Here we are again. Snow coming down outside and my mind spinning a million miles an hour. I prefer to process thoughts and emotions the same way a lot of us do. I get outside and move. Days like this allow me to experience what, at first glance, seems to be silence.. but after sitting and waiting and listening is actually a world of beautiful sounds seemingly independent of our human goings-on. I let the natural world restore me as it so often has.. even if that looks, and sounds, a little bit different than my “preferred method.”

I learn to love these days. Forced to slow down and breathe and listen and wait. At first, I often resist. Almost without fail, I resist. But almost without fail, I also break.. and remember that resistance is futile. And it is only after I break, that I embrace the tranquility. And today the tranquility and forced contemplation revealed this to me:

I have the pleasure of pursuing a multitude of passions with a wonderful support system. My life is obviously not all sunshine and rainbows, but I’m coming up on a year with my girlfriend, Daphne, who is my rock through it all and helps keep me grounded. We live in Nederland, CO.. which if you’ve never been, is basically Narnia. The cold weather is dragging it’s heels because we’re at 8,200ft, but the warm months are tantalizing close.. and the trails are just starting to dry up and clear out! That said, I’m sure in the middle of August heat, I’ll be dreaming of the cold days on skis in a winter wonderland. This place has it all and feels like a mountain dream come true for this Texas native.

These are a few of my favorite things, March 2021

I have also started volunteer firefighting and just got through another round of training to enable me to be a useful cog in the firefighting machine.. This will allow me to combat wildfires this summer instead of being a helpless bystander watching my beautiful backyard burning and my friends homes threatened (last summer). The mountain life can feel isolating at times, but demands community in so many ways. This is a path that embodies that community, and like many organizations, can be all consuming and demands a certain level of dedication and education. I’m simply dipping my toe in the water so that, in the short term, I can lend a helping hand, and in the long term might turn into something bigger for me post-cycling.

All that said, I’m still pursuing what feels like a full time cycling career. Between racing and adventuring with @rodeolabs and track racing with my new track squad @startrackNYC, I’ve got my hands full. I’m currently working with @MSNprocoaching to tailor my training to my gravel calendar and building up to Unbound Gravel the first week of June.. I raced two weekends ago in the Koppenberg Road Race in Boulder which has a nice gravel section and I can’t begin to explain how good it felt to pin on my first number since December of 2019. It was a super fun race where I raced smart and conservatively only to have my “EILO” breathing issues come back. I hesitate to even mention that because it’s been my “excuse” for years, and I’m embarrassed and feel like a broken record sometimes. It’s a condition some people supposedly “grow out of” and I thought that might be me because I’ve only had a couple of debilitating episodes in the past 2.5 years.. but I felt my throat start to close on the second to last lap of this race and on the subsequent, and final, push up the famed koppenberg climb my larynx pinched my airway and shot me out the back of the lead group. As heartbreaking as it was, I’m glad it happened in a small local race.. I’m currently focused on finding a remedy and doing some respiratory therapy trials on myself so that I can be back on top for the big races coming up.

True Grit Gravel Race
St. George, Utah
March 2021

I’ll be racing the @madgravel event in Elbert, CO this coming weekend followed by the @ruleofthree.bike race in Bentonville, Arkansas on May 22. Those races will help me prepare for the big daddy of them all @unboundgravel on June 5 in Emporia, KS. Following the biggest gravel race in the world, I’ll begin a mid-season transition to track racing with a jaunt out to the velodrome in Trexlertown, PA for USAC track nationals and final preparations to defend a team pursuit national title to hopefully show the top dawgs at USAC that the Men’s TP squad is doing good work without them and is still on track working to build the physical capabilities to qualify for the Paris Olympics in 2024. Late summer, I’m back on the dirt with the FOCO Fondo, Ned Gravel, SBT Gravel, and Gravel “worlds” in July and August. I’m also working out a bikepacking tour of Guatemala with my Guatemalan Fam penciled in for January 2022. Stay tuned.. lots of projects in the works

Big Bend Bikepacking
January 2021
Photo By: Andy Chasteen

I’d be remiss to not acknowledge how fortunate I feel to be able to spend so much of my time and energy doing the things I love with people that I love.. but I’d also be deceitful if I didn’t tell you that it feels overwhelming at times. I feel in over my head some days.. but for better or worse, part of me feels a sense of validation and achievement because of that. I’m pushing my limits in so many ways and when I look at the big picture, that feels like the right path to be on. I know that I can’t do this all on my own. I know that I rely on my friends and family and sponsors to make this all possible.. sometimes that reliance wears on me… sometimes that reliance feels like positive sphere of influence with solid community and belief. If you’re even reading this, you’re part of that community I rely on. You are why I do this and why I believe in myself and why I chase these dreams. So Thank you, thank you, thank you. I aim to inspire and to encourage people through their own journeys and to be here for you. If you have questions or want advice or encouragement or somebody to vent to.. please don’t hesitate. We are all here for each other and community makes life more fruitful. Let me be part of yours and you part of mine.

Thank you to Stephen at Rodeo Labs, Jon at Rodeo Labs Pro Gravel, Brad at Knight Composites, and all affiliated sponsors with the Rodeo Pro Gravel project. If you want to follow my journey more closely, follow theirs as well. Also want to thank Pete Taylor at StarTrackNYC for helping me on the track side of things. He voiced to me that he wants to help get youth on bikes and on the track as well as American track cyclists to the Olympics.. I’m wholeheartedly committed to that vision and can’t wait to get more involved out there. I also need to thank Eva Watson who has been a sustaining force in my career, who believed in my vision and has sustained me through a couple of tough years. Last but not least Mike Norton at MSN Pro Coaching for jumping on board with my crazy vision to balance track and gravel racing and pursuing both with gusto and intent on being on top of podiums in both disciplines. I trust him with the nitty gritty details of my training and he’s a big picture type of coach. Can’t wait to see where all of us go together.

Snow Day: Life Update

Central American Bike Racing: we could all learn a thing or two