Qualcomm / SD Bike Racing

From Drop Box

Well it's been a while since I updated this and a lot has happened. I finally found and have subsequently started a job at Qualcomm. Its not a full engineer position but its a foot in the door at one of the top tech companies in the world. My position right now is running ATE (automated test equipment) for Qualcomm's QCT division. The hours aren't the best (nights 10pm - 6am) and has put a hamper on riding the bikes.

From Drop Box

I have however still done a few races while working the night shift. One a cross country race in Florida Canyon near Balboa Park here in San Diego. A few of the guys I ride with on Wednesday nights did it as well so it was good to have some people at the race I knew. This was the first cross country mountain bike race in San Diego in quite a few years so it was fairly big news in the cycling community.

From Drop Box

The start to the race was crazy, they started all CAT 2/3's together, which was well over 100 people. Luckily the beginning was fire road with plenty of spots to pass but it still made you burn your matches passing people. I was feeling alright and was in the top third of riders when we hit the singletrack. It was hard to tell who was in your division so I had no idea of placing until the end. The course was pretty tame and a few guys were racing cross bikes.

From SD Mtn Biking

I made a big mistake in the race though and forgot how many laps I had done, and ended up doing an extra. The people doing the timing didn't catch it either and my final time was with doing one extra lap, the same amount the pro's were doing. I wasn't close to winning this race though so it didn't matter, I just got in a little more of a workout.


I have gotten to do one more race in as well since being employed, and that was a 12 hour race in Temecula, CA at Vail Lake. The San Diego area had been hit by a ton of rain and I was expecting the race to be canceled but due to the sandy nature of the course and some reroutes the race was still a go. The course wasn't that bad either but it was a little sticky and muddy in a few sections. I was part of a 4 man team with guys I ride with every Wed. night. Most of the people seemed to love the course but it just wasn't my style of riding.

From SD Mtn Biking

From SD Mtn Biking

We were all planning on doing 3 laps giving us a total of 12 laps but on my last lap I had 2 flats and had to bum a tube off of one of the guys at the aid station. I was too worried to keep going and get another flat so I cut the course there to tag my other teammate. We ended up with 11 laps dropping us to 14th place out of 20.