Me at the Sea Otter circuit race. My first NRC pro race. Also my first race on deep carbon tubular wheels, and there were 30 mph winds. Needless to say, the race did not go so well.
Here I am, doing what I always seem to find myself doing in Criteriums - riding off the front of the pack solo. This particular race, the Cherry Pie Crit in Napa, left me solo with just 2 laps to go, after my breakaway companion (David Veilleux of Kelly Benefits Pro team) blew a tire and called it quits. I ended up getting caught right at the line, and had to settle for 15th place.
Here's a good one of me and teammate Alex wick pulling the old 1-2 punch on the junior field at the Land Park Crit. We were able to win almost every junior race we entered if we worked it this way. Alex would attack solo, stay out there for a few laps while the rest of the field got tired of chasing. Then I would attack 'em, come across the gap to Alex, and we would ride off into the sunset (and the prize money)
Here I am nearing the finish of the Worlds Trials Time Trial in Kentucky. If you look closely, you'll notice that I have a regular clincher rear wheel, as opposed to the standard carbon disk wheel. A blowout in the starthouse with 2 minutes to go before my start left everyone scrambling to find me some rubber to ride. All the excitement had me starting the race with a racing heart, and a bit of a sunken morale, as I knew I was at an aerodynamic disadvantage to the rest of the riders without that disk wheel. I ended up second place after a great effort, and yet again did not qualify for worlds. But...
...but while the USA team (or what was left of it) was at worlds in South Africa, I went to the Spring Hill Road Race, and got my first win in a Pro category road race. I'm about to cross the line in the above photo, after outsprinting my breakaway companion. And yes, I was quite excited.
I know this one's kinda fuzzy, but it's such a cool shot. This is me riding up out of the gold mine shaft at the Tour de L'Abitibi in Quebec. The individual Time Trial starts out 400 vertical feet underground in a gold mine, and the riders must ride up out of the cold, damp, slippery shaft before riding the rest of the 18km course. I ended up 6th place on the day, and the team (USA national) ended up clinching the victory in the team classification as well as winning the best young rider jersey and coming within 1/4 of a second of winning the GC (with Charlie Avis). I did this amazing race twice as a junior and sadly I will never to be able to do it again, as I am now too old. It was one of my favorite races ever.
Me again at the front of a race in Germany, trying hard to set tempo on the climbs and take care of teammate Nick (pictured, far right in polka-dots), who was defending a lead in the King of the Mountains classification.
The podium at US nationals in August. Evan Huffman 1st, me 2nd, Marshall Opal 3rd, Ryan Zupko 4th, Nick Bax 5th. This was my last race of the season, and a bit of a heartbreaker, as I spent the last 3 miles solo off the front, only to get caught by fellow NorCal rider Huffman right in view of the line.
And when the racing was all over, I spent a few days on a 500-mile bike tour to the coast with a couple of friends. Here we are riding through the redwood forest. This was the ride that started all the knee problems I've been having, as I was pulling that big old trailer there over mountain passes every day, and riding up to 12 hours a day, with normal racing gears on my bike. The thing weighed anywhere from 75 to 100 pounds! Looking back on it, maybe this wasn't such a smart thing to do.
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