Wow

Rich is on a diet. Yes he did finish it.
Vegas is awesome we saw the sun rise today.
The boys rocked the race last night.

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First time is a charm.

So last night was the first night here and i woke up this morning with a tattoo! Crazy!
This banner is at the show.

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Airport

Rich was worried that the world would run out of food so he brought this huge disgusting sandwich from wal mart for 4 dollars. I then sQuished while putting it in the over head compartment. He was so upset over that stupid sandwich it was so funny...to me.

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mobile posting

I can now post to this from my phone...the last entry was posted that way. How cool is that. So now I should be able to update this thing from the show and the race. The only problem with this is that I won't have anymore excuses. I am starting to love technology. You know what else I love? FREE TRIPS TO VEGAS!!!

Vegas

Getting in shape for the show!

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VEGAS BABY!!!!

I am going to vegas tomorrow and I CANNOT WAIT. I am going there to watch the USA CRITS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS on Thursday evening. It should be a riot as all I have to do there is party. I hear it is a good place to do that. I went there last year when I was in a wrist cast and so this year will be even more fun as I will get to get pushed around in a wheelchair. I am sure my teammates will be excited to help out with that.
The race seems to be shaping up to be a huge deal and it is going to suck watching it from the sidelines. Oh well I guess that is how it goes. I am super excited to hang out with the boys in vegas though, that is going to CRAZY!!!!! I can only imagine what we are going to get ourselves into...I will let you know...some of it..
Other than that I have been working at the shop everyday and watching "The Rock of Love", "The Pick Up Artist" and "The Real World" on a regular basis. I love america and its television it is so enlightening.
I'll keep you posted...maybe.

wow what fun

Yeah that was Jim B's rear end in that last post, it sure is nice isn't it.
So not much is going on here in NC. The weather is nice to look at, and it probably would be nice riding weather.
I have been keeping busy by working at the bicycle shop. I just roll around in a wheelchair and talk to customers. It is kind of fun.
I have three more weeks of non weight bearing and then we will see how things are. My leg is already atrophied down to the bone. It is scray how fast that muscle has left.
Anyway everything is good, going to the symphony tonight. The WS symphony has tuesday night concerts which I thought was weird, but apparently they have been doing them for ever.
Happy BDAY to my DAD. It was yesterday and he isn't as old as I thought, so that is good.

I have nothing

I have nothing to say about anything at all. I am home in NC and have been spending my days watching tv. That is it. Nothing more nothing less. I did weigh in this week and took a "before" picture so I document what a mess I will become in these next weeks. Should be entertaining at least.
All joking aside I am well, just bored and my right leg hurts more than my left one because of all the hopping up and down on it.
My mom wants me to clean up my language on here, so I don't think i swore too damn much this time.
Check out this turd-cutter. Guess who it is correctly and I will mail you some of my vicodin as a prize.



This what downers looked like for our race...

I used to love racing in the rain...

Surgery

So I had surgery today. It was fine, i guess. They put me under and so it went by quickly. Now i am chilling at the "boss man" chads house. Uh is flying up here tomorrow and driving me and my car back home on sunday. I am so lucky to have wonderful friends and teammates who have taken great care of me this week so I would like to say thank-you to them. I have some pictures I will put up on sunday when I get back to my computer.
Cyclingnews did a little story on my break, it is a funny story so check it out here. Is it bad that i giggled when I saw they mentioned beer in that article?
Good luck to my teammates who are competing in round 8 of the the USA crit series this weekend in binghampton ny. I was really looking forward to doing that race because I used to do it when I went to Ithaca college. It is right in that same area. Those pictures I posted a while ago is what I looked like when I did that race back then. People kept asking me if I was hot with all that hair. HA!

Damn Curb

This was almost exactly one year ago.
I guess it must be that time of year because I crashed badly at downers in the rain and broke my M-F ing calcaneous. For those who don't know what that is, it is your heel. I fractured it in 2 places and am having surgery on friday. It sucks and it hurts and I am out for at least 3 months. Gotta Love It.

crits nats...

Heading to downers grove for the 7th time in 7 years...maybe this year will go better...


Legs are good, team is good, ribs don't hurt too terribly much, just need to take a step back and have fun.

I wish I had a picture of the time there that I ripped the entire ass out of my shorts and was rolling around afterwards and couldn't figure out why people were pointing, giggling, and blushing.

charlotte

NC is ROCKING right now. The farm is at full capacity and there are a ton of sweet criteriums going on.
So the big money crit was last night, pretty exciting stuff. The race was good, lots of people watching. Ended up 23rd and got a $500 prime. The team did well as Rich got in the money also. Only 3 amateurs placed in the money, so for us to get 2 in there is pretty cool.
Afterward, um...yeah....we went out just a little bit in downtown charlotte. Just a little bit.
Marco aka "patches" was so stressed he pulled his hair out.

Bennett and I ran into some fans after the race:


It was hot last night here, almost 100. Here is how Marco rolls. Nothing like hangin out without a shirt on.


One more race today and it is in hanes park here in winston-salem. should be interesting...

racing racing and crashing

The crossroads classic is going on this week. 3 one hour twilight crits leading into the big show on saturday night in Charlotte and then finishing with the Hanes Park NRC crit here in winston.
Wednesday night was the first night and I felt great. We went from the gun and took a lap witin a half hour. I ended up second.
Thursday night was good too. I felt real strong, but was holding back because saturday is Round 7 of the USA crit series and I need to be good there. Anyway, I realized it is much more dangerous in the pack than it is off the front. I crashed pretty hard with 12 to go because a Quebexican hooked bars with me. Ouch. I am ok, just annoying road rash. (Is "Quebexican" derrogetory? if it is I apologize). We use this term to refer to the french canadians who come down and pretend not to speak english. Ha it is all good though.

Other than that the excitment at the farm is high. I have 3 new roomates. Jill, Baby Lamb, and Spike. Jill is a person and this is baby lamb. Spike has been in hiding since they got here.


Here I am practicing for a rodeo.

MTB

Race Report From Norba National:
Cross Country: I have never been happier in my LIFE to get a flat tire. It put me out of my misery. It was raining and real muddy and impossible for me to steer my bike, and then I got a flat so I dropped out. It was fun though. The guys who rip it are absolutely incredible. Those guys suffer more than anyone else in cycling. I guarantee it. Its inspiring to watch.
Short Track: It was fun and fast, I got pulled with 4 to go, and ended up placing in the low 20s. It was a ton of fun and there is a huge learning curve when doing these, so I was glad to do one.

This weekend was just a bunch of fun. I got to catch up with the old paceline posse:


I also caught up with one of my old friends from college and he emailed me some pics of what I looked like in college. Check IT. That is Mark the musician not the Prissy Roadie!

i am going to race mtn bikes

Today is the Norba National XC race at Sugar Mountain. I am currently stuffing my face with food, because it is going to be a tough race. It will be my first Norba National and first pro race on top of that. We went and pre rode yesterday and my asshole is still clinched from the decent. It is SO STEEP, and ROCKY, and MUDDY, and DANGEROUS. So I have decided to not even attempt to ride it. The course is 95% gravel road and 5% singletrack. So I plan on going as hard as I can on the road and running the singeltrack. I can't lose that much time can I? Not as much time as a broken wrist or collarbone. HA. I wonder if any of our road sponsors read this.

I almost wet myself descending the mountain. Rich apparantely does that in my car.



Anyway I would like to wish happy thoughts to DANIELLE and Mark Hendershot. Those crazy people are competing in the 24 hour solo mountain bike championships this weekend. Yes they like to see how far they can ride their mtb in 24 hours for no prize money. Good luck GUYS!!!!!

WHOS A PRO???

So I finally made it. In Mountain Biking, the equivalent of a category 1 on the road is called "pro" so I finally got my "pro" upgrade on the dirt. Just in time for the short track race at sugar mountain this weekend!!!! So now I guess I am technically a pro bike racer. Wow I should have done it this way years ago. Its much easier than trying to massage egos to get that road contract.

Congrats to A&F manager Chad Thompson and his wife Trudi. They had a baby girl yesterday afternoon. YAY!!!! Chad having a girl is a true testament that there is a such thing as karma.

finally figured it out

So I haven't been feeling all that comfortable on my bike lately, just off a bit. So I finally checked my saddle height and the place where i have been marking it was a touch low. Just 2 CENTIMETERS!!! So I adjusted it and had the best ride of the year today. I felt so much STRONGER, holy cow i couldn't believe it.

This weekend MA RECORDS and myself were making fun of Rich about his new car, we thought it was kind of an odd choice of car for him. He seems to love it and says it is a "MANS" car. So we took a picture of him with it. The joke was on us though. HOLY SIX PACK BATMAN

Race report here from this weekend.

UH is coming back this weekend so that will be very exciting!!!! Time to break out the boxed wine and hammocks.

home

I don't have to sleep in a hotel for an entire MONTH. One month of sleeping in my own bed EVERY NIGHT. I am super excited. I even went grocery shopping to celebrate. I will still be racing, but all the stuff is within day trips, so life is good. I guess I should probably finally wash my sheets....
I rode my mountain bike for 3 hours today and I thought that my hands were going to fall off by the end. It was a beautiful day here, low 80s with not much humidity.
This is my third post is three days!!! As a result you can see that I have absolutely nothing to talk about, but here are 3 things that are very important to know
1. I have worn the same pair of shorts for the Enitre month of july so far. I have washed them though, so I guess that doesn't really count
2. I realized I was in the south today when I was in line at a gas station today and the person in front of me chatted up the cashier for about 5 minutes. LITERALLY and then took her sweet time writing a check. You ask who writes checks still at gas staions? It seems that everyone in the south does, especially when they are in front of me.
3. My penmanship is horrible. I guess I haven't really written anything with a pen and paper for a really long time, because I was writing something today and I was appalled at what I was seeing. Is it bad when you can't read your own writing?
Check out MA RECORDS blog for a cool write up and some good pics.

racing

I LOVE RACING MY BIKE. CRITERIUM RACING IS WHERE IT IS AT!!!!!!!!!!
The Boise Twilight was so fast and so exciting, crit racing at its best. We had so much fun. The course was super flat and super fast. We averaged over 29 mph!!!!!
We rocked it kind of. It came down to a bunch sprint and I ended up 7th and marco was 13th. Harper raced his A$$ off but unfortunately ended up flating with 2 to go. Luckily he didn't go down. So I am still leading the series....who would have thought!!!
This race was just so awesome and it was so much fun to race, attacks all the time, super fast corners. It is just so cool to travel to these cities and rock it in the dark. It is especially fun with just a few guys. MA Records, $rich, and myself have such a good time going to these events together.
After the race we went out with one of our favorite sponsors. Tom Coleman of wobblenaught bike fits. That guy fits in with the A&F mentality as we ended up being out with him til the wee hours of the night. It is so much fun racing at night. We didn't get back to the hotel from the race until 1030 which is 1230am est!!! Good stuff.
Anyway I took some pics and I will put them up when I get home as we are in the hotel still waiting to go to the airport.

boysie

We are hanging out here in boise ID and it is so cool here!!! Downtown is sweet and is surrounded by mountains. We are staying at a very swanky hotel that even has a heated bathroom floor and bathrobes, so $RICH$ MA RECORDS, and Myself are all hanging out in them and watching the E channel.


People ask me why $RICH$ is $RICH$, well here is his licence plate:

Speaking of cars, here is Marco's. If you have HORRIBLE credit and need that motorcycle which probably costs more than you make in 8 months AND need it TODAY!! call marco--here is is driving to a race making deals:

We flew in last night and got here about 1130 pm Mountain Time, cranked the ac down to 45 degrees in the room and slept forever. The flight was ok, actually it was absolutely miserable. NW airlines has THE LEAST amount of legroom out of all airlines. Ouch. Nothing like not even being able to put your tray down flat.


So we race tonight. There is a rumor that there is a least a $100 dollar prime EVERY lap. We don't race until 9pm Moutain time which is 11pm est, for those of you who can't do math.