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 »

The saying goes “you can’t see the forest for all the trees” but this year at Berryman Epic in Missouri, riders couldn’t see the trail for all the leaves! I first heard about this event several years ago when I was searching out the best endurance races around the country. It came with rave review from several credible former participants, so I made a mental note to permanently add it to my bucket list. With my last minute decision to skip the Crocodile Trophy this year, I replaced it with the Baja Endurance 100km last weekend followed by Berryman on Saturday. Read more »

I’ve always been a bit hesitant to identify myself as a “professional” cyclist and with recent events I have almost been embarrassed to do so. Sure, I have a couple cards in my wallet that classify me as such, but those are really just admission tickets I buy every season. That is where my commonality with the most professional cyclists you know ends. My mother has often told me that while cycling isn’t my profession, it has been my chosen occupation and I believe that may be the best description of my life “behind bars”. Read more »

As seen on MTBRaceNews.com:

Wow, hard to believe another great year is almost in the rear view mirror! This time last year, I had just finished winning the Oakridge Fat 55 MTB Marathon on my single speed and was already looking forward to coming back. Without a doubt Oakridge, Oregon is one of best mountain biking locations–anywhere. With my all-time favorite trail just up the road and Waldo Lake, it isn’t a surprise to me that my “favorite” race is the Fat 55! Many of you may have heard of the Cascade Creampuff 100 or Mountain Bike Oregon, but I first experience Oakridge nearly 20 years ago at the Fat Tire Festival. In any case, most folks who love to ride have this place on their bucket lists and if they’ve been to Oakridge before, they plan to go back.

The Fat 55 is designed to package the essence of Oakridge MTB riding into a package that isn’t too big or too small, too hard or too easy, but as the saying goes, “is just right!”. Eugene Cathcart has hit the nail on the head and it just so happens I have had the privilege to be his hammer the last two years! This year the race was quite similar to last with the re-introduction of an all new Salmon Creek Trail. We used this trail for years in XC events but it was washed away during some heavy winter storms and the reroute was finally completed this year. In lieu of the added single track, the Fat 55 skipped the upper part of the first loop but was otherwise the same as last year. However, this was no problem since the course was totally awesome last year on my single speed hard tail, and I now had another chance to ride it again on my secret weapon! Read more »

On September 23, my teammate Ryan Eisele and I dusted off our mtorbikes and headed to the Dick Jagow Memorial Grand Prix. The race is held at Washougal Motocross Park. I purchased a new Yamaha YZ450F in mid-August, so I started practicing 45 minute motos again on my mx track. The last mx race I had done was in 2008 and I knew I would be rusty even with a month of preparation. The Dick Jagow race used the whole Washougal mx track and surrounding fields and single track. It was similar to the 6hr mountain bike race that was held there in June–minus the mud!

I decided to race in the 30 amateur class. After a recent tailbone injury and not as much time on the moto, Ryan rode in the Sportsman category. The Sportsman class rides with the Women’s class so he offered to lend my wife a hand if she needed it as she was racing too. The grand prix began with a dead engine start and lasted hour and 45 minutes with the course being about 5 miles per lap. I got off to a slow start and most of the single track trails were extremely dusty which made trying to close any kind of gap on a rider ahead almost impossible. Read more »

Well, it isn’t going to do any good to wait another day to write this report because it’s still going to seem like a mouthful of excuses. So let’s just get straight to the point–I flopped, underachieved, blew it, etc. Yeah sure it all boiled down to the rib injury I sustained last week in Georgia. I had stayed off the disabled list all year and to have it all fall apart just one week before the race I had targeted as my comeback metric was a bitter pill to swallow.

The stage was set for a great race. Less than three hours away in Bend meant relatively painless travel and trails I had at least ridden once or twice in my life. The race had also attracted the strongest field ever assembled for a USA Marathon Championship. This was going to be as good as it got for an opportunity to show off the best form of my life. Then the run-in with the log in GA happened and the tailspin (literal AND figurative) started. As I collected my wits trail side at Fool’s Gold, one of my first thoughts after: “wow, glad I still have a leg”, was: “so much for a good ride in Bend.” Read more »