This story begins in a quaint, quiet town in the middle of "ski country USA." It's December 31st, 2011 and 7 friends are seated around a table joking about the dancing spectacle taking place right before their eyes. The locals were in rare form on this night, New Years Eve. The Springs was hoppin'! No one at the table had a clue that two of them would call this town home before the end of the year, but we'll leave that for later.
2012 did not make as grand of an entrance as years past. 2009 we were treated to an 8 hour live-set from none other than Armin Van Buuren, 2010 Kaskade, and 2011 was brought in by the likes of Moby, Afrojack, and Ferry Corsten. No, 2012 did not have the same energy behind it, but was preceded by a week of ice climbing, skiing and relaxing with close friends in the winter wonderland of Colorado.
After returning back to San Diego, and thawing out from our frigid adventures it was back to the grind of training for, what was to be, a killer 2nd season on the Catalyst Racing Cycling Team. The Altitude treated me well and for the first couple rides back in the saddle I was on fire. Pushing the pace in training rides and impressing even myself on a particular ride in Elfin Forest. I was ready for a great year in Cat 2.
They say when one door closes, another opens. Luckily, a good friend of mine and I had been working quietly behind the scenes on a new business plan/project. We were going to make custom carbon fiber cycling shoes. Ha! Neither of us had ever made a shoe before. Granted we both were World Class speed skaters for quite some time, and knew what we wanted out of a shoe, but how, how in the hell do you make one??? We did some research. Talked to some experts in the field of carbon fiber, skate boot making, thanks to YouTube got some valued knowledge from the interwebs, and used a whole lot of down and dirty, old fashioned inginuity.
After I made the agonizing decision to stop punishing myself on the bicycle it was time to take this endeavor to the next level. I flew down to Ft. Lauderdale where my partner had built out a shop, and we set out to build our very first shoes ever. We locked ourselves in the warehouse for 7 days, working 10-12 hour days. The whole time we were running on adrenalin, instinct, and caffeine. The traditional black coffee for me, and the heart attack inducing 5 Hour Energy and Red Bull for Bret. At the end of the week we had done what we set out to do. We made 3 pairs of shoes, and they were ALL Screwed up. The carbon work was solid, the stitching was all off and the straps were in the wrong place, but they were ride able. Thanks to Ben Raymond for his willingness to be our guinea pig. We owe him a ton! I gave him his shoes, and he rode 80 miles on them the very next day!! Part of which was up a monster of a climb, Kitchen Creek. I was so nervous and excited and scared for his feet. But he made it through with no trouble. We made some minor fit adjustments and they worked for a bit. Then the mounting system began to fail. Back to the drawing board.
During this time we began to explore opportunities that would allow us to gain incite into what cyclists were looking for in a shoe. We tapped one of the most connected people I know, Glenn Koshi. Glenn was currently the team manager for Ezeefit Sports Inline Racing Team, which I was still a member of. A few years back while I was on the Bont N.A. Squad, Glenn and I had the honor and privilege to meet 2-time Olympian and multiple time National Champion, Giddeon Massie. Glenn had worked with Giddeon during his time with Bont, and I knew that Giddeon was the perfect athlete/person to help us develop our shoe. I arranged a meeting with Giddeon and Glenn at Giddeon's house, and explained to him our vision, goals, and where he would fit into this scenario. To my astonishment Giddeon thought it was a good idea, and we began to work together on our track shoe, The BALESTRA FORTIS. I molded Giddeon and I flew back to Florida to make him 2 pair of shoes. This time I was armed with molds from some other clients, and for 10 days we worked and reworked our shoes until we had something we all could be proud of... This was April, 2012. 
My rehab was slow going. From the more than a year of being injured, my condition had degraded to the point where I couldn't even bare weight on my left leg. Hours of massage, ART, and PT was taking place and it felt like I was getting nowhere. The season was flying by and I had missed every stage race. This was devastating to me because I had performed very well the year prior and knew that with the help of my wonderful team I could reach the podium again and again in 2012. I worked hard at PT clocking at least 4 hours a week of rehab and 1 1/2 hours of massage weekly. A big thank you to my awesome Massage Therapist Erynne Hill, my dear friend and amazeballs PT/Coach Brian Wilson, Sean Hill, Bryan Hill and the rest of the Rehab United Staff for ALL the work you did on me.. You all are awesome, and today I'm riding, skating, skiing, even walking pain free. Thank You.
Finally, I had enough and signed up to race Barrio Logan, and Dana Point in the same weekend. Barrio went well. I just missed a prime prize and nearly chased down the break at the end. I finished 20 something, but was happy since I had not raced since January, and burned a ton of matches in the final laps. After knocking the rust off it was on to the largest crit in the USA, The Dana Point GP. Man was I in for it. After getting caught out off the start my trusty Captain Richard Geraghty and I hooked up and rode for what felt like 20 min on the outside of the pack on our way to the front. The pace was blistering and the carnage was great. At least 10 crashes and a 15 min delay while the ambulance cleaned up the course in turn 2. I received a nice burn on the left calf from some one's front wheel, but managed to stay up, and out of trouble. Finishing a respectable 10th place. But something had been lost. For the first time in my career I had been passed in the closing meters. Falling from 2nd to 10th in the last 20m. I was still elated!!! Thanks to all my teammates who stuck around to watch. I love the inspiration they give and the excitement I bring to them when I'm racing. It's one of my favorite things in life. I guess I'm kind of a showman. Who knew?? Nah... anyone that knows me, knows how much I love to represent my team. And that's what it's all about...
After Dana training commenced as usual while PT and massages continued uninterrupted. During this time there were a lot of pokers in the fire with Giddeon in full training mode for the T3 days of tryouts for the loan US Sprinter spot on the 2012 London, Olympic Games Team. I was running back and forth to the Home Depot Center Velodrome nearly twice a week to ensure Giddeon's shoes were the absolute best we could get them. Giddeon is such a meticulous person who's attention to detail, and level of expectation is so high that his contribution to the rapid advancement of BALESTRA Cycling is invaluable. It was also at this time when I was introduced to a young sprinting phenom named Njisane Phillip. Apparently the 20 year old Trinidadian was in need of some custom kicks for the Games, and we were seeing such great numbers with Giddeon's shoes that it was a no-brainer to get this amazing talent on our brand. Knowing that our shoe was going to allow him to perform at his absolute best. I molded him up in Giddeon's backyard and I flew down to meet Bret to make his shoes at the end of the month.
The beginning of June was a whirlwind of a time. Getting back from Florida after memorial day just in time to catch one of Giddeon's 3 TT heats. How it went down is that all the sprinters went head to head in 3 days of flying 200m TT's. Based on those stats, and the year's previous World Cup finishes the rider was chosen as the Olympic Sprinter. He ran 2 personal bests that day!!! I was so proud of all of us. Njisane had his shoes by now and was starting to let us know how he liked em. Things were going well with the shoes and everyone who was wearing them was pleased with the quality that we were providing at the time. It was around this time that I made the decision to move to Colorado in order to keep BALESTRA Cycling moving forward as needed.
Now 2 of the friends are moving away to the little mountain town in the middle of "Ski Country USA." I moved first because I had a job lined up working in an office for a construction company. At the same time I was busy building out a shop in our house where I could continue to make shoes. I headed down to Colorado Springs with my parents to see the US Grand Prix of Sprinting. As we drove down to "The Springs" from Glenwood we passed through the middle of the fire as it raged toward north Colorado Springs on it's way to massive destruction. There was a full cast of International competition, including the German juggernaut squad. We saw only Saturday night, but Sunday all of the International competition pulled out of the races due to the air quality.
The Flying 200m was an awesome event with World #1 Robert Forstemann winning on the night, but not before Njisane rides an impressive time of 9.775 seconds. Destroying a 17 year old record to become the fastest man in history from the Western Hemisphere. Giddeon rides well, and BALESTRA has a great weekend!!
Now that we're in Colorado. I'm working the same job, and Jena finds work as a waitress until she can find something in her field. Which doesn't take long as she lands an awesome job as the Manager and a Strength Coach at a Gym in Basalt, Phoenix Fitness. I got the opportunity to mold, Mike Creed of Optum Pro Cycling at his hotel room in Aspen in between stages of the Pro Cycling Challenge. On his way to a 18th place finish.
Sept. was another busy month. Started out at my buddy Val's wedding in St. Louis followed up shortly there after by The North Shore Inline Marathon. What an awesome experience to come back and race again. Super big thanks to Glenn Koshi for keeping me on the Ezeefitsports.com team. I got 7th, did a lot of work early my teammate got in a 2 man break half way through. He finished 2nd overall and the entire Ezeefit Team either won or podiumed in their respective divisions. Incredible. There's a sweet video of it on YouTube. I was wearing a helmet cam that Billy Burke gave me. Oh and I broke my collarbone racing a crit in Vail the week after. Good times.
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| 2012 National Track Calendar Champion |
The rest of the month I was on the mend. Sleeping in a recliner and playing Luminosity. Things made addictive when your layed up. In October I went back to work. This time supervising some guys while we dismantled Vail Sports HQ, and did some demo at the Lion's Head Village Quicksilver. Then rebuilt the Quicksilver. In November a lot began to change with the company. We brought in another partner, and decided to take the company in a slightly different direction in 2013. From the 4th week in November until the 19th was in S. Florida working on our new project, and we look forward to what the new year will bring for BALESTRA Performance Sports.
Jena and I had wonderful Christmas', both with my Dad and Nan, and Heather, George, Matthew, Matt, Bree, Siena, and everyone else we saw in SD. We Hope you had a very Merry Christmas as well.
Thank you all for the warm wishes, gifts, cards, and the like.
Happy Holidays
-Matt
