what a week!

I just keep wrecking myself...
I sometimes wonder if my head is magnetized to the ground.

We kicked off our Tuesday CX training sessions at Trashmore and we had a nice small group who was eager to learn. We went over everything lightly hoping that some of it sticks. It's a lot to take in all at once, but if you do a little homework and keep coming back, the improvements will show. We did 3 laps of our mock course at a good training clip and boy did it hurt. We finished up with barrier drills where I made quite the fool of myself. As the group was circled around chatting I rolled up to the first barrier with my hands on the tops (away from the brakes) and my right cleat wouldn't release from the pedal. As a last ditch effort I lifted the front wheel to try and bunny hop my way out of it but was going too slow. I ended up raking my left shin on the barrier and landed on my butt. The pain up and down my shin hurt just a bit more than my pride! The next day I bought some new pedals and cleats (thx contes).

Tomorrow will be session #2 of CX training starting at 6pm. If youre interested in running prior to class for extra credit let me know...

Thursday was the All About Bikes night ride in Chesapeake which is very close to my house and has a mix of on and off road and it just totally suits the cross bike. Also a great bunch of people show up for the ride and post ride fun! This ride was good and fast, I had a great workout and was stoked to race the mtb in c-ville. But on the way home in the arboretum, i took a spill and landed head first in a 6 to 8 foot ditch. I was wearing a backpack because 5 of us meet up an hour prior to the ride to do some much needed trail maintenance, so I packed a change of clothes and stuff. So just before the crash I ran up the stairs and remounted cross style but the weight of the pack kept my momentum going to the right and i quickly veered off to the right. As I lay at the bottom on my back near the water, my light eerily facing up and it was very quiet. I couldn't lift my head or arms but I could turn my head and move my hands. That was very scary, but after about 30 mins of remaining calm i was able to claw my way outta there and bring it home in limp mode. I found little to no marks on me but I was sore as hell. I still feel the burns from the backpack straps on my shoulders. So the pain is where my shoulder blades come together and in my neck.

Below is a great pic of where it all went down. I went back the next day to put some light on it.

Below is Mugs mowin stuff down. He really wanted a chain saw and to break stuff and other things I just can't mention... Mugs, Baker, Nick, Albe, and I made quick work of a temporary trail re-route. This is my helmet that I didn't noice was broke till the next morning! I have never broken a helmet before...
I thought this was just a classic place for me to pose for a pic at the blue ridge school drama shop. I think I could ace that class!

So I had to fight the demons and figure out if I would make the trip up to c-ville for the off road omnium. I went, I was tight, but toughed it out and rode a little light to ensure no crashes but that was really hard due to the technicality of all three courses. Big ups to my host house for putting us up. We didn't even break anything.

Thanks to the Tevendales and everyone else involved in making this great race happen. I met a lot of really cool people and was reminded why I love mountain biking first.
The race details and results can be found on the Bike Factory Racing Blog
It was a lot of fun, and I will definately look for it again next year and you should too!