ATX

For the first time in months I'm back in Austin. Since saturday when i landed I have been running ragged seeing all my friends and family. I already rode to JC twice in shorts and short sleeves, not to mention with my jersey unzipped because I'm sweating ballz. When i left Boulder it was like this.


And now....well, its like this.


But enough about Boulder. On sunday Scott, Ben and I rode out to JC.


Scott tried to impress everyone with his skillz.I have to say i was impressed.


On the first ride out to JC we started what i didn't realize would become a theme, roadkill jumping. We jumped probably 4 or 5 carcasses on the ride. While observing the landscape we spotted this guy. So guys, when you think it hurts really bad to get nailed in the goods remember this guy. I think we found a way to get people in the olympics to jump higher. Raise the stakes! literally...


After the ride we went out to a very special place.


D>E>L>I>C>I>O>U>S

On Tuesday it was out to JC again, this time sunnier and warmer.


I always forget how much the combo of sea level and flatter riding hurts the legs. I don't know how longs it been since i went virtually 3,4 or 5 hours with no coasting. Tuesdays ride consisted of more roadkill hopping and more hours....of course the more hours was to be assumed considering who my company was.


While in JC we saw some pretty funny things. Check out the gun shot sticker to put on your car, or the other sticker....



And dont forget about the fine cuisine of JC.


After leaving JC Tyler took me toward Marble Falls.


Then we took a new road i had never been on. Turned out to be one of the coolest road i know and i now have a way better way to ride to JC. Forget that last 8 miles of cars passing you at 85 on chip and seal, im taking the cart path.


This road was small, no traffic, and fully equipped with LIVE animals.


And being in Texas we had a headwind about 85% of the time. However i got this picture that captured the tailwind.


We stopped at the creek by Hamilton pool.


I threw i rock I could barely pick up into the water when Tyler was washing his face, "high, im right here"


The big pickup trucks are multiplying in the lone star and so is the hate. Once we got back onto main roads, we got passed on blind corners, honked at and brake checked.


Yea! AMERICAN POWER!

Anyways, the remainder of my time in Austin has been spent running around seeing friends, eating either home cooked meals or at my favorite restaurants. Now I'm in Houston visiting with family. I drive back today and who knows what will happen after that. It got a little chilly today as a "cold front" moved in. Funny how I'm scared of that word in CO but in texas that just means you have to put on a long sleeve. Since my life revolves around dorky sports like cycling, I'm thinking about trying skate skiing. Seems pretty hard, but also sounds right up my alley. I'll post some turkey day pics up later. Hope everyone has a happy Turkey day.

Almost There

Well, the first significant break for school is just around the corner and i cant wait. I haven't really been home in a long time and i couldn't be more excited for this upcoming weekend. Most of school is tapering off now and I am finally able to catch my breath. This past week was the first weekend in months that i haven't raced, and it was nice. On Saturday Kiel, Phill, Kelly and I headed out with the CU group ride.


It was nice to see people i hadn't seen in awhile but the enjoyment was cut short as the ride went from being able to talk to friends to being quite while we tried to figure out why someone attacked off the front. I didn't get the memo that we had something to prove on the ride and so the four of us broke off and headed up towards Jamestown. Kelly managed to put too much power on the pedals and broke her chain. Fortunately, for some unknown reason i brought my multi-tool and we were able to fix it. We were all having a great time, the weather was awesome and the temps were warm.




For some reason i don't do the jamestown climb very much, that will have to change this winter.


All was well and then we hit the beautiful dirt section of the climb.


and thats when things took a turn for the worst. Little Kelly's mirror put her off balance and she took a little tumble on the dirt.


She was pretty banged up but Kelly gets huge props for being a trooper. I think i would have cried and asked for a ride home if it had happened to me.

Battle Wounds!


So once we got back it was time to take kelly to get stitched up.


They went in with the good stuff. Kelly even passed on drugs!


But Kelly was all smiles even after they bandaged her up like spiderwomen.



I fly home on saturday, who knows what ill do when I'm there, probably do some J city rides. If you in A town when im home give me a shout.

Getting Your A$$ Kicked is a Learning Experience

The last few weeks have been full of ass kickings, either me kicking some ass or me getting my ass kicked, usually the latter. The first event to cover is Collegiate Nats two weeks ago. Coming into it i was racing well and knew that if i played my cards right and didnt have any bad luck i could have a great race. When we got to Banner Elk, NC it was raining. The race resembled the Waco course a lot in the sense it was technical and either straight up or straight down. It was muddy as hell and had some real nasty parts. I was beyond excited during the pre ride and couldn't wait to race. Come race day i got my call up around 4th row.


The start was hard but i managed to avoid the crashes and bottlenecks alright. Sure enough i continually battled and moved up into around 20th. The course got worse lap after lap as the mud turned to clay and the ridable sections became run ups. However i found myself in 15th at the end of the 4th lap with guys right in front of me. I hit a really bad muddy section, stood up to give'r and wham, the rear derailleur wrapped into my spokes, locked up the rear wheel and that was all she wrote with 2 miles to go. After cussing like a sailor trying to fix it for 5 minutes, at least trying to get it to free wheel i picked up the mud covered 50lb bike and ran. Some A-Hole sprinted me at the line and i crossed in 28th i think. So much for having the race of my life. So that was a combo of me kicking ass and me getting my ass kicked. The second day was time to go for revenge. Again the start was insane, people stacking it left and right. The race bottlenecked really bad but i was able to follow schneider all the way into the teens. But once again mother nature had her way with me and on the third lap i knew something wasn't right. I soft pedaled the climbs in hope i would break anything but in the creek crossing everything went to hell and my chain broke, snagged my derailleur and wrapped it around my frame. I ran for another lap and a half and got pulled. So two races i could have had really good results were spoiled, i guess thats just the way things work out. On the other hand our girls kicked major ass, Ezster taking #1 in STXC and 2nd in the omnium. Neven won dual slalom Way to go!

So last week was me getting my ass kicked by school while at the same time me trying to return the favor and do good on my tests. I think i did pretty good, i guess ill find out this week. But onto more exciting things, the two UCI races came to boulder this weekend. Yesterday i managed to get my ass kicked by the top dawgs in cyclocross. It was the first time i had raced my new rig, the first time i had raced at that level and the first time i had raced cross at all without being burnt out. I had a blast and managed to keep the rubber side down.
Me in no mans land
Today was more of the same. Less running which was nice but still managed to get smoked. Still i had fun. THE BEST thing of the whole day was seeing the members of the CAF dressed up in scottish kilts giving the braveheart speech infront of everyone during staging. Apparently the skit won over Trebon, because on the last lap He grabbed their sword and crossed the finish line with it.

Picture Taken from Clintonphoto.com

Anyway, like i say every time I'll try to update more. In the meantime check out Sager's adventures from Portland.