Variety

          At different times of the year I am a totally different athlete. My summer is normally dedicated to road and mountain cycling and the fall is my bmx season. These two sports have few similarities other than the fact that they are on a bike. My training is far different, as bmx is explosive and road requires endurance. I have bmx raced since I was 5 and it has given me the bike handling skills to help in all types of cycling. Every year the window of my bmx season shrinks a little bit. Sean is another bmxer turned roadie and I'm sure he agrees it gets hard to train for both. My focus is definitely shifting over to road as I get older. I am not built like the prototypical bmxer, as the professionals are often built like football players. As I get older the competition keeps getting bigger and this makes it hard to keep the same power as I am built like an endurance athlete. I have been transitioning to road the last few years and it's been a natural transition. Bmx has helped my road cycling in many areas. Each one has also helped the other for me. This variation throughout my year and during my road off season is refreshing and fun. I will always enjoy bmxing even though I won't continue it at a high level years from now. These two types of cycling are so different and it's the variety that is so special in my life.

-Christopher

The Transition

     At the end of my 2012 season, I had achieved my long time goal, World Champion in XTERRA off-road Triathlon in the 15-19 age group, as well as Overall Amateur World Champion. Although I had been training to be a triathlete ever since I was 5 or 6, I found that my performance on the bike was superior to that in the water or running. 

    Leading into the 2013 season, there were many people who thought I should continue being a triathlete.  I was even offered pro status, but I knew that my time as a triathlete was coming to a close.  I had decided to focus on cycling.

     When my season started in the Nor Cal High School Mountain Bike series I had no idea that it would escalate to me racing on the National team in 4 different countries.  In the beginning of the season I had not yet decided to focus on mountain biking, so I decided to try out some local criteriums.  I continued to race on the road and on the World Cups including Germany and the Czech Republic.  I then realized I would have to spend more time focusing on the mountain bike rather than on the road for a little while. 

     Although I knew mountain biking would be my main focus for the season, I could not keep myself away from the thrill of racing on the road for half my season until I received the message from Marc Gullickson.  He offered me a position with the Junior MTB National Team in two world cups.   Not long after coming back from my first two world cups, I entered the Nevada City Classic Criterium and won the junior race, then followed it up with Leesville Gap Road Race (elite cat 3/4s) and won the day in a sprint to the line with 4 other men.  Well, after a fourth place finish in the Mont Saint Anne World Cup in Canada, I finished up my 2013 season with Cross Country MTB World Champs in South Africa.

     This brings me to today, finishing my High School cross-country running season with state champs, in which I placed 8th place in the division 2 varsity race and ran a 15:29 5k. My main focus is to have an outstanding season on both the Mountain and Road Bike.  I am so excited and grateful to be a part of the Jr. Team and I am really looking forward to working with my new teammates and coaches.