Ankle Injury

Unfortunately last weekend at the pro GRT at Mountain Creek in New Jersey I twisted my ankle pretty badly. I slipped my foot off the front of my pedal and planted it in the ground, then my pedal hit me in the back of the leg and rolled my ankle over. It was a minor mistake, I didn't even crash, just slipped a pedal. I ended up with a small fracture in the bottom of my tibia where it goes into the ankle joint. The fracture is minor and dose not change my plans of racing next weekend in Val Di Sole, Italy for the second round of the World Cup. It has been 1 week since the injury and it feels so much better every day. At this rate, it should feel pretty good in another week. I am in New York this weekend at another pro GRT cheering on my teammates and resting my ankle. I am excited to get over to europe and back to World Cup racing.

NM

Duryea Downhill 2012

One of my side projects this year has been helping to organize a downhill race in my hometown of Reading, Pennsylvania. This past weekend the race took place, and it was very enjoyable for all who participated. The Duryea Downhill is unique because it finishes in Reading's city park which is in the center of town. There were a lot of spectators for that reason and it was cool to race on a little different track than the ski slopes were used to. This race was awesome for me personally because it was so close to home. Being able to race on my home trails in front of all my friends from school and my family was really special. The whole weekend was great. Saturday evening I had a BBQ in my yard where a lot of the riders came to hang out and ride my pump track. Ray from Trek was with us all weekend, he is always great to have around. My bike was set up perfectly for the track as the race was held on the mountain where I do all my testing and training at home. The new Saint components were very popular because most of the guys here hadn't seen them yet. I won the race by over 7 seconds, and it was awesome to see all my friends waiting at the finish line. I am really glad that I was able to help make this race possible and I hope it can become an annual event.


NM

Port Angeles

I spent the past week in Washington state with my team for the first national in the United States, the U.S. Grand Prix. The terrain was a lot more similar to the east coast with rain storms coming through all week. We had a few days to spend in the costal town of Port Angeles where we got some good gym and XC training done. The track was open for practice from Thursday through Sunday, so we took advantage of it and punched out a lot of runs. It felt good to ride that much and get comfortable going fast on a real track. The track at Port Angeles is one of my favorites. Fast, muddy, steep, good to train on. First track like that all year. My race went pretty well.  I over rode my Qualifying run and made a ton of mistakes. My goal for the final was to ride a little more smoothly and keep the intensity up. I put out a solid, smooth run for 5th place. I was happy to be on the podium with the depth of talented riders at this race. I want to keep uping the intensity through the season. Im home now for a few weeks and looking forward to it! This season is awesome.