Aaron Bradford - Blog: Doin' work

The 2011 mtb season has officially kicked off with the LA races in Bonelli and Fontana. With company from fellow bike racers Scott and Derek, traversing the 6 hour drive to LA was certainly less painful than normal. Pulling my trailer with bikes loaded, we mobbed up the Grapevine with the pedal to the floor in 4th. Rolling into LA around 6pm, we met up with Derek's brother Curtis, unloaded the bikes and strolled around Huntington Beach for a taste of SoCal night life. After spinning our legs we were back at Curtis' in time to devour some amazing stir-fry; thanks again for your hospitality.

The following morning we were up and out the door at a reasonable hour and headed to the the venue for the Pro cross country race. After a humbling 35th finish, I was off to check out the Super-d course before my 5pm start. I had a fast start in the SD then had a couple bike issues; sometimes that's how it works out. I did get in a big whip off the roller/step down near the start which I was stoked on. Scott and Derek dominated in their SD races which was rad which resulted in some podium time.

That night we landed a cheap hotel not far from the race. As we were checking in to get a room I noticed a sign which stated "no parties and no prostitutes in the rooms." Bummer. Anyways, we unloaded the car and piled in the room. After settling in, I turned on the TV to check out the weather only to find out the only channel we got happened to be some horrible 80's porn. Guess it could be worse though I did find myself wondering, where are we and what are we doing here?

Fueled with coffee and donuts, we were up and out the door by 7am headed to the venue for Scott and Derek's XC race. Scott was leading before getting a flat and finished 3rd. Derek dominated and finished 2nd in his category. After their xc races we killed time for 6 hours waiting for the start of my short track race. My bike stayed together and I finished 17th. I was pumped. First races of the 2011 season in the record books.

Two weekends after Bonelli the same crew piled in the Mazdarati as we once again rolled down to LA for the Fontana national. Same format as the Bonelli Triple Crown race with a cross country, super-D and short track race for the pros and a super-D and cross country race for Scott and Derek. I had a decent finish in the xc, a rippin' 6th place finish in the super-D, and finished a respectable 22nd in the short track. Word on the street Joe Lawwill designed the super-D course. Not surprised but it turned out to be a totally legit track and best of all, individual starts.

For the SD and ST I borrowed the new crazy fast S-works Epic, it didn’t let me down. The Epic is a completely carbon full suspension bike with carbon wheels and weights less than most hardtail cross country bikes. That bike is the ticket if you want to go fast.

Derek had a solid super-D and then killed it in XC the next day showing consistancy. Scott regulated in the super-D to take the win, no surprise there. In the XC though Scott rode like a noob and botched the first turn during the holeshot, wrecking in front of the whole fast charging Cat 1 field. After all the dust settled, Scott's bike was deemed unridable. Guess you can’t win them all.

Fun times and good racing in both Bonelli and Fontana. After two hard weekends of racing I find myself sitting well in the overall for the US Cup National series which is pretty cool. This weekend will be the Santa Cruz Bike Festival. Hope to see you all out there!