...to post anything these last 3 or 4 months! I didn't really forget but i just couldn't be bothered. I figured now would be a good time since im staying overnight in Barcelona airport before returning to the motherland, AMERICA!
So, my last post i was still in OZ! wow im lazy! since returning home i have been riding and riding and traveling AND RIDING! cant ask for much more. ill try my best to recall the good times since being home!
It was super hard to leave AUS. It felt like home to me be after being there for 6 months. Leaving was no fun at all. I cant wait to go back over there! maybe soon. But once on the plane I only wanted to be home. My dad and my little bro came to pick me up at LAX. Luke looked like he hadn't had a hair cut the whole time i was gone and he grew a bit as well. And dad looked like dad and thats the way i like him! It was nearly overwhelming to just see them. Once home i got a nice greeting from Leo. and then waited for mom to get home from work. It was also awesome to see mom. That was one of the highlights of the whole trip was coming home!
The very next day i headed off back to LAX to pick up Cam Cole. He was also starting the US season with me. We went and played some golf, but headed in early. we had to get up early to go to the first national of the season, FONTANA! nothing to exciting about going back there except to catch up with some people. The course ended up being ok, and although i had some big crashes in the early days of practice, i got up to speed alright. I remember my race run went ok with the exception of one or 2 small mistakes. I ended up 16th with a pretty competitive time for the pedally course! those never suit me to well. 8th American!
We then had some time off, i caught up with lots of friends and got back on the moto! LOVE THE MOTO!
The next scheduled event was the legendary sea otter classic. what a bogus race. The only reason to go there is to shake your hand off, and meet so many people you forget your own name! i don't go for the race, but for the media, sponsors, and the festival! i have never done good at sea otter, it was my worst junior finish last year. and once again i did not disappoint my reputation. 66th in DH and 40 something in slalom qualifying.
We had some more time off after the Sea Slaughter Classic. I did some more moto with travis and Kyle strait. and i had been training and riding a bit with Jared Rando. I HAD to get my wisdom teeth pulled. what a crappy week that was. and then after not riding for a whole week! i went out motoing with Travis my brother and dad! Dad got to ride travis' WR 250f and travis of course got his new 2008 KX 450f. So it was real real fun to go out and roost dad and travis! HAHA! I was riding as good i ever had. So by the time we were getting ready to leave, i went out for an extra moto for some good training! i was railing left and right and smoking the course! But right as i was on my last few laps, I had a big swap in the whoops, said the track marshall! I dont remember anything about that day at ALL!!! Cracked the exterior of my helmet in 3 places and 2 big cracks on the interior foam! by far the biggest crash i have ever had on the moto! bent the bars, snapped my foot peg! my brother did not see me fall but said i was very far from my bike after the incident. BAD DAY!
So after another week of not riding, because i couldn't even fit a helmet on my head. 2 weeks of sitting on my ass now, and it was time to go racing! One worlds qualifier, 2 world cups, and good race in germany! 20 hour drive to Angelfire New Mexico for the worlds qualifier! Me and Alf got, Hank, Wes, Josh, and JAKE to tag along with us in Alf's dad's truck! We had a cool place to stay with all those guys plus Griz and Lars Sternberg. The weather made riding a bit miserable, Snowing for 2 of the days and a lot of rain! but come race day it was perfect! I was riding pretty good and had a good race run with the exception of 2 big mistakes! had it not been for those, i think i would have been on par for the win! kind of a bummer, but hey, thats racing! 6th place for the worlds qualifier, and you can consider me out for Wolrds! BUMMED!
Alf and the rest of the boys dropped me and lars off at Albuquerque Airport in New Mexico for our flight to Barcelona, Spain!
finally my first WORLD CUP in Andorra! When arriving in Andorra we had no place to stay so after waiting outside a bike shop for hours, Me and Brad B. decided to just get our own place! Its a weird place there. Had to take a gondola to get to the pits, then a chairlift to get to the top of the track, then after your first run you would have to take another chairlift for other runs! then another lift to get back to the pits! WEIRD. Lots of mud spikes were put on there. it was a fun course but not my style. suited the EUROS real real good! i didn't pedal enough in my qualifying and didnt qualify for the finals! Its super hard to even qualify for these World Cups! Pretty Fun party after but kinda bull crap too! i left early to go sleep and leave for SCOTLAND!
We took a bus back to Barcelona, and had to spend the night there, just like im doing now! Barcelona is one of the worst airports to me! hate it here! but our flight went good to Glasgow Scotland. Sven and his wife Anka rented a big van and they let us jump in the back! No windows and full of bikes and gear down the twisty roads of scotland. Talk about motion sickness! whoa! that was a hard drive, took my dose of dramamine and passed out! woke up in the middle of nowhere for a internet session. Sven needed to check the email. We were at some weird campsite, but it had internet so it was go time on the web! It was nice to talk to some english speaking people though! Finally we made it to Fort William! we got dropped off at our little hut about a kilometer from the track! 2 aussies, Will R. and Josh B were staying there and invited us to stay. it was a cool place but it was aways from the town which sucked a bit. Riding that track brought back a lot of bad bad memories from worlds. But i learned a lot from that experience and capitalized on it all. Now that im a lot better of a rider I absolutely LOVE that track! one of the best in the world! My qualifying run was real good but the competition is so damn hard at world cups now that i still didn't make it! .3 off the mark! i really thought i could get it there. i had a 4:15.4 and the last qualifying spot was 4:15.1. Bummed once again!
I was able to hitch a ride with the Kenda Tomac Boys. Mitch Delfs form Aus, Filip Polc from Slovakia. their manager Peter long last name with a "ski" on the end form Poland, and his friend michael also from poland and their mechanic Jason marsh from New Zealand! All of them are such nice people. Brad B bailed on me and went home cause he didn't make worlds. And i was stoked that i could travel with these boys! We had a big drive to an overnight ferry which took us to Holland. once in Holland we decided to do some tourist expedition and stay the night in Amsterdam! That was awesome! Such a beautiful city but go down the wrong street and your in creep ville! not the coolest place in the world! After that we had another cool drive to Willingen Germany for a bike festival called Wheels of speed World Downhill Challenge! All the riders got treated really well, VIP passes that enabled you to free food, free drinks, free beer! plus Andrew Neethling let me stay with him for free! We went go-carting 2 nights in a row and that was really fun rallying with all those boys! plus rallying the SKODA, needles rental car. It got really thrashed from lots of e-brake drifts in gravel parking lots! cool week! They have had 2 world cups there and it was a fun course to ride. Unfortunately for me it would be my first ever DNS! "did not show". 3rd day of practice i snapped my main pivot bolt and couldn't get the remainder of the bolt out! My weekend was over! bummed again!!!
Then with the same crew again we drove to Italy for the World championships that i didn't qualify for!!! It was a weird drive to Val Di Sole. super small town with really good pizza! It was the first time that i had to watch a race and not ride at all! wow was that hard! dang! never want to do that again! What a awesome weekend though. I got to stay with JD in a cool apartment. Race day was amazing! World champs is such an emotional race! It looked as if peaty would finally get his world champ crown that he has been vying for forever when Sam Hill Crashed. Sam was almost 6 seconds up on peaty's time until he crashed on the second to last turn! WOW! he knows how to ride! then the top qualifier, Gee Atherton was the only rider to top peaty's time. almost 2 seconds up on him! Good weekend for the Brits!
Josh Bryceland gold in Junior
Rachel Atherton Gold in Womens
Gee Atherton Gold in Mens
Then a cool party at the mongoose/ GT pits! free drinks and food, and then i went to bed shortly after!
WHAT A COOL TRIP! I JUST NEED TO RIDE A LOT FASTER! more racing ahead.
Here we go!
