Bein' Busy

Being on the road for almost 2 weeks was a blast, but I'm glad to be home. The racing was good and the company unbeatable. The Windham race went rather well, where I place 32nd after my last place call-up. The bottleneck start put the rear end of the field about 2 mins down to the leaders in the first 100 yards. From there consistancy paid off for me as riders suffered in the east coast humidity and started falling backwards. I would have welcomed a fifth lap, as I was closing in on a handful of guys who finished within a minute in front of me. A top 25 for sure. Coulda shoulda woulda. Survived for well over half the short track. Got much needed confidence for next weeks main event.

Following Sunday's short track festivities, I moved on to Vermont with Zach and Martin in search of a 4 bedroom house that would be ours for a few days until the rest of Martin's team arrived. It was nice to sleep in a proper bed for a few days despite having to abandon my hand built sleeping platform in the Mazda to do so. The waking hours of Monday thru Wednesday were spent eating, riding slowly, and veiwing Family Guy marathons. Transferred residences on Wed night to stay with Carl and his uncle where Family Guy was replaced by Deadliest Catch.

Thursday-race day. Upon waking up, I can feel that "not really going to cooperate with you" feeling in the legs as soon as the feet hit the floor. I go about the normal race day routine thinking happy thoughts about last weekend. Disapointment overshadows false optimisim throughout the race as I'm on the defensive all day trying to not get passed instead of making passes. Ending up in 12th place isn't the worst thing, but it's far from what I knew I was capable of going into the weekend. Everyone has bad days, it just sucks it had to be this day.

One last chance at redemtion in store. 24 Hr Nats is only a week away. Feeling pretty good about it and looking to hopefully have a good time during most of it. Slightly concerned about the total lack of elevation change. That and the quality of the guys that will be there. With a descent amount of luck there might be a shot at a top 5. I'll pop in 24Solo again tonight...that'll be 4 times this week.

Side notes:

- Zach Adams knows whats up when it comes to making dinner

- I finally learned to play "Oh" by DMB. I'm excited about this.

- There is a very good chance that the twins shower together

- Adam Craig enjoys partying til the early morning before winning national championships

- I took not a single picture while I was gone

I can't believe I crashed in my own driveway

It poured all afternoon here in G-ville. I was about 20 minutes into a 2 hour practice race ride when it started coming down. Unfortunately, I didn't have my helmet visor- aka safety glasses proudly perched on my helmet today so the eyes were taking a beating. I made it through the intended loop, after only being dangerously cut off only two times, and headed for home. Side note- I've have a couple confrontations with stupid people driving cars too fast of too close to me. I might start carrying an extra bottle just as ammo. One said incident was evn with a guy on a motorcycle, the one group of people that I would expect to have some sort of understanding towards other two wheels travelers. What a jerk. I digress.

After spinning back home, still in the downpouring rain, I swing into the driveway in a standard fashion and was promptly body slammed into the pavement. The brownish patch must be oil or something cause i've never felt wheels come out from under me so fast. When I came to a rest, I, as well as my bike were pointed almost directly at the mailbox.

This...

Left me like this...

And the driveway like this...

But then I found this....

Saturday was my 21st birthday. I drank water all day. Can't decide if thats cool or not.

I celebrated it at the Marysville Stage Race. That I know is cool. It's the most fun you could ever hope for on two wheels, and has a way of making me remember why I race my bike again. Cause it's fun.

Rain showers on Friday created a slippy course that would gradually dry out over the course of the event. The time trial, though, was sketchy. Complete darkness, slippy, slimey roots and heavy fog over most of the course proved challenging. A race of who could lose the least amount of time. My take on the race was to stay smooth and steady, while sacraficing a bit of speed to do so. During my run I could tell it wasn't going to be one of the best times of the night, 6th place. The final times were all close, 2nd through 8th were all within about 20 seconds. For the XC on Saturday I had some higher hopes. Again, I played it safe from the start and was mid pack once the singletrack came, banking on the high heat and humidity to take its toll on most of the guys in front. I steadily ramped up the speed each lap, catching a guy here and there until I was sitting in 3rd. Ryan and Harlan were setting a fast pace but Ryan slowed a bit on the final lap allowing me to close the gap a bit, but not quite enough to take the second step on the podium. Legs felt great though.

Sunday morning brought the mass start hill climb. In years prior, this has been my least favorite event of the the weekend. Theres just something about red-lining yourself for almost 20 min up a mountain at 9am the morning after two days of racing. This year I didn't feel too bad and was able to pull off another 3rd place for the weekend. After racing the two leadout quads back down the mountain I grabbed some "hammy" cakes and took a seat to check out the upcoming short track events. My favorite.

By the time noon rolled around I could already feel the butterflies rolling around in my tummy. I get them before every short track. Its a good thing though. It would be a bad sign if I didn't get them. This years Elite field was enormous and after the opening lap there was a lead group of about 9 guys. The first ten minutes for me were intense. The lenghty weekend was starting to set in and I was having a tough time staying on the lead group. Each lap I came around 3-4 lengths off the back, a position I'm not used to being in. A few more laps and I could feel myself coming to life a bit more and was able to move up into the top 5 as guys were popping off the back. As the lap count dropped lower and lower the group began to shrink until only myself, Ryan, and Harlan were left. Another lap and it was my turn to fall off as Harlan as Ryan duked it out for the win. Harlan won in dominating fashion, taking the win in every event and overall for the weekend.

I think its time for some new cables....

Void Where Prohibited

Not much going on lately. Riding a little less for now. The Andover AMBC was Sunday. Average performance. Not great, but far from dismal. Perhaps if I would have raced a teeny bit smarter if would have turned out differently, but it was a good day.

Found a new hill for repeats today. Long steady climbs are uncommon around here, so this little 2-mile jewel of a climb will become a staple for the future. Icing on the cake, its all black velvet pavement. You know what I mean.

I feel like I've given you no real information with this post...