Triple Crown of Beacon!

Sea Otter 2013 was the last time I had raced a bike. Coming back to racing has been on my mind ever since my surgery. The normal thoughts have rolled through my mind for the last 11 months, "Will I still be competitive?" "Will I be afraid of crashing?" "Can I still perform under pressure?" I put all of those demons to rest this past weekend with my return to racing!

  Beacon is always a difficult race. There are downhill races both Saturday and Sunday. You have to learn two courses that have numerous blind features, and the race times are always tight. The locals have mind blowing speed, and have this place on lock-down. This is also the only race of the year without a shuttle or a lift of any kind. So if you want to practice, you have to hike. To make the schedule even more rigorous this year, they added an enduro to the mix! Once I saw the race flyer I determined I was going to try to race everything.

I was able to get to the race Friday evening with enough time for an enduro lap, and then a few minutes of DH practice before dark. That was the real key to my weekend. I felt great, and couldn't wait to get up and race in the morning. Jeff and Jaime were amazing hosts as always and let me crash with them again.

Parking lot was packed! 

Saturday morning started with a trip to the grocery store at 7am. Standing in line to pay, a song came on the store's speakers. Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo by Rick Derringer started playing. It was a great sign. That song was in my head all last year during the filming of my Beacon video. I was officially pumped!

Beacon video from March last year right before my shoulder surgery. 

I pedaled up for the enduro start on my Diamondback Mason FS. Beacon is very sandy and drains really well, so I was blown away at the sight of mud! I was running a semi-slick Kenda Happy Medium in the back, which is about as far from a mud tire as you can get. The pedal up was nice and slow, knowing I had plenty of time to race. I dropped into the first stage a little over zealous. A few blown corners due to the slick conditions, but I hammered the one uphill in the stage and carried great speed into the last flat section. It seemed like almost everyone had issues with the mud, so I pedaled off to stage two feeling pretty good.

So enduro!

Trying to keep it upright in the slick spots.

Stage two was the long stage. It had a lot of flat parts and was going to be a leg burner. I pushed the technical parts a little harder than I should have and made a bunch of little mistakes, but managed to keep it together. My main focus on this stage was one downhill sweeping corner that had a long uphill out of it. I figured this would be the most crucial place to carry speed. I came into the corner as fast as I could, but right at the apex started sliding towards one of the course poles! Shoot! There wasn't much I could do other than slam the brakes and try not to go down. I lost all of my speed, but kept it upright. I took my anger out on the next hill and smashed the pedals as hard as I could to get to the top. My legs were burning, but I kept pushing towards the finish. I was really bummed on the stage.

Girthmore. The biggest drop in any race course I've ever ridden. - Photo by Damon Sedivy

The final section of Stage three. - photo by Willy Bartlett

Stage three was actually the Sunday downhill course, without Girthmore or the Jetson line. However, you had to ride the same bike. I dropped into the stage on my Mason and was really excited with how fast I felt. I came through the finish line happy to be done with my first enduro! However, my legs were on fire and I had to hike up the hill one more time and still race the downhill.

Coming over the cheese wedge - photo by Kim Floyd

I swapped bikes and helmets and headed to the top. One last run for the day. I kept everything nice and smooth, hit all of my lines, and only had one small mistake towards the end. I came through the finish line with a big smile on my face. Getting the first DH race out of the way successfully was a huge weight off my shoulders.

Coming through the final few corners of Saturdays course - Photo by Jason Gibb

Saturday DH results. The kids are getting fast! 

After waiting for the results to be completed, I found out I had won every stage of the enduro and the downhill with the fastest times of the day on all! I couldn't have been happier! Jaime also won every stage of the enduro for her class and the pro womens DH! Jaime, Jeff and I went out for dinner, grabbed some food, and headed back to Beacon to camp for the night. We were all so tired, that we fell asleep at 8:30pm!

Home sweet home for the weekend

Sunday morning had two possibilities, either I was going to feel great, or not be able to walk. Luckily my legs felt alright and I was able to get some good practice in before the race. I love watching how others approach a race. I told numerous people that Sundays race would be won on the long pedal between Girthmore and the camel humps about mid way down, but everyone kept trying to squeeze hundredths of seconds out of the most technical parts of the course. I chose to hit the "easy" side of the Jetson line, albeit jumping into it. I figured it was the safest and it felt about the same speed as the other, more difficult and consequential lines.

The "easy" side of the Jetson line.

In my race run I tried to be smooth. I drifted the rear of the bike a few times and hit the brakes in a few places I shouldn't have, but pedaled as hard as I could in the middle. I cruised through the Jetson line without issue and crossed the finish line. When the dust settled, I ended up on top again. It was great to win and still play it smart and (relativity) safe. Big props to Kent Billingsley for crushing it and pushing me both days, along with Alex Watts for his first Pro podium in his first pro race! Also big ups to Lucas Chalcraft for the high jump contest. Lucas had to be 10-12 feet above a 6 foot lip. Mind blown!

Four beers are being poured on me right here. Winning in the NW is fun! - photo by Jim McCracken 

After the race I stopped by my favorite restaurant and headed home. I am looking forward to Sea Otter and cannot wait to get the new DH bike out to Port Angeles.

My treat for winning! 

Ill see everyone at the races, it feels great to be back! Big thanks to all of the people who support me and have helped me along the way, first and foremost, Ruth for putting up with me, My parents for fostering this dream, and of course Diamondback Bikes, Gravity Components, Kenda Tires, Chris King hubs, Fox Racing Shox, Shimano, Enve, Bell Helmets, and the people at Boeing who don't seem to mind when I'm a little scrapped up on Monday morning!