Date: April 16, 2000
Event: 10th & Final Michaux Ironmasters Classic XC
Class: OPEN
Category: Pro
Length: 27 mi.
Time: 2:19:37
Conditions: Sunny - 70s and humid
Bike: Breezer
Tires: Ritchey

Editor's note: James has been racing Michaux since '92.
He has every single T-shirt except for the first one. And thank you John Thompson for doing this interview for mountainbikeracer.com!

Did you do anything special to prepare for this race?

I took last week off. Didn't ride much and was well rested coming into this race. You definitely want to have fresh legs for this race. I was very fortunate to have them today. I love this race because it brings out the best competition - my best friends in the cycling community - and the best promoters.

In the last two months how many hours a week have you trained?

Not that much. I do a lot of gym work. I instruct a spin class. Tuesdays and Thursdays I lift weights for about an hour. I'm going to school to be an electrician - just finished my third year I have one more year to go. I also have a two and a half year old son - I'm married and I have a house so..... I get out on the weekends for about about 3 hour rides.

Outstanding performance considering the limited amount of training.....

I'm very fortunate. Probably years of experience racing this course have paid off. Third is my best place that I have gotten here. This is my second 3rd place and last year I placed 5th. I've always had some decent results here.

Talk a little bit about your strategy along the course. Did you do anything special or have a plan in place before you started?

Absolutely. This is the kind of course that you know is going to be long and hard and you know there are going to be people who just aren't going to be able to handle it. So you definitely don't want to go off at the gun. It's not a crit at all but you need to be in the front so you don't get caught in traffic once you hit that first set of trails. Things really get bunched up. People are too rammy and too anxious and they make a lot of mistakes. You really have to race the course and let the race come to you and unfold. Just stay very consistent throughout and let the other people make the mistakes themselves by being to rammy and going too hard and by hitting rocks and pinch flattting..... then they have to work harder to catch up to you cause you are kind of just keeping a nice steady pace. My plan was just to really settle in and stay top ten the best I could from the gun. Once we got to the big climb up "Dead Women's Hollow" - just settle in and try not to get to anaerobic going up that .... and really attack "Three Mile Trail" which is exactly what I did and I felt phenomenal on "Three Mile Trail". I felt terrific on that trail. I tried to hold it the best I could from there on out.

So was the Three Mile Trail when you put the hammer down?

Yeah, it was. My plan was just to get up "Dead Women's Hollow" without killing myself - and then once we hit Three Mile Trail just putting everything aside and really getting down to business.

Did you have any unusual problems?

None whatsoever. The bike is great. I've been racing on that bike for about 6 years - I know it so well - I ride up here a lot. I didn't pre-ride this course this year but I've done every trail out there that we did today several times.

How do you rate the course?

This is definitely number one! There is no doubt in my mind - this is number one for me.

Kind of surprised everybody with the temperature the way it was. It was supposed to be rainy from the earlier forecasts. Did you have any problem with water?

No, not at all. Actually I had some friends of mine give me a feed at the bottom of "Dead Women's Hollow" climb and then got some more at the top which was provided by the promoters. That came in very handy. Then I actually got another one at the bottom of the last climb. I had plenty of water. I actually finished with some water.

Were you happy with the way the race was run?

These guys do a terrific job. It's a top notch event every year. You can see from how many people come out. The prize purse is phenomenal. There aren't many races where you can win so much for first place and they always pay 10 deep. Everything is run on time.... no questions.... these guys have been doing this longer than I've been racing here. They have the system down. I greatly appreciate their hard efforts cause I know it's not easy to manage this kind of crowd and come up with the sponsorship and promotion needed.

If you could do the race again, would you do anything differently, it sounds like you rode the perfect race?

Yeah, I really feel like I did. I didn't feel bad or terrible throughout any of it. I felt very good. I think I kept a really good mind set throughout the entire thing and felt great physically. So I can't think of anything at all I'd do differently. I only rode my mountain bike like four times this whole winter. Brushed up on my skills. Last Sunday I did a mountain bike ride and then Thursday and yesterday. That was just in preparation for today so.... I'm very happy with this win.

Is there anything you would like to add?

No, thanks for the interview.