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June 1, 2009
Two more races over the past three weeks, first up I headed up to Mount Tremblant, QC for the first Canada Cup downhill race of the season. Mount Tremblant is a beautiful resort about 2 hours northwest of Montreal. It kind of reminded me of Disneyland with the designed village and all the primary colors. This race featured the top Canadian Pros and Juniors, the combined pro/junior class was over 90 racers. This was an extremely technical track, it featured multiple rock gardens separated by long pedaling sections. The locals that race this same course every year seemed to have an advantage. I finally got to meet my Canadian teammates from Xprezo, they were helping me out with line choice, strategies and race support.
By race time I felt pretty confident, in this race the amateurs went first and since there was only one track at the resort, I had to wait 5 hours between my last practice run and my 4pm start time. Things went well until I missed a line and went off course hitting a log and flipping my bike. I was still able to salvage a top 20 and beating all but one Junior rider, not so bad considering the crash, but I wonder how good I could have finished.
The starting order went by UCI points so I was in the last ten racers down the course and the spectators and announcer were certainly amped by time I got to the finish.
Next was the first race of the season at Mount Snow, Vermont. I have won the Junior Expert Mount Snow Series title twice in the past few years, but this was to be my pro debut at the mountain. The course was mainly open ski trails and had a lot of pedaling on this extremely fast track. I was really hoping to pull off my second pro win of the season and my career. Unfortunately I experienced a minor setback when my chain locked after a rock kicked up and hit it about half way through my race run. I tried to hold it together and coast as fast as I could.
Luckily I was able to hold on to third place and another podium finish. This time along side fellow POC racer Ben Moody who took the win. I was less than a second off the defending USAC Pro Nation Champions second place finish, so I guess I shouldn?t be so disappointed.
Next up is the second Gravity East Series Race at Wisp Resort in Maryland then back to my home mountain, Plattekill Bike Park for the second race of that series. Hope to see you there, so we can do some runs together !!!
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Heading North To Mt. Tremblant
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May 20, 2009 Raced last week at that mountain in NJ, felt good in practice but an off trail excursion really cost me on an extremely short course. I felt good and fast so no worries and it was not an USAC race so no worries. I?m still ranked second in the country, tied with one of my favorite all time riders; Eric Carter.I?m heading north of the border to tackle the Mount Tremblant UCI race, about 2 hours from Montreal. I?ll be chasing valuable international points and hope for a good finish. Here?s a race pic from last week taken by my good friend Max
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My Season Has Started Out Great !
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May 11, 2009
I won my first pro race of my career at Plattekill Bike Park on May 3rd.
I?ve been feeling great on all my 2009 equipment, although I still am waiting for some products to arrive. The track at Plattekill was a classic fall line, loose and steep. I felt confident but also realized it was a fast short course and one mistake would cost a victory. I concentrated on a mistake free run as opposed to an all out fast one, my strategy worked out perfectly.
Next up was the first Gravity East Race of the season at Massunutten Resort in Virginia; this was an important race that served as one of the automatic qualifiers for the USAC Junior World Championship Team. I again raced in the pro division and was feeling fast and comfortable through out the practice sessions. I felt good at the start but during a long peddling section I started to feel the effects of the southern fried food and started feeling sick, I was holding a good run together but vomited a few times on the way down, I guess I lost my concentration for a moment and stuffed a corner right before a short uphill section, I knew I lost some time and got to the finish line where I once again was quite sick. Somehow I still managed a respectable 6th in the pro division but beat the closest Cat1 junior by 2-3 seconds. Based on this result and my win the week before, I should be all set with the selection committee for the USAC Junior World Championship Team.
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The Opening of the ?09 Racing Season
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This coming weekend is my opening season race at Plattekill. I tried out the new bike past weekend, and it?s amazing! The new race course is pretty sick. It?s on the triple side, and theres some new stuff that was built! There?s a bunch of berms, doubles, and all the slate you could ever wish for. There?s also about a 25 foot stepdown that looks awesome. The course is going to be fast, but a long one as well. Hopefully the weather holds up and it will be a nice weekend, just like last year?s first race. There will be some good competition and a bunch of new bikes.
Here?s a pic from Littermag and their coverage of our build weekend is here: http://www.littermag.com/2009/plattekill-downhill-mountain-biking-opens-this-weekend/  Hope to see you all there!
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?09 Season Around the Corner
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April 15, 2009 Lately I have been extremely busy with school work and getting ready to apply for college. I have been riding everyday now, the snow is finally all gone, and the woods are starting to dry up. I?ve been mostly road riding on my rigid bike and it?s been pretty fun! I went XC riding for the first time last night, and it was pretty fun racing around on the rigid with street tires, drifting around the corners on the downhill?s, that the other XC guys were coming up!
Here?s a pic of my rigid bike:
This coming weekend is Plattekill?s first chance to ride! Come out and work on Saturday April 18, and then ride the whole day on Sunday, April 19. I will be there along with the Delta House crew and many others. SEE YOU THERE!!!
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