At Long Last

Finally, after like three days on the phone and several attempts we have fixed the home wireless system so I can surf from my room instead of walking up all those freaking stairs and getting on the home computer. I am very happy.

I'm so happy that I posted two blogs today. Not really though. The first blog is from a few days ago when I couldn't post it, but if you had read that one then you would know that wouldn't you.

Well, I have some bad news for my friends in the awesome 828, I will not be participating in the Molester this year. I was hoping to but I had an offer that I could not refuse. Sorry bros, nothing personal.

So what is this alternative action? Why a New Year midnight urban ride in the ATL. Yes, me and the infamous Michael Cummings are going to celebrating the new year in downtown. It will be sick. I did get a new camera (I might have already mentioned this but) so I should be taking some pictures and posting them. Theoretically, that is.

I almost forgot to tell you about my awesome ride today. Since I did a good three hour ride yesterday (and found a new gravel climb) I was going to do a easy two hour spin to loosen the legs a bit. I rode out about ten minuets down the road and met up with a dog running beside me. Always one to race, I dropped a few gears and sped up. The dog was doing pretty good and kept up until for some reason it decided that it would be much better to run on the road instead of the soft, grassy shoulder. In the process that figured out how to change its trajectory it must have forgotten that I was in the middle of the road. The dog turned right into my front wheel causing me to go from 25mph to 0 in the span of five feet. As the dog ran off, I almost got run over by a car who didn't bother to stop or slow down as it whizzed by inches from my head.

So after some guys across the road came over to help me out I rode back to my house with some difficulty. The end result is a trashed right shifter, some road rash, a busted gel in my pocket, and some seriously bruised ego. I will never, ever race a dog on the side of the road again.

Everything is good now, but I'll definitely feel it tomorrow on a wicked long ride tomorrow at Fort Yargo.

Well, I'm signing off for now, but watch out for those sneaky dogs and those clever Brevard area senior citizens, and eat lots of ketchup. It's good for you.

Late.

Speed Up to Catch Up

So, it’s been a while since we’ve met.

Well, not really. Considering that I can’t see you or that you can see me but you understand. Much of interest has happened in the time from my last post. I went home. That was a task in itself because the roads were very, very wet. And uh…I’ve been hanging out with the parents for the past few days. Somewhere along the way I managed to pick up some virus and it held me up for a couple of days. I didn’t really get sick but it was other “stuff”. We’ll leave it at that. Nasty.

In the meantime, I washed my bikes and rode them a bit here and there. I was hoping to be pumping out miles and hours on the road bike but I’m stuck taking care of Mom after she recovers from her foot surgery. Yes, she has these things called bunions and they are not cool because they make the ball of your foot swell up and stick out. Mom is now bunion free.

I’m writing this on Christmas day, rather the night after Christmas. I probably won’t be able to post this for a while because I haven’t got the home wireless working yet so this blog (on my laptop) will be posted when I get service on this thing. I got some good stuff for Christmas, nothing too big except for a new camera that I didn’t really ask for but got so I guess I’ll have to start putting it to good use.

In my spare time I’ve been thinking about the upcoming year. Trying to figure out how to pay for all this travel and racing that I’m planning to do and all the stuff I still need to do.

Well that’s all I can think of right now, I’ll probably write more after this weekend. It should be good.

T

The News

To make up for the last blog, I’ve got some good news.

I’m announcing the formation of my new team. This is not the actually the team I’m going to be racing for but more the one I’m going to be leading. Tristan Cowie Racing (T. C. R.) is a small group of hand selected riders than will use exclusive equipment from sponsors that are yet to be announced.

I will announce the team riders at a later date. And final info and race dates will be announced as soon as I can get some more time on my hands.

We have T-shirts.

We rule.

Well...

I should probably start this off on a higher note because I'm about to be really complaining. I've still been not writing my blogs because I suck and I'm really lazy. I'm so lazy I'm skipping eating food to study and write this blog. Not really. Eating would be soooo much better than what I'm doing right now.

I could go into details on the paper I'm writing but you really don't want to know about. Whatever. I'm going to start complaining.

In my several hours of surfing the web every day, I was perusing a fellow racers blog. In it he was talking about the race he was promoting. He named a few people who had agreed to show up and throw down. I told him that I was going to show and hopefully make things interesting. Well, he named off some favorites in this blog and he didn't even mention me. Punk. He put down "*********" and the "******" team and even some dude named "***** *****". Let me first say that I'm not trying to say that I'm really fast or whatever, but I'd like to think that I'm decently fast. But he had the nerve to list "*********" and not me.

Let me just say that I'm tried to getting beat by certain people and next year those people need to watch out because I'm bringing the rain.

I'm out.

Old smelly stuff

Here's something sweet that my parents took while at Collegiate Nats.
Enjoy. I'm working on up loading some more pictures too.

Have a nice day.

And don't forget to eat your porridge Charlie.

Federal Offence

I'm pretty sure that the federal government ripped me off the other day. I went to the post office to get some stamps and the stamp machine didn't give me back two dollars in change. Not cool guys. Whatever, it was stamps.

Well, this weekend was the KOP's birthday so we bowled, rode, and celebrated. It was some good times. Of course I didn't take any pictures so I'm going to leave you with some sick stuff.

Check it.

And this.

And I'm going to this.

Reverse of Pinned

I've been pinned for the last 36 hours. It's been awesome and the opposite of awesome. To make the story short I raced the Swank on Sunday and had to stay up late to finish a paper. Everybody was asking what the paper was about but I told them that they didn't want to know. Basically, it was about religious revivalism in the 19th century. Awesome, ha not!

Whatever, I was pinned till 3 o'clock when it was due. After I stuck it under the door I pretty much collapsed from exhaustion. I got like 5 hours of sleep and then rode 38 miles in Pisgah. Good times.

I finished up 7th after getting passed on the last climb. It was an ok race, not good but not bad. I did get beat by the KOP but that's why he's the King, so I can't be to upset about that. I really hope somebody reads this before tomorrow, because I'm suggesting that you get my wheel at Squirrel Cross because I'm not sticking around for long.

I'll see if I can write some more this weekend. I'm working on some new stuff for next year so we'll see what happens.

T's going to bed.

So I lied, oops.

So, I’m here next to Mr. P. Ennis watching Talladega Nights. We just got back from the awards ceremony and I just happened to pick up some purdy jerseys. Yes, I said jerseyessss. Plural.

It’s been a while since I wrote, so I’ll try to play catch up a bit. Last weekend T-had took us up to the LMC track and we rode a few laps. I did five laps in total and I think I finally knew the course by the end of the day. It’s a pretty tough course to remember and to hit all your lines. Very slow and methodical, too much speed will get you nowhere.

Monday and Tuesday were probably the best days of my fall break. Me and Marshal met up and ate waffles at Huddle House and then rode up to the Bakery. But on the way we saw Jockey eating at Sunrise so we stopped and had some more food. Then after a short bit of more hang out we went on to Bracken Mtn. and had some more food and coffee. Then we went for a chill 2 hour ride in Pisgah. It was nice. On Tuesday we did the same thing, except that I ate a ton of stuff at Sunrise and then went to Pescado’s and ate with Squirrel.

Had to go to class on Wednesday, which sucked but whatever, it was the only day of class I had this week. Thursday we headed up to Banner Elk to preview the nationals course and get ready for the weekend of racing starting on Friday. The track hadn’t changed much and I tried some more lines and found a few good ones and some bad ones too. The LMC course was especially hard to get right because you had to set up for so many corners early to get them right.

Friday was an early start with a 5 o’clock wake up and breakfast before heading to the course for the opening event of the weekend. The cross country. Good warm up and everything, rode the trainer in the trailer to stay out of the wind and stuff. Dad got a movie of the girls warming up and the trailer bouncing up and down, I’ll see if I can find it someplace. Anyway the race starts and some dude (Zach Winn) takes off from the start and I had to cover the attack. He rode a little ahead of me for a lap while Logan Wetzel caught me and we worked together for a while to bring back Zach. Logan dropped off the pace after a bit and I slowly pulled Zach back and attacked with a lap to go about half way around the course. I was able to hang on for the win.

Everybody was pretty stoked, I got hugs from everybody and within a few minutes I was on the phone with my grandparents so that was pretty cool. I froze myself talking to people in the cold so I went back to the trailer and got changed before watching a little of the girls race.

The short track was pushed back 30min on Saturday so I was able to sleep in a little longer than normal. I had actually been getting up at 6 and going for a ride at 8 for about a week and a half before the race in order to prepare. So once I was up things were better. Anyway long story short. We got to the track; I changed to spikes for the super, super muddy race and got called up first. I got hole shot before Zach again passed me on the short climb into the woods. For those of you who were watching, I did not say anything to him, just a quick glance to see who it was. I followed Zach for about half the race waiting for the right moment, when his teammate looked to be closing in with three laps to go I went. I barely hung on for the second win of the weekend.

So I’m super into writing a ton about Sunday’s race, I’ll do short bits. Props to Mr. P. Ennis for taking out Moto Mike in the round of eight, props to Joh for snatching the omnium and slalom wins, and props to that really, really tall guy for qualifying second behind the defending national champ. The team ended up getting fourth, one point behind Warren Wilson.

I was going to do this after the team got back, but didn’t really want to be made fun of so I’ll do it now because I figure most of you read this anyway. I’m not trying to be sentimental or soppy or anything here. I just wanted to say that I really wish I could give each person on the team a part of my jerseys because it wasn’t just me who won. I have learned something new from each and every person on the team and the jersey belongs to us not me. I was the one who crossed the finish line first because I used something from everyone. All of you have helped me out and I really appreciate that. So like, the jersey is ours, not just for me. Thanks guys.
While I’m at it I need to thank everyone else who helped me along the way. I hope these are not going to be my only national championship jerseys. So like here goes, I’m probably going to forget someone so my bad.
First off my parents,

The KOP
Chris Herndon
Coach Thad
Little Ethan
Andy
Mike
Jon Dalman
John Jones
Kelly Parham
Pinnett
Chaput
Tamer
Nathan
Dave Hall
Malcolm
The Linders
All the guys at Northstar

And……my sister.


Oh yeah, I almost forgot. I did try to take some pictures but my camera is starting to get wallered. But here's one that I really like.

Increasing nonproductivity?

Dude if you folks who are into cross racing and such you should check out this sweet site with some sweet clothes on it.

http://1x9design.blogspot.com/


I'm working on a report from nats, hopefully it will be up tonight.

Roller Coaster

Dude so like....conyers is still really, really fast.

TT went ok, I just tried to stay safe, save something for the short track and check out some new lines on the XC. I done did everything so I was pretty stoked about that.

Short track was on a lame course, needed to be more selective but the guys didn't listen to me. We'll just see what happens when I win the race. Nah, Eric from LMC was there so I definitely keeping him on a short leash. But I ended up squeaking by Chris J for the win.

I was determined to win the XC so I went to bed at like 9:30 that night. Day started ok, with the race getting delayed and everything but whatever. I got a good start but literally 2 minuets into the race like my front gear changer thingy started screwing up. I stopped and fixed it and watched the entire Men's A field go by. Awesome. I started chasing and the gap on the first lap was 2 minuets. On the second it was 1.30 minuets. Third was 1 minuet. I was about to get pissed because St Marie voted on the start to race four laps instead of five and if I missed the win by a lap I was going to be pretty upset.

Anyway I finally caught Eric with about half a lap to go and I attacked right when I made contact. It was nice to finally get a win under the belt even though it didn't come the easiest way.

So I came off a good week end of racing before conference. We drove down to Clemson on Saturday morning and started getting ready for the short track. It rained a couple of days before hand so the track was almost completely opposite of last year. Super tacky, almost of to the point of slippery but not. It was pretty fun because you could drift all the turns really well but not lose control.

Anyway, we got off to a good start and I was in a group of four with Brad, Scott, and Jose Cuervo. I wanted to drop Cuervo so I put in a couple of hot laps that broke up the group and I coasted in for second.

Big props go out to Dan P.Ennis and Tupperware for their cleaning up of the down hill and dual slalom. Another prop goes out to Little E who qualified second in the downhill and dual slalom and he's not even in college yet. By the way for those of you who are looking to recruit Little E back off, he's mine.

To make a long story short, the XC didn't go as planned. I lead for three out of five laps each time trying to break up the LMC train. Fourth time up the hill, Brad put in a good digger and popped me off but I almost caught back on the next decent. I flatted at the bottom and had to stop and fix it. With one lap to go I figured I wouldn't be able to catch back up so I soft pedaled until Cuervo (in third) latched on and I crashed trying to drop him. In the end, we needed as many points as we could get for the overall and I lost three places in the last lap pretty much so that sucked. And I'm pretty sure I lost the individual standings to Brad at the same time so not a very successful weekend for me.

I'm pretty happy I didn't get too hurt, just a little beat up and some really good training. Nationals are next weekend, so I'm resting and we are driving to the course on Sunday so I can get some practice on it. Should be fun.

Now I'm up to date so I don't want to hear any more complaining.

A&P is going to be awesome today, I have a test that I completely forgot to study for so wish me luck.

T

Back Home

Finally, I got around to writing this report. We drove down on Friday after getting the trailer loaded and packed. Half of the college team stayed at my house and the other half hung out at the Chaputs. I ran around making sure everyone was comfortable and having fun. Probably was on my feet wayyy too much but whatever.

Saturday started early as I got up at 5 to eat and get ready to race. We ended up getting to the parking lot like, an hour and a half early but we were on Squirrel time.

Short track was good, I rode a good race tactially and ended up third and saved some energy in the process. The TT was just after that and in retrospect I didn't eat enough in between which would kill me the next day. The TT started good too, I hit the climb just like I wanted to when my front tire went flat. I didn't bring any tools because in a 20 minuet effort there's really no time to fix anything I walked the rest of the loop and finished dead last. Bummer.

Sunday wasn't quite so early at 5:30 wake up. I didn't get a great warm up for the XC and the meal that I missed the day before definitely hurt me. About an hour into the race I completely cracked and got passed by a bunch of people. I think I still ended up 5th or 6th but I really wanted the win so that wasn't very good.

If they had a down hill race on that course I think I could pull off the W because I could ride that thing with my eyes closed. It was pretty sick.

Well, I'm betting that I'm not going to have enough time before A&P to write one for Conyers I'll have to wait and post that.

Peace,
T

The Mouse That Died

Yeah, so like I totally ran over a mouse on my way to the parkway today. It made a little bump and a squeak. I'm actually not really sure if it did die but getting ran over probably wasn't comfortable.

Sorry I'm still working on reports for Dahlonega and Conyers. I've been really, really busy training, racing, doing school work, doing work in general, and hanging out.

The short story of Conyers is that I made up for Dahlonega by taking the short track and the xc but missing the TT by just a few seconds.

This weekend is the conference champs and the just three years old Brevard College is leading the team rankings going into the race. In fact we are on top of all the individual standings except the men's gravity so those guys need to do some more work. Haha, just kidding.

Anyway, I'm going to go to sleep right now and rest the legs for this weekend. I cleaned out the throttle last race so this one should be good.

Later, Tristan

So like.....

Well, I'm sitting in my room minuets before leaving for another collegiate race. We've got a Time Trail at 9 and a Short Track at 12 with dual slalom at like 3 so it's going to be a pretty long day.

I'm still trying to wake up so the next few minuets should be interesting.

Anyway, not a whole lot has been goiing on since the last post except for the fact that I haven't updated yet. Hopefully I'l l be able to do that some time tonight.

For the time being, I'm almost finished cleaning my throttle so the day will hopefully go pretty good.

Later, T

Yo dudes I don't really have the time to write a whole report yet since I've got like a quiz and a paper due tomorrow so like...

The North Georgia race was decent, pulled off a 3rd in the ST, flatted in the TT and cracked in XC to finish 5th.

We've got another race this week end at Conyers. I'm going to hopefully open the throttle a little more than at NGCUS so we'll see what happens.

If your not doing anything this weekend, try cross racing in Dahlonega. It should be a good course and fast competition so pinnet.

Late

Hey do I know you?

Um...I don't think you do. That was yelled at me when I rode past a group of elementary schoolers the other day. I was coming back from the Thursday night group ride on the bike path and trying to dodge parents and there little football players.

Whatever, that was a completely useless story. I was trying to tie that into my blog, but it didn't really work. I guess I'll start off with the Brevard race last week end. I do have some pictures, but I don't feel like posting any of them right now. I'll get to it later.

Anyway, the whole week before the race Thad had us building the course. We finished the last section on Thursday and had the wiring done for the dual slalom on Friday night. So, we cut it close but in the end we pulled it off. I'd like to thank everyone for working on the course especially Approachable and Coach Squirrel. I didn't really do anything except race so I really appreciate all the help that everybody did except me.

The short track went good, I think I played the tactics good until the last three laps when the lights went out. I was disappointed that I got dropped but I just need a little more training before I'll feel good in the short tracks. I got third though and I was happy with that but I still haven't gotten a W yet. The XC went better, but not much. I followed Scott for the first couple of laps and he attacked on the third and I let the gap open and tried to chase but couldn't bring back any time. Got 2nd in that race. I was pretty bummed not to win in front of the home crowd, but I was pretty tapped.

Right now I'm hanging out at home. I went home to clean the house and stuff before the college team comes and stays at the house for the North Georgia race. I just finished cleaning everything and I'm not sure what I'm going to do for the rest of the weekend. I guess I'll go for a ride and then do some home work.

Oh yeah, this is pretty cool. So like I was surfing the net as usual and I thought why not find a trail on the drive home to hit up. So I found the White Twister, also known as the Stonewall Falls trail. It's just outside Clayton. It's pretty fun, very overgrown, but a bunch of steep climbs and descents with some tight switchbacks to keep you on your toes. It's pretty sweet to be driving to or from Brevard and say: "Man, I want to go ride!" And pull off the road and go for a 30minuet ride and get back on the road.

Well, I can't really think of anything else to say so I'm out.
Latea
T

Eat-Sue (ETSU)

Um....let's start with the other people first. I have to give props to Marshal for helping us out at his first ever mountain bike race, Dan for stretching his throttle muscle and getting top ten in three events, Timmay for sticking in there and having a experience in his first A race, Chaput and Trey for doing good in the B races and Chaput going another lap in the XC for extra training, all the girls for having solid results in every event, the Matt's for getting off to a rough start but settling in by the end of the weekend, and Danny for brapping the gravity competition in his sneak line.

I probably forgot somebody so nothing against you but I just can't remember. Oh yeah, props to T-had for being coach and trying to keep me in line all Saturday.

On to my races, I just did the ST and XC. I was thinking about trying the gravity events (that thing I was talking about a while back) but it's probably better for me to concentrate on just two events for now. But we shall see in the future. The short track was a definite shock to the system as the last time I've gone at true "race pace" was back in July so that was slightly uncomfortable. There was like twenty LMC guys up at the front and they ended up dominating the race so I just rode in and tried to save myself for the XC the next day.

The rest of the day went good, I talked a bunch, hung out at the downhill, pre-rode the course and ate a ton of food. So I was happy and pinned at the same time. The XC trail was good, it was nice for a on campus trail but I am in between liking it or not. It was a fast twisty trail but it was really hard to memorizes the track and get a good flow on it. There was no "fun" sections. I'm not trying to hate on ETSU, because it was a really good track but not my favorite.

I felt soo much better on Sunday for the XC. I had gotten all that nervous energy I had on Saturday out of my system and was super relaxed. I attacked hard into the single track and pulled two LMC guys out with me. We stayed together for a lap when I opened up a little bit and put 20 seconds into the two chasers. I lead for another lap and then Aaron Bradford caught me and we rode to the end of the third lap (the race was four laps) I ended up going down really hard on a rock drop after rolling my front tire and Aaron ended up winning. After I fixed my wheel and checked my self out, I finished the race. I have no idea where I ended up but it was probably out side of the teens. That really sucks because I need some good points for qualifying for nationals. Oh well.

This weekend is the Brevard home race. We've been working on the track for a while and it's not quite finished but we should have a decent course by the weekend. It should be a good time with the Short Track, Dual Slalom, and Downhill all on Saturday and the Cross Country on Sunday. You should come over and hang out, as we are trying to have the most spectator friendly race of the season even if our courses aren't the best. About 50% of the XC is with in walking distance of the Start/Finish and we've even got a sound system up for the race. Awesome.

It's about time for class so I'd better go.
Have fun doing whatever you're doing.

Lata,
T

Squishing Tomatoes

Since I really have nothing to do before class on Tuesdays and Thursdays I figured I might sit down and write another blog or two. On those days I have to get up at 7:30 for my 8:30 class. I don't have to but it makes things a little easier.

Everybody has been asking about what I've up to, nothing new for me but I'll try to tell you about it.
Classes started last Wednesday and since then I've been trying to get back in the groove. It's gotten off to a rocky start but I'm nailing things down with in a week. To help all the craziness of the first few weeks is collegiate mountain bike racing.

Our first race is this weekend at ETSU, it's not far but to save money we're driving up Saturday morning so we have to get up at like 5. Not too bad. I race at 9 and sit around the rest of the day to rest for the XC on Sunday. The legs are feeling pretty good, so I'll see what I can do.

Class sucks, right now I'm mostly working on my general ed requirements so pretty much all of my classes are extremely boring. This blog is more for the people who aren't really into bikes and just want to find out what I've been up to.

Hands Are Tied

Dude so like what’s up?

Oh yeah, I guess you should be asking me that.

So, I’ve been working on this paper for my observation practicum. Believe me; you do not want to know what that is. The point is that I’m trying to waste time and not work on it so I’m writing a blog.

Sorry everybody, I told you that I was going to show up for the Fontana race but I decided to stay in Brevard for a few more days. After the natty trip I came back home and hung out for a week before going back up to Brevard and completing my observation/internship thing. And I thought I had to go back home to get my wisdom teeth taken out, but it turns out that it was just a filling. Bummer. I really need to get my wisdom teeth taken out for collegiate nationals, save some grams there.
So, I came back on Monday and have been hanging out and working on my trails. And of course working on my paper.

Get this; the SECCC (South Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference) does not have a website. Instead they have a “yahoo group” so in order to be part of that group you send an email to the administrator and they click the accept button. Easy right? Well, that administrator person, whomever they be has not accepted me, so I’m stuck. I cannot access the race schedule, the race results, and the fascinating forum. So, I would put up the new races for you guys to look at but I can’t. I’m sorry, lodge your complaints with the SECCCCCCCCCCCC website/yahoo group. Thanks.

Oops, I have to go make supper for my wonderful parents, who have agreed to let the Brevard Cycling team stay at the house for the North Georgia race so I have to be really, really nice to them for like 2 months.

______ in Black

OK, I’m back. Now, where to start.
I think I’ll give you a brief report of my race: one, because it was boring. And two, I’d rather not remember the race very much. I raced on Thursday which was way ahead of all the other people on my team and everyone else there. Well, I guess the other U23 riders were there too. Speaking of nobody being there, the most bummer thing about racing on Thursday was the fact that there were no spectators. Since I race on super long laps I don’t usually have many spectators but there are usually a good number on super sketchy parts on the descents. This time, however, there were hardly any. But once again, I’m nitpicking.
Anyway, I got a good start and tried to hang on up the first climb and watch Sammy J crash his brains out on the first decent and slowly slipped back to mid pack. They changed most of the climbs, probably to help with the weather (last year, for those who do not know was a terrible running race) but did not help out with me. I can never seem to get comfortable on super steep climbs and I figured the best way would be to ride at my own pace. My own comfortable pace was quite a bit slower than everybody else is so I ended up off the pace in 16th.

I was happy because now that my race was out of the way, I could help out the other people racing. We are a bunch of friends that hang out at every race and we scratch each other’s backs. Not literally however. After my race was over, I sat down and washed everybody’s bike and over the next few days feed people, carried clothing for them, cheered them on. And everybody thanked me, that was nice but you guys have done the same for me so I needed to pay you back. So, this goes out to all my bros: Thank you for helping me out even though I didn’t have such a great race.

In the spare time that I wasn’t being assistant team manager I was trying to recruit new riders for our college team. I talked to a bunch of dudes but none of them were real excited about Brevard. Oh well. Thad on the other hand was stoked about the number of riders he talked to.

I wasn’t able to take many pictures but there are quite a few on facebook and such. I’ll try to post some other links later on.

In other news, I’d would defintly watch out during collegiate season. Tristan Cowie is going to be doing something very different. If it turns out good then he might be doing it more often. Stay in touch.

P. S.
Matt St. Marie is the winner of the question. Finally. He will get a clapped out Small Block Eight and a certificate for being a true UH-merican.
Late,
T

Tuesday, no wait...

Tuesday. Actually, no it’s Friday but who’s checking. I always race on Sunday in my mind so today is Tuesday but it’s really Friday but you guys don’t really care. Last night was interesting, I slept on a chair. I wasn’t able to go to my “room” so I just sat down and went to sleep on a fold out chair. Not very comfortable and it feels like I gained ten years just in my back. Why didn’t I go to my bed when my mothers left, you ask? Well, turns out that although I woke up during the night I was beyond caring at that point so I just stayed in my chair.

What’s up for today? Uh…not sure, I need to find internet some place so I can post this post. Then at about 2ish I’m going for a ride with the Saint. What will I be doing in between then? Um…not really figured that out either. I thought if I could decide when my ride is I can structure my day around that. Because riding my bike is more important than everything else right? Ha! Try telling my mother that during exams. Or right now, when I should be spending time with my relatives. Oh well, I’ll figure out something to do.

These are very involved blogs, but I really don’t have anything else to do (because I don’t have any internet). I could set up mom’s mother’s cable, but that’s really not what I picture as a good time.
Anyway, I need to start figuring out things to figure out. So I’ll be back soon.

Lame Post Sorry

Not as bad as I expected. But I’m not feeling like I gained ten more years on my life. I think the most stressful parts of planning and putting together the trip are almost over with. That could all change in a day though.

For those of you who don’t know, the trip I’m talking about is the trip to the national mountain bike championships in Vermont. To be more precise, the ski resort, Mount Snow. Great course, great place, good times. It looks like we are planning to leave on Monday and drive to Timmy’s place in Virginia and finish the drive on Tuesday. I race on Thursday and I have the rest of the week to sit back and relax and of course, cheer on my bros.

But you guys don’t really want to know our travel plans. I’m finally back in my adopted home town of Brevard and playing catch up on all the gossip going around the shop. I staying and writing this blog at my grandmother’s house who now lives in Hendersonville, which is about half an hour from Brevard. My aunt and uncle also moved there and we just got back from visiting them and a great dinner. I’m trying to figure out what to do tomorrow. It seems like there’s so many trails to ride I just can’t decided what to ride.

Hopefully there will be internet at our condo in VT, last year there wasn’t. I’m going to attempt to post daily updates on the race. Not only our racer from my team but I’ll try to do everybody. I’ll probably forget most of them though. I actually can’t wait until the race because after Thursday all the pressure will be off me so I can just hang out and help other people with their races. I’m probably not going to do the short track on Sunday so I’ll be out of all racing after Thursday. I can actually watch the races instead of watching for five minutes and going back to the condo to rest.

My mother and my mother’s mother are researching stuff on the computer in my “bed room” so I’m trying to find stuff to do to chew up time. We’ll be in touch.

Definition of "On Crack"

The Infamous Professor

Professor Chaos.



Which is what is about to happen. The next two days are going to be reasonably chill; but starting Monday: pure, utter, chaos is going consume my life. I'm trying to enjoy my next few days at the house before I leave for nationals. I just love the fact that my sister leaves all (well I will give her some credit, most but not all) responsibility of packing and making sure we have everything together up to me.


Anyway, I'm starting a new trend with my blog. I will not complain as much, hopefully. Most of my spare time is spent complaining so I'll stay off of it for a while. I'm trying.

So, there has been a ton of stuff happening during the past weeks, but at the same time there hasn't really been anything happening either. I've been trying to find something else to write about other than racing but most of the other stuff usually follows the lines of complaining so I'll skip that too.

I've written about three paragraphs already but I still haven't said anything yet. I guess I can start with the latest race report for the SERC in Chattanooga. Great course, a little long but still fun. The trails at the top of Raccoon Mtn. are great to ride, but maybe not the best to race. They are tight and twisty so the passing is not very good. We had a pretty good turnout and a very top heavy field. It all stayed together once we got in the woods. To make a long story short, I was second first lap and missed my feed so I ran out of food the next lap and pulled the plug on the start of the third. Although, I hate DNF'ing a race I thought this was the best circumstance. I was using this race as a tune up for nats and I wanted to get in about two hours of hard riding. When I packed it, I was right at two hours and I still had about 45 minuets to finish the race. That's a little long for a cross country race. Thomas Turner won with a time of two and a half hours and that's pushing it.


There I go again, complaining. Sorry folks.


I'll add a picture, that might make it better. Courtesy of Gone Riding, thanks guys.

This was one was on the first lap when I was still in contention.

So, what have I been doing other than racing?

Good question, let me think.

Sitting at house, stripping the stain off and then re staining a deck, riding my bike a lot, making some sick coffee from my new french press, and as usual wasting time on facebook.

The pen is not flowing the ink this morning so I think I'll pack it up and try again later.

T

dddddduuuuddddddeeeeee!!

Old people know what "pinned" means!
http://freecaster.com/live/1000006_1004965

Listen very carefully

Definition of "Pinned"

http://freecaster.tv/1000006_1005144

what's UP with the DATE?

Ha! How did you guys like that blog title? Pretty cool huh?

Get it, "up date". Hahaha. I'm smrt.

Well, blog posts are the epitome of procrastination. Once you skip out one time, then it's on. It's been quite a while since my last post. And there have been many things going on. However, I have not really been doing anything, just sitting at the house trying to find stuff to do.

I'll start with Bump and Grind. Tash and I drove over Friday night after she got off work and stayed at Momma and Poppa squirrels house. It was awesome, well except for the time that their next door neighbor woke me up, but she brought us cinnamon rolls so that made it all worth while. Big props go out to the squirrels for letting 6 people crash at their house for the week end.

The pre-ride went good, the trail might have even been drier than the year before and it seemed like Blood Rock was changed a little bit. Since the laps are 17 miles long each, it's kind of hard to remember stuff year to year. We had a great meal at Moe's before struggling down the street to Wal Mart where we could get some tooth paste. After two minuets we figured we couldn't make it to Wal Mart and swung by Books a Million. They had an awesome collection of cycling magazines so that kept us occupied for a bit. When we came back to the house, the squirrel family hooked us up with some watermelon and basket ball action.

The race went good, not great. I was a little late to the start but was able to sneak up to the front after the instructions. Had a good start and followed Robert Marion, Charlie Pendry, Travis Livermon and Ray Hall into the woods. I was trying to look around to see if Wes had a good start, but it was kind of hard trying to stay on the trail and look behind me at the same time. I got popped off the front group after I slid off a bridge but I almost caught back on at the base of the climb. I barely latched on and got popped again. I decided this time to just shut down and ride my own pace up the climb and try to make up time on the next lap. The idea seemed good at the time but once I started my last lap, I was in no-man's land and I didn't really know how far up the leaders were. I ended up passing three guys who had flatted and held on to take fourth. I was happy-sorry guys flats suck-to finally profit off someone else's trouble. Since that's been happening the past couple of races. But I was kind of bummed because I thought I hadn't raced the smartest race that I could have.

Oh well, racing's racing. A week later I drove Tash up to the GSC race at Carter's Lake. I've been on a long five week training block and I was pretty tired, both mentally and physically. So, I rode a lap before the sis's race and fed her during her race. It's been a year since I've ridden at Carter's Lake and I was impressed at the course. They haven't made major changes but it runs neck to neck with Fort Mountain for the closest "World Cup" style course in the south east.

They have also expanded their downhill course. They still have the "advanced" course but they have added a tamer version which has some pretty fun lines. I rode it on my xc bike so it's not that bad (insert comment from Pinnett).

I finished up training yesterday in 90 degree weather. I'm from Georgia so that automatically makes it possible to complain about hot weather. Despite the very uncomfortable rides, I am getting a nice tan.

I guess I should say something about the titles. Since not that many people understood the "Rush Limbaugh.....blah, blah." I'm changing the title to something that really describes me. Not sure what, I'm still working it so check back once in a while to see what changes I've made.

Now for the question. The first person that answers the question correctly will get a free Kenda Small Block Eight mountain bike tire with an autographed certificate for being an American from me. (Non-Americans are invited to compete in the contest as well).

I'm adding some pictures from the Bump Pre-ride and some others ones I might have floting around.

During the pre-ride.

I'm sorry pre riding the coruse is not as exciting as racing it boys. Don't fall asleep now.

Batons, Brothers, Bikes, Bakery, Breakfast, Bummer

I was trying to think of one word that would represent the entire weekend. I couldn't think of just one so I used a bunch.

Batons. Batons represent the 12 Hours of Tsali. Sycamore Cycles put together no less than four teams to throw down in their respective classes. The team with the most amount of laps won the race, but you were not allowed to go out until your team mate had come in and handed you the baton.


Brothers. The best part about the weekend was hanging with all my pals from Brevard. Less than a week had gone by and I already started missing everybody, so it was nice to get a solid 12 hours of hang out time in. Pretty happy about that.


Bikes. Ah, if we had all been runners instead of bikers. There are soo many less things to go wrong when you run. Although we had a few more mechanical problems than the winning team, I don't think we would have been able to come out on top.


Bakery. Besides the fact that I had a ton of friends to hang out with, the Braken Mountain Bakery had stocked us with more cinnamon rolls than I could eat (that's alot of good food if you've never seen me eat), Jimy (with one m) brought a grocery bag full of candy, Jockey came packing with some Red Bulls, I brewed some awful coffee but everybody seemed to like it at least a little bit, and of course there were plenty of Dr. Peppers around.



Breakfast. After the race, we had two meals. First we drove to Silva and ate at a jam packed Huddle House (mind you it was 1:00 in the morning). Then the Tash and I drove back to Brevard and stayed at the Squirrel house with Jenna and Thad (don't mess with Thad or Jenna, they will fight you) . Jenna also made some AWESOME waffles. We got in that night at 3:30 and went straight to sleep. Tash and I woke up at 12 noon and by the time we had breakfast and rode a little bit it was time to leave Brevard again. That brings us to the last word.


Bummer. Despite all the awesome things during the trip the end result didn't happen quite right. Sycamore brought four teams and two got second place (in the open money and all women classes). Close, but not close enough. My team had a very close race with the KHS/Kenda team. It was nail biting time as we held a four to six minuet gap the entire race. In a race as long as 12 hours, six minuets is nothing. There was a little bit of pressure on everybody because I was on the winning KHS team last year and we were there to pull off the upset. I was super impressed with the rest of the guys on my team, even though we couldn't pull back any time they kept on going out and pushing to the limit to close it down. I'm pretty sure all of our times were within a minuet of the our fastest laps.


In the end; I had an awesome time, got in some good training, filled out my hang out time, ate some really good food, almost pulled off the upset, set the fastest time, and got shown up by the determined bros on my team as well as everybody else in the Sycamore camp.



So, I finally got the pictures off my camera from my last weekend at Brevard. There's nothing too exciting, just a bunch of nature stuff for the chicks. I've got much less important things to do but they still have to get done.



T


P. S.
You can check out some good pictures of the race taken by none other than, Punky Brewster.
If you would check out the other links I have posted and prop me if none of them work. I hate going to websites and nothing works. It's hard for me because I'm usually signed into facebook and stuff so I can't see . Much appreciated bras.

Here's some pictures of the dorm too. Since our suite mates left before I did, Timmy and I had some fun taking showers with my bike.

Back to Business

Ok, I'm back.
It took a little longer than I expected but whatever.

I left you with some promises that I would tell what happened in Maryland and Ducktown. I don't really want to talk about either but I did promise. I will keep it short.

In MD everything was great. Had a good pre-ride, had some good food for breakfast, and stayed with some really nice people (props to Tim's parents for letting us stay). But everything started on the first day, the second lap of my pre-ride I ripped my rear tire on the very last decent. I walked back to the van and we packed up and drove back to the house. Later that night, I put on a new tire but I had some trouble sealing it. Since we didn't race until 3 the next day, I worked on it the whole day. Went out for my warm up and it went pretty much flat. Awesome. I went back to the van pumped it up and rode to the start line. We had to sit on the start for a while because we had to get a ton of instructions. About 30 seconds before the start I lean over to Squirrel and said: "Dude, my tire is completely flat." I turned back to the start and we were off. As you can probably guess I had to put a tube in the tire about 5 minuets into the lap. So, after I got passed by the entire Semi-Pro field I had to chase for the rest of the race. I still ended up 8th out of 15 (and only one or two dnfs) so I was pretty stoked about that.


Ducktown turned out even worse. I didn't have the best week before for the race. So, over the weekend I had to play catch up. I met up with long lost sister and we drove up the in-laws place. Hers, not mine. (I mean I guess that's what you would call them, sister's boyfriend's parents).

Anyway, thanks to the Padgett's for putting up with the Cowie clan for a few nights. We had some AWESOME waffles at their house and it was fun to chill and talk with them for a while.

It seems like whenever you get a flat or mechanical it's when you don't really want it. But whenever you want a mechanical, you never get it. During the warm up and such I felt terrible. I got a good start but got popped on the first climb. Andy caught up to me and I rode with him to the top of the decent when my rear tire felt flat. I stopped and put in a CO2 and rode down the trail. When I got to the bottom of the decent the tire was just about as flat. Since I used one of my CO2 on the decent I didn't have enough air to make the tube hard. Since it was on the first lap I pulled the plug. The Saint was also not having a good day and he caught up to me on the pavement. We both rode together for a lap and I practiced doing whips and tables.
Sucks.

Now, I'm hanging out at the house getting ready for the 12 Hrs of Tsali. And unpacking from school and finding a job and doing projects around the house and trying to get out of my parents hair. I did take some pictures of my last ride in Pisgah but I'm not sure where my camera is so those will have to wait a bit. I also haven't been able to find my parent's pictures of Ducktown. I'm going to find those right now so I'm outta here.

Blah

Got a nasty taste in my mouth. Most likely it came from the beer and milk combo I just drank.
Ah! Just kidding.

This will be another short one.

The bad taste comes from my result today, flatted on the first lap and after using both my CO2s to fill up the tire I couldn't get it hard enough (that's what she said-Ed.) I eventually pulled out of the race. Blah.

I promise that I will give you the whole story from Greenbrier and Ducktown. Right now I have to finish some home work for school. Actually there is a ton of stuff to do and not very much time to do it. I have a week left of school and in that time I need to study, eat, sleep, have fun, accept aid, write papers, study some more, and most important ride.

Anyway, I'm signing off.
Late


P. S. Sorry but my camera did darn run out of batteries, so no pictures from the race. My parentals were there so maybe they got some good ones.

P. P. S. Thanks to everybody who offered to give me tools and stuff during the race, you guys are real bros. I'll remember that.

Another MD

Yo, I'm getting really good at the whole blog thing. Now I have a video from the race. What now?!?!? Am I cool or what?

Anyway, the longer version of my tale is still to come as I don't really feel like typing a whole lot tonight. But I am posting some pictures for you.


Only two more weeks until we are out for the summer and I have much work to do before then. My bike is still dirty from MD so that will be one of the things I need to do before then. Probably before this weekend too, as I'm driving over to Ducktown for the fourth round of the SERC calendar. I also forgot to mention that the Saint won his race by a very tight margin. Congrats bro.


Anyway on to the pictures.

White Squirrel making sure everything is in order.

Tamer getting excited about something, note the Venti Starbucks cups in the dash (race fuel).

A very happy horse; he won't tell anybody, but I gave him an extra serving of oats the night before.

The Jockey's life is now complete. The idea was to get the golf ball on to the tee but it was really hard.




Awesome people on the interstate on the way home.

Medical Doctor (MD) Update

Yo, it's pretty late so this post is going to be pretty short.
T-had decided not drvie the whole way back to the 828 so we're holed up in a hotel some where in VA.
The race went ok, to make a long story short, I flatted on the first lap and had to throw a tube in my rear wheel. I got passed by the entire Pro and half of the Semi-Pro fields. So the rest of the race was spent chasing the leaders. I was about to pack it on the 2nd lap, but I figured it would be good training so I stuck in. Picked off a few more riders and ended up 8th out of 15 ish. Not bad, but think of what I could have done if I was in the front.

I got a little bit of money so that made me happy but the fact that the UCI status was only for the junior race did not. (more on that later).

Anyway I do have some pictures, they mostly suck but whatever. The Saint is brushing his teeth so I'd better sign off.

Tiger Rage

Oops almost forgot to write this one. I was trying to decide on what to start the whole thing off with. The week end was simple, woke up on Saturday and cleaned the bike a bit. Hung out at the bike shop a bit and road my bike for a bit. So the day was made out of bits.

It rained a little bit Sat afternoon so I waited around until it stopped and went out for a quickie. It was fun, but somewhat cold. Didn’t really do anything that night, just stuck myself and went to sleep. It was nice not having to wake up super early in the morning either.

Since race preparation is not the most exciting thing in the world, I’ll skip over a bit. The race was good; they had changed the course some from the regular one. They cut out the long gravel descent and climb and everything around the lake. They had also cut a new section of trail around the start finish, it kinda sucked though as it was a new trail and everything and it was really bumpy. It would have been ok, but not really at the very start of the race. I’m nit picking though.

The race was good, a group of three rolled off the front early on. Mike, me and Zed. We swapped pulls for a lap and then Zed fell off the pace. Mike and I road together for another lap and he put in a pretty good digger up the climb. I wasn’t feeling fresh as a peach so it took me a whole another lap to close it down. I took a pull and Mike fell off the pace, so I rode the rest of the race by myself.

I was hoping I would do good at the Tiger because it is a good warm up for Greenbrier next week end. Greenbrier is a UCI race in Maryland; I went last year to pick up some extra points for the World’s race. They ended up changing the rules of the selection so it didn’t really help me. 2008 comes around and I going back up because it was a really fun, well organized race.

So since this post is pretty lame I’m adding some pictures for you folks. Hope you like ‘em.

Soggy Tsali

Once again I’m passing up on a great opportunity to finish my homework to write another blog entry. I have to say that I’m the most dedicated person I know. I mean who would do homework over blogging? Probably St. Marie…

Ha-ha, sorry buddy. I had to take a shot. Last Sunday we scooted over Bryson City for my first cross country race of the year. I was soooo excited. You can read about it on the Saint’s blog . I ended up missing the exit for Tsali multiple times. Everyone thought it was awesome, except me that is.

As someone once told me and as I have said before: “the better you get at cycling, the worse you get at everything else.” My life is not very exciting, I get up and go to class and get out and ride my bike. I have a new habit, if you can call it a habit. I time how long it takes to eat the Popsicles from the cafe. It usually takes me until the door of my room to finish the Popsicle. However, if I get an ice cream sandwich, I can finish it before I walk past all the cars by Beam Hall. Apples and Ice Cream cones are a little harder, I can walk all the way up to Tim and Danny’s room before it’s finished. I do have a little note book that I’m not using so I figured that I should start writing down how long it takes me to eat certain things on certain days. What do ya think?

Oh yeah, I should probably get back to the race. The week end was similar to a normal race weekend which is pretty much every weekend. Highlights of the weekend were: watching a huge Vandy frat party at Fontana village, watching Nor Kackilacy get beat up on in the final four, discovering the day of the race that my rear brake pads were worn down to the metal, fixing the pads, and eating some awesome muffins from our super cool sponsor, the Braken Mountain Bakery (that does not happen every race weekend by the way).

Well, we were a little late leaving the cabin, but everybody made it to the race on time. After arguing with the car parker dude about where we could park we were able to park in the Sycamore Cycles team area. Sick. Set up shop and sat around catching up with some old friends. Little E wanted to watch some awesome racing action in the new release: Stars & Bars, so I cracked open my laptop and we sat down and watched it.

I’ll skip some of the racing action, because that’s probably the most boring part. On second thought, this whole blog is pretty boring, but whatever. I got in a good warm up but was still kind of hesitant about the race. My brake pads were worn out, I was really nervous, and my shoes felt a little uncomfortable. I kept on reminding myself that some of my races came when everything didn’t seem to be working out. I got a good start, and followed Andy and Mike into the woods. By the top of the climb Sam came by and Andy fell off the pace. For another hour it was just Mike, Sam Korber, and myself. Nothing major happened after that, Mike was dropped on the climb; I hit a tree and broke my rear break line which allowed Sam to get a gap. I spent the rest of the race chasing but it was no use. I kind of fell apart in the final five miles but I was still able to keep the gap to Sam around 40 seconds.

The rest if the team did very well, as Wes got his first podium in a Pro race and St. Marie got his first podium in an expert race. Watch out for those two, as pretty soon they will have their first wins in their respective classes. Julia also won her race earlier on in the day. Pinnett, Jimy, and Gattis all put in solid performances in their races too.

I was pretty happy about how I raced, but not super stoked. This is just a small regional race and it looks like I’m doing the right thing but I really won’t find that out until July. I tell you what though; getting a good performance at the first race does wonders for your confidence. I am going to change my race schedule too, I will not be going to the GSC race in Columbus, it’s a pretty far of a drive and finals are coming up so I’m going to skip it. I might be at the Tiger Rag the weekend of the 20th. If not then the next race will be the Greenbrier challenge in Maryland. Here are some pictures of the race for you folks too. Enjoy.

Hey remember, there's one rule: everybody love everybody.


Sorry St. Marie I had to jack one of your pictures.

The Assualt? Ha! More like Nature's Assualt on us!

Well, I figured I would get chewed out by certain people if I put up a blog post with in 20 minuets of finishing the ride so I waited until the next day. I would like to point out that I totally could, but did not.

Since just doing a race report is kind of boring I'm going to try to keep this short. The day started off good, it was in the 50s with an overcast sky. I was about to take off my knee warmers but decided to leave them on before the start. The Saint and KOP took off through town and lead out the newspaper sprint. Kop took a break at the back while St. Marie and I drove it through some sketchy back roads. With in 15 minuets the field spilt and there was a lead group of 40 or so. We spilt up a little more going over Walnut Hollow but most everybody caught back on on the descent.

After that, it started raining coming down 178 and boy it was bad. First off imagine standing in a group of people in a elevator-you don't really want to touch any of them because they're sketchy. Then have some little kid throw really small rocks at you. This was not a gentile rain, it hurt. I might even have some bruises.

After getting in South Carolina, I covered a small attack that didn't go any were. Oh yeah, SC kept on raining but not as hard, so it was more like having your eyelids stapled to your forehead and staring into a garden hose for two hours. Awesome.

It was kind of funny at one point. Two Bio Wheels guys attacked and I hopped on one dude's wheel. As we pulled through one guy informed me that I needed to drop down to my 13 (on my cassette) because we were going down hill. And I was like: "Dude, do you think I'm that stupid?" I'm not going to pull you up to your team mate were I'll be in a group with two Bio Wheels guys and one Sycamore. Luckily we were caught a little later.

That is one thing that infinitely pisses me off about roadies. I'm not hating on all roadies just the ones who think it's necessary to tell me what to do. I've been riding and racing bike for over half my life time, although I always see room for improvement, I think I know what I'm doing. Thanks for telling me. I was told off three times yesterday for doing something wrong. Anyway more on that later.

After hitting Cesar's head about 4 guys took off, although Wes and I probably could have stayed with them, but it would have hurt very,very bad. So we sat up and waited for Tamer and Pinnet. Near the top I've got to shout out to Jay and Ray for giving us some Little Debbie Cakes and Gatorade. And Jenna and Stephine for cheering us on. On the descent we caught back up to Kop and Pinnet's group. Since it was about 10 miles from the finish we sat on the front and drove the pace. The same Bio Wheels guy was in our group as well as Tommy from the Etowah ride. So four Sycamore vs. two other guys. Good for us, not good for them. Everybody was working well together until the Bio Wheels guy stopped pulling.

Dude I sure hope you read this some day. I'm not going to mention names, but I know who you are. I totally understand at this was a ride and not a race. Yes, Sycamore treats it as a race but it's still a ride. When you stopped pulling, you turned it into a race. If you kept on pulling and doing your share of the work we would have had a normal sprint finish, no big deal. But you decide to not help so we attacked. You totally got what you deserved. And I'm warning you, if you decide to race 12 Hrs of Tsail with your puny Bio Wheels team, you will get destroyed. I have no problems with your bike shop and with any other people on your team, but I do have a problem with you. It's not finished.

Anyway on a happy note Wes killed it and won the sprint for 5th. I figure I didn't really need to stay with the group after doing my pull on the front considering we still had 3 vs. 2. I rolled in for 10th place. Not bad. I had fun and I helped Wes win the sprint. So was it successful? Yes, I did my job and even though I didn't finish with our group I helped out. Props to everybody who road and those who didn't ride.

The KOP has some good pictures and a little more detailed report here: http://wesdickson.blogspot.com/2008/03/assault-on-carolinas-crew-and-i-headed.html

Later folks, and watch out Bio Wheels.

PICTURES

This is side ways but it's the corn syrup, also very sticky.

The fiinished product.

Dad LOVED it. Nah probably not. Dude the picture posting thing on blogger post everything backwards so read from bottom to top.

This is the paste stuff that gum is made out of. I totally forgot the name of it though. Super sticky by the way.

This is me making gum from a 15 year old gum making kit. Be amazed.

This is why I rule.

It wasn't too bad either.

The Good, the Bad and FREE STUFF!

Once again I'm skipping out on home work to write blogs. Maybe I should start charging people who read a nominal fee. For every blog you read you have to help me type a page for my paper. Sound good? No, ok that's cool.

What I was going to tell you about before I started talking about money is Spring BREAK!
Most people get really excited about spring break, I don't. This leads to many long conversations with my room mate, he attempts to improve my out look on life. But hey, I think summer break is a little better than a week off but who asks me.

Since I've spent the last two breaks on the road, it was nice to come home and hang out with the parentals. That I haven't done because they have had to work and I sit around the house, sweeping the floor, fixing meals, and wasting time on my computer. Side note-our Internet is wayyyyy better than the schools, plus it's wireless so yes, I can sit on the toilet and check my facebook. It has been done before.

I thought that I was coming home to some nice Georgia weather so I could work on my tan lines and not carry an extra 200 dollars worth of clothing on every ride. I didn't even bring my tights home. Bad idea, as many of you know this whole week has been overcast 40 degree weather. Not terrible but not quite what I expected. To add to that I have burned my eggs three times in the last two day-and dropped one on the floor, been unable to order shoes because the company decided not to carry that set anymore, grated carrots, and run out of things to eat-on Monday.

However, some good things have been happening. I did get two boxes of Girl Scout cookies from Mom and Dad on my desk when I got home. Little did they know I had already eaten a whole box out of the freezer. I got my wheels ordered as well as my fork from Fox. I've got to do a little blatant sponsorship endorsement here. So, I needed some tires from Maxxis, I got on their website Tuesday morning and sent my order form in. By like 10 o'clock (I ordered at 8ish) I already had a confirmation of my order. By that afternoon, I also had a UPS tracking number. When I got up the next morning (9ish) I checked the tracking number and it already said the package was en-route. By 12, my brand new Monorails were sitting on my doorstep.

Now they are based in Atlanta which explains the fast delivery, but within 6 hours, I had already got confirmation and a tracking number. Now that's service! Maxxis rules!

This was soooo much better than people and companies I have worked with before. There were several races last year when I didn't even have tires. So I had to mark out the names of other tires and run those.
Ah, the good ol'days.

Now in the last post, or the one before that, or one of 'em. I said that I was going to take some pictures and post them. I'm sorry but I have not taken a single one. I promise that by the time I write my next post I will have some pictures (hey-that's a really good excuse not to write). You have to understand where I'm coming from though. Riding my bike is not very exciting: I look down, I look up, I spit to the side, I look down, I look back up, I sit up and stretch, I look down, I look up, I....you get the picture. Other than that there's really nothing else exciting on my rides. There might be cool stuff, like doing 40 in an aero tuck and watching the car coming at you slide into the wrong lane and screech back into their lane, but it's hard to take pictures of that.

Anyway, there will be some, soon. I promise.

I leave with this last thought: Don't let damn Brevard area seniors eat your mac and cheese, like they did Chaput. Senior citizens can be sneaky as hell sometimes.

Finally

Wow, I'm finally done with mid terms, a really hard training block, and eating my waffle this morning. I'm in a pretty good mood too, although I almost fell asleep in class this morning. The mid term grades came out today and I didn't do as bad as I expected so I'm pretty stoked about that. They're not great, but not terrible.

I'm sorry I've been so bad about posting new blog, but I've been really busy the last two weeks. I've had a to do a ton of stuff for school and train on top of that. So in order to make it up to you guys I'm going to do a ton of rides this week and take as many pictures as I can. I'm not entirely sure how to post pictures yet but since everybody else is doing it I don't think it's too hard.

So I'm going to have to go to class, but I promise that I'll work on updating a little more this week and look for pictures.

I hope Towelie is still my friend....

Bike Game Dates

Here it is:



Date Event Location

March 30th GSC 1, Macon, GA (Arrowhead)??
April 6th SERC 2, Tsali, NC
April 13th GCS 2, Columbus, GA
April 27th Greenbrier Challenge, Frederick, MD
May 4th SERC 4 Ducktown, TN
May 17th 12 Hrs of Tsali, NC
May 18th Stump Jump, Spartanburg, SC??
May 25th SERC 5 Farmington, GA
June 1st Bump and Grind, Pelham, AL
June 8th GSC 5 Ellijay, GA
June 15th SERC 6 Clemson, SC
June 22nd GSC 6 TBA
June 29th SERC 7 Chattanooga, TN (Raccoon Mountain)
July 12-13th NMBS 5 Windham, NY
July 20th US National Championships Mt. Snow, VT
July 26-27th SERC 9 Fontana, NC
August 3rd GSC 8 Macon, GA (Pig Trail)??
October 24th-26th Collegiate National Championships



So that's what I'm doing this year, awesome huh?
Some I'm not quite sure yet and they have question marks beside them if you couldn't figure that out.

I will also be doing several colleigate MTB races in the fall and I do not have those races yet so...
I might hit up some Greenville road races like last year, I will let you know what's going down before the date in question.

I've got some other stuff to get done right now so...Jackass 2.5 sucks

Never, ever watch it.

T

Scotty Up

Hey I was going through some old papers in my desk and found some stuff I wrote in Scotland and forgot to publish. This was written I either just before or just after my race. Here goes:

Finally I got some time to myself . Well, sort of. Steven, Ethan and I are chilaxing in our room. Steven is reading a book for class and E is listening to his ipod. So I somewhat have some time of own. Let me go back to the subject of having three people in one room.

First off, there is no clock. So we have to set our watches to the right time to get up. Second, for some reason the Brits don't use wash cloths. They gave us three towels and three things like you step on when you get out of the shower, but we have two sheets that are made for that purpose. I can't think of anything else about that so I'll move on.

The dinning. The dinning room is pretty swank. They have multiple forks and spoons and knives to use. Knowing which one to use at the right time is the key. That's about all the good things about the dinning. For breakfast if you don't get there by 9:00am sharp, you don't eat. Period.
For shouwa. Actually when I did get up in time to eat this morning (Wensday) it was the best meal I had over there. Second, wait....you don't get seconds, at all. The first day was a sandwich and bowl of soup.

Oh yeah all the food, except for some of the soups, have absolutely no taste. The chicken we had last night was skinned and cooked. No spices, no seasoning, just chicken. The waitresses (by the way the waitresses are fairly good looking and handle everything perfectly, they would probably pick you nose if you asked them to) gave us pasta and then asked us (like we were crazy if we did) if we wanted sauce on the chicken. Unlike previous worlds where they had buffets this was a full fledged Scottish restaurant, catering, and I don't even know what serving team.

Back to the room for a moment. Now think about this for a second. You have three college age guys. One room. Got it? Dose it seem like a good idea to give them one key to the room? No it's a terrible idea. By Wednesday we had been locked out of our room four times.

The Junior and U23 girls raced today. I don't know how the U23 chicks did, but both juniors were in the top 20. That's pretty good. I've got my race tomorrow. I feel pretty good but I have no idea how the race will plan out so I'm shooting for 1st for 2nd American. Have fun in the states and be thankful for your washcloths.

Still Alive

For those of you who don't know, I have just returned from my death bed. Not really. I'm sure that's what Chapy thought though. From Wednesday afternoon to lunch time on Friday I only came out of my dorm room once. I got da flu. It sucked. Let's leave it at that.

In other news, I signed with Fox Racing Shox and they are hooking me up with some sick forks. I also came home this weekend to visit the parents and watch Dad eat his blue berry cobbler right off his salsa and chips. Awesome.

Ah, that was the other thing I was going to tell you. Many people have been asking me what is up with the whole "Rush Limbaugh is a Real Man" thing. Last year when Tasha and I were driving to or from (can't remember which) a race in Florida we saw a bill bord with the saying on it. The funny part about it is that it was totally cereal. It was like one of thoes God one's where it reminds you that you have to hang out at his house, which is lame-no beer, no food, and no strippers; before you go to the "game" which is even worse. Don't even get me started on football. Football is like having your eyelids chafed, it's like...nevermind.

Anyway, because Rush Limbaugh is one of the biggest PABs I that I've never met, I figured that anyone who thinks that he's a "real man" probably had some trouble passing the Georgia High School Graudation Tests. So now it's my slogan. And I will add him to my growing list of Really Strange People I Don't Like. He fits in just behind professors, but above other radio talk show hosts-that's a pretty big area, I need to narrow it down a bit.

More news, I have a new friend! Yay! I just found out that he is a deciated reader of my blog-I hope-and a really nice guy in person. Everybody knows him, he lives in Colorado and he travels all over the world. Say hello to.....Towlie!

That's all for now. I'll probably write some more soon, but I need to pack up and drive back to the 828 tonight.

Late.

__________and Mustard

Man, been busy.
Sorry folks. However, I have been changing some more stuff on my blog page which might even bump my daily readers up by point zero two. Whee. I added some other people's blogs which you should totally check out some time as most of them are wayy better than mine. I even added a MOIVE! How sick is that? I've been doing my blogger homework. Speaking of homework I need to do some. But what better way than to waste time on facebook or blogger.

So, I'm announcing my new sponsors for the 2008 season. Although there might be a one or two that I'm still waiting on, I'm probably not going to hear back from them. Here goes, Specialized is the one that I was most worried about, but I've got it pretty much nailed down now. I'll be riding a Epic and possibly a hard tail if the course deserves it.

Maxxis hooked me up with some sick tires and I'll be riding the brand new Monorail and Ridgeline. I might get a set of Larsen TTs or Crossmarks. However the first tire on my list is a set of Medusa's. Herndog and Wes lent me a pair at the Collegiate Nats and that was pretty much the reason I got 2nd place. All you need to know about the Medusa's is that they hook up in mud.

Crank Brothers is another one I've been trying to keep under the tap because they are providing their new external crank set and wheels. I won't be able to get those until partway through the season, but I might be able to get my hands on a set before then. If you haven't seen their wheels yet, just Google it. They look awesome. They are comparable in weight with the XTR wheels and they come with a 6 paul hub. Meaning I have 3 degree engagement, instead of having play in the wheel when back pedaling it's almost instant engagement. It feels soooooo sick.

Finally Six Six One is the casual clothing department. As well as some protective gear. I will also use their gloves.

I also need to give a shout out to Sycamore Cycles and Dahlonega Wheelworks. Jon at Wheelworks really helped me with getting parts and selling my old bike. He has also helped me out a ton by giving me a job and some brand new Sidi podium shoes. Thanks for the help bro. Wes at Sycamore was a big help during the collegiate season and helped me get a sponsorship from Maxxis as well as Specialized. Both of these shops have helped with everything, from handing me bottles and taking care of me before races to cheering me on and fixing my bike while I put my feet up and relax. Wes and Jon will be around at most of the races I'm doing next year so if you could just stop by and say hi, they love talking to people.

And if it's not to much could you just take some time and click on the links to the right and surf the sites.

I'm sending another big thank you to everybody who has helped me over the years, my friends, my family, my bike shops, and my sponsors. I hope this season will be best yet.

This is going to be a interesting post. I can't say anything yet until I figure out exactly what's going on.

So....
I've been talking to some guy that could give me some sponsorship for this year. It sounds good but we need to finalize it first. In other news I did sign with another sponsor but I will announce all my 2008 sponsors in a few weeks.
I have a clothing sponsor and I am still waiting on a bike, wheel, tire, and probably another sponsor.

Nothing is for sure, but it feels really nice to start talking to people. I thought that I wasn't going to get anything from anyone for a while but thanks to somebody I now have a good chance at getting a great sponsorship from somebody.

With that announcement I'll probably post my 2008 races. I'm not completely sure I'll do all of them but I'll will do most of them.

Anyway, I'm pretty relaxed finally and check back soon for the sponsor stuff. I can say that I'm working on my kit for next year and it's going to look freaking sweet. I will say that I will be super, ultra sexy.

I'm trying not to be conceited or anything but when I roll up to the line you will know who I am.

Word.

Late