Happy Halloween

Be safe children

Mountain Bike Nationals

With the uncertainty to whether or not my S-Works would hold up, I crossed my fingers for my Orbea to come. The day we left, Tuesday, it rolled in from UPS at 10am. Threw it together, took care of a little adversity that came along the way and got it up and running.

There is a whole lot of beauty to it.

So I am thinking of names for him. My roommate, Lindsey, suggested Pegasus.Loaded up the trailer Tuesday, and headed to Banner Elk, North Carolina for nationals. About 7 hours later we were there. Deer.We stayed right on Beech Mountain. And as you can see it is Eastern America's Highest Town at 5505 ft.Fred's. General. Store. Has. Everything. The view from our porch.

Prerode the course on Wednesday while the weather was still dry and warm. First time I ever rode while it was dry in Banner Elk.

The very talented LWC team.

After a nice preride we did some downhill practice, but then found ourselves racing soon on Friday. The rain came that morning and made every course for the rest of the weekend cold and wet. Thank you Mother Nature.

My xc race was okay. Had a good start but couldn't maintain the position because of slick terrain and my lack of skill. I ended up midpack to Clara Swart who won. Short track was Saturday morning. I finished about 17th or so, midpack yet again, but felt really good out there. I gave Ashley my starting spot because she had a much better chance at a great result. She finished 8th so the decision was well worth it.Downhill was a little nerveracking going into...but I was just ready to do what I could to make an attempt at a good time and a safe ride. The course is about 1.5 miles long down Sugar Mountain.I was able to cut off 2 minutes from my time from last year. Same course, very similar conditions. 11 minutes last year, 9 minutes this year. Winning time is about 5 minutes. Those women rip it.The 20 foot rock slab mid-course. Super sketchy wet, but very fun. Slalom was Sunday morning. The main event. What an event it was. Qualifying was first and they only took the top 16 women. I figured all I had to do was get down the run and not crash...I got to the last bermed jump and I crossed gates! Automatic disqualification! Cursing, the drop of a helmet, so much disappointment in myself.

I walked up to my coach and said, "Coach. I fucked up." I couldn't believe how stupid I had been. Luckily, multiple people had done the same thing. Afterwards, the officials taped off separate lanes to prevent this from happening. We then protested in an unfair advantage. We won the protest and had the option to rerun our qualifiers!

I was 3 seconds faster than my original run with a new time of 42 seconds. The leader was 39 seconds. I was sitting in 10th. I then was seeded in brackets.

My first run was against pro Sage Wilderman. So she does gravity now and then. Oh, did I mention she won the national Downhill the year before and took 2nd this year? Nonetheless, I was stoked to race against her. She bumped me out of contention, but I held onto the tenth place finish.

Our team took 4th with the lead teams being Lees-Mcrae, Colorado-Boulder, Fort Lewis, you know...I ended up 8th overall for omnium. Maybe in a year or two we can throw a podium in the mix.

Then, Weston Pope won his national championship for Dual Slalom.

I am beat......Time for a small break before Iceman and the cyclocross.

Fall Break

So I had a week off before Mountain Bike Nationals that is currently happening, and I spent it lonely and at home while the family was out in California.Not having too much to do, the week consisted of cold weather riding and coffee shops before and after.

The colors of fall.

Then had a chance to tear Sebastian apart and give him a good cleaning before nationals. I wasn't sure if my new bike was going to come in on time, but it did....and Sebastian was torn apart for parts. O well, at least he was fixed up.Made a stop in Madison before we left for Kentucky...That was fun and painful.

Then in Lousiville we decided to play human tetrus by picking up 3 of our teammates from the Louisville Airport.

Trying to fit in 5 people's fall break luggage, along with a bike box and other junk, we only had one seat open for 3 people.

Luckily the trip back was only an hour and a half so 2 people sitting on one lap isn't that bad.

Purdue Regionals

Regionals at Purdue University.

Saturday: Cross Country

Finish: 1st place

Sunday: Short Track

Finish: 3rd place

Slalom Race

Finish: Crashed out first run

Argh...

Fun weekend. And now I am back in Wisconsin for a full week!

Nationals are next week in North Carolina. Time to pin it!

Here is hopefully not what will happen in this year's downhill race at nationals. Not being able ti ride the grassy downhill because the mud slid you out. But what a blast it was.

Butler MTB Weekend

Slacker of posting I am. This last weekend we went up to Indiana to Butler College for another bike race. My NEW bike did not come in yet so I scrapped together pieces (actually my mechanic Kip Spaude did) and rebuilt Sebastian and brought him to life. Thank you so much!

The XC race was on Saturday followed by Downhill a little later in the afternoon. I didn't feel too hot for the xc race. We started off Emily, Rachel, and me. Had a little group going, and then me and Rachel pulled away on the first lap. We then had a Marion rider, Becca, tag along for the ride. We stuck together for Lap 2/3 until Becca and Rachel left me in their dust. Feeling pretty bummed, I came through and Becca was about 45 seconds in front of me. I rode my final lap attacking every hill, mainly because I enjoyed it. And chilled the rest. Coming up on the final singletrack stretch before the finish I saw Becca. I attacked and passed her with about 1/4 of a mile left. Finish 2nd with Rachel in 1st.

We then had downhill a little after that. I was a little worried since I was just using Sherwood, my Specialized P3 = hardtail freeride bike. He worked like a champ. With excellent coaching from Charles Mooney who raced for Lindsey Wilson as an excellent gravity rider, he definitely gave me the confidence just to tackle the ride.

My run went very well, but I was going against National Podium-er, Jamie Bourgo, from Michigan Tech. I was very happy with the times I put out and even did my last run on a flat tire.

On Sunday we had Short track and mountain cross. Short track = more pain and 3rd place. Just had nothing in the tank.

Mountain cross on the bmx course was next. Qualified behind Bourgo again. She crashed in our first heat which knocked her out of the running. She more than likely would have been the first place contender over me.

(Qualifying Run...looking like a complete goober)

I then went on to win that event.

Obviously an exhausting weekend as we crammed into the van and people stole the camera to show the love.

This weekend is regionals at Purdue University in Lafayette, Indiana. Why you are all at She-Vegas living it up. But I do come home this next week after Purdue for fall break. I drove up to Purdue separate so then I can go straight home Sunday. Sweet deal, eh?

Jonathon Page UCI

Glad to be on State Street again.
Ian's Pizza at 1am. Just rolling in from Kentucky and needed a snack.
Wisconsin!
The race itself for me sucked. Elicia made an appearance in the Gear Grinder kit which made me excited to see her.

I got rocked, safe enough to leave it at that. But I finished.
It honestly was just great to be back home around the people I love.