The Off Season

Fall color.

The Santa Cruz Super Enduro was my final race of 2014 and the beginning of the "off season".  Fortunately I live in a place that allows me to never stop ridding my bike throughout the year so I have no excuses to stop riding throughout fall and winter!



Sawtooth Trail, Truckee

Fall in Northern California is my favorite time to ride, the dusty blown out trails of summer have been replaced with tacky beautiful ribbons of singletrack, and even high sierra trails are still open to play on.  I was able to ride in Downieville, Truckee, and Forest City throughout the Fall and was treated to the best trail conditions of the year.

Big Boulder Trail, Downieville

Truckee Ditch Trail, Forest City

Big Boulder

After a month of just having fun on the bike I started to put in a lot of base miles and start to prepare for the 2015 NICA NorCal series where I will be competing at the varsity level.

NU Team Rides

The NorCal high school season officially started December first and teams across the state began training for the races in spring.

Road rides on the hardtail.

As winter rolls in heavy rains can make the trails unridable for a few days so I have been putting in base miles on pavement as well as spending a lot of time the spin room.  On my local trails downed trees and washouts can become serious problems.

Downed tree on 8 Ball Trail.

I hope everyone can remain being active through winter and enjoy these beautiful days whether it be on white or brown pow.  Happy holidays!

Bullards Bar Trail

CES Finale in Santa Cruz

Heading to Santa Cruz

 The Santa Cruz Super Enduro was the finale of the California Enduro Series and was a great way to wrap up an awesome season of Enduro racing!  Located in the Redwoods of the Soquel Demonstration Forest racers had access to free camping and amenities at Camp Loma.  There was also an expo area, and bike demos were available on Sunday from Trek, Intense, Marin, Santa Cruz, and Juliana Bicycles.

All you really need.

The Santa Cruz Super Enduro consisted of four stages with Juniors/Beginners only racing the first three.  Stage 1 was Corral Trail and started with fast singletrack which turned to fireroad with many fun side features and some drops.  Stage 2 was Braille Trail the most technical and my favorite stage of the day, it was fast with some steep pitches and a lot of roots.

Me on Stage 2.  Photo Bogdan Marian

After Stage 2 racers climbed Tractor Trail to Stage 3 which was Sawpit Trail, Sawpit had a bit of everything with fast open sections, technical rock gardens, and a bit of bleed from your eyeballs sprints.  After Stage 3 Junior and Beginner racers headed back to Camp Loma and everyone else climbed up once more for Stage 4 the new Flow Trail in the Demo Forest.  I finished 9th in Junior Open at the Santa Cruz Super Enduro and claimed 4th place overall in the California Enduro Series Junior Men Open.

Overall Junior Men Podium! Photo Called to Creation.

 I had a lot of fun racing my first season of Enduro and I am super stoked to make it on the overall podium next to some of the fastest Junior racers in the sport.  Kudos to everyone who participated in this event!

Demo from Marin Bikes.

 On Sunday I got to try an awesome Marin Attack Trail, on Braille Trail, this thing rips!

CES #4 Kamikaze Bike Games Enduro

For the fourth stop in the California Enduro Series 300 racers descended upon three stages of loose kitty litter root laden trails on Mammoth Mountain that proved to be both fun and challenging.  This race was part of a bigger weekend of fun at Mammoth, the Kamikaze Bike Games, which included  the infamous Kamikaze Downhill, Dual Slalom, Pro GRT Downhill, Cross-Country, Speed and Style, as well as a Best Trick contest. The Enduro race was on Sunday and there was an awesome array of booths in the expo area all weekend.  Originally there was going to be four stages with stage 2 being part of the Kamikaze Downhill course, starting at 11,058 feet. This fast, scary and loose fire road is rich in mountain bike history as it was home to some of the first downhill races in the 1990's.

Pre-Ride at 11,000ft.

 However, come race day rain moved in, making the lower trails on the mountain tacky but at the top of the Kamikaze course a dusting of snow and sub freezing temperatures forced the cancelation of stage 2.

Pre-Race bike check!

The rain on Sunday postponed the race for a few hours but made trail conditions perfect.  After a short chair lift ride to Stage 1 it was time to race, only 20 seconds between racers made for a bunch of sketchy passes on the mainly singletrack technical stages.  Stage 1 started with a tricky root drop section then got more physical especially at high elevation  with some flat stretches, at the bottom it included part of the Pro GRT course on Bullet Trail with a few fun rock gardens and a high speed finish.

Stage 1 finish on Bullet!

Another lift ride and a short but lung busting climb brought racers to Stage 2, this was my favorite stage of the day and started with rolling high alpine singletrack that wrapped around to the CAT 2/3 Downhill course from the day before and included fast root sections with occasional ladder bridges and wallrides. For the transfer to stage 3 racers had a several mile pedal and then a quick gondola ride to the top of the stage.  Stage 3 was the most physical of the day but still had a few technical sections and some bike park terrain.  Starting on traversing singletrack stage 3 then turned into a fast Downhill trail with a few jumps and wooden features that meet the bottom of Stage 1 for a fun finish down to expo area.

End of Stage 3.

I finished 8th in Junior Open a strong result that brought me up to 4th in overall standings with the finale being held in Santa Cruz in a few weeks!

Devil's Postpile!!!

2014 BONC Grouse Fest

The third annual Bicyclists of Nevada County Grouse Fest rolled around an was a great mix of trail work, fun around the campfire, and epic back country riding.

photo by Keegan Zetterberg

The first day I set up camp and enjoyed the beauty of Lindsey Lake and the surrounding mountains that were the setting for great time in the mountains.  Towards dark we had an awesome night ride down Bull Pen trail and back up to camp.

The next morning volunteers were caravanned on 4x4 jeep road and then had a few mile hike to get to the work site.  Tons of progress was made on the first day and the despite thick Manzanita roots the new rerouted Lindsey Lakes trail was close to completion.

The second day some volunteers choose to continue to work and complete the trail work project while others choose to enjoy the technical back country mountain biking Grouse Ridge has to offer.  On the last day there is always a big group ride that show cases the best trails of the area.  Here are a few photos from my ride.

Photo by Keegan Zaetterberg

This years Grouse Fest was tons of fun I cant wait to see what this event will grow into in the future.  Thanks to the USFS Tahoe National Forest and Bicyclists of Nevada County for making this event possible.

CES #3 Livewire Enduro at Northstar

 

Stage 1 Livewire

The third stop of the California Enduro Series at Northstar Ski Resort was a blast and featured flowy bike park terrain, physical cross-country trails, and  technical black diamond runs.

Me and other racers from the NU Miners MTB Team.

The race was part of Northstar's Livewire Classic which brings their downhill and enduro race season to an end, the enduro race was well attended and had close to 300 competitors.



Stage 3 Speed Control/Pho Dog
 

Stage one was Livewire one of the bike parks most popular trails consisting of fifty 20-50 foot table tops and massive berms Livewire is also fully irrigated.  Stage 2 took place on various multi-use trails on the mountain and proved to be extremely physical, to get a good time racers had to go through over fifteen minutes of hair bleeding agony.

Pho Dog

For stage 3 it was back to the fun side of things and was my favorite stage of the day, it started on Speed Control a fast flowy bike park trail and then went into Pho Dog a mildly technical downhill run with jumps and berms.

At the end of the day I finished 9th out of 29 fast riders in the Junior Open category and was able to some good stuff in the post race schwag giveaway and raffle.

2014 Downieville Classic DH



5,4,3,2,1 out of the start gate!

After a hard day of racing on day one it was time to head up to the top of Packer Saddle for the start of the Downieville Downhill Race.  On Sunrise Trail I felt super fast and smooth ripping down the ribbon of single track with my fastest time yet. 

An off camber section on Sunrise Trail.

I went on to feel great on the very technical Butcher Ranch trail with a flawless right hand line on the "Waterfall", a large rock garden in the middle of Butcher Ranch.  After making it up to 3rd Divide Trail and passing several racers who suffered from mechanical failures, I put in a great run on Third Divide and made it to Lavezzola Road with my fastest time this year.  After sprinting down the dirt road I only had First Divide and then I was there, not so, about a quarter mile down First Divide my front tire slipped off the edge of the trail and I hit the ground hard, I quickly got up and tried to continue riding but severe pain and a lot of blood pouring out of my arm kept me off the bike, with a painful and disappointing 4 mile walk back to Downieville watching the entire field rip past me with an occasional "hey bro you good?"
    Even though my arm hurt pretty bad I did not bail and walked the remainder of the course into last place but still finishing.

Not to happy.

After a visit to the First Aid tent it was clear I needed stitches, luckily there is a clinic in Downieville that could stitch me up.

Ouch.

With a substantial laceration and a pretty good chunk out of my elbow I needed 12 stitches to get my arm back together!

One day latter.

This might of been the worst result of my season and a pretty disappointing set back but despite this, there is never a bad day riding bikes in the woods and I am pretty excited to get out there next year and try to tear it up!

2014 Downieville Classic XC

 

My Santa Cruz Solo ready for Downieville.

After racing the Downieville Classic Cross-Country for the past two years I decided to compete in the All-Mountain category this year, the Downieville All-Mountain combines the grueling and technical cross-country race on Saturday with the long and demanding Downhill Race on Sunday, competitors must race both days on the same bike and the person with the most amount of points wins.

Home for the weekend!

Ready to get up early for the xc race in the morning.

The start line proved to be very challenging and with over 100 racers in expert alone this proved for some tight passing and sketchy situations in the first stretch of the eight mile climb to packer saddle.

The expert field, there was about 80 racers behind me.

This year I raced in the highly competitive Junior Expert category, and this made for the toughest Downieville races so far, I hit it hard going up the climb trying to keep up with the competition but  suffered from a 33 pound bike, cramps, and 90+ degree heat; despite the pain I still was able to set personal records all the way up to Packer Saddle.

Almost at the top.

At the top of the climb racers take the Sunrise singletrack and than have a few miles of rolling gravel road to the infamous "Baby Head" section, an old road bed completely filled with lose rock ranging from 6in to 3ft.  I unfortunately was held back on Sunrise Trail due to slower racers on the downhill, I did my best to pin the gravel road, and then left the brakes off for Baby Heads putting down my best time and passing a few racers.  At the bottom of this wild ride is the 30ft wide Pauley Creek crossing after a quick technical climb there lies a winding technical singletrack that is Pauley Creek Trail, with many tricky wet rooty/rocky sections.  After a few miles of physical downhill the XC course rejoins the famous "Downieville Downhill", after another mile or so of chunky stuff there is a short but extremely painful climb to the top of 3rd Divide Trail.  Third Divide is a high speed roller coaster known for the possibility of reaching post 50mph speeds and the guarantee of leaving you smiling at the bottom.  At the bottom of Third Divide it is time to get inside the paincave all the way to Downieville with a few miles of dirt road and than First Divide Trail a relatively flat shale path along a Gold Rush era ditch that requires a ton of pedaling.  Once you have completed the First Divide trail this leaves you with a mile of pavement that proves for an intense sprint to the finish in Downieville!

Just across the finish line, that was a tough one.

Although I was not able to beat my last years race time of 2:28:56 I still had my fastest time of this season at 2:35:08 and finished 11th out of 18 of NorCal's fastest junior racers.

Nevada City Dirt Classic #3

The third and final Nevada City Dirt Classic took place on the extremely dusty and slightly rocky Upper Pioneer and Hallelujah trails 15 miles outside of Nevada City in the Tahoe National Forest. 

Rock garden time!

The course proved to be challenging and with PRO/Expert racers doing four laps it turned out to be a little bit of a pain fest, despite the grueling and steep climb out of the headwaters of deer creek there was still many ribbons of velvet singletrack winding through the forest to enjoy and the long lose rock garden on Upper Pioneer is always a good time.

The CAT 1 field heads out.

For me I hit it hard the first two laps, and was feeling great, but as I rolled around for the third time fatigue set in and by the fourth lap I was suffering from back pain and could only push on slowly.  After almost of 28 miles of dry, loose, pain I still managed to be first in the Expert 15-18 category and the day was an excellent training session.

Having fun through the rock garden.

The final race of this  awesome series not only featured great riding but also the long awaited raffle of your choice of full suspension Specialized mountain bike as well as other great prices from all the event sponsors.  Additionally riders who got on the podium all three times got free entry to next years race series.

Thanks to all the volunteers and sponsors who make these races possible, especially to Jet Lowe who is the driving force behind YBONC and the Nevada City Dirt Classic.  Also a big thank you to Rob Lowe who always comes out to take amazing photos of the race and makes them available on his website free of charge.  Looking forward to next year!

Nevada City Dirt Classic #2

The second Nevada City Dirt Classic took place in the Tahoe National Forest on the Pioneer and Dascombe Trails just a few miles outside of Nevada City, this race was also a stop in the Sierra Cup race series.

This race was extremely dusty and on the first lap you could barley see your hand in front of your face let alone the trail ahead of you.  The two favorite features of the course were the "half pipe" a fun sweeping bermed section that dived in and out of an old road bed, and a steep rooty downhill section that went into a drainage and proved challenging to get up and out of on the other side.

Unfortunately for me my race was plagued by two flat tires and proved to be a game of catch-up for the rest of the race.  After a bad start where I was left at the back of the entire expert field I finally worked my way up to a racer in my category, my thought that I might have a shot at doing well were soon smashed as the rear end of my bike began to weave around and I knew I had a flat.  I fixed it but not before the entire sport category had passed me.  After this I put in a hard effort and managed to catch the end of the expert train, after passing dozens of sport racers.  I soon caught a glimpse of my competition and felt a wave of hope for my race but unfortunately, I again heard the soul crushing hiss of my rear tire punctured again. I had no more tubes and I had no idea what to do, running with my bike to the top of the root section, I rode down with a completely flat tire where a friend who was posted as a course marshal was able to lend me a 26 inch tube, I forced it around my 29er rim, got my tire on, and was able to rip another lap and finished the day fifth in junior expert.

There is still one more chance to get in on the fun of the Nevada City Dirt Classic on July 12th on the Hallelujah and Upper Pioneer trails 15 miles above Nevada City.  Go here for more info:http://ybonc.org/events/dirt-classic/

Photos courtesy of Robert Lowe and Jared Mickel

Nevada City Dirt Classic #1

The first race of three in the Nevada City Dirt Classic Series was held on private land in Grass Valley, California and featured some insane trails and possibly the most interesting cross-country race I have ever competed in. 

The course featured flowy downhill trails with berms and jumps to an Enduro Motocross track with monster truck tires, many log roll overs, and an old car to ride over. Not only was this race technically challenging but it had 800 brutal feet of climbing per lap that made for a super tough race.

 

Competing in the CAT 1(Expert) 15-18 category I came away with third place.  This was truly awesome and was both technically and physically challenging.  Thank you to the land owner, Ron Sanchez for letting Youth Bicyclists of Nevada County put on this race two years in row now!

 

The expert boys 15-18 podium.

 

Photos courtesy of Robert Lowe