From SoCold to SoCal

Don’t get me wrong, I love snow. I was raised in snow. That feeling of cold, melting ice on your feet when you step out to get fire wood is exactly the same as the experience of running into the house as fast as you can to dunk you’re extremities into a sink of warm water. The feeling of hurting so good. That’s home to me. Yet, that said, I find myself with a different view of that wintery-wonder when it’s the end of March and it’s still drifting down outside my window. I know, I know. It could be worse. The past winters in Montana have been miraculously moderate and I could always live in Minnesota or on the east coast for that matter. But it still erks me, or at least it does until I remember where I’ll be in three short days. Oh yeah, I’m heading down to Cali baby and with it I’m heading down to the land of palm trees, shorts, and hopefully the opportunity to work on my farmers tan. Actually, when talking about Southern California, it’s probably easier to just name what it doesn’t have. For instance, it doesn’t have leg warmers, it doesn’t have ski gloves, it doesn’t have wind, and, that’s right, it does not have snow. In fact I sure the ratio of snow in Montana is a one to one with the amount of green grass in SoCal. Needless to say, I’m as stoked as a campfire.

I know a thing or two about Cali-Land only because of my first trip down there this year. I remember it like it was yesterday, which isn’t really that impressive seeing as it was only last weekend. I was down for my first race with my new team the BMC Mountain Bike Development Team.  I was a little nervous to see how everything would gel with it being one of my first races away from my trusted soigneur (Dad) and my biggest supporter (Mom), but once I got off the plane and discovered the amazing support that was waiting for me, I couldn’t help but know that everything was going to go great. Mine and my team mates Kyle Bloesser, Ksenia Lepikhina, Shayna Powless, and Kerry Werner’s bikes were running flawlessly due to the careful attention from our manic-mechanic Jack Hinkens, and maybe a little help from the great bike lubrication products at ProGold (wink, wink).  I was happy with my own race, getting on to the third step of the junior podium, and was stoked with Kyle joining me in fifth. Ksenia also strutted her stuff on to the second step, seconds away from first.

After that great day the only pressure I was feeling for my short track was to see how much fun I could have. So after a morning of team photo and video shooting in the beautiful hills surrounding Bonelli Park, I took to the start line again. This race turned out to be just as fun as the day before with sketchy dirt corners, fast attacks, and a little elbow rubbing thrown in for good measure. The bikes were again perfect and Ksenia and I ended up on the podium again. Surly we would have been joined by Kyle if it had not been for an early race chain drop. Even with that bad luck, however, he punched his way up to seventh place in a heavy field.

So how could I not be pumped for my next trip? I have no idea what it will bring and what obstacles will be thrown my way, but I do know that with help and encouragement I’ve been receiving from my friends and supporters up here there’s not much that could push me more and make me more proud. Don’t get me wrong, I love snow, especially when I get to share it with as many wonderful people as I do. So thanks, I’ll see ya on the trails.

 

Here We Go

 

Here we go. I say that to myself a lot. Training in Montana during the long winter month’s everybody’s got that one thing they say to themselves that gets them out the door into the cold, the snow, and the wind. Mine's "here we go". I say it as I take that pivotal first pedal stroke, you know, the one that happens after you realize what a long hard day it's going to be, but before you remember how much you love pedaling your bike. That one pedal stroke you've been thinking about all day, that you've been thinking how, if you're lucky, it'll multiply once, twice, ten times over, hopefully cranking you away to your final destination: that smooth, buffed ribbon of single track. Excuse me, it's not nearly the "final" destination, but in a way, I guess it is. In a way it's the final destination that matters. We mountain bikers don't measure our rides in watts and kilometers, but only if those watts are the watts that you use to rip into the next corner, and only if those kilometers are the K's you use to get to up the road to the next trail head.

 

The early base miles are as beautiful as
they are cold.

However, all that said, it's not true. To fully enjoy those perfect days on the mountain, those days the air is crisp and clean and the Dawn dish soap flavored water is worth more than gold, you need to step in the much too tight, Italian made shoes of our more aerodynamic brethren. The road calls. It doesn't matter to what degree you cycle, the road is the integral link in what we do and how we get better at what we do. I've spent the last few months on the road, starting the season barely able to wrap my head around an hour and a half ride, progressing to regular three to four hour rides. Do I enjoy those hours spent out there? I guess I could say for the most part I enjoy the feeling of preparation they give me. The feeling of how much better I'm going to be when I finish this one ride, and the one after that and the one after that. Every once in a while, though, I get one of those days. One of those days where the sun is shining, the wind is blowing just enough to make me work for my dinner, and those days where it all makes sense. Why I do this crazy sport, and, more importantly, why I love it just so much.

 

Being a mountain biker is hard work. There is so much to always think about. You have to climb like a roadie, descend like a downhiller, and finesse like a trials rider, but in the end that's what makes me love it. The challenge of it all is something that you can never perfect, but can hope for those days where you feel like you have. These are the up's and downs, the roller coaster ride that is completive mountain biking. These are the Trails and Tribulations that make you just throw that leg over, saddle up, and head out to your future. Watch out. Here we go and here we come.