In the summer of 2005 Allison and Justin Mann purchased bikes in the hopes of turning around their health and fitness. Justin was obese by all measures weighing in around 240lbs. They started out right though and despite Allison's desire to "ride like Lance (Armstrong)" on road bikes, Justin pushed her into mountain biking. Allison purchased a Specialized Stumpjumper FSR Expert and Justin obtained a Specialized Enduro Expert. They were slow and a 9 mile ride was a huge undertaking!
2006
At this point The Mann Show was in the "training for vacation" mode. Locations for vacation were selected from nice pictures on the internet, rides were researched, and then they rode bikes to prepare for the duration and distance of the rides on the trip. This was just the beginning and our happy couple had no idea what they had started! Their stable of bikes started to expand as well. Allison had a silly foray into Single Speeds and Justin got a Niner SIR9. Near the end of the year despite Justin's best efforts to sway Allison away they started to "train" for the Warrior's Society Counting Coup which would the first of many timed events.
2007
Although The Mann Show was riding lots, they were mostly riding just for the fun of riding. Early in the year they completed Counting Coup. This was not a race for them, it was simply a challenge to complete and quite a large challenge at that! Neither of them had any idea what racing bikes really was but this certainly marked the beginning of the journey toward XC racing. This year was absolutely filled with amazing memories of a Whistler trip, Mammoth trips, and lots of other awesome adventures. They rode big bikes, trail bikes, and light duty XC rigs. Towards the end of the year they participated in their very first XC race, it was at Bonelli Park and after that a commitment was made to "train" for the Warrior's Society Vision Quest. Quotes are utilized here because these were really just big rides with friends that always ended with drinking beer!
2008
In 2008 Justin was still resisting Allison's urge to race XC. He suffered through Vision Quest with her though. They both raced XC and DH together though Allison really started to lean toward XC racing. Justin did win the Golden State Championships for DH and got a sweet jersey for winning the Sea Otter Classic DH. USA Cycling has this list of results for him, but there were a lot of races not on that list (Winter Series at Fontana etc.)
- 3/15-16 Keyesville Classic Stage Race: Sport Men 30-39 (DH 1st, ST 1st, XC 16th (flatted))
- 3/29 Fontana National NMBS#1: Sport Men 30-34 DH 1st
- 4/18-19 Sea Otter Classic: Sport Men 30-34 DH 1st, SuperD 15th,
- 5/3 Idyllwild Spring Challenge: Sport Men 30-34 4th
- 5/17 Santa Ynez Valley National NMBS#3: Sport Men 30-34 DH 3rd
- 8/18 Rim Nordic XC: Sport Men 30-34 XC 1st
- 9/21 California State Championships: Sport Men 30-34 XC 3rd
At the end of the year Allison committed to XC racing and training and they both dove in head first. Allison was initially denied a Pro/Elite upgrade so she just focused on our training all Winter...
This year was the first year officially racing XC, The Mann Show made the transition from recreational riders to athletes with focus and dedication. Justin made the jump to CAT1 XC and Allison got her Pro/Elite upgrade after the first race of the year. Both of them had an extremely successful year on all fronts and enjoyed a trip to the East coast for two of the Pro XCT races.
2010
The year started out on a high note. Allison and Justin both carried fitness from focused and dedicated training in 2009 and were on fire! Unfortunately Justin's year was derailed when he broke C3, C6 and C7 in his neck and the patella of his right knee. Allison also suffered an injury that was at the time a complete mystery to everyone, later to be known as Black Death Foot. Despite the challenges Allison had her best season to date and scored two top 5's at Pro XCT events and a discretionary spot on Team USA for Mountain Bike World Championships! By the end of the year Justin was back to riding and they both raced Cyclocross for the first time.
2011
Again the year started out with both Allison and Justin tracing an upward trajectory, something that was easy for Justin due to having had 3 months off the bike in 2010. In January Allison's Black Death Foot returned and the injury ultimately derailed her entire mountain bike season. Justin's season on the other hand went phenominally well and he scored his first CAT1 win early in the season, followed by quite a few more.
Currently The Mann Show is attacking the 2011-12 Cyclocross season head on and looking forward to the 2012 mountain bike season!
