ahhh colorado

yes it is true im in colorado, you should call me and holler we can talk!  i like college its fun, classes so far are ez im sure theyre gonna get hard but just straight chilling fo rnow.  also weathe ris nice and warm so getting some fun riding in, not much serious training now as my season is pretty much over but having fun.

i did my first colorado race yesterday the koppenburg circuit race it was pretty epic, had like 3-4 mi of dirt, i hate to break hearts but the dirt was way more hardcore than poolesville, it had a 17% dirt climb in it with only one ridable track...i crashed on the first lap, it was pretty sweet ran up the hill but then my chain was off so i put it back on but i suck at doing that so it ook like 49 minutes, then i was about to catch back on but didnt, dropped out after the first lap...solid 9$ / mile i paid, thats a good deal.

but yea im having a blast most of the pros are out of town cuz of utah recently and uspro just this past weekend, but ive some fast guys riding around.  the climbing out here is epic...also moderately exciting is the following news i shall share:

im leaving 9/4 this friday to go to colorado springs for a bit over a week, for a track (specifically the madison) camp at the OTC for the national team...am i excited, mildly, its track and everyone else going is actually a track racer and im just going for doing well on the road...but its free and im pumped...and maybe lead to good things down the road

soooooo yeah!  i miss mabra, this will be my first time in 6 years (since 2003) not doing the classic season enders turkey day and juniors day out, oh well maybe next year, time to check out some new jams

by the way congrats to chuck hutcheson for his "triple kingdom jersey" or whatever its called, pretty cool for him hes had a good season, but seriously people, hes not chuck norris or anything, just another decent racer, theres lots of them...i like him a lot, nice guy very fast, but its getting a little over the top with the puppy love

millersburg

i did the tour of millersburg this past weekend, it was a good race, i guess it is still relatively new, but it was a fun, and we had a big team for it.  the first stage was a 9.5 mi tt, i felt alright, did a mediocre ride i guess...didnt score points...time gap didnt really matter cuz it was a points based gc.  the crit was fun, it was a very hard course i thought, with a hard hill and fairly technical.  on i think the first lap chuck hutcheson attacked, i bridged up then sean barrie and my teammate jacob came up and a few later two more came up.  we were able to work together well and stay away.  i tried to split it up but everyone in the break was quite strong.  in the end i was 4th, jacob was 6th cuz he was cramping up.  the rr, ended up being fun, but most of the time sucked.  it was 90mi and pretty hot, for some reason i felt pretty bad all day i was covering attacks and stuff but my legs were just like not feeling super good...and i was hot, i was having my jersey unzipped and stuff.  there was a lot attacking but nothing really got much gap, i guess though by the last lap people were tired enough to let something go, bcs i got off the front with sean barrie, a PA guy, and pete whitlock.  we worked well and were able to get the gap up to ~1min which ended up being enough. with a few k left sean attacked and him and i got rid of the other two, then luckily/surprisingly i was able to beat him in the sprint for the win.  i was pretty pumped, especially since ive had a decent amount of 2nds and 3rds this year.  i finished the race 2nd gc, we also had jacob in 7th and todd in 9th, not bad for 3 in the top 10!

glad i did tour of millersburg, as it is my last race with the team for the year as im leaving for colorado on wedensda.y.  its been a great year, and great riding with the team, everyone is really awesome and i've had a blast!  it is weird feeling that racing season is probably pretty much over now, maybe a few in co, but i am used to racing through mid september with turkey day, etc.  so i guess just more recovery or something like that this off season.

this video defines me

page valley was decent...i got 2nd, adding to the tally...it was super hot, i drank a lot of bottles, but was still having some cramping problems, i only had one bad one where i actually had to stop for a minute, but the last two laps i was constantly on the verge

this weekend im doing tour of millersburg with the team, should be fun, i didnt do it last year but everyone says its awesome, that will be my last race in the area as i'm leaving for college in boulder, co on wedensday the 19th.  i think there a couple races i might do out there before the season ends, but nothing really serious...unless i can figure out a way to get a start at the end of season vegas crit....but i havent done any usa crits so i dont really know if i can do it, since i don't qualify from points, etc...but if anyone knows a way i'd be interested, i figure it would be kinda cool

nationals re-cap

so the other two events i did were the tt and the crit.  the time trial was the same course we did at cascade, it was 24k's mostly up on the way out and mostly down on the way back.  luckily i was able to borrow a trainer to warm-up on from matt spinks...this was pretty important for me, cuz for tt's i do way better i think if i get a good warm up on a trainer then riding on the roads.  i felt pretty good in the tt, i think i didn't go as fast as i should've on the way back...i was having trouble deciding when to just spin really fast vs. tucking...with the jr gears it was fairly spun out coming back.  i crossed the leader board 6th, but with the bottom 3 still to come, i knew i would probaby finish 9th...which i did.  my time was i think 36:41.  i was pretty happy...would've been nice to be on the podium, but i feel like tt's are one of my weaker points...definitely want to improve it for next year...th eonly thing that sucked is that i was only 1s out of 8th and 3s out of 7th...it always sux getting beat by less than 5s.  a really impressive ride i thought by a mabra guy was in the 15-16 with michael reidenbach, getting on to the podium in 5th...on his road bike, he converted it kind of with clip on bars, but everyone ahead of him and full tt setup with disk wheel etc...and most behind him, talk about a tt monster.   i myselft with my fancy disk wheel, trispoke, etc only beat him by like 1s and hes only 16 ! nice ride michael!

the crit....uhh i felt bad, finshed in the bunch, tried to be in some breaks early on but my legs were cracked, i had the jersey unzipped about 1.5 laps into it i knew it was gonna be rough.  i felt kinda light headed and thought about dropping out, but decided to hang in and finish, i ended up finishing dead last person to get same time as the pack...51st i think.  steven black got 3rd again! nice, with an impressive bridge to a break in the closing laps.