Look back on 2006.

The 2006 season started a little late for me. After a rough winter in my head, I dreaded coming back to Colorado after winter break, and didn't start riding until almost February.


I ended up having a great winter though, the training was good, weather was awesome, and I started having a lot of fun here at school. I met a bunch of new people in Greeley, and have made some lasting friendships, and some that weren't so lasting. The weather for riding was awesome in Colorado last winter, and I spent a lot of time in the mountains EARLY in the year. The best part of riding in the mountains in the pancakes.


My season started with a bang at the CU Crit on March 18th. I ended up 2nd after pulling back a break so my one-time teammate would have a chance for the win. Things didn't work out for him, so I punched it and gapped everyone except for a CU kid affectionately known as fat-ass. The highlight of that day was definitely getting my picture with Tyler Hamilton. Thanks again Kari Mello.

If you look close you can see Dave Towle in the corner.

The rest of the collegiate season went better than expected. I never managed to win a collegiate race, but came close a time or two. My favorite races would have to be the Fruita Loops Crit hosted by Mesa State, and the Fort Lewis Circuit Race. I ended up riding in a break with 4 FLC kids at the Fruita race, taking 3rd out of the bunch, and my result at the FLC home race wasn't great, but it was the first time I felt good climbing, in my life. I felt like I was able to push the pace a little here and there, and had a lot of fun, not half as much as the ride home though.



Moving on.


I managed to pick up a couple wins early as a Cat. 3 at the Koppenburg Road Race, and the Boulder Roubaix. I went to The Tour of the Gila with high expectations, but instead was treated to the Mogollon climb, and then a head cold. I still felt like I did a great race, and rode my way into the top ten with a 2nd in the crit and 7th on the Gila Monster Stage.

After the Gila I upgraded and got a slap in the face with a 90 minute Coal Miner's Classic Crit in 90 degree weather won by none other than Greg Henderson. I got throttled, but actually gained a little confidence with a late race effort to bring a couple guys back in the last lap.

After that was the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic in Durango. The road race was stupid hard, as my climbing legs had long since left me by this time, and I suffered pretty bad to finish at the back of the pack. The next day though was the downtown crit, and was probably the best race of my life. I covered the front early thinking it was a good course for a break to get away, but it never stuck, and I'd wasted a lot of energy, so I soon found myself surfing the back. I tried to relax for a few laps, with a plan of moving up with 5 to go, and seeing what I could make happen in the last two laps. I made it to the front when I wanted to, actually a little early, as I was 3rd wheel with one lap to go. As we came through the start finish, the two guys, Troy Wells and Eric Ransom, did the bike throw and sat up thinking we were done. I had followed their wheels and had a little gap as we headed up the hill the last lap, I was confused, but not enough to sit up with less than a lap to go. I buried it, and barely held my gap through the lap to take my first Pro 1,2 win. It felt good, really good, and to do it in Durango, with Dave Towle on the mic, my mom in the crowd, and racing against a bunch of people I respect and admire, only made it feel better.


After that my season wound down for a while. I did my own thing, rode my mountain bike a bit, and got my single speed cross bike out as much as I could. I had planned to do a bunch of collegiate mountain bike stuff this fall, but after only a weekend, I switched it up and got onto the cross bike. My form this fall felt crappy, only a couple times did I feel like I was going well, luckily it happened toward the end of the year and nationals was a lot of fun and I had a decent collegiate race there ending up 15th.

The biggest thing that stands out to me this season was the overwhelming amount of support I felt from all kinds of people. I had more people coming to watch me race, wishing me luck, or congratulating me, than I could believe. I want everyone of you reading this to know that all of your support really does mean a lot to me.

First off, Scott Wenzel was there, right alongside me through most of the season.

Nat Ross and Dave Towle. I just met Nat this fall, through Dave actually, but really enjoyed racing with him, or having him on the sidelines doing the announcing thing. I've known who Dave was for quite some time, but really got to know him this spring after the UNC home race. He's an awesome guy, and is exactly what the sport of cycling needs to continue to grow and prosper here in the states. His energy and enthusiasm are unmatched, as well as his character.

Steve Opp. Steve gave me a job when I really needed one this summer, and has always been super flexible with my schedule to allow me to pursue what it is I want to do. He even made it out to a cross race this fall, and I have a feeling we'll be seeing more of him at the races next fall.

Matt Koch got to be a really good friend throughout the season last spring, always had coke and cold water on hand when I rode through Estes Park this summer, and let us take over his condo for a weekend when the racing took us to Summit County. Thanks Matt (and Allez).

Evan Sandstrom - E Strong. Probably one of the most photogenic people I know, but also always willing to lend a helping hand, or yell "grip it and rip it" or "get some" from the side of any race, anywhere, anytime.


Brian Amstutz, who I met through cycling, but have continued to hang out with probably more than anyone else on here. I'm pretty sure he'll one day kill me, but I do enjoy our discussions or lack thereof on my porch stairs.

Ambrette. Some of the people on here are getting a little more credit than they deserve, but I don't think I could ever relay how much support Ambrette has given me this year, or how much I've appreciated every bit of it.

Lastly, a huge thanks to my parents that have given me more opportunities in the past 22 years than many people get in a lifetime. I know I'm no model child, and I know I've put you through a lot, but thanks for everything you've done for me.

I know I've missed more people than I've put on here, but ANYONE who has taken the time from their day to read this drivel has my thanks and gratitude. I owe you all one. 2007 looks to be very different than 2006. I won't be doing any collegiate racing for one, but I hope to take another step in the direction of my ultimate goal. I've never admitted it before, never even to myself, but I've finally realized I want to be a professional cyclist, and I'm going to be one someday. I know there is still a lot of road ahead of me, but I've set my sights on a goal, so the only person who can come between me and that goal now is myself. It took some life changes to help me realize this, but I've never felt more focused and directed as I do now. I know it's a long shot, but wish me luck and continue to give me your support if you can. Thanks for everything.


P.S. I need another job, any ideas?

Good to be home, for just over 24 hours.

We made it home yesterday afternoon, and now I'm packing to beat a storm through the midwest. I want to get home before the weekend, so it looks like I'll be driving through the night and out of my way to get there.

Yesterday's travel was good, although I was a little under the weather after a weekend of racing and more importantly the Crank Brothers Aftermath post race party. The race on Sunday was good, a lot better than Saturday and somehow I ended up 15th. I was hanging with a group that could've put me into the top ten, but I lost contact on the last couple of laps. I finished strong and am happy with the way my season ended. The after party was a blast. There was a huge crowd that included, a few national champions (including a really tall one, and Dave Towle tearing apart the dance floor.

That's all I've got for now, check back for more later.

Travel and the Elite Men's race.

Well, we left Greeley at way too early Thursday morning after way too little sleep, but got to DIA and checked in without a problem. Just as I suspected, I had to pay $100 bucks to get my bike onto the plane. Since we were left with plenty of time, Ambrette and I headed to Que Bueno, the best burrito place around, and got a breakfast burrito, then headed to our gate and boarded shortly after. Then came the pilot over the intercom saying there would be a 20 minute delay so they could tighten a bolt on the landing gear. That's cool, I like landing gear that works. Then after 20 minutes, the pilot said they can't find a wrench and might have to fly one in from Atlanta. We went to the ticket counter and got set up on a different flight to Atlanta now instead of Cinncinati, but our flgiht wouldn't leave for another hour. Ambrette hobo-d up and slept on the floor, I read for a while and watched all the people from our old flight freaking out about the delayed/canceled flight.

We ended up getting to Providence at 10pm instead of 5pm, got our bags, but not my bike, and rented a car and set out to find James (our gracious host)'s house. We ate, found it, went to bed, expecting a call about my bike anytime after midnight. Still no call in the morning, so I called them. My bike was in Detroit, and would be arriving at 3:44. This is all great, but I was going to pre-ride the course on Friday, and do some openers since I hadn't touched the thing since Sunday's race. Instead, we walked around Brown University for a while, ate some lunch, we and walked around the course, headed back to the airport and my bike was actually there. For the next hour or two we tried to find the race hotel for registration/packet pickup, and finally after calling a few people, and walking in circles for far too long, we found it, and got my race info.

This morning I opted to sleep in, and pre-ride in the afternoon. We got to the course around noon, and I got a few solid laps on it while it was open this afternoon. I felt decent warming up, and even found a pile of Cyclo-Ops neutral trainers to warm up on. I staged 131st, in row 17, but still had every intention of nailing the whole-shot. Oddly enough, I didn't. I did move up well through the first lap. It was kinda fun weaving through the crowd for a lap or two. After that second lap though, I noticed a lot more guys coming by me, more than I was passing. I felt really blocked, and just couldn't dig that deep. I loved the course, but faded back and finished 81st.

On the way home, Ambrette and I raided the samples at Whole Foods. I thought we might get kicked out when I saw Ambrette doing shot after shot of the apple cider, but somehow we made it through the store unscathed. The goat/sheep cheese spread did throw me for a loop, but I recovered with a little gingerbread cake stuff. I wanted to shove a sock in the cheese ladies mouth and ask her if she knew that the cheese she just gave me tasted a lot like that, only worse. I refrained and instead, enjoyed the one flavor of Izze that they had in the store (my favorite, Pomegranate).

Now we're just hanging out, James had an office Christmas party to go to in Boston, so we have the place to ourselves. I think I'm gonna go read and crash early. Hopefully today's effort opened me up for tomorrow. The collegiate race looks to be a pretty stacked field though, so it'll be a tough one. I'll see what I can do to make something happen. Thanks to everyone for their words of good luck, and also to Tom Vincent for lining up an Orbea with SRAM and Zipps in case my bike didn't come in. Why couldn't Delta have just taken a little more time getting it here?

That's all for now, from the land of "We Got Worms" and "Billy in 4-C," thanks for checking in. Check back for photos after I get home.

6:00AM Thursday.

We're leaving. Wish me luck. Not sure if I'll be updating from Providence, but I'll try my best. Look for race reports soon, hopefully they'll have small numbers in them. Thanks for checking in.

More State CX Pics.

Front row call-up. Boo Ya.

Barriers in a group.

Running alone, straight at the camera.

Flat tire.


Photos borrowed from Peloton Photo.

Who are those crazy cats?


Photos stolen from Spotted.

Also...

A 1998 Ford Mustang driven by Trevor Schultz, Gayville, collided with a 2005 GMC Denali driven by Jolene Williamson, Yankton, in the 100 block of East Third St. at 5:31 p.m. Monday. Estimated value of the damage to the vehicles was $596 and $100, respectively.

State Championships.

Mud, I have no confidence in this stuff, but seemed to ride it faster than the guys I was with.

Barriers in front of the Rocky Mounts cheering/barbeque section.

My first flat tire of the year.


Racing here in Colorado is over for the year. Two more races and I get a break. I think I'm ready for it. It's been getting harder and harder to get motivated to get out and ride the past couple weeks, and the fact that I've been riding alone doesn't help. Oh well, One more hard workout, and two races before it's all over.

Saturday was the State Championships. A top ten there was a goal for me all season, but didn't quite happen. I got a front row call-up which was awesome. They did call-ups based on BCR (Best Cyclocross Racer) points, so I had a great start, which was really important on the course. There was a small road climb, then straight to singletrack, which would have caused a huge bottleneck, and I'm sure it did, but I was in front of it. The singletrack turned to off camber slop, with some whoop type stuff filled with peanut butter mud in the troughs, more off-camber, and muck, barriers, then some road "S" turns through a parking lot, sloppy singletrack downhill to a mud field with huge whoops and mudpits, more barriers, and back to the road climb. I started top ten, but drifted back into 15th or so in the first few laps. The TIAA-Cref kids must have been playing a game to see who could lay it down in front of me the most times. I think I ran over or into one of them at least 3 times in those first couple laps, and coincidentally lost the group I really wanted to be in. For the first time this year, I was able to shake it off, ride my own race, and pick guys off. With 4 to go, I had caught and passed the group I wanted to be in, and was sitting 10th or 11th with a small chance of catching the group just up the road containing Katie Compton, the US woman's national champ, and if Saturday was any indicator of her form, I think she's got a great chance for a rainbow jersey in February. I probably wouldn't have caught them, but it became irrelevant when I flatted at the start of the singletrack with a lap and 3/4 to go. I rode the rim for 3/4 of a lap, losing positions the whole way to the pits. I got my wheel changed just as I heard Baker finish behind me, so the last lap was just sort of a tour of the course as I was the last person on it.

On a positive note, I didn't get lapped, even after riding a half speed lap. Since I was alone at the end, I tried hopping the barriers in front of the Rocky Mounts tent. I didn't make it, but I think if I would have practiced a little during warm-ups they would have been totally doable. Huge thanks to the guys in the tent though, the drunken rowdiness always makes it hurt a little less for a second or two. Those brats smelled good too, if I wouldn't have lost it immediately, I kind've wanted to get one handed up.

I took a History final this morning at 8:00, and my Art final is at 1:30. I should go study a little more, gotta get that architecture stuff down. Two more finals after today, then it's off to RI. I lost my coffee cup so I better go make some more. Enjoy your day, I know I'll be enjoying mine, after the Post-Traumatic Test Taking Disorder wears off. Those Art History tests can be upsetting, I think I just stared at a wall for an hour or two after the first one.

Boots, and Scott's 1/2 Birthday.

Pictures from Red Rocks #4.

Well, I'm sixth overall in the American Cycling Association Best All Around Cyclocrosser category going into the State Championships on Saturday. Hopefully I can hold onto that. There is a good chance I'll slip a spot or two, since some of the faster guys will be there, but we'll see. It's looking like it could be muddy, which might suck, or be fun, I still haven't decided.

I just got my first two Christmas presents of the year today. The Roubaix Bicycle Company gave me a 10speed Ultegra group, and my brother gave me some boots. I'm wearing the boots right now, thinking about the 10sp stuff. I was reminded today how much I like Christmas!

Wednesday I rode on campus at the football practice fields, so I could do a longer run up. The lap I made up sucked, and I've really lost motivation training now that everyone has moved on to base. Since I only got in 20 minutes of mediocre effort, I headed out for a run in the afternoon. I'm feeling more powerful running which should be good for Rhode Island if it's muddy like last year. Other than that, nothing too cool happening. Finals are next week, so this weekend will be all studying, after the race on Saturday that is. Right now I need to go take a movie back to the library, get my Surly ready for Saturday in case it's muddy, and write a recap of an Earth Science lecture on the Badlands of South Dakota.

Right after the single barrier.

Going up the STEEP little run.

Coming down the STEEP little run. I guess some guys rode this, but I still think it was faster and safer to run.

One of the frozen trails you could actually get some speed on, that is if you could absorb the bumps.


That course was fun, but it's too bad the photographer didn't get any bunny hopping pictures. Maybe there will be something I can hop this weekend? I hope so.

Can post pictures now?

sweet

200th Post!

So, I made it to 200 posts on this here blog. Everyone I know who hopped on the bandwagon in that first month back in 2005 have deleted theirs by now, some more than once. Sorry to see you all go, but I'm still around and I have no intentions of leaving. Anyway, thanks to everyone for reading. Over the last two years I've picked up a gaggle of regular readers, some of who I've lived with, others that I've been long time friends with, more that I've become friends with, and even some I've never met. Sorry the content is usually so lame, but it is what it is. That being said...

I got 10th today in Morrison. The race was on almost the same course as three weeks ago, with a few modifications. I like the course a lot, but it's hard with a fair amount of elevation gain each lap, some technical sections, and today, a lot of mud, snow, and ice. I had a great start, 4th across the start/finish, but quickly moved back. I jumped around between 8th, and 11th, but settled in to a comfortable position and got 10th. I was really hoping for more, but it wasn't there. I think the course was good prep for nationals coming up here in two weeks (if the course in RI is anything like it was last year), and I'm feeling more confident in the slippery stuff all the time. I think my work at the park this week paid off a lot, as I felt like I could carry some decent speed through some slick corners.

This week will probably be fairly busy with school wrapping up, but I think I'll be able to get through it. I'd like to send a big thanks to my lady friend Ambrette for freezing her tail off the past couple weeks to run around the courses and cheer for me. It's a huge help and I appreciate it. That's all for now. Thanks for checking in. I hope you look forward to the next 200 boring posts as much as I do. Sorry for the lack of photos this new blogger beta thing sucks.

Record Setter.

It only took 4 and half years of college, but I finally just wrote a paper all night, and I've just now finished it at 5:45. Class is at 8, so I guess I'll go watch a few episodes of The Office (BBC version) and go print it off.

A report was received at 11:33 a.m. Tuesday that a man was walking along Burleigh Street with swords. Authorities discovered he was walking home from the pawn shop.

Quick new feature.

So.

The newspaper in the town I grew up in had a daily feature called the daily record. It's a summary of all the police reports from the following day or few days. Every day, people in Yankton, South Dakota wake up, eat their breakfast or drink their coffee, and read about who got into car wrecks, or who got arrested over the past few days. Tuesday's are always the best because it encompasses the whole weekend. Lately I've been reading the Daily Record online at www.yankton.net and I think it would be a shame if I didn't post the best of the daily findings on here. Last week it was a couple of kids found "having relations" in a parked car. Historically the holiday season has brought some good ones. I remember the police being called to a dispute between two neighbors on the 2100 block of Douglas one year because the neighbors were about to fight because one neighbor had supposedly "copied" the other's Christmas decorations. This week we have another great holiday installment.

A report was received at 7:38 p.m. Thursday of a van parked in the 1800 block of Peninah with a man leaning out the door and vomiting. The driver told authorities he had eaten too much turkey.

I'll try to keep up with the good ones, and maybe I'll have some race reports soon too.

Last weekend race wasn't so great. I hung in the top ten until 2 to go, and ended up 11th or 12th. Hopefully this weekend will bring better things.

The Last Few Weeks.

I haven't been too good about keeping up on this. Oh well, maybe Thanksgiving break will give me a little chance to catch up.

My mom was here for the weekend to watch some cross races, so I tried to put on a good show, but it didn't really work out on Saturday. The race was in Louisville, at the rec center. It was a great course, and I had a good start, top 3-5 for the first 3 laps, but then my legs quit turning over, and my mind turned to mush for about the next 4 laps. I finally got into a good little group of 4, and we worked well together. Actually I mostly sat in. The group got reduced to 3 by the end, and I took 3rd out of it for 9th overall. There was an uphill double barrier with a 90 degree before and after it, that I kept trying to hop in my warm up. I got it maybe once all morning, and tried it a few times in the race which was pretty ugly. I did get over it on the final lap, but I think I lost about 5 seconds even when I cleared it.

Sunday's race was at the State Patrol Training Facility on top of South Table Mesa in Golden. The course was super flat, with some fun corners you could really rail, and a single barrier on a fast smooth road, as well as a couple technical barrier sections and a lot of road. Once again I had a good start, but got caught up in some guys rear wheel when he missed his clip in after a barrier section. I chased a little, and found myself in the top 4, which soon turned into the lead group. Three of us traded pulls with one guy pretty much content to sit in. I was hopping the single barrier every lap, and they weren't so I got to rest this really rough section and pick my own lines, then I'd be able to catch back up over the barrier every lap. With about 3 to go, Chris Case attacked and got a good gap with the eventual winner. Mike Hall and I chased for a lap, and got them back and then I attacked with 1 to go. I thought I got reeled in, but when I looked over my shoulder, it was just one guy and he flew by me. I tried to grab his wheel, but couldn't and eventually got reeled back into the chase. Chris Case dropped his chain and Mike Hall and I finished the lap out together. I thought I'd have the sprint sealed up if I led through the last corner, so I just tried to hit out of every corner hard so see if I could gap him out, but I couldn't and sure enough, he came right around me at the line.

I'm happy with third, but there are a lot of things I should have done differently. Oh well, live and learn. It was fun to have a good race with my mom there. I think she had the whole crowd cheering for me. Thanks to everyone for cheering loud, it helps, and thanks to Dave Towle for saying my name about a hundred and fifty times. Now I have a test to study for. I'll hopefully have some pictures of the races soon. Thanks for checking in.

Here are some pictures from the past few weeks. First off we have me with Allez (Koch's dog note my beard), next is a black and white photo from the Boulder CX race at Interlocken Park, and last are a couple shots from the Reservoir last Sunday afternoon. The race last weekend started off alright, and then kind've faded. Hopefully this weekend I won't ride so stupid in the latter half of the race. USGP Saturday and Sunday at 2:30pm in Longmont and Boulder respectively. Hope to see you there. Thanks for checking in.

I'm not doing my homework.

I should be doing about a million things other than this, but Dave Towle made me feel guilty for my infrequent updates.




The races this weekend hopefully weren't the highpoint of my season. Saturday was just awful. The course was muck, and evidently I don't know how to ride in it. Better figure that out before December. On top of that I just couldn't get myself to go. I pulled the plug, which I hate to do, but I didn't break the derailleur off my bike, like half the people there, but I did end up with a DNF instead of a LAST.

Sunday was better, but not by a lot. I felt better on the bike, even got into that suffering zone where it feels OK to suffer for a while. The last 20 minutes of the race I kinda let things slip away from me. The course was awesome though, pretty tough, but awesome. I wish I could've had a little better race there, especially with it being the last race before the UCI race at the reservoir (which I think I just got registered for).

I've decided to make a few adjustments to my training, so hopefully we'll see the results start to move in the right direction before Providence. After all that mud, I know that running is something that I should've been working on for quite some time.

Well, I'll leave you with a few things I've learned lately.

#1 You can always find something that you HAVE to do RIGHT NOW, when you have a history book to read.

#2 Race announcers really do make or break a race (do I still have to pay you if I compliment you on here?)

#3 Think twice about buying the dimpled ZIPP wheels if you're running a compact crank with a 27t cassette.

#4 There is a reason you can't find instructions to rebuild a shimano STI shifter.

#5 You can't watch just one episode of The Office.

#6 I can mess up my apartment faster than I can clean it.

#7 That's all for now, maybe more tomorrow?

#8 I had to say goodbye to Miss January, she had ahold of my mind for so long now.

Summit County Cross.

This weekend's races went well. I finished both somewhere towards the middle of the field, which is better than I can say about the past couple weeks. I felt strong through the finish, and even attacked a couple times to lose the guys I was with, so that was good.

Saturday's race was at the Breckinridge Nordic Center, right at the base of the mountain. It rain/snowed for a couple hours before my race, but cleared up a little bit while we rode. There was enough moisture to make a lot of the course a wet, slippery, mess, but I managed to keep the bike upright. I had a decent start, but flatted toward the end of the first lap. After a less than sweet wheel change, I was back on course, and I think I ended up getting back to about where I was. It was frustrating, but such is life, right?

Saturday's run-up.

Muddy.

After the finish with Ambretto.


Saturday night we crashed at Matt Koch's place in Edwards. Thanks Matt. We ate a a cool little brew pub and laid around his condo exhausted while Ambrette divided her time between styling Scott's hair and taking water shots with Matt.

The Ace Ventura.

This picture is actually a real girl, but she looks a lot like Scott, yeah?

Sunday morning came all too soon, and I really wasn't feeling the racing bug on the start line. There was a hellish run-up on Sunday's course which didn't help matters at all. After the first lap I decided I really liked the course, and ended up feeling better than I have all year. I went back and forth with one Einstein's Bagels rider, and ended up losing him in the last few laps, but I did manage to pick off a Harshman's/Primus Mootry rider in the chase which felt awesome.

Sunday's run-up. It sucked.

This little double barrier was right before the pit, about halfway through the lap.

Running through those barriers.

This single barrier was right at the bottom of a little run-up, and directly after a 90 degree left hand corner. I never quite got the line figured out, but I did pass a couple people through the run-up.
Today I'm off to work-class-work. I hope all is well with you, and thanks for checking in.

eBay.

I put some stuff on eBay just now. Check it out and buy it. Pay a lot of money for it too.

I already did this once, and lost it all.

So,

Friday night, my lovely lady friend and I went to First Friday in Denver (a bunch of art openings), and in the process of finding a parking spot near the Sante Fe district, I managed to pull off the greatest parking job of all times. Ever.

Here is the rear bumper.

The front.

The curbside.

And me. I'm pumped, are you pumped? I'm pumped. (Keep in mind I never touched another vehicle or the curb in this process.)

That night we stayed at my friend Zach's house in Denver. That's right, I had a friend in high school, not many, but at least one.

Saturday morning we cruised up to Gunnison for the cross races.

This is me and my new bike. Thanks to Scott for lending me the rear wheel, and Greg Harris for lending me the front. (Long story.)

Here is Saturday's run-up.

And the top of the run-up.

So, the only thing more embarassing than lining up on a start line next to 4 other guys is standing on a podium with 4 spectators.

Sunday's race was a little colder. I think at this point I was trying not to lose my spicy sausage from the night before, oh wait, that was the whole race.

This was a cool, but really hard down-up-down-up-down section from Sunday's course.

Here I am attacking through that section on the last lap. Don't worry, I slid out through the corner to lose my lead, then sprinted like an absolute moron so I ended 4th that day.

Thanks for checking in. I think I have some coookies to eat.

I'm still around.

Hey, I'm still alive and kicking here in Greeley. I've started up my cross season but the fireworks have yet to go off. If all goes to plan it will only continue to get better as the season goes on. I've got some pictures from this weekend in Gunnison, and I plan to have them up shortly. Hope everyone out there is doing well, but I refuse to apologize for my lack of updates, I've been busy.

This weekend, Brecktober Cross on Saturday and then a race in Dillion on Sunday. Wish me luck or get out there, get rowdy and ring your cowbells. I've never watched myself race cross, but judging by all the pictures I've seen, I would say it's got to be pretty fun to watch my the token puke face roll by lap after lap. I'll check back soon with the pictures.

I raced my bike again!

Sunday I did the Bannock Street Criterium in Denver. The course was pretty cool, wide open and fast with 8 corners and one small rise. I felt like I rode pretty well almost the entire race and only found myself too far back twice and had to waste a ton of energy to get back up to where I wanted/needed to be. I put in one small half lap effort to try and get across to a decent sized break, but somehow I couldn't shake Greg Henderson (Health Net/Maxxis) from my wheel, and the rest of the peloton decided to come with. With 2 to go, I was moving up really well, and just about where I wanted to be coming into the sprint for 5th, since Hendy and a few others had gotten a move to stick and were at least 45 seconds if not more up the road. Then coming into a left hand turn, the group moved left, pushed the guy next to me into the curb, he came back and touched me, apparently freaked out, and laid down on top of me. I tumbled a little, and luckily no one else went down, but by the time I was up and riding, I just coasted in for last place.

I'm very happy with how I felt during the race, and that gives me a load of confidence for the next time I pin on a number, but it's always disappointing to suffer for 70 minutes only to get last place. Oh well, there is always another race. I'm not sure what I'll do next, but hopefully I can find a few more crits to start the buildup for cross.

I saw a horrible car accident happen directly beside me on my way home from the race and I got pretty shook up so I drove back roads the rest of the way home. I hope you all take care, drive carefully, and be safe. Thanks for checking in, sorry once again for the rather dull update.