Base Camp!

I left for the East Coast Monday for my first base miles of the year and to visit family for the holiday. I left Monday around 1 and arrived Tuesday at 7:00am at Jeremiah Bishop's house. With the time change, 17 hrs straight! Ouch!! \But, I made in time to take a 2 hr. nap, then off on 5 hrs on the road.

Since I am lacking base from all the crit and cross racing through the year, Jeremiah stressed me to keep it steady and NO SPRINTING!! As we rolled to the other side of town to meet with Nick Waite, and Andy Mckeegan. The four of us headed out. The smack talk started to he up, and so did the ride. By the end off the day I had burned all my matches and my legs were aching!

The next day was a valley spin for me as Jeremiah ripped back and fourth doing sprint work up and down the valley. Then yesterday the four of us meet up for another 5 hr epic with mountain passes, and some serious rollers all the way home. Again, my legs were left in shambles!

Today, JB and I headed to the local pump track and did some sweet NO Brake MTB riding. No brakes, no dabs. We had a tight battle. I won by one dab. I was pretty smoked from the past few days and cut the ride short. Tomorrow, will be the the last day here at the Bishop's. I hope to finish with the Alpine loop. The name says it all!

Jeremiah is on unbelievable form and looks strong for the 2008 Olympic team. Nick is recovering fast and just got a TOC invite. He will be lighting it up getting ready for California. Andy Mac, this boy was the diesel putting it all out, he will have a good spring!

Next to WV, then to NC to my Grandmothers for another 4-5 day block. Till next Week!

Villin Cross in the ATX

I'm talking about a weekend of cross racing here in Austin. The Saturday race was in Pflugerville and Sunday was in Webberville. These two races boasted great courses with lots of speed, technical turns, and tactical racing. This was a great weekend of racing!

Saturday got off to a bad start for me. I was in the lead a 1/2 lap into the race when I lost my front end and busted my chin and knee on my right side. Got up and sprinted back to the front. Being to aggressive I lost my rear wheel in a turn and scratched up my left side. Damn, 2 wrecks in the first lap. I then settled down to attack a half lap later. My roommate Andrew Dalheim on my wheel we separated from the field. We had 20 seconds on a group of 4 chasing. I then lost my chain over the log barrier. Man! Come...On! I pulled, tugged, got it. Andrew had about 20 seconds on me, but he wasn't really attacking playing a good sport. I got caught by the chase group while changing bikes. Attack! I worked hard to bridge to Andrew, then he wrecks. He gets up and we go on to a sprint finish. I won, Andrew 2nd, teammate Stew Stafford 3rd, Matt Googe 4th, Will Ross 5th.

Sunday started off better as I won the first lap prime for a 30 minute message. I felt pretty good even though I could barely hold my left hood, as I jammed my thumb also on Saturday. So, I just tried to use my tops as much as possible. Again, Roommate Andrew on my wheel this time trading pulls on this open course to open a nice gap over a big group of 5. I would pull through the technical side ( set of barriers, run-up, and two sand pits) then he would pull the (road, bottom and top field sections) we had a comfortable gap over the chasers. We would throw an occasional attack to keep it interesting. 2 to go, Andrew hesitates to pull, then attacks. I pull him back. Ding, Ding! 1 to go! I could tell Andrew was eager to attack as he was tight on my wheel. As we hit the second sand pit with a deep groove he got to close and crossed it up in the sand. I waited for him as I did not want to win that way. He caught his breath and we headed into top half of the course. Into the final 1/4 mile I jumped into the front and pinned it holding it to the line to win by a couple bike lengths.

This was great preparation for Nationals, and for now I have house bragging rights!
Off to the Dirt Derby tonight for the Series 1 Final.

Till Next Week, I'm sure I will have a good story. Starting 164th at a cold, Ice covered, Kansas!
Photos from Glennon Simmoms!

Portland N Stuff

It has been a few weeks since my last post. Sorry, haven't had to much to write about.

Races in Houston were canceled 2 weeks ago because of flooding, then the Dirt Derby was canceled for 2 weeks. I guess I can start posting random stuff to keep in interesting.

Well, last week I went Portland, OR. A front was coming through and it was windy, cold, and of course wet! I had a great 2 weeks of preparation and felt good about the trip. Well the day before I left I got really sick overnight, pucking and staying in the bathroom. Later in the day I felt a bit better and figured it must have been food-poisoning, and I will be ok for this weekend.

I arrived at the hotel around 7 Friday night, and needless to say it wasn't food-poisoning. I was holding down food, but couldn't leave the bathroom for more than 10 minutes. I was totally bummed, I had my sponsor (Hill Abell) Bicycle Sport Shop giving awesome support here and I could barely leave the bathroom. I made the most of Saturday only making it 40 minutes into the race before I got pulled. Saturday night more of the same, bed/bathroom repeat!

Sunday, I took enough Imodium to stop-up a cow. This got me through the race from last row to 37th. Not to bad, all things considered.

So, What could have been? Great courses that were suited well for me and and an awesome city. None of which I saw or got to take advantage of. Needless to say, I have learned a lot this year and look forward to this trip next year.

Here is a photo from this weeks Dirt Derby provided by Mario Cantu. I am on my New 17lb Ti Serotta. This bike is amazing. I felt about 90% so hopefully I will be full strength by this weekend.

Thanks for Reading, Bryan