Sea Otter

This years otter was awesome. For once it was dry all weekend, relatively warm and the Mona Vie tent was the hit of the venue. Opting out of the short track, I decided to heckle on my teammate Bryan as he blasted his way from the back row into the teens on the first lap. Between serving Mona Vie shots, pre riding the course, checking out the venue and doing photo shoots, I don’t really know where all the time went……..wait a second……now I do.

The Semi Pro XC race was in the morning on Sunday. Brisk with calm winds, it was the lesser of two evils since the winds in the afternoons must have been at mach 10 speeds. At 8:00am Matt Ohran and I lined up at the start line. I caught up with some old friends and got ready to take off. The field was pretty big, roughly 70 starters. As the gun went off I got pinched off next to the fencing and got stuck back in about 15th or so. As we rounded the Leguna Seca Speedway I followed wheels and worked my way up to the front. As we neared the start of the jeep road I attacked. Soon enough I was in a train of about 15 or so and the field splintered. As the race progressed, some people caught on the train and others popped off. Somewhere in the middle of first lap I decided that the pace was slightly too high and another lap of this would not be tolerated by my legs. As I backed off, a few guys passed me, panting as if it was the beginning of the race. I came into the Start/Finish area in no mans land, all by my lonesome. As I got my feed I was told I was in 13th. Considering I had never busted the top 15 until the previous week in Colorado I was stoked to be feeling good and riding well. As I came off the racetrack and onto the dirt road for the second time I could see a train of about 10 guys working together trying to catch me. I gave her everything I had on the jeep road hoping the “out of sight, out of mind” theory would kick in. The next thing I knew I was catching people who were completely blown from the pace set earlier in the race. At this point I wasn’t sure if I was running from the competition or hunting them down. Completely motivated to be where I was, I rode with conviction, taking risks and going for broke. Whether it was one footing it as my bike broke loose going 25mph through loose sand or pushing my legs on the climbs to the point to where I could almost feel them cramping I gave it everything I had. Knowing that I only had about 3 miles to go, I threw caution to wind, put my head down and hammered. As I crossed the line, I knew I had achieved something special. Comes out I got 8th, only 7 mins down from the winner in a 2:45hr race.


While the race result might not be a podium, or winning a huge race it was a completely new experience for me. For the first time in awhile I really raced from start to finish and was in the mix. I don’t think I recall a moment like this since racing expert a couple of years ago. This race was a breath of fresh air and a reminder that the time and dedication we athletes put into this sport actually does pay off sometimes. While progression seemed rather stagnant the past couple years, this year seems to bring something new, something worth working for and something to keep chasing.
With my race in mind, I watched attentively to the Pro race hoping someone else could have a breakthrough like I did. Needless to say, I wasn’t disappointed. Jason battled health problems but others were more fortunate. Tinker Juarez, being an endurance specialist raced a great race coming in 11th in a sprint for the top 10. That was cool, but the real excitement came from the flying tomato, Mitchell Peterson. At 21 years young Mitchell came through the first lap of the pro race with the lead train. Everyone turned their heads thinking, “oh, he’ll pop”. However Mitchell dominated the course and came in 4th, enough to score a spot of the box, along with winner and former Olympian gold medalist Miguel Martinez. Watching Mitchell only added to my regained enthusiasm for racing.


I couldn’t think of a better team and group of people to race with. The encouragement and support is an inseparable package with the MonaVie/Cannondale Team and I can’t wait for the next one

In worse news. This week I got hit by a car, who drove off and Kiel had to drop out of Vuelta de Bisbee due to a crash, he was going to win too!

Picture courtesy of Velonews, check out the article as well.

Everyone is recovering and on the mend, I just hope the crashes are done for the year. Finals are right around the corner and things are about to get hectic. Good luck to everyone, especially teammates Mitchell and Sue racing in the world cups, thats big time!

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MSC#1

So this weekend was the first Mountain States Cup of the season, held in Fruita, CO. I was pretty excited to race and felt pretty good. Unfortunately, the 4.5 hr drive really took us 10 because the Eisenhower Tunnel was closed as well as Vail Pass. But being the mountain bikers that we are, we found plenty of things to keep us busy....including a bet with Peter that he couldn't consume the 5430 calories that came in two huge hershey bars, a whole pack of vanilla oreos and nutella. He tapped out.

As for the races, Sat was a pro/semi-pro TT something like 5 miles. I had a good time that put me in 22nd and 8th in semi's. Sunday was a short XC race which felt like a super long STXC. It was just over an hour long and was really fun. I had another good race and finished 13th. Last year my best was 19th, so i think this year is promising. Thanks a ton to Kelly and her mom for letting all 4 of us racers stay at their place. Not only were we pampered and taken care of but it was really one of the most relaxing weekends in recent memory.

This week in boulder has been awesome. It feels like it's been 80 degrees and sunny, but it's probably only in the 70's. However campus is a wonderful place when the temps rise and the sun shows itself, especially on Farrand Field, you know what im talking about.

Kiel and I decided to take advantage of the weather this morning before it got shitty. 3.5 hrs in the mountains did the trick.



however we got the memo a little late that Boulder was getting hit and weren't even on our way home yet.


Oh well, we took the dirt roads home.


It's been a few hours since then and this is my front porch.



This weekend is Sea Otter and I'm looking forward to it. Get away form the snow at least. The MonaVie/Cannondale team is being showcased and stuff so it should be a pretty eventful weekend, oh yea Tinker is my teammate, how cool is that!

Kind of a Big Deal

If all else fails, I have a backup career modeling for Puerto Rican magazines.

Back Home

A few days ago i took the new ride on some dirt roads and trails. It rips no doubt, although my skills are definitely lacking still. I raced twice this weekend. Saturday was a hill climb. It went ok, didn't know the climb but had good legs, finished with too much left but nonetheless it was nice feeling good. Sunday was the Koppenberg. Thinking Redlands was going on and all the big tymers in the PRB were gone racing, I thought it might be a hard, but relatively laid back race.....NOT TO BE. In typical Boulder fashion we had some real pros show up. J Donald, T Phinney, Phill Z, ivan stevic....of course he's only B world champion....please. So it ended up being roughly 75 starters. It was really hard, way harder than i wanted it to be. I got a good workout in and thats about all i needed. I'll say this much though, roadies cannot ride dirt roads to save their life, crashes everywhere...of course i wear no gloves cause thats just how i roll. The season is starting to ramp up regardless of whether im ready or not. From here on out its racing every weekend until june. Fruita next weekend for the first MSC then to monterey to get my fix of freezing rain and mud...YAY.


Hopefully i get some more of this before next race. Although it snowed all this morning......SUCKS!

Puerto Rico Wrap Up

So the race went well. As Usual it was hot and sunny during the race, but at least they made our start earlier this time. From a racing perspective, this was one of the best races I've done in awhile. While there was 6 people in the U23 race, there were 19 in the Pro field. I led the U23 race for the first 2.5 laps of 6. Then a Puerto Rican came up on me and attacked, like a road race. I tried to stay with him but then realized that going that hard on the flats was just going to burn my matches. As I recovered he put 40 seconds into me. for the next 2 laps I got time checks and found where I was making and losing time to him. The time gaps stayed consistently at 30sec, 20sec, 30sec. 20 sec. Until I finally bridged to him with a big effort. With 1 lap to go he attacked as soon as I bridged. The gap stayed at 20 seconds, 30 seconds, 20 seconds. With a half lap to go I could see him on the long straightaway’s, but he saw me too. Going as hard as I could, fighting muscle cramps and going anaerobic for 2 hrs i made a few fatigue related errors in the trees. When the gap went up to 40 seconds I pretty much knew I wasn't going to catch him, damn. I ended up cramping bad on the last mini steep climb. I rode hard to the finish, 2 mins behind but finished 8th in Pro field, nice. It wasn't the placing's that had me happy, it was the feeling of really racing for the full 2hrs. So many times I have had to race my race, and essentially by myself for 2+ hrs in races but this time it was true racing, the way it should be. Leading, chasing, bridging back with huge efforts, chasing again, almost bringing it back, fighting the whole time...it was really awesome. Racing at sea level is also another great thing. Full muscle engagement for 2hrs with max efforts pushing huge gears and flying. Its always better the have muscular limits than aerobic i think. Bryan also got a top 10 in pro field despite mechanical problems while $ager won it! YAAAAA! The course was a blast, like riding a roller coaster for 2 hrs.

Running from the competition...


Chasing the competition....


Sager rocking it!


After racing it was time to be heros.


Sign some autographs...


I'm going to miss this place!


Thanks again to everyone who helped and made our trip so enjoyable. Doel Kicks ass at putting on races, Greg and Val are the most badass people ever, being the best hosts to a pair of college students on spring break, Aldy and Yano for hanging out, making apple crisp and being great friends, Haji for building and having our bikes dialed for the race, Jason and the team for the support and everyone else, so many names..... Anyone who does Fontana instead of this race next year is, just like they were this year...DUMB but x2. ya ULTIMATE DURT CHALLENGE!

There's some new girls in town

Went to San Juan to pick up Jason yesterday. nothing like 5+ hrs in the car to San Juan and back. However the pain of sitting in the car was offset by getting my new bike, just in time.



Got to ride it this morning, it rocks.

Time to hit the beach.