Backwards and Forwards

I'm not going to bore you with the blow by blow on how our State Championships went down but suffice to say it was HARD. I prerode during the 35 Opens with Griffos on and thought traction was decent, the course was still mostly frozen and the extra volume provided some floatation on the snow. Big mistake, I brought my Michelin Muds and left them on the spare bike thinking they wouldn't be needed so when temps rose and a skim layer of grease formed over the frozen ground it was mighty difficult charging the lines that I wanted. All in all, a great race, the ICCC guys did a great job with the cards they were dealt. I bested last years placing by one position (15th) and thus ended the Colorado season ( sniff...sniff..dang...I'll miss you guys)

Here's a summary of sorts of the Colorado Season
12: Starts
1: DNF
1,679: Appox number of miles driven to races
15: packets of Gu used
0: flats!
7: highest placing
38:deepest placing
3: crashes
2: trips to Taiwan during the season
0: illness' caught
Best New Race on the Calender: Castle Cross

Bend Update: Arrived yesterday and barely got to my start on time for the killer B race. Scrambled to the hotel and built my bike, pinned on numbers and arrived at the venue 30 minutes prior to start! The course at this time of the day is treacherous, a layer of dry snow on top of rock hard frozen icy ground. You can spot these frozen ruts sticking out above the snow and must avoid them like the plague. I only had 1 minor incident when I lost my rear end around a hair pin and managed to stay moslty upright but drove my knee into a fencing post. My co-worker Scott MacLaughlin, a Srammie from Chicago came by me for the win ( on Shorty Ultimates! ) with 1 to go and that ended my race but still was super fun derbying around.

3 things that have made an impression on me
1) the tech area looks like a mid-90's Norba National. I've never seen such a presence like this at a cross nationals. The lot is filled with team trucks...very PRO
2) The amount of carnage on the course yesterday, 170 something guys on a tight slippery course, a recipe for disaster. self preservation kicked and and I rode probably too cautiously
3) Rabid fans, our race was at 3:30 pm, it's getting COLD..fast and the sun is setting, there were still ton's of people out cheering and heckling

Stay tuned for more soon
Shotty