Getting Ready!!!

So i realize that I havn't made a post in quite a while, but i've been really busy with school.  Collegiate mountain bike season was whatever.  The one race I was winning I ended up double flatting and didn't make the nationals team because I was just taking easy for the most part.  I had a really good time though!  I did a couple of cyclocross races, but nothing to write home about.  I was a pretty big shit show in the Gunnison cross race and kept crashing, and then I raced two of the Durango cross races and flatted on the first lap in both of them.  It was a bummer and that kept me out of contention for the Collegiate Nationals team.  I had a good time this fall just kinda riding when I wanted, partaking in my fair share of parties, and now I'm ready for base.  

Tomorrow I am starting base.  I am really excited about it because I have never done a full base in the past and I'm hoping that it will benefit me greatly for next season.  I just really want to do well, and my ultimate goal is to make the U23 worlds team. We'll see!!!

What have I been up to?

I realize that I haven't made a post in a while but for legitimate reasons. First of all Sol Vista didn't go so well for me I double flatted before the top of the climb and was unable to finish due to the fact that I ran out of gear. That was a bummer but when I was packing up my camp site getting ready to head back to good 'ol gunny they called the race because of lightning, so everyone else only got to do two laps.



Other than that I finished up the local series with the last race which I also double flatted in because I made the stupid call to run ultralight tubes on my rigid singlespeed. I ended up finishing second overall in the series so it was alright.



On a much bigger note, this past weekend in the leadville trail 100 running race my former ski coach, mentor, and friend won the race with a blistering time of 18hrs 2min 39sec. Check out the full race report by the man himself at www.duncancallahanrunning.com. You're the man Duncan, I think it was because you stopped drinking milk!

Snowmass and Hermosa Creek Classic

A few weekends ago I traveled over the mountains to Snowmass Colorado for the Mountain States cup race there. It was really fun and a super challenging course. I ended up having a really decent race there placing 8th in the grueling cross country race. I am finally feeling like I am on the up swing and racing fast again.

Most recently I raced in Durango Colorado at the Hermosa Creek Classic. This was a fundraiser race for the Fort Lewis College Cycling Club and probably one of my favorite races ever. The course is a point to point 38 miles with over 6000 vertical of climbing which makes for a long 3.5 hour race. I ended up placing 3rd overall 15 min back from winner Travis Brown. Second place went to Trevor Downing who had an amazing race, congratulations. There is going to be an article in the Gunnison newspaper about the race so look for an update including that in the near future.

Deer Valley

Deer Valley Resort in Park City, UT was the next stop on the NMBS series. I have always liked this course because it is so much fun to ride. The race was a grueling four laps and took me about two and a half hours.

I was really stoked to race here because I have been in dire need of a decent race. The last few weeks have been hard training and slow racing. Crested Butte was among my worst races. I didn't suspect that racing Pro was going to be so much different and harder. Its really hard to be fast weekend after weekend, you're bound to have a bad race once in a while.

The race in Deer Valley started off really fast up a terribly steep dirt road climb. It amazes me to watch the people on the front of the race going so fast right off the bat. I ended up making it to the top of the first climb towards the end of the field and having to fight my way through the whole race. I ended up having consistently stronger laps and catching a fair amount of people throughout the race. I ended up finishing 33rd in a sprint finish with my teammate Christian Ball. I though it was funny to be sprinting my own teammate and I actually got a sweet picture of it from Mike Kane. Mad Props to Christian for making so much time on me in the last lap I had no idea he was even coming.

The Short track the next day was insane. I had a relatively good call-up position and started the race in good standing until the first uphill turn. Geoff Kabush was leading the pack through the turn and un-clipped from his pedal causing mad chaos in the start of the race and this gave a bunch of people the opportunity to go around me on the outside. I felt like I stayed strong throughout the race and got pulled at about 14 minutes which I think is my record for time in a short track where they were pulling people. I ended up 34th which I feel is a solid finish in such a hard race.

Next up for me is the Snowmass MSC and maybe Mt. Snow for the National Championships, but we'll see if I can afford that one.

Here's my new bike, its super dope!!!