Even though I'm off the chart, I can't seem to give up the idea of it all (the flip flops were the real problem!). It didn't end up being such a good idea after all. It ended in a possibly fractured toe and a toe gushing blood all over Denver International Airport! hahahaha (would probably give it a go again, though, if I had to!)
My cool grad student bike riding friends Eszter and Kim :)
Well, a lot of stress is gone now, though, as the bike race that I planned for a mere 8 days has come and gone. It was super successful for what it was, a short track race and a makeshift mountain cross at a dilapidated BMX track! Everyone had fun (I think), nobody got hurt, and we got done before the rain came, so in my mind it was a huge success!
Super props go out to the XC kids who showed up and raced. Eszter kicked super butt and got 4th in the A women, Abby got 8th (surprising herself a bit, I think), and Kim raced with about 30 seconds notice and no practice! Alders made a guest appearance as well, showing me up and qualifying 0.3 seconds faster than me!! He got better style points, too. It's really a shame nobody had their camera there.
After the day of racing a few of us met up at the So. Sun for some much needed beer! The bike antics for the day, however continued on our way over. Bryan and Abby do their best to get the motorized tandem "started" the whole way to the Sun, only to realized after we got there that it was actually out of gas! haha :)
A rough start to get going...
It's rather difficult to take a picture of a moving object while trying to ride a fixed gear and not run into anything!
Eszter had a 1st and a 4th on the day, pretty impressive if you ask me!
After the Sun, it was off to the Lucero show. It was awesome! If you don't know who they are, you should check 'em out!
A very belated update about my trip to Scotland for the MTB World Championships. It was pretty darn cool to summarize in just a few words. Scotland is a beautiful country and the little town (Fort William) that we stayed in was super quaint. Our hotel was at the west end of the town, and we could walk all the way across town in about 10 minutes.
The Gravity Girls at the Opening Ceremonies My "USA" toes :)
I did the 4x event there. There was the largest women's field ever at a World Championships, so it was pretty cool to qualify 12th. In the round of 16, I was in second place going into the final set of jumps before the last corner, and then I messed the jumps up, got really squirelly in the berm and ended up getting passed by both girls behind me. It was pretty disappointing, but a good experience overall. We raced at night, under the lights, and in front of a crowd of 45,000, so that was really cool!!!
My camera was MIA for several days of the trip and as a result, I didn't have it to give to someone to "film" my race on the big screen tv. The race was shown live on the BBC, though, so I'm determined to find some sort of coverage from the race out there somewhere. My friend Melissa got 3rd, which was super cool. She's such a strong rider and a great mentor for me!
The 4x was done well before the DH, so I had a little bit of time to relax and just cheer for my friends in the DH. The video below is of TJ's race run. It was pretty cool to be able to see more than a few seconds of someone's DH run, as normally you just stand there and watch them ride by!
TJ Sharp's 2007 World Champs DH race run
Cole and TJ after the DH race
Overall, I had a really great experience (midges and friend's lost luggage were really the only bad things!). Even the persistent mist wasn't too bad. :) I'm really glad that I went. It's an experience that I'll definitely remember for a lifetime.
I made a quick trip home two weekends ago to visit my Grandpa. He's fighting the leukemia as hard as he can, but there's only so much you can do without treatment. :( It was really good to see him and get to spend some time with him and listen to some of his stories. What an amazing role model for life!
Sorry that I've been so slack at updating this. I've been meaning to put up some pics from Worlds (I will, still), but I feel like it's all I can do to "just get by" right now. Let me tell you, it's no way to really live, but for now, it's what I've got to do. So, anyway, as soon as I get a chance, I'll get a little more caught up and put up some pics. Thanks for checking back.
