Since the last time I wrote my racing and training has gone into overdrive. After having spent three weeks in Colorado, Jackie and I flew out to LA for the Elite Track Nationals. Jackie´s Dad met us at the airport and was there to help us out for the week. It was nice to have him there – it took some of the stress off of us and allowed us to concentrate on the racing rather than worrying about cooking dinner, packing cars, and all the other little things that seem to endlessly pile up.

There were a lot of good riders at this year´s Nationals. Being an Olympic year, every road racer and track rider was out there competing with Olympic rings in their eyes. The points race was an exciting event with riders like Ben Jacques-Maynes, Dave McCook, and Bobby Lea gassing it at the front for the entire event. In addition to those guys, it was nice to see NYC represented by both Ken Harris and Cupcake. As for the points race, I ended up three points out of the medals. Things looked promising for a while when I was up the road with Curtis Gunn and Colby Pearce, but the rest of the field was not happy with that and we were slowly reeled in after ten laps or so. There were a few combines going on in the race, and since I wasn´t involved in any of those it was hard to try and fight several guys who were all working together. Regardless, though, Friedman lapped the field solo on his way to winning the event. Very impressive since the race average 50km/hr.

Obviously, the points race was frustrating but the madison was the event I had been thinking about all week. Jackie and I were ready to go and right out of the blocks the racing was on. A break of four teams formed almost immediately and, to a lot of people´s surprise, Slipstream had missed the move. So as we were flying around the track and on our way to lapping the field, I swing off the front of the group and collided with Rock Racing´s Austin Carroll who was coming over the top. I don´t remember much after that but Jackie was in the race solo for nine laps before I came to and was able to stumble back onto my bike and into the race. In the end we finished up in seventh place, which wasn´t atrocious, but we were really aiming for the top three. It was a very frustrating National Championships but from the events that I did compete in I know my form is good and I´ll be ready for the upcoming European events.

As for our European campaign, Jackie and I arrived in Ghent, Belgium yesterday. The flight over was miserable. My entire right forearm, hip, and calf are covered in road rash. After the fourteen hour trek from Los Angeles, my body was stiff and sore but an easy two hour road ride(as well as a good Belgian beer) helped to remedy that problem. Things here in Ghent have been really good so far. We are staying in an old farm house that has been converted into rider housing. While the house was converted for the riders, the property itself is still filled with the owner´s chickens and ducks. We also just received our official invitation today for the Ghent Six Day from Patrick Sercu. Ghent is one of the most prestigious events so it is really a great opportunity to compete in this event. In addition to that, we are invited to three additional one day track events that will help showcase our abilities to the other six day promoters. So now it is time to heal up, finish getting settled into life here in Belgium (where it is already cold and rainy), and start the next block of training in preparation for the races.

I´ve already started thinking about the roller races and can´t wait to get back to NYC to swill some beer and race my bike…in a bar! Hope everyone is doing well and talk to you all again soon.

David

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