Team WTB/Fox Racing Shox/Cannondale/Shimano
Jason Moeschler, 32, began racing bikes at age 16 and over the course of his racing career has become a three-time Mountain Bike World Championship Competitor, 1997 US Junior National Champion, as well as a three-time Downieville All Mountain Pro Champion. Today, Moeschler races the clock for daylight to do more than just ride his bike. It’s a constant battle to balance the demands of his full-time job with racing, training, and as of last September—being a dad.
As WTB’s OEM Sales Manager, Jason endures a hefty travel schedule that could keep him in the air for multiple and lengthy flights to Asia each year. In 2011 alone, Jason spent more than two-and-a half months in Taiwan. Trade show travel and the chunk of time he spends at the computer each day are additional necessities that often conflict with his training. However, Jason still manages to get on his bike even if it means bringing it with him to Taiwan for morning “dawn patrol” rides or an occasional race.
Jason sprints to a fifth-place finish at the 2011 Merida Cup in Taiwan.
After talking with Jason, one might think that riding and racing bikes is all he’s ever aspired to do. But with the divorce of his parents and pure exhaustion from his relentless travel, training, and racing schedule, Jason stepped away from the national racing scene at age 19 in 1999. Working full time, he was able to help his mom make the mortgage payment and complete his AA degree from Sierra Community College. In a few years, Jason left his job at the local bike shop to try his hand at carpentry. He worked construction for close to three years, building custom homes for a local contractor in the Nevada County area.
When Moeschler started racing again locally, a chance conversation with Mark Weir on the podium in Downieville about why he wasn’t wearing his sponsors’ gear (because he wasn’t sponsored at the time) led to Weir adding Moeschler to his WTB/Fox/Santa Cruz team in 2004. After his third consecutive win as the All Mountain Pro Champion in the Downieville Classic, Jason was approached by WTB to represent the company as the Western Regional Technical Sales Manager. He gladly accepted and was once again back in the bike industry where his role has since evolved to include more responsibility in the area of sales and product development. Most recently, he worked with Mark Weir and product developers to create the company’s new TCS line of tubeless compatible tires, rims and wheels.
Moeschler prefers epic rides with friends to racing, but manages to remain a threat on the XC and enduro downhill race courses as part of the Cannondale Over Mountain crew. Either way, any excuse to be on a bike is a good one, and Moeschler uses the technical sections to make up for the time he might lose in pedaling—his main defense against dopers, as he explained in an interview with Decline magazine, noting that “he didn’t think they’d developed a drug that could make you descend faster yet.”
Jason Moeschler featured in 2011 at The Ranch along with the rest of the Cannondale Over Mountain Crew.
Even though work and personal commitments (becoming a new dad) didn’t permit him to do as much racing as he would have liked in 2011, he still managed to make it to the podium, finishing second at the Oakridge Super D and second in the XC at the Tara Llanes Classic at Northstar.
Jason takes two-week-old Jace up to his first podium at the 2011 Tara Llanes Classic.
He also placed in the top 10 in the duo category with teammate Mark Weir in the BC Bike Race, and took 5th places in the Overmountain Enduro at Highland Park in New Hampshire as well as the Merida Cup in Taiwan.
Photo courtesy of Cannondale at the Overmountain Enduro.
In short, Jason is a busy guy but racing mountain bikes remains a passion he continues to indulge. Among other things, he says it keeps him motivated to stay fit and live healthy. For Jason, staying fit and living healthy also meant moving back to his hometown of Nevada City, California, where he works from home and can do any number of epic rides in the Sierra foothills right from his front door.
WTB OEM Sales Manager in training.