Houffalize

Got in the belgium today. Pretty good place a little hillier than
Germany. We have a pretty cool set up outside of town it's about 20
minutes into houffalize and about 40 back since it's all uphill on the
way out. No Internet at the place were staying at so I'm writing this
on Wednesday At least I think it's Wednesday I'm definetly still on
American time.

Rode the course today. Good world cup course I guess. All up or down
with like zero flat. Some little fun spots on the downhill but nothing
too special.

So yeah racing in few days so just hanging out and some short rides on
the plan. Hopefully head back into town soon so I can post this one
too. Took some pictures but can't really upload them yet so you'll
have to wait I'm sure you guys are pretty bummed out about that.

Hope everything is going swell back in the us of a. Going to see if I
can get the throttle suck wide on Sunday. Sorry Rimmer the start is on
pavement so I can't pull a trademark if you know what I mean.

Lata,
T

In Flight

So I'm in Washington, but when you read this i'll probably be some
place else. Don't really know where though. I'm wayyy to cheap to payb
for the over priced Internet at the airport so I'm writng this while
waiting for the flight.

Typing on my touch kind of sucks so if I have some errors forgive me.
Or not as like half of the three people who read my blog love to do.
Quick recap on the trip. Left school yesterday afternoon And drove to
Winston Salem to hit it up with T-Money and a night of madness. Haha
not really just some good times packing bikes and catching up on gossip.

Went for a quick ride this morning around town. Saw some pretty rad
houses some people winston are high rolling. Packed up the bikes and
headed over to RDU for a quick puddle skip over to Washington. We fly
out at ten and get into Germany at around lunch tomorrow.

Then it's straight to Belgium for the first race where I'm hoping to
find some Internet and post this one. It's also really hard to find a
dang outlet for my phone on airports too. FYI. Dude they'd better have
some food for me as soon as I sit down because I'm starving.

Oh well America, I gonna miss you guys, keep it pinned all the way so
it's TAC'd out.

Late, T. Cowie's out.

Bad Dreams

So last night I had a really bad dream. I was in Europe and I found out that I had forgotten all of my tires/clothes/equipment back home. Not good. Then I woke up. Hahaha. Good times eh?

How are things going for ya 'merica? Looks to be a pretty nice day out at least for a little while longer. Oh well, if it rains that just means that no body will be out on the trails except me that is.

One last weekend in the states means a fully wide open weekend. I just took a final yesterday and I have another one tomorrow night with the rest on Monday. Yay! And people wonder why I'm not racing this weekend. The nice thing is I don't have class on Monday. I'm done dude. I'm out. But fitting in my weekly hang out time is going to be tough.

It just started to rain in B-town so that's my cue to go ride. As Chinese Dinna Man shows us, you can go just as fast in the wet as in the dry.

Pretty lame post but I'll add some pictures that have been sitting around on my computer.






Keep it tac'd 'merica.

Stretching Out

Today is good not great but good. Woke up wayyy too early today still means I'm worrying about stuff haha. Oh well that's life as they say.

I didn't write much about Tsali at all really namely because I'm trying to forget about it. The way the weekend went for me, was like this: I woke up, I had a good breakfast, I drove to the Tsali race. Then there's this big blank spot where I don't remember anything and the next thing I know I was back home. Crazy huh?

What really happened? I went out a little too hard and blew up hard
core. Good times.

A week off and full of hanging out and working on home work. Yay! Not. Then it was back to road racing for the conference finals at Mars Hill. Road race went pretty good, it was a very selective course and guys started popping off early. Made the "front group" of about ten and we tired to pull back the four minute lead the break got. Didn't work and I got popped off the group on the last climb and rolled in for seventh. Not too shabby. The crit went a little better. We tired to set up
Killer for the win but I screwed up and miss read lap cards and was at the back of the bunch for the final sprint. He still ended up using his wild animal powers to get fourth so big props to him.

So one more week of hanging out and doing work before I ship out across the pond. Hopefully no volcanoes explode while I'm flying over them. That would be awesome. Also check out the KFC south park some people might learn some life lessons from that...

And if Dungey can stay upright he'll take it but Stewarts still got
the title.

Have a good day 'merica I'm gonna miss you.

Long Week, Long Road

Well, you know sometimes nothing ever goes right. Yeah that happened to me last week. It sucked let me tell you. But I shouldn't complain I guess, although that's kind of what blogs are for.

I'll skip to the more exciting stuff. I started racing, finally it seemed like forever since I've been training since ********* (sorry can't tell you that bit). First race was a collegiate road race down in my home state. This time it didn't rain however. I felt good all weekend but it was one of those things where you're like: "Oh, this pace isn't bad I should open it up a little." And then as soon as you start going hard it's like: "Oops shouldn't have done that." Good times. I finished somewhere in the top 20 the first day and managed to get in the lead break the second day. Mr. My Shoes Are Too Big split the group and spit me out the back. Still finished somewhere in the top 15.

Nice weekend off in between collegiate races. Hung out with a CTS camp in Brevard and got in some good training miles. Colin you still owe me a burrito...

Last weekend was another race in Furman. Hard course on Saturday with some steep rollers and a bunch of wind. Got in a small break with another dude about an hour in dropped him 45 minutes later and spent about an hour off the front in a solo break. So yeah, you could say that my legs hurt after that. The crit the next day went alright. The course was flat and technical but not really to my liking. I started to give 'er in a few corners but started to get a little sideways so I backed off and acted like a little girl for the rest of the race. Made the break again and finished in the top 10?

Now it's a few hard days of training before the SERC race at Tsali. The first big test of the season. Can't wait. The throttle is sticking a little bit but hopefully it will get completely stuck this Sunday. We'll see.

In the previous post I mentioned our good friends to the north. Well they just added another gold medal to the charts.

Over and out 'merica.
By the way the cookies burned too.
T

Dethroned

This year is not starting out good. I've had two defeats and the season hasn't even started yet. First I lost to Mrs. Squirrel for not getting a post up and then I lost my title of Plank Champion last night to some burley mountain man from Minnesota. Congrats to the Elk Killer.

I don't like getting beat, so I guess I just need to go more work. Simple eh? Speaking of simple, how bout that Northern Country teaching some people how they do the Olympics. Never won a Gold medal at a home games and then taking home the most golds? Yeah that's right, turn down the funk and turn up the good.

It's been snow, snow, and more snow here in North Kack. We got like 5 and a half inches yesterday. It sucked. The trails are still covered and will be for another two weeks or so. Looks like I'm going home this weekend for spring break. My trails at the house need some loving, but I don't think I'll be able to get out since I'm getting some tooths pulled on Saturday. Yay. Not.

I like having extra teeth, they help me eat all my candy.

First race is two weeks away and I can't wait. It's funny to think that my race season always start pretty much half way through March but it always seems so far away. In the mean time I've been trying to get my throttle stuck WFO. I think it worked. Not sure yet, we'll have to see at that first race.

In other news, I've had thoughts on changing my blog title for something that describes me a little better than "How do you spell America?" Something more...er....fitting. Share your thoughts.


Even though BMXers are still little tight pants wearing girls, Mike Day can make a days work of a BMX track. Check out that manual at the end. That's pretty cereal.

Mike Day Test Shoot from Clay Porter on Vimeo.

Late Race

Well, I had my first race this year. It's not what you think though. I was racing the female Squirrel to be the first to post a new blog. I lost, by a pretty good bit actually.

Oh well, first thing's first. Except that I don't know what the first thing is. How about I do a movie since I already have that. Minnaar knows how to ride some moto. Maybe that's why he's one of the best in the World? You tell me.




Let me start out by doing some sponsor stuff. Last time I told you that I was about to announce some new sponsors but I kind of forgot to post a blog in time. So here you go. I'm proud to announce....no never mind that's wayyy too corny. Twin Six has jumped on the wagon, or bike rather for another year. For a while I was skeptical about representing them again since it's it doesn't really fit my "image" but they are coming out some some super sick stuff this time around and I'm stoked to run it again. Clothes that fit, feel good, and good rad are what Twin Six delivers. So yeah, I'm pretty happy about them coming back.

To go with some new clothes and accessories, I need some extra items to complete my "look". Just so happens that Smith Optics decided to help me out. I've always been a fan of their sunglasses and goggles and now I can finally run them. Because in the words of Smith Sponsored athlete, Aaron Gwin, "you gotta look good". I'll been running their clothes, race glasses, and goggles at select events. Pretty happy about that one too.

The last one is a current sponsor, but I wanted to give a shout out because they have really stepped it up this year. Thanks Industry Nine for all your support. And to all my other sponsors thanks again. I'll be doing a post just for my support crew very soon so watch out! Haha. It might jump out at ya.

The last part of my post is about some racing. I've spent the past week or so trying ot finalize my racing for the rest of the year. And the biggest news is that I'm taking off in April to race some World Cups in Europe.

So finally, here is my complete 2010 racing calendar. Enjoy.

2010 Races
March
GA Tech-March 13-14
Hobby Park-March 21
Furman-March 27-28

April
SERC Tsali-April 11
Conference Championships-April 17-18

May
World Cup #2 Houffalise-May 1-2
Swiss Racer Bikes Cup, Solothurn, Switzerland-May 8-9
Bundesliga Race-May 15-16
World Cup #3-Offenburg-May 22-23
Mellow Johnny's (Texas)-May 29

June
Bump and Grind-June 6
Subaru Cup Wisconsin-June 26

July
World Cup Champrey Switzerland July 24-25
World Cup Val di Sol Italy July 31-August 1

August
SERC Fontana August 7-8
World Cup Windham-August 28-29

September
World Champs Mont St. Anne-August 31-September 5 (U23 race-on Sept 3?)

October
Collegiate Nationals Truckee, CA-October 16-17

Later nerds, I have to try and get my proffs to excuse me for two weeks from school.
T