How Not to Start a Racing Career
For as long as I can remember I have loved racing. Basically any sort of racing intrigued me; motorcycles, bicycles, cars, boats, the occasional lawn mower, you get the point. If there is something that can go fast and a bunch of people who want to see who’s the fastest, I am in!
However, I grew up in a small town that didn’t have much access to racing and in a household that prioritized traditional stick and ball sports over going fast. I didn’t fit that mold. I remember being a kid and all I wanted was a dirt bike so I could be like the guys on TV, racing super and motocross, traveling the country in vans and duking it out every weekend. Sadly, those dreams never became a reality and my first motorcycle was a 1979 Honda ST 90, a bike not particularly suited for racing.
My very first actual racing experience came from a downhill mountain bike event. I had bought a new GT Fury around 2011/2012 and was hoping to race a localish circuit. There were several races in my home state of Idaho and a fair number of accessible races in neighboring Washington, so I signed up for the closest one in Spokane, WA. I spent two weeks driving up from my home town of Lewiston, Idaho to pre-ride the course. By the time race weekend came around I was pretty familiar with the course so my practice runs were pretty smooth. I even followed the previous years winner in the beginner class down for a run. When it came time for my race run, I took off and IMMEDIATELY biffed it 30 feet into my run, got the tape wrapped in my cassette, and wasn’t able to pedal the rest of my run. I was so humiliated that I rolled right through the finish line, down to my car, and drove home. Not the start of a racing career I was hoping for!
Race Set up for the Odessa 100 in Odessa, WA!
To say I was deterred from racing would be an understatement. I wouldn’t race mountain bikes again for over a decade. In the mean time I participated in a couple dirt bike races (The desert 100 or Odessa 100 depending on who you ask) that would prove to be a ton of fun and much higher success than my only downhill race. But that was it until I was almost 30!
My foray into marathon mountain bike racing came from a race I had been interested in for a number of years. The Whiskey 50 in Prescott, Arizona. A friend of mine had mentioned it years before and it stuck with me. 50 miles of single track mountain bike racing through the high desert of northern Arizona sounded awesome! So in 2020, I signed up… and yeah, we all know that covid ruined basically everything so that event was cancelled. This time, however, I was not deterred and I signed back up for the 2024 event after starting a new career and moving to Arizona in 2021.
This was going to be my first race going a long distance and one of the few times I had even ridden that distance. In fact, until race day I hadn’t ridden that far on single track ever! The weekend was a complete success. I raced my trail (140mm travel) bike with heavy tires and not nearly enough food but I made it! I loved every minute of the event from the vendor row to the cool pint glass I got for finishing. From then on, I decided that I was going to chase racing as my main hobby. It gave me an excuse to train, travel, and focus on my health. I had no illusions that I would become a professional but I wanted to ride in cool places and see what I could do with some training. Plus there are epic races all over the world!
For the time being my racing would be focused in the US on a select number of events that could be fit into my busy travel schedule for work. My next event came in the fall and was the Austin Rattler. A 60 mile race just outside of Austin, Texas. I was a little more prepared for this race since I had already completed the Whiskey and knew what to expect from my fitness and an organized race. It didn’t go quite as well as I would have liked since I got a flat part way through and lost a fair bit of time and motivation. I did finish thanks to the support of my crew (my girlfriend, her dad, and his wife) which helped massively!
My third event for the year was Arizona’s Tour of the White Mountains, another 50 miler outside of Pine Top. Arizona. This one was at higher elevation than what I was used to so there was a lot more suffering involved. It was VERY dusty at the start with a mass start and I was buried deep in the pack. I was really struggling to breath and keep calm at 8,000 feet but I managed to get through!
For 2025, I was planning to up my game and take racing a bit more seriously. I purchased a race bike and put in more effort to train. I wanted to beat my Whiskey 50 time from 2024 and add a few more races to the calendar. I had mixed results; my Whiskey 50 time was a half an hour faster than ‘24 but I ended up with a torn labrum in my left shoulder that tanked the rest of my racing season due to physical therapy and lack of race fitness.
And that brings us to 2026, where I will be starting to document my races! I’ve already completed the McDowell Meltdown and have the Whiskey 50 and Moab Rocks on the calendar!