Life is like riding a bicycle - in order to keep your balance, you must keep moving. ~Albert Einstein

just finished the 1st race at tulsa, and it went ok, rashaan got 3rd but didnt really get any help from me which sucked.
i start last row, and finally made it to the front about 3/4’s of the way in, was up there until about 9 to go then just got carved up and shuffled around in the washing machine getting smacked from every angle, it kinda sucked. worked so hard to get there and just wasnt aggressive enough when it actually counted.
i was nervous as before i started, the circuit had 9 corners a lap and was tight, and i was really doubting my form coming from working 40-50 hours a week and training in the cold to racing all the guys here who have been stepping on it since the start of the season. i was actually feeling ok until i just started getting hammered in the turns, the race started at 9.30 at night as well so was pitch black in some places, and i think it was just one of those occasions where when you doubt your form, the gaps in front of you seem smaller and the guys next to you seem alot closer, but now i know i can run with them full gas, so tomorrow will be a different story, i just gotta get more grumpy haha
tomorrows circuit is a bit better for me as well, the roads are wider and corners are nicer so should be able to get in and out of them alot quicker which always helps!
right off to have a beer and shut it down

todays one of those days that just drags on and on,
we dont start till 9.30 tonight, so we’ve already been up and about for a 2 hour ride since none of us rode yesterday as our bikes didnt turn up till 2am this morning, now it might be time for another sleep i think, get up, eat, muck around again and head to the race.
nice day outside at least, was a mint two hour ride thats for sure, shorts and top, makes a big difference from full thermals back home a week ago

this thing is massive. its still hasnt got anything on my battle truck though, as my truck is turbo, and has 300,000km on the clock, and no sat nav, so its lighter, and therefore way better

well ive just stepped off the plane and into the local training crit here in LA, el dorado i think its called, and i feel like ive been hit by a ton of bricks. its only an hour long and i managed to somehow make the break (even though i swore at the start i would take it easy on myself and just sit in as my legs were shit) and it was all on from there, the break had 8 of us in it and the other 7 were determined to show who had the biggest balls, from tony cruz to a couple of masters hammers, we rocked round the circuit for half and hour at about 53kph and i was on struggle street the whole way, finally when everyone started attacking at about 4 laps to go i finally called it a day and went back to what was left of the bunch.
 
it just confirmed to me im always real bad straight off a plane, either travelling to aussie or over here to LA with the track team, the first day i ride after i fly i always suck, i get dumped out of the easiest efforts at the track even. im not sure why but i dont travel well. but hopefully things will continue as they normally do and ill be right by friday. i fly out to Oklahoma on thursday with the boys and start 3 massive money crits over the weekend, the overall winner gets $15,000US, so i just gotta hope my legs come right and ill be able to drop rashaan off in the right spot and he can go from there.
theres only 3 of us heading over, caleb manion is going as well so will be a nice little squad, but we will have to play off the bigger teams with more riders and hope it all plays out.
normally i think if i was fully race fit i would be able to hook into the whole race, but im going to have to play it smart and make one or two quality moves instead of going in guns blazing and running out of bullets haha.

the benchmark race on saturday marked the end of the series, and we just didnt quite have enough to win it overall, mind you though dan barry rode out of his skin to protect the lead and deservedly so, hats off to him. pretty major talent considering he has one year left in U23.