Spring Racing

Olympic View Road Race - 109 mile State Championship Road Race


As we rolled into the first lap, I worked to get towards the front of a pretty large field.  This ended up being a good thing because the day was littered with crashes throughout the various fields that either held up the pace or stopped us entirely.  With under two laps to go, I bridged across to a group of four riders off the front and we eventually organized ourselves to drive a solid pace and earn a 90 second gap.   Two additional riders worked their way up to us delivering all the major teams in an 8 man break and a great opportunity to take it to the line.  About half our group was taking a turn at the front while the other half disregarded the effort and conserved their legs for the eventual sprint.  I was simply stoked to be in a solid break and wasn’t going to see that opportunity compromised by a drop in tempo.  The break held to the finishing stretch and with 200m to go, I was super clunky to jump when the sprint fired up and found myself in 8th position.  Scrambling to turn over the pedals and get back into the draft I was able to pick up a few places and finish 5th place and on the podium.  For a race I decided to do a just couple days before, I was really stoked with this result.






Tour of the Unknown Coast - 97 Miles & 9700 ft of elev gain

Patrick Means above Ashland, OR

Located in the coastal region of Northern California, this was the adventure race/ride for the season.  My coach/teammate/buddy Brian Ecker rallied for the fastest time the previous year and came back with an epic report that would make any cyclist drool.  Towering climbs, hair raising descents, narrow forest roads lined with 300 ft Redwoods and a beautiful abandoned coastal beach.  The route names alone screamed for my attendance at the 2012 edition:  Avenue of the Giants, Panthers Gap Ridge, Endless Hills, The Wall.  I put it on the calendar and dedicated a few days to make this a true road trip.

I picked up Patrick Means in Corvallis and we rallied down to Ashland Oregon for a couple days of riding and so time with my brother and new nephew.  While in Ashland we hooked up with Patrick’s buddy who took us on some incredible climbs and capped off our final ride with a 50 mph haul down I-5 from the pass into Ashland.  Our pre-TUC ride was 45 miles and 5000 ft of climbing!  This clearly demonstrated the trips emphasis was on adventure and not performance.  

From Ashland, we cruised down to HWY 101 into Ferndale California where we camped for the next day’s event.  The ride started super early and in typical fashion, Patrick and I were still at the car getting our shit together when the gun went off.  We tossed everything in our pockets and hammered through a herd of day-glo jerseys in the back of the field.  Although this isn’t a race or really a ride, it’s clearly an event where riders want to perform well.  That being said, Patrick and I were 3 minutes behind the front group before the crossing the start line and riding the rivet for the first 5 miles of a 97 mile race to connect with the front.  

The Wall

We eventually succeeded and joined several other familiar Bellingham faces in a pace-line only to have my ride derailed 15 miles later as I flatted while the group was traveling at nearly 30 mph.  I wished the others well in defending Brian’s title and rolled to the back for a tube change.  At the speed we were traveling and with the quality of riders in the group, there was no way I was going to reconnect but after a clunky tire fix, I was back on the road and motoring up through the various groups while determine to put in a super hard effort.  I was riding the rivet through the Avenue of the Giants and then up Panthers Gap in an attempt to reconnect with a solid group of riders.  Things were so strung out however, I ended up spending almost 80 miles solo but epic nature of the course provided constant motivation.  Ultimately I worked up to 8th place by the end of the race which was an very satisfying result, especially after hearing that Brian once again crossed with the top time and Patrick played a big part in his result while finishing just seconds behind in fourth.



Stottlemeyer 60 MTB Race

Mountain Bike racing continues to be a love/hate relationship and the goal of this race was to find the love again after several horrible performances.  60 miles was the longest distance I’ve tackled for a mtb race but I felt confident my training would have me strong enough to cross the line satisfied.  My primary concern was that I hadn’t ridden on dirt more than a few times over the last 2 months and I worried I wouldn’t be able to find a rhythm.  

After a slow start, I quickly found a manageable pace for the 4 lap race and was bouncing around position 7 to 12.  Once things strung out I followed a few hard efforts to find myself eventually riding alone through most of the last lap.  There wasn’t anyone in front of me or behind me to gauge my pace and I relaxed a little too much heading over the final rollers and into the finishing stretch.  As I looked back, I saw Brian Dagnon, Derek Shiers and a 3rd rider from Team S&M closing quickly on me, so I lifted the pace and tried to build a gap.   The rider from Team S&M closed the gap was riding on my tail through the final portion of tight single track but i didn’t see Brian or Derek.  As I popped over a log into some chunky mud on the other side, my front tire jammed into a gap and I violently flipped over the bars into a face full of wood.  Lying in the mud assessing the damage, I was clearly bruised but not broken.  All three riders passed me as I put myself back together to finish the race.  It was disappointing to suffer such a crash in the final half mile but overall I was happy with the race and look foward to the next one.



Ski to Sea, Road Bike Leg

Ski to Sea

Our team really improved this year to cross the line 37th place.  We nailed every leg with the exception of the sea kayak and I was able to hand off in 21st place overall and 11th on the leg.  If we can figure out how to get across the bay without losing ground to so many teams, we definitely have a top 25 result in our future.









Wenatchee Omnium


I hadn’t raced my road bike in a month and while my training has been solid, I came into this race with pretty heavy legs and lacking confidence simply because I had been away from the scene for too long.  It was a close call between attending Wenatchee or the Hood Cycling Classic but I decided to stay closer to home and keep things simple. The race had also moved back to the old course featuring an epic 3000 ft climb we had to go up twice.  New courses, new races and new experiences are so important to my motivation level and I was looking forward to the pain this beast was about to dish out.

After a rough 10th place finish in the TT and satisfying ride in the crit (Plus a $50 Preem!), I was ready to go for a great result in the road race.  During the last 2 years as a Cat 3 and Cat 4, I was able to win this race by a margin of over 5 minutes each time.  I obviously wasn’t expecting to do the same this year, however I also wasn’t prepared for the torture that awaited.  The road race was pure attrition from the start and while I crushed every molecule in my body trying to get a solid result, I blew up spectacularly half way up the climb on the second lap.  With severe cramps and no energy, i crawled over the top having given up nearly 8 places along the way and ended up latching onto a small group of riders just before the finish.  It was definitely a very hard day on the bike.

What's Up Next...
The Baker City Classic Stage Race - June 29th to July1st
The High Cascade 100 mile Mountain Bike Race - July 21st