I had an amazing trip and I recommend to all of you who keep saying “next year” I’ll do it. I drove out to Portland for the USGP and was fortunate to stay in host housing for the race weekend. I got to stay with a nice young couple. It makes a huge difference staying at a house then a hotel. I had some decent races in Portland and was able to see some of the OR mud that we all hear about. USGP races are really cool and very put on very well. What was cool about going to Portland was seeing some or the Oregon Crossniacs that I have never met. They helped me with the host housing and also worked the pits for me. It is amazing the brethren you have in cross.

Peggy flew in on Tuesday night and we made the trip to Bend for Nationals. The weather was cold and the course was full-on icy and technical. This does not suit my riding style at all. I don’t mind the technical stuff, but icy is nerve-racking and dangerous…but I need some power section to put my fitness to the test. There were no power sections so you basically held on for dear life on the icy sections and could never really go all that hard. It was a little disappointing. I had high hopes on doing well in the B race on Thursday because I assumed they were going to do call-ups based on registration. I stayed up all night the night that reg opened and was one of the 1st 10 to register. But, when I showed up for the race they decided to pull #’s randomly 15 mins before the start and I ended up around 150th in the starting grid out of 160+ guys. This pretty much ensures you are doomed from the start. The gun went off and you are helpless as you wait for the line to move. Then you get on the course and have to pass a ton of people as they are all going down in the icy conditions. I felt really strong, but just couldn’t move up. I did pass 120+ guys and ended 24th. I must have fallen 5-6 times on the ice and with 1 lap to go I went down really hard on the pavement and banged up my hip, neck and hand. I saw stars and thought for sure something was broken, but I got up and rode away.

After the last fall I got a little gun-shy from the ice and that really affected the rest of my weekend racing.

Friday I lined up for the single speed race and got the lucky call-up for 2nd row. Sweet…I didn’t fall during the race, so I wasn’t taking the chances that it took to do well. The hip was aching and I couldn’t imagine going down on it…being cautious ended me up in 41t place.

Saturday came for the 40-44 National Championship race. I lined up 91st so was a little doomed from the start but gave it all I could the first few laps and was able to move up…but went down a couple times and landed on the hip twice, which was insanely painful…other then that it was uneventful and I ended up 61st.

Right after the race Peggy and I jumped into the car and drove straight-through back to MN. We were excited to get back to Skylar and our dogs. The drive back was pretty brutal and we went through snowstorm after snowstorm…but arrived back in MN safe and sound at 6:00 and we got to have dinner with Skylar and my mom, who has been taking care of Sky while we were gone. Skylar was super stoked to see us.

Peggy and I really liked Bend, OR. It’s a mix of a ski town and an outdoor town and the housing was really affordable. I have always loved CO, but OR has changed my mind a little and I could really see us living in OR.

The trip was totally worth it and I’m super stoked that I went and it was great to have Peggy on the latter end of the trip.

Having lived in MN, CO, and NC I’ve got cyclocross friends all over. So going to Nationals allows me to see all of them in one place. Your get to hear people cheering you on all over the course and Dave Towle was the announcer for Nationals so I got some good call-outs lap after lap.

Wah