Hello Pavement, This is My Body

Wednesdays during the summer usually see me heading to the outskirts of town for the weekly Wednesday World Championship ride. This is an all out hammerfest with local amatures and pros, former Olympians and beginners. Usually, the ride shatters pretty quickly, and eventually only the fastest riders are left. This week, there was a big rainstorm with hail that I thought would cause many guys to turn back. I was suprised to see most guys stick it out, though our pace was definetly slower, causing the group to pretty much stay together. Slightly past half way, we went through a corner, there was an acceleration at the front, and then there was a horrendous crash. I can't give any details because I was involved, hit my head, and don't remember anything for about 15-20 minutes, including the crash itself. I have been told that possibly one or two guys went down in front of me, causing myself and two others to go down. At the scene, it appeared that I was the worst off, as I had head injuys and was incoherent, was bleeding all over the place, and was shivering cold. After an ambulance ride to the hospital for X-rays, a CAT scan, and cleanup of my wounds (including 7 stitches in my chin), I was released. Turns out that nothing was too serious. As of today (nearly two days later), I still have a what feels like a bruised shoulder and hip. Since the accident, I have found out that two other riders who were at the hospital at the same time as me, probably were worse off. Forrest, who I have had the pleasure to get to know a bit this season, broke 3 ribs, and possibly has a punctured lung. Dan might have thrown out a hand to catch himself, and has deep lacerations on his hand bad enough to damage some tendons, which required him to go in to surgery. Through all this, I was fortunate enough to have my teammate Darrin with me (as well as several other great cyclists). Darrin met the ambulance at the hospital, hung out with me, and got me home that night. This was much appreciated, especially since my brother is out of town.
My body should heal all right, but my bike is broken. My frame cracked on the top tube, my shifters got mangled, and I had some damage to my rear wheel (suprising my front wheel seems to be fine). This is going to get expensive, and I don't currently know how I am going to replace things, but I'm sure something will work out. I've got a great family, great friends, great teammates, and great sponsors.


































Maxxis Re-Fuse Tire: Still holding 120psi of air!

The End is Near

Results since my last post:
Salida Omnium (3 stages, road)--10th place overall
Denver Federal Center Circuit (road)--8th
Snowmass NORBA National Short Track (mtn)--9th
Snowmass NORBA National Super D (Pro, mtn)--22nd

This season has been good for Free Agent Racing. Adam is sitting in 2nd place in the Mountain States Cup regional championship series with only one race to go. Adam just raced the Leadville 100 one hundred mile mountain bike race, and sqeeked in under 9 hours, earning him the very coveted gold and silver "La Plata Grande" belt buckle. Adam finished 56th out of 509 finishers, and finished 7th in his category.


Left: Adam, earlier in the season, racing to a first place finish.


As Adam was racing at Leadville, Steve and I were on the other side of the mountain at Snowmass, racing at the NORBA National finals. On Friday, Steve raced in the Expert Short Track race, was able to hold on to the lead group, and finished 5th. On Sunday, he raced the the Cross Country race, and stuck it out for 3rd place.



Right: Steve powering up the big climb at Snowmass.


I raced my cross country race on Fri, but unfortunately flatted and pulled out of the race (my first DNF since 2002). My Semi-Pro Short Track race on Sun went a lot better, as I went in with good legs. I blasted through the field, and finished a National Semi Pro career best of 9th place. After watching the Pro Short Track, I jetted off to the start of the Pro/Open Super D race. This was my first time racing in the Pro catagory at a National, so I was a little intimidated, as Adam Craig (current Super D national champ), Barry Wicks (current Short Track national champ), and Ross Schnell were some of the notables at the start. Ross and Adam showed up wearing some girly costumes, so that livened things up a bit (they finished 1/2, so maybe that made them faster). The race was crazy chaos, but it was probably the most fun I had on a bike this year. When the dust cleared, I had placed 22nd. Not a bad showing for the weekend, and it is always a good time to race at a National.