Bubba # 2 Spanish Lake

Well...not too good of a race for me at Spanish Lake. I'm not sure why I suffered so much on Sunday, but it was bad. I got off to a good start in the race and felt good for the first lap or so. After that though, things quickly went downhill. I was getting passed by what seemed like just about everyone in the race. Darrell and David flew by me, I tried to catch Darrell's wheel as he went by, and did for a couple hundred meters, but he dropped me like a bad habit. I was completely demoralized.

Here I am sucking wind behind the Dust Man.


What led to my poor showing? Beats me. I don't think the course was well suited for my riding style, it was more of a power course. I can't really use this as an excuse though. My lower back did begin to hurt a lot toward the end of the race, but I think it was just a by-product of my suckiness. The only other thing I could think of came a couple of days after the race. I didn't feel like riding hard at all this week and am thinking I might be slightly overtrained. Bummer. This week I avoided ALL intervals and didn't do any hard rides. I still spent several hours on the bike this week doing some 1-2 hour endurance rides, but nothing hard. I even found the opportunity ro ride my MTB bike today. Anyway, I'm hoping things go better this weekend.

Jessie will be going down, along with my parents, and we are going to stop by the Butterfly House before the race this Sunday. It sure would be nice to ride well in front of my fans! We'll see.

Bubba # 1 Jefferson Baracks

Heading into this cross season I couldn't be more excited. Last year I finished in the top ten for most of the "A" races . . . so this year my goal is to finish top 5 as often as possible. This obviously becomes more difficult when Josh and Nate show up, as was the case Sunday. That said, I got off to a good start. I was able to avoid the first two crashes of the day, which also helped me establish my position in the front of the field. After a couple of laps I began to settle in. I found myself riding with Dr. Mark and another guy, we were probably riding in 4-6 spots. The pace felt good and wasn't pushing me too much. Unfortunatley I wasn't cautious enough and hit a root too hard in an awkward position. My bike came to a screeching halt beneath me, almost throwing me forward over the bars. After hopping off I quickly realized I rolled my tire off the rim. I tried to pop it back on but didn't have any luck. My race was over. Lesson learned . . . check my wheels very carefully after ridjng in a sloppy mess (Hermann Under the Lights). Oh well, the bike will be ready for next Sunday, but will the rider?