World Cup #1- Telluride, CO

I just returned from Telluride, Colorado where the first world cup race of the season is held for the past few years. There is always a training camp a week prior to the event where a small course is provided to us to get everything dialed in before the big day finally comes. The training camp went well for me and it seemed that my riding was up to par and I got to practice some new techniques during the week.

When the real practice day came around I felt as though I was only riding mediocre, so I paid really close attention studying lines and things that I could improve on during video review the night before the time trial. I did a lot of visualizing and spent a lot of time stretching to make sure that my body was as good as it could when the day finally came. The weather on qualifying was nothing short of erratic and time certainly reflected it. There would be large spurts of heavy snow and uphill winds from time to time. I was lucky enough to have both of those in full effect during my first run. I felt as though the fun was good but I was sitting in 27th after the first run. The weather began to clear shortly after I went and the times started to speed up considerably. I had a great run and qualified in 10th place, this was my second best result in qualifying at a WC. Good way to start things off.

We were given a much appreciated rest day in between qualifying and heat racing. I took the time to go to the gym and get on the stationary bike to work some of the acid out of my legs from the day before. The board was waxed and we headed up the next morning. It's always a little weird racing in the first few heats of the year, ya have to kind of remember how everything works. It definitely showed in the first heat, I ended up crossing the line in third which was the last transfer spot to the next round when the 6-man format is being used. After that my head started to click back into it, and it showed in the second round where I crossed the line in first advancing to the semi-finals. In this round, I ended up having some trouble and was unable to advance to the big final and so I was in the small finals racing for 7-12 place. This was a great heat with two fellow Americans, Seth Wescott and Jon Cheever. I had some contact in both the top and the bottom of the course and would have to settle for 4th in the round and 10th overall. Seth and Cheev would 7th and 8th overall. It was a great day of racing and helped get some more WC starts over in Europe in a few weeks. Thanks to everyone who helps and supports me! :)