2008 Racing Results

I'm just now finalizing the details of the upcoming 2009 mountain bike racing season. Before I layout my plans for this year I thought it might be appropriate to take a brief look at my 2008 season. Having been down for 2006 and 2007 due to knee issues, 2008 was a comeback year for me. I started out racing in Sport and wanted my peak race to be something long like The Durango 100. The Durango 100 didn't happen last year so I had to settle for the Laramie Enduro. Unfortunately, I lost my data from the first half of the year, only leaving hard stats from June to December. My best estimate of my yearly training and racing totals are 3930 miles over 335 hours. It felt like I rode a lot farther and longer, but that is what I'm coming up with . This year I have a GPS cycling computer and will have much more accurate data.

2008 was a year of firsts. My first year on the Supefly and my first year with Phoenix Multisport as a sponsor. I competed in 8 events, racing 266 miles in 25:39 hours. In 2005 I covered almost all of that in one race, The 24 Hours in the Sage!

Here are my race results:

• The Greenbrier Challenge / Maryland State Championships - 3rd.
• The Burn - 4th.
• Winterpark Cross Country Superloop - 3rd.
• The Laramie Enduro - 1st.
• Winterpark Crankworx Cross Country Race - 4th.
• Steamboat Rio Stampede (4 laps) - 6th.
• Winterpark King of the Rockies - 6th
• 24 Hours of Moab - 20th. This doesn't really count because I was on a just for fun team. My lap times were 1:23:01, 1:36:48, 1:28:41. Nothing impressive, but a good stepping stone for 2009.

My goals for 2008 were top 5 finishes in every race, to win my peak race (The Laramie Enduro) and to keep my knee healthy enough to race the entire season. I came close on the first one and met the last two goals. Riding high on my win in the Laramie Enduro I overloaded my schedule with too many races which soon lead to burn out. This shows in the subsequent results.

Overall, the year was a great comeback year. I had my share of success and failures, enjoyed the company of inspiring people, learned new lessons, and kept my knee intact. I'm laying out my 2009 season with my coach tomorrow and will post up a detailed plan soon.