulling up front. After about a mile and a half of road everyone went into a full on sprint to be the first one into the single track. I luckily was in the top four going into the first climb and stayed with what was easily a way faster lead pace than the year prior. After being up with the lead group the first part of the race, I started to feel the effects of the severe heat. I’m thinking I almost got cocky with the heat coming from Arizona and didn’t prepare myself for the combo of direct sun heat on the fire roads and hot humidity that greeted us in the trees. From here I totally tanked. It was another 20+ minutes to the feed zone and lets just say it was one of my slower mid race paces. After I hit the feed zone and got a bottle with a wonderful scoop of Cliff Shot Drink Mix, it was game time. I was back and ready to do some work. The rest of the race was predominantly climbing and I threw down a steady pace and did picked my way back to the lead group as best as I could. With only a few hills to go I found myself in a pace line group of 4 motoring up theses massive hills. One guy went for an attack and I jumped on his wheel droppin the other guys in result. I made the dumb mistake of letting him get a few yards on me thinking we had another hill to do, only to find myself on the final decent to the finish. I tried to go all Aaron Gwin on the decent to make up the 10 seconds he had on me, but ended up 7 seconds back finally finishing in 7^th. Not exactly the place I wanted, but seeing there was 40 guys in the race I wasn’t too bummed and was thrilled on my form. It’s always good to see good results from all the hard work you put in at home.

    

     The month of May is looking stellar! The last weekend in April I am rockin the Whiskey 50 Pro race which includes a MTB crit Friday night and a 50 mile marathon race the Sunday that has a $10,000 pay out resulting in all the top pros coming out make a run for some coin, then a few weeks at home before I leave for Germany, Belgium, and Switzerland to do some serious racing. Thanks to BMC (@BMC_MTB_RACING) and all our sponsors for the insanely awesome support. Bring it Europe…… but first lets finish my senior year of high school. GRADUATING TIME!

Practice in Texas, Makes Perfect in San Dimas

             The Bonelli Pro XCT is easily a top three US course in my mind and all the sweetest racing just went doing in this wonderful second weekend in March.  Since the race was only 5 or so hours from my house, I made the easy drive over Thursday night. Considering my cross country race was going down on Saturday and my short race on Sunday, this gave me plenty of time to get settled in and pre-ride the course. Plus, I go the chance to hang out with my totally awesome new teammates Shayna, Grace, and Alicia. 

Friday was a early morning rise with a day that included team pictures as well as shredding some laps on the course. Around 7am we went to what was the most awesome hotel breakfast consisting of every type of amazing omelets and potato’s.  After the stellar breakfast was inhaled, we set off to the course to get some super sick team photos done and pre-riding/ leg openers. I through down a few laps getting to know all the super shreddy lines and I also hit up a hot lap to get my car/driving legs ready to be rockin for the suffer fest that was sure to be awaiting me in just 24 hours time.

            With my race being at 8:30am, Saturday was another early morning wake up call. I hit up some oatmeal and then it was off to the races. The jr girls and I arrived at the team trailer and I slowly got my self race ready as I went through the course in my head. With some unfortunate luck the weekend prior due to some wrong food ingestion or pre race mix-up resulting in some super bad legs, I made sure to do everything 100% leading up to the race to ensure my fast legs were going to show up with me on the start line. I was on the first row ready to rock. Start gun went off  and  had a perfect position about 4th going into the single track. Keegan Swensen was leading and unfortunately one of the two kids between him and I cracked super hard resulting in some super bad hold up allowing Keegan his chance o open up his gap. From here He set of the front with about a 6 second lead in front of  a hard charging group of four of us. With a three other hella fast guys, I knew we could bridge the gap within a lap or so. With constant battles between the four of us to lead into every single track, we were throwing down a killer pace. This was until on our last lap were we began to play games with one another and everyone no longer wanted to do any work. I knew this would again give Keegan his chance to become uncatchable, so I change tactics and started to race for 2^nd. With a half of a lap to go I made we got caught up behind some lapped riders and with me riding in the back of our group of three I ended up getting gapped. On the road before the long climb just about 2k to the finish, I drilled it and caught the group. As we made our way up the climb, on eof the riders through down a very well times and placed attack which of course was the worst timing for me considering I just go back on and demolished the group. One went with him as I mashed the pedals to reel them back in. I was able to drop the guy on my wheel, but could only hold the 10 sec gap to to the finish. I ended up 4^th and couldn’t of been more stoked on the awesome racing that just went down. There is really nothing like racing for an hour plus, throwing the hammer down with three other riders.  Next up was the stomach turning short track the following afternoon, but first I think a little post race coffee is in order.

Hard Workin in TEXAS.

The opening National Pro XCT race went down in the first weekend in March. It was hard for me to rap my head around the fact that we already are starting are 2012 season. It all happened in Dripping Springs, Texas, just outside of Austin. The course was super techy and the atmosphere was awesome. It seemed like all of the people of Austin pedaled on out to spectate and race the awesomeness the weekend had in store for us. I flew into Austin with my new teammate Jack Hinkens and most of the Subaru Trek team. It seemed like everyone was in Tucson AZ, getting ready for the gnarly season that was upon us. That night we just settled in and had a amazing team dinner at Torchy’s Tacos which easily was the best thing in the world. Considering my race wasn’t until Sunday afternoon I was able to get away with eating a few tacos. 

             Friday we all woke up to some good breakfast, and then got on to building our brand new BMC mountain bikes. Jack went with the Four Stroke 26in full-suspension bike and Kerry Warner and I went with the Team Elite 29er hard tails. Both bikes were ridiculously light and fast. Plus, they looked absolutely amazing which never hurts. After a morning of bike dialing in, we headed off to the course and hit a few laps up. After a few laps I was a pretty nervous going into the race due to not knowing exactly where my fitness was on a national level, as well as getting my head mentally focused. Pre-riding the course on Friday and Saturday was challenging to me because the whole time I was riding I felt super tired mentally and wasn’t flowing anywhere close to what I normally was rocking. Even with a few hick-ups in the pre-race rituals, I knew no matter what went, or was going to go down, I just had to got as hard as I could.

Race time came and I was super stoked. Bike was finally dialed and legs felt like they were ready to go fast. I lined up on the first row and looked back to see about 40 other JRS as well and a 50+ other cat 1 racers. In no time it was 10sec till race time, then go! As soon as we hit the first climb my legs totally locked up and stated to cramp. Unfortunately, this was how the entire first lap went down with the addition of going shoulder first into a tree. I defiantly ate something the 24hrs before my race that made my legs felt like they already had rode a marathon, but luckily it all went away a few minutes into the second lap which meant it was full on business time. I went into the 2nd/ final lap in about 11th and put on a sold time trial to get my self back into the front of the race finishing what was a solid 7th considering a few mishaps. I of course wasn’t totally stoked on the placing, but I was glad to see all the training I had put in the winter months has come along resulting in some super great legs. Now if I can only ride like I did my last lap the entire time in my next race which just so happened to be the next PRO XCT in San Dimas, California. Time to bring it........ but first, I think I will enjoy some Texas BBQ.