Back to the Trails

This past weekend was my first time racing a mountain bike in a long time. For those who don’t know, MTB racing is where cycling started for me. I think a lot of people who I’ve only know a short time think I’m only a CX racer. While that has taken priority for me the last two seasons, the MTB will always be special to me. Last year I only raced twice, once in early February and once in July. The shoulder surgery between kept me off of the trails, and then it was full CX mode as soon as I could start riding again. 

Last weekends race was a marathon event put on by Team Warmup. It was scheduled for 5.5 hrs. Having not ridden over 2 hours in several months, I didn’t expect a lot of myself. I got to the front early with Brandon Melott, and we rode together for about 2 hrs. He’s a marathon specialist so I always try to pace off of him to get this long distance stuff figured out, I still haven’t… After 4 laps I decided it was time to back it off. I rode alone for a couple more before pulling the plug. I knew my body had its limits and didn’t care to push beyond that. It’s funny how at home I normally feel on the MTB, but all the time away is taking some work to get back where I’m comfortable pushing a race speed through the trees. My body sure wasn’t used to it, I felt beat down after and the next day. That was to be expected though. All said and done it was a fun day and a well run event. Vanessa and Aubrey did the Women’s Team Relay, unfortunately they had no competition to race against but they both had a good time anyway. Ryan teamed up with fellow Bike Lab Junior Kye Cordes and they gave the Men’s Team Relay a solid fight coming in Third place! Those kids were going for it! 

I’m giving myself a couple more weeks to just ride how I feel before getting back to structured training in preparation for the Marathon National Championships in May. Also having some more shoulder issues with the one that was fixed last year, but thanks to some good advice from a few individuals, I think it’s going to be ok. I’m not the best at longer distance racing, but can’t pass up the chance to race Nats so close to home in Arkansas. See you all on the trails soon!

CX National Championships

This could take a while. It really happened, I won a National Championship!! For those who don’t know let’s take a step back to the road that led to this point and the people behind it.

Intro to CX

First up is my friend Josh Jewell. About 7 years ago he introduced me to cross. I did some practices on a Frankenbike and was hooked. I raced cross locally a lot with no real ambitions beyond that. Enter Paul Watkins. A cross fanatic. He pushed a bit to make me realize I was a good cross racer and kind of got me thinking about doing nationals. So that at least got me to Austin in 2015. I was way out of my element and barely squeaked onto the podium with a fifth. The call I received a month or so after that really made things take off. It was Jake Lasley asking some vague questions on my future plans for Cross. Then leaving me hanging with not much info. This was the beginning of our now very successful SPCX cross team which opened many more opportunities to reach my full potential. 

2016 pre/season

Watching Jake win in Asheville made me realize that it’s 100% reality that guys from Oklahoma can do this. I was standing there when he rolled up and I wanted to experience that feeling so bad. 

I had a lot of time to sit and think about my near miss at CX Nats in 2016 in Asheville. It was one that I coulda,shoulda had. The reason? I wasn’t fully prepared. It’s hard to admit that sometimes but it was the truth. So in March after I had shoulder surgery, there plenty of thinking and planning time. Many back and forth conversations with my coach Mark Teruki as well as searching for solutions from my teammates Paul Bonds and Jake. They, along with Paul W. are my go to guys. Always there with advice and info. No one knows it all so you can’t be too proud to ask for help. Mark and I laid out a slightly different plan and I committed to making big changes with my nutrition. The planning phase ended with a text from Mark reading “now let’s go get that jersey”. The loss in Asheville lit the fire, but Mark poured gas on it and there was only one goal from then on.

Putting in the Work

I was fully recharged after 8 weeks of no riding and ready to go. Before I could ride I had began dropping weight and working on core strength. These were both huge factors in my successful season. I worked my ass off. The amount of focus it takes to stick to a plan and not veer off track for 9 months is very hard. My mind would wander thinking of different things to do or new goals to set after cross, but I had to stop and bring myself back. I had to stay focused. 

The race season started on a high note and it just continued. I was going up against some stiff competition across the US and taking wins so I knew I was on the right track. The negative side for the laser focus I had on Hartford was not being able to enjoy all the wins. I was winning some big races and each one I didn’t really enjoy or give much thought to. It felt like finish a training day more than winning a race. Don’t take that as it was an easy task, because it wasn’t. I just felt like “ok that job is done, now I need to go train and keep preparing for Nats”. It was a weird thing for me but it’s like none of those wins mattered if I didn’t win in Hartford. I was afraid to relax and lose focus all season. There were also many days I did not want to do the work, but that’s not how to get it done. I remember one particular day I was not feeling it and I guess Vanessa knew it. She was gone when I got him but there was a not left for me that I saved.

Through a process like this, I can’t tell you how many times you’ll doubt yourself and your abilities to be able to achieve what you are trying to. Luckily I have a lot of people that believed in me at those times.

Now it wasn’t all perfect. I had a couple of really bad races. There were reasons for them that I caused, and I’m happy about it in hindsight. The reason is it taught me lessons that better prepared me for the final race. Keep that in mind next time things go wrong. Rather than get upset, figure out what positives you can take from that. 

Race Day

Let’s get on with this! I mentioned in my last post that I did not care what conditions race day brought. Well I meant that and it’s a good thing! It snowed overnight, on top of the existing frozen ruts and footprints. Luckily I was fourth race of the day so lines were starting to work in. I went through my normal race day routine. I changed nothing, stayed as warm as I could, and was actually more relaxed than i thought. It’s a lot of pressure coming in as the favorite to win. You’re the initial target for everyone. So I knew my only option was to take control and race my bike. I knew the ONLY position to be in up Bonk Breaker hill was first. It was a must! 

The whistle blows, hit my pedal quick and it was go time. The snow covered pavement made it to where you had to hold back some to avoid wheel spin. I was leading coming through pit 1 which lead into the super slick corner before Bonk Breaker hill. Someone pushed to pass but I fought and took the line back. I eased through the corner and punched it all the way to the hill. It was a big effort, but paid off as I was in control on the most important part of the course. Then seconds later I crashed! It a quick down and up and I was still third. I got the lead back but was passed in the woods so I latched on to that rider and recovered a bit through the rest of the lap. I heard the announcer say we had about 20 sec gap on third on lap 1 which was surprising but good. Next was THE MOMENT. I took the lead before pit 1. There were packed tracks from a truck which was the main line. I got into that and pushed. Then I heard a loud noise behind me and I’m thinking “no way did he just crash”. Sure enough he caught a frozen rut and it sent him into the pit fencing.

In my head this was my perfect scenario. To get a gap in the lead on this course. Why? Because there was a definite speed limit. I knew I had the ability to ride that limit so if I had a gap and didn’t have any issues, they couldn’t catch me. I put in hard efforts everywhere the course allowed and tiptoed it everywhere else. I was actually doing it!! There wasn’t a second I took to enjoy what was happening because you couldn’t lose focus at all or you would crash on this course. I almost crashed on the slight curve to the finish stretch twice. So it was not over until you were on the pavement. As soon as I dropped off that curb the last lap I started to smile. It was over, I just won Cyclocross Nationals. Arms were up and I was yelling. I watched earlier races in the week and sat and watched people do the same. You can feel their joy when they win. It’s such a special thing for each victory. I finally got to have that feeling! Vanessa was there and I gave her a big hug, the kids were there, and my teammates. It was so great. Then immediately I had interviews to do with USA Cycling and CX magazine. Then had to run around and make sure I didn’t have to do anti-doping tests, then eat and change to get ready to pit for my teammates. 

I told Vanessa I was exhausted after. It was a feeling of all that energy and focus I’ve had to keep, and all the pressure of putting it together on one day, for one race, was finally gone and it sucked all of my energy. It was a weird feeling. A good feeling, but I was tired! 

I felt the support of our community all season, but I was blown away grabbing my phone once I had time to. Well once I charged it, I had received so many calls, texts, messages etc. that it killed my battery! I can’t thank you all enough for being behind me. I tried to reply to everyone in some way but there was so much that I’m sure I missed some, sorry. You expect your team and family to support you, but to have what feels like an entire state staring at social media and cheering for you is humbling. So again, thank you all. 

Special thanks to Vanessa. She busted her ass the whole week taking care of things allowing the kids and myself to relax and just focus on racing. She gets it, and I’m very lucky to have her on my side. Even if she cried my whole race haha! Also my team and all of its supporters and sponsors. You all make it possible for us to go achieve these goals. Most are on the team kit, some aren’t, you all know who you are and we are very grateful. My employer Charley’s Bicycle Lab for being super supportive in terms of letting me off work anytime I need it to go race and make this happen. Not many employers would do that and I realize it. Bill Marshall. He was our team’s pit man for the day. If you don’t know Bill, there’s pretty much no one you could find better for the job. Total professional and I had 100% confidence on race day having him in charge of my bikes. 

Now I’m taking some time to enjoy it. It’s often just on to the next thing. This is a BIG one so I’m going to enjoy it. The amazing thing about winning Nats, it’s it’s forever. State champs you wear the jersey for a year then it’s done, Nationals you earn the right to wear those stripes on your racing kit forvever. That’s a special thing. You see a lot of people with the arm and leg bands. I don’t know about you, but when I see that, regardless of age, I have instant respect. I hope I could do this again, but watching Paul and Jake race, I realized even more so how hard this is to do. They are both very capable of being champions, but both had really bad luck during that 45min. Everything has to go right to win this event. So this could be my only time to ever do this, and that’s ok with me, but don’t think I won’t keep trying for more.