|
Going into this weekend there was some major pressure riding on my shoulders. I was sitting in 2nd overall in the 4X series just 7 points back from Jared Rando. I needed to finish ahead of him to secure the NORBA National Title. Luckily, I had my wife with me who tends to be my good luck charm!
We arrived into Aspen Airport on Wednesday, and the boyz picked us up. The “Crusher” Ross Milan was along for the trip and it was good to see him back under the YETI tent! After getting the trailer all set up, we checked into the condo and chilled out for the rest of the night.
Thursday we had DH, DS, and 4X practice. The DH course was basically the same as the previous 2 years, although it seemed a bit faster and more wide open. I only did 2 runs because I was having some brake problems. My focus was on the DS, and 4X so I wanted to get everything dialed for those races. The Slalom course was awesome! They made quite a few jumps and berms, and a fun rhythm section at the bottom. It was pretty short but a very fun course to ride. I chose to ride my YETI 4X bike, as I always feel like I can turn better with some suspension. After a couple runs I was feeling super fast and I knew it was going to be a good course for me. We moved onto the 4X course next. The course had a similar layout as last year, except for some new jumps down the first straight, and a few doubles on the last straight. I chose to ride my YETI DJ for this course, because I knew the start was going to be important. During practice I felt like my gates were unusually good?! I had been practicing the NBL command at home with EC and it felt like I had it down!
Friday was DH practice in the morning then Dual Slalom in the evening. I made a few changes to my DH bike that made my runs a little better. I did 3 runs, and called it a day for DH. We had practice and qualifying for DS around 1:30pm. Then, they were running the finals under the lights at 7pm. The Slalom actually didn’t count towards the overall points on the series and was basically just an exhibition race. It looked like the guys to beat were going to be Greg Minnaar, and Andrew Neethling. I ended up qualifying 1st after 2 really good runs. Minnaar was 2nd. We then had a pretty long break before the finals, and I took about a 2 hr nap. I was stoked to get the finals started, because I had some pretty good confidence after my qualifying effort. I breezed through my first 2 rounds, and then had to face my teammate Justin Leov in the Semi Final. I actually owed a bit of redemption to him after he smoked me in slalom at Sea Otter this year! I had 2 solid runs and moved on to face Greg Minnaar in the Final. The atmosphere was really good, and the fans were super loud. Everybody had these cow bells and it was hard to even hear the gate command. In the first run, we were neck and neck and I ended up winning that round by .034 seconds! I was stoked because I was on the slower of the 2 courses, and I knew I could take him on the faster course. In the final run, we once again hit every turn in unison. Going into the final flat turn, I pushed a bit harder than I had before. It pushed me wide, and I ended up planting my front wheel in some soft dirt. I went over the bars pretty hard, and handed the win to Greg! Luckily I was alright as it looked lots worse than it was. It was a fun race though, and we gave the fans a good show!
Saturday was the big day! I woke up in the morning with a bit of a cold, which put a scare in me! I decided to take the day off for DH and rest up for the 4X in the evening. After sleeping most of the day I was ready to go! I called EC right before I went out there, and he told me, “Just make up your mind, and handle it.” It had rained during the afternoon, and the course was a bit slick for practice. I decided to keep my dry tires on, because I knew it would dry up fast. I waited in the qualifier till towards the end, to ensure the course was as dry as possible. I think it was a good move, because I qualified 1st! This gave me loads of confidence going into the finals. Rando had qualified a few spots behind me, and I was close to a second faster than 2nd place qualifier Cole Bangert. So I knew I was on pace. They only took 16 men, so that meant only 3 rounds of racing. In the first round I had a kid named Michael Hughes who got the holeshot and beat me to the first turn. I was a bit nervous riding in 2nd and I even had a kid dive on me in the last turn! I advanced to the semi final to face Rando, Cody Warren, and Michael Hughes. Big round to say the least! I had gate choice and chose lane 1, Cody was in 2, Rando 3, and Hughes 4. I got a pretty good start and so did Hughes. On the first jump Hughes took a huge digger and I was to the first turn 1st. I pretty much rode to the bottom; only too see that Cody had finished ahead of Rando! Basically that meant I had won the championship right there! So in the final I faced Dale Holmes, Cody W. and Ryan Sutton. I chose lane 1 again, and Dale was 2. Dale got an awesome start and I was 2nd going into the 1st turn. I noticed Dale’s left foot had come unclipped so I pushed right up to his back wheel going around the 2nd turn. I dove on him going into the 3rd turn and took the lead. I cruised to the finish to take my very 1st 4X win, and my very 1st Norba National Title! This was my biggest day as professional MTB racer! I want to say thanks to everybody that has supported me over the years, all my sponsors, and especially my wife Hillary.
Sunday I ended up not racing the DH, and I just rested up and stayed safe for the Worlds next weekend! Hopefully, I can get some hardware in New Zealand!
Big House
Thanks to these Sponsors:
Yeti Cycles
Fox Shox
Scott
AXO
Shimano
Maxxis
DT Swiss
MRP
Control Tech
Topeak
Chris King
Thompson
Monster
Kicker
ODI
Dylan Dean Designs
Finish Line
Fizik
Toolshed
Signs and Logos.net
SponsorHouse
|