They’ve been really cool actually ever since I first signed with them. They’ve always had my back, right from the gnarly early days when I left Trek, and that never changed this year. It’s always, “Just keep working man; we know you’re putting in the work, we know what you’re capable of. We’ve got your back; let’s just keep moving forward and you’ll get there.” I think Specialized is maybe a little different than what people make it out to be, as this big, corporate monster. It’s a lot more laid back, there’s never been any kind of pressure. If anything, I’ve seen them get pretty mad at some people who have said some things because they know the work I put in and they know how hard we worked last year. They know that it’s racing; nothing’s a sure thing.

It definitely helps, but it’s important to get that it’s my faith, not another religion. It’s actually my belief and what I believe to be the truth. When God says, “He works everything out for my good” I believe it. It makes me positive too; it’s always going to be a success for me whether it’s first place or last place. Whether it’s success in the world’s eyes is not really up to me. Obviously I put in all the work I can, I want to win, but when you get to a point where you know you have all the tools to win, like last season, I know I could have won as easily as me not winning. He could’ve switched it around really easy. I see everything for a reason, for sure; it happens on purpose. I just control the effort I put in and that’s always going to be 100%. However it works out, I know it’s for my good, which it was last year.

Yes, by my standards the results weren’t great but I wouldn’t have changed it because it taught me so much. There are a lot of things I don’t think I would’ve learned, especially not a quick as I did, without a season like that. It’s just built my faith to a whole new level, I now feel that you literally can’t lose in life. When you get a win you know that he’s blessed you, which is awesome, and when he doesn’t, it’s like “We gave it everything we have; I know he’s still stoked.” It takes all the pressure off because there is no fear of failure. What is a failure anyway? If you give it 100% then I really don’t think you can ever fail. I think it’s more about the fear of perceived failure, what people are going to think if you don’t maintain a certain level, but it’s stupid, it’s not real. So yes for me it takes all the pressure off because I know He can bring the blessing in the form of wins or not. Either way, He’s going to bless me in the long run and it’s all going to work out for my good.

I don’t really, but I’ve definitely mellowed as the years have gone on, last year more so than ever. If you feel like you have all the tools to win a race and you’ve prepared 100%, then you start to realise, pretty quickly, that you can’t control the result, it can go either way. There’s no point stressing about a result. You hear a lot of racers in any sport talking about second place as a failure, winning is everything to them. Then they’ll start to lose a few races and it’s not fun anymore; they get down on themselves. It’s really easy as a racer to start to base your self–worth in race results because when you’re winning, everybody tells you you’re awesome. Then, you don’t match up to the level that they think you should, and man the hate pours on pretty quick. If you’re not strong in your belief, that can start to frustrate you and pull you away from your beliefs.

Yes, for sure. It’s funny, people are funny. I think people that have raced understand it, but for the average fan, they really don’t understand what it’s like to be there, just how difficult it is. People build you up to be this superhero–type character, then you start to show weakness and they have to find a reason why. You could tell them the reason why, but they won’t believe it because it has to make sense in their head or something weird.>>