US Open Sunday

Coming into the final sprint. Note the tires not touching the ground.

Sunday morning came around with the hotel breakfast buffet. The food was excellent, the service was terrible. I got changed and headed to the venue to get a few last practice laps in before finals. I ran into Dean Tennant and followed him down for my first run. I hadn’t actually followed anyone yet and was glad I did. He led me into some sections much faster than I had been going and showed me a few lines I hadn’t seen yet. I was feeling great after that run and decided to take another to cement my lines into my head. Practice went well and I grabbed some food while sitting around and waiting for finals.  

So much America this weekend. It was a great place to be during Memorial Day.

My bike was dialed, my lines were dialed, and I felt good on the course. I pedaled around the top of the course a while trying to get in a good mindset. Its a little nerve wracking trying to get in the zone with the best guys in the world right next to you. I got up into the gate and once the beeps came, I dropped in for my race run. About 15 feet into the course, I blew the first turn! I figured I was getting nervous and told myself to reel it in and be smooth. I stopped pedaling for a second and took a breath to regain my composure as I tripled the rocks into the first woods. I bounced off the next rocks a little harder than I had previously, once again I told myself to take it easy and be smooth. I settled down but felt like I was going slowly through the course. I rode the top part of my run either out of control and slow, or smooth, but slow. JBL audio sponsored the big rock garden in the middle of the course, and I had been doing a different line than most through there. I came through to a bunch of big cheers and vuvuzelas along with speakers blaring music. It was a really neat zone. I came into the next rock garden and hit my pedal on a rock, unclipping me and sending me into the crowd. I got up relatively quickly, but by that point my run was over. I still kept a good pace to the bottom, but I was pretty disheartened by the time I came through the finish line.

The rocks got the best of me. Local hero George Ryan goes through in practice.

I looked back up the hill to wait for Lars to come down. While waiting at the bottom, I was watching the clock and noticed that his time was getting up there and he wasn’t even out of the last wooded section. Once the rider after him came through the line, we realized something was wrong. Lars seems to have a tendency to flat, and this course had a lot of rocks, so I just assumed he had flatted. I walked over to Jill right as I heard someone mention broken wrist. I started heading up the hill to find out what was going on, but I couldn’t get an answer until after the race was over. I ran into Kyle and Kevin from Transition at the bottom of the hill. While we were catching up on the race, Kyle got a call from someone. He said Lars had broken his leg. They ran off to the hospital to see Lars while Transition’s other male rider, Bryn, was in Albany NY with a broken femur. It turns out Lars broke his Fibula and tore some ligaments in his ankle. Not cool. He said he’s out for at least 8-12 weeks. Hopefully some healing vibes are being received by Team Transition.

Lars in slalom practice the night before. Heal up buddy!

At the end of the day I ended up in 40^th place. I was happy to qualify and I had a great weekend riding the track, but a bad result like that is not something anyone who is competitive likes to deal with. I know I’m faster than that, I know I’m more consistent than that. I just need to get on my horse and prove it at a big race. I will say though, my bike and equipment were flawless all weekend long. Not one mechanical issue or flat tire.  I went back to the pits and had some alone time while I helped pack the tents, tools, and gear, away.

While packing the pit away, I saw a crowd gathering by us at the GT pit. I headed over to investigate. It turns out that Mikey Haderer had lost a bet the day before. The bet was that if he got on the podium for Saturday’s slalom race, that Jill Kintner could cut his hair. Mikey hadn’t cut his hair in over a year and a half. It was long, like creepy chi-mo long. So Jill grabbed the clippers and went to town. After a shower with the pressure washer, everyone enjoyed the good, light hearted, way to end the event. The only thing left was the after party.

"Shave his eyebrows too!"

We went back to the hotel to pack our stuff and have a quick swim. I had heard all week how the Vernon Inn was the place to be after the race. We headed to the pub and grabbed some quick food before hitting the bar. I was told I needed a local drink called a “Dance All Over Your Face” it seemed no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t empty my hands of them all night. We closed the bar down and headed home to load up the car for the hour long ride to the airport. My flight was at 9:30am, but we had to be there at 4:00am for Porter to fly back to Utah. I got my ticket and went through security before finding my gate and falling asleep on the floor. I awoke as the plane was boarding and grabbed my window seat on the 737-900. I watched a loose flap track fairing wiggle all the way back to Seattle. I landed in Seattle at 12:30 and raced home to let Rylie outside before heading to work for the day. Another weekend race mission accomplished. I crammed more excitement and adventure between getting off work on Thursday and being at work on Monday than most people will get all summer long.