Hermann

As my good friend and teammate said to me the other night "I love it when a plan comes together". Come together it did. I went into Hermann weekend reasonably confident after a couple of strong results over the last couple of weeks, but since I had never trained like I have this season, I didn't know if the fitness was still running strong or if it was starting to wane. I decided to race both days because I wanted to try and pick up as many points as I could in the Bubba series. I was nervous that the last few weeks had been a fluke and I wanted to squeeze something out of the weekend should state championships go awry. When the race started on Saturday, an SKC rider from Kansas City drilled it and got the hole shot with me in second wheel. He pulled through the first quarter of the two and a half mile lap and I was digging deep to stay on. I was a bit worried that I wasn't going to be able to hold the wheel but stuck with it until we got to the stairs. The stairs which were built in the 1800's are incredibly steep and offer a painful run up for every lap. I suppose the run up work I had been doing paid off and I was able to move up front and had a small gap at the top of the stairs. In the winding section at the top of the course, I managed to pick up around eight seconds on the chase and decided to see if I could make it stick. The gap grew and I held it till the line to round out the series with a win. The course was fantastic with its length and variety. All the turns could be taken at speed and the obstacles littered throughout the course offered numerous challenges and required constant focus. It was going to be a blast getting to race it two days in a row.

Sunday's state championship race shook out almost identically to Saturday's race with the major changes being a twenty degree drop in temperature and a field of fifty instead of thirteen. I managed to get second wheel through the first half of the lap and moved up on the stairs to the front where I got a gap on second. I rode a clean race and managed to extend my gap to the line where I took my first ever state championship. I was helped a bit by Grrman's poor position on the line as he chased me all the way. He flatted toward the end of the last lap but still came home for a solid second place. We were going back and forth all season and it was cool that it came down to the two of us at the big race.

The weekend went perfectly for me and gives me a big boost of confidence going into next season. The whole day on Sunday was perfect as we watched the rest of the races by the fires before moving to the stairs for some dollar and beer primes. The atmosphere was super festive and we all closed out the local season on a high. After the race, it was beers at the Tin Mill and talk of the season gone by. I am extremely lucky to be surrounded by such an amazing and supportive group of people and I could not have had the year I've had without the support of Lizz, Margaret, Jon Gohl, Russ and Adrienne and every one of my teammates. Big thanks also to Justin Neely for getting me back on a bike so quickly after my S-Works got smashed at the beginning of the season. It's been a truly unforgettable season and if this momentum keeps going, 2009 promises to be equally epic. Next week is the single speed race at Nats and then some much needed down time. Long live cross!