April means Sea Otter! This is such a fun event – amazing attendance, an incredible vendor village, every race you can imagine and the list of hot-shots that are floating around is sick. I was also able to hit the Juliana Night at the Santa Cruz factory. Great group of folks, great line of bikes.
Racing
H2H – Ringwood
A lesson in executing patience, both in race strategy and shifting was what Ringwood was all about. I broke my chain, fixed it poorly (direction of the rainbow chain link is pretty KEY) but flexed my ‘never give up’ attitude land in 3rd place.
Sea Otter
I like to maximize my time at Sea Otter by entering tons of races. I like the idea of having lots of chances – much less stressful than coming all the way across the country with my bike for a one and done situation. I race better on less stress, so it’s a win-win.
First up is the Enduo, then mtb road crit – err, i mean short track, then the cross country course.
H2H – Mooch Madness
No sleep on the red eye back from CA. It was full force into activities the moment I landed, catching up with my family, packing up my son for his first NJ NICA race and deciding last minute to hit up the Mooch Madness race, since it was just a few mins away from the NICA race course. After checking in at Chester, seeing ample coach support I zipped up to Allamuchy for some rock-love and a first place finish!
H2H – Waywayanda
More rocks! Love me some rocks. The course is long and brutal, but I really like the challenge.
Coaching
The first NJ NICA race! The Essex Offroad team had an amazing day, lots of firsts and lots of expectations exceeded.
Our team joined a Rail Trail clean up day. Such great kids.
Training
TrainingBalancing training blocks with racing. Training becomes more predictable during the week as many days are spent preparing for the weekend’s races.
The mtbing community is super friendly. I love that I can approach random riders at parks and join their ride.
A few pics from a long cruise on my hometown roads in upstate NY.