Racing and a break...

Wow, it has been way too long since I last posted. I apologize for my silence, but will now update you all on what I've been up to for the last couple of months...

First, I should mention National Championships. I was hoping to win. I had been racing well and was hoping to get to duke it out with Colin Cares at the front for the all-expense-paid trip to World Championships, but it wasn't meant to be. I ended up starting good and strong and rode the first lap (of 5) with Colin, but after that, I just didn't feel it. My legs felt sluggish and slow and I didn't have the intensity that I should have for that time of year. I ended up finishing 4th (still on the podium - see photo below) after Colin Cares, Robbie Squire, and Stephen Ettinger. I want to congratulate all three of them on a stellar race and I'm just bummed that I wasn't able to give them a bit more competition.After Nationals, I decided to go to the World Cup race in Bromont, Canada because Marc Gullickson, who works for USA Cycling, told me that going to Bromont would improve my chances of getting a spot on the World Championships team, which has been my goal since the beginning of this year.

So I headed home for about a week, then headed to the East Coast for a 3 week cycling adventure (Bromont, Mt. Snow, and then Windham). At the Bromont World Cup (my first World Cup ever and my first time racing in Canada) I finished 80th of 120 or so starters. I was called up almost dead last, so I was pleased with my result because it meant that I passed 30 or so people! The race was completely chaotic because it was raining and muddy, but I had a great time and enjoyed seeing some of my Chilean friends that I had met during my time in South America last winter.After Bromont, I raced the final two US Pro XC Tour races in Mt. Snow, VT and Windham, NY and I finished 30th and 33rd, respectively, in the Pro field. Certainly not up to par with my earlier results, but still top half.

It was during this 3 weeks on the road that I realized how tired I was. My legs never felt good and I didn't have the intensity or power that I had had earlier in the season. It took me a while to figure it out, but I eventually realized that it was simply due to having had such a long season. For the first time since I had started racing, I had trained seriously through the winter and my first races were a stage race in January and then Continental Championships in March. So I had been racing for almost 7 months!

I also found out around this time that I had not been chosen for the U23 World Championships team. I was (and still am) disappointed, but I worked my hardest to be chosen, and when I spoke to USA Cycling, I was told that I was next on the list. I understand that USA Cycling does their best to choose racers who they think have a good chance of doing well, but they chose to only bring three (3) U23 racers of the seven (7) they were allowed to bring! Seems like a bad idea to me, but what could I do????

So now I have decided to take a break from cycling for a bit. When I got back to NM, I brought my girlfriend, Victoria Henry, to school and am now back in Taos with my family. I have about a week to hang out with them and then I head back to Middlebury College for another 2 years of school. Once I get back to school I am planning to start preparing for the collegiate mountain bike season and for CYCLOCROSS, which I am REALLY excited for!

National Championships Recap

I have always had a love-hate relationship with the national championships and this year did not disappoint. The weekend started off on Friday for me this year with a short day trip up to Sol Vista Ski Basin to pre-ride the course and watch Macky's U23 race. After pre-riding and wishing I had a dual suspension I quickly grabbed my bag and started on the recovery process while watching some awesome racing action.

Unfortunately for Macky it was not quite the race he was hoping for. The climb turned out to be a little long for him and he wasn't able to hold the blistering pace that Robbie Squire and Colin Cares had set.

Back at the car and on my way I was feeling good, though a little tired. I made it home, relaxed with my feet up for the evening and made it an early night for bed.

Saturday morning, up, watching the tour, eating and then loading up the car for the quick drive to Sol Vista. 2 pm start for me today, making it easy to sleep at home in the comfort of my own bed. After spending the morning trying to get my stomach to stop acting up on me I finally got on my bike for a warm up. Even with the stomach being queesy I was feeling good. The legs were light and felt ready to fly. Apparently this was not the case. The 18% starting grade in a mass bunch was quite problematic for my last roll call up. Bars hooked, foot down, and I was only half way up the first pitch. After this I kept trying to push it and really hit the climb hard but the legs were not turning around the way they should have been or were the week before in Winter Park. And then the descent....

I absolutely love my new Yeti A.R.C. It is by far the best hard tail I have ever ridden. Super smooth, super stiff, and spot on geometry for fast mountain bike riding. Unfortunately there are courses out there that prefer dual suspensions in order to ride fast. With moon dust filled braking ruts all the way down the mountain the hard tail was not in the mood to ride downhills fast and was honestly a little frustrating, but that is bike racing.

After racing for 3 laps in an embarassing fashion I was pulled and was able to go sit and watch the rest of the pro men's field continue their rides around the 4 mile course.

Made it back home Saturday evening. Ate some delicious food and then went to bed. Sunday morning rolled around and I was ramped up to race Short Track (odd since I am not a big fan of short tracks ever!). The legs weren't even remotely sore (probably due to only having to race for 3 laps). Only problem was my stomach was worse than the day before. Fortunately I had a left over bottle of coke from Saturday and set about drinking it as Shannon drove up Berthoud Pass.

Feeling better and spinning around for my warm up things were looking good. The course was exceptionally difficult with a LONG climb, something that absolutely suits me in Short Track races. Threw down a few laps, tried riding Adam Craig's wheel down the descent (doesn't work so hot when he is by far one of the best bike handler's in the world and I am still young in bike racing/riding years).

Once again I had a last row call up, but was able to find a wonderful spot on the outside in order to move up quickly. Well the gun goes and all you can say about Short Track is OUCH! Fortunately though I was feeling smoking and was railing up the climbs and riding the descents as smoothly and quickly as possible it is to do on the side of a bumpy ski slope.

Nationals has come and gone once again and now it is time to get back to training and a big trip back east to see how my year at altitude will affect my ability to ride fast at sea level up Mount Snow and up Windham.

Till then.....

Winter Park Series Race #3 Report

Yesterday was my second adventure at the low key and super fun Winter Park Race Series for this season. Like 2 weeks ago a few big names decided to show up and show us where it's at with Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski blasting to the win 2 minutes ahead of Michael Broderick. Those guys were cruising!

My race went amazingly well and I was surprised at the legs I had, especially during the first hour. The whole race I was blasting up the climbs and attacking riders on their dual suspensions as they bobbed up the mountains. The legs were light and all they wanted to do was rocket, it was working perfectly.

About half way through the race there is this amazingly fast fire road descent that is super sketchy, with monster jumps and one corner that is rutted out from rain water and four wheel drive vehicles coming up in the wet and muddy conditions. I took a huge digger on this corner and lost my position in a solid and strong group that would have carried me to finish inside the top 30.

After regrouping I was back on and hammering forward. Surprisingly my confidence wasn't shaken but sitting in no man's land I was having trouble pushing as hard as I needed to. Fortunately someone came around me and after a minute of riding his pace I got tired of it and just blasted by him on the next semi sustained climb (my playground). This continued for the remainder of the race. If the trail went up I was flying climbing many climbs in my big ring and attacking out of the saddle. I have honestly never felt so strong on my bike.

Unfortunately with my rear tire a little low from semi-burping it during my first crash I had to take it easy during the technical descents so as not to blow it off the rim. Every time I felt the rim hit I cringed. But I was able to ride smooth and not lose too much time on the best singletrack of the race.

Popped out of the bottom attacked up the next climb and just kept hammering. From the 1 hour 30 mark all the way until the finish at 1 hour 50 I rode my big ring no matter what it looked like. I felt like I was riding possessed! And then, I crashed again. Unfortunately I couldn't get up as fast this time as my right leg cramped up and I spent 2 minutes laying on the ground just trying stand up. It was brutal.

Back on the bike and a minute of spinning and I was back to being possessed. Ripping past people and making on final move to finish 44th out of 55 riders only 20 minutes down.

Maybe not my best race on paper, but based on how I was feeling and riding I know I could have been close to 15 places higher and almost 5 minutes faster without the crashes.

One thing that I was exceptionally impressed with this weekend was how awesome wide riser bars are for control and for climbing. For the past 2 years I have been a narrow flat bar rider with a 1 inch drop from saddle to bars. After some thought on my strengths and weaknesses as a rider I convinced myself that some wide riser bars were the way to go. Just this week I put on a set of Easton low rise bars that are 685 mm wide. They are awesome! Sweet leverage when climbing, lungs are held open for comfortable breathing, and so much better for cornering. I think I am a convert and will be riding the wide riser bars even on my race hard tail.

A good solid weekend of training and now to rest up for Nationals. That race is going to be brutal, but fortunately suits me with it's alpine course nature (long climb, long descent, rinse repeat).

Look for a build report of my Yeti A.R.C. in the coming days. I will be picking the frame up at the Yeti Factory in Golden early this week and then spending time to get it dialed for awesomeness at Sol Vista Ski Basin.

Pre-Race Prep

Another week another race looming on the horizon. This weekend is a split weekend for the Transparent Racing Squad. I will be racing the third edition of the Winter Park Series while Macky will be racing at the New Mexico Off Road Series in Albuquerque.

This weekend will be pretty sweet for me as the Winter Park Series is more about having fun while riding your bike fast on sweet trails in the Fraser Valley. Instead of the traditional 5 or 6 lap race around some track we will be competing on a 24 mile point to point course starting at the Winter Park Ski Resort and finishing up just outside of Fraser, CO.

Macky will be competing in a much more traditional style XC race, however, it will be an epic battle. Damien Calvert, a fast pro from New Mexico, has eluded Macky every single match-up they have had. Macky is really gunning for him this weekend and barring any mechanical problems I believe he will overtake him for the W.

Watch for updates as the weekend progresses and if you are in the area come out and cheer for us!

Happy riding and racing this weekend.

Winter Park Series # 2 Race Report

This morning I woke up bright and early (5:30) to load up the car and drive to Winter Park, Colorado. If you have never been to Winter Park to ride your mountain bike I highly suggest it. There are hundreds of miles of beautiful singletrack ranging from crazy technical to fast and flowy.

The Winter Park Series is a low key fun series that has about 8 or 9 races over the course of the summer highlighting the trails and sweet riding in Winter Park. Today's event XC Super Loop. In many ways this course was a Super Loop in that it was a blast! During the race I had a hard time separating myself from the fact that I was racing and the fact that these trails were ripping fast. Fortunately because of how much fun the trails were it made me want to hammer it in the big ring for the 1 h and 37 minutes of race time I had.

Overall I am happy with the race and finally excited to be racing again. Though I felt average at first after about 15 minutes I found my mojo and just kept flying. Maybe that past week of goofing off and not being serious for 7 days really helped me. Even riding a 3 pound heavier bike than I have since March I still had my best finish of the season with a 35th place finish only 18 minutes down on the winning time posted by JHK. All the better that at least 2 big guns showed up (JHK and Colin Cares) as well as a couple of fast pro roadies that have some sick mountain bike skills (Scott Tietzel - DLP Pro Cycling).

All in all a good day. Now time to rest up and put in another solid ride tomorrow before I continue my final build phase leading up to Nationals.

Pictures to come as soon as I can locate them.

BigAir, Squirt lube, and a little rain

This past Saturday was Mt. Crested Butte's annual mountain bike race, the Wildflower Rush. In my seven years of racing, I have raced it 5 times (the only one I've raced more is the Angel Fire Chile Challenge, which I have raced EVERY single year, for a total of 7). Back in 2004, this was the race that my coaches guessed would get me hooked, or get me to quit mountain bike racing. As you may have noticed, it got me hooked.
I raced it as my second ever mountain bike race, and I had just moved from Junior Beginner to Junior Expert (there was no Junior Sport at the time). For those of you who have raced this race in years past, you probably remember the course: 10 miles with 1800 or so feet of climbing per lap. And I had to ride 3 laps (the same number of laps I later rode as a Pro). And I had barely ridden and had only raced one other race. I survived it. That's about all I can say. That, and that I finished 3rd, only because I was one of the few racers who didn't quit.

The race start

Now that you know my history with this race, let me tell you a bit about this year's race. First of all, they completely changed the course. And I wasn't quite sure what to think of it. Of the new 7.5 mile course, only 0.5 miles were the same as the old course, and quite a bit of it was brand-new singletrack. As much as I enjoy new singletrack, it is important to note that it is rarely smooth. It takes hundreds of riders riding it for it to get buffed out and I could very easily tell that hundreds of riders HAD NOT ridden it yet. Fortunately, the Cat 1s, 2s, and 3s all raced before the Pros, so they smoothed it out quite nicely for us.
The race started off fast. I was able to get myself a front row start (finally) so I was in the mix right from the gun. After about 10 minutes, I had moved into 2nd place behind Andy Schultz, and was jockeying for position with Cameron Brenneman. When we hit the descent, I was able to put some time on Cameron, but then I hit a rock and partially rolled my front tire. Luckily, it had not punctured, so I was able to pull it back onto the wheel and inflate it with a BigAir, but I lost 3 places in the process. I caught back up to the guys who had passed me, but had to stop at the tech zone to get a now CO2 (I thought that I had used most of the BigAir) and to close my valve (I had forgotten to in the frenzy of re-inflating my tire). At that point, I was starting my 2nd lap of 3 and was in 5th place.
I remember very little of the 2nd lap except that it started raining and I was able to catch up to a few of the guys ahead of me on the muddy descent. As we started our last lap, I had moved up 2 spots (into 3rd) and was in a group with Jay Henry, Travis (not sure of his last name), and Cameron Brenneman, working to catch Andy Schultz, the race leader.
Jay Henry passed me part way through the third lap and put a bit of a gap on me, but once we hit the descent, I was able to catch him, and together we caught Andy.
The rest of the descent reminded me more of a cyclocross race than a mountain bike race. The descent was so muddy that all three of us had to run with our bikes on certain sections and ended up completely coated in mud. Fortunately, my Squirt lube held up beautifully in the inclement weather and my shifting stayed for the whole race.

Post-race mud (and COLD)

As we neared the bottom, Andy was able to put a slight gap on Jay Henry and myself, and I realized that I would be fighting Jay for 2nd place. As we popped out of the singletrack onto the final dirt road climb to the finish, Jay went to clip back in (he'd been using his foot for stability on the muddy singletrack) and missed his pedal. I was able to take advantage of his minor slip up and attacked with 100 feet to the finish and beat him in the sprint! It was a great finish to a miserably fun race.

Poor bike!

Post-race shower

Sandcreek Classic race report

This past weekend (June 12-13th) was the 4th stop of the US Pro XC Tour in Colorado Springs, CO. There was a good turnout, the courses were fun, and I felt good about my results!
The short track was Friday and the course was great...well, it would have been great if I hadn't wanted to pass. It was about 90% singletrack which is exactly what I love to ride when I'm going out for a training ride or a fun ride, but not what I want when I'm racing, especially after getting a terrible call up. But regardless, it was a FUN course, just not a very good one for passing.
As I mentioned, I got a terrible call up. Actually, I didn't really get a call up. They did the short track call ups based on the Sea Otter short track which I didn't do well at, so I ended up toward the back of the pack and had to spend the entire race passing people until I finally ended up in 10th place (2nd under-23). I felt good though and was riding well, which was encouraging.

The cross country went pretty well too. Once again, there were some call up issues (I ended up at the back again because of the "parade lap" we were forced to do), but I was able to fight my way into 20th (2nd under-23 again) out of 90 or so starters and almost caught Colin Cares at the finish. And when I say almost, I mean that I was only 0.1 second behind him!

The course was one of the most interesting cross country courses I had ever raced; wide, smooth, gravel-covered singletrack for the first third, then steep, rocky, and trail. It wasn't the best for passing, but was really fun! I would love to go out there and ride it for fun some time. My WTB Nano Raptor tires were great and perfect for the course!
Overall, it was a successful weekend for me. I had a blast, raced well, and, who knows, I might even get a call up next time!
(I also got to watch my dad and younger brother race, which is always fun.)

Teva Mountain Games

This past weekend was the Teva Mountain Games in Vail. If you have not heard of this event or know anything about this event, well, you should. It is the most amazing outdoor sporting event I have ever been to, which is quite a few over the past few years. The whole village of Vail is packed with Vendors, athletes, spectators, and good vibes.

Friday morning Seamus, an old friend from New York who is staying out in Colorado with me for the next couple of weeks, and I got up packed the car and hauled off to Vail to pre-ride the course and hand out some Action Wipes. We made a B-line for registration and found the best swag bags we've ever seen at any event. A sweet T-Shirt, nalgene bottle, dog food, powdered drink mix, and various other goodies in a sweet reusable bag. Definitely all good things.

Next move was to get dressed hit up what was going to be a sweet course. To say the least this was the perfect ski resort course. The race never made you head all the way to the netherlands of Vail mountain, where I am sure there is some amazing singletrack to be had, but for racing, not the best idea if people want to watch the race. Because of that the climbs were fairly short and allowed you to experience a few short and super hard but super fun technical descents.

During the pre-ride I cased it pretty hard here trying to be fancy and ride the left line instead of the right line:
Heading up the second of two long climbs. This was the more brutal of the two, steep, rocky, with slick mud sections:
One of the corners on the descent. Leads into an awesome root drop off:
A view of the start line. This is facing the opposite direction the course goes, but it is an epic photo:
2nd of the two climbs up some singletrack:
Preride done, now time to get food and hand out action wipes.

Saturday came along and Seamus and I once again woke up early to drive back to Vail, race day was here! Showed up at Vail with plenty of time to spare. Got ready and started heading around to warm up and find a possible feed. After about 15 minutes of searching we were starting to get a little worried as prospects were looking kind of sketchy and then Dave Griebling from Rooly popped out in front of me. Dave is awesome and I can't thank him enough for not only supporting us with the best shades I have ever worn but for feeding us at Sea Otter and now Teva.

Then it was race time. Without call ups actually taking place but with a field stacked like it was a US Pro XCT event I made sure to get to the start line early enough to not be stuck at the back. Mission # 1 was accomplished with a 3rd of about 10 row start position. Unfortunatley Mission 2, get a good start, didn't quite go to plan. As I went to go the person in the row behind me decided it was a good idea to get his wheel caught on my derailleur and then cause a crash. Luckily I wasn't involved in the crash but I was not able to get going for an extra 3 or 4 seconds after the gun went off. Within a few minutes though I was off to a flying pace and feeling super good, too good in fact.

Lap 1 was 32 minutes, man was I feeling smoking. Lap 2 was 33 minutes, consistent still feeling strong and then my legs decided they were a little upset with me for forgetting my recoverite, endurolytes, and endurance aminos the day before and were going to start hurting. This made Lap 3 36 minutes and then Lap 4 37 minutes.

All in all it was not a horrible day. I finished 41st out of 43 finishers but well over 60 starters (huge field) and was only 30 minutes down on the winning time. I'll take that for my first year as a pro against guys who have been doing this for over 10 years and regularly race on the world cup circuit.

Next on tap is the US Pro XCT at Colorado Springs this weekend, should be a good weekend, look for pics of the course as I will be heading down there once or twice this week to get some training days in on the course at Cheyenne Mountain Park.

Until then.....

Bumpin' and Grindin'

Today was the Alabama Bump n' Grind Pro XC Tour cross country race. It was hot and humid and close to sea level...Let's just say that I'm not real used to any of those conditions, especially the sea level or humidity!
The race started off fast on a paved road and I was able to get a decent spot as we hit the 1st singletrack. At that point, I pulled back just a bit so that I wouldn't over-do it and crack and just settled in to race. I lost a few places because I was being cautious, but going into the 4th lap (of 5) I started moving up again. Unfortunately, half way through my 4th lap, I noticed that my rear tire was going flat so I stopped to inflate it (thanks Genuine Innovations for the BigAir!). After catching the guy who had passed me when I was re-inflating my tire, I had to stop a second time to add some more air. And then a 3rd time and a 4th time. At which point I was out of air (pretty good for 1 BigAir though, huh?). Then my tire went completely flat and started falling off the rim, so I was forced to stop riding. At that point I was about 4 KM from the finish and had to walk the rest of the way or be counted as DNF ("Did Not Finish"), so I chose to walk. It took me about 30 minutes, but I did finish even though I got passed by every other person who hadn't been pulled from being lapped. I lost more than 20 spots because of the flat (I finished 49th), but that's bike racing...
Overall, it was a successful race and I had a blast, but I wish I hadn't flatted.
Here is a video of me packing my bike back up (23 minutes, even faster than unpacking):

Another weekend of racing...I LOVE IT!

Yesterday was the 2nd day of the 2009 Angel Fire Chile Challenge. Both Kat and I raced the Pro Men's XC and boy, was it a tough course. As I mentioned yesterday, I have been racing this course for a long time and knew what to expect, but for some reason, I still chose to race on my hardtail (XTC Alliance Advanced). That was not a smart idea. Although the Chile Challenge course is fine to ride on a hardtail when you aren't racing, it really slows you down and beats you up during a race. I should have known this, but I am so used to racing on my hardtail that I wouldn't admit that the Anthem Advanced was the way to go.

Macky racing

Between my bike choice, my dead-last start (because I arrived at the start with 2 minutes to race time), and a bit of fatigue from my STXC win, I admit that I didn't have as good a race as I was hoping. I still ended up 5th, but had been hoping for a top 3 finish.
Kat had a pretty good race. He felt strong until the top of the 3rd, and final, lap when both of his calf muscles cramped. At this point, he lost 4 places and ended up 33rd. When we were swapping stories post-race, he mentioned that he also felt slow on his hardtail and wished that he had been on a bike that was a bit more forgiving...At least we both know for next time!

Macky and Kat post-race

I forgot to mention that I received and installed my Bike Pure headset spacer just before the STXC on Saturday. It looks sweet on my bike because of all the blue!

Chile Challenging

Today was the 2009 Chile Challenge Short Track. And it was a blast! Kat chose not to race (to stay fresh for the Cross Country tomorrow), but was there, along with quite a few friends of mine, to cheer me on. Coming from Taos, Angel Fire is the closest thing to a home-town course that I have. It was my first ever mountain bike race (7 or so years ago) and I've raced there almost every year since (sometimes more than once).
Today was a great day for me. After coming back from my hand injury and having a good weekend at Santa Fe, I was ready to test myself against the bigger Mountain States Cup (MSC) fields.
The race started off pretty fast, but I was able to get into a decent position (7th or so) despite my not-so-great start position (2nd row, of 3, right in the middle). From there, I moved up for a couple of laps until I was in 4th, then we dropped one racer and it was myself, Jay Henry, and Colin Cares alone at the front. Colin led for a while, then Jay took the lead, and finally, they both slowed a bit to force me to pull. I pulled for part of a lap then took off on the uphill and put a good gap between myself and them. For the rest of the race, I worked to keep them from bridging back up and worked on making up time on the descents (so that I could make up time without working too hard). I ran 2 WTB Nano Raptors and they were great on Angel Fire's terrain (mixed firm and loose dirt, and some gravel). I was able to finish with a comfortable lead, but unfortunately, no one (that I know) got any pictures of the finish, or even of the race.
So, instead, I am leaving you with a video from the day before when I was pre-riding the Cross Country course.

Record breaking

I'm not sure exactly when, but back in the day, Todd Gogulski set a record from the bottom of the Taos Ski Valley (TSV) road to the top of 26:32. That's 7.53 miles and 1680 feet of climbing in 26:32. Starting at 7650 ft. And apparently, shortly after setting this record, he went Pro and raced for the Coors Light and Subaru-Montgomery Pro teams on the road. Since then, no one has broken this record. I'm planning to.
Starting last summer, Team FITaos began putting on a few (semi) official hill climb time trials each summer, and yesterday was the first of this year...
Last summer, I had hoped to break the record, but hadn't been able to. The closest I came was just under 29 minutes (2.5 minutes off of the record). I admit that I never really trained for the climb and focused on real races instead, but I raced 2 of them and tried during those 2 to come as close as possible.

This was me racing last year (I don't have any from this year yet)

This year, things will be different. I still plan to focus MUCH more on my real races, but I am determined to break the record and believe I can. Yesterday, I finished the climb in 28:01 (1.5 minutes off the record) which was almost a full minute faster than my best last year. It is also early season and I plan to get faster. So, cheer me on and if you have any extra road componentry lying around, send them to me so that my bike will be lighter and I won't have to work as hard!

10 Things NOT to do before a Race

Today I am going to make a list (in descending order) of the 10 things one ought not do before a race. Here they are:

10. Don't try to do any unnecessary maintenance late the night before or the morning of the race. You never know what could go wrong causing more problems than the one you already had.

9. Don't try anything out of the ordinary or new. For example, if you have never eaten sushi the night before a race, don't be adventurous. Gastro-intestinal stress morning of the race or the whole night before is never fun and will definitely take the fun out of racing.

8. Don't go pre-ride the course late in the afternoon the day before a race after racing short track, your legs will not appreciate this one bit the next day.

7. Don't eat dinner at 9 o'clock at night when you have to wake-up at 5 am to get to the race in time.

6. Don't eat a monster breakfast with an early AM start time, a good breakfast is good, a monster breakfast is not. With large quantities of food sitting in your stomach on the start line things are bound to take a turn for the worst.

5. Don't arrive with only one hour till start time. It leads to a rushed morning and far more stress than needed.

4. Don't not know where the start of the race is. This could be detrimental to making it there on time.

3. Don't forget your shoes. I did this once, luckily a good friend had a spare pair in the right size with the right cleats, but after driving for 1.5 hours it was quite frustrating to notice they were missing (this would go for helmet, gloves, sunglasses, and other necessities as well).

2. Don't drink a gallon of milk. An old collegiate teammate of mine once did this. Violent puking in the middle of a crit was the result.

1. DON'T stress out. Racing is fun, no matter what level you are racing, so don't worry about anything, just go out there and rip it up!

Some of these may seem a little obvious, but one may still not abide be these simple things not to do before a race due to forgetfullness or any other reason. I know I have in the past and hope to not make the same mistake again in the future.

Tierra Torture day 2

Today was the 2nd day of the Tierra Torture mountain bike race and both Kat and I raced the Pro men's cross country (XC). I ended up having a great race, despite only sleeping for 6 hours last night, and won the race with a 2 minute gap to 2nd place and a 6 minuter gap to 3rd. This was my second win in as many days and I was very happy with the weekend as a whole.
My start did not go as well as I would have liked, and I had to fight for position more than I was planning to, but I was able to get into the top 3 within a couple of minutes and moved into first by half way through the first lap. Towards the end of lap 1 (of 3) I attacked and dropped 2nd place, Cameron Brenneman, and never saw him again. My legs felt surprisingly good after a hard week of training and yesterday's race, but I am looking forward to my upcoming rest week! I also got to wear my new Hammer Nutrition bibs and jersey and they were KILLER comfortable. Thanks, Hammer, for the support!
Here is a picture and short video of me racing:

Unfortunately, Kat did not have as good a race. He felt pretty good for about 25 minutes of his 2:15 race, but then his legs started hurting and he was forced to slow down. He drank a lot of Hammer HEED, took Endurolytes and Hammer Gel and eventually felt better and was able to come back and pull off a 7th place finish. Definitely a respectable result for his second-ever Pro XC.
Here are his post-race thoughts:

And just for fun, here are the post-race thoughts of Boden Franklin, an up-and-coming junior racer (and my little brother). He raced the Cat 3 Junior race (ages 18 and under) and finished 4th even though he is only 10!

Tierra Torture Pro short track

Today was the 2009 Tierra Torture short track mountain bike race near Santa Fe, NM. Both Kat and I raced and had a blast. It rained just before the race (and afterwards) so the course was in significantly better condition than it would have been, but there were still some really loose corners...
I was fortunate to end up getting a front row start (not a very good front row start, but front row none the less) and jumped to the front ride from the gun. For the first 2 laps (of 7, it was a long short track course) I was closely followed by a friend of mine, Cameron Brenneman, but he went down on the 3rd lap and I chose that moment to attack. I never saw him again and got a solid win (see the picture).
Kat did not get as lucky at the start and had a Cat 1 racer fall into him and take him out because the Cat 1 racer couldn't clip into his pedals. He then went from dead last of the Cat 1/Pro field to a 6th place finish in the Pros.
Overall, a successful day. Let's just hope tomorrow goes just as well (or better)!
Some videos from the race:

Kat racing

Macky racing

Kat post-race

Macky post-race

Post race

Here are Kat and my thoughts post-race. We were on our way to dinner at Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey, CA and were both pretty exhausted from the race.
Kat's thoughts:

Macky's thoughts:

1st Race 1st Post

Transparent Racing made it's debut this weekend at the Sea Otter Classic. It was a great weekend where we got to catch up with our new and awesome sponsors: WTB, Rooly Eyewear, Action Wipes, and Squirt. It was definitely not without it's hassles though. The biggest issue all weekend was the weak compressors at the gas station making it quite difficult to blow tires onto rims. After a few gas stations and a lot of quarters we gave up until the next morning. Luckily the boys at the Giant tent came through for us and not only let us use their compressor but showed us a great trick on how to blow tires on real easy. So easy you can do it with a hand pump. If you see us at the races come up and ask us and we will gladly show you!

Saturday was the short track. Brutal course. after a fast road start (well sort of, there was a bit of road) we headed up a steep climb filled with breaking bumps and then across an off camber single track resembling thing that with both Macky and I being hard tail riders was not treating us too well. Macky was able to do pretty well and hold out for a solid 15 minutes and well I was able to get two good laps in. Better than nothing but that back row call up of 100 guys is rough, mad hard to move up when you are standing still waiting for the field to get through the first tight section while the leaders are ripping around the course. On a more positive note our new tires from WTB worked amazingly well. The Vulpine (xc semi-slick) as a rear tire is amazing! It rolls fast and still hooks up really well in the loose dusty stuff. The Nanoraptor as a front tire is pretty sweet too! Once again super fast rolling and corners quite consistently as well. WTB is definitely making some of the best tires I have ever ridden.

After cleaning up with our action wipes and heading back to the hotel the goal was to rest up for the big day, XC, on sunday. Sunday morning rolled around and man it was hot. The weather report was only calling for temperatures in the 80's but by 10 am it was already in the 80's and was on it's way higher. With high temps and a need to stay hydrated Macky and I went for the shorter warm up approach which did not turn out too badly I think. Macky was able to finish 37th overall and 6th for the U23's and I managed a 100th place finish out of 150 or so. Even with reasonable results it was a really hard day in the saddle. At 1 hour and 15 minutes in I ran out of fluids and had to back off my blistering pace that was moving me up through the pack consistently quickly to soft pedal in order to save the body from succumbing to the horrendous heat. Grabbed 2 new bottles from Macky's mom at the feed zone and headed out for lap 2. Still hard but was able to pick up about 5 guys over that lap and even grab an old racing buddy from NY who just moved up to the pros too, Seamus Powell.

Macky's race went fairly similar, the heat got to him during the 1st lap and he was pushing a pretty hard pace as well. After backing off and getting through the feed zone he was able to recover well and rally back grabbing a number of places on his way in.

All in all it was a great weekend for Transparent Racing and we would like to thank all of our sponsors: Hammer Nutrition, Rooly Eyewear, WTB, Action Wipes, and Squirt lube for helping us get going and make our dreams come true!

Cheers!