January 2nd, 2007
I’m not sure if you all will get to hear this, because I’m a very poor blogger, on all levels. This is the kind of song I wish I could play at races, but as you’ll hear, there is a bit of “language” as they say. I’ll try to get the second half of 2006 covered, but as Mike Creed would say “nobody cares, dude”. So far so good here in 2007, the snow is even starting to melt.
Thoughts on 06
December 31st, 2006Wow, it’s been an awesome year. I’ve had so many incredible experiences at races around the country. I thought I might take a chance to look back. The year started when I did a pre-publicity tour for the Amgen Tour of California in late January. Outside of announcing a 24 ski race (which was a blast) I hadn’t worked for 2 months, so that was a welcome paycheck. All the hype before the AToC was superceeded by the race itself. That was an amazing experience for everyone. It’ll be almost imsossible for any race to become America’s premier, now that AEG is in the mix. I just got my deal done for all the big tours, Cali, Georgia, Missouri, and I guess I’ll be back at Utah, although they haven’t been in touch since the restructuring. After California I went home for 2 days, than headed out to Fresno. Mike Shuemake is an icon for this sport. In Fresno he has done a ton of high quality work for Team in Training. They had 20 memebers when I was there in 1999. They have 300 now. Not bad, and his race, the Central Valley Classic is so good for the sport! So Mike had me record some radio ads, which included the first ever, and now infamous “It’s on, like Donkey Kong”. I bet there are teachers in Central Cal wondering where that ever came from. The Central Valley Classic was after McClane Pacafic, so I headed up to Merced. Doug Fleutch is another great promoter, cool guy, and has also done a ton, asking for nothing in return. How can you not like a guy like that? So I always enjoy announcing the crits in Fresno and Merced, and in 2006, I finaly felt comfortable. Comng back and doing some local announcing in Clorado was a nice break from the higher pressure races. It was also a break from making money, but the California swing allows me some latitude as far as working goes the rest of the spring. The local races are also a lot of fun, because I know just about all the racers, and they have come to be some of the biggest fans I have. It quite simply makes me feel awsome, having this support.
Then it was back to the Sea Otter. I’ll be honest, this event has become one of the hardest I do. I always get sick, eat bad food, get blisters, and generally don’t understand why I still go. Than I remember when nobody in the world gave a shit about Dave Towle (outside of my family), they hired me to work the event. They were also one of the first events to pay me to announce, in 2002. I owe them, so I’ll always try to do my best there. I got sick, endured a 5 hour meth bust in the nasty hotel I chose to stay at for 90 bucks a night, yet still had fun.
The great thing about the end of the Otter is that the Tour de Georgia is the next day! Man, I love that race, that state, and the whole South East in spring. The TdG is the event that helped me be in position to announce full time, and no longer have to pretend to be a bike mechanic. This years race was as good as ever. I met James Brown, and he told me “you are in charge, my man”. That was cool. I wish the picture of him starting the race didn’t have me flinching when he fired the gun, but what can you do? I freakin’ love James Brown, and will miss him dearly. Floyd won again, and was as cool as ever. We spent some time during the race with Paul and Arlene, his parents, and I sure hope the New Year see’s his name cleared. I also met the missingsaddle.com guys, which was all you would think it was. Curtis is the man, and I thank him for helping so many people have some fun with the sport at the site. Andy Pemberton from VeloNews asked me to do a standup at the last stage for velonews.tv. That has become one of my favorite gigs, I hope you have checked it out. After the TdG it was back to Longmont, and my final month in Longmont, before I made the move back to Boulder.
I flew back to Georgia in late April to do one of the best weekend of racing in America. Athens Twilight has become a season highlight for me, and Roswell has to be the classiest race going. The fun/work ration in Athens is interesting. The race is intense….loud, hectic, and absolutley wild is how I describe it. I don’t get much more wound up, that’s for sure. I can’t wait to go back next year. As I write this 2007 is 3 hours away, so it is still next year, I guess?
I then flew out to California again, but this time to do the NORBA National in Fontana. It turned out to be a great race. Tom Speigel and Jeff Frost have worked incredibly hard to keep mountain bike racing alive. This was an event that gives one hope, as there were a ton of racers, all seeming to have a good time. After the race I flew to Kansas for collegiate Nats.
Wow, the USAC is doing an amazing job. The racers, the staff, everyone involved with collegiate cycling are changing the landscape of the sport. Bring thousands of young people into cycling, in a fun, non threatning way, well, it’s exactly what we needed. The racing is highly charged as well, and I this is the kind of race that has you believing in the spirit of cycling. I’m doing all the USAC National events I can next year, but this has to be my favorite.
Back to Georgia (are you catching the pattern here?) and the 24 Hours of Conyers. Laird Knight is the man who deserves all the credit for defining endurance mountain bike racing with the “24″ format. The race was poorly attended, and I had to wonder why. There are a lot of forces at play, but I wish the sport a better 2007!
I’d never been to Durango before this years Iron Horse Classic. It’s an epic event. Chris Wherrys significant other Melissa got me the gig, and it was beyond my hopes. The race was dialed, the crowd was huge, and I screwed up the late race lap call. Troy Wells was the big loser because of my screw up. He and I are now friends, and his class at the time will be a highlight of the year. Super cool Cory Carlson won, and that was also really cool for me to watch. Corey is whats right about cycling.
This was a big year, and I can’t believe how exhausting just recapping it is. I’m goingto take a break, and get back to you with the rest of the 2006 season from my perspective.
I hope everyone has a happy and healthy New Year!