Home again!!

Current Song: Claire, Jimmy Eat World
What I did Today: Had an excellent breakfast, shower, run and ab work-out
Energy: Feeling great

I left August 16 for college, I was finally greeted by the amazing valley I live in again on December 11. Nearly 5 months gone from home, simply put if feels great to be home! I got to go skiing within 12 hours of being home and wow, I really missed it. I had so much fun skiing, then to finally get a day with nothing to do was also great. We had a nice visit to the restaurant I work at last night for some of the best burgers ever! Got to reconnect with a teacher and my boss. Its cool to come back to the same old Angel Fire, its like nothing even happened! Well my last two weeks went better than I thought they would. When I was on thanksgiving break I was pretty sure that it was going to be a long two weeks, but when one least expects it really cool things happen! Long story short, I had an absolute blast the last two weeks and feel that I finished up with all my classes on a high note which is a very good thing. Of course the day I left it snows in Brevard and there is hardly any here, oh well. The green chile, animals and everything makes the trip home worth it!

Thanksgiving away from Home

Current Song: Where are you going, Dave Matthews band
What I did Today: Classes, Work even played some ping pong
Energy: Pretty tired from the most amazing break ever!

For the past few weeks, I have done a lot of firsts, including first cyclocross race, first thanksgiving away from family, first time eating hush-puppies and oysters, first time taking my car to the ocean, and many others among everything else, it was an amazing break from everything.

For the cyclocross race, it was interesting. The first day, I had no warm-up. I walk up to register, no problem which I expected since I was racing out of category, but then no debit cards, so a quick run into town to get cash then paid up, no pins, by the time I have pins, no warm-up. So I raced, and admit it mentally and physically I had a horrible race and turned it into a good time, learning the ropes of cyclocross. So next day get all set to go, warm-up and everything and then BUSTED! I guess a pro mountain biker has to race beginner cyclocross even though registration allows it. Oh well. I admit I was pissed but it sizzled off by the end of the race. So that was my first cyclocross race, sorry for the scant report, but it was a little disappointing.

The fun part! Our school began break the day before thanksgiving and got back today, so yes it was a legitimate 5 days outside of school which was so amazing! A few weeks back I made the decision to travel with several friends down to stay with my amazing friend Addison Dent in Charleston SC. One of the first port cities, this place was so beautiful. Not to mention it was the first thanksgiving I spent comfortably relaxing in the 80 degree weather. Quite a culture shock. Not to mention this is only the second thanksgiving I spent away from home, once before was in San Francisco and I was so sick it wasn't fun at all, and the first time away from family. I admit, it was hard, real hard but the Dent's made us feel so close to family that everything was fine. We defined relaxation on the trip, never doing anything until about 3 in the afternoon. What a vacation. To the entire Dent Family, thanks for everything.

Thanksgiving included an amazing dinner, eating oysters, at the end of the night, we were given two free trays, staying at the famed "Broughton House"which is a 5-6 bedroom/bath house that includes a living room big enough for a concert and riverfront property with an amazing dock. Not to mention the amazing friends, and new friends. It seemed like this was a transition family, see according to Kody, there are three types of thanksgivings. First is normal, spent with your family and third is spent with the family of your own where you are the parent. Well this was our friend phase, where we are stuck in between the boundary of the family we grew up with and the family we will create. Such a cool idea and it made me realize what a cool place we are in life. On top of that I just spent 5 days down in Charleston, SC for free, it seems so spontaneous that makes me feel so great. It was a blast and one more thing, Atlantic Ocean water is so much warmer!

Oh don't worry I got plenty of pictures!

Dock at Broughton

Sunset on the River

Awesome graffiti in Charleston, the guy gets paid to do this

The Thanksgiving group!

With the amazing cook!

The wall at the cyclocross race

Barrier Jump

Well hopefully didn't make anyone jealous of my thanksgiving! Until next time, If you don't go, you don't see!

Package from Grandma!

Current Song: Wonder Wall, Oasis
What I did Today: Classes, work-study
Energy: Content

Well here at college, the mailroom either makes or breaks a day. It is so exciting to get a package or even an envelope that when one checks the box and its got something in it it really does make my day at least. It can also be really depressing to look in and see nothing, well luckily today I had a slip! It was a surprise package from my grandma with so much candy and goodies, pretty pumped to be stoked about it! There have been a lot of little updates since the last blog so let me fill you in.

First was the long board, yes a long board. After sleeping through a gear swap I asked if there was a skateboard and there was, I was bummed but luckily one of my friends knew the guy, long story short, I picked up a long board for twenty bucks and got my money's worth that night! It was so fun even though I almost died, well the next day I blew up the bearings in it... :( I was super bummed about it since it would take like a week to even get it shipped here so I accepted how long it would take and went to work-study, where I looked up some longboarding videos and techniques to stop (still don't really know how to) and decided I needed it so I found a local skate shop thirty minutes away and made the trip! Its amazing the difference these new bearings made, the wheels won't stop rolling! It goes so fast now! I had to bail off for the first time and I am sure I will be writing about some great, hopefully harmless falls! Its a blast and is the closest thing to skiing yet here and its a great way to get to class!

It has been 4 weeks since nationals, 4 weeks off the bike basically, right as my two week break ended I got sick and rather than push it, I took it easy. Finally I got better just in time for the rain to start so hopefully that ends soon, the bottom line is that I definitely want to start riding! Which is great. Its so easy to get burned out and I almost was but now I am ready to ride, with only a few weeks before christmas break I know that when I get back in January I will definitely want to start! Meanwhile I changed up a little bit in my diet. I decided that instead of eating biscuits and gravy everyday for breakfast I would switch to something a little more healthy like nutella and bananas or cereal, so that has been great because I feel like I have more energy for the day!

 After a late night, I finished up one major project for a class and another project for another class that left me pretty much on the home stretch in both classes, should be pretty easy coasting from here to the end of the semester which I am hoping starts to come faster, I am starting to miss home, snow, animals and real eggs, salsa and any other food that is not made here. Thanksgiving break is a week away now, I am going to head to a friend's house in Charleston where a bunch of people will be so that should be a blast! After thanksgiving break I believe we have two weeks before I get to go home for awhile which should be great! Until then everything is just fine, especially with a longboard! I have some pictures I never got up of a beautiful fall here so enjoy!

One more thing, THANKS DEE DEE AND GRANDAD!!!

here is an awesome video too, it definitely inspired me to want to skateboard more! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkviQ41u0eQ

At the bottom of the ladder again!

Current Song: Stir it Up, Bob Marley and the Wailers
What I did Today: Had an excellent ride on black mountain
Energy: Tired with a chance of excitment here and there

When I found out what categories are in mountain biking and how you move from one to another it was explained to me like this, When you get to the top of one ladder you go to the bottom of the next one. Well I may have not been to the top yet, but I switched ladders. In my mind it is much easier to get a pro upgrade as a Cat 1. junior, because it is so much more competitive than a Cat. 1 19-29. So I went for it, knowing that if I wasn't meant to race pro next year it would get denied, well I guess I was meant to! I found out this morning looking for some records for my dad, sure enough the upgrade was approved, I am no longer a Jr. Ex but a Pro. Pretty psyched to be pumped to be stoked. Like I said it may be a little early, but I would rather spend more time getting my butt kicked than at the front of a pack, I know that it will teach me something new every race and that it will make me faster. That really meets my goal for the year, which was to get the results to get my pro upgrade, kinda cool to look back on something I didn't think was possible and realizing I did it. For now, my goal is not to get any major results but merely to get the feel of the faster field and get better because of it, off in the distance is definitely a good spot in U23's. I know this will be interesting this summer because it will be the first time I focus only on biking rather than splitting the focus with skiing. I can't jump the training up too much though. Next season will be a balancing act of many different things but should be a fantastic challenge! Well that was my update for now figured I would get it out there! Lots of training to do!

The First Stars and Stripes!

Current Song: What's Golden, Jurassic 5
What I did Today: Went to class, cleaned up a bit
Energy: Tired but very satisfied

Most people have probably already heard, but this past week I had an excellent trip to Collegiate Nationals in Lake Tahoe, California. It was an amazing trip with unreal results. After excellent results from everyone on our team, we pulled away with a van full of stars and stripes jerseys as the D2 nationals team omnium champions, we beat out Union College by 28 points. Pretty cool! The whole trip was so awesome though, the championship was just icing on the cake.

Wednesday, started out early. At 2 AM we left the school parking lot. After a very unexpectedly slow drive to the airport we rushed through to get on the plane. In short we were on planes or in airports for the next 7 hours. Once we finally got out we made a trip to IN-N-OUT, because thats what you do when your in California, and had some very satisfying burgers. Then we piled into the 12 person van with 12 people and bags and drove two hours to Northstar. We were all very happy to get out of the car and build our bikes! We went on a short ride of the course that day my tire was giving me a little trouble so it wasn't super fast but still pretty fun! After some dinner we went to sleep in our amazing house!

Thursday started a little later but due to us on eastern time, we were up and ready to go by 6. Too bad we didn't have anything to do until 3! At least our bikes were still built. Thad came out and joined us (the cross-country team) on another easy pre-ride. The spin was nice and got us ready for the next day. Then me and Kody went into town with Thad and got some Nutella and a new tire for me. We got everything we needed squared away and went to registration as a team. We all got registered and got a lot more gatorade towels and got set to race the next day.

Friday was the day of the XC. I was definitely very nervous. We hung out and watched the girls go off. Then got ready ourselves. After a good warm-up I got called up in ok position. Off the start there was a crash that definitely held me up. I went for it. As we started going we hit a gradual climb and I passed people left and right. I think I passed over half the field in a 1/4 mile stretch. Then I found myself three or 4 people behind Tristan and pretty close to Macky as well. I ended up passing Macky and realizing what a bad idea I had. Went out way too hard. I contained myself and kept it cool. I ate and drank way more and was actually able to hold on to that position, despite a flat in the third lap that I was able to fix without changing the tube, and finish in 9th! Super sweet finish and put our three scored riders in the top 10, Union, our competitors, had 1. Great day for the team and we finished the day down 8 points as we only had 2 XC girls and they had 3. Really great to finish the day in such a position and it definitely sparked a lot of energy in the group. We went out for a nice afternoon spin before dinner. And the night ended with a lot of excitement!

In the short track on Saturday another crash put me back but I was able to keep moving up, finally fighting once again for 9th with a guy from warren wilson. I passed him and he started to pass with me with 2 laps to go but I knew he was tired and I could get him higher up on the climb, as he cut in he took out my front wheel and that was the end of my top 10 chase as him and one more guy sneaked past me as I got myself together. I was bummed my race had to end like that it would have been way cooler to race but whatever, thats racing! Anyways I scored for the team again and 3 in the top 11 was better than unions 2. So we headed to 4 cross which I don't do, it was spectating time! I was able to get Cameron, my lifelong best friend from Angel Fire to come see it! It was so cool getting to hang with him and watch some amazing racing! And Nathalie Krantz from Fort Lewis, and longtime biking friend even watched with us which was cool! It was great to discuss our new college experiences from 3 totally different places. Our team turned in another great showing with two guys in the consolation finals and we ended the day up 20 points on Union, the points were tight and there was no telling what could happen the next day.

Sunday was the downhill, it was cool to play a supporting role! I helped out at the start and had fun watching some more awesome racing! We had a solid day. Union did too. We had no idea what to expect, so we went back and changed and ate some food then went down to the award ceremonies. Of course the guy took as long as he could doing all of the other awards before the team. Tristan took 1st in the individual omnium which was great! As we waited we were all to nervous to talk. They called up 5th, 4th, and 3rd. 2nd was what we were listening for, it was between us and Union. Well the announcer said, "Now the stage will be swarmed by orange" Orange was Union's colors. We looked at each other in disbelief and then freaked out. We did it!!! We got our jerseys and took some pictures but we were all so satisfied with ourselves and each other's results that we didn't know what was going on. It was our second title in two years. It was great to see Fort Lewis take their 4th title, congrats Nathalie!

Monday we took an easy day, our bikes were gone so there was no riding. We explored and ended up in Truckee exploring then we went to Sacramento and got one last IN-N-OUT and got on a plan for a 12 hour trip home. Yesterday was rough because of the long travel but the stars and stripes jersey in my dresser makes up for it!



It was such an opportunity to be a part of this during my first year at college. I did not believe we could do it again because of what people had said, we had good luck and Union did it. What an experience! I am more happy to be on such an amazing team, with two nationals champions and 9 podium finishes, the team championship was just icing on the cake. The support I saw from everyone was so cool to be around. It is a bummer its over so soon but there is always next year and I am already considering cyclocross! For now, I can say it is true that the pursuit is the reward. Here are some pictures!

Me and Macky!

The National Championship team!

The Pursuit is the Reward

Current Song: She Said, Collective Soul
What I did Today: Took care of business and played some dodgeball
Energy:Tired yet very excited.

I started out today taking care of some business that now that it is completed I feel much better about traveling to nationals. A few weeks ago it was so great to hear that I was going and now that it is happening it is too good to be true. At this point I will get to fly out and back and have an all expense paid trip to Lake Tahoe, can't get much better than that! I am not expecting much coming in to my 2nd national race of the year. I have always felt I was in a good mental place when I go in with such a mindset so hopefully it keeps working, well as the nerves keep building the date gets closer and closer. For those who don't know, our team is the defending national champions. An awful lot of pressure for us new guys but I will be happy if I go out there and give it my all. Then we will see how she goes as far as the team omnium  is concerned. I would like to say that I feel so privileged going to such a big race with such a great team. The atmosphere is so great that I know that no matter what the results are we will all come back with beaming smiles just because of the trip with a group of friends. I will keep it updated! Until then, The pursuit is the reward.

First time in a Skin Suit!

Current Song: Semi-Charmed Life, Third Eye Blind
What I did Today: Took a lazy day
Energy: Rested and Anxious.

College is a place for a lot of first times. With wearing a skin suit checked off the list, it is apparent. Looking forward to wearing it at nationals! Collegiate nationals is coming up. Our bikes are already on their way across the country making that the 5th near cross-country trip for my bike! Pretty cool. I knew I brought the bike box for a reason! Well the only problem is that we can't check any baggage so we have to have most of our gear packed already. So my helmet, shoes, and many kits and basically everything but the clothes I need for the next week is on its way already. Thats where the skin suit came in. Good Ole T-Cowie has graciously allowed me and Kody to use many of his spare kits, vests and what not. In that bag was the skin suit and seeing as the suit was an XS and Kody is about 6' tall I got it. It was weird to wear, definitely felt like I had absolutely nothing on.

Well the last week was extremely eventful. After an excellent short track race at Conyers, Georgia at the olympic mountain bike venue (freaking awesome!) I had an eventful cross country warm-up. First I will go in to the short track. After a confused start I found myself in the top third of the pack. The course went on a flat grass track, up a short hill and down a quick descent. I was feeling great on the false flat, I even brought out the aero tuck. I was able to move up in position and obtain my best finish in short track yet! Then the cross-country. During my warm-up I went to ride the slick rock section of the olympic course. It was sweet there were basically highway lines to show the 1996 competitors where to go. At the bottom of that I noticed my free-wheel wasn't clicking anymore. So I asked some people they said it should be fine and then BAM. I could rotate my cranks the right way and get nothing from the wheel. Blown free hub, 10 minutes before the start of conference champs. Well of course no one else here has a 29er so I thought I was done for. Then St. Marie the superman in disguise decided to throw his race for mine because he thought I would do better. I didn't agree with it but it was forced. So I raced his 26 inch wheel on the rear. Yup, a 69er. What an awkward ride. It accelerated super fast so I was able to get on the lead group on the start but my switch up was evident. My shifting was all off. My riding even was off, I would be riding down and my front wheel would roll over something fine and then buck my rear wheel! So I was able to hold on for a solid finish. Definitely wish I had the 29er working for mine and St. Marie's sakes. It was cool to experiment though because the difference is drastic!

The week is closing down now and a fun weekend is in order! I may try out some baggies today!
For now, WEEEEEEE

Some awesome pictures and another muddy race!

Current Song:Semi-Charmed Life, Third Eye Blind 

What I did Today: Went for an excellent recovery ride 

Energy: Still tired but feel better after the ride.

After a busy week, finally the weekend came around! This week was filled with rides that were not too intense but with everything this week, I was worn out. I thought it would be great to put in a pretty big week for conference. So with that I was not expecting the biggest results this weekend but everything worked out better than I thought! It was a really great week as far as riding. Got some cool rides in with Tristan and St. Marie and even by myself, which is why I have so many pictures! Thought it was cool to finally get some, the ones of the bike after the race are pretty entertaining.

Well in short this weekend was a blast, not my best races of the year but they were not bad. In the short track we warmed up and were ready to go at 9, the scheduled start, well the organizer didn't decide to show up until about 9:45, leaving us sitting there for nearly an hour, as you can imagine no one wanted to race and everyone lost their warm-up. So the first half of the race was not great. I couldn't get my intensity up to par and climbing the hill was not very fun. Halfway through I was able to move up a few places but only jumped up to 16th. It works but I wish I could have done better.

The morning of the cross-country we woke up to pouring rain. So out to the course and sure enough it was going to get sloppy. So after a rushed start, we were off. I got stuck behind a slow guy for the first lap but was able to keep moving up through the field to eventually get up to 12th. The last lap was great because I was able to keep my intensity up and I made up 3-4 positions! So that was great but still not too excited about not continuing my top 10 consistency, well next week! It was a fun muddy race and I felt great on the descents! The bike ran great despite the excessive mud! 

Now this week should be good with some minor intervals and what not to possibly get ready for nationals. This weekend is Conference champs and we are racing on the first ever olympic mountain bike course. I think its the coolest thing in the world. I know I will have one more level just because of that! Well enjoy the pictures.

Some rock garden action on Farlow Gap

Blue Ridge Parkway view.

and at night.

Air-strip trail, literally an old airstrip, the trail is fun too!

View from the end of Airstrip

Something-falls, can't remember the name

same waterfall

Nice and muddy!

I am surprised I could shift!

Or my chain could work

Or my crank.

Even used a mud-flap

You can tell it was a fun race!

I could stay here...

Current Song: Young Forever, Jay-Z
What I did Today: Went to class, a light ride is on the schedule
Energy: Feeling great!

Well, time keeps on rolling and I am still amazed at the fact that I have not even skimmed the surface of Brevard. Last week was the stage race, It was a blast being able to volunteer for a race, because for once I was the one behind the scenes, kinda gives me an idea of what kind of work goes into a race. It is an amazing amount. The work I did included marking course until dark, yes we broke out the lights for the last hour! I also swept two courses which was very tiring. It was great to learn a lot of new trails, and with my new map, the links of all the trails are slowly starting to form in my head. Soon the loops will get going just in time for the base mileage. After the stage race, I had to put on a white squirrel suit which was horrible! So hot inside one of those mascot suits! Afterwards I got to chat with some of the racers! Jeremiah Bishop actually recognized me which was really really cool. I asked him about the race and he asked me about how college was going. I also got to talk to the coach from our camp, Andy and Cory Rimmer. It was fun getting to see everyone and what an atmosphere! A stage race is definitely on my bucket list.

This week has been mellow yet hectic which is basically all college has been! I went for an amazing ride in DuPont State Forest yesterday with Tristan and Matt. It made me realize that the biggest reason I have gotten faster since I have been here is that there are people who kick my butt. So I go as hard as I can to keep up with them, and pushing that envelope has given me much more confidence! At one point the trail literally was just rock. Like slick rock! I couldn't believe it! It was just way too much fun. I also finally got to see out of the trail. The craziest thing about riding here is that its easy to get tunnel vision because you can't see like you can back west! Its so easy to orient yourself because you know where town is, but here its almost impossible. Hopefully I will get it eventually!

On the other side of things, I keep trying to balance sleep, a life and of course homework. Balancing everything is difficult but absolutely worth it. Well on a parting note, remember the pursuit is the reward!
Over and out

New meaning of mud! (Lees Mcrae Race Report)

Current Song: Save Tonight, Eagle Eye Cherry
What I did Today: Went to my 3 classes
Energy: Tired but extremely happy

Mud has always been something that has been very fun to ride in just because of its spattering qualities. At Lees Mcrae I experienced a totally different mud. Don't get me wrong, it was an absolute BLAST! but wow. Every one has been saying this is one of the most technical courses already and when St. Marie hoped it would rain so we would really have fun, I was worried. They were right. We pre-rode the course when it was dry and wow, it was so much fun. There was a very large rock garden and several "euro-drops" (steep inclines that last 3-4 feet that drop to flat and even one that was like 10 feet long) and too many roots to count. It was so so so much fun. The course was scary and hard but the flow it had and the adventure involved in just surviving was so awesome.

Now that I think back, we didn't even know what technical was at that point, that night it start pouring. All in all we started in a cold drizzle and that slowly turned into a downpour. Well back home, dirt plus water= tacky, nice dirt. Back east dirt plus water equals MUD. It was amazing, it was harder than riding in snow. I hit so many trees I can't even count! It turned into a slop fest of all time. I had a really great start putting me into the top ten or so and I held that position throughout the entire race. I felt really great climbing in the mud that allowed for almost no traction and the descents were way too much fun to even contain myself. Put it this way, no one could tell what jersey someone was wearing, we all wore brown. I guess an excellent souvenir from Lees Mcrae. At one point I had to get an extra water bottle just to spray off my drive train so that my bike would keep rolling! Well I ended up in the top ten and the second on our team. It was a really great race for me and I realized the only way to be good in mud is to have too much fun in it. At one point I tried to get around a guy but his wheel was in the trail, promptly taking me down, but usually one goes down and stops, no I slid about 15 feet completely out of control. It was awesome.

Then the short track. We were all hoping this would stay dry as a majority of it was in the grass. Our wish was somewhat granted. It was definitely pretty wet but nothing we couldn't handle. The nastiest features were a literal mud pit, which thankfully had a sneak line that I found early on in the race, and a creek crossing. I had another really good start. It put me in great position to pick people off. And throughout the race I was able to keep it up. This time I was actually able to finish one lap down which was so awesome as last time I raced three laps and that was it. I was really psyched to get that goal alone and the position it put me in was awesome. I felt really solid on descending and my power is still there. I think I need to do some climbing in Pisgah though.

Well this upcoming week is our biggest fundraising event of the year, the Pisgah mtb. stage race. In return for providing workers, our team gets $5,000. So for the next few days I will be doing 3+ hour rides on the most amazing trails to mark the course! It should be a blast and an easy way to finally get some more pictures. I do have some from a ride in Sycamore cove last week.

A really awesome skinny!

Sycamore Cove!

Well, that has been the last few weeks! I will get some more pictures up soon and for now keep playing in the mud!

First Collegiate Race

Current Song: Over the Hills and Far Away, Led Zeppelin
What I did Today: 3 hour road ride with the team
Energy: tired, finally recovering from being sick.

Well sitting here, it seems the What I did today section has not changed much from summer. It is probably because I omit what I want but the whole college schedule thing works for me. I can ride as long as I want most days so finally my training is not interrupted by school! Still no pictures, the essence of this place can't really be captured in pictures. but soon I will attempt it. For now, one must deal with just words.

This week included an awesome skills clinic on tuesday, a rest day monday and a big milestone- the first collegiate race of my career which is what I would really like to report on. First day short track. I was very bummed this is what would start off my collegiate career and I can't say I am too proud of the result. After 4 crashes on the start, me and my teammate Kody Adams finally got rolling, a full half lap behind the leaders and we hadn't even done one lap. The course had an awesome double (probably a 5 foot gap) but other than that it was fast and well, short. This made for a lot of pulling. Kody got pulled first as I just barely made the cut, I didn't the next lap, leaving my race at about 4 laps or 6 minutes of racing. Awesome. It was a hard race and its frustrating. Well that was it on that.

The cross-country I was looking for some redemption. First of all there was no pulling so I knew I could at least race the whole time which was an accomplishment in itself at that point. I had an ok start, that put me about midway through the 40 man A pack. I was psyched to have made it that far so I was already happy. About halfway through the first lap I realized there was no way I could hold up such a pace. I ended up just taking a little off and ramping it up from there for the duration of the 5 lap race. It totally worked. With a tube getting stuck in the wheel I had to keep fighting to pass two more people and ended up sprinting the faster of the two and winning. All in all a very good day. I was able to pass people every lap and keep bettering myself, in fact my last lap was the fastest! It may have something to do with the position I started the lap, it changed everytime, but it was no dramatic loss which was good. I kept strong for the second half of the lap even though I was hurting. When the guy behind me tried to make the move I was strong enough to counter it and end up ahead. I was extremely happy to learn that I finished that day in 9th. Hopefully its not a plateau but I will be happy with a top ten in a field like that any day!

Well the college adventure continues, and gets better every day. Classes are actually really cool and having people to ride with is so unexplainably awesome. All I can say is, Everything is a once in a lifetime experience.

Alright, Classes make everything a little harder.

Current Song: Black Rock, O.A.R
What I did Today: went to a lot of classes
Energy: Very sleepy.

Well college has still not disappointed. In fact I am so happy here. I found out two days ago, that because of all of my AP tests, I earned 27 credit hours. Making it very very possible to graduate an entire year early. Meanwhile I have been loving most of the classes I am taking at the moment. Sure its school but I might as well make the best of it. It really has been a lot of fun here. We have taken a few trips to sliding rock, and spent many nights staying in a room just talking about everything. We were laughing last night because we feel like we have been friends for years yet we have only known each other for like 5 days. Kind of ridiculous.

Riding has also been going well. After my calculus class I was able to take care of USA Cycling license so that I can race this weekend. Jumping right into the A race which should be awesome. We race short track on saturday, I can't wait to redeem myself for my fall at nationals but then again my fitness isn't that high still. Then Sunday we race the cross-country. It really should be a lot of fun. Our team has been bonding really well and is very skilled in my opinion. Should be a great race and hopefully we can pull something that keeps Brevard a big name.

Well as I sit trying to find something to do, I find my sister's Life is Good book that she snuck in my glove compartment. And as every quote gives me goosebumps, I figured it may be a cool way to end my blog everytime. My plan is to just flip to a random page and put the saying up. Pictures will be up soon, still compiling some good ones, for now, dream on.

The Third Day of College

Current Song: Out Loud, Dispatch (again)
What I did Today: 37 mile road bike ride with the team
Energy: Tired

Its been a great three days. The continuation of the road trip was a success including some awesome frisbee on the inter-state. We got through to North Carolina and after an awesome few nights with Josh's uncle we were ready to go off to school! We got josh to school and finally I was able to head to school.

It was a really really beautiful drive into Brevard. After getting here I moved in, which went really smooth considering how little stuff I had. Well the room-mate matches must work well because neither did my room-mate. His name is Asher, he is an awesome guy, we are getting along really well. As school got on we slowly accumulated more freshmen cyclists and now literally roam in groups of 10. All people who shave legs and everything. Me and another guy, Kody Adams had an awesome ride on Black Mountain really showing why this place will more than satisfy our mountain biking thrill cravings for the next four years. We had an awesome road ride today with a ton of team-mates who we hadn't even met yet. Well Life just keeps on rolling and now that I have an ethernet cord, you readers of this blog can finally stay in the loop that is my life! Until then.... going to have to come up with some more of those phrases!

ALWAYS CAMP WITH A FLY.

Current Song: Big Yellow Taxi, The Counting Crows
What I did Today: Went Rock Climbing
Energy: Great, pretty tired, definitely missing home.

Well It has been an eventful week (with no working internet, reason for not blogging) with the biggest thing being that I left for College. Me and my best friend Josh are headed on a road trip together across the country and it really is great. Our current city is Lonoke, Arkansas. Last night we made it to Amarillo, after some very sad departures from home. We had a surpisingly good birthday dinner for Josh at Hooter's. The idea hit me while we were driving, and seeing as neither of us had ever been to one, what better way to start off a road trip to college? It was a hilarious event that definitely made our day after everything at home and almost 7 hours of driving. It was funny because Amarillo, seeming to be the most moderate place on earth was in fact not while we were there. I almost didn't put the rain fly on, as it was so warm out but opted for it in the end. I am so glad I did because if I hadn't me and Josh would have started our lives out with a horrible, wet night. It absolutely poured. So after being woken up at 5:45 and waiting out the storm until 7 we were ready to leave. We threw the tent in a bag soaking wet, more rain was inevitable and luckily we were able to jump in the car to drive relatively dry. After a nice breakfast at IHOP, I highly recommend the Nutella Crepes we were off to Oklahoma City.

In Oklahoma City, Josh had a friend whom he spent time with in Germany. Turns out he was at work. Did I mention he worked at a Rock Climbing Gym? Well I immediately jumped on the idea of getting to finally do something athletic! So we met him, (after a wild goose chase) and started climbing. It was such a cool place, they had taken some old concrete silos put some nice paint and flooring in, hand holds all the way to the top and about 6 different routes and anchors per silo, It made a sweet rock climbing place. We stayed on the good old 5.8 climbs but they had all the way up to 5.12, it went up to the top of the 90' silo, had handholds over the top and continued down the other side. It was a blast and we got a great workout. We then made our goal of reaching Little Rock to spend another night in Arizona. We got put up in a nice hotel which will probably make up for our experience camping.

Meanwhile, I am coping with the loss of those close to me. Hoping that soon college will cheer me up again and expose new paths that lie hidden from the beaten path, until then I am content with the path I am on.

Tulsa and Beyond

Current Song:Video Killed the Radio Star, The Presidents of The United States of America

What I did Today: Plans include lawn mowing and downhilling

Energy: Feeling a little sleepy after working late last night

Well Finally I am sitting down to talk about Oklahoma. It is all a blur we did so many fun things from water skiing to sailing to fishing. It was such a fun trip and hopefully these pictures sum up the trip well.

Goofing off with camera settings and lightsticks

I thought this one was super cool

I finally got up on a slalom ski, It was so fun

Did some wake-boarding too...

I had enough tubing, it was scary

Well, probably not the most in depth re-visit of my trip to visit the relatives but like I said, its all a blur. I did get a new haircut as you may be able to tell in the pictures. It was a very interesting story. Well I leave Tuesday. For College. In the meantime I am riding all the trails I love and saying good-bye to this beautiful place the only way I know how, riding it.

The Sound of Sunshine

Current Song: The Sound of Sunshine, Michael Franti and Spearhead
What I did Today: Awesome ride on Jaracita
Energy: Way too much

Well, I got off work early. Thought I would jot down a quick, super optimistic blog. I heard this song the other day and had to immediately buy it. I know why, its because I can totally hear it. (Yes I am crazy). I have just felt very optimistic and cheerful the past few days. Everything just seems to fall in to place. Why shouldn't I feel happy?

Well this same thing held for the ride today. Ended up waking up and realizing, ride trail 121! So I jumped out of bed and did it. It is such an amazing trail and actually a lot shorter than I thought. Its great because it has almost no traffic and in fact the entrance is very well hidden. I took that up to the south boundary back to Garcia Park where my car was parked. A perfect ride. So much fun and probably added to the happiness.

Its a secret entrance..

Some really awesome singletrack on Jaracita.

Well it took like three days to finally post this. It has been a weird three days. I am on a rest week and really taking a rest week. I have hardly been riding at all. I have been really tired, probably from a lot of work and otherwise just don't feel like riding. Well, we leave for tulsa tomorrow and I am sure it will be a great trip to really relax and when I come back I will be ready to ride!

Good Vibes

Current Song: Learning to Fly
What I did Today: Had a great day
Energy:Feeling good

Thought I would name today's blog after the shirt I wore all day. It was just that kind of day. Everything seemed to work out and it seems, as though my car may be fixed. Yes no more charging it at night. Also a nice trip to some hot springs north of taos was great.

The main reason I wanted to write today's blog is so I can get my Frazer Mountain Madness Race report out! See the best part about Frazer, is that no matter how hard you train or how great you feel, It will always kick your butt. It is so amazing that I can race all year without ever going into my granny and I hit this race and can't even make it up half of the climbs without it. Well sounds like a great place to train.

The Hill Climb is the signature event. It climbs from the base of the ski valley (a mere 9,300 ft.) to the top of one of the highest peaks in New Mexico, Frazer Mountain at a grand total of 12,136 ft. So almost 4,000 feet of climbing. Oh did I mention it was done in just under 5.5 miles? The average grade is about 18% with a few climbs of 23%. Riding up something that steep makes my legs feel like they may fall off.

This is the elevation and heart rate data from the hill climb.

I had a fantastic race. I was able to jump into third behind Damian Calvert and John Searles. I had to battle with another pro, Jens Nielson to get there but I was there. I tried reeling in Searles but ended up getting a little bit too hasty and wearing myself out in which one of his team-mates caught me. I was able to hold Jens off, through the cloud covered, windy summit. I was fourth overall, three minutes off the leader. Man it was cold. At the top the winds were strong enough to blow people off the trail and the rain had us soaked. Long story short it was a long, cold ride down.

The next day was the cross country. My favorite part about this is that no loop is the same. So its almost like doing a new race everytime. Almost as much climbing but there is many more downhills in between. Overall another great race. I had another good start and sat in fourth behind Calvert, Cameron Brennaman and John Searles. Me and Jens had another great battle but I was able to pull away on the first lap and hold him off. Otherwise I raced the entire race alone. I ended up fourth again. I was really psyched with the way I was descending (especially with the arm) and everything seemed to really come together. It was another cold race. This race has been so different from all of my other races this year and I love it.

Well tomorrow should include some testing of my car, some work and of course a nice bike ride.
Until then, Good Vibes

Bounce Back

Current Song: Blitzrieg Bop, The Ramones
What I did Today: A very relaxed day! I even cleaned up a little
Energy: Starting to feel restless, I know I have had a good rest day if that happens by the end of the day.

The arm is healing up. Its nice to be healing up fast, but at the same time, if this healed up in one day it would not be fast enough. Well it has been another lovely rest day. On tuesday I rode my mountain and definitely felt sore. I think not cooling down after my short track greatly influenced this. So I took a nice easy spin. On top of that my arm was screaming every bump. Well, scratch mountain biking.. :( Yesterday I hopped on my road bike, not near as bad as I make it to be, and did a nice tempo workout. Tempo is like a 4-5 on a perceived exertion scale. So I did two 30 minute intervals. What was interesting was that the first one was so easy I was almost bored. The second one had me nearly crawling at the end. I can see why it would be so great to do in a base training phase! Well I race the infamous Frazer Mountain Madness in two days, and I am very excited. It will be nice after these super intense national races to have a local race where I try to beat the pros. Hopefully the arm heals up otherwise I may be riding to the top with one arm on the bars. Found some pictures from Nationals, Thought you would enjoy!

It was a packed start of about 40 riders.

Riding one of the pretty fun man-made berms!

Able to pull off a 7th place finish! Sweet!

In the short track, before the fall!
Well with those put up, I am planning on a nice pre-race ride tomorrow! Maybe I will even take my sister out, we will see. Until then, Over and out

Man of the Match.(Short Track Race Report)

Current Song: American Pie, Don Mclean
What I did Today: Unpacked
Energy: Exhausted
Well, Sunday was the last race for me at the 2010 National Championships. The Short track. I came into the race with a lot of confidence and was really excited to race. For those who don't know, a short track is a spectator friendly event. Basically, the field will complete as many laps as they can do in twenty minutes then do three more. The person to do the most in the least amount of time wins. Whats intersting is because the course is only two minutes people can get lapped and then pulled. Short track is a very intense workout as it really only lasts 25 minutes. Its known to be a suffer-fest, as the best short track racers are constantly pushing themselves into an inhuman zone.

So my account of the race. Well my warm-up went good. It was nice and long and I was able to keep the last bit pretty intense. So I got on the start, first I did the course a few times for practice. From the start it went up a gravel road to a turn in the grass. We went up the last few four-cross jumps then up a grass hill over a flat to a descent with some berms on to a gravel corner and to the finish. So here I am. I got into the second row and had a fair start. We were in a big pack so it was pretty scary. Around the first turn a guy went down and I was able to capitalize as it didn't slow me down and slowed others down. So the first few laps I fought my way to the front and actually settled in third. As I passed through the finish I realized I had ten minutes left. So I toned it down to ramp up the intensity later. I dropped to seventh but kept the guys in close. Two laps later I got the rest I needed and turned it on again. I went up to fifth, a podium spot and I was still passing people. Reeling the guy who ended up fourth in, I realized my seat sank like 4 inches. Well, it would be difficult. I would either have to stand the rest of the race or lose a lot of efficiency sitting down. Well no matter, I thought. I chased the guy down the descent and coming around to the finish I found myself on the ground sliding. I figured out later I hit at about twenty MPH. Enough to tear up my shorts and my chances at a podium spot. I got up as quickly as I could. At this point I could not sit and recover and the few guys that I was holding off all got by me. Despite the massive cheering from the crowd, my race was done. I spun waiting for the leaders to lap me so I could get pulled. They lapped me I didn't get pulled. I kept at it and was eventually pulled. As I went out, the announcer called me the "man of the match" like soccer just for getting back up. I talked to my coaches, who were super supportive which was so awesome. Then I knew I had to do it. I checked out the elbow. I knew my body took most of the blow, so I wasn't too worried about the bike. Well it was deep, real deep. I looked at my coach and he told me to go find someone to clean it. As I headed over to the medics, the adrenaline left and I was left with the pain. With the pain combined with disappointment I headed over to the medics extremely shakey. After they told me how awesome it was that I finished, I pointed to the elbow and asked for some help. As I went to the medical room I was told to wash it out. Well its one thing to crash, quite another to have to scrub out your own wound. I could not keep it together and cleaned it as well as I could. Afterwards the medic cleaned it a little more. It could not be stitched up because it was just a hole so they dressed it up nicely and got me on my way. What a world of pain. It was a bummer but oh well. Thats mountain biking.

There were a few points. One idea that I can't really get out of my head, is how I can get up to the top step. Maybe with a little better luck I would have gotten to where I wanted. But rather than being disappointed I find myself begging for a chance to race these guys again. I am really psyched that rather than regretting what happened (I do a little bit), I am actually thinking about how I could prevent what happened next time and hoping for some better luck. It shows me that I will only be happy if there is a next time. Speaking of a next time. After my race I chatted with Jeremiah Bishop a little bit. Talked about his race and my short track and when I told him that my race was pretty much over the second I crashed he told me, "Lewis, remember this, You should race every race like its your last race. You never know how many races you have ahead of you, but that shouldn't matter. You need to give every race you race, every ounce of energy you have got." I thought this was so cool. I had never really thought of that. Even now I regret not giving it a little more after I crashed because I believe there was a little more. I will always remember Jeremiah.

Nationals Race Report

Well, Its Saturday. My race was on Friday, the culmination of my entire year!! What a race man. I was so so so nervous to start things off. After a nice long warm-up I ended up in the second row of the start in the middle. First of all I don't like being in the middle, and second I really like fighting my way to the front but I was able to calm down. When the gun went off it was a little scary as everyone was rubbing with everyone but my pace was much faster than everybody else's. So I tried passing. I ended up getting sucked into some sand and running up the entire hill. This put me in a horrible position at the top, on top of that, my heart rate was so much higher as it was more difficult to run than to ride. Well, the part I was proud of came after this. I was able to stay positive and fight my way back. I passed people every lap, and if there was twenty or thirty minutes more (1 hour and twenty minutes is too short), I think I could have cracked the podium. Well I was able to finish seventh. Out of 37 finishers. Its really is cool to think that I was one of the ten fastest people in the country this year. Overall, this years events have paid off. And now tomorrow is short track, which I am entering with a whole new confidence. Should be fun.

CTS Race Report

Well this week has been a packed one. On thursday I headed up to Colorado Springs, for the final round of the Pro XCT which is the national cross country series. It was a super fun race! It was a time trial on Friday followed by a cross-country on saturday (short laps) and then a long lap cross country on sunday. 3 intense days of racing made for a very tired Lewis!

Friday. Well the time trial was going to take about fifteen minutes. I figured it wouldn't be too bad and seeing as it started at 6:30 I was going through a first time race. Well in the morning I decided to go out for a spin to loosen up the legs and really try to keep in shape all day, often on rest days my legs feel tired at the end of the day because they are so relaxed. So after a nice spin me and my dad went out to REI where I got a sweet new day pack. And then to the race. I warmed-up and went to grab a bottle and when I came around to the start, I was late by 36 seconds. In bike races they go off of what time you are scheduled to start so little did I know but I was racing for those 36 seconds so I started down thirty seconds right off the start. I was so mad throughout the first technical part I actually cleaned most of it! which was great. Through the rest of the course I had a pretty good race but ended up in 8th out of 11. Not too happy.

Saturday. I saw saturday as a day to redeem myself. It was a UCI style cross country so we had to do short laps but lots of them. It was a blast. I had a good start and settled into sixth for the next two laps I saw no one around me and finally on the fourth lap, after being 3 and a half minutes down on the guy at the bottom of the hill I saw someone as I crested the hill. He bobbled on a technical section that I did not and I was able to get past him. I absolutely went for it on the descent as I could not lose any time to this guy. Finally I passed another guy who had flatted. I was able to hold that position to the finish! It was exciting to finish in the top 5 in a National race. It was a fun race. I moved up to 5th in the Overall.

Sunday. We were all TIRED on Sunday. After two days of racing us cyclists are used to a nice easy day but no. we got the opposite. So the pack went pretty easy out of the start and I was able to stay in the lead group. They dropped me on the descent and I caught back up on the climb. But at the point the dehydration set in. My third lap was an absolute suffer fest. Well I was able to finish fifth and move up to fourth in the Overall. It was a great race all together and I was really excited with the way I was riding. I guess only time will tell between now and nationals.

Its been awhile

Here I am, sitting in the base lodge of the Sol Vista ski area. Personally I think the crappiest excuse for a ski resort ever, but its an ok bike park. Well The video above, I edited this morning, took a really long time and by the time I finished I was so sick of it I didn't do anything else. So sorry for not having a professional looking video. Well It is two days before National Championships, I am taking my usual rest day. I really like the courses up here. Still couldn't find all of it as of Tuesday but hey I got out and rode some of it so thats better than nothing. Its pretty nice weather here, it feels nice and cool. It was an entertaining week after CTS (Race Report soon to come). I stayed with the Franklins Sunday night at an Urban Campground. Then monday had a nice leisurely day with them. I drove up here and camped out monday night. Made some great pasta with pre-made marinara sauce some hamburger meat and bell peppers. It was delicious. After getting an easy 12 hours of sleep, I got up and put a good wash on my bike, got ready and rode the course. Right before starting the ride I heard that at the current time the course crew was actually working on making new trails as the current loop was too short, (JHK ran a 12 minute hot lap). Well I went out and rode part of it. Like 3 laps then decided to look for myself. I have been informed that the super fun berms and jumps are actually the amateur course but at least I got to do it once. The other parts of the pro course were super fun in my opinion. Really difficult and really fast. I find I do better on descents like this so I was happy. I guess I will find out what the real course is tomorrow. Well keep reading, a race report from the last Pro XCT is to follow.

Here We go again

Current Song: The General, Dispatch
What I did Today: Packed so far.
Energy:Feeling pretty good! Legs still a little sore.

Well, I thought I would offer some thoughts before I depart on my national trip. It has turned into a whole week of camping and racing. I will race tomorrow through sunday in Colorado Springs then head straight to Sol Vista and get some laps in on the course before my nationals race on Friday. It should be interesting trip and will be fun no matter what! I am very very excited.
I will have a computer so consider yourself up to date.

Rest Days are for Blogging

Current Song: Stairway To Heaven, Led Zeppelin
What I did Today: Rest, Rest, Rest
Energy: Completely wiped after yesterday's ride.

Well its been awhile, probably since its been like 5 or 6 days since my last rest day! Well it has been an interesting week back. From World Cup Soccer to the Tour to some new workouts, its been great.

Josh, a lifelong best friend got back from Germany on Thursday, we celebrated by my arrival at 8 to watch the World Cup match. We watched another one in the afternoon and then, I had to drive to taos for my sister's hair appointment, what a perfect time to do a workout! I started at the youth and family center and rode to Ktao on my road bike. I started my pain there. I did 30/30's which is an all-out effort for thirty seconds and then a thirty second recovery and all over again. I did these for ten minutes, or ten intervals. What a horrid workout. This killed me. I was done halfway through the first set. It was amazing how much my heart rate dropped from the first set to the second set. I was planning on doing three sets but after seeing the massive drop in numbers, I decided it was time to call it a day.

The next day saw a nice recovery ride, a very thoughtful one. I thought about why I think about racing the way I do and what I need to do to maybe think more positively. It was great fun. Earlier in the day we did get to see Germany KILL Argentina which was so awesome to see. And a narrow defeat by Spain over Paraguay.

On Sunday I was determined to really show myself what I am made of, by doing an almost fun workout! It started off early to take my sister to riding lessons this time. Got to see my english teacher which was a plus. While she was there I was planning on dropping off my bike for a nice tune-up before my next two races but it was closed so I went to the pump track and goofed off. I even jumped in the skate park for some berm practice! Then it was back to AF to help my parents with a barbeque stand at a 4th of july thing at the Country club, Then I got to do my workout. See whenever I climb Palo Flechado Pass on my road bike I always want to race up it but most of the time I am doing a warm-up so I can't. So I figured I would do something that would honor my wants. I started at my mom's clinic and warmed up and found myself at the bottom. Its about ten minutes to the top, so I figured it would be perfect for some lactate threshold work. Lactate threshold is the point that lactate starts to build in the muscles, so someone who can produce a lot of power at this point can ride fast for a very long time. I wanted to work on that so I did 4 time trial, race efforts up Palo flechado. I started with a 10:22 then to a 10:20 and then to a 10:18. The last one dropped to a 10:47. But Thats good because if I didn't drop off I would figure 4 is not enough. After this I cooled down and had a nice spin back to the car.

Well now I am almost glad gearing-up was closed because I got to make my front tire tubeless again. After a flat on my thoughtful recovery ride I had a tube in there. Now its off to work! Amazing that I have been back for so long and not worked at all! It also sounds like I will be staying, either with the franklins or just camping by myself between colorado springs and nationals! Like my own little camp! I can't wait!

Daydreams of being Fast

Current Song: Say Hey (I Love You), Micheal Franti and Spearhead
What I did Today: 2 laps on Devisadero
Energy: Very Sleepy and very tired

Well it seems that no matter how many times I ride the world cup course at Angel Fire, I can't help myself from thinking I am racing that world cup that happened five years ago. That I was the one chasing down Christoph Sauser. Well yesterday I did three laps, and could not stop pushing myself. It was a blast. I just wanted to race and constantly found my sane self checking my speed. Well it was a really great ride and even better news.. my sister took some pictures as she walked one backwards while I rode three so hopefully I can get those up pretty soon. I unfortunately could not any pictures of North Carolina because with the camp there was no time and the one day I was going to, It poured down rain and I did not want to break my camera!

Today was an awesome ride. I definitely felt yesterday though. I went up to do devisadero twice which is quite a grunt. I felt strong on my skills in climbing clearing some switchbacks I normally have trouble with. Descending however, what a world of difference. I felt much more flowy on the switchbacks. There was even a difference from the first lap to the second lap. I felt great, very confident which is a large change. My descending felt so smooth, I really noticed not using the brakes as much. It was a very good day. After my ride I finally finished unpacking and am now just finding a way to waste time before dinner. I am looking forward to tomorrow's recovery ride and then Friday I will be doing a first, 30/30's. For now, Life is Good

North Carolina and Beyond!

Current Song: Friend of the Devil, The Counting Crows
What I did Today: This is more about what I did Last week
Energy: Pretty tired.

Well there are several things I can say about Brevard, North Carolina. But everything I say points to one sign, it is awesome. I absolutely loved every minute of my trip and can't wait for next year. My Mountain bike camp was amazing. I learned so much and perhaps the funniest thing was how similar skiing is to ripping turns on a mountain bike. Hopefully I can get to the same place I was on skis. Well this is a blog, So I am going to write as much as I can remember about everyday.

Monday- Arrival day. The flights were long and boring. At least I got a window seat. I had a long layover in Atlanta which I spent watching a world cup soccer game. By the time I got to North Carolina, I was pretty much ready to sleep( I had been up since 2). Once I finally found Corry, my airport pick-up, I was on my tour of North Carolina. I couldn't stop looking out the window as we drove from Asheville to Brevard and then to Cedar Mountain. The place we stayed was a huge house, the property had a huge lake and was basically amazing. I un-packed the bike as fast as I could and once that was done, Jeremiah Bishop showed up. How amazing. His help this week was beyond comparison, he is so fast and very friendly. We went off on our first ride in DuPont State Forest. It has hundreds of miles of dry, super-fast, flowy, smooth trails. Not typical east coast riding but it was great. This will definitely be a fun place to go for next year as the technicality allowed one to rest but, the flowy berms and turns allowed one to really have a blast. That night we went swimming in the amazing pond and had a blast with everyone. We talked a lot about exercise science that night (and every night) which was great. It felt more like a full on classroom then a bike camp. I learned a lot.

Tuesday- Time Trial Day. Well to start the day off, we all had to put slick tires on all of the 26 inch mountain bike wheels. After that ordeal and by the time we all got ready we finally left around 11. A little late but oh well. We rode to South Carolina (2 new states in 2 days) and started the time trial. Since there were not enough slicks for everyone and the people riding 29ers could not put the slicks on, we had to do two groups. I was in the second, so after warming up, we sat for an hour in the nice hot sun. Then we switched wheels, yes I rode a 29er with 26 inch wheels. It was interesting the only difference I could notice was a low pedal clearance. The five minute time trial started us off. I went off way too hard and noticed what I had talked to Jeremiah about the night before. That when one comes down from altitude (8600 to 2200) that with the respiratory system no longer being the limitor, the muscles get burned fast because you can go so much faster. Well I felt pretty good and with a few spins I was able to head back down to do the 20 minute time trial. This was entertaining. I did not notice I went through several of the switchbacks, so thinking I was still halfway down I was scared then I noticed our five minute time trial start which was very good to see! I actually timed myself this time and when andy asked me my time, and I said 13:27 he looked at jeremiah and said really? and asked how fast jeremiah ran his, he said 13:43. He was only doing intervals but it did inspire him to go back down to try one more time, he got a 12:30. It was fun to know that I pushed him to do a little better. In short I won both time trials. I was pretty psyched. We did skills in the grass that night. Brake drills and what not. I took a spill there. Then we did a u-turn drill where you had to coast in and not use brakes. Scared me so much and I realized how bad I was at turning. Andy the camp manager took me aside to talk about countersteering, also known as a strong inside half (skiing). It was funny because finally I was applying what I had talked about in my paper. Senior Project is a very cool thing. Well in short, my turning improved drastically that one hour, yet I still suck. After a good dinner and a talk about nutrition, we finally got to bed

Wednesday- Short Track Day. The coaches made a sweet short track in the grass. It was so fun. We each had to do two races. One short race with less people that the other group could watch and talk about. After which we all raced a 5 lap race with everyone. It was great. Because I was in the bottom half of the first race I got a front line start position. I had a good start and was in the lead group. Then I got gapped because of some stupid choices on my part. Then Jeremiah Bishop comes up on me and tells me to hop on his wheel. He pulled me up to the lead group of which I was the only camper. With one to go Jeremiah slowed the group, and I attacked. I held the lead going into the descent and the Corry got me. I got second and first out of the campers. It was a blast. We videoed it but did not watch it yet. That night we went for another nice ride in Dupont. By the end of the day, I was so tired. But was one more jersey heavy. Jeremiah gave me his jersey for winning. He signed it and everything. I was so so so so excited and was almost embarrassed.

Thursday- My first Pisgah Ride. Pisgah national forest is the second National Forest in the area of Brevard and is right on the side of town. Rather than being fast and flowy this is much more east coast. Hard technical climbs with hard technical descents. I had to go to the big tires (Wolverines 2.2) They were so awesome! I had a blast. The riding is so different but its still really flowy just in a very challenging way. It was a blast. It was like a rain forest not even joking. It was amazing. I had so much fun. We did like a 22 mile ride which translated to about 4-5 hours of riding. And this is only like one of the five or six rides like this! I like it very much. It will be great because I can do some days in Pisgah and some days in Dupont and feel like I have been doing two different areas not even going on to the road bike! With that the Blue Ridge Parkway is about thirteen miles away. So awesome. We went on to sliding rock, a waterfall that is so slick you can slide down it. It was really crowded but I did get one in. So much fun. We went to a chinese buffet place afterwards and had a blast. Some funny fortune cookies.

Friday- My last day. Well Andy Applegate the main coach doing the talks talked a lot that morning like about bike fit and what not. By the time we got out it was like 2. Then we had to get to Pisgah which was like 2:30 Then it was raining and thundering so hard we had to wait until 4 to ride. But we finally got out and did like a 2 hour ride (not using any of what we had done the day before) and it was even more awesome. Super technical yet really fun. It was great. Afterwards, Jeremiah had quit early to get more rest and he got us some donuts and chicken. It was really funny. He said the rule stands post ride food, if there is no good food, forget all nutrition facts. It was great. We took a nice ice bath in the river and headed back to get dinner at about 9. Jeremiah went on to talk about how he got to where he is and what challenges he has faced and is facing. I really look up to him. It was so cool to hear about how he got to where he is.

Saturday- Orientation day. Well after packing up in the morning and saying good bye to everyone, we had to go to the orientation at Brevard. The school was awesome not all the talking. By the end of the day I had fallen asleep in one of the talks (athletic one). Well it was fine and afterwards we got to meet up with Thad, my coach for next year that got me to the school. It was awesome finally getting to meet him. He was a really cool guy and it seemed like next year's cycling squad should be good! I can't wait already. Afterwards me and my dad went to sliding rock, this time at like 8. Nobody was there! It was great! We had fun.

Sunday- Last day. Well after finally getting new brake pads installed, I got on a ride in which it poured down rain. I made it to where I was going but was too afraid of lightening and was not absolutely positive. So I turned around. The rain here really gets one wet, like a bucket of water just got dumped on you. Well my phone didn't make it. It drowned out there. It was about time considering the screen was about to fall off but it was a bummer to see it go. My Dad and I had a blast after I packed my bike and what not. We went to an awesome place for dinner and even got some ice cream. Well it was time we said good bye.

Monday- Travel Day. Planes suck. I hate being in them. I had enough flying for the next few months on this trip. Well one positive was that the baggage guy did not charge us for flying the bike home. So instead of 225 we paid 25. It would have been more expensive to ship it home and it would have taken a week longer. Well on the way home we had to stop by Sam's, I checked into a new phone and got a free touch phone which was sweet! It was nice to get it so quickly.

Well that was my very eventful week. Hope it was as entertaining to read as it was to write. Overall I can't wait for next year. It was so fun there and the people were so nice. Well the next plans are the CTS race in Colorado Springs and then Nationals. We will see! Over and out