Back on Track

Over the past few weeks, as you all know, I have been on the road with the team, with the last stop being in Missoula, MT. Home to recently crowned US National XCO Champion and Olympian, Sam Schultz.

The Missoula Pro XCT is renowned for its technical climbing and defending as well as the famous "A-Line" drop. Being one of my favorite courses on the circuit I was super amped on the race that lay ahead. The punchy, steep climbs are very well suited to my riding style on the mountain bike and the technical descents, again, play into my hands extremely well.

The week leading up to the race was perfect. I felt extremely dialed in on the course, although lacking a bit of the explosive power needed for the course, I felt fairly confident going into the weekend. Jordi, Specialized Factory, insured that my bike was absolutely perfect for the race. The rest was left up to me, and me alone.  Race day rolled around, and with the extremely late start around 6pm, it meant I was going to be getting in a lot of "chill time." It definitely provide some sort of new challenge for me. To remain focussed and concentrated on doing absolutely everything to ensure you do not waste any ounce of energy throughout the heat of the day was tough, but I felt I managed to do it well.

The race eventually rolled around, after what seemed like an eternity. There was just one thing that seemed to be bothering me. Having raced so many of the longer, marathon style races, I could definitely feel I was lacking a little of the "snap" I usually had. But, I was quietly confident in my descending and endurance to hold myself in a good position through the end. 

The whistle went, and we sped into the first climb. Somehow I found myself surfing through the bunch with ease, and soon was alongside Todd Wells, JHK, Sam Schultz, Russel Finsterwald and Howard Grotts as we punched our way up the mountain side. A dropped train, due to a bad shift, dropped me down the group a little, but was still inside the top 10. From there, things got very, very difficult for me.    I simply did not have the power to close the gaps back down, I made the only smart decision possible and that was to keep calm and try force mistakes from other rides on the descent back down the mountain each lap. It ended up working. Almost every lap I would make a pass on the descent, only to lose it on the climb, but by staying calm and loose, I was also making up ground of riders further ahead of me too.  On the final lap I was able to force a mistake from Ryan Woodall, and moved into a top 10 position. I ended up crossing the line for my second top 10 finish in a Cat 1. UCI Pro XCT race this season. Although the race was VERY far from good in my books, it was awesome to get a good result after not feeling that great on the bike during the race. A huge thank you needs to go out to Team Sho-Air for helping me get across the country and ensuring that I have a good support structure at the races. Another BIG thanks to Specialized bikes for the flawless machines I am lucky enough to race on! 

Now its a big build up to the final round of the Pro XCT series, at my personal favorite race course, Mt Morris, Wisconsin. I have very fond memories from my success there last year and hope to repeat it. For now though, its train, train, train back here in Cali. 

Until next time.

B

Hitting the drop in practice on Friday.

After two hours of sleep the night before, and a 4hour flight back to Cali. from Montana, I took part in the Pro Criterium in Domiguez Hills. I went on the attack from the word go, and didn't stop.

Big Bear Pro UET 50

Hey guys

Im writing this post from our accommodation in Colorado Springs as I prepare for this coming weekends US National Pro XCT #3. A short note on the course, the track is awesome, really awesome. Its probably one of the best I've ridden so far, with a rad amount of technical riding.  Theres not as much climbing as I would like, but the amount of technical riding makes up for it. I love it!

So onto last weekend. Although Im not a marathon specialist, myself and the team opted to race the Pro UET in Big Bear last weekend for a number of reasons. 1. Was to help team mate, Eric Bostrom, try to retain his number one ranking in the Pro UET series. 2. To race at altitude before heading over to race my favored discipline of XCO in Colorado, and 3. With the 50miler fitting in perfectly in my new training regime, it would prove to be great conditioning for the up coming XCO races, allowing to build a "bigger engine" so to speak.

I went up to Big Bear right after the Sagebrush Pro UET in an attempt to get used to the high altitude. Needless to say, the training blocks/weeks leading up to Big Bear were absolutely brutal, a few of which were tipping over the 20hr range. The altitude definitely took its toll, but by the time the race rolled around I was confident that I was fully acclimated. The only thing I was unsure of was how I would hold up on tired legs.

Race day rolled around and we were greeted with a glorious day in Big Bear. The sun was out, not a breath of wind and clear blue skies. Team orders were the same as Sagebrush, protect Eric and try follow/pull him up to any attacks made by Tinker or any other championship contenders. Although the weather was absolutely perfect, there was still one thing that would work against the riders, the heat. By the time we started the race, the heat was already becoming a little uncomfortable, couple that with the thin air and the 50miles that still lay ahead, it was gonna be a tough day.

The start was pretty mellow as we rolled out of the parking lot area and cruised towards the first climb of the two lap 25mile course. As we hit the foot of the climb, a surge from Tinker and a younger rider went off the front. I help back, hesitant to see if Eric would be able to roll up to the front of the bunch so we could begin to reel the move back.  Unfortunately after a couple of minutes I had to make the decision to try reel back the gap by myself, I soon found out however, that it was gonna be a very long, tough day for me. My legs felt really heavy but fortunately I was able to hold a good consistent pace and was also able to rely on my technical skills to pull back the break.  Half way through the first 25mile loop, I had pulled back the 2minute gap the leaders had opened up, and managed to get by on one of the steep sections. I unfortunately made a silly mistake after getting my feed bag and dropped all my bottles. I stopped to pick them up, and in the process, dropped bag down to third. Not having much on the climbs, the two managed to open up another gap, I managed to stay calm and rode the gap back over the course of the 2nd lap. Tinker gapped his brake away companion early in the 2nd lap, I began to feel a little better and soon caught the rider in 2nd. I immediately attacked and started to bridge up to Tinker who was around 2minutes up the road. I caught him at the feed station with around 8miles to go, and so began a game of cat and mouse. I started to suffer a little with the distance, which allowed him to put his endurance to good use. He edged away as we approached the final descent into Big Bear, but the super rough, XCO type single track allowed me to eat away his gap at a rapid pace. I soon found myself in his dust and still closing the gap down.

Unfortunately, he managed to hold me off by around 30seconds by the time we reached the finish line. A little unhappy with my result, but still confident after having had such a gnarly training block, i was able to leave the race pretty psyched about the upcoming pro XCT. Pua once again destroyed the women's overall and finished in the top 10 of the men.

Now we're on towards Colorado Springs, where I hope to have a repeat of Texas.

Until then,

B

Pro XCT 1 - Mellow Johnny's

The first round of the Pro XCT (formerly known as the NORBA series) was held down in Dripping Springs, TX. Pua Mata and myself made a somewhat eventful trip down to Texas on Monday, 27 Feb. To start things off, around 2hrs into the trip, the turbo on the Sprinter van blew. This resulted in us crawling down the freeway with Trucks rolling by us as if we were standing still. Then came the long wait once we had found a dealership to replace the part. 6hrs later we eventually rolled out of Redlands and began to make some serious progress on the road, but this too was short lived. Rain began to pelt down, then came some snow, then came wind storms, then came sand storms, then came sand storms with rain, it was absolutely crazy! After a brutal day on the road, we pulled into a hotel for the night, got some rest and hit the road first thing the next morning. The next day and a half of driving went by pretty smoothly and we eventually rolled into our accommodation in Dripping Springs.

Over the course of the next few days I put some time in on the new S-Works Epic 29 from Specialized. A few slight changes to the 2012 line up means the bike is lighter and stiffer, trust Specialized to better an already amazing bicycle!

The Epic rolled over the super technical terrain with ease, which left me in a really positive and quietly confident state of mind as race day was fast approaching. With Friday being the final day of practice before Saturday afternoons Pro Mens event, it would be my final opportunity to dial in the rocky, technical terrain. I burnt a couple laps out early on in the day before heading back to our house to kick my feet up for the remainder of the day. Dinner time rolled around, which presented a pretty surreal situation. Ben and Eric Bostrom (Team Sho-Air team mates), two motorcycle legends that both my brother and I had spoken about when we were kids, made the entire team a delicious pasta dinner. I also got to hang out and hear some of the stories from the Boz Bros early days of racing.

A good nights rest and a late sleep in left me feeling super rested going into race day. With close on 80 riders I was a little nervous to see where I'd actually be called up. Ty, Team Sho-Air manager, soon learnt that I was seeded 41st, which put me on the 5th or 6th row, and with a course as tight and twisty as this, my work was definitely going to be cut out for me. Another huge factor that was looming in the air, was the fact that this race was going to be an Olympic Qualifying event for both the Americans and Canadians, meaning all the top guns would be here. Max Plaxton, Todd Wells, Geoff Kabush, Jeremiah Bishop, Sam Schultz, JHK, Spenser Paxson, you name them, the best riders in North America were there!

The start was mayhem and utter carnage. We sprinted our way towards the first single track, which was only a few hundred meters down the road, causing massive bottle- necking, allowing the riders at the front of the pack to get away and put in an almost impossible gap to close back down. I was able to work my way up into 25th after the start loop, and so my battle to get to the front end of the race began. By the end of the 1st lap I had moved up to 18th and I was still reeling in riders. I made passes wherever possible, sometimes aggressive, sometimes upsetting the applecart in the process, but it was the only efficient way of me working my way up through the field. By the third lap I was up to 12th with a group of 7 ahead of me.I made a push to get onto the group, when I eventually latched onto the group, I was surprised to see the likes of JHK and Spenser Paxson as well as Ryan Woodall and Russel Fintsterwald all in the group. I then got news that Sam Schultz and Jeremiah Bishop were a couple seconds up ahead of the road. JHK launched an attack shortly after I caught onto the group, leaving the rest of us to battle it out in the dust. Going into the final lap I was sitting around 8th, but a hard charging Adam Craig put me into 9th shortly after. Then came a series of attacks from myself and Spenser Paxson (Jamis Factory), this catapulted us off the front of the group and resulted in us battling it out as we were approaching the finish line at a rapid rate of knots. Spenser managed to open a gap in the final single track after I made a silly mistake, but I was able to recover and regained contact as we popped onto the finishing straight. He started his sprint early, I countered and began to reel him in and started to come around him, but I simply had left it too late. I ended up 10th Pro and 1st u23 after one of the hardest and most epic days on my bike ever! one major confidence booster for me was the fact that every rider that finished ahead of me is an Olympic hopeful for 2012, so Im insanely happy with my ride.

Tucked in behind a Kenda/Felt rider, B.Boz on my wheel. (right side)

Spenser Paxson and I battling it out.

charging on the last lap.

A huge thanks needs to go out to everyone from Team Sho-Air/Specialized. Ty Kady had the tech/feed zone dialed, Johnny Muller was the best supporter out of anyone, hands down! Ben and Eric Bostrom taught me a lot, and who better to take lesson from!!?? Pua rode an amazing race, going from 16th to 3rd in the Pro Women's race. I have no doubt he would have won had she started in the front...

Stay tuned for the Bonelli Pro XCT post coming shortly!

B