It's been a while since my last post but I'm ready to update on whats been going on. Our trip out west turned out to be awesome. Ironiclly our cheapest and most bare-boned trip turned out to be the most fun we've taken to date. In fact, I think it was so much fun because we roughed it. The adventure did of course have its hitches. It only took about two hours for us to dominate our 14' Uhaul truck.(Which happened to be our mode of transportation as well as our new home). We spent a full 24 hours trying to get U-haul to pull their heads out of their asses and get us a new truck. What a hassle. After that the week went pretty smoothly with lots of good racing, camping, tanning, and laughs. The racing started on Friday afternoon with the Pro Time Trial. The hours leading up to the race where some of the most nerve-racking of my life. Every emotion went through my head that day; nervous, excited, hesitant, doubt, confidence, and a quite bit of nausea. I tried to put it all out of my head as I pushed off the start line and headed out on the 6 mile course. There's nothing in the world quite like a time trial. I ususally have a panic attack throughout the whole thing. You never know how your doing. Are you ahead...? or are you behind? Did you push a big enough gear up the last climb...? did you hit that line as smooth and you did in pratice...? Is my 30 second man catching me...or am I catchting mine...? With all theses things are running through your head, it makes for a very stressful 20 minutes. I crossed the line maxxed out and tasting blood in my throat, signs of a descent effort, but you never know. Twenty minutes later results were up...I scanned down the list and there I was, 34th. I can't say I expected to see my name in the top half of the field but I was more than happy with it. The other boys all had solid runs too, Brandon and Kyle clocked in at 49th and 50th respectively and Matteo mustered up a 37th despite a killer fast semi-pro field. Next up on Saturday was the SuperD and short track. I'll skip over the SuperD cause it was pretty worthless and go right to the short track.
I think this was time ever that NORBA had a cohessive, logical idea. They held the short track at night, in downtown Fountain Hills. It was really cool. The starting line was on the main drag of the city and then weaved through and old contruction lot. Although it wasn't one of the coolest courses they've designed, the atmoshere trumped it. The start of the Pro race was kinda hectic as 100 riders sprinted into a narrow hairpin turn at around 25 mph. Brandon, Kyle and myself were lucky enough to last for 6 minutes before the lead group caught us and we were pulled so we got to spectate for most of the race. Matt declined to race the short track and instead chose to quietly sit on a pile of dirt and eat pizza. Prolly not a bad choice after all.
Sunday came and it was time for the main event, a 40 mile cross country race. The start was again hectic but not so much for me. A last second drink of water from Matt's new fanny pack camelbak put me into the trail dead last. Seriously.(Minus the guy who flatted 10 feet off the line) My horrible start forced me into a conservative stategy for the rest of the day. I decided that picking off blown up guys would be my best bet and worked pretty well. I ended up sprinting for 54th spot, beating a legit Kona factory rider(he was really pissed), meaning a had passed almost 50 guys throughout the race. Sweet. Brandon dominated the XC with a 31st finish and Kyle ended up 62nd. It was a rough day. What was even rougher was that we had to pack everything up and be at the airport in less than 6 hours after we finished. It was a pain but we made it.
All in all, the trip was a blast. We were the talk of the race in our Uhaul, had good results in all our races, and had lots of fun doing it. Couldn't ask for more.
I think this was time ever that NORBA had a cohessive, logical idea. They held the short track at night, in downtown Fountain Hills. It was really cool. The starting line was on the main drag of the city and then weaved through and old contruction lot. Although it wasn't one of the coolest courses they've designed, the atmoshere trumped it. The start of the Pro race was kinda hectic as 100 riders sprinted into a narrow hairpin turn at around 25 mph. Brandon, Kyle and myself were lucky enough to last for 6 minutes before the lead group caught us and we were pulled so we got to spectate for most of the race. Matt declined to race the short track and instead chose to quietly sit on a pile of dirt and eat pizza. Prolly not a bad choice after all.
Sunday came and it was time for the main event, a 40 mile cross country race. The start was again hectic but not so much for me. A last second drink of water from Matt's new fanny pack camelbak put me into the trail dead last. Seriously.(Minus the guy who flatted 10 feet off the line) My horrible start forced me into a conservative stategy for the rest of the day. I decided that picking off blown up guys would be my best bet and worked pretty well. I ended up sprinting for 54th spot, beating a legit Kona factory rider(he was really pissed), meaning a had passed almost 50 guys throughout the race. Sweet. Brandon dominated the XC with a 31st finish and Kyle ended up 62nd. It was a rough day. What was even rougher was that we had to pack everything up and be at the airport in less than 6 hours after we finished. It was a pain but we made it.
All in all, the trip was a blast. We were the talk of the race in our Uhaul, had good results in all our races, and had lots of fun doing it. Couldn't ask for more.
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