California Dreamin' 99 cont.

And then it happenend......

Spring 99 was a huge transformation I went from finishing mid pack semi-pro to top 20 Pro by the 2nd Norba in Seven Springs, PA. I won my first MI race in 99 also, but it was not too long before we were back on 1-80 heading to the Garcia Cabin in Big Bear Lake California.

My first ever Pro Norba was in Big Bear the weekend after the race in San Jose. I finished 59th with a flat tire. This trip to Big Bear was for a World Cup and some altitude training. We rented the Garcia Cabin for 3 weeks and had a blast living the Cali lifestyle. Countless hours of training & beautiful scenery, lots of MTV Road Rules, and lots of games of Stratego. We even made friends with the neighbor who hooked us up with a plane ride over Big Bear Lake.

I didn't race the World Cup and I can't remember Skylers results. However I do remember the dominate performance that Cadel Evans and Christoph Sauser put in as teammates on the Volvo Cannondale Team. It wasn't even funny how bad the wasted everyone. The goal of staying in Big Bear for so long was to prepare Skyler for the even higher race up in Mammoth that was soon to follow.

Skyler was vegetarian for as long as I can remember, but the sacrifices we took were many in our quest to go big. Next stop was Mammoth Mtn another 2,000 feet higher than Big Bear.

The race in Mammoth was known as the Cat Litter Classic as the majority of the time you felt like you were racing on Tidy Cats.

Thats me lined up next to the Costa Rican Ramirez who killed it at La Ruta this year. I also see the late great Mike Janelle and Pete "Cream Puff" Prebus in the KHS jersey. It also looks like Walker got his revenge in Mammoth. Can anyone name the Super Star Devo rider who was trying to follow in Skylers foot steps by getting some McLovin on the podium but got denied?

Skyler and I finished up the 1999 season at World Championships in Are Sweden followed by a whirlwind European Vacation....but thats another story.