Lord I appologize...

I have left the few readers of my blog in peril without a post since Athens. Whew its been a long year so far, and I'm only halfway done. Lets give a quick rundown
-Been working at the bikeshop
-Graduated
-Left home
-Stayed away from home
-Went home for less than a day
-Back on the road again

Its been pretty eventful. Here are the major highlights of the races I remember. All the others were nothing to write about

Speedweek
After athens, I headed home for a bit. Did some more of the speedweek races. Managed to crash pretty bad in the Roswell criterium the next day, snapping the seatstay on my scott. I managed to get out with some road rash and a concussion. Back home the next day. Headed back home, then back down to the south the very next day. Hit up the Dilworth Crit in Charlotte NC the next weekend on my spare bike. Ended up getting a flat and not knowing it and wiped out in this 70* tight turn. Finished though.

Edgar Soto (Worlds Qualifier)
Pretty bad weekend for the team. The tt was decent, I was 16th, highest on the team. On the rr, we fell apart. Ty jumped out of the gate, and had 3 minutes on the field for the first lap. It ws going well, until the feedzone where sh*t hit the fan. The group shattered, and i popped off the back. I think I just lost focus mentally. Blair ended up being the only finisher for the team

Roan Groan (Sanofi Aventis Omnium)
THis was a Pro 1/2 race, with a seperate 2 omnium
The weekend started out with a RR. We missed the break, but history of the event showed it never stayed away. The break had about 4 minutes going into this 4 mile climb, so I decided to set tempo. I strung the race out, and had it single file, bringing the gap to just under 3 minutes, but it was no use, nobody was willing to work. So we hit the finishing climb of 10 miles in a good position. I rode tempo for the first 3, splitting the group down to 8 guys, I popped off, and worked my way back to 14th place. The tt was a short 1 mile effort, not good for me. Finished mid pack. In the crit, we were riding well, and set up AJ for second, within a wheel of the win in a downhill sprint on jr gears. I ended up 5th overall for the cat 2 omnium.

Smithfield Hammerfest 2 man TT
Elliott Craddock and I did a team time trial to refine the form before fitchburg. It was 27.7 miles. We started fast and never let up. We crossed the line in 1:00:35. We won the overall, the young riders, and were 35 seconds shy of another 100 bucks.'

Fitchburg
It went well. I was the highest finisher in the tt, in 13th, 10 secs out of the top ten. In the circuit race, the legs felt great, but the second lap, my bars slipped completley, and i had to stop for the neutral car. It was about 2 minutes back by the time it got to me, so i had to just tt and lose as little time as possible. I was off the back this stage the first year i did it. Guess its not meant for me. The RR went well, the break of 3 went, and stayed away. I made the chase group of Ian Boswell and Anders Newbury, (hot tubes) and Steven Kendall, but got gapped hard on a pull and couldnt close. I blew sky highwith a k to go, and got caught by a few trying to bridge and managed 11th. Field finish in the crit

Red River Gorge UCI JR Stage Race
Stage 1- Prologue. Mid field for me, AJ 5th, Ty 8th
Stage 2- 100K RR, Started the winning break, got ridden out after my wheel came lose. Lost a ton of time
Stage 3- TT, Had the best time for the first hour or so, till the GC guys went, ended up 18th.
Stage 4- RR, Felt great, tried to get some KOM pts but Hammer boys had it locked down. Made the second group and was top 20.
Stage 5- Crit, Felt great, tried to set it up for ty with a few, ended up sneaking of the front but got caught, Field finish.

So this year has been okay. Ive had amazing legs, just bad luck. Hopefully this turns around sometime. There were a bunch of races I know I left out of this post, but I'll get to them soon.

So after Red River, I headed back home, and left for baltimore, less than 12 hours after getting home. I made it up there, to fly out with Nate Wilson. We flew out to Bend, Oregon for the Cascades Classic. Nate is doing the NRC stage race, pretty impressive for a junior. I am doing the Cat 2 race. Its so amazing out here in bend. Awesome town, really friendly people, amazing riding. I'm out here for another week after this, for Junior Road Nationals as well. Here is my possible schedule for the rest of the year?

July 24-26- Cascades Cycling Classic, Bend, OR
July 28-Aug 2- Junior Road Nationals, Bend, OR
August 5-8 Crossroads Classic, North Carolina
August 10- Page Valley Classic (VA State RR), Virginia
August 12- Leave for College
August 13- Start riding on the track at Marian
September- Green Mountain Stage Race, Vermont

I should have a few updates while im here, as well as pics when I get them downloaded