My newest 29er

Here are a few pictures of the little guy born on the 29th of July, 2007. No name yet but soon...

Doping sucks, or is it a good thing…

Vino, Rasmussen, Floyd and who else? What a disgrace to road cycling… Why does it happen there and not in Mountain biking? will it change the sport? I think so. I finally think the money will start to disappear from the road racing. Less prize money, less sponsorship money and all around less attention. So, less pressure to perform for the money. Less doping.

Bad for road racing, good for mountain biking? Will the pendulum swing to the other side and give mountain biking the spotlight? I think it will but hopefully not to fast. The reason I enjoy mountain bike racing so much is the simple fact that is about riding and having fun. Most professional mountain bikers spend more on racing than they get back from it. We do it because we love it! Not for the money or the attention.

As much I as I would love to make the salary of a major league baseball player, I wouldn’t want what came with it. But I don’t think salary’s like baseball will ever happen in mountain biking, mostly because baseball is so much more fun to watch ; )
Lets keep mountain biking fun, but lets make it worth it so those who devote their life to it.

So, here are my 2 cents: Let them dope or suspend them for taking an aspirin, I don't really care…I’m going for a ride!!! See you on the trail (with my dignity).

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!!!