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.