Well, here we are. At the beginning of yet another season, and even though there was a major race before this year's Otter...it still feels like the unofficial start of the season. I can't stress enough how absolutely great it is having a pit when racing. It makes a huge difference.
Wes, Brad and I pulled an all night driving mission as we did the previous year and arrived at the Laguna Seca raceway in the wee hours of the morning. A quick nap in the parking lot and it was off to the registration tent for our packet pick-up. I was of course extremely tired so getting all of this done was a bit of a challenge given my tired state. While in the tent I met up with most of my Cannondale team mates including Heath, George, Cody, Derek and Jon Clark. Before I knew it I was chillin in the Sobe/Cannondale pits with the wrenchman himself Eric Saletel. We did a quick tire swap and it was off to the DH course for some practice. The course was a bit different than years past, they built a couple of larger jumps up top which made clearing the step-down into the first major burm alot easier.
It would be impossible to describe all the happenings of this past weekend, too much happened. From the shenanigans at the house to Joey pitting the golf course with his "sub-par" golfing skills, to brad's never ending hyperness, Josh's hilarious jokes, Erics non-stop sarcasm...it was just a overall sick weekend.
Of course I could have asked for a better result in the DH but you all know that it is my fault that I am not in good shape. I did feel however that I was able to give it a little more than last year and that I rode better because of it, regardless of what my time was.
Mountainbike racing is a fricken awesome thing.
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Dang! By far the most dusty and dry course I have ever ridden! The corners were loose, there was pedaling pretty much 90% of the time and the course was a little longer than a minute...It did not matter one bit because we were riding and racing bikes so it is all good! Not much of a story to tell, just peep the pics snapped by Westley.
Yes, I did get my new DH steed, I named her "Roxanne" because that's the song that was playin on the radio when I took the bike out of the box:
Wow. Baja, what can I say? It's like a whole different world. Now, I have been going down there my whole life mind you, but it seems everytime I go it is a whole new thing, a whole new adventure, like nothing else in this world. The second you cross the border your heart rate goes up (well at least mine does) and you get into baja mode.
got off the bike at race mile 192. We crossed the border and in no time we were going past the arches at San Felipe, a "small" fishing town with more Off-Road racing history than dirt itself!! I was so stoked to be back in "San Felo" after a one year hiatus of the host city for the annual "Baja 250". We rolled into contingency and as always the street was bustling with locals, racers, cars, vendors, the works. After awhile I was able to get ahold of my team and check out the new bike. Dang, she was a beuty...top notch bike all prepped and ready to go, this gave me some serious motivation. After continjency it was time to get down to business, we packed everything and headed out of town to where I was to get on the bike at about race mile 120. Well, that just happened to be at the farthest end of the course and it took my dad and I a good 2 hours of off-road driving to get to the spot. regardless of the long drive, the desert was epic. huge mountains to the West and green, rugged desert for as far as the eye can see, Baja at it's best.
