FOUR!

I sure am attracting the power of 4 lately at anything worthy. World 4, National 4 and now Gold Cup 4 after this weekend. Don't get me wrong, it's great to be doing so well, but what the heck where is a podium finish now and then. I am going to be pissed if I end up 4 for NBL state this coming weekend. The weekend went quick in Ontario thanks to only 100 motos each day. I ended up 1st Friday, 3rd Saturday and the big 4 for Sunday.

It's another grind week before another race weekend. Same as the last few and same as the next few. Last week got so hectic with Interibke at the end of the week that I feel like I have not sat down for a couple weeks now!

Gold Cup

It's Gold Cup or Redline Cup or whatever you want to call ABA's west coast shindig. Basically I made a "pit stop" at my compound and switched from office/business meeting/industry into my race deal. The last couple days at interbike put a good 10 miles on my feel between the show, the crit race, and Nate & I with our late 2AM foot patrol to stratosphere I am pretty much feeling it on the track. Tonight was pre race and I took first. Nate was in 2nd but it really don't matter between us. I guess the only winner out of the deal with us racing is the sponsors cause we do the 1-2 thing. I hope its a good sign of things for the future cause tonight we were basically talking out front with our lead as we hit the last 3 straights! The weekend will be long from here on and I am tired since I am running on 9 hours sleep since Wednesday morning!

Interbike

Nate and I were burning the midnight oil tonight getting ready for Interbike. I will be at the show Thursday & Friday in Sin City. Were going to hit up the race Thursday night at Mandalay and on Friday we have to be back in town for Redline Cup Championships so we are coming straight back to Southern California for the weekend of racing. It's non stop this time of year! Where is my break?

ABA State 3

I got home late last night and thought I would wait until I had more time to update with the happenings for the state race yesterday. But it's late again so I guess i just better ramble before sin city catches up with me later in the week at interbike. The Championships in San Diego were new but the track was still small turns and take out central. It felt like 80's style with the small jumps and little turns. My injuries seem to be treating me better each day and i was able to keep my #3 spot for the series. I took a 4th in the main but the points kept me hanging on in 3rd. I got home at 10 last night! Nobody told the track to have their equipment ready and the gate broke during practice then after kicking their dirt around with their feet for a while the breaks slowed down the day and it was 6PM and we were still chilling at the track. Anyway I got to rush cause I am buried in work to be ready for interbike!

Random

I feel tired after a long morning of random gates. I was up late last night burning my usual midnight oil getting some task done so today took a toll on me when I got up and went to practice random gates for the first time. Keep in mind I am sure I have the only random gate chip on the west coast at this point so I am working that to my advantage. Anyone that wants extra practice with it better be my friend! It's worse for me than i was expecting. I found out real quick I have a slow reaction. The chip for the gate box I have will now do random, nbl, uci, Sweden, aba new and old! So I should have it all wired if my body can hold out for 1000 gates a day! The wind blew at it's regular 100mph pace today so getting used to a new gate while playing a balancing act sucked.

I am going to head down to San Diego in the morning for the ABA State Championships to test my luck with my half healed body. I have been feeling better each day but hope I am up for the battle grounds test of the ABA championships. That's my drama, I am off for some late night riding in Ontario tonight.

Weekend Again

Hey so it's already weekend time again. I don't really have much going down this weekend other than the State Championships in San Diego. It's just the ABA So Cal champs so I wont turn into a big deal. Just a quick Sunday trip. It's really not my concentration with all the UCI things coming up early this year. I got to spend some time this weekend getting ready for Interbike next week along with the next 4 weeks of racing that's to come. The crap weather has arrived and I feel it's early. It's about to rain here so I guess I better whip out all the cool new PowerBar cold weather gear I have been getting all summer!

Home Stretch Yet?

It's Sunday morning & I am figuring now is a good time to sit around for a few minutes and ramble since I never entertain anymore! After sitting in a operating waiting room half the day Thursday I have been getting some decent training in over the past couple days despite the size of my "bubble" knee. Yesterday Nate & I did some NBL gates in the morning but nothing more really cause the track is to lame due to the care of surface out there. In the midday we were a couple roadies and went for a ride. Nate has not been on the bike lately cause he has been busy doing something worthy but it showed. We got a little distance in and bonky donk set in on him. It seemed like every time I waited he was a mile behind. I think the bumps in the road were looking like the alps to him! We went on a ride that should have been a little less than 2 hours but 3 hours later were got back cause despite is other problems then the wind blew up on us so that compounded his issue. I tried to find a rope to tow him back but it was not strong enough. I think grandma on a move around scooter passed us but I didn't tell him!

So I realized that home stretch of championships & 08 nationals are coming. I never update my calendar so I figure maybe I will just make an attempt to lay out the next couple months here. I am looking forward to it even though it gets busy. I really am not complaining other than I am not sure what line of credit to put all this on! If all goes well and myself or the bank don't break I will be at the below races -

September 22-23 : San Diego -ABA State Championships

September 27-28 : Las Vegas - Interbike / USA Criterium Finals

September 29-30 : Ontario - Redline Cup Finals

October 5-7 : Santa Barbara - NBL State Championships

October 12-14 : San Bernardino - ABA So Cal National

October 19-21 : Boulder City -NBL /UCI Lake Mead National

November 2-4 : Las Vegas - NBL Regional Championships

November 10 : Taft - NBL Commissioners Cup

November 11 : Santa Clarita -NBL Awards

So from the looks of things from right now until a week before thanksgiving I got 1 weekend off unless I get loopy and decided to hit Florida that weekend for the Disney cup! The good thing about it is that I can have 5 national scores before Christmas for the first time in NBL history for the west coast! Anyhow looking at the above schedule I think I better go train now!

Away?

I have felt so spun the last two weeks being injured and not able to perform like I need to be at this time of year. I have healed up a little but still have some rehab of my foot before I will even be close to anything. My knee has most flexibility now but my hip still hurts. The wounds are healing up good thanks to Brave Soldier.

I have to spend today with my mom since she is having surgery today and then I will be venturing some training the next few days to try and conform myself back to shape.

If you didn't notice I gained some new support from FRS. Its an awesome new antioxidant energy drink. It's not some crap ass junk like most everything being passed around. You should check it out cause the stuff is amazing. Ok I better do something this morning before I sit around in a hospital waiting room all day!

The Ground..

I sure have been in a marriage with the ground lately. I was spending the weekend recovering and rehab from last weekends experience when I was at the NBL State and went down Sunday and straight up got ran over. That's twice in 7 days! I want a damn divorce from the asphalt an dirt! I feel like I am back to step 1 after a week. I guess I will spend the week trying to be ready for some sort of regular training by next weekend cause it wont be long until the "championship haul" where the only sort of break is the 3 days I come back and do real work for a few days! Speaking of that I need some sleep cause 4AM will come quick.

Not So Bad..

I said I was not going to update for a few days but I have been healing pretty good and just wanted to stop fussing about my injuries and remind you and myself that I got lucky compared to other happenings in the sports lately. I am not so bad, I did manage to walk a decent distance yesterday. I took my dog but she gets lazy after 30 minutes! I basically am throwing this update to let you know a fund has been started for Tara after her crash last week. I was sent the website this morning and just figured I would stop complaining about my hurt ass and direct efforts where they are needed so I wasted the last paragraph just to let you know to help you if you can @ http://www.tarallanesroadtorecovery.com./

Down Time

I decided I need a little time off and some down time after the havoc my body has been through. I have a rest plan in place, but obviously with everything on the line in the coming months it's going to be hard to put everything into place without some training. Basically at this point I am down to zero thanks to the injuries I suffered last weekend in Kentucky. I sit here with a blown up wrist, knee, & ankle along with asphalt rash down my whole left side of my body. I worked yesterday but ran away today. This weekend is the local tracks NBL State race but I am not so sure how I will perform. There wont be to much else for me over the next week other than regeneration of my wounds so you will have to find drama somewhere else!

Day After..

It's the morning after NBL Grands. "Sunday Night" Louisville was the usual expectations once we left the track late. It took me a little while to hobble out of there last night. Yep, I said hobble. First race yesterday morning in 3rd round I got a little tap in the first turn and I got pitched from top side all the way to the bottom exit off the asphalt. I managed to hit asphalt all the way down at full track speed. After a couple hours being in and out of medical I finally decided to just tape up the blood, strap the ankle and hope for the best! I transferred out of qualifiers sitting 4th with just enough to get the job done. I had made it on in the show cause I was low points from Saturdays performance so it was a good thing I didn't waste anytime when the show started!

I struggled all the way into the main. It was frustrating cause I felt like a top 3 as far as my speed. By main time I was about 8 hours into some bad injuries and pain, swelling and blood was setting in. I got warmed up the best I could and did my normal gate just to throw myself a bone and I sure did buy 1 spot as someone took the bait next to me and flipped the gate. I held on in the bag of the pack and finished in 6th or 7th. That left those nasty points in the air. I needed a main lap just like my first lap on Saturday but that was out of the question after injuries. I took home national number 4 after the season. It turned out to be a great national year. A top 5 is not to shabby considering I just finished hurt! I fly home later today but it's going to be a long day. I just woke up and it feels like a freight train ran my over!

1 More Day

Tomorrow will be the final day of the 2007 national season. I raced the first two rounds in Louisville today and came out first moto of the first day of the last race in first place. That was sure hard to follow! Basically I was in first moto for the class and laid down my law on how the weekend is going to go. I took a first and followed it up with a second for the day. Round 3 is in the morning followed by qualifiers into the main event. If all goes well I will be around late tomorrow picking up a skinny digit. I better just get some sleep before round 3, it makes for a long evening when you have to do 3rd round in the morning.

I guess at this point I will throw out October 19-20 as a UCI date. Its in Boulder City, Nevada and it will be "random" all the way around. Las Vegas 2 weeks later is also still on. That's what I say! What the heck are they doing to us? It's no break in the future. I thought I was going to play it out for a few months, but it's looking like a long haul every day I turn the page!