Party Laps Forever

Three weeks before the start of Trans New England, all of my best laid plans blew up. The UCI changed the date of the XCM World Championship from the previously published Saturday, September 21st to Sunday, September 22nd–a minor change, unless, of course, you were planning to drive from West Virginia to New Hampshire for…

A dream come true

It isn’t very often that a world championship event is held on home soil, or, even more specifically, on one’s home trails, but that is exactly what happened last weekend as the 2024 UCI Cross Country Marathon (XCM) World Championships took place at Snowshoe, West Virginia. The course was 68 miles of backcountry goodness, trails…

Level Up

The 2023 USA Enduro National Championship at Ride Rock Creek was my second enduro race ever. I had just gotten stitches out of my knee (for the second time last summer), and the wet conditions made a slip-n-slide out of the backcountry stages. I was terrified, but I was also hooked. Coming into the Enduro…

Pretty girls [bike] like this

Women in mountain biking have found what I think is a beautiful sweet spot of competing not against each other, but with each other.

BCBR: Singletrack Summer Camp

How to even begin? BC Bike Race is more than a race. It really feels like an experience…a celebration even, of mountain biking and the community around it. I just got home, less than 24 hours ago, and I already want to go back. To preface, I flew out to BC Bike Race this year…

Partiu! Partiu!

The 2024 XCM (Cross Country Marathon) MTB Pan-American Championships took place in Goianá, Minas Gerais, Brazil this past weekend. After racing in Colombia last year, I had a pretty good idea of what to expect as far as checking into the event, the pre-race team manager meeting, and the race itself. Myself, Mark Kransz, and…

Made for the Elements

When its day three of racing in pouring rain, driving wind, and garbage conditions, and you’re still grinning from ear to ear, either something is really wrong with you, or you know you’re doing exactly what you’re made for. This was the realization I came to in the middle of stage three of this year’s…

Racing (not) Solo

Every spring, I put The Appalachian Journey on my calendar as the lone gravel event of the year. Put on by some dear friends, it is a celebration of community, togetherness, and Floyd County gravel. Somewhat uniquely, it is also a partner event. In the past, I’ve always ridden The Appalachian Journey as a fun…

World Championships!

Where do I even start? Just the realization that I raced in an Elite World Championship race seems a bit surreal.  The “pipe dream” that has been motivating my race schedule for the past year was to qualify for the 2024 XCM World Championship, to be held at Snowshoe, in WV, but even as I…

Winner! Wilderness 101k Race Recap

This one feels like its been a long time coming. I’m not sure what sort of literary device tells the end of the story first, but, I WON A MTB RACE! In 2019, I attempted my first 50-mile mountain bike race, the Whiskey 50…which I promptly DNF’d. Later that year, I flew to Arkansas for…