Date: April 29-30, 2000
Event: Xcelerate Twilight XC AMBC / Fat Tire Crit / Athens, GA
Class: OPEN
Category: Pro
Length: 25 mi
Time: 1:50:13
Conditions: Sunny - 75+ degrees
Bike: Litespeed Tellico '95 (one of the first six ever made - sent to Mountain Bike Magazine to be tested and then I got it)
Tires: Continental

Did you do anything special to prepare for this race?

I worked real hard all weekend and only got about 4 hours of sleep Friday night and 5 1/2 last night. That was my preparation. I'm running on love... I'm running on love I guess.....

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

Maybe 12 to 15 hours per week on average. Due to my job.....I do get time to train.... I just don't get enough time....That's why I've chosen not to go Pro. I've been racing Semi-Pro for a number of years - actually since the conception of it but I've always had this job in that time. (Team Director - Cane Creek) - It takes all of your time if you want to be a Pro. I can compete as a Semi-Pro and if I have a good day I could probably do OK in a Pro race but I don't want to just go out there and be pack filler in the Pro category so.....I can also race Masters in the Nationals this year. That's my focus this year. I want to try to win the Masters National Championship and go to the Worlds as a Master. Those are my goals right now.

Were you strong from start to finish?

I was really tired before the race even started. I wasn't sure if I was going to even have a very good race today. I got out there and I just tried to stay relaxed (which I always try to do) in the early part of the race and not get caught up in the excitement of everything....just try to find myself in a decent position where I know I can recover from initial start efforts. Once I got rolling I felt pretty comfortable. As the race went on I felt stronger and stronger. I was kind of surprised in how I felt today. It was fortunate.

When did you put the hammer down?

In the beginning of the second lap. I had rode with a friend of mine in the first part of the race. We kind of worked together for a little while but I could tell his pace when he was taking pulls.... it just wasn't quite what I felt like I could go and I could see every once in a while a group in front so.... I just decided I needed to start riding my own pace.... so I rolled away from my buddy and bridged that gap up to the next group. Once I got up there I played it from that point on.

Did you have any unusual problems with the race?

No, the race went really smooth for me. I did have some problems in a couple of spots in the single track trying to get around some lapped riders. Most of 'em were pretty cooperative. I always try to be courteous and give plenty of fair warning. Some people just don't want to give up the line and they're just out there tooling around. There's nobody with them racing but for some reason they feel like they can't move off the trail or stop just briefly - it's not going to take me but a second or two to get by but - I had trouble with a couple of people that were like that....one in particular....some girl - I don't know who she was but... I got frustrated with her and I don't like to do that..... but you know sometimes in the heat of competition your temper gets short.

How do you rate the course?

This course is great. On a scale from one to ten - definitely an 8 to 8.5. It's fast and it had some good sections of tight, twisty technical single-track mixed in with the rest of the fast stuff. Definitely a power rider's course. I'm pretty good on those types of courses... that's what I've learned how to ride on coming from Greensboro so......yeah, it's a good course.

Yeah, I've been coming down here for a number of years and I know some of the people that try to help put this thing on. I think they are doing their best. It was a little disorganized at the start there and they got a little bit late but.... a lot of things going on..... a little bit of confusion. That's sort of understandable but I would like to see things go a little bit smoother than that especially for an event this size.

If you could do the race again would you do anything differently?

No. I think I played it pretty well considering the way I felt before the race started. I felt fatigued this morning and I'm really amazed at how I did considering.

Anything you'd like to ad?

Yeah, bike racing is great!