Bend USGP was awesome, probably one of my favorite courses and venues. Regan and I loaded up our fast growing puppy and did the good ole road trip down south. Stopping in Ferndale at Transition Bikes to pick up Regan's new toy, we had a great and uneventful drive down. This was my first experience in Bend, and I have to say it's a pretty neat city. The course is on Deschutes Brewery grounds in the Old Mill District, so the river and the big smoke stacks in the back ground make for a very neat picture. I had a great battle both days, Day 1 sprinting to the finish with Teal and Day 2 battling with Julie on the last lap, finishing 7th both days. Last race till worlds!!
The monday after Regan and I did something that we've never done before!! We slept in and just enjoyed being tourists in Bend! Lots of walking and exploring and tiring the poor puppy out.....she was dragging her butt back to the hotel for sure. Nothing like sitting outside on the patio enjoying a coffee in December....and being too warm. From there we headed north to visit my parents in Calgary for a couple of days. Hit The Elk Pub in Spokane (from Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives)...YUMMMMM, spent the night in Fernie and Laila got to experience her first snow (cute!). 3 days in Calgary, and I flew straight up to Fort McMurray for 10 days of work.....or prison camp more like it. It's really not that bad, I really only worked 2 or 3 days this rotation....but it worked out to be well over 50 hours in those days, needless to say I spend a lot of time recovering.
Showing the SSCXWC Trophy to fans
Thx Verge and Stans Notubes For the Nat.Champs Kit
Quiet Christmas at home, fun surfing filled weekend in Tofino for New Years with some great friends, and now I'm back up north doing my time. With less then a month till CX World Championships in Louisville I'm trying to tailor my workouts to have me fast for that weekend. In a way, trainer riding is almost better for this because I can really focus on my intervals......sometimes, days like today when I'm recovering from a looooong shift, I feel a little drunk on the bike :-)
This is going to be an experiment in self coaching and sleep deprivation going into Worlds! Lets see what this body can do!
Thank You to Matthew Lasala For the use of these beautiful pictures.
http://www.lasalaimages.com
