A call to ride for two good causes was answered recently by Team WTB/Fox/Santa Cruz at Levi Leipheimer’s King Ridge GranFondo ride on Saturday, Oct. 3. Mark Weir and Jason Moeschler joined thousands to give back in support of both the cycling and local communities.
Jason Moeschler, WTB’s OEM sales manager, is on a tear. Last weekend he narrowly missed a big win at the Ashland Super D (he came in two seconds behind National Champ Adam Craig). Then this past Sunday he battled the world’s top road racers at the Nevada City Classic.
Moeschler’s primary focus (aside from his day job) is elite mountain bike racing, but Nevada City, California is his hometown. He decided that the opportunity to race alongside Lance Armstrong and Levi Leipheimer in front of his friends, family and 30,000 other spectators was too good to pass up.
The fans were treated to quite an exciting race. Moeschler spent some time on the front with an unsuccessful attack early on, then Lance, Levi and Ben Jaques-Maynes drilled it. The three riders went on to lap the field. Twice. Then Lance took off for a solo victory. Although a large portion of the 120-rider field was pulled from the race for being off-pace, Moeschler managed a top-20 finish.
He is clearly on form. Look out for the WTB rider at the upcoming Downieville Classic, a race that really rewards riders with such a versatile set of skills. Moeschler has won Downieville’s All Mountain race twice. Last year he took second to Ross Schnell, this year he’ll be more prepared than ever.
You can read about the race in Nevada City’s local paper here.
There is a reason most of us will never get paid to ride bikes. It takes incredible commitment and dedication just to get a common pro license. And unfortunately those laminated cards don’t entitle their owners a red cent. The individuals actually able to earn a living racing bikes, to receive regular paychecks, possess extraordinary genetic makeup and exceptional reflexes. Seriously.
Take this photo (pictured above) for example. These are the sorts of problems associated with office workers going on training rides with professional athletes. I managed to weasel away from the cubicle this morning for an epic mountain bike ride with Mark Weir, his usual caveman training buddies and a special guest: Levi Leipheimer. For those of you who somehow don’t recognize that name, Levi is America’s strongest road racer. He’s our national champion, he won the prestigious Tour of California and placed third overall in the 2007 Tour de France. Turns out he’s damn quick on a mountain bike too.
When I ducked out of the office this morning, I expected to be suffering on the climbs—Weir likes to lead riders up the steepest terrain imaginable—but I figured that because Levi makes his living on skinny-tire bikes, team WTB would be waiting around for him on the descents. I thought I might even have time to pull the camera out and take some photos of him dropping down the tight singletrack. While I picked the dirt out of my teeth, dazed on the side of the trail, I realized I was mistaken about Levi. I was instantly reminded that I am, after all, only an office worker.
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| Caption: Levi pinning it on singletrack. WTB’s marketing coordinator spits the gravel out. Weir owns these trails. All photos by Yuri Hauswald. |
