Santa Ynez

After being so horribly sick the week leading up to Sant Ynez, I really didn't expect much. I was just glad to be out of bed and back on the bike.


Here I am with SuperD stud Brant, and Carlos from the Pomona Mountain Bike Club demo'ing a Tomac Carbide.

After a warm up lap on Saturday that included a slightly scary but mostly hilarious staredown with a 2-ton bull protecting his herd (with 3 other riders cowering behind me, ready to offer me up as a sacrifice if they were allowed to pass unharmed) and Randy letting me slumber Saturday night in the unofficial official team trailer to escape the 30-40mph winds blowing through the valley, I was actually in a good mood.


The wind died down on Sunday and the weather was just about perfect. I tried to follow Coach Gareth's advice about consuming approximately 300 calories an hour during the race, and fell short, but I still felt good. A couple racers in other classes acted as dangling carrots to keep my ass moving at a good pace and I ended up 15th out of 21 people.