On The Pegs May 2018 - Volume 3 - Issue 5 | Page 73

On The Pegs
Vol. 3 Issue 5 - May 2018
P 73
Are you surprised at all at how well
you’ve been finishing this year?
I wouldn’t say surprised, but I knew
I had the potential. This winter I had a
really good off-season riding and train-
ing and working with Charlie Mullins
and riding with a lot of fast guys like
Josh (Toth) and Kailub (Russell). I was
up there riding with them. I guess I’m a
little bit surprised at just how well I’m
doing in the overall, and definitely at
the first national enduro. But I knew I
had the potential. are definitely something I’m still adapt-
ing to.
You say you haven’t ridden much
of the tight stuff. What is your back-
ground?
I grew up racing NETRA hare scram-
bles, which is I guess the woods and
trails up there are a little tighter – defi-
nitely tighter and slower than GNCC’s,
but definitely not as tight as the nation-
al enduros. What would you say has been the
biggest improvement in your riding
over the last year?
I think maybe just a little bit of every-
thing overall. My fitness is way better.
My skills on the bike are better. I’m
riding faster. I don’t think it’s one thing.
I think it’s just a little bit of everything
has gotten better.
Do you feel like you’re still adapt-
ing to the national enduro format?
Yeah, I’m definitely still adapting;
definitely to the type of trails for sure.
I enjoy it; it’s just harder on me I think
than the wide open trails. But I’m enjoy-
ing trying to better my skills at that. I
like the format. I guess the longer tests What did you do with Charlie Mul-
lins?
Charlie helps out with everything
from training off the bike, cycling, gym
work, everything, and nutrition, and
riding. Pretty much just everything. He
was at the top. He’s raced our sport.
He was one of the best. So he knows
You like the shorter, sprint type
racing?
Yeah. I think that just suits my riding
a little bit better right now. But I guess
this year I’ve been working on my fit-
ness and everything, so in the longer
tests I feel stronger now.
Have you done anything at home
specifically to prepare for national
enduro?
And it wasn’t a one-time deal.
Yeah, definitely in the off-season
You’ve been repeating that success. when we were down at Kailub Russell’s
Yeah, definitely the first national
in Florida. He had an enduro loop there
enduro was a surprise for me, getting
which is really tight. So I rode that a
third, just because I haven’t raced many lot. That definitely just sharpened up
or ridden that much tight trail. But I
my skills. I’ve been trying to ride some
think maybe after that I had definitely
tighter trails occasionally, especially
boosted my confidence and it just
leading up the week before the race
rolled into the GNCC’s.
and that definitely helps me.