The 2013 race season has offically started, and I hit the ground running! On March 9, I laced up my Nike running shoes and headed up to the Buck Mountain Mudslinger for a six and a half mile trail running race put on by Run Wild Adventures. After driving up in cold foggy conditions my cousin and I arrived at the event to sunny skies and perfect trail conditions.

Last year’s race was run in about a foot of snow covering most of the race course, and were it wasn’t covered in snow it was deep mud making for very tough running conditions. The course consisted of horse trail, double track, fast downhills, and a lot of climbing. After the gun went off I was able to join a group at the front of about twenty racers in the first half mile before the first climb. Once the climb started to get really steep I was able to start making a few passes and work my way up to about tenth place. Read more »

Echo Red to Red was a good time and a great way to start the seeason. I chose to “ride” this race in an effort to jumpstart the MTB bug in me, and it worked! I have good fitness going into the season, but a laundry list of excuses kept me off the bike for the last two weeks. I wish I could say I was just really fresh, but instead I was really flat. If I was able to get the heart rate up, it took forever to come back down. So I just tried to be nicest guy you ever passed at a race!

The course ran backwards from previous year which was a great idea! The last few miles were a slight downhill where you could run out of gears to push. And what wind? Perfect conditions this time! My one-size-too-big arm warmers removed themselves after the first few bumps and I could not have been happier. Guess I have MEDIUM bike racer arms afterall!

The REALL carbon 29er hard tail made it possible to stay in my SDG saddle most of the ride allowing me to push a gear, keeping the heart rate low, and my legs burning. I did not get a chance to ride the new bike off-road or test out the Manitou Tower fork prior to the race, but EP knows how to make a machine run, and that it did. What a stellar mix of perfection! Read more »

Flat Rock Ranch is a fully operation 1300 acre Angus cattle and Angora goat operation located just five miles outside of Comfort, Texas. In the heart of the Hill Country, owner Jimmy Dreiss with help of local volunteers, has crafted some of the finest trails imaginable out of the rocky desert scrub. Boasting 27 total miles of trail on two separate loops (lower/upper) the ranch is open for riders 10 months out of the year. While there are a few short sections of jeep road and double track that connect the various sections of single track, this is truly a riders paradise. Dreiss, an avid mountain biker himself, cautions that triple down arrows mean “Jimmy has crashed here at least three times”, but even these sections are fun albeit challenging for even an accomplished trail boss.

Luckily, I was able to pre-run the trails on Wednesday and while the countless switchbacks, limestone step-ups and cobbled sections were impossible to memorize, I was glad to know the general layout prior to the race. After beautiful, mostly sunny conditions all week we awoke to a misty fog that was heavy enough to coat much of the limestone with its characteristic slime. Glasses were obviously going to be a hassle, and while the air seemed dense to breathe the temperature was warm and comfortable. Read more »

I returned to my “normal” early season race schedule this year with a trip back to El Paso for the Puzzler 50 miler. Some of you remember that I raced here in both 2010 and 2011 and returned victorious both times. Last year this particular weekend was complicated and while I had intended to return, I had to cancel my trip at the last minute. This time I started planning last fall and included the Puzzler in my four race sample of the TMBRA Marathon Series. Read more »

It has been a wonderful season for me so with only fumes left in my tank and pennies in my bank I was able to make one last trip to Texas for the Holidaze Marathon. This was stop number two of the TMBRA marathon series and took place at Camp Eagle, an amazing venue just a couple hours west of San Antonio. As we rolled in under sunny skies, I could tell this was going to be a great event as the place was beautiful and everyone had a smile with early holiday cheer in their eye. Read more »

This weekend I was back on the Luvjet–this time to Amarillo, Texas to check out the first race of the TMBRA marathon series. As I flew in, I wondered where the mountains were since Amarillo is located up north in the panhandle flatlands and known more for ranching not mountain biking. Charlie, a local racer on Team Kordestani (promoters of the event) picked me up and delivered me to the race site. Palo Duro Canyon is known as the “Grand Canyon” of Texas for good reason. After a half hour drive from the airport the grasslands fell away into a huge canyon that appeared to stretch on for miles or at least as far as the eye could see! Read more »