Deer Valley, New York

Once returning home i got one night in my own bed. Then off to Deer Valley, Utah. JD picked me up right after i got home then we got on with our 12 plus hour drive. it was pretty mellow. I drove the hard hours through the night but JD picked up most the driving. we arrived early Thursday morning, built my bike and we to practice. Travis Eve came out of retirement and i did a few runs him. the classic DV course was changed little, but what they did change made everything worse. nobody was too happy on the changes or the course condition. unfortunately no rain was expected, so we had to make due with the dry and dust! i was getting along with the course ok. Since racing the world cups over in Europe, the national felt so minuscule. that helped relax me and riding there was a lot easier. practice was going really good. until.... the last day. on the day before the race i took a small but incidental crash. feet blew off in the rock garden and i was going to fast to stop so i just tried to ride it out. but the front wheel got stuck in a hole and i went OTB! the meat of my quad muscle took most the impact. some of the worst pain i have ever felt. i was on the side of the course for atleast 30 minutes nearly crying. but i wasnt going to let the course get the best of me. i hobbled up to the top of the section and did it again, slowly but smoothly! went back to my pit and iced my leg up. after at least 3 hours of icing, i couldn't walk. i was doubting my ability to race the next day. i tried to keep it warm and was all advill'd up! i ended up limping up to slalom.( where Cam Cole WON!!!) it was the best thing i could do for it. kept it warm all night until going to bed. woke up and it felt ok. still could hardly walk, but i didn't need to walk, just ride! did one practice run and rolled qualifying. it hurt like hell and i had to ride holding myself up with my arms! it was really sketchy, but i got through and actually had a ok race run. i ended up 13th and retained my 2nd place in points! STOKED!

drove home and had a weekend off!

after a relaxing weekend off racing moto! (beginner 6th out of 8...pathetic but sooooo fun)
I flew out to Windham, New York for national round 5. Amado picked me up in the big black van with Kieran Bennett and michael whitely. We had a good time just driving to our condo. The course ended up being super good. Really natural and flowy, no pedelling, a real downhill course, my type of course! The course held up and only on race day did the skies open up. It pored rain between practice and qualifying. i got to the top for qualis and went to the potra-john to take a piss. I had my gloves in my hand and one slipped out into the dark abyss of the shitter! i did qualifying with no gloves in the wet! It went ok except for one fall in the open section. after that i regained my composure and went up for finals. i felt really confident and was really excited. my run was going damn near perfect until the second to last woods section. theres a big rock gap in the woods, and since i was sprinting at it, i had never hit it that fast! Over jumped a little bet and landed on a super sharp rock with my front wheel. instantly went flat. since i was fairly close to the finish, i just managed the rest of the way through. the sketchy last woods section made for a close call with a front flat. then on the last corner i couldnt keep my speed and barely rolled through it with my flat. coming across i heard my time of a 3 01. that was 17 seconds better than my qualifier. really stoked, and then they announced my position, 2nd with 9 more guys to go! i crossed my fingers and hoped to hold a top 5 finish. after they all came down i ended the day in 6th, ONE second off 5th! really bummed on that. If i had not gotten that flat i would have been somewhere around 3 or 4th. super bummed! but atleat i know i can run with those boys! so it was somewhat of a confidence booster as well as a big let down.
oh well....now off to canada for some world cups!
big boy racing!