–The best coaches and CEOs aren’t the ones who succeed just on the field or in the boardroom. The true greats are measured by their coaching tree—what the people who worked for them, who they mentored, who they inspired go on to do.
Ryan Holiday
Hello ,
My apologies, it’s been a couple weeks!
I’ve been lucky enough to spend the last 21 days bikepacking and riding across Colorado,and now I’m home for a few.
One of my goals on this trip was to ride at least a few of the IMBA Epic Level Rides in the west, and on this trip I’ve ridden Monarch Crest, Roaring Fork/Aspen, and Buffalo Creek, I’ve also been fortunate enough to ride in Salida,CO, do two days bikepacking over the Continental Divide from St Elmo to Tincup, CO, and ride a couple days in Colorado Springs.
I also fit in some riding over Rollins Pass while coaching during the last week at MTB Nationals in Winter Park, this is a huge 21 KM dirt pass with amazing old train trestles on the Front Range side that I really wanted to have another go at after last year.
One of the things I’m always encouraging athletes to do is to cast a critical eye on every piece of equipment and ask themselves if they could improve on it. It’s easy to do a grams per dollar analysis, but you could also do a seconds gained per dollar, or substitute training time ( often harder to come by anyway) for dollars.
In the newer-to-me world of bikepacking I have so much time and effort to whittle away I’ve almost had to figure out the lowest hanging fruit to work on.
I improved my hand and elbow position considerably with a all- SQ Labs cockpit on the Trek Stache AKA “CampWagon”, and on this short trip over the Divide on my full suspension Yeti was able to rid myself of “The Albatross”, otherwise known as the 30L Mt Hardwear Scrambler I was filling to the brim and making my back sore.
I now have the 14L Raptor from Osprey which is purpose-built for mountain biking, and am making an effort to rid myself of all the weight on the back. Especially if I don’t need to carry huge amounts of water, this is going to be a game-changer.
I also just ordered a new pair of wheels with SON dynamo hub front and 30 mm ID rims, these should be much more robust than the older Bontrager Duster stock offerings that were basically unspooling themselves as I rode.
Kudos And Results
Gideon Myles- Alpe-D’huez
Owen Irving- 25P of 94 starters, Cat 1/2 Men XCO Qualifier, Winter Park
Owen Irving- 54P of 120 starters, 17-18 Men Nationals XCO
Owen Irving – 33P of 60 starters, 17-18 Mens STXC Qualifier
I’m very excited to see these huge fields in all the junior racing at nationals!
185 starters in 17-18 Men, 160 15-16 Men, 75 17-18 Women and 70 15-16 Women.
This is a direct reflection on the positive effect of NICA over the past decade and the absolute STOKE in the junior races was palpable.It was super enjoyable to watch these athletes race, support each other, and compete fiercely on the national stage.
Kudos to fitting client Scout Wellmeier on her podiums in both STXC and XCO for Junior Girls 11-14!
Be well,
Coach Johnny
