So I'm back. Yeah, it's been a while. Life just got hectic and let's face it, when life is busy and it comes down to riding your bike or writing a blog, you know where I'm going to be. I will admit that I considered being done with the blog. At times I miss it, other times I don't. It does take up time and it doesn't always bring me the best kind of attention. But over the course of the year I did realize I needed to keep writing. There are more people than I thought that like to read my ramblings and share in my adventures. And there were many adventures in 2018 that I want to share. The year may be close to over, but I am going to write about it anyway, starting from the beginning. There are just too many experiences to let pass, and things happened that will shape my life on and off the bike in the future. I feel I owe it to my supporters and to my sponsors.
One of the reasons I decided not to write for so long was that I had a bit of writer's block. The end of the 2017 season was a complete train wreck. I not only missed a lot of races being sick and struggled to get in any bike time, but I continued to deal with the sponsorship struggle. I've heard the same old answers for the last 15 years as to why I'm not a good choice for a team or sponsor deal.
I've heard for several years that I didn't have the results. So the last two years I went out and won more. More races. More series titles. More times standing on the podium. The same sponsors and teams that said I didn't have the results turned me down again because "It's not about the results." Of those that did care about results, it seems as though my good results were overlooked and all anyone remembered were the worst moments of the season. Absolutely no credit was given for winning the DINO and SERC Series titles. The Pro XCT in Midway, UT was one of my best performances ever and all anyone saw was 38th place. I don't care if I finished 148th out of 148, I had a great ride and left happy with my performance. At the National Championships I rode the XC on a broken pedal and all anyone saw was me riding off the back and finishing 41st. No credit at all for pushing on when I had every reason to quit. Everyone with the power to help me in this sport tells me I'm nothing. Yet every time someone beats me they get on some big team. Beating me must mean something. I watched it happen three times in 2017, guys getting great deals when they don't finish the majority of their races. I also heard that I was a terrible person for leaving Riverside. I don't see how I'm the bad guy there when they did absolutely nothing for me from day one. I was also told I needed to quit work and focus on riding. That would be nice, but in reality it's not an option right now.
But the thing that hurt me the most was people questioning my commitment to bike racing. I just don't understand the response, "We just don't think you will continue in this sport." What?!! I've been doing this now for longer than I haven't. I started when I was 15 and 2018 would be my 18th season. Why in the world would you question that of all things? I've always been in this sport for the long haul. I promise you my roots run deep into the hollow. I think if you look back at all the guys who were "better" than me over the years, I can only think of one that is even involved in bikes at all now, let alone still racing.
With all that being said, I knew without sponsor help I was not going to be able to continue racing this much in 2018. It's a tough pill to swallow when you want it so bad, but the writing was on the wall in November. I knew I was going to have to stay regional and race less. I just didn't have the funds for it with all the racing we did in 2017 and the lack of work I had in the latter half of the summer. This sport and industry is beyond frustrating at times. I believe everything happens for a reason, but after so many years of missing out on great opportunities it's becoming harder to convince myself that my break will come. It was hard to write about as I didn't have much nice to say on the issue for most of the season, but I feel it's time to move on past it and share some of the good things that happened over the course of the year.
And so 2018 began.
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