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.

Pre-Season Pain!!!

Its February, which means that the rides are getting harder and the travel time is about to be on the rise. February started off amazing with some sweet weather and the press release of my team, BMC MTB Racing. I am so grateful for the chance to be apart of the awesome program and receiving this great level of support.

My training this year so far has been stellar! In the end of March I raced another pre-season training race and it was killer. I won the cat-1 open and took 3rd in pro. It was awesome to incorporate some race training to mix up the gnarly workouts that have been included in the early season. I also have shot down to Tucson, Arizona for a few weekends now to hit up the awesome group ride on Saturdays that always included a ton of pro roadies and MTBers resulting in some super fast riding!

I received my new BMC Race Machine a few weeks ago and have been putting in some serious miles on it. The acceleration, stiffness, and comfort it provides is absolutely insane. In this last month I’ve put in some crazy multiple 5 hour rides and the bike keeps me feeling comfortable and fast way past the 160 km mark. This is also my first season on Sram and I couldn’t believe how smooth it shifts while still being gnarly light. I am especially stoked on my new Fizik Antares saddle that does the impossible by being sick light, yet so comfortable you feel like your sitting on a cloud even in that 5Th hour in the saddle. 

My Sundays have usually been spent on the mountain bike doing some good epic hard riding resulting in some awesome improvement in my technical skills while putting some rad time in the saddle. The Mellow Johnny’s Classic is in less than three weeks which totally came out of nowhere. It seems like just last weekend I was racing Cyclocross and jumping barriers. I totally stoked on mountain bike season starting and I can't wait for all of the amazing adventures this season will bring.

Going Hunting

      This past weekend was the opening race in my Arizona mountain bike race series. I was super stoked to go shred my home course against my coach and at least 5 other fast pros. It's pretty early in the season to be full on racing, so I am using these first few races at training with little to no recovery for them. It's defiantly mentally and physically hard to race in January and February without your top end speeds your used to having in full on race season. I started the morning off beautifully with my almost perfected carmel white chocolate mocha. While I had a few weeks off the bike as well as these past few weeks of longer miles, I decided to explore a little further into my hobby of being a Barista. Coffee has always been a must have before a hard ride and with a month of full on practice and a few overdoses on coffee, I almost reached perfection.

           For the start of the race I got a fairly solid warm up in as well as some important stretching. I got to the start a tad late and was on the second row. I knew this had to change, so I worked my small self up into the front row with two guys elbows right in my face. Not ideal, but I'll take it. Off the gun I got the whole shot and led for about a mile eventually letting my coach and another pro go up front to set the pace. Before I knew it, there was only 5 of us hammering away. I was super stoked on how the race was going. I was third wheels and totally riding within myself.

 About 30 minutes into the race we hit a rocky climb were I managed to do the impossible and flat going up hill. I was so mad as I jumped of my bike to fix the flat while I was getting hit in the face with tubeless sealant. Once I was back on the bike I was about 4-5 minutes down due to my slow flat fixing. Who would of thought that a flat that would take me a minute to change in the garage took me 5 minutes while racing, go figure. From here I spent the rest of the race hunting down the lead. Not the ideal way to race, but probably good steady intensity for training in January. I finished the race in fifth place overall, but of course not before I ran into a cactus a mile before the finish. Spending the last 100 yards pedaling with one foot is never prefered. Overall I was thrilled on the race and can't wait for the next one. I've got a few more local stuff to prepare me for what awaits me in March. Let the gnarly training begin!

Cross Season Recap

Cross Season Recap

      My cross season this year was absouluty amazing. Starting with back to back wins at Spooky Cross in the Non UCI men and Jrs, all the way to ending the season losing the state champs to no one other than of course my coach. I was fortunate enough to ride for BH bikes and Hammer Nutrition which was a stellar program. My BH was so snappy yet comfortable it was scary, and with the help of Hammer I was fueled so well for every cross race all the way to the finish line. For the first ever let alone this season, I raced on/ for CrankBrothers and I was totally stoked. They felt ergonomical on my legs/ knees yet allowed all the power to be transferred through adding me in keeping up with these fast roadies. Training for the 2012 mtb season already has been in motion and I couldn't be more excited.

AZ State Champs

     Cross season has come down to its final race. I was super bummed for cross to be over, yet excited to have a nice break and start my training for next mtb season. Once again the race came down to TJ Woodruff and I. The course was pretty techy to I knew I would be good there, but I also knew in order to have a chance at winning this thing I would have to win the mental game more than anything else. Such as making the competition think I am super strong that day by putting the hammer down in the tech sections. The race was going just like I planned all the way up to this barrier to loose turning section. I hit the whole section going pretty fast hoping I could gain some time with little power usage and of course turn after turn I either slid out or had to put a foot down causing a 5 or 6 second gap between me and 1st. Ironically this killed me physically and mentally. I didn't recover too quickly and just like that it was the end of the race for me. It was defiantly hard to end the season like that, but I had one fun cross season and couldn't wait for it to roll around next year! 

Tuscon

      I headed on down to Tuscon to race the fifth AZCross race. It was looking like the course conditions were going to be super sweet and it even had a chance of rain. I was super stoked on the course after just a few warm up laps. Had a little bit of everything and even a nice bunny hopping barriers at the bottom of one of this hills. I knew this is where I was going to gain a ton of time if I could plan it right. Of course on my last warm up/ preride laps I when for the bunny hop again and as I started to power up the hill my Rear der Hanger snapped! Luckily I had a spare in the car, but that kind of killed my confidence for the jump. With this advantage out of the picture I knew I would have to put down a fast start lap in order to have a chance at winning this thing. I was going up against a few AZ fast guys and my coach TJ who was going to be the guy to beat after coming off a pretty gnarly season of cross. The start went just as I planned. I got the whole shot and made the first 800 meters of the race super fast. After just a few laps it was three of us battling it out. Going onto our 4th lap I attacked dropping one guy and gaping TJ. Unfortunately TJ is a super fast guy and caught me faster than I would have liked. From here he set the pace on the front going a little faster every 800 meters or so and eventually popping me off his wheel. From here, I just survived trying to keep a strong pace so third would catch me. Finished second... again. Had tons of fun and couldn't wait till state champs in a few weeks.