These were the words from my coach in the week leading up to The Shed Enduro, the region’s largest enduro race, as I battled the competing and accumulating pressures of work, a new position as president of the Roanoke Mountain Bike Alliance, coaching, training, and the inner pressure to never want to let anyone down….
Category: Race Reports
Just show up.
It’s taken me a few days to figure out what I want to say about XC National Championships last week. It was a long week, and I’m still tired. Four races in six days. Two volunteer shifts.One trail tour.One pool party.One full week of work. And the thing is, all of that is NOTHING compared…
I just want to ride bikes with my friends
Yes, that was one of the things I found myself saying out loud as I was racing during the XCM National Championship this past weekend. The highlight of the race for me was that, towards the end of my second lap, I was intermingled with a handful of amateur women on their first lap–and I…
Enduro Ain’t Dead
The North American Enduro Cup (NAEC) is, in my opinion, the premier enduro event in North America, featuring a full two days of racing, fresh-cut stages, and a wide variety of terrain that attracts the top talent from all over the U.S. (and internationally) to the small town of Kellogg, Idaho. For the second year…
Same, but Different: Back to BCBR
I first competed in the BC Bike Race in 2024, thanks to the support of Rocky Mountain Bikes, and in the process, formed a new posse of friends. When we saw that the 2026 edition of BCBR would be the final race in the traditional 7-day format, some of us decided that we would reunite…
PMBAR
The Pisgah Mountain Bike Adventure Race (PMBAR) is a race I’ve heard about for a number of years, but never actually been able to attend until now. The basic premise is that you race with a partner, making your own route to various checkpoints in the Pisgah forest, and returning back to the start/finish line…
TransNZ Enduro
Hot diggity dawg—what a great week on bikes! I’m sitting on the flight home (or, more accurately, one of FOUR flights to get from New Zealand back to Virginia) after finishing the TransNZ Enduro, a 6-day blind enduro stage race on the South Island of New Zealand. The short version is that the race was…
Singletrack is my superpower
I don’t know why this is the phrase that came to mind as I started the Marji Gesick 100-mile mountian bike race in Marquette, Michigan last weekend, but I grabbed onto it and added it to “Stay Curious” and “Be Patient” as my mantras for the day. This spring, as I was determining my race…
j’adore ça ici
Correct me if you speak French, but I think that means “I love it here.” It’s been years since I spent time in Europe, and it really is addicting. I’m sitting in the Zurich airport now, waiting to board my flight back to the U.S. and already scheming how I can come back and spend…
THE Downieville Classic!
I don’t really remember how I first heard about The Downieville Classic, but somehow, back in Indiana, when I first started racing mountain bikes, there were three “big” races that I quickly learned about: Iceman, Leadville, and Downieville. I’ve raced Iceman numerous times over the years and plan to make the trip from Virginia again…
Ride Fierce Racing 