A few gems in here! EWR race pics were around 1998 when I was racing XC and DS in JrX at about 15 yrs old. Sobe/Cannondale pics were racing pro dh in 2007/2008 and the group start pic is 1991. I’m the little dude in the yellow jersey lining up at 8 yrs old to race beginner with all the adults because there was no junior category back then!
What is your earliest memory of riding a bike? Earliest memory was taking the training wheels off when I was 3. My dad was walking behind me holding my seat. At one point I made a turn to go back to the start and saw he was standing 50 ft away and smiling. I immediately panicked and crashed.
Best memories were late teens and early twenties traveling and racing all over the place with great friends. I didn’t own a car so would bum rides with anyone I could. Usually I only had enough money to barely pay entry, food, and chip in on gas so would often sleep on the outside patio or deck of friends hotel rooms in my sleeping bag on a thermarest. Good times!
Favorite mountain bike trail? Favorite trail is difficult. There are so many amazing ones! One very memorable one is Mascota. It’s an old 15th century gold mining trail left by the Spanish conquistadores in the dense tropical mountains just east of Puerto Vallarta in Jalisco, Mexico. The heavy ox driven gold mining carts carved a trail into the mountainside that at times grooves 5 ft deep into the jungle bedrock which creates and incredible bobsled like experience. But, what makes it crazy is that over the last 500 years the dense undergrowth of the jungle has reclaimed the trail with slippery vegetation so the entire descent is a loose two wheel drift down the twisty slide to the bottom of the mountain. The trail ends among bullet holed historical churches and amazing taco stands. Plus there’s a few rad surf breaks just down the road for cooling off after the ride.
What sport would you be doing if you weren’t riding a bike? If I wasn’t riding… hmm, I love riding enduro dirt bikes both in the mountains and desert. It’s cycling on steroids.
To date most meaningful moment as a coach? Most memorable coaching event… also so many good ones. All of them! It was probably holding the rear wheel to keep the bike up for my son to tackle the nerves of his first gate start at the bmx track when he was around 4 years old. The anticipation, uncertainty, challenge, ambition, and self confidence that comes with racing and riding bicycles is incredible. That is just one example of that, but it’s the gift that keeps on giving as a coach. At every level you can see the kids connecting dots mentally and then summon the courage to put their vision to the test. It’s an incredible display of mettle.
Roll true!
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