Early Season Results at The Sea Otter Classic and ...
The year has started off great! Moving to Durango, CO to help pursue my dream of competing with the top caliber Professional Cross Country racers in the US has proven to be an excellent move on my part! In addition to that, Scott bikes, Wilderness Trail Bikes(WTB) and Magura, have helped me put together a sub 20 pound hardtail for racing this year. The year couldn't have begun any better then it has.
In my first race of the year in Fontana, CA, I lined up with 105 other Pro riders. I was very anxious to see where my fitness was, but also nervous considering there were plenty of other very strong riders sitting on the line with me. At the start of the race, I was agrressive which put me in a top 25 position for the first half of the race. My power was there which was a first, but shortly thereafter my lack of race fitness began to show as I dropped back to finish in 34th place. A decent start, and I was very happy to see that my power was much better then the previous year. When I first moved up to Pro last summer, I could tell that I had a lot to do in order to stay with the top 25 riders, so to sit there for the first half of the race was a huge confidence booster! The good news was that was just the start of things.
The next big race I went to was The Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, CA. This would be a true test. The competition was there, and my race fitness had progressed after racing in two more "training" races. The weekend began with the Short Track race on Saturday where 80+ Pro riders showed up. In the short track I hung with the top 20 riders for the first 10 minutes and then dropped back to finish 22nd in the race. This surprised me because I have never had the power to hold on to the front pack of the Pro Short Trackj riders. A good result, but the true test still remained on the next day with the XC race.
There were 153 riders lined up in the XC race on Sunday. It was also very, very hot reaching the mid 90's at one point. The start was hectic with the larger field, but I managed to hold my own and pulled into the top 50% after the first 10 minutes. From there I got stuck behind many riders in the first two single track climbs, and wasn't able to push the pace too hard.......this was something I thought was bad at the time, but given the extremely hot conditions it worked to my advantage. About 20 minutes into the race I wasn't overheated and felt very good. I was able to break away from the riders I was with and started to push the climbs. Riders were dropping out like flies due to the high temperatures, and I continued to move up in positions. By the time I hit the half way point at the feed zone, I was sitting in the main chase group of about 6 riders which put me in contention for the Top 10!!!! I was, once again, very surprised. From there, though, things began to fall apart. The heat and faster pace began to play a tole on me and I dropped from the chase group, and then dropped back some more. The heat forced me to slow down along with many other riders. Luckily I only had 10 miles to suffer prior to the end of the race! When I finally finished, I was sitting in 25th place. A top 25 finish! A very solid effort, and one that will be remembered.
A very good start to an early season! I surprised myself. Much of it has been due to the constant support from my girlfriend, my sponsors(Scott Bikes, WTB, Magura), and my coach(Doug Bush of Endurance Factor). Much thanks goes out to them. On top of that, Durango, CO has the best trails around and is sitting at high altitude. A definite plus in my books! So now it's time to get back in the saddle and push the limits so that my fitness continues to grow and I can hold off that top 15 position for the entire race! Looking forward to it and hope to see many of you at the races!