UK National Team

It is official. I made the UK National DH/4X Team! I am super stoked about it too! I am only a wild card draw for the 4X, but that might be a good thing as it will force me to focus mainly on the DH. If you want to check out some of the expected talent at World Champs, head to www.nzride.com It is a cool new site.
Also I found this old photo from Lucas Kane a few years ago. Cool eh?

Crankworx

So far so good up here in Whistler. Racing and riding has been great. I think I have spent about 8 hours a day on my bike and I am just loving it! I have finished 2nd in both of my events thus far. In the Air DH a local girl, Jen Ashton, managed to take a second or two out of me. She was fast on A-line this week and pulled off a well deserved win.
Tara Llanes had a big crash right before qualifying in the 4X and was not able to qualify for the event. Although she tried pretty hard to break her tibia/fibula, her bones held out pretty well and she is still able to keep me company as I celebrate a good 2nd place finish, losing to Jill Kintner (the 2005 World 4X Champ). All that was left now was the epic Garbanzo DH on Sunday. I wanted to make that my 3rd podium finish of the week and I was successful at finishing again in 2nd place.
It has been awesome catching up with friends and family up here in Whistler. It seems like everyone is here and I am loving it!

Results- National Champs

I guess 4 was my lucky number this weekend! I finished both DH and 4X in 4th place.

4X was going so well for me too! I came out of the gate strong and I was ahead of Joey Gough by the 1st corner. I was pulling up a pretty good lead on her, but she gave me a taste of her BMX experience and used my bike/body to help her corner through a super tight line on the track. I crashed pretty hard as a result, but it was some good racing anyway.
DH was pretty solid too. Tracy Moseley pulled out the win this weekend with the rest of us close behind. I was less than a second off Helen Gaskell and we were all within about 6 seconds of one another. Just to give everyone an idea of how hard the racing in the UK really is consider the fact that there have been atleast 2 british girls on EVERY World Cup DH Podium this year. Pretty crazy eh? It was some great racing and I am happy I slipped back to the UK to get another weekend of fast riding in.

UK National Champs- Qualifying

Well, I had another HUGE crash but this time it was not on a race course!! After a hard day's riding I was doing my best to make it quickly back to the camper van in the dark. It turns out someone built a berm in the middle of the road and I couldn't see it as it was pitch black. Over the bars I went!!! It's all good, just seriously FUNNY!

So far, so good on the courses though. Racing back in the UK feels pretty solid. The tracks are wide open and flat out. Both the DH and 4X are fun. I managed to keep my rubber side down and in the DH I felt pretty good, aside from a pretty big wash out that cost me a bit of time. Rachel Atherton put up a wicked time and seeded in 1st place with Tracy Moseley close behind her and me pulling up the 3rd position.

4X was quite late tonight and we are racing on a floodlit track. We qualified around 10pm. I was only about 0.04 seconds behind Joey Gough on the track, putting me in 2nd place so hopefully we will have some solid racing tomorrow night.

Jeep #1

Things went fairly well this past weekend at the 1st round of the invitational Jeep Series Races. The venue was wicked (as always) and the weekend just flew by. Between racing, autograph sessions, banquets and publicity events the weekend comes and goes before you know it. I managed a strong recovery from last weekend's injuries and I felt fairly on the ball for qualifying. I pulled out a 5th place qualifying result, which is a great result for me considering the talented athletes that are at these events. My 1st heat was with Tara Llanes and although I gave her everything I had, she bested me after two runs on the "y" shaped Jeep course. Even though I was out in the 1st round, my quick qualifying time left me standing in 5th place at the end of the day.

I am back in Canada now for a few days before taking off for the British National Champs. It has been a few years since I have raced National Champs and I am excited!

Brazil Results

This weekend just plain HURT. Everything started well but Saturday night's semi final 4X heat changed everything. I was trying to get passed Melissa Buhl. She was ahead of me and took off a jump in front of me. I chose the line beside hers but once I took off I realized that she had changed lines in the air. There she was on my landing. I tried to lean away from her, but the lean just made it worse when I came down and tagged both her back tire and the lip of the landing. Needless to say I ate dirt....HARD. I partially dislocated my hip (it went back in immediately) and I just killed my left wrist. Adrenaline is a great thing though and I picked up my bike and rolled gingerly to the finish. I got back to the top of the course for the small final before I had time to think about it and with a little scream out of the gate for motivation I pushed through the pain to finish 6th at the end of the day. I paid dearly for that! I spent the night laying in bed in serious pain.

I probably should not have raced the DH today, but there is just something about coming all the way out to a World Cup and not competing. So, despite the pain, I rolled my way through qualifying and finals. It was no record fast time or anything, I only finshed 11th, but I am the type of athlete that would rather finish 11th than admit to myself I was too hurt to compete! I think that mentality has been a slight problem for me in the past, but at the end of the day I sleep better knowing I gave this sport EVERYTHING I had. Hurt or not, I finished the race!

Off to Canada now to see Jill again and recover from these injuries. The Jeep Series kicks off next weekend in San Lois, so I need to get myself ready for that huge event.