I’m sitting here at the Phoenix Airport with a 2 hour layover, and I’ve finally had some time to reflect on the weekend.  Besides my overall NMBS title in 2006, this has to be one of my most memorable weekends of my career.  I’ve accomplished plenty of my goals throughout my career, and I can now add a US national championship jersey to that list! 

I arrived late Thursday night after my flight got cancelled from Phoenix to Albuquerque.  Upon arriving, there was talk of Snow for the next 2 days!  Lots different than the previous weekend’s weather!  I was only racing 4X this weekend, because there were 2 separate events with the Mountain States Cup 4X and the US National Championship 4X race. 

Friday morning I woke up to huge snow flakes falling outside!  Freezing cold and snowing….Great.  We were supposed to have Practice and Qualifying for 4X, but the course was pretty jacked from the moisture.  There were a few breaks in the weather, but the rain and snow ended up postponing the practice and ultimately the qualifying.  The Mountain States Cup crew decided to run everything Saturday, as the weather was supposed to clear up.  I applaud their decision, and commend them on making things run smooth! 

Saturday morning was much better on the weather!  Blue skies, little windy and comfortable temps!  We finally had a chance to practice the course, and it was really fun to ride!  The bottom jumps are a section of 3 sets of doubles, and they’re a tad intimidating at first.  It took me about 5 runs before I hit them.  Once I had those dialed, the rest of the course was pretty straight forward.  I ended up qualifying 4^th overall, which I was pretty stoked about.  Hanak was 1^st, Boice 2^nd, EC 3^rd.   Next came the race which was the Mountain States Cup event.  32 men qualified, and my 1^st round went pretty smooth and I advanced to the round of 16.  2^nd and 3^rd rounds went as planned, and I made the final.  In the final I had Peter Hanak, Erik Nelson, and EC.  I chose lane 4, because I knew they’d be tough to beat to the first turn.  Hanak and Nelson pulled pretty good down the 1^st straight away.  I came out of the 1^st turn neck and neck with EC.  I had a little more momentum than him and ended up in 3^rd coming out of the 2^nd turn.  I pretty much just held my lines for the rest of the race to finish 3^rd overall. 

Sunday was the US National MX Championship race.  This was an American only one day event for the Stars and Stripes Jersey.  They took the same qualifying times from Saturday, which bumped me up one spot to 3^rd overall.  Boice was 1^st and EC was 2^nd.

I managed to get through all my rounds pretty safely to make the final.  In the final I chose lane 3, with Carney in 4, Backus in 2, and Boice in 1.  I knew Backus was getting good starts and would challenge Boice for the inside of the 1^st turn.  I expected to get out ahead of Carney in lane 4, to try and put a high-low move on Boice and Backus in turn 1. 



Unfortunately Carney gated me and I had to back out going down the 1^st straight.  I still had a plan of going high-low in the first turn, and I expected to come out around 2^nd place.  Fortunately, I really didn’t have to use any plan as all 3 guys took themselves out in the first turn.  I basically rode around them, and cruised to my first ever Stars and Stripes Jersey! 

You never know when or if you’re going to win another race, and I’m really happy to have won this title!  I want to thank everyone who’s supported me over the years, I would have never made it without you!

Rich

Click Here

Just want to send out some good vibes for my brother EC.  He just lost his DAD yesterday.  John was a good man, and he'll be missed.  Stay strong EC! 

Rich

Click Here for Report:

I made the trip north up to the Santa Ynez Valley for the NMBS national last weekend.  It was about a 3 hour drive for me, so the commute wasn’t bad.  Unfortunately, the weather was terrible, with 100+ degree temps, and no shade to speak of!  I wish I had a more positive spin on the overall race, but realistically it wasn’t the most fun I’ve had at an event.  I definitely made the best out of it though!

Friday was DH practice and DS qualifying.  The downhill was a short 2 min run with a few man made features, and long pedaling section at the bottom.  I decided to try out my 4X YETI on the first run, and it was the right pick.  There wasn’t anything that I needed my 303 for on the course, and with the pedal at the bottom it was the right choice.  I did 4 runs, and decided to rest a bit for the Dual Slalom qualifying.  The slalom course was really fun to ride.  It was on the short side, but the turns and flow were cool.  I rode my YETI DJ, with Larsen 2.35’s front and rear.  I felt good on the course and with only 20 pros, I was confident about qualifying well.  My first run I might have been a tad conservative, and should have opened it up a bit more. Second run I broke my chain towards the middle of the course.  Fortunately, I managed to pump the course pretty well, and get my skateboard push on at the bottom to qualify 4th overall.  EC was 1st, Chris Powell 2nd, Mike Haderer 3rd.

Saturday was DH practice and DS finals.  By 9am it was already 90 degrees, so my plan was to take it easy in DH practice.  I cruised 2 runs, and then took it easy until Slalom finals.  With a few scheduling problems, it ended up that Pros only got a few runs of practice before the finals.  I have no idea why after 15+ years of running races, these guys can’t figure stuff like that out?  But that’s a whole other story there.  I managed to get 3 runs on course, and I felt ok.  I decided to switch up my front tire to a 2.35 High Roller, as the berms were getting a little blown out.  First round I had the salty vet Orlando Martinez!  Actually, it was a good wake up call because he snapped me in both runs and made me work to get by him.  Thanks O!  2nd round I had Ryan Condraschoff.  He’d just beat Peter Hanak in the round before, so I knew he had some speed.  I started timing the gate better in this round and took a .3 advantage into the 2nd run.  Ryan ripped our second run, and I was playing catch up towards the end.  Fortunately he made it easy on me, and slipped a pedal at the end. 







Semi finals were with the ol’ brother in law EC.  EC qualy’d 1st and it’s always a struggle to try and beat that guy!  I snapped him pretty good in the first round, and had one of my best runs of the day.  I took a .4 advantage into our 2nd run.  2nd run I got another good start, but EC was hauling!  We were pretty close towards the bottom, and he made a slight bobble at the end.  I advanced to the finals with Chris Powell.  After hiking up each run to the top, I was admittedly pretty tired for the final!  It looked like Powell was equally as tired though! So, first run of the finals I had a solid run even though it had gotten pretty dark and it was hard to see.  Powell made a small mistake that gave me a .7 advantage for the last run.  I needed to just keep it close for the final run, and I’d be fine.  I managed to stay even with Chris the whole way, to take my first victory of the year!  I was stoked for sure, as this was one of my goals for the season to win a dual slalom.

 





Sunday was DH Finals.  Sunday morning I made the switch to Larsen 2.35’s front and rear on my 4X bike.  I thought that with the head wind at the bottom and the short course, it would be an advantage.  I would have to be a little conservative in some of the sections, but I’d be rolling fast in other sections!  In the qualy, I took it easy and tried to save up some energy for the finals.  My final run wasn’t what I’d hoped for.  I think I just took it too easy on the top section, and really didn’t sprint the bottom as well as I’d liked.  I ended up in 6th overall, and I was honestly pretty bummed with it.  But, it was still a good weekend overall.  I’d really like to thank Joe from BikeCo, my parents, and my wife for the awesome support that weekend! 

Also, thanks to all my Sponsors!

Rich

Photos by StiksandStones:

Last weekend was the Chalk Creek Mountain States Cup event held in Nathrop, CO.  It’s held on a ranch owned and operated by the McMurry Family.  I’d never been out to the ranch, but I’m glad I made the trip!  Although initially I was bit scared by the Snow falling in the Denver area, I was assured that Nathrop would be dry, as the 14,000 ft mountains surrounding it would block the weather!?  Sure enough, after driving through winter like conditions for 2 ½ hours, we were greeted to sunny skies and dry ground upon arriving into the Nathrop area. 

This race was only a Mountain Cross, and Dual Slalom event for the gravity racers.  I brought both my YETI DJ, and YETI 4X rigs to make sure I was covered for any type of track.  After checking out both courses, it looked like I was going to get away with using only my DJ for both events.  We parked the YETI trailer in the pits Thursday afternoon, and decided to set up the awning Friday morning.  We had practice Friday from 3:30pm-6pm on the 4X only.  The course had a rather short first straight-away, and an interesting decision maker towards the bottom.  The talk of the day was “Which way are you gonna go?”  Initially I felt like the right side line was faster, but after testing it with a few of my teammates, it seemed like the left was consistently faster.  I felt pretty solid on the course, and was confident that I had all my lines down for qualifying on Saturday. 

Saturday was set for 4X qualifying, and Finals.  My qualifier went ok and I ended up 5^th overall.  First round I had a bit of a scare, and wound up chasing James Stiber all the way down in 2^nd place.  My first straight power is lacking a bit these days, so I knew I was going to have to be creative to advance each round. 2^nd Round I had my teammate Gwinny, Stiber, and Wentz.  Once again I found myself trailing in 3^rd place coming out of the first straight.  I followed close behind Stiber till the decision maker, and I went right.  I nailed the right side, better than I had all weekend and ended up passing Stiber right at the line to advance to the semi final.  Semi-final had both my teammates Rudy Unrau and Gwinny, including #1 qualifier Peter Hanak.  I was in lane 3, and knew I had to get a good start.  Peter was killing everybody all day, so I knew he’d be leading into the first turn.  Gwinny was in lane 2, and I was hoping to get ahead of him.  I got a decent start and was 2^nd going into the first turn.  I managed to hold my position to the bottom, and advanced to the finals.  Finals were Peter Hanak, Ross Milan, Eric Carter, and myself.  I had last pick in the gate, and was relegated to the dreaded lane 4!  The course wasn’t set up for much passing, and this proved true in the final.  I basically rode around in 4^th place from top to bottom, pretty uneventful to say the least.  I was stoked to make the final though.  We ended up having a bit of Slalom practice right after 4X finals.

Sunday was Slalom day.  The course was super hard packed / blue grooved!  It reminded me of the Sonoma Slalom a few years back.  I chose to run 2.35 larsen tires front and rear!  They were hooking up so good!  We only did one run for qualifying and I ended up 2^nd behind Peter Hanak.  1^st round was a bye, since only 26 riders qualified in.  2^nd round I had James Stiber, and I managed to get by him.  3rd round I had one of the Buell brothers.  He made a race out of it, but I advanced on to face John Watt in the semi-final.  John was riding really good, actually he beat my older bro EC in the round before.  I knew I had to step it up!  In the first run, I was on the slower course and he got me by .4 sec. 







Next run I had one of my better laps and advanced to the final by beating John by .5sec.  I ended up facing my protégé Aaron Gwin, who was killing it in his 2nd ever Pro Slalom event.  He’d dispatched 3 of my other YETI teammates already, and seemed to get faster with each round.  I was prepared to step it up, but unfortunately he was too!  In the first round, he smashed me through the top section, and I was playing catch up.  He ended up jumping this tough double on the red side, and it forced me into making a mistake in the next turn.  Being 1.5 seconds down going into the last run, was a long shot that I’d make up the difference.  I tried to go balls out, and had an ok lead going into a tight bowl turn towards the bottom.  When I went to crank out of the turn my chain snapped, and I slapped the ground pretty hard!  I put a pretty gnarly gash in my knee, but it was a bitter sweet moment for sure.  I was super proud of Gwinny for winning, and super bummed I let him beat me!  Haha.  Hopefully I’ll get a chance to return the favor by the end of the year! 

Photos Courtesy of Eddie Clark / Photo-Cycle.com

Thought i'd show a pic of the hole I got in my knee last weekend.  I should probably wear knee cups next time!