A DIRT(Y) FAMILY

I’m not sure that Brent really knew what he was getting himself into when he e-mailed this past winter and asked my family to fly the Twin Six colors.

Brent and my cousin Curt, a former NCAA cross country runner from MN, are old buddies and I’m sure my cousin started talking about family and bike racing when Brent shared his Twin Six ideas. One thing led to another, and here I am writing something that will hopefully be informative and entertaining.

Anyway, Brent had this idea to give a perspective on life as a family of dirt racers. So I guess I’d better start at the beginning. I was born at a very early age…Seriously though, I have been around the block a few times and might try to incorporate a little history from the Colorado scene as well as some comments on the State Of The Union for off road cycling.

As far as my own cycling background is concerned, I raced BMX as a kid. This was in the early seventies, so around the beginnings of BMX racing.

Towards the end of high school, I sold my BMX’er and began to compete in mogul skiing. I turned pro in college and met Mike Kloser (then the Pro Mogul Tour Director) and Wade Wilderman. The next summer Mike and Wade convinced me to get a mountain bike and start racing.

After winning my first novice class race in 1983, passing the entire expert class, and finishing mid-pack pro, I was immediately upgraded to pro and thrown to the wolves where I eventually managed to survive.

Around 1986 our team got sponsored by Diamond Back and the off road race scene got really hot in Colorado.

Our team director, Greg Morin, developed the Colorado Prestige Off-Road Points Series, tying together the Iron Horse Classic, Rage in the Sage, and several other local races. About the same time Ned Overend switched to mountain biking from triathlon, and John Tomac arrived from the BMX world.

Almost overnight, mountain bike racing grew exponentially. Kloser was the first to find success in Europe, followed soon after by Tomac, Ned, and our new Diamond Back team mate Dave Wiens. As the Americans began to dominate the World Cup, the sport grew to such tremendous proportions that promoters and NORBA added many classes and age groups to accommodate the masses-life was good, some pro’s actually made a living at their sport!

Me-I got married to my way better half, Kendra, and our son Dylan was born in 1988 followed close behind by Dawson in 1990. I continued to race sporadically at the state level, but concentrated mainly on raising my family, which is what all this rambling is supposed to be about.

At the same time, my dad, a former decathlete, discovered mountain bike racing and was quite successful racing in the master’s expert field. The entire family would meet at races and the boys, mom, and grandma would cheer for dad and grandpa. It became a good way for us all to keep in touch.

Kendra and I were very conscientious about nurturing a love for outdoor sports with our boys. Many a weekend was spent putting our own training aside to enjoy family time skiing, hiking, and biking, convincing the boys that they were in fact having fun! Eventually it worked, and we were able to enjoy activities together, at a pace we could all appreciate.

Meanwhile, the pros were getting faster and I wasn’t. I retired and eventually down-graded to expert where I could still be competitive while enjoying my family.

The boys became interested in racing when we returned to Gunnison in 1998 and the following winter they won the Steamboat Pentathlon in the Dynamic Duo Category.

From that point on, they wanted to compete in everything they saw. We did hockey, wrestling, soccer, XC and mogul skiing, running, BMX, and of course mountain bike racing. We finally had to have a discussion about getting focused, and narrowed it down to a few complementary sports: Nordic skiing in the winter, bike racing in the summer and XC running in the fall-to keep them involved in school activities.

As the boys became more serious, I felt a duty to increase my fitness level and be a role model and coach. Our life really did begin to revolve around racing once again. Much to Kendra’s dismay, we even turned our backyard into a trials course one summer after another cousin of mine won the National Trials Championships.

The next summer, Dylan qualified for the NORBA Regional Development Camp in Durango and upped the ante once again. He learned nutrition and training techniques that I could no longer keep up with. He got to train with Ned, and started hanging out with a group of Durango junior riders including Ned’s son Rhyler.

It really started coming together, with both boys ending up on the podium for the Mountain States Cup Regional Series in 2003.

Grandpa had finished his last race a couple years ago, but still kept tabs on us-meeting at races to cheer with Grandma and mom.

I started racing single speed when I realized I was actually faster and beat guys I hadn’t ever beaten on my bike with gears.

Last year (2005) was our last summer traveling to all the races as a family, and I miss it quite a bit. We hit every race we could find, and put 6000 miles on our car and camping gear, never leaving the mountain states region. It was one hell of a year, with Dylan, Dawson and I all ending the year on the podium for the MSC series. We had lots of discussions about the future of racing and training, and how to juggle schedules. Ultimately, we also agreed that the boys would work and help to dig us out of the financial hole we had dug this summer. Racing would become more of a responsibility for them.

This was also the season Dylan passed me-literally. At the Chili Challenge, Angle Fire NM, The Jr. X class started behind us single speeders (Us behind the pros? Go figure). I guess we were faster last year or something. I was near the top of the last climb when I heard “move over fatso” and there he went. I have never tried so hard to grab someone’s wheel and I couldn’t do it. It was quite a mixture of pride and “you little shit!!” He hasn’t looked back since. I guess I shouldn’t feel too bad, me being 43 and him posting times that break the top ten for the pro field. At least I can still occasionally drop him on training rides!!! When he’s tired!! After lots of coffee!

Dawson decided to run track this spring, and compete only in the local Gunnison and Crested Butte MTB series. I really respect his decision and ability to become his own person. So, now it’s just me and Dylan traveling to most of the races. I decided not to race this year, to wrench and assist Dylan, and to save some money (I’ve spent more than my share over the years).Dylan has gotten very serious about racing, and conversations on the road this year focus mainly on where to go from here.

I’ve tried to explain that there aren’t many top pro’s actually making a living at it these days. This isn’t easy with the Wiens-DeMattei family living just down the street, having more National, Olympic, and World Cup victories between them than most current teams do!

Why is that, he wonders? Well, I guess this is the “State Of The Union” part I mentioned earlier. It seems that Dave Wiens and Susan De Mattei were in the right place at the right time, and worked very hard to take advantage of it. A relatively new sport, with Americans on top of the world scene, and sponsorship was good. Ned Overend and Mike Kloser did well also, and are still making a living.

“But mountain biking is still an Olympic sport” he responds. Well, it’s not the same as it was. Fields are smaller, sponsorship is dwindling, and golf is still king. Road racing has experienced a resurgence with Lance on top as our hero. What will happen if the Americans can’t hold on to the pro road spotlight? More than likely, we’ll see it ebb and flow again, like it did when LeMond hit the top. Hopefully mountain biking will do the same thing. What we need is a few Americans to take command of the World Cup again. Maybe then the general public, with their Lazy-boys and Cheetos will turn off Tiger Woods and pump some $$$ to real athletics.

Until then, I advise, you’d better train harder and realize that your sport is a lifestyle, not a living. So, with the end of his junior career rapidly approaching, the big decision for Dylan now is weather to apply for a semi-pro license at the end of the season, or suck it up and go for U-23 pro. Or is that really it? And are you willing to foot the bill for it?

One more year in High School also means college is just around the corner. Cycling scholarships are few and far between, so the grades had better come up! Wow-what a balancing act. Lots of decisions to make, and not many more road trips to do it on. Then again, Nordic Ski season isn’t far away…

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