Lindsey Wilson!!

This year's mtb season started off pretty well. I placed 2nd in the short track at Lindsey Wilson. My lungs hurt like crazy but at least I was able to breath well which usually isn't the case. I sucked in the dual slalom and should probably stop trying to do it since I seem to get worse at jumping every year. then I got a flat 3 miles into the XC race and had to quit. That was pretty frustrating but it happens. Mad props to Dallas Fowler for kicking butt both days this weekend.
School is getting pretty stressful now too. I have lots of lab reports and papers to write which are time consuming and sometimes frustrating. So I decided to forgo going to the races in michigan this weekend so that I could hopefully get ahead on all of the work and race at butler without as much stress. I am still planning on going to nationals and I hope I can get in good enough shape to get a top 10 short track finish there!

MTB season

After a weekend off of racing I am ready to start mountain biking. I plan on doing the next 4 weekends of racing and I think that our purdue team will qualify for nationals. I finally got my bike working pretty well except that the front disk brake keeps squeeling like crazy which is annoying. Adjusting hydralic disk brakes is really a pain in the but and makes me wish I still had mechanical brakes. I have been riding the 2 trails hear near purdue a few times and I think I am getting my skills back. We will see this weekend and Lindsey Wilson. It ought to be exciting and I hear they have an all new dual slalom course instead of a monster 4X course.

Last crits of the year

Saturday and Sunday this past weekend were my last road bike races of the year. They were NRC crits in Grand Rapids and Ann Arbor Michigan. Saturday went well and I placed 11th but I feel like I could have done better if I hadn't hesistated with 400m to go and had attacked. That's racing I guess. The course was awesome and had a bunch of long brick sections. Sunday's race was on a brutal course that had 2 small climbs per lab and rail road tracks. it was a fun course but I blew myself up at the beginning and my breathing got really bad. I got dropped but didn't get pulled so I jumped back in the field and actually felt a ton better. I attacked and got a prime and still finished 21st!! The money went 25 deep yet I was the last finisher. I have never been in a race where that happened before! I am taking a break from racing this weekend and then I am gonna do 4 weekends of college mountain biking in a row so that I can go to nationals with the Purdue team.

first week of school

mixing school and training isn't so bad during the first week of school. I was able to ride a lot but I think it is gonna get a lot tougher to do that once school gets going. I finally got out on my mountain bike for the first time since march and I am definitely need to practice a bit more before the first races. I did the West Lafayette Road race on Sunday and helped Boris organize it too. It kind of sucks doing a race with only 15 guys in it. I messed up the sprint between the 6 guys left the end and got 5th place so I won my entry fee back. It was hot and despite the fact that the race was here I forgot to bring gatorade which would have helped me to not suck at the end. Oh well it was just for training anyway. I am excited to get the road season done with next week and do some mtbing which should be a bit more relaxing. Mad props to my teammate Ben Renkema on winning the Giro Di Via Italia in Windsor Canada this weekend and to Greg Christian on winning the michigan hill climbing championship!