Face Brake

Dang, I need to stop crashing. For whatever reason, I crashed on these stairs (that I have ridden dozens of times) on Sunday at MMBS #6. How to properly ride the stairs....

The crash happened at the beginning of the race and made for a long day chasing a fast riding Cody Larson. My face is pretty chewed up - I won't be shaving my chin for a while - and my shoulder is bruised pretty good, but I don't think I sustained any permanent injuries.
Other than, that and dropping my chain once, the event was awesome. Rich puts on one of the best shows in the series and the volunteer help was AMAZING!
Although I got 2nd to Cody, my time was actually 2 seconds faster than last year on the exact same course and very similar conditions. Last year I won by a couple minutes beating a tough crew of Jeff Hall, SamO, and TJ that day so that tell you how good Cody was going.

Riding wise, I am not sure what to do right now. I am overly tired too often...maybe partly due to being a 2x daddy and the fact that neither of my kids sleep through the night (although Jen DEFINITELY takes the brunt of that). E.g. On Sunday morning, I could barely stay awake and fell asleep several times at home and on the drive up to the race.
I also may be in a fitness lull or there is something else is wrong physiologically. Only time will tell.
All I know is that IT isn't all their right now....

Different Purpose

This weekend, rather than riding around in circles with a number attached to my bike I pulled 100+ pounds of boy and gear to a local campground about 12 miles away.This is my new all weather all conditions commuter that Trek hooked me up with. It is a Trek 6000 ht mountain bike w/ a rigid fork, full fenders, and a rack. I still am yet to drive to Seagate since starting work there a couple weeks ago=)

Needless to say, we had a ball camping. My cousin Jeff, Dad, friend Ted, and his boy Brody met us there (they all drove), which made things easier on Tegan and I. We couldn't have fit any more in anyway!
Tegan slept on both the out and back trip....I did not have that luxury. Tegan and Uncle Jeff (technically not an uncle but has earned the title)
Sunday was a chill day with the family. I was wearing my faux white t-shirt.

This week brings another Buck Hill and MMBS#6. I am not doing the National Championships out in Colorado. The recent job change has left me vacationless, and I know based on previous Col vacations that I would need at least a week of time out there to acclimate if I wanted to compete at a reasonable level. As a side note, in the spirit of competition, I am not sure that starting nationals at 7K+ feet sets a level playing field for all the nations riders...

Head Brake

Sunday was ANOTHER mudfest. 4 out of 5 MNSCS races have now been muddy/rainy.
Basically, I was feeling pretty good and strong at the start, but I couldn't steer and went to hard trying to compensate. Then I crashed and used my head to stop myself. My helmet broke and wouldn't stay on my head, but I managed to limp to the finish in 3rd. I guess I looked pretty disheveled at the finish with the helmet barely hanging on:
Maybe the next one will be dry....