All Good Things... (Part I)

So I suppose I should start with what I left off with last time. Mountain biking. Specifically the end of the 2008 mountain bike season. The last race was the Bear Creek Summer Showdown Weekend, 9/20-21 (christ that was a long time ago). Saturday was the MASS STXC finals. I was sitting pretty in 2nd place in Sport A for the series, so I naturally wanted to improve. I was looking to win the race. I did that, but not in the manner I had hoped. I was hoping for the epic battle for the finish, and all I got was a nice 4 laps of the course at a semi-fast pace. The other two (read: 2) guys in the race were not interested in racing. At all. Way dissappointing. Post race I hung out with Jay and ripped up the super-d course trying to keep up with him (pfh...). T'was good. That night I enjoyed some good food at the lodge, a soak in the pool, and a nice Die Hard.

The next day proved to be more interesting. Sunday brought the XC Finals races in all their rocky glory. If there's one thing that Bear Creek has it's rocks. Not rocks like Michaux though; these rocks have been engineered to provide the most fun, most difficult, and most sustainable trail by our good friends at IMBA (for they are good people, 10% rule be damned). So the course is hard, fast, rocky and flowing. The best. It's probably one of my favorite XC courses. So I lined up for my first XC-length race in a long while against my old friends who probably thought that I had lost touch with my bike. The gun went off and immediately the fastest group of us (about 7) made our way up the opening road, around, and into the singletrack. Hal, who had taken the holeshot, jumped off and ran the fun rock section and caused a huge bottleneck behind him. I repayed him for messing up the flow once we got to the main fireroad climb up the ski slopes by setting a solid tempo trying to shell riders off the back. He immediately went off. We hit the first descent and I hit the flow with a bit of a gap. Flow was interrupted when I mis-read a section of trail and took the wrong line. Todd took over the lead. I rode with him for a while in the back of the course, then more stupid mistakes on my part allowed him a gap. He held that gap into the second lap. I knew I was out climbing him so I laid it down on the climbs. I had almost bridged back up to him by the first singletrack, when I laid it out in the first turn. Ouch. Back on bike, go faster. Bridge back up on the fireroad. Todd descends away. Bridge up on the back singletrack, Todd sees me and runs and I clip a pedal on a rock and almost nut my stem. I spend the rest of the race trying to chase back up but he has too much of a gap. So the last race of the 08 mtb season continued my season long trend of first loser. I'm ok with that. I think I rode a good race for a while, and I enjoyed the podium time.

So that's mtb for this year. That race officially retired my good ol' Spider (I did one ride on it after that). And put me on the market for Vassago parts (shall be addressed at a later date). I'd like to thank all my sponsors who have supported me throughout the year: Intense Cycles for their awesome frame whose true potential I only realized this year, Evomo for their awesome clothing, Ergon USA for keeping my hands super-comfy when everything else was not, Crank Brothers for keeping me securly attached, and TekBolt for keeping things tight. Your guy roxors. I'd also like to thank all those who have supported me this year, especially my parents.

After a bit of recouperation time (much to the dismay of Coach), I turned my attention to the next big thing. That thing is a dirty little addiction called cyclocross.

And now it is time to officially announce my 'crossin plans for 08. I will be riding for the Allied Milk Cycling Team. I know, I know the irony (I'm allergic to dairy... shhh don't tell anyone). Dan, manager of the team, hooked me up with a sweet bike for cross. Now at races I throw my legs over a Van Dessel Hole Shot. It's a pretty frikin sweet bike. Full 09 SRAM Rival grouppo, Kore brakes, FSA kit, wheels, and crank. It's candy apple red paint glistens in the sun and just sreams "Hey big boy lets go jump some barriers and ride throw some nice sloppy mud." In a metaphorical sense that is...

To be continued...