Season is Over

The last race of the season for me was the world cup finals in Hafjell, Norway. I really liked the track in Hafjell and was feeling strong on it all weekend. There were some technical woods sections similar to the terrain I grew up racing on in the northeast. I qualified 15th with a decent run, but I knew I could shave some time off for the final run. My goal was just to improve on my qualifying result. I had a good start to my final run, but unfortunately suffered a mechanical coming out of the rock garden and snapped my shifter cable. That meant that I was in the hardest gear the entire time, and had to grind away slow pedal strokes. I had a solid 1st split in 8th place and 8th at the speed trap, then fell back to 19th on the day after the mechanical. Top 20 results are solid, but I just felt like I had a lot more speed and I wasn't able to show it. It was definitely disappointing, but I can go into the off season knowing that the speed is there. This weekend was the first time my body felt like it was up to the task since the beginning of the year. I know I can be a top rider when I'm healthy, I've just had some bad luck this year with injures. I am excited and motivated to start training for next season. Gonna give my body some time to recover first though!

After Norway I went to Sweden to spend a week with my friend Dennis at his house. We had an amazing time and it was a good way to celebrate after the season. We went out camping on the islands around stockholm for a few days and then had some good parties with his mates back at his house. I just made it home today after 5 weeks in europe, and it feels great to be home for a while this time!

NM

World Champs

 I was really looking forward to world champs in Leogang, Austria this year. The past two years world champs has been a very stressful race for me because I was in the Junior category and in contention for the win. This year there was no pressure and I had a great opportunity to see where I stacked up in the elite mens category. Unfortunately less that three weeks ago I crashed and separated my shoulder at Whistler, a very painful injury that kept me off the bike until this weekend. For the first week I wasn't even sure if I'd be able to ride, but the injury came around quickly and I was really happy to feel good enough to race by Sunday. I finished 27th, which I was really happy with given the lack of preparation I've had. My shoulder is still not completely healed, but I was able to hold onto the bike and as most racers know, once you're adrenaline kicks in you don't feel much pain. I enjoyed the weekend all together and was really glad to have my family here supporting me. I am still in Austria now getting ready to head to Norway for the world cup finals where I'm looking to get my best result of the season. Just need to get this body of mine all healed up and the rest is cake!

NM