One down, one to go. Back in MA for a little nice weather cross racing. Tash had a solid race and came 2nd today. She made one small bobble in the sand and it was the difference between first and second. It's good to see that the women's racing is taking on that kind of level. Basically when there is stiff competition you have to ride almost to perfection to get the win.
Adam (Myerson) hooked us up with a great host for the weekend, we are about 4 k away from the course, so it's perfect. Super nice family, Mike and Maria and their children Emma and Phillip and dog Dozer. We're just getting cleaned up before dinner..Maria is Italian and she is making some really nice smelling chicken and tomato sauce..mmm.
My race was ok, I finished 6th. I was a little disappointed with how I was riding a few parts of the course, I just wasn't as good as I needed to be today over some of the technical stuff. C'est la vie. It's actually kind of funny cause I slid out in the exact same section twice...exact same mistake.
At least the weather was nice and this is a great race so even though it wasn't an awesome day for me, it's still a good experience and fun to be here.
We did narrow down some possibilities for our Trip to Europe. We are leaning on a shorter trip, as we first decided to do and shut it down Jan 3rd and no WORLDS this year. Why? Well I have obligations next year on the road and my season will be focused around a few key UCI races. This means I need a break this year before getting on the gas again for a training camp and early season races. Tasha does have a few offers for the road right now and for her, she would like to do some more National team projects , some early season stuff like Redlands, Gilla and so forth, so we will race hard until Jan then shut it down and hopefully enjoy this thing called "vacation"...I hear they are quit fun. Next years push on the road will be a little bit longer I suspect so we have decided that we need to go into the year on a full tank. And who knows, taking the rest this January might lead to both better road and CROSS seasons next year. Natasha's said one of her goals was to be doing Worlds in both cross and road next year, and be in the races to podium. Doing Cross till Feb is great but it just eats into the prep time for the next season. So that's where we are at, more like 2-3 weeks in Europe. This way it allows us to to be focused in training and preparation and then we know how long we can float on the shape we have. We'd rather be focused for the races we chose to do in Europe rather than racing just because.
DSJ
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Kanata
Click here for an interview we just did with Denise Kelly from the OCA...
We had a nice Sunday in Ottawa. Did the OBC race in Kanata. Great to see all the crew out there, catch up with people and throw down some good O town Cross. I like this series cause it's pretty low key, no stress, well almost none. Bob and Ian do a good job of keeping this series going, it's the kind of racing that gets people into the sport and it's cool cause I get to race against Natasha, Robbie O, the Super strong juniors K bomb, Evan, Karl and Connor. Natasha gets to race against Glen 6to1 Rendall. I think he did everything he could to beat beat Natasha cause he was looking pretty wrecked after the race...haha I love it.
I went into the race rested as we've been training full gas and I just needed a little rest so I took Friday off and felt awesome on Sunday. We've been focusing on bettering my starts and we've made some good progress. First time I have lead a race from start to finish, now I know how much fun Tasha has when she does that.
Admittedly I knew I had to go hard with Os and his young home boys ready to pounce if they had an opportunity. Evan McNeely looked like he rode his brains out to try and stay on my wheel but I just hit the throttle on second lap at 100% and it was just a little too fast for him. Watch out though this kid is a junior and he was riding like a man...I rode the 2nd lap at about 95% and I think I only put 15 seconds into him...man if that kid sticks with it...
Yah so it's a small race, but there is some pretty good guys there and it's always to fun to win. Sometimes when your traveling a lot doing high caliber races, you almost forget what it is like to win...so you have to remind yourself so when the time is right on the big day you stick it cause it just feels natural...so it just feels like your on your couch. Well on your couch with slobber on your face.
Speaking of slobber on your face, it was awesome to see Tasha race for 1hour 10 minutes. You know the womens races are usually just under 40, sometimes even 35 minutes, so that's almost a double shift for her. Man after an hour she fell apart, I was egging her on telling her to finish strong and she almost killed herself on the last barriers, she forgot to pick her bike up and just ploughed through it. She was done. Man it was kind of priceless. I think there were alot of guys that girled on Sunday! She had alot of fun to be able to do a race like this and it kind of changed it up for us.
We celebrated our return to Ottawa with some Shawarma Palace and man it was good!
We're still trying to finalize our plans for Europe..it's actually funny no ticket booked, no accommodations...but sometimes it's good to be a little flexible, that way you can focus on what you are doing at the present. I'm sure at some point we will panic but until then no worries.
DSJ
We had a nice Sunday in Ottawa. Did the OBC race in Kanata. Great to see all the crew out there, catch up with people and throw down some good O town Cross. I like this series cause it's pretty low key, no stress, well almost none. Bob and Ian do a good job of keeping this series going, it's the kind of racing that gets people into the sport and it's cool cause I get to race against Natasha, Robbie O, the Super strong juniors K bomb, Evan, Karl and Connor. Natasha gets to race against Glen 6to1 Rendall. I think he did everything he could to beat beat Natasha cause he was looking pretty wrecked after the race...haha I love it.
I went into the race rested as we've been training full gas and I just needed a little rest so I took Friday off and felt awesome on Sunday. We've been focusing on bettering my starts and we've made some good progress. First time I have lead a race from start to finish, now I know how much fun Tasha has when she does that.
Admittedly I knew I had to go hard with Os and his young home boys ready to pounce if they had an opportunity. Evan McNeely looked like he rode his brains out to try and stay on my wheel but I just hit the throttle on second lap at 100% and it was just a little too fast for him. Watch out though this kid is a junior and he was riding like a man...I rode the 2nd lap at about 95% and I think I only put 15 seconds into him...man if that kid sticks with it...
Yah so it's a small race, but there is some pretty good guys there and it's always to fun to win. Sometimes when your traveling a lot doing high caliber races, you almost forget what it is like to win...so you have to remind yourself so when the time is right on the big day you stick it cause it just feels natural...so it just feels like your on your couch. Well on your couch with slobber on your face.
Speaking of slobber on your face, it was awesome to see Tasha race for 1hour 10 minutes. You know the womens races are usually just under 40, sometimes even 35 minutes, so that's almost a double shift for her. Man after an hour she fell apart, I was egging her on telling her to finish strong and she almost killed herself on the last barriers, she forgot to pick her bike up and just ploughed through it. She was done. Man it was kind of priceless. I think there were alot of guys that girled on Sunday! She had alot of fun to be able to do a race like this and it kind of changed it up for us.
We celebrated our return to Ottawa with some Shawarma Palace and man it was good!
We're still trying to finalize our plans for Europe..it's actually funny no ticket booked, no accommodations...but sometimes it's good to be a little flexible, that way you can focus on what you are doing at the present. I'm sure at some point we will panic but until then no worries.
DSJ
Monday, October 26, 2009
Maine and beyond
So day two in Maine was a little warmer, well alot warmer, but the mud was even thincker, like oatmeal that's been in the microwave for too long.
It was good. The start was kind of crazy with a downhill mud section that was super wide and some dude put his bike into me and then someone ran over my head. That hurt. I grabbed the wrong bike then found my bike, went from bout 25th to 3rd in a few laps and broke my derail er hanger with 1/2 lap to go. Ran through the mud for 8th. That's cross. But something definetly clicked as I found myself riding really fast in the mud, I found how I could use my skill/strength to attack parts of the mud and use every once of energy into momentum. So I have to say that this was perhaps the most beneficial two races of my career. Crazy.
A huge thanks to our host family this weekend Chris and Phil for taking us in and feeding us some wicked chilli Saturday night.
Tasha rode consistent, but was a little under fired for the mud as she had also but in a big week of training and this was supposed to be a "b" race for us. It was supposed to be low key, but that's pretty impossible with the conditions, but hey you win some, you loose some.
This brings me to my next issue. WE are planning our European Campaign and we need some help. Basically we want to take a different approach then last year. We want to find a family that will host us, or maybe even a few different people who will take us in for a few weeks. SO if anyone who reads this has any family in Belgium/Holland and would like to take us in for a bit let us know, we would really appreciate it. We have had a alot of luck doing this in North America and the people we have met have been great so figure we will try to repeat the recipe in Europe and yield a similar outcome.
Ok, that's about it for today..see the local crew out in Kanata on Sunday.
It was good. The start was kind of crazy with a downhill mud section that was super wide and some dude put his bike into me and then someone ran over my head. That hurt. I grabbed the wrong bike then found my bike, went from bout 25th to 3rd in a few laps and broke my derail er hanger with 1/2 lap to go. Ran through the mud for 8th. That's cross. But something definetly clicked as I found myself riding really fast in the mud, I found how I could use my skill/strength to attack parts of the mud and use every once of energy into momentum. So I have to say that this was perhaps the most beneficial two races of my career. Crazy.
A huge thanks to our host family this weekend Chris and Phil for taking us in and feeding us some wicked chilli Saturday night.
Tasha rode consistent, but was a little under fired for the mud as she had also but in a big week of training and this was supposed to be a "b" race for us. It was supposed to be low key, but that's pretty impossible with the conditions, but hey you win some, you loose some.
This brings me to my next issue. WE are planning our European Campaign and we need some help. Basically we want to take a different approach then last year. We want to find a family that will host us, or maybe even a few different people who will take us in for a few weeks. SO if anyone who reads this has any family in Belgium/Holland and would like to take us in for a bit let us know, we would really appreciate it. We have had a alot of luck doing this in North America and the people we have met have been great so figure we will try to repeat the recipe in Europe and yield a similar outcome.
Ok, that's about it for today..see the local crew out in Kanata on Sunday.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
why do I shave my legs
Why...I just don't know sometimes. Like today...still got mud in my eyes and I'm feeling wrecked. What ever happened to the off season... Tiered, Tasha 3rd, Derrick 5th. I got a flat while I was in 2nd...then I just couldn't ride fast enough. We both had good rides. 11pm and clothes is clean, sort of, bikes are clean, mostly. Mud in my eyes. Must go to bed.
Tomorrow will be a little warmer...being hypodermic today was slightly unpleasant, mumbles and stumbles, I thought why do I shave my legs and why is every single piece of clothing I own wet! Man, why do I shave my legs. Why is everything wet. Who ever thought that riding bikes in mud was a great idea anyways...have they never heard of roads. Why did I shave my legs...I just don't know why ever ever started...but I'm here and this is what I do. I like the shine (sun) more than the rain, but it makes me tough. There were alot of really nice looking cows today.
I noticed there was alot of mud as well, mostly cause it's still coming out of my eyes...
They, the cows, had names...they even had music in their barns, and apparently little elevators to take their poo away. During the last lap I wished someone took me away and had a magical blow dryer to warm me up and a machine that I could just throw my bike and clothes into and they would come out looking new. Seems like there are easier ways to make a couple hundred dollars. But I guess I wouldn't get to run around in the mud in pink...ahhh well it was good fun.
DSJ
Tomorrow will be a little warmer...being hypodermic today was slightly unpleasant, mumbles and stumbles, I thought why do I shave my legs and why is every single piece of clothing I own wet! Man, why do I shave my legs. Why is everything wet. Who ever thought that riding bikes in mud was a great idea anyways...have they never heard of roads. Why did I shave my legs...I just don't know why ever ever started...but I'm here and this is what I do. I like the shine (sun) more than the rain, but it makes me tough. There were alot of really nice looking cows today.
I noticed there was alot of mud as well, mostly cause it's still coming out of my eyes...
They, the cows, had names...they even had music in their barns, and apparently little elevators to take their poo away. During the last lap I wished someone took me away and had a magical blow dryer to warm me up and a machine that I could just throw my bike and clothes into and they would come out looking new. Seems like there are easier ways to make a couple hundred dollars. But I guess I wouldn't get to run around in the mud in pink...ahhh well it was good fun.
DSJ
Rain in Maine
We had to make a change of plan. Our mechanic for Kentucky broke a rib, so we are in Maine as we did not want to spend 30 hours in the car this weekend. It poured rain last night, it's still raining...it will be a mud fest today. Good news is there is more oxygen in the air when it rains.
We drove through New Hampshire on the way here, who knew Mt Washington was that enormous, we drove by it once, on the way back, but it was snowing so we couldn't see a thing.
Big news, the UCI has held our Nationals points until January. I looked to see if there was a new rule about this, but there isn't. Well in one way it's kind of fair, as there is no way Cross nats should be that early...but on the other hand we could have just flown to Travesio to racked up some points. In the end though you pretty much have t go to Europe to benefit from the points.
We've actually been sorting out our Euro campaign...We've got a few different ideas, more to follow.
DSJ
We drove through New Hampshire on the way here, who knew Mt Washington was that enormous, we drove by it once, on the way back, but it was snowing so we couldn't see a thing.
Big news, the UCI has held our Nationals points until January. I looked to see if there was a new rule about this, but there isn't. Well in one way it's kind of fair, as there is no way Cross nats should be that early...but on the other hand we could have just flown to Travesio to racked up some points. In the end though you pretty much have t go to Europe to benefit from the points.
We've actually been sorting out our Euro campaign...We've got a few different ideas, more to follow.
DSJ
Monday, October 19, 2009
TO
Well, back in Toronto for one of our favorite weekends of the year.
Tasha rode really smooth on Saturday. I kept telling her to shut it down but I think she was just on fire. She said she felt she wasn't really going that hard, but that's what you call having a good day, it just doesn't feel that hard. Pepper gave her a little run for it on the first lap, but Tasha waited and made her move and it was very decisive.
With her win, she jumped into the lead of the North American Cyclocross Trophey (NACT) Series lead and got another sweet jersey to add to this years collection.
I had an ok race. Well that's not true, it was pretty much straight up awesome. I started off ok, but had to fight through a little traffic. On this course I think it was important not to go like stink on the first lap as going up a ski hill 8 times takes a toll on the body. I managed to tag on to the back of the group of 5 leaders. Powers hit the barriers and Johnson plowed into him, it was like Moses parting the red sea except it was Cannodale green and It tipped toes my way through the chaos onto Andy Jacques wheel. I wasn't sure if I should attack as there is always a little bit of etiquette in cycling, in retrospect maybe I should have given it full gas, but as there were a series turns I had to wait before hitting the throttle. But I did hit it a few times and attacked through the barriers the next lap, and then attacked again up the hill, this time Johson responded and stayed close to him, but not close enough. Driscoll then followed. I battled with Watson for third and I matched his accelerations and took him on the final climb but slid out with a few hundred meters to go roiling into 4th.
Sunday Tasha stormed away during the first lap and was never to be seen. Well there was a young junior chomping at her heels, and closed to within 15 seconds, but she just kept the pressure on and secured the win and I believe most of the points for the jersey.
I was unable to match the speed of the three man Cannodale train on the first lap and resolved to fighting for 4th. I won the battles using my kamikaze barrier attacks to get the final gap.
Great weather, great weekend. Good to see a lot of people at the venue. Great courses both days. Lots of great photos all over the web.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/toronto-international-cyclo-cross-c1/stages/stage-1/photos/92131
Yah that's pretty much my favorite photo ever.
Also, we were able to take coach Dan out and his wife Sara. We brought them to a Shawarma place, best of all I got a Shawarma hat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They said they would give it to me only if I wore it...for sure I'm going to wear a hat that says Shawarma...it's only the second most important food group after coffee.
I could actually do a long blog post, as the weekend was really exciting but I'm pretty tiered and we are travelling to the USGP in Kentucky Friday so we are gonna do a little run today.
I also received an email that means so much to me. In this sport you have to work hard, but good things come if you just keep at it
I really think that I raced close to my full potential this weekend. Having amazing product support from LG really helps, I have to say they have been amazing. Also having Alex Sanna (Soingeur Race Services) do all the pit work is a super help. If you ever need a soingneur look him up, he is a big supported of the Dynamic Duo and I would recommend him to anyone.
When you buy LG products or hire Alex you are supporting the people who believe in us and you directly contribute to our success by doing so. I know Alex is being certified as a level 3 coach as well, if his coaching is anything like the great services he offers to us, I am sure it is pretty great.
Derrick
Tasha rode really smooth on Saturday. I kept telling her to shut it down but I think she was just on fire. She said she felt she wasn't really going that hard, but that's what you call having a good day, it just doesn't feel that hard. Pepper gave her a little run for it on the first lap, but Tasha waited and made her move and it was very decisive.
With her win, she jumped into the lead of the North American Cyclocross Trophey (NACT) Series lead and got another sweet jersey to add to this years collection.
I had an ok race. Well that's not true, it was pretty much straight up awesome. I started off ok, but had to fight through a little traffic. On this course I think it was important not to go like stink on the first lap as going up a ski hill 8 times takes a toll on the body. I managed to tag on to the back of the group of 5 leaders. Powers hit the barriers and Johnson plowed into him, it was like Moses parting the red sea except it was Cannodale green and It tipped toes my way through the chaos onto Andy Jacques wheel. I wasn't sure if I should attack as there is always a little bit of etiquette in cycling, in retrospect maybe I should have given it full gas, but as there were a series turns I had to wait before hitting the throttle. But I did hit it a few times and attacked through the barriers the next lap, and then attacked again up the hill, this time Johson responded and stayed close to him, but not close enough. Driscoll then followed. I battled with Watson for third and I matched his accelerations and took him on the final climb but slid out with a few hundred meters to go roiling into 4th.
Sunday Tasha stormed away during the first lap and was never to be seen. Well there was a young junior chomping at her heels, and closed to within 15 seconds, but she just kept the pressure on and secured the win and I believe most of the points for the jersey.
I was unable to match the speed of the three man Cannodale train on the first lap and resolved to fighting for 4th. I won the battles using my kamikaze barrier attacks to get the final gap.
Great weather, great weekend. Good to see a lot of people at the venue. Great courses both days. Lots of great photos all over the web.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/toronto-international-cyclo-cross-c1/stages/stage-1/photos/92131
Yah that's pretty much my favorite photo ever.
Also, we were able to take coach Dan out and his wife Sara. We brought them to a Shawarma place, best of all I got a Shawarma hat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They said they would give it to me only if I wore it...for sure I'm going to wear a hat that says Shawarma...it's only the second most important food group after coffee.
I could actually do a long blog post, as the weekend was really exciting but I'm pretty tiered and we are travelling to the USGP in Kentucky Friday so we are gonna do a little run today.
I also received an email that means so much to me. In this sport you have to work hard, but good things come if you just keep at it
I really think that I raced close to my full potential this weekend. Having amazing product support from LG really helps, I have to say they have been amazing. Also having Alex Sanna (Soingeur Race Services) do all the pit work is a super help. If you ever need a soingneur look him up, he is a big supported of the Dynamic Duo and I would recommend him to anyone.
When you buy LG products or hire Alex you are supporting the people who believe in us and you directly contribute to our success by doing so. I know Alex is being certified as a level 3 coach as well, if his coaching is anything like the great services he offers to us, I am sure it is pretty great.
Derrick
Sunday, October 11, 2009
3 week recap
So it's been so long since I've done a post. Apparently I should of being doing more, as too many guys in the west coast read Derrick's post the wrong way last night. All well, such is life and we don't have a blog to cause trouble but to use as a race report and a diary and nothing more that. Family, friends, fans, supporters and sponsors are interested in how we are and what we are doing and sometimes this is our only connection to them. The smartest thing I have done though over the last few weeks, is stopped reading everyone's blog that I race against. Why.....well there is no need, if I see these people at the race, I'd rather just talk to them and listen to how things went, cause, really that shows that I care and am interested and I am actually listening to there answers. It's been a real great experiment and I really proud of myself for this step. As a racer you can read into someone's blog the wrong way, and not get their true perspective, but if you talk to them you actually see that it is different from what you would read. Hey and sometimes people like to make jokes and sound funny but not for it to be taken the wrong way.
Anyways, a short 3 weeks ago the racing had started and wow how much variety have I had this year in a mere 3 weeks. Vermont was great 1 win and 1 2nd place. Gloucester, well Gloucester couldn't of been better. Those to date were my best two career wins ever and two do the double like that made it feel even more amazing. Two different days and two different styles of racing really made me feel at the top of my game. Maybe one week to early or maybe not. I definitely didn't feel amazing the last two days and I know I never travel well east to west, but what can you. All you can do is try and hope things will go well. Luck wasn't on my side this weekend either, the first day I made a mistake of letting Pepper and Allison pass me in the first half of the first lap and sure enough Pepper crashed and on my way of avoiding her as she was getting up, I slid out as well and never got to recover as Pepper and Allison went full gas to get rid of me. I tried and tried but 12 seconds was as close as I ever got in the next few laps and then I was spent.
Today was better but still not my "A" game. Heart rate was super lower both today and yesterday and I know something is always up when that happens. Anyways I gave it a go and lead the first lap and then had to play a bit of games. I was only willing to let Allison lead and as Pepper kept trying to get by I had to accelerate and close the door on her. She ended up crashing numerous of times behind me and that was exactly why I couldn't let her get in front. Anyways to fight her off I let Allison get a couple of seconds on me and could never close it back. She got me by about 20 seconds today (Pedal and Canadian Cyclist some how messed up the results but all well). On the top part of the course I was closing and could see and smell the fear in Allison as she jumped hard out of each corner. But she definitely out road me in the bowl part of the course which I couldn't make up the time for this mountain bike section of the course no matter how hard I tried.
Derrick's race today was a bit of a "shit" show if I can say this word on the blog. If I told you anything about the few mishaps we have both had to deal with in the last few days it has been insane. Pretty funny and pretty amazing how we both handled the situations. For me, one really truly did probably effect my performance (which its nothing a few physio appointments can't fix), the other, well was just a little out of line and insulting. The same for Derrick and the way he came back today in the race after he was blatantly taken out, well that was amazing. I was pretty sure after the race we was going to be ready to rip someone apart, but he didn't even complain. All he could say was "did you see me ride and pass like 10 guys in 2 minutes, look how well I recovered from that". He also had some bad luck with a mechanical and as he road into second place, he then fell back to 4th because of it in the last few laps of the race. No complaints or protests to the officials when I think he would of had a valid case. Anyways, like my little mishap last week with another rider, you never know who was right and who was wrong, or if it is intentional or not, nobody can really make the call but the person who did it. You just have to trust your gut and try to race as fair as you think is fair. It is after all cyclo cross, and people are in for the win and will get there at all costs, and everyone has their own style of riding. Derrick and I both do this for a living at the moment and do try to go as far as we can but as fair as possible, but yes rubbin is racing my friends and it's all part of the game.
Next year is another year and another Nationals. Nationals is an important one, but there is still many other races to be won out there for the season. I definitely know that I had my work cut out for me this past weekend to win it and am not sure even if I had my "A" game if I would of got it on this course. I'm content to keep on trying and keep on racing to my abilities and wait again until next year in Toronto, which is much closer to home for me. And maybe just then I will get the title. Believe me when I do, it will be something special, I thought for sure my 10 UCI wins in North American over the last 13 months was enough preparation but I guess it was not. Nobody said it was going to be easy and if it was, would it be that great.
Thanks again to everyone who has helped us thus far, all the cheerers, supporters, fans, family, coach Dan and sponsors at LG, both from at the race and from a far. We are not even half way done this season, but you have all brought us so far.
NCE
Anyways, a short 3 weeks ago the racing had started and wow how much variety have I had this year in a mere 3 weeks. Vermont was great 1 win and 1 2nd place. Gloucester, well Gloucester couldn't of been better. Those to date were my best two career wins ever and two do the double like that made it feel even more amazing. Two different days and two different styles of racing really made me feel at the top of my game. Maybe one week to early or maybe not. I definitely didn't feel amazing the last two days and I know I never travel well east to west, but what can you. All you can do is try and hope things will go well. Luck wasn't on my side this weekend either, the first day I made a mistake of letting Pepper and Allison pass me in the first half of the first lap and sure enough Pepper crashed and on my way of avoiding her as she was getting up, I slid out as well and never got to recover as Pepper and Allison went full gas to get rid of me. I tried and tried but 12 seconds was as close as I ever got in the next few laps and then I was spent.
Today was better but still not my "A" game. Heart rate was super lower both today and yesterday and I know something is always up when that happens. Anyways I gave it a go and lead the first lap and then had to play a bit of games. I was only willing to let Allison lead and as Pepper kept trying to get by I had to accelerate and close the door on her. She ended up crashing numerous of times behind me and that was exactly why I couldn't let her get in front. Anyways to fight her off I let Allison get a couple of seconds on me and could never close it back. She got me by about 20 seconds today (Pedal and Canadian Cyclist some how messed up the results but all well). On the top part of the course I was closing and could see and smell the fear in Allison as she jumped hard out of each corner. But she definitely out road me in the bowl part of the course which I couldn't make up the time for this mountain bike section of the course no matter how hard I tried.
Derrick's race today was a bit of a "shit" show if I can say this word on the blog. If I told you anything about the few mishaps we have both had to deal with in the last few days it has been insane. Pretty funny and pretty amazing how we both handled the situations. For me, one really truly did probably effect my performance (which its nothing a few physio appointments can't fix), the other, well was just a little out of line and insulting. The same for Derrick and the way he came back today in the race after he was blatantly taken out, well that was amazing. I was pretty sure after the race we was going to be ready to rip someone apart, but he didn't even complain. All he could say was "did you see me ride and pass like 10 guys in 2 minutes, look how well I recovered from that". He also had some bad luck with a mechanical and as he road into second place, he then fell back to 4th because of it in the last few laps of the race. No complaints or protests to the officials when I think he would of had a valid case. Anyways, like my little mishap last week with another rider, you never know who was right and who was wrong, or if it is intentional or not, nobody can really make the call but the person who did it. You just have to trust your gut and try to race as fair as you think is fair. It is after all cyclo cross, and people are in for the win and will get there at all costs, and everyone has their own style of riding. Derrick and I both do this for a living at the moment and do try to go as far as we can but as fair as possible, but yes rubbin is racing my friends and it's all part of the game.
Next year is another year and another Nationals. Nationals is an important one, but there is still many other races to be won out there for the season. I definitely know that I had my work cut out for me this past weekend to win it and am not sure even if I had my "A" game if I would of got it on this course. I'm content to keep on trying and keep on racing to my abilities and wait again until next year in Toronto, which is much closer to home for me. And maybe just then I will get the title. Believe me when I do, it will be something special, I thought for sure my 10 UCI wins in North American over the last 13 months was enough preparation but I guess it was not. Nobody said it was going to be easy and if it was, would it be that great.
Thanks again to everyone who has helped us thus far, all the cheerers, supporters, fans, family, coach Dan and sponsors at LG, both from at the race and from a far. We are not even half way done this season, but you have all brought us so far.
NCE
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