Live and learn

Ok I could write a 20 page essay on every thing that happend in the race but I'll try and condence it. Woke up at about 7 for breakfast with the juniors and then thay went to the course and I stayed at the hotel and chilled. Watched there race on the internet. Great job by all the Canadians! Even if the results don't show it they all rode great races overcoming there share of issuse.

Ok time to get ready for my race. got all my stuff together and headed to the course. When I got there Alex took me the the Canadian team hut. got ready and headed out for a lap. felt amazing! Really punchy and I was riding the course super clean. I was feeling confident that I could have a good race. Now on the trainer for a bit. had a few interesting visits. First was Marcello! He seemed pretty pumped about the race. Couldn't understand most of the Italian but luckily Alex speaks Italian so he was able to translate for us. Second visit was from Tim Johnson! He came and we talked about the course and he gave some good advice on some lines for the race as the were changing all the time.

All right, now off the trainer and to the start finish area. Feeling super pumped and ready to go. went to staging and got all the warm up gear off. Kinda chilly. Listened to the crowd as they yelled for the favorite riders as the got called up. Then all of the sudded my name is called! So I quickly worked my way through the crowd off riders and lined up. Wow I'm on the 3rd row beside Danny Sumerhill! Allright 1 min to go. jackets are flying every where. 30 sec too go. Silence... GO! perfect start. clipped in right away and I was on the gas. coming up to the first corner I locked bars with a German rider and almost had the worst crash of my life (check out the new blog pic). Little scary but I'm still calm. Off the pavement and into the dirt. hit the first snowy corner and out of nowhere a Belgian is sliding across the course on hif butt right in front of me. Don't remember the crash but when I got up my bie was a mess. Bars were really crooked, my chain was off and my wheel was rubing a bit. Ok just stay calm and ride it in to the pits. So 4 more crashes later I got to the pits and switched bikes. Alright it's chase time. Or not. I continued making mistakes and crashing. I just couldn't get back into a rythem. Back to the pits and on to my A bike.

lap 2
Down the start finish strait I tried to get my head together. I started to ride the first section cleanly. Ok now it's chase time. Then I crashed again... got back on the bike. and my seat was moving every where. Back to the pits. Just to save time I'll just say I had to pit 2 more times after that.

My the 4th lap I finally found my rythem. Started catching some guys and I was riding the course cleany again. I was punching it on the climbs and staying smooth aroung the corners. I was feeling great. At this point I knew I was going to get lapped but I wanted it to be as late in the race as possible. 2 laps to go and I could start to see the charging Polish Guy behind me. I thought mybe is I could ride a really clean lap I could make it. About 1 min later he rocked by me a the climb. It felt a lot like getting past but a truck on a rode ride. I looked behind me and saw that he had gaped the other 2 riders behind him. So the new goal was to try and stay clear from those 2. Started really ginving it on the climbs. I couldn't belive how good my legs still felt. Looked back a bit later and saw that the other 2 were still closing but not as rapidly. I was getting close to the finish now. Just one more down hill then through the pits. I had about 10 bike lengths on second ove the fly over. Coming down the hill I took a bad line and got cought in a rutt and went down. Got off to the side and let the other 2 go bye. So that was it. I finished the race 1 lap down.

Going over the race after I came to the conclusion that I'm happy with how I did. It would have been so easy for my to just shut down out of frusteration at the begining. But I kept on getting back on the bike and going. It was a great learning experiance and I'll definatly be trying to come back next year to improve on my reasult.

Alright now it's time to go and watch the big boys. Definitly cheering for Stybar. See ya

"I gatta feeling"

So tomorrow is the big day and I've gotta say that I'm pretty excited. I'm loveing the course and the legs feel great. And probably the most important thing is that I'm mentaly ready to hurt myself. That is something that has been a problem in the past. I don't always have that willingness to suffer before a race and I settle in to a more conservative pace.

Todays "rideing partners" included the likes of Erwin Vervekin, Bart Wellens and the king himself Sven Nys. It was pretty insane to see how effortless he made some of the corners look. Defenitly learned how to take some lines from those guys.

The course has changed a tone in the last 24hrs. It's still sketchy but some corners have turned to mud. The race organizers put down a bunch of sand in the really icy spots. To be honest though I kinda wish it was still a little more icy. I felt that I had a bit of an edge on some of the warmer climate Euros and I was riding the course consistantly clean. Don't get me wrong it's still gnarly and guys will still be crashing a lot.

Ok so non bike related topics. Me and Kiernan "Danger" Orange went to the local pastrie shop and picked up the best looking pastries they had for after the race. I'm pretty excided about that. We have found ways to keep oursleves entertained here and now have a number of running jokes that would make no sense if I postes them here.

Ok it's now 9:40 some I'm going to bed. Good night. Next post will be a race right up.

4 juniors, 1 u23, no internet

So my reason for not updating for the last few days is the internet stopped working for a day. This was a problem because aside from rideing there isn't a whole lot to do in Tabor. But now it's back and I've some stuff to report.

So in the last few days I've got in a bunch of laps on the course. Super gnarly! I am comparing it to to the Tremblant race because it starts out with a bunch of uphill with stairs and a set of very slow and awkward barriers. Then the second half is all very fast and sketchy downhill with many turns. Lots of hidden ice spots and frozen rutts. Glad I did all that snow rideing back home.

I followed a few pro guys including a very frusterated J-pow. He was not having a good day. I can quote him saying " I've been on the ground more today then I've been all year". Home he can get it together. Also rode behind Stybar for a bit but his lines were too fast for me to hang on to so I let him go. As I rode the course more I got much faster on it. Some of the Euro guys were really struggling so that made me feel pretty good!

Ok so besides riding we don't have much to do but walk around old Tabor and surf the internet. I have a few good pics but can't find the wire to upload them right now. I'll get them up when I can.

One more thing I can metion is that the food here hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be. It's been hard to resist the pastries but I haven't cracked yet. I'll wait till after the race, then I'm going for it.

Ok that's all for now.

Welcome to Europe!

It's just the pits at a cross race! But for planes.

Ok so this won't be a long post because I'm completly out of it from the jet lag. But the flight went really well. No hastles at the check in and I recived all my stuff back. It was a lonely flight because I possible travle buddy decided she wanted 3 seats to her self. That's ok though because I got 3 as well! I think I might have confused her when I tried to describe what cross is.

High lights so far have been, 1 when I was in Germany on the bus to my flight the guy next to me physicly got out of his seat so that he could fart easier... ya, 2 realizing that I am actually here in Europe to race my bike! It finally really hit me, and 3 on my spin today me and Chris checked out the course.... WOW! No pics of it yet but soon.

Ok so good night. Hopefully I'll feel normal by tomorrow.