Catching up
Boy, I’ve really gotten behind on writing these. So much has happened since the last one, our official team launch at Sea Otter, two Lifetime GP events, our first BME of the year, oh, and quite a few podiums.
It’s certainly been a busy start to the year. I’ll try to do a better job on the updates, but for now let me try to catch up a bit.
How can you not have fin with this crew?
Sea Otter was a great trip, we had a team launch party, did a bunch of racing, and got to see all of our incredible partners.
On the racing side, things went great. The Fuego was the first Lifetime GP event, in which Lespy got 5th, and Haley 6th. Lespy also decided to jump in to the gravel race the following day, which he won; our first win of the year!
The enduro crew stayed super busy, racing both DH and enduro, and Sophie event jumped into the Dual Slalom. Lots of practice runs, and some very pedal-y courses, but a great way to ease into the year.
After Sea Otter, we had a couple of XC races in quick succession, the US Cup in Fayetteville, and the Whiskey Off-road. Both were outstanding events.
The US Cup was fast and furious, with what was supposed to be 3 races over 5 days. Instead, we saw some nasty weather and schedule changes that had us racing three days in-a-row.
Lespy and Haley were great about taking everything in stride, and were super consistent on the weekend. Lespy was on the podium in every race and Haley was looking strong and in contention.
Our next stop was the Whiskey Off-road in Prescott, AZ. Always a great event, this year was no different. Todd and the crew put together a killer event, with the Fat Tire Crit Friday evening and the 50-mile backcountry race on Saturday. Lespy and Haley both looked super strong in both races, working on the front of the crit, Haley grabbing a podium spot in the crit, and both bringing home a podium in the 50-mile main event!
Right after the Whiskey Off-road, Lespy and Haley hopped across the pond for some World Cup racing. I’ll let them fill you in on that.
Our next domestic event was the first BME of the year in Ironton, MO. Ironton is a really unique spot, a bit out of the way, and not what you might call “mountainous”, but a great event nonetheless. The town is super stoked to have the BME and the trails are really physical and challenging.
Both Cole and Sophie looked good throughout the weekend. Sophie stayed within a few seconds of the leaders in almost every stage and grabbed 8th place overall. Cole looked strong as well, racing near the top, to eventually take 4th place.
The story of the weekend however, has to be Cole’s stage 3, it was talked about by all the racers all weekend. As mentioned Cole had been racing fast, and stage 3 was more of the same. However, about halfway down Cole managed to lose one of his shoes. Yes, that’s right, LOST A SHOE. Now instead of stopping to find this show, Cole keeps charing down the hill and finishes the stage with one shoe. We did manage to find it (thanks to that photographer!) and get it to him before he dropped in on stage 4.
Cole still can’t explain how the shoe came off, the thing was still tied when we found it! If you seem him at a race, make sure you ask him if his shoes are tied tight!
4th by only 5 seconds!
Unbound… a lot can be said about this one. Certainly one of the most challenging events we’ll do all year. 200 punishing miles of gravel, mud, rain, and whatever else the flint hills of Kansas decide to throw at you.
I’m super proud of both of our endurance racers. This was, after all, their first real gravel race. I guess sometimes you just need to jump in head first.
Lespy and Haley both raced incredibly well, ending up 24th and 6th respectively in their fields.
While the results are great, its impressive to see these athletes put their minds to something and get after it. This was a quick turnaround after racing two World Cups in Europe, but that didn’t stop them.
They’ve both talked about the experience on Instagram and Haley’s blog, you should check them out if you haven’t already.
https://www.haleyhuntersmith.com/blog.htm
I feel like I’ve glossed over a lot of what we’ve done so far this year. I apologize for that, but I wanted to try to catch everyone up on at least a little bit of what we’ve accomplished.
I promise I’ll try to do a better job of keeping this updated more regularly.
Until next time!
-Drew
Photos courtesy of Bill Schieken @cxhairs