Mannn, how come Sam Hill gets to land sideways and I can't, Wes D???




More quality footage.

FYI

If you didn't know this about me already.

Appreciation and My New Love

Well, Mrs. Squirrel is right. I need to stop taking this whole bike game thing seriously. So I helped teach other kids about the success, or not, of bike racing for a week. It was fun, I want to do it again.

On to more pressing matters. I went to Brevard last weekend, I had a ton of fun on and Fruday and Saturday but not so much on Sunday because I ended up getting in a teenage girl pissy mood because I had to drive back home. I watched some fireworks, they were cool. I haven't seen fireworks in like ten years.

On to the rest of the projected year. I'm still deciding to go to Anniston this weekend because I really need to sit back and train and stuff and attempt to get faster. I will be going to the GSC race at Carter's Lake the following weekend, sorry to those who are skipping out on nationals. Then I finish up a few more days at work before heading off to North Kack for much needed hang out time. Then it's off to someplace else that I don't really want to publish in the open just yet. I'm sure most of you know it already. Then it's off to some more races before getting ready for the collegiate season.

Then it's some more secret plans for the school year that I'm not saying because I haven't quite finalized just yet.
Sounds like fun, eh?

In the meantime, I've discovered a new thing that it's completely not (but at the same time it completely is) associated with cycling. Just on a random feeling the other night I decided to look up used coffee books on Amazon.com. Three hours and thirty dollars later, I am a new owner of four books on coffee and beer and whiskey. Awesome huh?

I want to start growing my own trees but Mom suggested against that because it would probably not work very well so I probably shouldn't spend too much money on it. I AM, however, going to start roasting my own beans just as soon as I can distinguish different tastes and stuff. I want to be a true "cupper". A fleeting image flashed across my mind as I clicked my mouse button; a physical therapy center combined with a coffee shop, just what Brevard needs. Cupper Cowie's Coffee.

Anyway, I was just writing to let you guys know that there is more that interests me than big pieces of metal and rubber. Now it's plants too.

I've got to go to sleep to get ready for a big day of work tomorrow. I leave you with a vid of the king of doing work. From his younger years.





Good Night America.
P. S.
It would be cool if I did that in the north though....imagine the ring: Candian Cupper Cowie's Coffee. Or in the winter it could be: Cool Candian Cupper Cowie's Coffee. Or it could be... never mind.

More than cowbell needed

Well, I’m not really sure when I can post this because I’m without internet for a while. I’m working a USA Cycling Camp in North Carolina this week and the place we are staying at doesn’t have any access which is a major bummer. I can’t even find out who won the World Cup this weekend…hint, hint.

Did the Cowbell Challenge yesterday. Alright course, not really my type though. Pretty hot, but I don’t think it really affected me. I was doing good, sitting in for a lap and then made some mistakes and got gapped and couldn’t catch back on in the really fast field sections. It sucked because I could see the lead group just up the road but couldn’t nail it down. Oh well, rolled in for 6th just off the podium and just out of the money too. Again.

I guess I shouldn’t be complaining too much because even though it was a bad day I still was in the mix but it’s not really where I should be you know.

So yeah, just chilaxing in North Kack for the week and doing a bunch of riding. Pretty sweet huh? I doubt I’m going to do the SERC race at Raccoon Mtn. so the next race is Anniston probably. Didn’t take any pictures this weekend either, so bummed about that too. Crappy weekend.

Bumping Around the South

So I had somebody tell me I had a New Zealand-ish accent today. That's never happened before.

I didn't really know I sounded New Zealand but whatever, that's cool. Sorry it's been awhile since I last checked in. Not much has happened, or maybe I've been too busy to write anything. Anyway, uh....what has happened? Oh yeah, I did the Bump and Grind Race in Bama town.

It went ok, the start was pretty intense, right up there with a Euro start as 70-something dudes tried to cram into the same two-inch wide single track.

I was still feeling Germany a bit and I really needed a rest. I was making a ton of mistakes and hitting sections super sloppy. But I hung on to finish up 21st which was a pretty good result for how I was feeling.

So I found some cool footage of race and even a split second of me at the call ups.

Here is another picture from the pre-ride, sorry Thad you didn't make the cut I guess.

Next on the calendar is another week of chilling at the house while painting my room. I hope, if everything goes as planned. And then it's off to North Kack for the next Kenda Cup and a week of helping out developing riders at the USA Cycling Camp. Then it might be the next SERC race at Raccoon Mtn. I don't know about that because I didn't really enjoy the course last year and it might be good to save a little bit of money. We'll see.

I leave you with a great site that my pal Dot Com lead me to. It's pretty funny.

Chilling at the Squrriel nest in bama. Course looks good. About 50/50 pavement and trail. Not too hot. Hoping for a top 20?? Maybe? I dont race until 3. Later.

Welcome to the USA!

Sorry folks, I didn't mean to keep you in suspense. I made it back. But you might have already known that from my Brevard post. That is if you read the Brevard website.

So, it took forever but I finally made back into the US of A. Pretty happy not to struggle with ordering food or finding the bathroom or other simple tasks. I made a mental note to improve my language skills and stop being so ignorant. A big eye opener as I figured it would be. So that's good, I don't know about me but the parents get really excited when I start talking intellectually.

I also will say; that even though I couldn't really understand any of what they were saying, the Frankfurt Airport has some of the most attractive airline representatives that I have ever encountered. Germans are smart, use the most attractive people you can find for customer service. So when they charge you 300 Euro for your bike, you bat your eyes at them instead of the price. FYI and a fun, interesting side note for you travelers.

Saturday was the hill climb, wait I can't even remember if I did a report on that. OH ya, I did. My B. So Sunday we drove up to someplace where I don't remember the name. Hang on, Solingen Germany, that's it. So we drove up, kitted up, and headed out for a lap. It was a pretty fun course, nothing too steep, which I like. And a downhill start. They started the U23 riders with the Pros but they separated the classes for awards. E-tan and I sunk up to the front after we got called up at the back. I got a good start in about 5th and sat in on the descent. Some pro guy just launched off the front and the 2nd place guy started chasing him so that left me with Ethan and some other dude who we thought was a U23. The three of us rode together for most of the race until the other guy attacked and dropped us. We started chasing and Ethan ended up dropping me and another two pros passed me. To make a long story short, the guy who we thought was a U23 guy was actually a Pro so Ethan won it and I got second. Pretty rad.

Mitch was pretty bummed because he just missed out on a podium in 4th for the second time. But he probably made the most amount of money from his 4th at the hill climb. Trevor and Colin both had good races too. Stephen crashed and was bummed and Kevin was burnt out and happy to be going back to the states.

So what am I doing now? Just chilling at the house in Ga trying nail down everything I need to do before summer starts. I can't really tell you my plans for the rest of summer because I'm going to have to start doing secret training. But I will be at the Bump and Grind this weekend hopefully running it wide open. For you 828 residents I am coming up there next weekend and I'm bringing some presents too. So keep your eyes open.

I add some pictures too since I can finally up load them in a reasonable amount of time. Late, T.


Busy packing bikes after a long day.


Chilling at the airport and trading stories.


Podium shot.


Apparently they don't use pants in Germany.