VERMONT+ CAN WC's+ BH

after a disappointing week in New York I was keen to get back on my bike and have a strong showing in vermont for national champs. Bikes were running good, I had a strong mental state and was running real well. The only thing that was bothering me was the horrible track..It was not typical vermont style track. They had a big woods section with hardly any fast parts... It actually got to be slow uphill in a couple sections. And after coming off a small injury and not being able to train before, i knew this was going to hurt my performance. I still thought I would be able to pull a good one out. Practice had gone good all week, for the most part. and I was ready to race. There was a big storm on the way so i played a tactical qualifying run. i was 3rd to last. This was a benefit for the final. I had a good warm up and was ready to go. My run started off strong. I had very good lines and i was confident that it would make me a lot faster than my competition.. Half way down after a big mistake i had a big problem focusing. Once i hit the uphill section my mind was all over the place and i knew i was out of the race. The national champs brings in a big showing of competition. So i knew i was out of the race, 18th place. Super bummed! But i did learn a lot about mental preparation. So i know in the long run that this race would benefit me.

After yet another disappointing race we headed to Mont st. anne, Canada. I have been there last year and couldn't wait to get back on the course. The course there is definitely a mans course. Super fast and no letting off the entire time. A real world cup classic. BIkes were working well again and I was going through wheels like tires. Race time was coming along quick and I was ready for it. I hopped up on the line ready for a good run. I was basting all my lines and having an awesome time. Right near the bottom in the last rock section I stuffed a rock with my front wheel and it sent me over the bars. It was a time consuming fall that would see me fail to qualify. This was again another depressing race. Traveling is definitely a bonus in our sport, but when your not riding well and bad luck is always lurking around, it makes it hard. Not only to just to get around but in performance as well. This was showing in my riding and racing. Having no support and no body to help me out, made my performances and times hurt!

Heading off to Bromont, Canada I had a bad attitude toward everything because of my poor riding. I tried to flip it but its not an easy task. Thank god that the track was cool, i knew this would help me turn my frown upside down. The track was steep, wet, and fun. It proved to be real challenging and sometimes scary! I was riding pretty well and was waiting for everything to fall into place, and have my bad luck end. As racing time neared i was feeling confident and strong. I got to the top of the hill nice and early. I did a good warm up and got ready... Started my run riding strong. I was having tons of fun, up till the steep bit in the trees. I did my normal line which has never givin me any problems. But there was a random root that sent my front wheel off in another direction, towards a tree. After banking a turn off a tree and coming to a complete stop, i got back on it, but another crash in the very next section would have me ending my weekend with more bad luck! Still didn't qualify for the finals. Only a few seconds off with 2 falls! DEPRESSING!

Home was a good place for me to end my bad luck streak! It felt nice to be home for more than a few days. I got to train on my own trails, ride my home places, and go to my beaches! The rest and mental relaxation prepared me for my next race. I hoped in the team motor home and off to Brianhead, Utah we went. the course was really sick. flowed real good and had some real DH sections. It was fast and natural. I was riding really really well in practice and all the way till finals. We didnt have qualifying due to a storm on the way. I had a good feeling about the day. A small storm came through in the middle of the night, so i was curious what it did to the course. I was the first one on the course in the morning and did a cruiser run and checked some lines. Then a last practice run! Race time came along and I was so ready for a good result. Went to the top with my MTX bike to warm up on the stationary trainer. After a good warm up i was ready as ready could be. I got on with my run, I was feeling a little bit slow on the top part of my run, and tried to open it up on the bottom. I pinned some sections real real good and I came down with the fastest time with one rider left, Brad Bennedict. Brad B. came down 6 seconds off my time. I won my first national! I was soooo stoked!

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!

Forgot....

...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!

canberra, beauty,sydney,city!!!

...no post for a long time. im not to keen to post anything unless of a good result. since thredbo i have done heaps. kept up the training, more traveling, and more fun. did a road trip with some friends to Canberra for the national champs! i went with trevwah, lincolin, toby, and oscar. it was a good trip. Canberra is a cool place but the track lacked a lot. lots of peadeling, not a real mountain, and just a different place in general. Canberra is australias capitol. all the government stuff is located there. making it real different. the city itself has lots of regulations. no fences around houses, no powerlines on the street, and the streets are very clean and dont look real. but the canberra course was ok to ride. but sucked to race. i ended up 22nd there. not good.
from there i got dropped off with juzzo and preparred for the upcoming national race at mt beauty. thats a real DH course. super fun and real steep aswell. was riding ok during that weekend and ended up 16th overall. pretty fun day. forgot to mention its was super muddy for qualis but got pretty tacky for finals.
then i went home after that and continued to train. the next weekend was mt baw baw state race. another real muddy course, but really good for a state race. i was riding really smooth and good. on race day i put mud tires on and learned to ride those. during finals i clipped my hand on the starting timer and that seperated me from getting payed. pretty bummed. i ended up 4th and was less than 2 seconds off the winner. thats racing and thats why i love it!!!!
and i just recently got home from Bryn Atkinsons house. i stayed there for 2 weeks with him and his brother. fun stuff. learned a lot and got in good shape. he lives in the blue mountains right near Sydney. real good riding up there.
and now im home after 2 days spent in the city with an awesome DH girl, Jenna. We did a day of push runs somewhere near here called red hill. cool stuff and pretty fun course. Jenna was learning to jump and did just that,jumping nearly 2 bike lengths. then the day after that we took a train to Trevwah's house and went to Phillip island and spent a day on the beach. got to body board a bit and experience some Aussie surf! was really windy and cold but the water was nice and warm and waves wern't to bad, just a bit choppy. then chilled with Jenna made dinner and went home the morning after... finally i am home and get a bit of sleep before im off to somewhere else!!!

Thredbo + Mt. Buller

Its been weeks since Thredbo national actually took place. But i find it hard to find time to type all the races up. but i am actually doing it.

Me and my friend Aaron drove the 7 hour drive up to thredo for the national round #3. I had heard all about the long, fast, and really rough course. Thredbo is the highest mountain in Australia just going over 2000 metres. Also one of the few alpine ranges that lay in Australia. Being on a tight budget i found the $210 dollar entry fee a bit steep but supposedly everything is in Thredbo. Right after registering for the race i caught up with my bunk buddy Tracey Hannah. Then we went off to arrange our accommodation. we soon found out that men and women cannot stay in the same room at our cheap hostel. and that meant no splitting the room fee 50/50. Bullshit if you ask me! so there is another $200 dollars out the door.(the owner said that was half price...it wasn't) so with an expensive room, and a expensive number plate. that meant i was down to less than $400 dollars on the first day.
anyway we got on with practice on the second day. after learning the nearly 7 minute course i began riding really well. The course was pretty basic, PINNED,FULL THROTTLE, one line the whole way down. and also really rough. but i managed to stay loose and relaxed the whole time. during the second day i really began to turn it on. I felt my goal of a top 10 result getting closer and closer. And finally race night all my good practice went through the drain as it began pouring rain. and it didnt stop raining once until after the race. But my first practice run of race day was a definite fun one. Me and my mate Nick did the first one together. The first part of the course started out on a fire road with HUGE waste high water bars that you hit going about 40mph. and they put you well over 6 feet in the air and since you were going so fast you probably cleared about 30 to 50 feet. they reminded me of riding moto! SOOO FUN! just had to talk about those. but the course had got so much rain that it was like riding down a small creek. not to slippery though. just really wet. and after that first run we decided to call it our last for practice. and by the time our qualifying run came time the course had completely changed. holes were everywhere, it had gotten slippery and now i had to put together a good full run. it was a super hard course now but i got through and qualified 26th. only 30 people qualified so i definitely cut it close... but right after i came down a big storm was on its way over and they had to call off finals. so i got screwed. 26th... bummer. but i did learn some important things so maybe thats better than a result.


MT. BULLER

this race was just a small state race. Mt. buller is a cool venue with the village on the top of the mountain,and nothing on the bottom of the hill. it takes some time to get used to,but is really cool aswell. The course we were racing is not the preferred one to ride but i found it fun,and at least we had a chairlift. Practing with one of Vic's fastest racers,Lincoln Verass was fun too. he knew the course well and got my confidence up once i was keeping on his back tire. During race day i was struggling to keep a flow going and was loosing concentration easily. qualifying went ok, i just looked for lines that i knew wern't going to have big holes in them during finals. i qualified 8th with a cruising run. so i knew i could get in the top 5. my final run was going good until a small fall in a corner caused from loss in concentration. after my fall i was determined to make up the time. i was going real well after that until the fastest part of the track i drifted a little bit outside of my line and hit a small sharp rock and flatted my front tire. Oh well thats racing!!!

Now im looking foreward to the Australian Championships in Canberra this coming weekend. and then the following weekend in Mt.Beauty. In a few weeks ill do a post on how things went.

Cheers if you actually read all this Bullshit!

cool picture

Aussies are teaching me the art of the drift!

long time no post

well yeah i haven't posted anything in a long time now. i dont know why except for the fact it seems to take forever to do this. but its a perfect way to remember my racing and keep track of it.

and i have finally made it to the land of OZZZZ! Australia! its soooo cool here i absolutely love it.

i did my first victorian state race the second weekend i was here. i qualified 3rd and screwed my final and ended up 9th.

i just arrived home from queensland 2 days ago for the Round 2 of the national series. super fun course. real fast and lots of roots. and all those roots got really wet and slippery. but also really fun there were over 100 elite riders and only 30 went on to qualify. so i knew i had to have a good run. and i did. i qualified 12th and i was super happy. as for the race run... i struggled in a couple sections with corners and almost lost in a super fast section due to a huge drift that took all my speed. but i ended up 16th only 2 seconds off top 10. pretty good for my first national in OZ.plus all the big dogs were there..Rennie, Bryn, amiel, rando and all the super fast locals!!! so im pretty happy. the one picture i got is reeally bad but its all i got!