Great New Team, Terrible First Race.

As I write this blog post, I'm faced with two complete opposite fortunes. A great opportunity and amazing chance, and a disappointment that is a non-essential hiccup. I'll begin with the positive, something for which I am very excited for.

I'm very pleased to announce that for this cyclocross season I am racing for Boo Bicycles/TrainingPeaks! A wonderful opportunity from a great, local company. The pride that I have to line up in the Boo Bicycles kit is enormous. I'm very thankful for this opportunity and would like to thank everyone involved. Thanks goes out to my Mom and Dad, Jason Trujillo, my coach Andy Clark, and most of all, Nick Frey for the chance to race on wonderful bikes! I will be doing most of the races that the Boo Bus will be at (come by and say hi!), the next race being Colorado Cross Classic in two weekends from now. Check out Boo Bicycles at www.boobicycles.com. Man, those are some gorgeous bikes!

Along with a great thing comes a negative. Sunday was my first cyclocross race of the season, and the first time I would be representing Boo Bicycles, I was excited to say the least! I lined up for the first time all season, resplendent in the Boo kit. I got a start position in the very last row of CAT 3's, (which I was racing to get my CAT 2 upgrade), due to a last minute registration. I went from last row to 3rd wheel within a minute of racing, and was feeling comfortable until I ran into a problem. I was running clinchers, due to the fact that I didn't have any tubulars glued up at the time, and when I took a corner too hard the bead of the tire popped out of the rim. I was the furthest point away from the pit and as I watched the race disappear, I couldn't help but be a little angry.

I let all the air of the tire so I could put it back on the rim, and then I had to run all the way to the pit to get it pumped up. I had lost nearly 4 and a half minutes at that point, and when the race was turning out 5:45 laps, I was near to being lapped. Eventually the leaders caught me and I hung on to their wheels for what would have been 3rd if the tire debacle wouldn't have happened. It wasn't a huge race, or an important one, but I wanted to make a great entrance to my cyclocross season, which didn't happen. In the long run it's not an issue, but having the bitter taste of a bad first race will chase me until I can redeem myself. In hindsight, my expectations we're very high for a first cross race against people that have already been racing cross, and now I have something to build for until the next race to erase that "@1 lap" in the books.

The season has started in a crazy way but once it's rolling and moving forward, I'm looking to being at the front of the field for the season. Look for me and the Boo Bus at Colorado Cross Classic on October 12th. Make sure you "BOO!" me as I, and my other Boo Teammates, Skyler Trujillo and Rotem Ishay race past! Big thanks to everyone at Boo Bicycles and TrainingPeaks, as well as Braaap Nutrition and Challenge Tires for their support! I'm looking forward to the next race where I can truly begin my cross season on the right foot!



Thanks for reading!

Early Season Sickness

I came into the second weekend of the Colorado High School Mountain Bike race series looking for a big result. Fresh off of the last race with a 3rd place, I was looking to better that result. But then the week beforehand came and I was struck with a cold. I tried everything I could to be healthy for the weekend, but that was all for nothing. Leadville proved to be a huge challenge, and the rest of the weekend provided nothing less.

Leadville, situated at 10,152 feet, is one of the highest cities in the US, and maybe even the world. Coming from less than 5000 feet meant that the air was very thin up in Leadville, and being sick, this just put me at an even bigger disadvantage. But even still, I had high hopes for the weekend, and a goal to take the overall leaders jersey with Michael absent from the event, because apparently he had better places to be (like the World Championship TT in Italy...).

The team had rented out the entire Leadville Hostel and Inn, which was totally awesome. 57 beds, a full kitchen and a pool table. Everything needed for a successful weekend of racing. Saturday at 1 o'clock we began the pre-ride, and that's when I noticed the elevation. Higher heart rate, less oxygen, way less power. It was shaping up to be a race that I was not looking forward to. The course itself was wayyy sick, despite the first climb which was an absolutely brutal fire road. The descent and rest of the course was tight, forested, and hero dirt. It was a complete blast to ride, and I knew that I would be where I could succeed.

Saturday night was one of the longest nights of my life, anxiety from the race, combined with real world sadness from the passing of one of my families most near and dear friends made for one of those nights where you want it to be the next day already. Nick and I went for a walk around 9 o'clock to clear our heads, and watching the moon rise over the 14k foot peaks really made me realize that what was here was real, and no matter other problems, my goal was to succeed at the race. And with that in mind, I fell asleep, and I slept hard.

Race morning came and I knew it wouldn't be a regular race day. The clouds were already moving in and with temperatures around the 40's, the day wasn't going to get much better. We got to the venue and no sooner than the girls started racing, the rain came. And it came down, hard, for a while, and the girls came in from the race all muddy. Kudos to my teammate Sam, for finishing 5th in Sophomore D2.

The day progressed and finally it came time to warm-up. My emotions were running high and stress was hampering my thoughts. I had a front row call-up and after I missed my pedal after the start I knew that it was going to be a brutal race, not just physically, but mentally too. Up the first climb I lead and then I let Maxx take over the pace, I knew he would set a reasonable pace up and when attacks from other kids came, I attacked off the back of the bunch.

In general, my mental racing state is very good, but after a long week and a very tragic turn of events, I was less than sub-par in my head. As I watched the group ride away from me, I couldn't help but let my mind wander and imagine how it could have been different, not sick, less of a trying week, more riding in my legs. But none of the matter because I had to do what was happening right now. And as I got to the top of the first climb, I was in 15th-ish place. Not at all where I wanted to be going into the first descent, which had minimal passing.

My teammate, Zack, was up in the chasing group, and as I took risks on the descent trying to pass people, I finally caught the chasing group, a feat that I deemed awesome. Zack and I rode together in the group for a while as finally the kid up front, who burned a few too many matches, and had accumulated a few too many kids behind him, blew up. The three other kids in the group with me all sprinted past and I kept a reasonable, consistent pace up the second climb. I knew that without going with that group I was in a lot of trouble but I kept my head.

Going around on the second lap, my eyes must had looked like they were screaming, because they were. I kept it consistent up the climb and took a little time on my teammate, Zack who was sitting in 6th. I tried to rest on the descent and kept a reasonable distance to my teammate who was inching ever closer to 5th. This gave me a ton of confidence and going into the 3rd lap, I was ready to bury myself to be on the podium. Zack had passed 5th place right before the start-finish and I was about 20 seconds off.

The climb hurt and I kept gaining with every pedal stroke getting me closer to 6th place and my teammate. The dream was alive, and as I passed 6th place and saw my teammate, I was told the race had been cancelled due to lightning. This was a absolutely crushing because I knew that they would count the race after the second lap, where I was in 7th place. The result that I wanted didn't happen.

In hindsight, I think it was a good thing, you always want to do well but this provided a reality check. Even when I'm sick I can ride with the best, which gives me a ton of confidence for the next race, a race that I historically haven't done the best at, but I want to give it my all this next go around and head for the Leader's Jersey, which is still in reach, only 17 points away from my 3rd place overall.

I would like to thank my dad for driving me and being my dad. Andy Clark for getting me to man up and teaching me a huge lesson to take away from this weekend, and all of Ciclismo for being the best they can be. I would also like to congratulate my teammates, Zack and Jack for their top 5 finishes and their top 5 overall placing. I'm looking forward to the next race and chance to get the Leader's Jersey!

Race Report: High School Mountain Bike Race #1 Snow Mountain Ranch

Sunday the 8th was the first Colorado High School Mountain Bike race. The unique thing about these races is that all of the fastest kids in Colorado, wether it be on a road bike or mountain bike, come together for these events which makes the level of competition incredibly high. Located in Granby, Colorado, it was the perfect location to begin the 4 race series.

The team got to Granby on Saturday to pre-ride together and prepare for the race. This is perhaps the best part of the entire weekend. Hanging out with your friends at night, joking around and forgetting all about the race before it happens. We horse around and make fun of each other while we leg drain and ice bath. Generally with 15 guys on the team, something is bound to go wrong, but nothing did!

The pre-ride was rather intense and we had to take shelter from a high-country rain storm which made the generally normal course into a muddy, rooty, fun course. It's slightly ironic that our first HS MTB race, which fell on the same weekend of the first Colorado Cross race, was muddy, but the cross race wasn't... The course was very up and down, and by the end of a lap you had almost 500 feet of elevation gain!

Race morning rolled around, and the JV and Varsity groups went out to warm up. As we warmed up my legs weren't feeling particularly spectacular, which gave me low expectations for the race, and this was a course that I hadn't done well on in the past, so mentally and physically it didn't bode well. The race started at 1:15, and due to my 3rd row starting position, I was able to get to front of the race pretty fast as the race settled in for 4 laps of the 5 mile course.

I found myself in a leading group of 5, alongside Maxx, Garrett, Michael and Grant. As the race split and the group had an un-reachable advantage of about a minute, attacks started to come and Garrett was the first to go, trying his luck on the final climb and descent of the first lap. Michael pulled him back and things got a little slower. I had definitely surprised myself so far in the race and was wondering what I could do. About then Michael went for it up the first climb and I grabbed his wheel, which turned out to be a bad idea since he's the national time trial champion...

His acceleration split the group and I was sitting second position. Grant caught, and then passed me on the second climb, which put me in 3rd spot with 2 laps to go. Right around the start of the 3rd lap, lightning started rolling in which made it kind of creepy to be riding alone. I held my position until the end of the 3rd lap, where the race was cut short because of the rain and lightning. I was very happy with this result, and it's my best result in HS MTB to date! It was an awesome race and everything went well.

My teammates also had some some awesome results, Zack finished 9th in Varsity, Keegan finished 9th in Freshman, Sam finished 2nd in Girls Sophmore, and Jack finished 4th in JV. Overall a great weekend and very successful with 3 podiums across the team!! I'm very excited for the next race up in Leadville on the 22nd! Thanks to NICA for putting on a great event, Ciclismo Youth Foundation for the excellent support over the weekend, Rob Noble and Michael Roberts for the great photos, and POC helmets for getting us some awesome, very recognizable helmets for the race, they rock!!

I'm hoping to improve on my 3rd place on the 22nd and racing the fast guys again. Thanks for reading!