The Gainesville Gun down!!!

First of all, props to Chriss Redd Photography for taking the pics you saw in my last blog and this blog. This has to be one of the best pictures that I have ever seen of myself racing. It was taken in Gainesville this past weekend and it just has so much emotion and raw energy. If you look carefully, you can see my middle finger in my right hand dripping with blood. Just one of the wounds I acquired this weekend while racing to a third place finish and finally getting an even better taste of what it feels like to be a champion.

I have had a budget crunch around my house. Quickly approaching the years end, I got to tighten the dollars to make sure I can have a fantastic holiday. That being said, just like last race, I didn't come up the day before to ride the track, yet I still knew what to expect, cause the way the course is laid out, there are only two ways to run it. Well the way they chose to run it, was backwards from last year and it made it so that you basically had a flat run for 2 miles before you dove into an extreme rocky downhill into a pit and then a rocky climb out of the pit.

Before the race started I consulted with my team captain to get some advice on what I should do. His recommendation was to hit the track second behind someone, let them do the work thru the flats and draft off their wheel. If I have to make any passes, he added, make them on the up hills to really break the spirit of your competitors.

As the race began and I paced myself behind the rider who eventually won, heading into field two, My team mate asked for a pass and I obliged. As he continued to chase the lead rider, I did my best to keep them in sight. Just as we were entering the second of two short single tracks in the flat, I was passed by a rider, who has been gunning for me for weeks. I stayed with him and kept him close. I decided to wait till the first uphill to make my move to shatter his spirit. And my plan worked like a charm, as we started making our ascent up the steep rocky 300 ft climb, I would intentionally smack his bike with my front tire to throw off his rhythm, then I made my move next to him and past him. He jumped on my bike tire and start rubbing my rear tire with his front, I continued to put on a faster pace, crested, geared up and started to escape him. Soon thereafter another rider came up behind me. As we made ourselves down a small twisty hill that quickly led to an uphill switch back climb, I heard the rider that I just passed on the climb screaming, I looked in time to see him rolling and screamed to him to see if he was ok. Well just then BAM another rider plows right into him, crashing horrificly. Feeling the pressure to defend my third place spot, I continued the race.

Well the guy behind me, quickly makes a move and passes me, and tries to escape, but before he can mount a serious attack, I reel him in pushing my big ring, pulling him close and keeping him close till the last mile of the first lap, when I countered attack on a 50 foot steep climb to pass him. I could tell by the look on his face, he didn't have a chance to beat me and as long as I kept my pace steady, I would get third place. I made my way thru the second lap and as I approached a 500 foot climb, I geared down and lost my chain. The chain became trapped between my smallest front ring and the frame, after wrestling with it for a minute and gaining a huge ring bite on my finger, I yank it out, after being passed by the previous rider that I had battled with 30 seconds ago.

I immediately jump back on and start hammering the pedals, and in less then 25 seconds I reel him back in to put the final nail in the coffin. I spend the rest of the race riding smooth and fast and finish, victorious with a third place podium placing. I beat that guy by 30 seconds and beat all the other head hunters that are dying to see me slow down by no less then 2 minutes. As I make myself even more prepared thru this week and the next, half way thru the season I am looking to finish with the very least number 4 in the state. But in order to insure this victory for myself, I have to continue to crush the competition, stay on task, work even Harder and make every single last race count. Cause I aint lying when I say, I WANT TO WIN, FIRST PLACE before the season is done....

The Rumble @ Reddick!

There I am, proving once again, that I am bad enough to escape the pack and ride alone. All be it I made have only ridden alone for a couple of minutes I heard the silence and wondered, where did they all go.
The morning was humid, the track was slick, technical and backwards. To top it all off, I was riding into the unknown cause I didn't know what to expect since I didn't practice it the day before. All week other riders spent the best of their time talking smack to me on a MTB forum on the internet. Although I enjoyed it, I got several riders gunning for me, wanting to defeat me, wanting to beat me. What do I think about that, I think its great. I love the press and I love playing with their minds and getting them to believe who is faster, just with my words.
As I made my way to the line, I made sure to keep a straight face. I don't want to show any emotion, I want to show a poker face. Make them see how focused and intense I am. As we lined up, seconds before the horn went off, I heard a rider, making that stereotypical Indian sound you can make by smacking your lips and going OOoooooo oooO. Instead of angering me, it got me fired up to smoke up the track. As we launched from the start line, I quickly made work of 15 other people and got into second place as we hit the tight twisty track. I kept the pressure on the rider infront of me, Not bothering or worrying about the people behind me. I would intentionally run his rear tire with my front tire, putting on the pressure. As we made our way to a 12 foot tall clay climb, he didn't have enough speed to crest it, and neither did I, anticipating his dismount, I dismounted quicker, ran passed him, and made my first attempt at an escape from the group.
Well, I had a couple of over the handle bar leaps to escape the bike that was falling from under me in the off camber terrain that I was riding in, slick, rocky dangerous downs and ups, it was an adventure to continue my escape and it was not long, before three riders caught and passed me.
Soon thereafter, two more passed me, One right after I smashed my right pedal. I didn't even notice that I had damaged it beyond repair and kept riding. Shortly after the second of the most recent two had passed, we approached a muddy hill that could not be ridden and while he walked, he slipped and feel on his chest and I ran right pass him with bike in hand. Shortly after that, I caught the other guy that had passed me and ran right passed him as he faltered on a muddy climb. From that point on, I rode my hardest, and ran when I had too, eventually finishing in fourth place. The best finish of my career. What can I say. The whole thing was a sheer pleasure and the competition was exciting. But, I want more, I'm hungry to make my move to the number one spot. So we will see if before the season ends I can wind up at the front, all alone, finishing alone... Now that would be Super Sweet. One more pic, the second one, shows my team mate in the feed zone handing me a bottle. Its hard to tell from the picture, but I was going super fast!!!!

I Love the TASTE and It TASTE GOOD!!

Take a good look at my face. Do you see that, that is the face of a determined Beast of a man on the attack. What you see right there is ME, In the lead of my race for the first time ever. Behind me, you see one of my fellow team mates Jason. For the first time ever in my life, I got to taste and feel what it felt like to be number one. What it felt like to be the TOP DOG. And I tell you what I love the taste and it felt good, so good. Good enough to leave me wanting more. What was different you ask? Well, a very important person in my life lent me a book to read. And after reading that book I discovered something extremely powerful. The power of putting your words into action. I made a mental and verbal plan that day and I stuck to it to a very successful performance. The second best performance of my racing career and the best performance I have had in 2005. From the start of the race I jumped out in front and did a super tight moto x move to snake the competition and box them out right before the beginning of the tight and twisty single track. From there we had one man ahead of us that I literally started talking smack to, in an effort to move him out of the way. And right as rain, it worked. Soon we were all alone my team mate and I, when he took off to chase down a first place finish and he got it and I was happy about it. I was doing well myself, but had a little handlebar tangle that left me dismounted off my bike, and then a lil scrub of the front tire and an overshot turn put me in the same spot two more times. But in the end at the very end, I caught two more people and sprinted to a very nice 6th place finish. Now that I have tasted it, I am addicted and I want to do it again. Till next race, let the racers beware, cause I'm hunting for that number one spot.

I'm going back to Tally, Tally, Tally, I'm going back to Tally, I don't think so....

Man o man what can I say but boy was it hot and dusty this past Sunday at the season opener race in Tallahassee. The Florida state championships is something that the team spends all year discussing. Its something that we spend a good part of spring and all of summer preparing for. And its finally upon us. On Saturday I arrived at Tom brown park where the race was to be held and burned out one 7 mile lap to get a feeler for the course. Well I can truly say after 7 miles I quickly learned that the course was not my friend and I had to understand why. Right around mile 6 I underestimated my front tire navigation between two trees and ended up face first in the dirt. Twisted my stem and bars in one direction and my front tire in another. The force of the impact was so significant that it put a kink in my brake cable housing. Well, I got back to the lot and spent some time adjusting the seat height and fixing the housing. After I got it all fixed I decided that I had to find some understanding on the course. And low and behold I found what I was looking for. The course became my friend and I found poetry in the ride. The trail in tally is a humbling one. 7 miles of either uphills or downhills with some rolling terrain thrown in. You gots to be on your best game to excel at this course. I had a rest less Saturday night as I slept in the hotel with my two sons. Nerves are a funny thing. I spend the morning preparing and warming up and eating right and taking my supplements. Once I hit the line the nerves where in full effect, but I had my game face on. I was determined to keep a neutral look in my eye to see what effect it would have on the competition. When the horn went off and we took off the line I chose to be patient and hung in the back. The first 4 miles are tough and I wanted to conserve my energy. And it paid off, 6 miles in I had worked myself from last to 9th place and I maintained that ninth place. In fact I felt pretty comfortable a lil too comfortable. As I approach the last quarter mile which was all uphill, I was gearing up for a nice little sprint to the finish, something I usually do. Well, low and behold a man I passed more then 10 minutes ago snuck up behind me and made for a pass. As I attempted to defend my spot by standing up to hammer the pedals, my legs locked up something fierce in a double thigh splitting cramp that forced me to sit down just as fast as I stood up. Anger filled my heart as I could do nothing but watch as this man shoplifted my ninth place spot. I cursed a lot that day and afternoon, I'm not going to lie, I was mad as hell. But when I took a moment to reflect on the day, it was my best season opener finish EVER. So, I will have my revenge on the shoplifter, I will Lay down the law and I will have my chance. Race two is this Sunday the 25th and I plan to really show him what I am made off. Some other take aways, my son Kain had an excellent day and finished 9th in his class. It was 14 miles of some of the second most toughest course in the series and I was surely impressed. Till then, keep your eyes on the blogs as I will keep on reporting.

And then there were 3

It was Never my Intention to be come part of the large statistic of failed marriages and failed relationships and failed romances that seem to happen and happen in this great revolving sphere that we know as planet earth. But like the tide or the spin or the forces of nature, like destiny what was meant to happen, did happen and what can I do, but go with the flow. Lord Knows I tried to stop the flow and interrupt and fight the tide and fight the spin of the planet and the forces that happened between her and I, but in the end the romance we had, well the romance we had, Died. And Damn did I curse and try to place blame, and you know who I blamed, hell I blamed her. Cause, each individual whether we are wrong or we are right are the center of their own universe and I have never met a person who was guilty. But the one who wins is the one who writes the history, the one who tells the story the one who paints with a broad brush is the one who scored the most points and its the one in this case that has all the treasures and all the prizes which are my two suns. Like the center of my milky, these kids are my way, they light up my day, they give me insight into ME. They help me understand the limits of being a human or a man, or a part of the great scheme an element of everything between life and death and all in between. My pride and my joy, these two boys are all mine. And when people ask I tell them all the time, yes I am married, Married to my two sons. Although I currently have no wife, Man I got crazy style and lots of game, and yes I meet ladies, yes ladies all the time, but no credit to these ladies, cause I have not met one yet that couldnt handle being number three in my life, cause you know these two boys are number one and you know number two is me. But just like the spin, just like the flow, just like the tide, there is no use to fight the power of destiny. And some day soon, maybe I will then write about how I finally found a lady that could light up my life. And although I fought and each day is a struggle, my life is truly charmed and each day I walk the steps of a man that is truly humble. And what started as four was blessed by destiny, and know its just me, them two that makes three.

Just getting started....

Hey every body.