deer Valley plus some driving

so far this past week was pretty fun. i had no internet connection the whole time. so thats why this is so late. we arrived early thursday morning. i drove seperately with another friend who needed someone to drive with. kyle did the same thing with our other teammate David K. we slept in late til around 10 or 11 in the morning. i had Downhill practice at 2:30. i did all the hardest lines the first day so i could focus on race runs the rest of the time. specifically the 20 foot double rock jump up top. that thing has ruined many peoples weekends and seasons too. but i did it no problem.

Friday:
i had Downhill practice early it went really good for me. unufortunately everyone seemed to be coming down with flats(if you were lucky) or with broken bones or some kind of gnarly cuts. i nailed all my lines and did one decent race run. the insanely technical drop that they took out last year was taking people to the hospital constantly. but was no problem for me.

slalom was actually really fun for a change. it looked as if team big bear actually tried to make a course. it was really short though. a good qualifying time was under 20 seconds. both red and blur course i qualified under 20 seconds placing me 4th. un fortunatley during racing i strugled quite a bit and ended up 6th i believe. i didnt mind cause i had a good time racing. JD won with ryan anderson in second and taylor calvert got third with tyler mccaul in 4th.

Saturday:
had to wake up early and i got terrible sleep. but went up to the top with nothing but racing on my mind. i headed to the start gate and the wind was howling and i decided not to do the top rock jump on this run. i was riding very well and killing all my lines. as i came out of the first tree section i headed lto the scetchy rock drop that pouts you on a steep ski run and straight back into the woods. since i was riding so good i tried it no brakes. and as i came into into the woods going mach 5 i tried to make the small left and my tire just pushed in the soil instead of hooking up and i flew off the course. my brakes were on and felt like they were doing absolutely nothing. i hit a fallen tree and flipped off my bike. i rolled twice and slammed into a tree. thankfully the tree stopped me because i wouldnt of stopped rolling for a long time and was headed into some sharp embedded rocks. i stood up and everything went black and i fell back down. after teling all the course officials to leave me alone i took off to finish the course. i pretended nothing happened and actually rode way fast considering how dizzy i was. now looking back i have realised that was one of my worse crashes ever. i am so thankful that i didnt break my neck or die! i did one more fast race run and called it quits til race time. i prepared some new goggles and a tear off and took off up the course to race.. since i am the current points leader i got to start off first. i took off and rode the top part of the course like a complete goon. i couldnt get anything to work. plus i didnt pedel anywhere to conserve energy for the scetchy drop on the last half of the course. and once i completed that drop i railed all the bottom switchbacks. according to hank and kyle i was the fastest one through there and they comparred me to former world champ greg minnaar. i finished really fast and strong. stopping the clock at 2:53.47. right behine was ryan anderson anderson and he was close with a 2 55 which ended up putting him into the third spot. and a few peolpe behind him was JD who got a 2 54 and was .7 off me.. my thrird straight victory for the national series and it felt as good as ever!

Sunday:
pros went up early to practice and as i closed up the condo. leov qualified first. and my time would of put me in the 17th spot for qualifiers. i went up and shot pictures with was for finals. everyone looked fast and good except alfonso garcia who was scetchy as ever at the bottom and ended up crashing on the last turn.
my goal this year has been to get a 20th place for the pro field with my time. unfortunately at this race i was stoked and dissapointed to see that i had ended up 21st. oh well keeps my drive going strong.

after that we loaded up and took off for Mont St. Anne in Quebec, Canada. it's the world cup round # 3. its north east of Maine and has been a dream of mine to race it. but unfortunately i dont have any wlorld cup points. but i also have a plan to get in to race but im not telling til it actually happens.. were currently in cleveland, ohio and pinning it non stop to Quebec. we have been driving for over a day now and i will try and keep updating.
Wish me luck.