Cary Cyclocross Race

After a very long weekend with little sleep, I got ready for the race on Sunday. Travis Lucas and myself, took our pit equipment over to the race and watched some of the other races. Then we went back to their appartment to hangout for a little bit, after which we got on our bikes to ride over to the race. I had been feeling stretched out physically and mentally from my busy weekend. Friday night I didn't get to bed until 3a.m. due to a 10 o'clock double expresso, then I had to get up at 5:30 to go to my team meeting in Cary. That night we didn't go to bed until 12 o'clock, and had the pleasure of being woke by the rowdy neighbors at 6 in the morning. When it came down to race time, I felt like I had been awake all weekend. I got into a good position behind Travis livermon in 7th place on the first lap. However I couldn't hold my concentration in the technical sections, and my energy was leaving me faster than water coming out of a broken above ground swimming pool. So on the third lap I just quit going up the run up, I didn't want to get sick racing with guys I could have beaten any other day.

My New Team

I had my first official team meeting last Saturday, at Cycling Spoken Here in Cary. I am really excited about the team, and all the fun we will have next season. All the guys on the team are really good guys, and I think that all of us are going to get along very well. We are going to be pimp'n some really cool looking BMC's, which are going to be orange and white to match our team kit.

Can't Wait for Nationals

Hey, everyone I just signed up for Nationals yesterday cost me 105 bones. I wish that they were somewhere else besides Rhode Island in December, cuz that's going to be a cold race. I wanted to be sure that I got in as soon as possible, so I signed up right after registration opened. My teammate Lucas Livermon called me that morning to remind me about registering, and it is a good thing that he did because I had forgotten all about it. Hopefully I will have some of my best friends going with me to the race, and racing themselves on Friday.

Salisbury cyclocross race

I woke up this morning at 10:00, after getting to sleep at 3:30 in the morning. When I got up rain was coming down softly just as the weather man had predicted. I knew that with the already saturated soil and rain; the race was going to be wet, slippery, and of course muddy. I showed up without my print out from uscf showing that I had been upgraded to cat 3, so I spent about a half an hour trying to get that all sorted out. I got ready to race, and headed down to the start with my pit bike and wheels in hand. After slipping into the front of the pack along with a few other people "in the know". Alex Ryan and myself easily slipped away in the first lap of the race. We settled into a good rhythm and worked together for much of the race, until three laps to go when I attacked on the run up. I continued to increase my advantage, even though I had to navigate through lapped traffic on the last two laps. Finally coming across the finish line in first place, with a 30 sec advantage over second place. I felt, I had made my statement proving that I deserve to get upgraded to cat 2. Even though I was fairly tired, I decided to go ahead with my plans to also do the A race, to try and get some of the remaining six points that I needed. During the first race My left contact had been bothering me, so I took it out at the start of the A-race. My eye felt better, but I felt like I was riding with vertigo, so I dropped out on the first lap. After winning the race I got my upgrade to cat 2, and I am ready to go next weekend.

Cyclocross Racing is Back Again

This past Sunday, in Raleigh, the cyclocross season for North Carolina began. The season did not just start when I woke up on Sunday to drive to Raleigh. Back in August I started getting all the parts together to build my bikes. They were not completely finished until the week of the race, when I glued the last set of tires on the wheels. Race day started early 7:00 a.m., I was staying at my friend Matt's crib in Southern Pines. We met the other Sandhills cyclocross racers at May St. Market. After all the other races had gone it was my turn "Pro 1,2,3", I was feeling really good and ready to race. Chips Chapman made his usual 5 minutes of pre race bs, then it was time to go. The whistle blew and we were off, The first right hand turn made the position selection as all the guys on the inside got pinched off and pushed back. I was in about eleventh place and quickly catching the guys in from of me. By the second lap I was in about eight place and catching up with Travis livermon, when all the air in my front tire went flat. After going to the pits to get my Pit bike, I spent the rest of the race chasing to get back where I was when I got the flat tire. I ended up getting 8th place despite my setbacks.