been a great season of racing -
I have had a great time riding and racing with my friends. First I want to thank all my sponors, because with out your support none of my 2009 sucess would have been possible...Thank YOU! Kirt & Lindsey Voreis, Travis Lucas, and the whole Allride Academy Team, Santa Cruz Bicycles, SRAM, WTB, Fox, DT Swiss, Five Ten, POC, Deity Components, MRP, Suspension Experts.

August was a two race month for me - First we traveled back to MT Snow for the Kenda festival - where I placed first in the 4 cross and First in the CAT 1 1-18 DH. Mount Snow puts on such a great event, we had a awesome weekend hanging out with friends, After a 3 week break we traveled to Lake Placid to race the Whiteface 5K Downhill. Last year when i raced here i was just getting back to racing after my Spleenectomy so this year I was ready for the long DH run.  After a sloppy day of practice in the cold rain on Saturday, Sunday race day the sun came out and was very welcome. My start time was early in the day so the course would still be wet for my race run.  Giant Bicycles was paying the fastest Amateur time of the day $200. - that was my goal to be the fastest Am.  My race run was clean at one point i had to jump off and run but no big deal.
My time when I crossed the Line was 8:17 that was the Fastest Amateur time of the day - I won my class and the $200.00.

My Santa Cruz V10 was perfect thanks to my sponsors and friends...Santa Cruz Bicycles,  Kirt Vories Allride Academy, Fox, Deity, Sram, MRP. DT Swiss, POC, Camel Back, WTB, Kirt, Lindsey, Travis and Lars

Next Race Blue Mountain

Richie

We have been trying to race as much as we can this summer,  there are so many races here on the East coast its tough to make it to all the mountains. 

I raced Dual Slalom and DH at Highland  the weekend of the 12th and the courses were great. The new dual slalom course is one of the best courses I have ever raced.  I was first in DS and the DH. While we were at Highland one of our friends offered my mom  and I a chance to fly to Colorado for the National Championship. It was so nice of them and my Mom was so excited to travel out west, so we said yes and thank you, of course!

Colorado was so much fun and beautiful scenery - we hung out with Kirt, Lindsey , Travis and the Allride Academy everyone is so supportive, thank you!  My 13-14 year old group was pretty big it was good to see so many kids racing!  I wanted a clean solid race run and my Santa Cruz V-10 delivered the goods - Travis spent so much time dialing in my bike for me - I am so thankful for all his hard work.  Thanks to Kirt, Lindsey, Santa Cruz Bicycles, Sram, MRP, WTB, DT Swiss, POC, Deity and all my teammates from the Allride Academy.

Once my race run was done we jumped on a plane Saturday back to Boston and drove to Bartlett NH to race in the DH GES at Attitash. We got to Bartlett at 4:00am slept for 2 hours then put my bike together, put on my gear and started practice - i was really having fun on this course and the weather was perfect. I won the Cat 1 18 and Under race, but really had a great time riding and racing with my friends.  

We had a crazy week/weekend that I will remember for a long time to come - Thank you to our friends for making this happen for me!

Again thanks to Kirt, Lindsey, Santa Cruz Bicycles, Sram, MRP, WTB, DT Swiss, Fox, POC, Deity and all my teammates from the Allride Academy.

Richie

Well for the the third year in a row we have traveled to Race the US Open at Diablo Freeride Park in Vernon NJ. This year I would be racing in the Am junior division, at 14 years old I'm not allowed to race in AM senior.  Also new this year was the addition of a new event, Giant Slalom on the Indy Cross Course.

Another cool thing this year was that Kirt, Travis and a bunch of the Allride Academy members  were racing the Open - so i had a great weekend hanging out with my teammates.

First race was Giant Slalom Saturday Night  - I did not practice any Giant Slalom because of the heat and the climb to the top of the slalom course - i didn't want to take anything away from my Sunday DH finals run.  The GS was a best of two timed runs - I qualified first with a time of 44 seconds and thats pretty much were my timed race runs stayed  with my fastest being a 44:25 good enough for Second, Brad Zdriluk was first with a nice 43:68. Congrats Brad.

Sunday came the start of the DH finals 26 Junior men qualified out of 80 riders.....the faster riders go last and since I qualified 3rd I would have to wait til most of the riders went.......well half way thru the group the course went on lightening hold and we were all sent down the mountain to seek shelter after about a hour and a deluge of rain the course reopened and racing resumed on a now wet and slimy course.  The next several racers were having tough runs and there times were much slower than the previous dry conditions race runs.......I moved to the gate to take my run I wanted to do my best and hopefully that would result in a win.  Well it was definately snotty in some spots but i love riding this mountain in the rain and i think that helped. I came across the timer at 2:42 good enough to win by 6 seconds...such a awesome weekend.

Thanks to Kirt, Travis and the Allride Academy for all the help this weekend I couldn't have done it with out you!
Thanks to Santa Cruz Bicycles, SRAM, Rockshox, Deity Components, WTB, DTSWISS, FOX, Troy Lee Designs, Cycle Center of Stamford, MRP.  Thanks Diablo Freeride

So we packed up the car on a rainy Thursday morning and drove 8 hours to Massanutten in Virginia.  The race this weekend was the Massanutten Yee Ha - a really fun Downhill race held on a prior world cup course.

I practied Friday and loved the course my Allride Academy Santa Cruz V10 was perfect - I was having so much fun on course taking runs with my friends.

After a full day of practice we headed back to the room - Thanks to Team Drop - for a bed to crash in Friday night.
Woke up Sunday made some minor tire changes and got ready to practice - took 3 runs and felt good on course.

Race time comes - and I'm trying to put together a nice smooth run but I bash my pedal in the first rock garden and bend the axle now pedaling is difficult but i make it through the course to the last berm to the speed trap and slide out of the bike i gather it all back up and race down the course to the finish - my time is a 3:37 which put me in second place Cat 1 juniors and in the top ten overall for the day.

I learned a bit about how hard i can push it and can't wait to meet up with the Allride Academy Crew at the U.S. Open in two weeks.

Thanks again to my Sponsors Santa Cruz Bicycles,  AllRide Academy, MRP, WTB, DT Swiss, Sram, Rockshoxx, Deity , Smith Goggles, Bell Helmets and Fox.

Richie

Sea Otter was a great time. I traveled out to CA last week to race CAT 1 DS and DH. The dual Slalom course was epic and so much fun. The Downhill was a fast course with a bit of pedaling but all the riding and winter training I did paid off with a Win in the Downhill CAT 1 15-16 year old group.  I had so much fun hanging with my Allride Academy teammates.

Thanks to all my 2009 sponsors for helping me make a great start to the season: Santa Cruz Bicycles, Allride Academy, MRP, DT Swiss, Sram, Rockshox, Truvativ, WTB, Kirt , Lindsey, Travis and Deity components.

Well March 2009 has been a exciting month for me. The economy has certainly had a impact on all our lives, and I feel really lucky to be a team member of the AllRide Academy for 2009 - Thank you so much Kirt,  Lindsey, Travis and the whole Santa Cruz Bicycle Family for this oppurtunity!  check the link   http://www.santacruzbicycles.com/news/index.php?news=1&NewsID=0081.

More good news came in March from Deity Components in Oregon, Eric Davies offered me a fresh blood sponsorship, so my new Santa Cruz Jackal will be a 100% Deity build and will be my new Dual Slalom race bike. Thank you Eric and Deity Components! check them out at   http://deitycomponents.com/

Now back to training for Sea Otter,  its only 16 days away and I have been working hard to make a great start to the season.

Bye

Richie

Thank you Santa Cruz Bicycles, Kirt Voreis, Lindsey Voreis, Travis Lucas, Allride Tour, Sram, Rockshox, MRP, Deity, Avid, DT Swiss,  FOX  and E thirteen. 

  

I 'm so excited,  I just heard from Staats and they are supporting me for 2009 for the BMX season. I enjoy BMX racing and look forward to having a great season racing on my new Staats 20 inch race bike.  I loved my Staats Cromo frame I raced in 2004 and 2005 but with a few growth spurts,  I will now be racing a ProXL frame.  Bethel Supercross will be opening in about a month so I hope to see some of you out there checking out the new track and my new Staats.

Thanks again Staats!

Check them out at   www.Staatsbikes.com

richie