We took time off from our theme park vacation and drove a couple hours northwest to Gainesville, Florida. While most know this town from the University of Florida Gators, it is also home to Haile’s Trails, the venue for the first cross-country race of the South Eastern Regional Championship. The SERC series consists of 10 classic races all over the southeast and are just a few of many notable events promoted by www.goneriding.com.

Gone Riding was started in 1993 by David and Terri Berger who may have more experience promoting MTB events than just about anyone! I had the opportunity to race with them in Ocala at the 12 Hours of Santos last year, so I couldn’t pass up the chance to try out another event on this trip to Florida! Gone Riding is super stoked to be promoting the US Cup East Series presented by Specialized this year, and if the great turnout for the first race was any indication, the racers are on board!

The weather here has been awesome all week and today was no exception—mid 80s and azure blue sky again! The race was split into two start blocks with the slower categories racing earlier in the morning and the rest of us on the line at 11:30am starting in waves by category. The trails were well groomed by offered a few technical drops and rocky/rooty sections along with some short, steep climbs in and out of some old quarries. It was similar to the Santos trails, which was good since I no extra time to pre ride the course. The lap was short but offered spectators a chance to check out several sections of the course adjacent to the parking and start/finish area.

Three full days at Disney weighed a bit heavy on my legs, and my first ride on the single-speed since Breck Epic was sort of a de-bugging mission. No excuses—the locals made short work of me and I was off the back after a slow start. While things went pretty smooth for the most part, I could have been better prepared both mechanically and physically. After digging a considerable hole, I started crawling out and managed to finish third on the day running out of time to mount much of a charge at the end.

Apparently single-speeding is a little different on the old coast as our race was over in an hour and change. I can’t remember the last time I did a cross-country race this short and it would be predictable for me to be left wanting. However, today seemed about right and I was able get my Ibis Tranny back inside my $1.99 suitcase just in time for the awards and its no-charge flight home to winter.

Super Cool Bike Shop served up some nice goodies for those fortunate enough to finish near the front and everyone seemed to enjoy the festivities. Tomorrow means one more day on the amusement circuit, but I imagine there will be a extra spring in our race to the next Fast Pass after such a great “recovery” day!

This year’s Echo race had a later March 12th start date, so it was nice to leave the cold rainy westside and head east for a dry warm sunny race. The team bus was loaded up and we set off to start the mountain bike race season. The course was the same as last year with the exception of the one trail being revamped after getting washed out due to winter flooding. The newly cut trail was very rough and muddy as it ran along the banks of the Umatilla River.

I went backwards on the long two mile gravel road start, and hit the first trail stuck in traffic. After making a few passes, I settled into what I thought would be a comfortable pace. That’s when I realized that by not doing any intensity training prior to the race, my heart rate was through the roof and it was going to be a long day on the very fast and twisty trails that Echo is known for. I tried to relax and ride a manageable pace for 30 or so miles. Although my result wasn’t what I had hoped for, I did manage to improve on last year’s time on the longer and harder course.

The team was represented in four different classes to start out the early season racing. Evan Plews was struck with an untimely flat tire while riding at the front and finished in 14th place in the pro class. Trevor Pratt finished sixth in the Cat 1 19-34 class with Paul Zwiegart riding in on a flat rear tire in the Cat 1 35-44 class. I finished in 13th place Cat 1 19-34 class with my bro Brandon Eisele finishing in 5th place Cat 3 35-44 class in his very first mountain bike race ever!

The innagural event of 2011 is in the books, and I’m looking forward to an exciting year racing mountain bikes in Oregon.

Thanks for reading, Ryan Eisele.