Just blinking awesome video!!!

Sometimes adrenaline oozes out of your pores when you watch something like this!

Pump Track World Championships:

http://dirtmag.co.uk/news/category/events/hannah-wins-2009-pumptrack-worlds/dirt-1235650.html

Today is a Big, BIG DAY!!!

This morning Ryane and I took our 5 year old Cassidy to her first day of school and what a difference it is from pre-school at church. The list of things to do was huge and I even found myself at the store last night buying her a pair of shoes as we realized all she has that fit are flip flops.

But it wasn't as throat swelling as I pictured. We saw so many people we know in the community and from church as well. Cassidy has a few friends in her class too to ease the transition, so she was nervous but excited all the same. Such a bright smile on her face waiting to take on kindergarten. If anyone out there ever wants to feel like you've done something in life, get your kid to this point and feel pride like no other.

God Bless!

Triple Crown DH Race Report on the new bike

Man,

I had some kind of fun this weekend getting back on a bike that is all my own. I've been riding borrowed bikes from time to time when buddies are able and time allows. But I've not been able to truly pin it and feel comfortable on someone else's rig.

I got the Turner built up thanks to oh so many good friends help and literally finished building it in the parking lot Saturday morning. Maiden voyage went well thanks to the fact that DH bikes these days are getting closer to being idiot proof. Geometry, suspension, drivetrain...they all bolt on and go these days.

Saturday the track was twice as tacky as the first race, with grass off the slope and the soil down to the underlying hardpack, instead of loose mulch, topsoil, sod and goo. Even the bog at the bottom, although wet, was fast and rock solid. Since I was back on a Turner, I wanted to clip in again for the first time in 2 years. It was fantastic being able to float over roots and hold the rear wheel in place.

I even wound out sprints with no issues and didn't feel blown up for the first time in a long time. Maybe just the excitement of having my own bike again gave me the mental edge I needed to race hard again, or the comradarie and excitement of racing locally again.

Qualifying seemed kinda silly at first so I just sprinted around the corner, sat down and rode no handed, went around the first double, rode no handed on the lower straight..and clowned for the crown by doing an aero tuck into the finish. Popped off a 2:32, 3 seconds faster than my clean race run from race run and 8th fastest qualifier. But now I regret not doing a full speed run!

Race day came and I'd been dodging the top double jump thinking it wasn't costing me. Followed a buddy into it to see if I was right but got dropped by going around...a good 3 seconds!!! So next run, I went for it behind Greg and got it with a pedal crank. After that I didn't even pedal, just pump over it. So nice and so much faster.

My race run, I felt great. Charged it and then just fell down in a flat right hand grass turn. Took forever to get up, get back on and go around the rock under the slope...even saw a shrew turning into the woods, which was weird. But I finished the rest of my run trying to salvage some dignity for the crowd. I honestly had my name shouted top to bottom, so that cheered me up and some nutty guys chased me ON BOTH SIDES down the straightaway...so awesome!

Finished with a cruddy time, 1 second slower than the previous race at 2:36. Between gapping the double (2-3 seconds) and picking myself up off the ground, there was roughly 10-12 seconds to be had by staying upright, but that just doesn't count in a race run. The clock does not care what you "could" have done.

But I feel confident again in my riding and that I can maintain a great race pace again. The Dirty Bird is coming up and not the kind of course I shine on, but on the new bike, I like my chances for a good result. It's gonna be tight times and a clean run will mean everything. Should be a blast!!!

Bike parts floating around

It's like I'm in a dream and there are bits and pieces of other people's pasts running around me. I call a buddy, ask for their parts run down, and then pick a piece worth using or that's compatible with my setup. Then I float onto the next guy's stash and pluck a part. Almost there and getting so very, very close. Need a good rear wheel and to save the last of my money up for the fork my buddy has stashed away and then I may be done.

I've been selling every oddball part I've had lying around and all the back up pieces from my days of serious racing that I "thought" might come in handy. I'm coming out OK thanks to people out there having so many extra parts off old bikes. It's a good day when your stuff converts into someone else's so easily. Used to, a used DH bike part was more useful as a paperweight.

Wish me luck.

So it begins

Courtesy of the greatest guys to ever have a bike company, I present to you a frame made from ALL U.S. made parts. Now the hard part will be finding all the various bits and pieces durable enough to handle my riding style. Anyone interested in selling/barter/trading, drop me a line and we'll work something out. www.turnerbikes.com

Sanity and hope return

It's official. My mental status is directly tied to gravity and adrenaline. I don't think my brain can function without getting pumped like some gorilla from the movie Point Break! I rode shuttles last night with some great riding buddies and all is now well. I had to earn it though.

I pulled up for the ride with a leaking radiator and a flat rear tire. The borrowed bike in question has presta valve DH tubes and tubeless rims. It was almost impossible to get the tire off. Once off, I couldn't even patch it because the leak was directly where the metal valve stem goes into the tube. I dumped a boat load of Parks rubber cement on it, dropped it in the wheel. Then got Matt to finesse the tire back on. I then proceeded to squeeze more rubber cement down in the valve hole as a back up.

We get to the top and the tire is flat in less than 5 minutes. We pump it up to try to get a run in or something and it just hisses at us. I bailed and take up driver duties. At the bottom, a strange thing happens. The tire never lost all it's air????

SERIOUSLY...it hissed air like it was drilled and I never looked twice and neither did anybody else...but there it was holding air. Maybe my magic glue job wound up sealing off??? Rubber cement and the good graces of God above gave me my sanity and we banged out run after run til it was pitch black in the woods...Whoooo Hoooooo!!!!


Next news....my frame ships out today!

Just a crummy week

Tried to have fun on Fathers Day weekend but it refused to work out. All was well that my parents kept the girls, which is fun for the girls and a blessing for me and Ryane, so no complaints there.

We were even lucky enough to stay in a B&B for the night to unwind and get fed the next day, comped no less. But bills, car problems and stress just have me buried in a pile of anxiety and anger. I'm doing my best to snap out of the funk, but the bottom line is that money issues are trying to crush me under their weight.

I don't need money to be happy. I'm blessed with a fantastic family and church, but being in debt and struggling to survive is just taking a tremendous toll on me. I'll be so glad when we can work our way out of this debt and get back to just enjoying our girls.

God bless