Huck it!!

10 weeks down, 2 to go

2010-11-10T08:40:00.000-08:00

Slowly Healing
I wanna drive, its been almost 3 months. I would be fine with an automatic but both are sticks.My daily view, its really getting old but I got to watch the seasons change
As the title says 10 down and 2 weeks to go. So close yet so far. I go back to the doc in 2 1/2 weeks and hope to get cleared for full weight bearing. Therapy has been progressing great. It seems like such a slow process and day to day I can't tell any difference, but looking back at the 3 weeks of PT so far I have made huge strides. I am almost up to walking 1/2 mile in the pool and am up to 7 pounds of weight lifting with my leg. I stated riding the trainer last week and am up to 15 monutes with no problems. I am really looking forward to getting out and riding. I have been thinking about all of the rides I wanna do that I have been putting off for so long. The only downside is that it will be the dead of winter before I am able to ride outside but I have plenty of winter clothes so I have no excuse.

6 Week Update

2010-09-29T09:44:00.001-07:00

So today makes a little over 6 weeks since my surgery and 7 weeks since the accident. Recap so far:
Week 1:severe pain, and could only do 5 leg lifts on my own.
Week 2:Pain subsided, could bend my leg 90*3 times a day but otherwise have to keep it in a straight brace. And had worked up to 50 leg lifts on my own.
Week3-6:Pretty much the same as week 2 continuing to increase leg lifts and bending. Otherwise I'm stuck in the brace, and keeping the leg elevated.
Week 6: Pain is gone for the most part. I have been doing the exercises the ortho doc gave me religiously 3-4 times a day. I am up to 200 leg lifts a set and can bend my leg almost 110 degrees. The steristrips are still hanging on to the incision, but I can remove then tomorrow when I shower. Doc gave me a referral for physical therapy that I start next week. And the best news I can ditch the brace completely!
Life is boring right now but possibly getting better. I could not get through this without the support of my family and friends. Thanks all!
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Ouch

2010-09-24T13:11:00.000-07:00

Broken Tibial Plateau-the right side of the xray is the depression and break. It was filled in with calcium crystals and is held in with a plate and screws.

So it finally happened. After 12 years of bike riding. I got hit by a truck. It wasn't one of the scary ones that comes up behind you or somebody passing to close. The guy pulled out from the intersection and t-boned me.
It started out as a regular 3 day weekend-plans to make snowshoe downhill race 3 on Sunday. Meeting up at seneca camp on Sat. possibly riding the road bike down. So Friday was a mellow stay around home day. Layed around home all day and Amber got off work at 5 so I suggested meeting her at the rail trail for a ride. Left home around 5 down thru colfax stopped and talked to jon for awhile then climbed out to whitehall. Across Sapps then a short stretch on rt 73 before turning left on industrial park. Riding up to the intersection I had my left arm out signaling, began "taking the lane" moving to the center of the road and make the left hand turn. There were a few cars stopped at the stop sign waiting to turn onto rt. 73 from industrial and I had no stop sign and the right of way. As I am swinging across the other lane in front of the truck he starts to pull out. Seriously is this a joke? It doesn't stop and he just keeps accelerating. Hold on tight this is going to suck. Impact was on the front bumper of his pickup to my bike and leg. I feel mostly ok some road rash from hitting the pavement on the right side, and my left leg feels like a pulled muscle. I felt like I would be able to get up and walk away, just give me some time. Police, rescue squad, fire dept all show up. They wanted to strap me down immobilize my head and take me to the hospital. I'm sitting on the road, I can talk fine, the only thing that hurts is my leg. Amber drove up and stopped. I refused the ambulance ride, she helped me hop to the car. They loaded the smashed up madone on the car and she took me home to change and then we went to the ER.
Usual ER stuff-Doc comes in, orders x-rays, then comes back in with the thumbs down. Can't determine how severe the break is but I have to see an orthopedic doc. Go home and ortho doc calls on Saturday, I'll have a cat scan on monday and then see him. Monday comes and he says broken tibial plateau and I will need surgery. Also says I will be non weight bearing for 3 months and will take another 3 months to heal after that. Ski season was mentioned and he laughed...maybe next ski season he responded. So surgery happens on Wednesday. I had to laugh a little right before surgery because he started shaving my leg. I have never shaved my leg and it just happened. then it was night night. Wake up and ouch the worst amount of pain ever. Finally got out of the hospital on Saturday. Life is very boring now. The pain subsided after the first week. Now I just have to wait for the bone to harden and heal.
It has been 4 weeks today since the accident and I can now bend my leg 90 degrees and do 150 leg lifts per set 3 times a day. Almost 1/3 of the way to walking again.

Spring and Summer Recap

2010-09-24T10:30:00.000-07:00

North Fork
Ensure
View off Chimney Rock

This past winter was epic. Words cannot begin to describe how awesome it was. Skiing over fences and 5 foot natural bases. Purchased a new pair of skis and totally dig them.
Winter turned to spring like the flip of a switch. It was almost like there was not an in between season with the cold rainy days-which made for more riding time.
April provided tons of riding and base building. Although I had to work for the WVMBA race weekends I still got tons of riding in.

May brought my first race of the season, the New Martinsville Road Race. I had gotten in some good base up to this point so why not push it some more. Caught a ride over with jon martin and after breakfast at a no name diner in mannington we made it there. Since I had just gotten my new super fast Trek madone I decided to race the 4/5 race. Not sure why I upgraded considering I had never even placed before in a cat 5 race. I missed out on bridging up to the 123 group at the start but kept the lead 4/5 group in sight the whole race and worked with a chase group of 5 or 6 riders. In the end I ended up 9th. Waited on jon to finish return to baristas for some food then grabbed the camelbak and started riding back to Fairmont. Ended up with around 100 miles for the day.
Next race up was the Tour de Lake. It was my first mtb race of the season and I def wasn't ready. Spencer is always wet and the day was no exception. Had a crappy start and 1st 1/2 lap. It started coming around after awhile and I began passing some folks and ended up 10th.
The following week was the annual spring Gnarly North Fork. It was a beautiful day and to this point the most memorable of all north fork rides. Towards the end of the trail we took an option and did a little bouldering out to chimney rock. I thought I had found chimney rock several times but I now know where it really is. On top there is an unobstructed 360* view, from petersburg to the north to the north fork river valley and the south fork river valley. Here's the GPS. Hardest 61 miles but did set a new time record for the ride.
June brought the first downhill race of the season and things went downhill quick before I even got to snowshoe. I had everything packed up and headed out early sat morning to get down and get some practice in on Saturday. My car has had a slow coolant leak for the last year but I had just been topping it off and keep on going, however on this day it wouldn't work that way. Between Buckhannon and Elkins rolling across the hills I look down and the temp gauge is beyond the red. Efff. Pull off cool down make some calls since jon hasn't been out to practice yet and let him know not to wait. Limp home and pack my stuff into the new car and do a retake that evening making it down around 9pm. Totally screwed now since I now I only have 1 hour of practice on sun morning, and I haven't rode my downhill bike since October. 1st practice run was just to get a feel for the course, 2nd I had to man up and hit it all including the baby road gap. Although I cleaned everything I just wasn't feeling fast and it showed in my race run. Had a good time though getting in some of the first DH runs of the season.
The rest of June and July I was kept busy at work and around home and didn't get much riding in. Around the middle of July I decided to do the Wild 100. I have done the race off and on since 2001 and know Slaty really well. Leading up to the race I put in a ton of road base miles and only 3 rides on my mountain bike. Just enough to where I knew I could finish the race. Race day came and at the start I grabbed the map and began looking for ckpt 1 glancing over the map I saw ckpt 2 then found ckpt 1. stuffed the map in and go. Several were already scattering jumped in the madness and i'm off. Battled with a coed team for awhile and had a couple solos pass me climbing up props. Is this really how the day is going to go? Going to ckpt 2 it started pouring the rain down and didn't let up. Gauley mtn trail turned into a river and the mudholes were bottomless. I was feeling good at this point picked up the pace and began passing folks. Ckpt 2 was an out and back so there would be 2 way traffic. Within a mile of the ckpt I pass the 2 leaders returning and with a few feet I pass a couple others. Confirm ckpt 3 and begin backtracking. Although I didn't immediately catch anyone I could tell I was in 6th overall. Really? I went from battling with a Coed team to 6th overall. Passed another rider and moved up to 5th. Can't really give the secrets out on the rest of the race but I ended up winning the solo class and was 3rd overall.
Also got to go back to Snowshoe and ride on Chucks birthday the first of August. It is amazing to see progression happen. I was completely sketched out at first, wouldn't hit a single feature taking the go arounds. WTF dave, this wasn't me but I couldn't do it. Even rolling up to upper quick draw I stopped and had to look at it before I would hit it. This led to Chuck saying that I was sketching him out because I wouldn't hit anything. I slowly progressed through the day getting comfortable and finally hit the baby road gap late in the afternoon. And when I hit it, it wasn't the must hit because I have to feeling like my practice before race 1, it was a progression my own self pushing me not someone or something else.

XC Ski

2010-01-31T17:12:00.000-08:00

So it's been awhile since I've updated this thing. Nothing exciting has really been happening. I've had this head cold/sinus infection for a month now. Missed out on all of the early january powder from being sick. We picked up a few inches yesterday and I decided it was time to head to Whitegrass. So here's how the story goes:
Woke up at 5am to a balmy 6 degrees. Arrived in elkins at 630 and stopped at hardees for the traditional biscuits and gravy. After I ordered the guy in the kitchen yells out that he put an extra biscuit on there, then he looks at me and says I look like i'll need it today. Listening to the local radio rolling through harman I hear the current temp in Elkins is -7*. oh snap that's cold. It's gonna be a cold morning. Rolled into the Whitegrass parking lot as the second car and immediately started bundling up for the trek. Started out with the tele skis and skins for a couple runs. I really like the fat skis and getting early tracks makes it worth skinning them to the top. Start up the hill and begin following someone elses tracks up to roundtop but they turn off there. Push on to the top o baldy making first tracks of the day to the top. Ski around the side and head to the springer trail. Stop at the top of the chute and rip the skins off. Not sure what to expect making my first turns of the day down this narrow chute. Start linking and keep on going, it feels so good, keep linking all the way down to the fence entrance. stop take a breather and realize how awesome that was and the best I have skied in a long time. Continue on down Springer all the way to the bottom linking turns and having no dabs. Stop at the bottom slap the skins on for lap 2. Still no new tracks up to baldy and it's almost 10am. Where's everyone at? Baldy shelter remove skins quick eat and head back down the way I came up. Ran into Tomi on the way down. Then on to roundtop and the top of the main slope. scoping it out it's chopped but still powdery. Start down then look up and see some lookers down at the lift shack. Keep linking turns all the way down non-stop what a blast. Got some good cheers and congrats going by the lift shack. Back to the car to regroup and eat lunch. Swap out skis for some skinny nnn touring skis and a challenge. Time to get some miles in now. Took some new trails up to baldy then across the pipeline to weiss short loop then back to baldy and down the main slope. finished up watching some of the ski racers rolling by and back to the car. 11miles, 5000ft,~5 hours

Tuesday road ride

2009-07-29T05:13:00.000-07:00

Went for one of my top 5 favortie road rides on tuesday. It is a brutal addition to the mountain road classic loop that was thought up many years ago. The route follows the mt road classic loop to rt 72 and st george but then crosses the cheat river and climbs up location and across stemple ridge to aurora. Then take a left on route 50 and you get the gnarliest road bike downhill I have found so far in WV off of cheat mountain. Then cruise along the cheat river back to join up with the mt classic loop by cool springs and over laurel mt to the end of the ride. ~65ish miles and 3 mt climbs.

Gardening

2009-07-16T07:29:00.000-07:00

Garden #1Garden #21st Harvest

~40 tomato plants

30 pepper plants (bell, banana, jalapeno)

~45 broccoli plants
10 hills of cucumbers
5 hills of squash

5 rows of green beans

Wow...It's Been Awhile

2009-05-28T12:32:00.000-07:00

Anyone else ever saw this?LB put those back when you are done with them

Lunch TimeRollout

Seneca Rocks looks so smallNew Whip
Chuck ready for North Fork

The days have defenitely flown by since my last post. I kinda expected them to. Finished up with school and finally graduated after 8 years of college. Yeah its official I'm Dr. David now. I still have to take my boards before I'm a bonafide pharmacist but they are coming up in June.
Riding has been hit or miss lately. After waiting almost 3 weeks for my replacement bike in April I really went downhill on my fitness. Did a big ride with Chuck up at big bear on the big hit during the wvmba race. Ended up pushing the 45 pound tank around for 25 miles and ended up with more miles on cooler trails than what the race went on.
May brought the Massanutten DH weekend. This was the 3rd year that I've went down to this race and every year i never do well. This year was no exception as i finished 19th in the cat 1 (expert) field. No wrecks no major bobbles just really didn't feel fast. The race was on Saturday so Chuck and I drove back to seneca on saturday night and rode north fork trail on sunday. This was the first time I have rode this trail with a shuttle. Normally it is ablut a 70 mile loop but with the shuttle it only ended up being 25 miles. The special part about the ride was that it was my new top fuels first ride in the woods. It was awesome. I really like it, it rides smooth, climbs well, decends well, and just feels fast on the trail.
This past week I was able to get some more rides in with a couple road rides, then an epic weekend. Friday was a 50 mile road ride around fairmont, Saturday met up with juan martenilli down at snowshoe for some DH riding, Sunday was the 45 mile spruce ride with the night clubbers and mike boyes, and monday was a 70 mile road ride with the fairmont flyers.
Snowshoe was awesome and riding fast. Hit all of the regular rock hucks but skipped out on the road gap for this trip. It's still a little early for me. Spruce was rocking literally. Rolled out of seneca creek unknowing that the next regrouping would be nearly at the top of spruce. A huge group of hardtail singlespeeders then there's mike and i rolling with gears and full suspension rigs. Headed out the usual lower timber and up to spruce. Lunch then rocking down huckleberry down to the falls. Hike a bike back to the top, then some more ridge line and bomber downhill back to the finish. I am totally digging my new bike now. It was awesome on this ride. It felt great through all of the huckleberry rock gardens and i rode a couple steeps that I have never rode before. So the 3 mtb rides on the new bike so far have been North fork mtn, Big bear, and huckleberry and its still holding together!
I'm down at Panama City Fl now hanging out with Amber and my brother and his family. It is a much needed weeks vacation, but its back to fairmont on monday.

The Seneca 100

2009-04-16T09:21:00.001-07:00

I'm blogging from school today so sorry no pictures. Just taking a break during lunch to update.
A couple weeks ago I rode down to Seneca Rocks from Fairmont. It was a really awesome ride. I had done it last summer, but this would be a real test early in the season. Prior to the ride I had 800 miles on the odometer on the road bike for the year. Pretty stellar for me. Set out form fmt and headed out to grafton, caught some back roads over to kasson and 92. Across 38 and down 72 into parsons where i met amber for lunch. Im glad I rested at Parsons because the next leg of the ride is EPIC. It follows rt 72 over to canaan valley. It is basically a 1 lane road that just goes straight up and back down alot and has alot of kick ass turns in it. Still felt good once i reached 32 and down into harman. Then across allegheny mountain on 33 and done. I bonked somewhere out of harman pretty hard but was able to make it up that final climb and was rewarded with an awesome downhill into the finish. 91 miles, 6hrs . epic.
Training was really going good last week. rested on mon and did ~35 on tue and wed. then wednesday night i got slammed with a stomach virus. A week later i'm finally starting to feel better. I rode on tuesday night for 25 miles but couldn't really push it. I plan on going out today and riding since the weather has finally gotten better. I really wanted to orace big bear this weekend but it looks like i'm not going to get to due to the fact that I don't have my MTB back yet and I haven't rode in a week. Bummer. I still looking forward to middle mt mama the 1st weekend of May and Massnutten the following weekend then its graduation, snowshoe opening weekend and then Panama City the last week of may. What an awesome month!!
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WVU weekend recap and some other stuff

2009-04-03T14:13:00.000-07:00

Me at RaysJohnny at RaysChuck at RaysRed Balls Ride it

Start of the TT

Start of the 09 Garden

So the WVU home race weekend was a couple weekends ago. It was 27* when i woke up saturday morning and after making the short drive up to mt morris for the individual time trial it never really warmed up any. My start time was 9:11 am and it was freezing. I dressed in full cold weather gear with booties and baclava and headed out. The TT consisted of like 6 miles of flase flat uphill, a one mile climb then a downhill and 6 miles of false flat back to the start. I tried to take it easy on the first half out to the climb as i wanted to save some for the climb and return trip. Less than a 1/2 mile from the climb I get caught and passed by the VT rider whom started a minute behind me. WTF?? I stayed close going into the climb and passed him back at the bottom. By the time I had gotten to the top I caught the rider that had started 2 minutes before me and the VT dude was nowhere in sight. Sweet i'm ready to rock now. Rip the downhill and head back on the flat to the finish. I've got my head down going as fast as i can and here comes the VT dude and he passes me. I couldn't keep up with him. WTF? i just chrushed the dude on the hill and i can't keep up on the flats?? I don't get it. Anyway ended up finishing 7th in the TT. Had to skip out on the crit to go to work. Sunday Morning was a little warmer and the race started later. I warmed up with booties and a baclava but just before the race left the booties and switched to ear muffs. Rolled out with the neutral rollout into mt morris then it was go. I was racing D so i knew there were some june buggers in the race. A WVU dude took off as soon as the race started and everyone attacked to get back up to him. I sat in and tried to do the least amount of work possible. As we approached the turnoff to kirby and the start of some of the rollers heading into the first climb I worked up to the front. I had rode this section the previous weekend and knew that i wanted to be towards the front b/c of the rollers and tight turns so that i could carry some momentum and not get the slinky effect in the back. I was on the front going around the turn and up the first roller, maintaining a constant efort when all of a sudden it got quiet. Huh. I look back and i had a good gap on the pack. I just went ahead and rolled with it. Rocking the turns and rollers, and head into the first climb. The lead moto was an old team member and he told me i had 20 sec gap at the bottom. I kept the pace consistent never giving my max effort knowing there was a whole race left and not wanting to blow up. about 1/2 way up i had a 30 sec gap and i'd say it was pretty steady for the rest of the climb. What a feeling to be all alone leading a road race, even if it was the D field. TOp of the climb still got a gap rock the downhill, get on the flat at the bottom and suffer by myself for a few miles. I catch glimpses every once in a while of the field chasing. Finally they catch up. I jump in, grab some food and recover. Roll out to the second climb with the pack. By now they know me. I tried to stay 4th or 5th in line going up the climb. a couple pfeiffer dudes and another WVU guy were in front and I just tried to save some. I could tell the 1 pfeiffer dude was taking it easy also. Started to push it a little more at the top and got with wndrew the other WVU guy at the top. I told him to go since he won the TT yesterday but he said no. So i took off to rock the downhill at least. The strong pfeiffer dude followed me on the downhill. I still can't believe it but he stayed with me the while way down, it got a little scary. We had a solid gap on everyone. then a chas group of 4 riders caught up. So there were 6 of us heading into mt morris and back to the finish. Attacks were launched and caught. It came down to a sprint up the hill at the end. I knew that i had 5th place locked up heading up the hill then 2 riders get together and shoot over the hill. Not sure what happened really. So i ended up crossing the line third. My best finish ever in a road race.

Maybe i was the strongest rider out there. I definitely topped all of the climbs first, but on the flats and sprint at the end i was suffering. Maybe its me and my fitness or lack of it. Maybe its my 1996 steel road bike. Maybe its Amber's idea of the fact that i go out and ride hills everday. I dunno. I just wanted to do some races to get into shape. I don' t like road racing, but love just riding my road bike.

Been riding just about everyday otherwise. Finally got my mtountain bike back last week. Was really excited to go to Big Bear and get out on a real mtb ride on Tuesday on my day off. After about 2 hours and 20 miles out on the backside of the new pines trail my tire started rubbing my frame. I instantly knew what happened. This incident happened before over on the downhill about 4 years ago at big bear. Flash Back-At that time i was riding with Chuck and i said my wheel's rubbing my frame. WTF? It's like my whole wheel is out of dish. Chuck replied with how do you knock your whole wheel out of dish. What really happened was my carbon chainstay pulled apart where its bonded flexing my wheel over into my frame. Flash forward-So now i push my bike back up the climb out of the trail, do some bushwhacing across trail and come out on the road out by the airport where i can hop on and coast back to the parking lot and my car. I went to the bike shop and WEdnesday and got it warrantied-Thanks Gene!-for a brand new top fuel frame. I'm really stoked but have to wait a couple of weeks till it comes in.

This past weekend i went down to Seneca to relax. It ahs been crazy lately and i had an empty weekend and headed out. The weather was mostly rainy but in between a shower on saturday afternoon i headed out for a ride up to the top of allegheny mountain. It's like a 10% grade for 4 miles or so. Just before i got back to camp i got passed by a pickup truck with a motorcycle that looked liked it was about to fall over onto a bike in the back. Then i realized i recognized the handlebars of the bike. It was jimmy and ryan heading to the jeff cup in Virginia. They stopped and talked for a minute, then went on.

I got started on the garden for 2009 last night. I planted about 50 tomato seeds. I hoping for a big crop this year.

I have 136 hours left separating me from graduation. I started my last rotation at Ruby in the ICU on wednesday. I can't wait to be done.

Got some sad news that Andy broke his collar bone and will require surgery. Get well soon!

Updates and pics of the new bike to follow soon.

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Navy weekend and other happenings

2009-03-03T16:37:00.000-08:00

This past weekend was the navy race. or actually kinda 2 races-a crit and a tt. but the TT ended up being cancelled for 1/8 inch of snow. Arrived at the crit late as usual and hurried to get ready. head down to get in a few laps before the race but they are already lined up. guess no warmup. no problem i know the course from a few years ago. man says go and everyone takes off. decent start but not where i wanted to be in the very front. First tech turn and head up the hill my legs are feeling the warm up that didn't happen. Lost contact with the blown apart pack early and work with a VT guy at the end of the race. Results said I was 14 but know at least 1 person ahead should have been behind so at least 13th. Got to hang out the rest of the day and watch the other races and take some pics. Woke up to a light skiff of snow on sunday. In fact being from WV i wouldn't even call it that, but it was enough to cancel the tt :( Head out with some of the team for a ride in the morning in annapolis. It was short due to flat tires and everyone being cold. I really felt like a veteran going to the race because i have been to enough before that i knew to bring ALL of my cold weather gear. I was toasty with booties and vader gloves.
Other happenings recently include a skiing day at Whitegrass with amber. It was her 1st time XC skiing but she did great going uphill and back down. We headed over towards springer up to roundtop and on up to bald knob then down powderline and 3mile.
Went to tline with chuck 2 weekends ago. Conditions were marginal with a little snow on top of bullet-proof ice. Chuck said it was the worst conditions he has seen all year, but he's been spoiled. The highlight of the day was the 15-car pass going across 33 by glady. They were going anywhere from 5mph to stopped, saw the straight stretch perfect opportunity, nobody taking advantage, go for it.
Been getting in the miles on the bike too. Working on trying to get in some of the classic road rides in. itching to get out on the mtb soon.
that's all 4 now
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Review: Trek Darth Vader Gloves

2009-02-16T16:54:00.000-08:00

From this:
To this:

So my old 99-cent ebay special winter cannondale gloves have seen their last days of riding. They were great gloves and really kept my hands warm for a long time but my fingers slowly started poking out the ends and they really weren't functional anymore. So time to find new ones and a trip to the bike shop to see what was available.

There were 2 options but these seemed the most extreme so I got them. I wanted something that would keep my hands warm on road rides to at least 25 *. Picked these out and then proceeded to take them out and test them the following day on a 5 hr road ride in 30* temps. Here's what I gathered:

Cons:

Cuff comes a long ways up the arm-couldn't really check watch

Kinda bulky-hard to feel the shifters on the road bike and distinguish between the levers

No terry cloth for the snot rockets, but the neoprene is kinda soft

Pros:

Kept my hands warm

I'd recommend these gloves to anyone who wants to ride outside in below freezing temps. They did great for being on a road ride and its nice to have the separate fingers instead of lobsters or mittens. I'm sure there may be others out there but these are what i'll be using till they fall apart.

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Snowy Times

2009-01-27T10:18:00.000-08:00

Singlespeeds-walk early and walk often

Ok, so its been awhile. I’ve been at Camden-on-gauley, wv for the past month. Its been great, and the month has flown by.
Quick recap of December. Spent a lot of time working. The rest of the time was spent balancing riding and chores around home. It was great to have the month off school, but in a way it kinda felt like just another rotation month too.
Ok now to January. I’ve been down here outside of Summersville. There are a lot of great places and things to do in the area. The only problem is that I gotta work till 5 then its dark. Been riding my trainer at least 2 times a week while im down here. I have also been getting out to ride on the weekends. I went out with jon, chris, and a few guys from the Fairmont bike club a couple weeks ago. Went up to coops for a few hour ride. Last weekend I got some new part in for my bike, thanks to the gracious sponsors of the cycling club. I finally got a set of disc brakes. Went out to valley falls last Sunday and slugged around in like 5 inches of snow. This past weekend I had to work on Saturday, then went out to dinner with amber and the fam since it was my birthday. Sunday I went on a ride with chuck to waters smith state park. There is some awesome riding there, I just always seem to forget about it. I just can’t wait for longer days to ride more.
Got 3 and ½ days this week down here then back to Fairmont to work on Friday. Hopefully on Thursday afternoon I can get out and check out the area before I leave, possibly fish or do some riding or both.

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2008-11-23T16:53:00.000-08:00

cx race
chuck ripping springer
me hitting the cornice
road ride?

any ride in p-county is good
horses

My goal is not to fall asleep while writing this. I am completely exhausted and it's not even 8pm. Why am I so tired? I'll start out today and work backwards.
Today was the bruceton cx race at don parks house. The course rolled around his yard, some fields, and back up his driveway for a lap. The expert race was a little over 1 hour long. A couple warmup laps to check out the course and bird-boys course modifications. Lined up for the start. There were like 3 mtbs and all the rest were cx bikes. Never seen so many cx bikes at a wv cx race before. I felt great for the first 100 yards of the race then slowly faded over the next few laps to 12th out of 13. Even though i was suffering the whole race, i still had a blast. It was good to see so many familiar faces that i hadn't seen in a long time.
Saturday Chuck and i went down to whitegrass. Conditions were good for skiing, great compared to last year and excellent for november conditions. Started out with my skinny xc skis, and headed out to springer orchid. Chuck skied the whole day on some sweet fat karhu guide xc skis. They looked like some skis that will float good in the powder, so i knew i'd have to work hard to keep up. Started over to springer but then started hiting the cornice snow by the lodge. I don't think i have ever been to wg and not sessioned the cornice snow before heading out. headed over to springer and found some great powder skiing. sessioned springer at least a half dozen times before heading up to roundtop and baldy. Tried to crisscross many of the trails instead of heading straight up to baldy. Bot up there took in the view and decided to ski back down the main trails toward wg to get back down. down to round top over to upper springer, all the way down springer and back to the truck. I was itching to try out my new skins. I got them last year for my birthday and had not gotten to use them. Traded out boots, slapped on the tele skis and skinned back over to springer. What a difference in skis. I was completely exhausted heading back over but once we got there it was well worth it. A couple more sessions then back to the truck and off to siriannis to refuel. 11 miles of skiing for the day according to chuck's gps.
Friday night i went with chuck and jonny to accident md to xc ski some of the trails. It is pretty awesome to ski at night with a group. Left the truck and about 10 minutes later my headlight died and jonny didn't bring one. Wound around the trails for about 3 hours. It was 8* when we got back to the truck.
The weekend before went on a couple of road rides. Did the gladesville loop and a road/cross ride with chuck. Gladesville was like 50 miles and the road/cross ride was another 30some.
This is my last week in petersburg, then back to fairmont for the month of december. Hopefully the snow keeps falling and can get more skiing in next month.
gravy

A weekend off?

2008-11-11T17:32:00.000-08:00

Last week consisted of working in petersburg until wednesday night. I had planned on staying till thursday morning and driving home but then in a last minute decision i decided to go on wednesday night after work. Trying to get home i was going a little fast and came around a turn in the small town of thronton. Instantly the blue lights come on in front of me. Effff. I got nailed good 65 in a 40 zone. He gave me a smaller ticket and then proceeded to write me a warning for having an obstructed license plate b/c of my bike rack. I almost laughed, but didn't and went on home. Did some work around home on thursday, then went for a 20 mile road ride. Friday was teh similar thing-work around home in the morning then went out for a 25 mile mtb ride at valley falls. I felt ok, for not riding for 4 weeks and my shoulder didn't bother me. Saturday i went down to timberline to ride downhill. It was supposed to be their last weekend and i really wanted to get some runs in before the snow flies and they close down the trails. It was a great day ended up with about 17 runs total. I just rode non-stop and packed my lunch and ate on the lift. It was also super cold-temp started at 38* at the top and by the end of the day had dropped to 34*. Afterwards i met up with chris, andy and matt and we went for dinner at hellbenders. It was my first time there. It was so weird to go to davis and not eat at siriannis but i survived and hellbenders was great. Sunday i went for a 25 mile road ride then packed up to head back to petersburg.
Not sure what the weekend plans bring this weekend. I have to head back thursday morning to get to the dentist. The filling in my front tooth broke loose on friday out on my ride. It didn't fall out but rattles around in my mouth. So lately everything i eat has to be bite size. really sucks.
probably ride friday, work sat, ride sunday, and back to petersburg.
Sorry ain't got any pictures. Had the camera with me at tline but didn't stop to dig it out.
Ride on
Gravy

A little of everything

2008-11-04T17:35:00.000-08:00

Early morning frost:Tunnel:
Top o the climb out of valley falls
Chuck:
Haunted cabin along the river
Chuck riding at mini moab:
more mini-moab:
By the river:

Ok i think i am jinxed, i wanted to update early last week but never got to. So here it goes...
Last sunday consisted of a ride out on the backside of valley falls or the area on the other side of the river from the park. Its mostly 4wheeler trails but some good riding. Met up with chuck at his house and we headed out. Got a variety of riding-6 major climbs, mini-moab slick rock, valley falls. I felt great thorugh the ride and my shoulder didn't bother me. Just tried to take it easy and not wreck on it. It will take awhile to really open it up on the downhills again. Monday i went to the dentist for a root canal. then did some homework the rest of the day. Tuesday, wednesday, thursday, friday and saturday i worked. I snuck out early friday morning and rode around town a bit before work. Sunday morning i went out by myself to valley falls. Rode out from my house around the park once and back home. Felt really good, i had my camel bak on my shoulders and it didn't bother me. Had a little bit more confidence on the downhills, but my shoulder did hurt one time on a quick flinch. Spent sunday afternoon packing and headed down to petersburg on sunday night.
Started work at judy's drugs in petersburg on monday. I am in the education department, alot of counseling and classes. Gotta work mon-wed this week. Not sure on weekend plans yet. May stay here on wed night then go on a road ride thursday since i got my road bike with me. Work lasts till 7 so really can't ride at night here. I really want to go to timberline this weekend. Its their last downhill weekend of the season and i haven't got to ride dh for awhile and its along time till april or may.
Really trying not to watch tv tonight because of the election results. I voted early last week so i am not in a hurry to find out what happens. I hate turning on the tv and there are these biased analysts giving their own opinion for their candidate. So glad it will be over tonight. I am glad to hear of the big turnouts today. It is great because so many people realize that their voice matters in our country. I have looked at this election many times as the south park episode where stan had to choose between the giant douche and the turd sandwich and wouldn't vote. I felt the same way about both candidates, but finally choose one.
That's all for now.
Gravy

Gettin there...

2008-10-25T15:40:00.000-07:00

I've been feeling better everyday. Today was 2 weeks. I still have some shoulder pain but feel its getting better. I went for a couple rides this week. I went out wednesday morning and rode down to colfax and back on the road. Just like an easy 5 miles but didn't hurt except when pulling on the bars when climbing. Went out early friday morning just after sunup before work. Had an hour to cruise around east side. Went down to hit the rail trail but it was closed at the tunnel so went up to the BMX track to check it out. Haven't been up there to ride all summer (could be good or bad). Rode around it easy a couple times then back out to the road and home over sawmill hill. Felt really good, although out of shape, but my shoulder didn't bother me too much. Plan on trying to get out tomorrow morning with chuck before he heads off to cincinnati for a week. We're heading over to the other side of valley falls. The trails are mostly grown over jeep and 4 wheeler trails and shouldn't be too bad. We'll see.

Today was the downhill race at nationals. I've really been bummed the last few days. I'm not for sure i could've raced competitively, and didn't want to hurt myself worse. It just sucks because it is the last collegiate nats for me. I've been to so many over my collegiate career and it sucks to miss this one. i've been to new york, new mexico twice, 7 springs twice and boone, nc.

Rotation has been good this month at giant eagle. 3 more days left next week, then 4/9 done with rotations. Next month i am at Judy's in petersburg doing diabetes education. I've got a little practice this month since GE does some diabetes stuff.

Wednesday afternoon I signed with CVS. Mainly because i've been there for a few years now and they've been good to me and i've heard good things from the pharmacists that work there. Not sure of the exact store where i'll be working but it's somewhere in the north central wv area.

Mondays the dentist, i'll try to get an update in this week before i head to petersburg agian next weekend.

Ride on

Dave

Ouch!

2008-10-18T04:53:00.000-07:00

So the weekend started off perfect! Everyone was ready to hit up the ride. Camelbak stuffed full ready to roll. head out of camp with the crew for some road sections before the trail. Go to ride over the gravel pile at the state road garage-nothing out of the ordinary, then it happened. I was the first to hit it and there wasn't really a backside to it. Pretty much caught my front wheel halfway down the backside and splatted head first at the base. Don't think i knocked myself out b/c i knew what was going on, but really couldn't control myself either. then i realized i busted my tooth, or later find out 4 teeth. As i sat and talked with the crew they realized my helmet was split in half. I insisted that they go on, but we hung out and talked for a bit then i headed back to camp to recover and they went on. I got my shoulder/collarbone area pretty good and it is still sore a week later part of the reason i didn't update for so long because it hurt to type. I don't think it's broken, it's just hurts on the ends, nothing puffed out or anything. My neck has been stiff but is getting better everyday. I'm just taking some time off now till i feel better. My head is still hurts to the touch and shoulder is only about 30% of normal.

All criminals return to the scene of the crime and so i had to later in the day to see how it all went wrong. My track is the small streak in the middle of the other two where my front wheel grazed it before impact:

This was monday morning before work, tooth is patched for now:

i hung out with the crew at camp on sat night then went down to snowshoe with them on sunday. Amber and I walked some of the trails while they were riding. Chuck gave me his tricked out camera and i took a ton of pictures, as long as i could hold my arm up. It was nice to be able to do some walking and slow down and see what it looks like to see other people riding.

I went to the dentist on tuesday to get my tooth fixed. they began with xrays then the assistant came back and i asked if it looked like it could be filled. Her reply the dentist will be in to talk to you. He looked at it and the nerve was sticking out of the broken tooth, and the other side needed a cavity filled, so i gotta get a root canal on the tooth. Effffff. They filled it temporairly and gave me an estimate on the remaining work. gotta go back on the 27th.

Been working alot this week mainly because it doesn't bother my shoulder too much and I don't have anything else i can do. So this week i got in 52 hours.

With my wreck i completely blew my shot at nationals. I'm not even able to go now. Super bummed since it's my last collegiate nationals. Probably stay home and work now.

It seemed like such a regular routine over the bars wreck but i guess i just landed the wrong way. Take some time off. Slow down a little, and possibly try to ride at tline one day before they close. Hope everyone else can get out and ride this fall and enjoy the weather.

gravy

Stoked!

2008-10-08T10:47:00.000-07:00

It's coming...this weekend...the grand finale to summer. This could possibly be the best 2 days of riding ever put together. What does it consist of? Saturday morning-North fork mountain epic ride rolling out at 8am with the wv crew from seneca and returning 70 miles later. Sunday is dh at snowshoe the last day of the season for riding there. The fall colors should be perfect. The roster so far is: Me, Jon, Chris, and Andy. Chris and andy have never done the ride before. I can't wait! Hopefully i'll get a ton of pics.

Been working alot lately 6 out of the last 7 days between my real job and rotations. Got the next couple of days off though. This past Sunday i went down to camp and did a little work and went for a ride. Hit up a close by road ride down there out and back on lower timber ridge. The 30 mile ride is uphill both ways. It'll kick anyone's ass. The leaves are starting to change over there and should be killer for this weekend.

Looking out toward north fork mtn:

The usual 1st checkpoint/snack spot on the spruce ride along lower timber:

Dolly sods/Roaring plains in the distance:

Get out and ride!

Gravy

Home Sweet Home

2008-10-03T16:44:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the lack of updates lately. I had hopes of updating more often but was kept busy in Petersburg the last couple weeks and trying to get moved back home. So here's the ketchup:

Had a good collegiate race at big bear. Ended up with 5th place in the tt and 4th in the xc race. I felt godd in the techy stuff but was struggling on the hills and speed sections. Returned to petersburg with hopes of getting a solid training plan in for the remainder of my stay there. I rested on Monday, did hill climbs on the 2 mile climb on tuesday, then set out wednesday on a moderate ride. My legs felt really bad so i decided on a flater route up towards moorefield. The rid eto more field was kinda short so i kept on riding past it, just trying to get a couple hours in. I was averaging 18mph when i turned around and was able to keep it all the way back to petersburg. Then i rode around town to make it 45 miles in 2:30. The fastest long ride i have probably ever done by myself, although it was all flat. I took the the rest of the week off-a little recovery and a little busy. Wroked on saturday in fairmont, after work i went to the store and felt my sinuses getting tense. Effffffff. I got a cold. The next day was the final race at wisp for the season. I showed up in the morning trying to get as many practice runs in as i could. it was a familiar course that we used for many collegiate races. i had it pinned on the top part but bobbled slightly on the bottom part and i'm guessing that's were i lost time. I ended up 4th i think. There were only seconds between all of us. I felt like crap with the cold the following week. I went out on really easy road rides on tuesday and wednesday do just spin the legs a little. I finished up with my rotation on friday and packed up and headed south to camp at seneca rocks. Amber met me down there on friday night. I've been trying to get the camp cleaned up and ready to roll all summer. Although i still have a few things to do-painting and landscaping.

Saturday brought the revenge of the rattlesnake. My body told me no all week with this crappy cold but i went ahead and raced. It was an epic race-going into dolly sods and then crossing over to the trails on canaan mt before finishing in davis. pretty much 2 totally different areas linked together in a race. I had an absolute blast. I tried to pace myself for the whole race. After the sods lop and heading to canaan mt i started to feel a little tired and got passed a couple of times. I reached into my camelback on loop road and pulle dout the emergency red bull and when i got back on plantation i felt great and it was all gas to the finish. I probably saved a little too much or taken the red bull too late because i felt like i could've rode some more at the end. ended up with 19th place overall and 11 in the open class. pretty good for not riding the mtb since big bear.

Finishing up crossing the blackwater river in davis:

Met chuck and bobbi in davis and headed over to camp with some sirianni's garlic chips and pizza. Sunday was the double down dh race at timberline. It was their 1st dh race in a long time. It had poureed the rain for days and didn't want to stop for the race either. I had put on the mud tire on the back the night before and was so glad for it on the first practice run. i was able to get a couple practice runs on each course before the race, so i knew what was coming. i registered for expert since that's what i always race. the start order was pro's, exp, spt, beg. there was one registered pro. the name sounded familiar but didn't know him. then it was experts. I wanted to go first and get my run out of the way. I knew the pro time before was like 4:10. i took off out of the gate stuck the slaloms at the top,blew a high speed turn but hopped back up on the trail and pinned the steeps and across the flat to the finish-3:45. I couldn't believe it. i expected someone to beat it since i blew the turn and had to climb up the hill but as the riders came down noone did. so i ended up with 1st in the first race. the second race course was totally different. Start order was the same as the first race. I was really stoked from my first run and really wanted to pin it even harder. i took off out of the gatet cleared the first rock garden cleaned the shole run and still mustered up the legs that i had left to do all the sprints to the finish. When i finished jr the race director came up to me and said we lost your run. it really took it awhile to set in. i think he told me like 5 times. then he was like i'm not kidding you gotta go again. I was cool with it, it really didn't bother me too much my fears were being able to clear the rock garden agian and trying to get the sprints in. I told him that i would go last. back int he starting gate again. Cleared the rock garden again and headed down the mountain. At the sprint sections at the bottom my legs said no. i sat down once and tried to keep pedaling to get to the next trail section. then managed to sprint for everyone at the finish-4:32. The fastest time on this course too. I ended up winning the whole shebang! I couldn't believe it.

Sprinting at the end of race #1

Sprinting at the end of race #2 (1st run):

JR telling me i had to go again:

Yeah it was muddy out there:

Maximizing lift time with the crew:

Afterwards the whole crew-johnny, lb, chris, chuck, andy, and i hit runs until they shut down the lift, then it was to siriannis for more pizza and garlic chips. i spent sunday evening at camp. Monday consisted of some more work there, then packing to head back to fairmont. tuesday was spent unpacking and doing laundry all day. Wednesday started my oct rotation at giant eagle in motown. I to work 12 hour days whcih is pretty cool because i already got in 24 hours this week and only had to work 2 days. i had today off of rotation but the weather looked crappy so i decided to go in to cvs and pick up some extra hours today. Gotta work there again tomorrow. Might go back to camp on sunday not sure yet. I have to work in motown on mon, tue, and fri, next week. Next weekend is the closing weekend at snowshoe. I'm planning on heading down there at least one day. Collegiate nats are coming up in a few weeks. I'm hoping to sneak down for the Dh. It's kinda sad this is the last i'll ever get to do.

that's all for now.

Gravy

btw, i'm always heckling folks to ride a wheelie but since i was out racing at the revenge here are a couple from the race:

North Fork Trail-Abbreviated Version

2008-09-12T13:21:00.000-07:00

Living in Petersburg has its perks like being 5 miles away from North fork mountain trail. I headed straight there after work yesterday. The plan was to ride out south branch road, climb up redman and ride the last third of the trail back to the car. Headed out the road mostly rolling climb to the entrance to redman. Redman started out as a road climb then turned off into some great uphill singletrack. As i climbed up i noticed a clearing ahead and it leveled off, then i could see the top. Could this really be the top already-Sweet. Headed out the ridge line catching glimpses of others fresh bike tracks and taking in the occasional overlook. Sometime after passing landis trail but before chimney rock i caught up with them. It was a couple of guys from charleston-prem and kevin. they told me to go ahead so i took off. I went on up and stopped at an overlook. As i went to find the trail i accidentaly found the spur trail up to the very top of chimney rock. I panicked for a second when i lost the main trail but as i headed back to retrace my route i saw the other guys riding just below and caught back up with them. The final part of the trail is the longest downhill in wv probably a solid 2 miles or more of rockin downhill. Back to the car. 2:20 and 18 miles. It felt way longer. The other guys had set up a shuttle and done the whole trail-major props wish i had the day off. I can't wait to do this whole trail this fall with the crew.
Start of Redman singletrack:
View from the top of redman on nfm trail. It is raining over on Dolly Sods-glad it stayed over there:Looking over at chimney rock:
Some of the milder singletrack:Looking out along the rock face on the final downhill:
Last chance at an overlook before the end:
Gotta work tomorrow here in pburg, then back to fairmont for saturday night. Sunday brings the WVU races at big bear. Not sure how i'll fair but hopefully middle of the pack in A.
Gravy

Summer Wrap-up

2008-09-09T15:47:00.000-07:00

So it has been forever since i updated this. I spent last month at chestnut ridge hospital. Luckily they did not admit me, but it was a great experience to see all the different types of patients. August started out with a double downhill weekend including timberline and the second race of the mid atlantic series at wisp. I went down to timberline on saturday with chris and johnny to check out the trails at timberline. The have a new mountain bike program that is working on reviving all of the old trails. It was a great day of riding. It rained and the trails were good gnarly. Sunday i was a little tired from riding on saturday and had a really crappy race at wisp. The cdourse had a flat/uphill section in it and i was too tired to pedal. Chris and johnny showed up after the race and we rode at wisp the rest of the afternoon. The next weekend consisted of a ride down to camp at seneca rocks from fairmont. After 90 miles of a little rain the skies opened up over the last mile and it rained/hailed and the temp really dropped. It took forever to finally get warm after that experience. The next weekend was the Wild 100. I being the broke college student who just had to pay tuition couldn't justify $140 for a race. The whole WV niteclub crew was down there for the race. I showed up at the start on sat morning planning to ride until i was tired, then head back to the finish since i didn't pay to race. I fell off the back of the lead group heading up the first climb-it was like 9 miles. At the top of the climb i ran into Morgan who had completely ripped off his derailler. I stopped and helped him to fix is bike into a single speed but it is hard to get it perfect not being able to adjust chain tension. Heading to CP #2 i ran into Chris, LB, and Andy heading back. They said the checkpoint was right there and since i didn't need to check in i turned around and started riding with them. It turned out to be one of the best races ever because we rode together the whole race all the way to the ultra checkpoint and the finish. I think our time was around 10 hours 15 minutes. The next day the crew headed over to snowshoe for some of the best downhill riding on the east coast. I met up with chuck, johnny, lb, andy, and chris and we didn't stop all day. Probably close to 20 runs. Big props to chuck and johnny who I convinced to hit the road gap. It is one of the biggest things i've ever hit, but it is a load of fun and is so addicting.
Hitting it in race #2, got my head cut off:
Chuck hitting it:

After this i took some time off to recover. I felt tired over the next couple weeks whenever i tried to ride, so i figured some recovery time was needed. Labor day weekend i went to snowshoe for the final race of the series. I showed up late on Saturday and only got 1 run on the course, then it started raining and they closed practice. After it stopped raining in the evening i convinced amber to drive shuttle for me and i did a couple of extra practice runs. MEt up with chuck in the evening at silver creek campground. The next morning brought fog and overcast early that opened up to sunny skies. The course was super slick and sketchy fast. Which is good for me, but if you crash its going to happen quick and hurt, so i was a little nervous. By the time my time came around to run it had almost completely dried. I had done runs all day so i knew it was drying up. I took off for my run and felt that it was clean and semi-fast. I always have a clean run at snowshoe and finish middle of the pack, so i was expecting the same. I finsh at 5:45 and am waiting for others to finish watching the times since the higher seeded riders go last. I saw a time of 5:43 come in and i knew there was still a couple more riders. As they came down the hill I watched the seconds tick by. I couldn't believe it, could i have really gotten 2nd at snowshoe. It was the first time in 3 years that i have ever got to be on the podium at snowshoe.
Reality quickly set in after the race as i had to head to petersburg for rotation #3. I have a really nice place to stay here and the riding is awesome. I am wondering if i will be able to cover it all in a month. Good thing i am coming back in november. Here are some pics from a ride and the town.
This is from a road ride near moorefield:
The hill in the background is the start of a 2 mile climb right out of town.
View of town from where i'm at:
This weekend is the big bear ultra and WVU home races at wisp and big bear. I gotta work on saturday so that makes that decision easy, Sunday i plan on racing at big bear at the wvu race. Hopefully i can get out and ride some local trails this week.
Gravy

rainy days

2008-07-13T14:25:00.000-07:00

I went out today and rode the mtb at valley falls. This was the first time i have rode my mtb in over a month since the epic ride to bb and the first time out to valley falls since may. The race is coming up next week there but i'm not racing ( got the family reunion to go to on sunday). I rode out from my house and as soon as i was riding around rock lake it just started pouring the rain down, i just kept on riding. Riding in the rain on the trails reminded me of racing back in the junior days when it didn't matter what was going on it was just being out and riding. Anyways had a blast and just rode a variety of trails. Probably close to 30 miles in 3:30. Hope to get out more on the mtb this week it was a blast.

The collective released the new video "seasons" last month and i got a copy of it. It follows riders through the seasons and has some really good video and music. Most of it is up on youtube, search for seasons.

This past winter I did some training for the pond jump at the appalachian classic. I ended up having to work that weekend but here is the video of my backflip.

summer catch-up

2008-07-13T14:20:00.000-07:00

Welcome all!
Summer has been going fast! I took my final final ever on May 9th, then busted it to get down to massanutten VA for the yee-ha dh race. Little practice time on sat morning but still ended up with 7th in expert 19-29. Next adventure was memorial day weekend. I went down to snowshoe with jonny and chuck for the day and did a ton of runs. They had the western lift running so it was nonstop all day. Sunday was a race at wisp, it was a non-mac race and there was the us open at Diablo so the turnout was not the best. The day turned out good for me and chuck getting 1st and 2nd overall.

I got the weekend of 24 hours at bb off at work and headed up to big bear to check it out. It worked out great because amber wanted to go up but had to work. So I hopped on the mountain bike and rode up from Fairmont. 50 some miles later I arrived at big bear and hung out with some friends and heckled on the racers. The capitol cup was my next weekend off. It was a huge race since it was a gravity east event and drew over 100 racers. It was a combined time of 2 courses on 2 different days. Saturday I went up solo, got in some p ractice runs and ended up getting 4th. Sunday chuck rode up with me, got in some more practice for Sundays race and ended up with 3rd and 3rd overall for the event in the expert 29-29 class. I took this july 4th weekend off and headed down to Seneca rocks for some rest. I did a great ride on Saturday heading down to see chuck who was supposedly camping but bailed when it started raining. It was still a great ride on some back roads down in the mountains.
Outside of all of this I have been working a ton I think 38 hours/week was the least I worked since school was out. Spending time with amber and trying to keep up around home. I got a garden that I have been working on (more pics later). Also been trying to do as much riding as possible when I got time. I met up with a new group of guys that ride around Fairmont http://www.fairmontflyers.com/ and they keep me motivated to ride my road bike. I need to go on a mtb ride soon though. I started rotations last week. This month i am at rational drug therapy which deals with insurances.

Pics from capitol cup weekend: