Catch up

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Alright, Alright.  School ends for the semester and as usual I go into total burn-out/ lazy mode.  I haven’t updated in a while.  I have a good excuse though!  While most of the country is getting into their cross country season, Tejas’ spring Racing season has come to an end.  Because of the unforgiving heat in the summer, we don’t race on dirt from june-august.  So no dirt racing in the state from me.

So after a couple of road races and crits, I flew to Birmingham, AL  to compete in my first ever national mountain bike race.  The Bump and Grind was a race that no matter how hard you tried, you couldn’t find any one to say anything bad about the race.  All the advertising was SPOT ON though.  The trail was rippin’ fast and with about 40% jeep road and some rooty rocky section, my 29er tore through everything.  Unfortunately with all the racing I had been doing my legs we feeling a little tired  and I could only hold onto the leaders pace for about half the race.  After getting shelled I settled into a comfortable (not really) pace to get to the finish line.  I rolled in an 8th place finish in the Pro/SemiPro class;  Second Semi-pro so I was content considering the deteriorating condition of my legs.

It’s funny.  When I jumped on the big wheel train 3 years ago on a Kelly steel 29er I remember hearing from all PRO’s saying that they are too heavy, to slow in accelerate.  I remember thinking that you must be on crack, because even that heavy steel bike would shred the single track up.  Now you go to the races and the amount of 29ers cruising around is amazing!  I saw at least 7 29ers in my class and a bunch others in the remaining classes.

So my summer adventure continues this weekend with  the Subaru Cup in CHEESE LAND.  I flew in yesterday and the weather was… well different.  The low in Texas has been 80 the last month or so and the high for the entire week here is 77.  I am looking forward to meeting all my Northern companions and maybe the 29er crew can sweep the PRO podium (one can dream).

I will make sure to update post-race.