I've been pretty lazy I'm sorry

I've not been on my A game and I have been very busy lately, so I am sorry I haven't given you some blogger love for awhile. But since my last post, about the valmont bike park cross where I had my epic conquest in the Junior race. I have done several races since then. The next day i raced the first Red Rocks Velo Cross race at Tony Grampsas Park at the base of North Table Mountain in Golden. It was about 85 degrees out or so, superr hot for cross. All I have to say about my performance in this race is that I dogged it. This was my first weekend racing 2 60 minute races in a row and after about 15 minutes in the race I started to go backwards after a top 10 start. I just could not handle the heat. I almost dropped out of the race but, I still finished even though I dropped to dead last at one point. I rested for a bit on the last few laps and on the bell lap I made my jump and moved up to 22nd out of 27 giving me like 1 BCR point. This is the first time in a VERY long time I have ever been lapped in a race and this team it was by Danny and Paco who had nothing on me at Interlocken.

The race the next weekend, or should I say last weekend, was the 3rd Boulder CX Series race, at the Boulder Reservoir. It started snowing the morning of the race and became very cold out.

But it wasn't a problem because guess what race I did? SINGLESPEEDS! It actually stopped snowing literally 5 or 10 minutes before my race started, making our race not as epic as the SM4 race. Even though this is one of the most painful races I have ever done, I have to say it is probably the most fun. I ended up taking 2nd in the Single speed race despite having an awesome hole shot at the start of the race. Soon enough on the second lap of this 5 lap race I had dropped to 4th or 5th out of 17. This was mostly due to the fact that we had already caught the SM3 race (or should I say the back of it) because they started only 1 minute ahead of us. I was also running too small of a gear (42 tooth chain ring and 20 tooth cog) with the winner of the race who was only 20 seconds ahead of me using a 18 tooth cog. But this gear was ideal for riding all the brutal sand across the beach, giving me an advantage over guys who ran their machines. But the downside of using a smaller gear is I really got my spin on out on the flat and sometimes downhill road. My guess is I was getting up to at least 160 rpm. Overall it was a good race and I had a great time. I also would have placed 14th in the SM3 race despite starting 1 minute back.

I plan to dominate again tomorrow at the Boulder Cup in the Junior race just like I did at Valmont. All in all I would say my season is going much better than planned and we will see what happens on the 14th of December.

Valmont Bike Park

Today is the grand opening ceremony of the Valmont Bike Park. This is exciting because Val is a bike park that is dedicated especially to a cyclocross course and even though I don't live in Boulder I don't live too far and this is going to be AWESOME! No SM open race for me, I am actually going to race my category JM 15-16 and for 60 minutes, the way all JM15-18 races should be. And it is free which is always a plus in my book. Also there is the same merch payout in Open and JM15-18 so I think it is win-win-win. Nonetheless its gonna be a day devoted to some epic cowbell!

Balloon Boy

This seriously the most awesomest new story ever. I love balloon boy! And the fact that it happened in Ft. Collins, CO makes it even more awesome!

The story courtesy of CNN:

ado by foot and air, frantically chasing a Mylar balloon for miles and repeatedly interviewing his big brother, authorities ended the search for 6-year-old Falcon Heene where it began -- at his house.

He was in a box. In the attic. The whole time.

"I played with my toys and took a nap," Falcon told a group of reporters outside his home Thursday afternoon.

"He says he was hiding in the attic," said Falcon's father, meteorologist Richard Heene, clutching his son. "He says it's because I yelled at him."

"I'm sorry I yelled at him," added Heene, tearfully hugging the boy.

In a later interview with CNN's "Larry King Live," Falcon said he heard his parents call for him from the garage.

When asked by his father on-air why he didn't respond, the boy replied, "You guys said we did this for the show."

When the father was pressed by Wolf Blitzer, who was filling in for King, to explain what his son meant, he became uncomfortable, finally saying he was "appalled" by the questions, and then adding that Falcon was likely referring to all the media coverage.

Authorities said they believe the case was genuine.

Heene said the family was in the early stages of working on the balloon -- a "3D low-altitude vehicle" -- when the contraption and the boy went missing.The situation grabbed the nation's attention early Thursday afternoon, after authorities reported that the experimental helium balloon was set adrift with the 6-year-old apparently riding in it.

His brother had said he watched Falcon get into the balloon before he untied the tethers, setting it free. Heene later said Falcon was videotaped getting into the vessel by his brother, but "obviously he got out."

Once it was untethered, the saucer-like craft flew eastward from the Heenes' neighborhood, though officials couldn't immediately confirm how fast it was going.

Authorities said the silver balloon, 20-feet long and 5-feet high, at times reached 7,000 feet above the ground while adrift. It was found more than 90 minutes later in a field near Colorado Springs.

The story took a turn when ABC said that Falcon's parents, science enthusiasts Richard and Mayumi Heene, were featured on the 100th episode of ABC's prime-time program "Wife Swap" in March 2009.

According to the network's Web site, the Heene family "devote(s) their time to scientific experiments that include looking for extraterrestrials and building a research-gathering flying saucer to send into the eye of the storm."

Richard Heene is a meteorologist and former television weatherman who has submitted to CNN iReports accounts of his sons helping him chase Hurricane Gustav, among other contributions.

Rescuers from several counties followed the saucer-like vessel until it made a soft landing some 90 miles away.

Officials rushed to the scene of the landing, smacking the metallic balloon until it deflated. They looked inside -- no Falcon.

At that point, there were two possibilities: Either Falcon never got in the balloon, or he fell out.

Authorities began to fear the worst after reports surfaced that a box possibly carrying Falcon may have fallen off the balloon.

A Weld County Sheriff's deputy had said he saw an object fall off the balloon somewhere over Platteville, Colorado, which is in the search area. There was no box attached when the balloon landed at 1:35 p.m.

The widespread worries prompted the Colorado Air National Guard to deploy a UH 60 Black Hawk helicopter, with plans to launch a second one equipped with night vision if necessary.

The search, which initially focused on Weld County, covered "the entire flight plan, from the Fort Collins area down to the Denver International Airport area," Col. Mark Riccardi said.

But a little while later, Falcon turned up at home.

Larimer County Sheriff James Alderden said it's not uncommon for children to seek cover when they realize they're the subject of a massive search.

"They hide because they think they are in trouble," he said.

"What was confusing was the eyewitness who said [Falcon] climbed into the apparatus, which was not the case," Alderden said, referring to the boy's brother.

The sheriff said the brother was interviewed several times by investigators and that he was consistent with his story.

Marc Friedland, the family's next-door neighbor, said he saw Richard Heene working on the giant Mylar balloon in the backyard.

"Basically, the whole family was out there and they were working with it," he said. "When I came back is when I found out that the event happened."

He said the aircraft was intended to hover around 20 feet in the air and was not intended to carry people.

"Obviously, something went wrong with that."

Friedland described his neighbors say."

This is what I think really happened

You can even get a shirt to commemerate the event!

http://www.saveballoonboy.org/

COLD!

This whole weekend was cold. I raced the CO Velidrijden crusade and it was sooo cold. It was 3 laps of course around Bear Creek Lake Park. It was actually the course for Battle of the Bear and I only made it 2 laps. This was the complete opposite of the Open race at Interlocken today, the #2 in the Boulder Cyclocross Series. There were 56 guys in my race and they were FAST. There were legit pros there, which is no surprise because it was in Boulder. Out of the 3 times I have done this race I have to say this course set-up was the best. Also the conditions made it more of a Belgie-X cross race, rather than a grass crit. I started 2nd row but I got bottle-necked on the first corner and I dropped to about 30th. It just went from there. It was about 28 degrees out and I was able to move up on the really short course until I moved into 17th place with a chaser right on my wheel on 6 laps to go. We kept having a battle royale until the end where I was able to get a gap in the sand on him and then eventually out sprint him. This 17th place gave me the 2nd highest place among juniors in the open race, let alone being the youngest in the category. I actually placed one place behind yannick eckmann who was not having such a good day but still was near the lead group of super-fast guys. I was the first rider outside that group to finish. Despite placing lower than I did at Frisco last weekend in the open race, the competition was much more fierce and I would say this is one of my best races so far. I wasn't in such shock with the 1 hour effort and I'm very proud about how I did:)

I'm a pro

That's right. I raced Open (Pro 1/2) this weekend at Frisco. I only raced saturday but I all I can say is wowwwwwww. Cross+60 minutes+super fast guys=pain. I am not even a cat 2 even though I could upgrade but I am just going to stay a 3 for now and race up in Open. Well the race, started out uber-hard, not that it was any easier the rest of the race, I didn't think I was finish the race because I started like 2nd to last row and had to work through the field because I started like 30th out of 40 and started behind a crash. I made it up to about 20th or so and settled into a rhythm when I caught my team mate Skyler and we both picked up the pace and passed like a group of 5 guys and secured 2 spots in the top 15. I started to pull after a little while with skyler this was about 30-40 minutes into the race. But then I put in a monster effort up the huge paved climb to stay ahead of the chasers who weren't far behind. Skyler then told me he wasn't sure if he could hang on with my pace and he dropped off and this was about 2 laps to go. He was starting to gain on me fast because I was passed the usual 45 minutes I do in a cross race and my cleat was getting really worn out making it hard to get clipped in. Then it came down to the last single track section i had about a 2 second gap and Skyler was on my wheel. This was epic! He came up trying to pass me on the last barriers literally 50 meters from the finish and we had a insane sprint with me being the winner giving Blacksheep 13th (me) and 14th (Skyler) in the Open out of 38th!!!! I would say not bad given this was my first crack at the open race in cross and how I am stacking up against past wunderkind who are older now.

Doin the insane quadruple barriers

Mate Skyler doing the same reppin the green for BLACKSHEEP!