Bubba #9 at Bellefontaine

Hmm, what to think about this season and this race in particular? I was somewhat disappointed with my ride on Sunday despite having reasonably good legs and a truly enjoyable course. Did I go to far in the preceding week? Have the external forces and lack of rest in my life over recent months taken as much of a toll as I think? Did my back going out Friday keep me down? Am I making excuses? Have I improved at all this year? Has everyone else's massive leaps made it hard for me to assess? I don't really know the answer to these questions. I am relatively satisfied that I have remained consistent start to finish. My legs have felt better and better through the season but one variable or another have prevented me from truly realizing my potential, or at least the potential that I like to think I have. I don't really know. I would have liked to have done better Sunday, the legs were there, the back wasn't and I crashed three too many times. Regardless, I finished in a familiar spot (13th), so some consistency was maintained. I really wanted to crack the top ten this year, but that will have to wait ten months. At least I picked up three dollars in primes, so I got that going for me. We'll see if a bit of a taper week will bring out the benefits of the last couple weeks of training. State championships this weekend and then the season closer in Washington. They're both 3's races so I'm hoping for a couple good rides but I'm looking at the rest of this season as a transition to a hopefully new level next year and moving forward. If that level never comes, it's ok, but hopefully I can find the joyous enthusiasm of CX season's past. On to 2010... Congrats to Martin, Dave, Drew and CC on a series of strong rides all season. It's great being teammates with you guys and hopefully we can get that '08 comraderie back for '10.