World cup aftermath.

Well, it turns out that I completely threw away the most important race of my would-be career. I was feeling well on race day, did one practice run to make sure my wheels would make it through the qualifiers. Got plenty of rest, went through the bike one final time and headed up to the gondola with Hank to do our qualifying runs. My qualifier was good, that is until I heard the noise of my chain clanking against the spokes about a minute into my run...No worries, I would just need to keep up my momentum and hopefully have enough to qualify. I suppose I did a good job of this because I was well in the top 40 at the split without having a chain. I got through the high speed section well and proceeded to make my way into the lower tree sections. I had a slip in the lower rock garden where my brother and Wes were set up, no worries though I still had speed. pumped the lower section like never before and boosted over the final rock section and onto the bridge huck. I smashed this as much as I possibly could for as not to lose speed upon landing. I pumped the last open ski-run and held the throttle wide open into the last tree section which ultimately led to my demise. I spotted a straight line through those trees and attempted it at full speed. Just as I was to exit this final section towards the finish I hit a tree with my shoulder. The force from the impact caused me to spin off my bike and land in the centere of the course. As I lay there I shouted for someone to get my bike off the course for fear of getting hit by the next rider. Nothing was done and I lay there confused and dazed with a sharp pain in my right shoulder. Once I got my wits about me, I scrambled to my bike and grabbed on to my bars, a piercing pain struck me as I mounted and I almost dropped to the ground again. I managed to pedal-kick myself down the next small slope and towards the finish line. As I came across the finish the pain in my shoulder was very strong, and I felt as though I damaged it severely. When I came across the line I was inspected, taken to first aid and it was determined that I had bruised ligaments and a minor separation in the shoulder but nothing was broken. After some time back at the hotel room it finally sank in that I had thrown away one of the biggest opportunities of my life..it angered me for a bit. Even more so after I saw the split times and the fact that I had missed qualifying by a couple of spots in spite of all my time lost.

When it was all said and done however, this race was an enormous learning experience. I dont think I will ever think of racing the same. The level of competition here was so far above and beyond anything I had ever done and it taught me many lessons that I will apply in the future(mainly not body-checking large trees at full speed). Besides the travel woes returning home, Mont Saint Anne was an amazing event (the party was wild, and Fabian Barel cannot dance!!!haha).

St. Anne day 2 and 3

Everything happens quickly at a world cup. Before I know it I am sitting in the Media room on the eve of race day. Whether that is a good thing or a bad thing I still cannot decide, one thing is for sure, tomorrow will be a long day. I found it a bit hard to get up today, I was not tired but feeling rather sick. My first run was a disaster, I fell twice and lost a couple of spokes. I took a break to mend my broken bike. After the break I headed up for another run...when I got to the bottom my wheel had again failed. I re-tightened the spokes and went up for another run, my wheel's final stand. When I came down I noticed the wheel more off balance than before, upon closer examination I noticed a large split in the rim and many deep dents in the sidewall. I will need to find a set to borrow for tomorrow. The course is fast and tough, I will need all of my skill and experience to even qualify tomorrow. Wish me luck, I will for damn sure need it.

Mont Saint Anne day 1

World Cups are badass. The course is badass, the riders are all badasses, the bikes are badass and the lift chicks have badass accents too. While the course is holding true to the hype, this region of North America definately ranks low on my list. The gondolas rock, you can yell at peeps on the course and they are super comfy to ride in. The weather is sticky and warm, it has been raining most of the time except for during practice times. From what I hear the top section is quite different from last year. The top section is mostly man-made and was quite nasty early in the day, I definately got loose in that section. The wide-open section under the lift is fast as hell and the berms are tight and some have massive holes in them already. Everyone is pinned, I got to ride up the lift with some Spaniards and they were super cool and pointed out some lines.

We Made it to Canada!

After a rediculous amount of time in the airports and in the air we are finally in Canada! Many tense moments came and went in the last 24 hours but we are all good to go. We are staying in Montreal tonight and will be driving to Mont Saint Anne tomorrow morning. Check out some pics from today:

The long road to St. anne

Traveling from SLC to St. Anne
Oh Doctor. Well now that Deer Valley is in the books I am looking forward to St. Anne and Canada. Sunday night came and we left Deer Valley, after being dropped off in SLC by a shady character known as “darkness”(left) we proceeded to check into a swanky hotel room. Mikey, Keiran, Julious, my brother and I packed into the large hotel room. Mikey’s mom was still around and we loaded the Sprinter van and headed to Denny’s. Now, it is very true that Mountain bikers are a very unique group of people…With that said, Mikey, his mom, Ian, Shwankey, Christen the JRX chick, Kieran, Adrian and I assaulted the Denny’s. Suffice it to say that we made at least one family walk out of the restaurant and made at least one waitress mad. After dinner we passed out. Julious had an early morning flight and was out of the room without waking any of us up. We however had a late night flight and would haveto kill as much time as possible, no problem right? Eh, well…it was. The complementary airport shuttle dropped us at around 1pm and our flight did not depart till 11pm!!!! Than meant that the SLC international airport would be our home for the next 10 hours! We kept ourselves entertained with whatever we could. Julious called me at around 3pm to rub in the fact that he had arrived at Montreal. I had regular check-ins with my road-trippin mates who were in Ohio last I checked. My brother must have spent at least 6 hours on

Race day at Deer Valley

I will admit, Deer Valley is not my favorite track. In fact, I would consider it a mediocre track at best. But I won’t spend too much time hovering over that subject. Race day came and it was an early morning practice, not too pleasing as the rest of the weekend held mid-morning to early afternoon sessions. Sanjay and I boarded the lift and prepared to do our pre-race runs. The weather was pretty nice, not as cold as we had expected. This meant that the highs would be in the mid-80’s, nice. Qualifiers were immediately following the practice session and I was seeded to go off 12 minutes deep into the field of over 60 PRO men. I decided to take a conservative qualifier so I could be seeded mid-pack. I did, and I ended up qualifying in the 21st spot which was not too bad. The usual NORBA thing was going on (bad scheduling) so we did not have finals until 1pm, which gave us much time to kill. Since the super-factory rig of the ODI-southridge team was extremely close to the lift I decided to spend my time there. Bradical and Hank were there and we quickly started talking about life’s deep questions and pop-tarts. Wes soon joined us and the I.Q of the group suddenly dropped, but not for long as my good friend Sanjay saved the day with his witty comments and useless taunting of Wes. Race time was approaching and the wind was starting to pick up, as the Semi-Pros came down from their race runs they all had a look of fear on their faces. They al mentioned that the wind had picked up majorly and the drop which everyone was having problems with had gotten tougher to manage and many people were getting hurt attempting to huck the drop. To spite the warnings from the Semi-pros I kept my plans the same and planned on hitting all my lines regardless of the wind conditions. Next thing I knew I was up in the gate and ready to rock. The beeps went of and so did I, over the rock double and into the loose, off-camber section before the infamous “Niagara” spot. Right before the “Niagara” my feet blow off the pedals, I manage to catch them with my heels and go down the section un-cliped. Not a big deal, I clip in and peadal hard into the trees and the “barney rubble” rock section. The cheering was incredible in the trees, a quick loss of traction before the rock garden sent roost off the trail and the crowd got even louder…Now it was on to the tough rock main rock section, I let go of the brakes and trusted my boxxer not to get caught up in the massive, sharp rocks. It did it’s job and I floated over most of the holes, roots and razor-sharp rocks. I took the first turn out of the section clean, perhaps a bit too clean for I carried too much speed into the next turn and hit a tree. The crowd was still cheering, as son as I hit the tree the crowd gasped and I fell to the ground, then in an instant the crowd rose again and cheered for me to get up and go. I did but not before realizing that I had twisted my bars, not time to straighten them up I was losing precious milliseconds. I cleared the rest of the course as cleanly as I could, that is until the second to last turn when I clipped a pole which sent me into at 360* dive and onto the ground…hard. This was basically at the bottom so you can imagine the amount of cheering I was getting before I fell and after I got up. Deer Valley was a good experience and although I did not hear my time upon finishing I’m sure it was not too heinous. On to St. Anne and my first ever World Cup, cross your fingers I hope I qualify, here we go…

To St. Ane we go

After a bad race day at Deer Valley, I am looking foreward to traveling to Mont Sainte Anne. We hop on the airport shuttle in a couple of minutes and get to cause a ruckus at the SLC airport for a couple of hours.
More updates as soon as I get to Quebec.

Deer Valley day dos

Well, just when I thought things could not get worse mechanically...they don't. But other problems do come up, mainly riding problems: today I had the worse fall in recent memory. My chainguide was caught on a rock right before a sizable drop and I dove about 12 feet onto the jagged, rocky landing. The course officials were stunned and made sure I was ok. When they asked me where I was I responded: "I'm at the bottom of the drop that just OWNED me." They found that humerus and helped me off the course. When I finally fixed my bike and cleared my head I went up for another run, which was short-lived due to the fact that I flatted at the top of the course. Got that fixed and was finally able to get some runs in. Can't say that they were as fast as I'd like but they were good.

The drop pictured here to the right is where I fell...

from the very top!

The minor damage from a horrific crash:

Deer Valley day one

Deer Valley. Whoa, what a crazy course. The dirt is super loose and the track is burly as can be. For some reason this course is taking it's toll on riders and bikes. My first run claimed my chain and a chunk of my e-13 bashguard. Second run claimed a tube and twisted my bars. Finally my third run was a bit better and I started to enjoy the track. There is close to zero tracion on this dusty, dry, loose and steep course.

A bit of bad news from the first day of practice: "hurricane DK", David K broke his wrist and will not be able to compete at this race.

Pracitce at 10am tomorrow morning, I need to commit to some lines and hopefully work out the problems I have with the course.

Angelfire low-down

Angelfire this year definitely left a mark on my wall of all-time "top races/trips". We packed both the F-250 and the SCION to their capacities and charged the 20+ hour drive like it was nothing. Me and Wes took care of the beast while the Aussies, Garrick and Griz drove the scone. Almost a full week of practice meant that come race day we would be pretty much spent, and that seemed to be the case for most racers including myself. I blame my fatigue on the fact that I was riding REAL downhill trails which meant that I was so stoked that I ignored the cramps in my hands and legs. Luckily our condo was large enough to handle our group, which was interesting to say the least. Griz kept things patriotic for most of the trip and drilled the Aussies; Yarl and Jason, whenever he had the chance. Griz also spoke to me in Jibber-jabber most of the time and whenever I would try to communicate with him he would simply reply: "What is he saying". Also with us were the brothers Anderson. Garrick and Ryan kept things quiet for the most part, that is till the time came for riding. Ryan had some super-ninja lines that most pros did not see, damn kid. Jake was or lone MTX specialist, he got pushed in the first heat and that is all she wrote. No worries though, Jake was pumped on the riding and spectating that was abundant up at the 'fire. Bradical was in the house and he made it clear that he has more energy and stoke than all of us combined. From the minute he arrived at my pad on Tuesday he was full-bore, and it did not let off. Maybe that was a good thing because he smoked the Junior-X class and is well on his way to Fort William to rep. the USA at Worlds. Oh yeah, Wes was with us too....

What a week, it seems like I just got home from that crazy trip and I depart of another in less than a week. My next endeavour will arguably be one of the biggest events of my life. If you would have asked me 3 years ago if I ever thought I would be racing a World Cup I would have laughed and shook my head. Back then it was just an unreal dream, but today I can say that I will be racing at the World Cup in Mont Saint Anne Quebec, unreal. So to St. Anne I go, stopping first at the NMBS @ Deer Valley Utah. I will be traveling with my brother, which is pretty awesome. Joining us on this East-coast op. is NorCal resident Mikey Haderer and New Zealand pinner Kieran Bennett. I'l be racing at the World Cup for DECLINE magazine, which should fetch some free exposure. Random pics from Angelfire below:

FIRE!!!

Stoked on the weekend's results! After qualifing 7th place I managed to put a semi-descent run in and pulled a 10th place in the pro division! STOKED! Bradical took the JRX division by a good gap also!!! I'm pumped for Deer Valley and the big show-Mont Saint anne WORLD CUP!!!!!

More pics and stuff to come!!!!