Top 3 Goals for 2012

As I tried to sleep last night I ended up pondering my top goals for 2012...It ended with quite a bit of pondering really since I only slept about an hour last night, so bare with me as I'm functioning on limited sleep. If this post seems like it's turning into a massive compilation it probably is due to sleep deprivation. Anyways....Let's get this started shall we?

This is probably the race I'm most looking forward to, but that is probably because it's the first big race I plan on doing in 2012...Heck this is probably going to be the biggest race I have ever done in my mostly local cycling career. It's in April so I have about 3 and a half months to get ready for Sea Slaughter oops....I mean Sea Otter...Basically from what I've heard is Sea Otter is one big cycling extravaganza taking the course of about 4 days...There's road racing, mountain bike racing, and cyclocross at Sea Otter now. A far cry from when it was just purely a mountain bike race, but the changes are what is making me the most excited about it. Ya see me being a roadie, mountain biker, and sometimes cyclocross makes this the perfect weekend. Although I will have to pass on the cyclocross festivities at Sea Otter. What I am planning on doing for sure is of course the XC mountain bike race, but then there's also the road stuff I plan on mixing in. They have a Criterium race on thursday, which I'm super stoked about since well ya know...Over the past few seasons I have become somewhat of a crit specialist..It must be in my genes or something, as I like to say these legs were made for sprinting. Perhaps what I'm most excited about is the circuit race, which takes place around the legendary Laguna Seca raceway. That's pretty much a dream come true for me...It's going to be tough with doing that friday morning, and then the XC in the afternoon, but I know my limitations very well, and I could do well if I don't slack off training until then. All in all should be a jam packed extended weekend full of good bike racing, and friends. Hopefully I will have something to bring home by the end of it.

Oh yes, The Stars and Bars....I am of course talking about the USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships that take place in July somewhere in Sun Valley, Idaho. If I had to rank what would mean the most to me to accomplish it would be taking home the cat 1 19-24 stars and bars back to good ol central oregon. I mean...It's a fricken National Championship...

No not the Tour De France Jersey...I'm talking about the Cascade Cycling Classic Yellow Jersey..Well more specifically the Cat 3 Men Yellow Jersey..I've done this race two times in the past, and both years I helped a teammate to win the overall. Well this year I plan on changing that...This year It's my turn to grab that yellow jersey. There would be something special about it because It's a huge hometown race for everyone in Central Oregon...We have to fight off those pesky traveling intruders off that try to invade and steal our glory, which makes it such a challenge..The best part of the Cascade Classic is the support you get from friends, and family that almost always make it out to a stage or two..There is 4 stages, which makes it a tough tough race. They consist of a nice hilly first stage, followed by a time trial, and then my personal favorite the Downtown Criterium. I love going to opposite way on one ways...Plus the cheering hometown crowd doesn't hurt either. The last stage is a circuit race that takes you up Archie Briggs, or what I like to call it the wall of crushed hope and dreams. Ya see since I come from a mountain bike background, my tactics are a little bit...Well let's say unorthodox..The past two seasons I have tried solo breakaways and nearly got away with it if it wasn't for the wall of a hill that is Archie Briggs...Hence the name wall of crushed hope and dreams..Hopefully this year I won't need to put myself in position to try for a solo breakaway. But hey who knows? Maybe this time it will work?


Those races and my top 3 priorities for 2012, and my training will revolve around them...It should be an exciting year with the new squad, and a couple new races I'm looking forward to, and one I'm looking to come back to, and finally check it off in the win column...That's all for now...Time to go for a quick ride, while these guys are still sleeping...


-Austin Line

Reflecting on this past season....Well sorta...

With the new year quickly approaching, I have decided to take a look back at this last season, and reflect on it....If I was going to grade my season I would give it an incomplete. I started to late, and ended way to early than I had anticipated. My main goal for the season was to be in top form for the US Mountain Biking Nationals that took place in my good old backyard in Bend, Oregon in September, and then bring that form into my first real season of cross. Part of the plan was to start training way later than usual because of this, and well it turned out to be not such a bright idea after all...

By the end of July after I had completed the Cascade Cycling Classic my training became rather sporadic, and unstructured. So when Marathon Nationals came rolling into town I was severely unprepared, and I'm the type of person who if I'm not ready for a race of that caliber I would rather skip it, and cut my losses.

I did learn a valuable lesson from all this, and that is to prioritize for multiple peaks in the season rather than one main goal event, which is exactly what I will be doing for next season. The plan as of right now is for me to peak in time for MTB XC Nationals in Sun Valley Idaho in July, and carry that peak into another goal race for 2012 in the Cascade Cycling Classic that takes place a week later in my hometown. Then begin building for another peak for cyclocross. (I will have another blog post highlighting my racing schedule in more detail soon) So yet again I will be a jack of all trades cyclist dabbling in road, mountain, and cyclocross.

The funny thing about taking this approach is, I am in kind of a middle ground with my riding right now. Basically riding hard when I feel like it, and riding however much I feel like it for the given day. I am still keeping some high intensity stuff thrown in there to ensure I don't lose to much of what I have gained this year, but the preparation for next season just so happens to start on the first week of the new year. What are the odds of that? And you know what? I'm super excited about it to, which is something I can't say I felt about this season, and part of the reasoning behind that is I had someone amazing in my life, but things went south, and needless to say she is no longer in my life anymore, she knows who she is...But ya know what? In a weird type of way it's only adding fuel to the fire that burns inside be to accomplish what I want in my life. Mainly what I want to accomplish in cycling, and this year is going to be my year because of that fire that's making me chomp at the bit to start working hard in preparation for next season. If I had to sum up how I'm feeling about this next year it would be this....

"This is a new me, on a new team, with a new plan."

and on that note it's time to wrap it up

-Austin Line

New Year, New Motivation, New Team...

With 2011 in all it's glory coming to an end, I decided to bring aboard a blog for the new year to give out race reports, and other random things that I feel like writing about. Let's see where should I start...

2011 was an off year of sorts for me..I started training to late in the season, and really never trained like I should of to achieve the results I wanted..Was it burnout after a couple years of going hard at it, and racing nearly every weekend? It's a possibility, but to be honest I believe it's probably the best thing that could of happened. I am back with more motivation than I have ever had, and have a ton of things to be excited about for the 2012 season.

The biggest change that I made for the upcoming season is a switch to the Trinity Bikes Cycling team. This is a move that I'm really excited about for various reasons. It was hard to make the switch to a new team, and move on to a new chapter in my racing, but I know this was the right decision for me.I'm not saying that my previous team, Sunnyside Sports isn't a great team, because it is. In fact I will miss the everyone over there on the Sunnyside Sports team that supported me when I first started, and they are truly great people over there. I just thought that it was an opportunity that I couldn't pass up. There is so many reasons I am excited about being part of the Trinity Bikes team.

I love the smaller team vibe you get from being on a team with a select group of people, who not only are great riders, but are also probably my closest friends. These are guys that I not only spend time racing, and training with, but they are the guys I hang around when I'm not racing or training as well. That is something I really didn't have the past few years, and is one of the biggest reasons for coming aboard for 2012 (And Shane wouldn't leave me alone until I finally signed the contract to join. Just kidding buddy...)

There is many other things though..Like the feeling of being part of something bigger than just racing. I got a taste of the community events that I will be participating in as a Trinity Bikes Cycling Team member. Like when Bob Gilbert, and I went down to a local elementary school to help the people at Commute Options teach the kids not only how to ride safely, but show them how fun cycling can be. It gives you the feeling of giving back to the community, which I can't get enough of, and call me over sensitive, but it gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling inside that I'm doing something good. Giving back to the community for all that I have been given in this life.

Trinity Bikes will be putting of cycling events this year, which I'm excited to be a part of as well. I got to help in the 2nd Fat Tire Crit, and there's nothing like going in the parking lot, coming up with a design of how you want the course to go, and then seeing it come to life as you put it together. This was of course with the help of Bob Gilbert..Then ya go, and see the little kids, and how much fun they have riding around the course, and after they're done they cheer and watch us in the A race. It's kind of weird because I don't think of myself as an elite cyclist (At least not yet :)...) But these kids truly look up to us, and it's fun to talk to them after the race, and answering the many questions they have. Then of course at the end of the day we're able to do a few laps with them, which is always a good time.

I'm sure there are a bunch of other reasons that I'm leaving out, but I'm running out of time here. I have been spending quite a bit of time with my new teammates doing some cold winter rides, and we're all looking forward to the possibilities this team has for the 2012 season. I will be posting up another blog on my main goals, and focus for the 2012 racing season, but I'm still putting the finishing touches on that, so it will be up as soon as I finalize where my focus will be next season.

Until next time, keep the rubber side down

Austin Line