Time Flies! It seems like yesterday was the 2010 Cyclocross Nationals in Bend. Turns out it’s been two months since that happened and now I’m on a plan to Europe for a Rabobank-Giant Offroad Team training camp on the Island of Cyprus. Pretty cool. But something must have happened in the last couple of months. Let’s take a little look back for some highlights…
First off, I never formally reported on ‘Cross Nats… Sorry about that, the following sections will explain why. Basically, I’ve been busy being not busy… Nationals was a good time as always, enhanced by the fact that it took place in my place of residence, Bend, Oregon. The weather once again delivered perfect “cross conditions” (whatever that means) and a good time was had by racers and curios bystanders alike. The bystanders were especially curious during the Singlespeed race on Thursday. A whole bunch of guys, some of whom took themselves quite seriously, were slip sliding around having a good time on simple bikes with simpler outfits. I slip slid the fastest and won the first official SS National Title (even though it was a horizontal stripe jersey) for the hometown crowd.
I'm totally winning in this photo. Can't you tell? Thanks to Lindsey Vories for the proof...
The proper race at Nationals started and ended the same way as last year, with #7 on my bib and next to my name in the results. At least it was partially earned this time on the world’s pimpest singlespeed, my TCX Advanced SL (which has now moved on to really fast bar commuter bike duties)… Todd Wells narrowly edged out homeboy Ryan Trebron for the win. Too bad we couldn’t please the GIGANTIC crowd a little bit more and keep the Elite title in Bend… My Dad, Harvey, came out to watch the carnage and had a jolly good time trying to get a handle on what was happening… Then we partied kind of hard with the Embrocation Boys and Mosley Wotta. Madison, Wisconsin has the bar set pretty high as we send Natz their way for 2011-2012…
In addition to being a miracle worker Acupuncturist, Amy Moll takes a mean iphoto...
Dad stayed in Bend for another week to help me with some projects at the new house on Portland Ave. We spent most of the week making the garage workable with things like “doors” and “insulation”. In between there was some time for some snowmobile skiing out at Paulina and some cheeseburger eating at Deschutes. Thanks for coming out and passing some more knowledge my way, Dad.
After family visit time, The Streak began. Dates are a little foggy, but from December 20 till January 16, days went something like this- Wake up, check weather report and avalanche forecast while making eggs and bacon, load gear, drive into hills, go skiing, high five, drive back to wherever it was we started, hang out, sleep, repeat. It was pretty awesome.
Steep lines were skied in Central Oregon right up until the moment we left for a holiday trip to the Flathead Valley of Montana to visit Lizzy’s Family. The first day there was spent skiing and we just kept it rolling down to Missoula a few days later. Had the opportunity to consult with Sam Schultz’s “dolphins” on the surprising depth of the pow at Lolo Pass. Lost Trail Pass confirmed, in a unique way, that little areas do indeed ROCK by being devoid of lift lines but packed with rowdy ski lines all day only to produce a healthy line for last chair as locals got their fateful last run in. Hoots and Hollers echoed from the hills as hucks gave way to crud shredding.
Sam made a little video on Lolo Pass before his telemarker friend broke a binding and ended our day... We had lots of fun.
The stoke was high enough to carry us a few hundred miles south through the Salmon River canyon to Sun Valley. I’d been feeling bad about never going to visit the Smith Optics boys in their hometown so we made a point of it. Chopper directed us to The Powerhouse for a few Belgian Trippels with Billy Olsen upon arrival. This meant I wasn’t at my best for 2011 contract negotiations with Gabe after a sunny two-hour skin up Endurance the next morning, but after some classic Gang Skiing on the way down we agreed I was back on the team. Stoked about having optical deliciousness on my face this year!
Got back to Bend and, whoa, it had snowed five feet! So we went and skied some more pow. Keepin’ the streak alive!
Local DPS Skis Rep Jeff Remiker has good product placement skills. Little Alaska sluff management!
Now we had to focus on skiing daily to stay fit for our impending trip to Interior BC and the Valhalla Mountain Touring lodge. Canada is never that far from Bend and it’s always worth the drive from what I can tell. We arrived in Nelson on the heels of a solid dump and knew the week was going to be a good one. Whitewater Ski Area (covered in fresh) was the perfect hill for Lizzy and I’s matching new DPS Carbon Fiber skis. They worked real nice… A day of lift wrangling had us set up perfectly for the next day’s snowcat ride into the middle of nowhere, BC. The Valhalla Mountains and a lodge tucked neatly into one of their valleys would be our home for the next week of super condensed eat, sleep, ski, drink, BS, repeat with a dozen other like minded buddies. Perfect.
Looks warm and beautiful, right? It's -10F and we're about to scurry off the lake amidst 6" snow/slush/ice settlement. Our retreat tracks were hilarious once we climbed the ridge and looked back down...
And then, snap, we were in Spokane, Washington on the way home and the thermometer read 64 degrees a short four hours after leaving a 5’ in 5 days storm in the great white north. Must be bike season!
To kick off 2011’s bike time properly, Timmy, Carl and I met Phil Meglassen (of Phil’s Trail fame) out at Horse Ridge for a little trail work before the first pedalstrokes of the season. It was a pretty fun to re-route a few hundred yards of straight sandy trail into a double fall line rolling flow session, no brakes required when I rode it nicely buffed in this Monday!
Just because a tree has been dead for 30 years doesn't mean it shouldn't be transplanted...
For the last month it’s been perfect in Bend. Absolutely perfect. If you like riding bikes in the middle of the winter. Sorry about all the skiers who have been S.O.L. on the snow front…
I still took a little break from perfection to head down to Southern California for some bike business multi-tasking. Mostly it was to see the late Russ Okawa off. Russ had been a pillar in the bike industry since the beginning, fostering everything from the growth of BMX racing to electric bikes for the masses. He’d been in our Giant family for ages and his team dinners will be sorely missed. Although I’m not sure the schnapps will be…
While down south I had the opportunity to attend the Dodger Stadium AMA Supercross race with Andrew Juskaitis and his fine wife Megan Blades. Bend buddy and All Access Staging principal Eric Eastland set us up with VIP passes, which meant that after watching Eli Tomac battle to second place in his third SX race ever we got to walk the track and meet up with him and his dad, the great Johnny T, at the Honda pits. Pretty awesome that the Tomac name is still comfortable atop the results sheet. Wonder where the kid will go from there…
Unfortunately, John was unable to join us for the best ride ever the next day in Santa Barbara. Decline Magazine’s Mark Jordan took us on a loop of such perfection that I had a really hard time containing my childish giggles for at least an hour of descending and problem solving back to the car. Wow. And thanks.
Since the little SoCal weekend I’ve just been at home, taking advantage of rad weather to put in solid 20 hour training weeks on the road and (perfect) dirt. Doing a bit of cross training at Rebound and on the Dirt Bike too, just to keep things balanced and smiling. The plan for 2011 is coming together quite nicely with input from Bart Bowen and the folks at Giant and Rabobank. They just threw their trump card this week, actually, announcing the addition of Katie Compton to the Rabobank/Giant Offroad Team. As long as she doesn’t end up faster than me I’m stoked to have another Gringo and rider of her caliber on the team! We’re going to turn some heads this year, mostly those that are looking in the direction of World Cup Podiums! I think it might be a good year and I’m pumped to have a good solid month of training under my belt already. Riding in the winter with a focus on a successful season is a pretty awesome thing, one that I sorely missed last year. Stoked to be back on track!
So, here I sit, on a flight to Amsterdam, on the first day that it’s snowed in Central Oregon since January 14. Other than being a teensy bit bummed to miss out on a powder day, it’s pretty perfect timing and hopefully a sign that this season is going to be one where the luck comes my way on a regular basis!