What inspires you to compete?
Friends who have been able to make a living out of their riding. People who are some of the best riders I know all got their start in racing, or racing has helped their riding. Racing gives you a lot of skills and opens you to the bike community that is filled with great people.
Describe your style...
My riding started as freeriding. I had a total hucker style with all of my riding. I looked clumsy on everything I did. Since I went to Whislter and started racing, my style has eveolved into a flowy smooth style, but I still love huge gaps, drops, jumps....... I have found that racing has helped my freeriding and freeriding has helped my racing. I see lines on trail where I can hit doubles to turns or over turns and then at the same time I am able to do it looking smooth and it turns out to be faster than railing the turn.
Do you train? What does your schedule look like?
I love improving my riding and skiils. I get a huge stoke on hitting corners without braking. I think I prioritize my riding and training around cornering. The stuff in between matters too, but if you can hit a turn that is loose with a drop in it and then turns off camber and you can hit it fast, then everything else seems pretty easy. I love to train. My training basically consists of making full dh shuttle runs with my buddies and timing full runs as well as sections to see how I improve from run to run. Other than that, I just ride on a daily or multi-daily basis. I love xc riding in the morning dirt jumping in the afternoon and then shutlling before dinner when it cools off. I think this builds me up physically as well as mentally.
Music?
Love it, it gets me into my groove when I am training or just out riding. I have yet to try it at a race but have been doing it most of the season till I lost my Ipod, which I found a week later....and it still worked. For riding I have a very specific taste for music, but it then varies depending on the ride I am on. Generally for training its pretty heavy metal/alternative rock and then on chill rides with my bros it can vary immensly. At home or in my car, I listen to absolutely everything.
How's Life Treating You?
The season went well, but ended with a pretty bad injury, mainly to my face. No teeth loast but a 3 hour surgery resulted. I won the overall still for the Mountain States Cup 19-24 and got my upgrade to race semi-pro for 2007, so I am pumped.