Back in Belgium

After a cancelled flight then many flight delays I finally arrived back in Belgium this past Monday night/Tuesday morning. I was amazed when I arrived to see alot of snow on the ground, something I guess isn't too common in this part of Europe.

I've gotten settled in relatively easily here these past few days and have done one race since I've been here.

It was just a small local race in a town on the coast called Middelkerke. I planned on using this race to just open up my legs and prepare for Saturday's World Cup. I got a good start and was up close to the front early on, but jet lag and being tired from all the travel took its toll on me and I started to drop back. In the end I finished mid-pack and was OK with that since I was still feeling tired from traveling.

Since then I have been just riding and getting used to life around the house.

Also I received the notification a few days ago that I have been chosen to represent the USA again at the World Championships the last weekend of January in Tabor, Czech Republic.

Tomorrow is the World Cup in Zolder, Belgium and I will have more to update about after that.

Race in Middelkerke, notice all of the snow

The Past Few Weeks

These past few weeks have been filled with a lot of racing and travel. It all started the Tuesday before Thanksgiving when I headed to Europe for the first time of the year. The plan was to race the World Cup in Koksijde, Belgium then the Superprestige in Gieten, Holland the next day.
I arrived in Belgium on Wednesday the 25th and got a few good days of riding before the actual race.

Race day arrived and my first impressions of the course were sand and lots of running. Not being the best sand rider along with the aggressive style of European racing, I was nervous at the start. The race started very fast and into the first sand section everyone was running. I started running, everyone was pushing and throwing elbows to try to move up; during all of this I hop back onto my bike to see my chain had fallen off. After getting it back on I saw that I was very far back from the group so I rode as hard as I could the whole race to catch back on and finished pretty far down on the results.Running the "sandbox" in Koksijde

The next day I was really looking forward to improving my result from the day before. After an early wakeup call and a 4hour drive we had arrived in Gieten. The course was very basic for a European course which included a good amount of mud and a "flyover". There were around 75 riders in the race and after the "random" callups I found my self starting at the back of all 75 other riders. But I was very motivated to improve from the day before and ready for the aggressive style of racing. I spent the whole race trying to move up through the crowd of riders and after it was all over I had moved up into the 30's somewhere. I was very pleased with this and can't wait to get a chance to start closer to the front to see what will happen.
The Tuesday after the races I flew straight to Portland, Oregon for the final USGP weekend and the National Championships the weekend after. I had great host housing for the week at professional racer, Kelly Benjamin's house. While I waited a few days for the rest of my team to arrive she took me on some great rides around Portland.
Preriding the course on Friday, it was surprisingly dry but after some rain Friday night, it was back to the typical Portland mud by Saturday. After some getting European racing experience I was looking forward to see how the races back here in the States would go. The race started and I got a good start and two others and I were riding for the lead. After a lap the other two proved too strong for me and I dropped back and rode the rest of the race to finish 3rd.

Runup in Portland
Thanks to Lyne Lamoureaux for the photo

The next day in Portland was not one of my best. Feeling bad in warmup and after getting dropped from the leaders after a lap I decided to pull the plug and save my energy for Nationals the next weekend. I was very disappointed in this, but knew that Nationals the next weekend was what I was looking forward to.
The National Championships took place this past weekend in Bend, Oregon. For the first races on Thursday the course was covered in snow and ice but by my race Saturday it had turned into a sloppy/frozen mess. I had felt great in the days prior so I was ready for the race.
After a great start I found myself off the front with 3 other riders. I was feeling great riding in the group but going down the major descent on the first lap I felt my tire puncture. I was devastated. I carefully rode back to the pit quickly as possible and got my spare back and quickly got back after it but was now in 14th place. I just rode the rest of the race as fast as I could taking many risks in the icy corners and ended up riding to 4th place in the end. I was very happy with how I rode but not as happy with the result. I'll post photos of nationals as I find them on the internet.
I flew out from Portland on Sunday and it felt great to finally be home.
Next up, after a week of school and finals, hoping this recent string of back luck is over, I am headed back to Europe on Sunday for the seventh year (my second) of Euro Cross Camp, directed by Geoff Proctor.
I would like to thank the whole KCCX crew for all of the support and pit help over the past few weeks and especially Tom Price. He is the main mechanic and pit guy for the KCCX team and after all of his hard work, was still able to get a win on Sunday in Portland and 4th Place in the 50-54 Masters Nationals.