2012 Santa Cruz mountain bike festival
The past month has been quite an eventful one packed with ups and down. Starting the season off with a fleet of new bikes is incredibly motivating. With help from my sponsors, this year I built up four of my dream bikes for a season of XC, enduro and DH racing. I couldn't be more thankful as I work with the best people in the business.
The Santa Cruz bike festival kicked of the 2012 season with a short track, pumptrack and enduro race. Doing well in the home town mountains was a big priorty for me. The race weekend started with a 12 mile untimed transfer stage to the top of the Santa Cruz mtns to the start of the first of three timed downhill stages. A stacked field of colorful characters made for good times while catching up with old friends. 5 hours of riding later, all 50 competitors were back down to the start of the race waiting patiently for the times to be tallied. In the end I had the lowest combined time on the timed descents. It was definitely a good start to the season and certainly rewarding going into 2012.
The following weekend I planned to race the XC and DH at the Sea Otter Classic. On the top section of the DH track I dumped the bike in practice and broke my clavicle. Not ideal to say the least considering my fitness is good right now. That's life and I know things could be much worse. I've been told what doesn't kill us only makes us stronger and this show must go on. I'm looking at 6-8 weeks of downtime before resuming mid season, fired up, and more motivated than ever.
A couple quality photos- Santa Cruz' Finest - Taking a lap on the pumptrack. - Enduro winner Aaron Bradford on a new bike and a new team in 2012.
The Santa Cruz bike festival kicked of the 2012 season with a short track, pumptrack and enduro race. Doing well in the home town mountains was a big priorty for me. The race weekend started with a 12 mile untimed transfer stage to the top of the Santa Cruz mtns to the start of the first of three timed downhill stages. A stacked field of colorful characters made for good times while catching up with old friends. 5 hours of riding later, all 50 competitors were back down to the start of the race waiting patiently for the times to be tallied. In the end I had the lowest combined time on the timed descents. It was definitely a good start to the season and certainly rewarding going into 2012.
The following weekend I planned to race the XC and DH at the Sea Otter Classic. On the top section of the DH track I dumped the bike in practice and broke my clavicle. Not ideal to say the least considering my fitness is good right now. That's life and I know things could be much worse. I've been told what doesn't kill us only makes us stronger and this show must go on. I'm looking at 6-8 weeks of downtime before resuming mid season, fired up, and more motivated than ever.
A couple quality photos- Santa Cruz' Finest - Taking a lap on the pumptrack. - Enduro winner Aaron Bradford on a new bike and a new team in 2012.
Photo: Sean McSorley
Weekend overall podium with Scott Chapin
Results
Shimano XT trail brakes, King headset, Easton cockpit
Fox Talas 36 fork, Easteon Haven Carbon wheels, WTB Moto tire
Shimano XTR Shadow Plus rear derailleur
Shiamno XT Canks, XTR pedals, E.thirteen guide and ring
Downieville Classic edition WTB grips
Ready for the season ahead
posted by Aaron.Bradford at
3:39 PM
1 Comments:
Indeed, let the show go on. Good luck with your races. And keep those bike photos coming!
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