Time for an update.

Hey y’all

The riding has begun again and I am starting to add on the miles.


But bigger than that (if you haven’t heard), Kristina and I are having a baby this week. Things are going great; Kristina is starting to get tired pretty easily but still won’t slow down. The family is starting to fill the house, my mom and Kristina mom and step dad are all here and the rest are waiting until the little poop machine shows up.

I never knew how much stuff it takes to have a baby. I think a bigger van might be in order ; ) But we are ready I already got “it” it’s first single speed. Pictures to come as soon as it can hold it’s head up (maybe sooner).
I thought a 29er would be too big, but it’s red like my Niner.

More updates to come…

Time for a break…

Well I have missed a couple race reports in the last month, mostly because I have been dealing with a sore hip that I haven’t given the chance to heal. Well, I did a road criterium this last weekend and my hip felt pretty good. The first good glimpse I have had in a while, I was making the turn back into good form.

So my first criterium, I have stayed away from these as I thought they were dangerous. I started out well; I knew everyone in the field and had ridden with them on many occasions. It was a very tight turning course but the field was only about 17 people. The pace was good and pretty fast, but not too fast, I felt like I had a good chance to win. The sprint was really for the last corner as the last stretch was very short. I made my move out of the second to last corner I pulled to the front and began to set my line for the last turn when someone came up on my outside and hit my left side and sent me flying.

Before I knew it I was sliding upside down on my helmet watching Mike Simpson slide down the road on top of my bike (this was good for Mike, bad for my bike), I’m glad Mike was OK! Before that I had hit the ground going about 32 mph landing on my left shoulder blade. Then from the head to my hands, hip and feet. After I stopped there was a crowd, lots of good friends and d a few people that just don’t get it… I got to ride in an ambulance for the first time, backboard and all, with my forehead taped down. So all in all it went from a $20 race with the possibility to win $250 to this laundry list….


Body damage:
Broken collarbone
Road rash on my shoulder, elbow, and from my hip to my knee.
Bike damage:
Broke Sram force crank in half, bent BB shell (only had 5 rides on them).
Cracked my frame.
Badly bent Mavic ES front wheel.
Destroyed front tire.
Bent front brake caliper.
Broke both shift levers.
Ground away both quick releases, seat, handlebar, bar tape and left pedal.
Destroyed my helmet and shoes.
I guess I was right, crits are dangerous…
So from now on NO more racing on the road!!! But I’ll still train there.

Thanks to: Justin of Revolution bicycle, Tom and Anthony for coming to the hospital with me. All of you that have called to share a kind word. All the support has been wonderful.

Pictures are comming soon...

Dirt Sweat and Gears
If you only do one race, do this one next year.

I have to say this was the best race I have ever attended. The only bad thing I can say about it…I have to wait 354 more days to do it again. My hat is off to Clay Higgins and all his wonderful crew, friends and family, you are amazing.

Not only was this event great or the participants with all the great swag, perfect timing, as many top endurance racers as you will see at any race, a great award ceremony and party after the race. It was also a great event for the spectators; it was very to see the racers at many points on each lap with little effort. There were also Trials stunt shows, live music, kids races, great food and the party after the race ; )

A huge complaint most racers have these days, or at least the ones I talk to, is courses are becoming way to easy. Courses are created in places that are spectator (and roadie) friendly. Little or no single track and nothing technical, courses that you can run slicks. This was a true mountain bike course, tough climbs (911 hill… to name one) lots of single track and cool features like some small “North Shore” style bridges. What makes this race absolutely perfect, is the combination of an incredibly fun and challenging course, and as I mentioned a great race for spectators/media to watch. This was a true national/world quality event!

See you all there next year!!!

If you have been looking for me I’m back….
It’s been almost two months since my last post; boy did it go by quickly. Here is a quick update on what has happened.

Injuries: Three weeks off the bike due to Siatic nerve issues. I wish doctors were as god like as they thought they were! “ Take these Vicodin and rest, if you’re not better in 4-6 weeks we will try something else” that’s what the doc said. No luck it just got worse. After doing a little research I found that exercise helps. (See Sea Otter Classic below) Oh yeah, a little help for the rest of you…If you ever take as much viacidin as I did, take a laxative as well ; )

New toys: For those of you that know me I have been traveling around in a VW Golf (powered by Biodiesel) for that last many years. Unloading it is like the cargo van the clowns use when they are traveling 20 to a car. So, I finally decided to get something a little bigger, A Sprinter, it needs some customization but it is a great rig, so roomy and great biodiesel mileage (about 25mpg doing 80) as well.

Racing: Wow!!! I have shocked myself and a few others…
Sea Otter Classic, As I mentioned before I was off the bike so long that I wasn’t sure if I could even finish one lap at Sea Otter. I planned to get there early to preride to see how my back would do…. I picked Dejay up in San Jose on Thursday, and planned to pre ride on Friday. If you know Dejay (and I’m sure you do…) he know everyone, before our preride we took a quick lap through the expo, 6 hours later it was dark and we had not seen the dirt. Plan # 2 early Saturday morning, get up ride then relax. Is 10:30 early, it is for us… We got up, got ready got on our bikes and made it about a mile before the clouds opened up and let loose an inch or two of rain in about 2 hours. I guess I’ll see what my back can do during the race…Plan # 3, 7:32 a.m. Sunday morning, start the race, and try to finish. I took the first lap easy, my back was pretty stiff, but by the time I got to the track my body was ready, I decided to go for it on the second lap. I passed about 7 singles and about 200 others, ending with a faster second lap and a time of about 3:02, about 10 min behind Travis Brown. My confidence was back, and I was ready to go to Tennessee for the Cohutta 100 and the Dirt sweat and Gears 12 hour.

Cohutta 100, this was a cool race…on the starting line with the big boys. Chris Eatough, Tinker Juarez, Mark Hendershot, Harlan Price, Ernesto Marenchin and many more top riders. It was a long race and Sea Otter was the longest ride I had done in a month. Plan # 247, Start easy and finish…strong. It started with some fun single track that made it hard to pass for the first hour, but it was perfect, I got a great warm up. I hit the first double track and started to move… Not knowing it, but I had passed the singlespeeder in the lead. I keep a strong pace and rode like I was in second place until the last aid station and they informed me I was in the lead, I had to finish hard. No problem, I finished first in the single speed category 18 min ahead of second place. And 23 overall with a time of 7:47.24.

Cohutta 100

Dirt Sweat and Gears 12 hour, what a great event (more to come on the event itself).

8:00a.m. To 8:00 p.m. Plan # 1, Let everyone go out too hard and POP!!! I had three Singles in front of me for the first three laps, Jake Kirkpatrick, Dejay Birtch and Lee Unwin. I don’t think they ever got more than 5 minutes ahead of me but when I passed them they seemed to be going backwards. Five laps into the race I hadn’t eaten enough and was starting to slow, and Dejay had a very good lap, my lead went from 15 min to about 5, I got a little scared. Not far into the 6th lap Pua caught me and I decided to try and stay with here for a while. After a lap I had my legs back and was on the move again. 11:47.03 later I was finished with 11 laps, 1 more than Dejay Birtch (2nd place Pro single speed), and 7th place solo overall.



Coming soon…
New sponsors
Up coming races
What I liked a bout the Dirt Sweat and Gears 12 hour race!!!

The Warriors Society’s Vision Quest
56.5 miles and 11,000’ of climbing, why is it that I keep coming back to this event every year? It’s a simple answer…I’m crazy!!! At least I used a suspension fork this year.

5:30 a.m. darkness still flooding Black star Canyon, some had lights some rode by brail. Cameron (the overall winner) had a light and used it to establish an early lead and spread the group of 300 or so out like a line of ants. I was dreading the early start, mostly because I don’t like to get out of bead before 8:00, but it ended up being pretty awesome sight. After fifteen minutes you could look down the switchbacks and watch the line of lights snaking up the canyon. It’s not too often to see a group that big on a night ride.
So, this is what the race works out to be…
An hour and a half of climbing, a ten-minute technical descent.
An hour and forty min climb, a 30-minute descent.
An hour and a half climb (including a 30minute hike), a 30-minute descent to the finish.

This was my first big test of the year and it went pretty well. I lead the single speed category for almost the whole race. Mike Kent (this guy can go fast!!!) passed me on the Holy Jim trail and had the lead for about 15 minutes. This is when I was truly tested; I had started cramping about five minutes earlier and didn’t have the agility to flow smoothly and almost gave up and let him go. I wanted the win and couldn’t give up; there was a long way to go. I found a groove and made it to the bottom where I found Mike fixing a flat tire. Just the break I needed!!! I went as hard as I could without cramping, only for Mike to catch me at the base of the hike-a-bike section. I knew if I beat him to the top of the last descent I could beat him to the finish. Everything I had went into that hike.

No sign of him at the top of the hike. I had a margarita (Clif shotbloks) and made my way across the Main Divide to the top of the Trabuco trail. 11,000 feet of climbing done, it was all down hill to the finish. And I was in the lead. Within a couple minutes Mike was on my wheel, but this time he as going to have to work if he wanted to pass me. He was on my wheel for a couple minutes, the he was gone another flat. I caught Brad and Todd (both race for Team Shoair as well) and they let me draft for a couple minutes, but I couldn’t keep the pace on a singlespeed.
I crossed the finish line in 5:56:35 more than 21 minutes faster than last year. First place single speed and sixth place overall.

The BIG wheel single speeds take first and second, it must be the hair!!!

Great job to everyone that competed this year!!!
As someone famous said:
”It hurts the same for everyone, some people just go faster”

24 Hours in the Old Pueblo

Finally a good time at the 24 hours in the Old Pueblo.
The two previous years for me were rough. Both solo attempts, neither lasting more than 11 hours. There was mud, crashes, broken bikes, rain, getting lost, and freezing temperatures…it was no fun.
This year was nothing like that; Dejay Birtch, Jake Kirkpatrick, Chris Latham and I decided not to solo, and to try a 4-man singlespeed team instead. It was the perfect year, good weather, a little windy but I like the wind (while I am racing). We had a goal to set a new course record, unfortunately, half way through the night we knew that wasn’t going to happen. We were having too many mechanical problems; flats, broken chains and a couple crashes. Also, the “Jack Mormon Militia” was there with the same goal and they weren’t having the problems that we were.
The mechanical problems were over by the middle of the night, and we had some catch up to do. We had found ourselves in 4th place about 35 minutes behind 1st. By 3:00a.m. We were back in second place getting closer to the “Militia” but they kept a gap of about 25 minutes all the way to the end.

In the end we finished pretty well, Dejay had the fasted night lap of all the singlespeeders, I was the third fastest person on the first lap (with a flat tire) and we were the third fastest team overall!
Four guys, four bikes, one gear, 25 hours, 345 miles! Priceless

For all you thinking about doing a 24-hour race, think about the 24 hours in the Old Pueblo!!! It is a fun course and is the best-run race that I have ever competed in. Thanks Todd and the Epic rides staff and volunteers.

I would love to write more but there is a new update on Fox news about Brittany leaving rehab… talk to ya later.

Fuzzy