catching up!!!!

sorry for never writing in here. im so lame. So here is a quick catch up on my life. I separated my shoulder the weekend before national champs in snowmass. i drifted a super fast corner and highsided myself and plow drove my shoulder into the ground. soooo, i missed national champs, which sucked. but I wtill went and supported the team and learned alot. I recovered in Twin Lakes, and 4 weeks to the day i raced the garbonzo 15 minute downhill in whistler BC. it was awesome. i spent 9 days in whistler racing and training with the team, and then flew to new jersey for jeep 48 straight slalom race. I got eliminated first round which bummed me out, but was happy to be there. After that i drove to north carolina with teammate chris herndon, and spent 3 days there till we went to snowshoe, west virginia. we raced there last weekend, herndon to 2 wins, i took 2 seconds to him. we made a littel money and swept the weekend in dual and downhill. It was way fun. we saw a country band play too...the best!!!! that's it! now im in NC again and fly out in a week for the world cup finals in Scladming, Austria. after that its to angel fire for a 12 hour downhill, then interbike. i'll try and write more!! sorry again!!

Homeland - back to the mothership

Duncan Riffle brough up a really good point right after the World Champs last week in Italy. He made the point that our whole lives people are telling us to go travel and get some diversity in our lives, see new people, new cultures, and new food. However, as we have all found out, all the food is the same no matter what European country we were in. Duncan said, "what about New York or LA? In any city in the states you can walk aroud the corner and have Italian, Indian, Chinese, Mexican, American, Indonesian, Japanese, ...anything you can think of. Why do we need to travel half way around the world to eat the same stuff everywhere we go??" We decided, as we already knew but was hitting home really hard because we were all so excited to come back to the Motherland, that the U.S. has the best food in the world...no need to go anywhere else!! So if your reading this and thinking about travelling..dont. NO I'm kidding, I strongly advise travelling, just be ready to miss the good home cookin of the U.S of A!

My time in Europe has been really awesome. I wouldn't rather be doing anything else. Seeing the world from behind the bars of my bike is the only thing I want to be doing with my life. It's amazing. I was just thinking during a ride my bike took me on today, how crazy the places are that my bike has taken me. Just last week it took me on a wild ride down a rooty mountain side in italy, and only a few days later had me cresting tree line climbing some gnarly road in the mountians in Colorado. Where would I be without my bike? I sure wouldn't be racing world cups, or riding remote ridge lines, or pushing new downhill tracks by my house. My own two feet are far too boring for that. My bike has some pretty cool adventures...I'm stkoked I get to be along for the ride all the time. Thanks bike....your the man!

I'm loving my time at home now for a few weeks before Team America gets going on some new trips around the world. I'm getting some much needed re-fueling time in Colorado. My African American Brother, Jonty Neethling is here. We are reliving last summer as we plan to hit as many firework shows as possible and ride flat out for the next two weeks. The motocross national is at Thunder Valley in Denver tomorrow night under the lights, which we are pumped on. Watching those gys rally always makes me think I can go alot faster on my DH bike.

We will be back on the road here soon, hitting the National Champs, then into Canada, and onto the remaining WC's. We may not be in the States, but we take Freedom wherever we go, Full tilt Red White and Blue!!!!!!

Later!
CB

US Open, Andorra, Ft. Bill, now in London on my way to World Champs in Italy

Yo yo yo!! Ok, big time slack off in the blog department. sorry. I'll try and be brief with the recaps from the last month of racing.

It has been pinned, all over the place, super fun, lots of competition, lots of riding on tons of different terrain.

First off, the U.S Open was rad. it was my first time at the race, and the experience could not have been better. the guys at Diablo Freeride Park are super cool and treated us so well. The DH track is technical and rocky, which I really liked. I qualified 16th and ended up 14th in the final, which I was pretty happy with. I think I was only 3 seconds off the top three, or top 5 I can't remember, but right in there, and my run was pretty good but could have been faster for sure. I hate excuses so that's now what it is, I'm just excited cause I know I'm on pace, I just need to put a good run together and I'll be right in there with the best of em.

Slalom was cool, really short. i qualied 7th, with teammates Cody Warren in 4th and Chris Herndon taking the number one spot in qualies. the race shaped out to be bad for me, I broke my chain out of the gate second run in the second round...so I was done for the night.

Straight from the US open Cody, Nate our mechanic, and myself flew over to Barcelona, where we got a car and drove up to Andorra for the second World Cup. The track is like nothing I have ever ridden...just a big rough mud rut the whole way down. I struggled pretty bad. sat. practice i felt pretty good, but my race sucked. I think it was my worst race run since I was a junior. No crashes, just slow slow slow. but I want to forget about it so moving on...

Ft. William, Scotland was the week after andorra, I flew up there and got to see the track early. they quickcreated alot of the track to try and smooth it out, but the weather didn't do what it has always done...rain. no rain meant to moisture for the quickcrete, and big holes developed everyhwere that made the track rougher i think.

My second practice run on thursday was probably the fastest one of the weekend. I felt like I started from where I left off at the World Champs there last year.

Dissapointment struck when I missed my start for the finals due to some miscommunication from the UCI officials. i'll leave it at that cause if i start going about how mad i was and how pissed I am at the UCI then this blog will be too long.

Now I am in the London Heathrow prison of an airport on an 8 hour layover to munich. We will get to Val Di Sole, Italy tomorrow morning and start the preparation for the World Championships. I'm stoked to be going again, this is my 3rd year in a row on the U.S. team, and I hope and plan to make it count!!!!!!!!!

Look for another update after worlds!! Later!!!!!

Maribor and Home and Driving!!!

Hello!! sorry I have not updated anything in so long. I tried to update after the race in Slovenia, but all the internet was in a diferent language so I couldn't.

Maribor went well given my circumstances. I get very very sick, and was having a hard time staying awake and coping with walking down the street much less racing a downhill world cup!! there were 320 pro men in the semi final, and i qualified 47th, which I was stoked with, because I was just happy to qualify in the top 80 period. 75 percent of the field that started qualifying went home, and only the top 80 guys raced in the finals in the afternoon. My final run was not so good, i had a few mess ups, and ended up 56th. not what I was look ing for at the opening race, but hey, i'll take it and hopefully get some at the next race.

I went home for a few days which was really nice. Dad come down and shuttled me and dave ziegmann on a dh track, which was so much fun. i wont get to ride at home much more this summer so that was a treat.

I then got picked up by our team manager and mechanic, Nate, and we drove the specialized factory racing rig out to new jersey for the us open. nate was in the truck or 5 days straight, and myself for three...and we are both over it ha ha!!! we are in Washington DC now doing some photo shooting, and then we will race in the U.S. Open this weekend. On monday we fly to Barcelona for a race in Andorra,and the next weekend we go up to Ft William, Scotland.

I hope all of you are doing well!!! sorry for not updating again! I will get another one in here as soon as I can after this weekend!!

Later

Pre World Cup Rd. 1 Maribor, Slovenia

Hello!

I have taken the last week or so since sea otter to prepare myself for the first world cup. This race has alot of weight to it due to the World Championship selection precess. The Worlds are early this year due to the olympics, so the selection comittee has just a few races to base the team off of, and maribor is the most weighted one. And its a world cup so it's just important in general.

My most generous father has been driving 4 hours round trip to come down to Colorado Springs to shuttle me on the DH track. The time on my new Specialized Demo 8 has bees so good. I am strating to feel at home on it, and am starting to be able to push the limits and throw down some fast times.

I have also been pushing myself really hard on the XC bike, dong some intense interval work. I feel confident and exscited to fly over the big blue and git-er-done!!! more updates and photos of maribor when i'm there or shortly when I return to the States on the 13th of may.

Sea Otter Classic in the record books

Well, the Sea Otter 2008 is over... has been for a while, I've just been travelling and recovering and too lazy to update my last week in cali. Sorry. The race was really fun, and really stressful, and really cold, and really hot all at the same time. Thursday was hot.. and muggy, and we had 3 hours of downhill practice. It was good, we got our new race clothing halfway through and by the end of practice we had racers and fans yelling AMERICA!!!! it was really neat to see how stoked everyone is on the team and the support of american racers. I crashed in a fast berm and got my only jersey dirty and for the rest of the weekend people were asking "did you crash"... nope i jusst decided to roll in the dirt and grass in my brand new beautiful kit... yes i crashed...Friday was more dh, and i was riding my medium travel dh bike. it was feeling retty good but on the hurt wrist it was getting a little rough. after friday downhill practice we would only see the track for a little while sunday morning before the race. saturday was the famous sea otter slalom. it was the windiest day i have seen there. people were wearing goggles in the pits because of the dust in the air!! needless to say it made the slalom interesting. It was like riding into a wall in some of the corners. I qualified bad becuase I screwed up i qualis, so i raced the number 5 qualifier Mike Haderer. I threw down a good run in the first run (in slalom you run both courses once) and was putting pressure on Mike and he ended up crashing, giving me the full 1.5 second advantage on the first run. second run i rode cautious and made sure i didn't crash, and I advanced. i was stoked for sure. next round was the legendary Kirt Vories. he was riding well all day and I was pupmed for a good round. first run he beat me by .8 of a second. second run I rode the best slalom run of my life and beat him by... .7 of a second.. so the overall went to Kirt and he advanced to the round of 8. I was bummed to be out, but to give him that good of a run and be that close was a geed feeling. Sunday morning I made a big decision to switch to my downhill bike. i had never ridden it in my life and in a couple hours would be racing it. Not smart in racing eyes, but i knew it was the way to go. on my fourth run on my bike, it was the race run, and i had mt best sea otter dh finish ever...24th place. not bad considering the circumstances. I was really impressed with my good friend matt fisher for his ride to a 21st place, and AAron Gwin, with his 10th place.
Thanks to all the guys on the team and Nate for all the hard work, and brandon sloan for housing us for so long!!! i'm home in colorado now training for Maribor. i leave on my 6th. i'll update while I'm there.. should be sick!! later!

Aptos XC with the Specialized gang

This morning Brandon, Buck, Chris, Curtis, a few other specialized boys, and my self went for an XC ride in Aptos. We parked right next to the post office dirt jumps, and headed up... and up, and up. It wasn't all that far I guess, but I was on my new SX bike, so the seat was low and the gear was pretty hard, so I was up out of the saddle climbing for alot of the climb. It was a stady climb for almost an hour. We got to the top and looked out over the pacific, got ready for the descent, and Brandon headed us out on a fast fire road. I was freezing... 93 degrees yesterday and freezing today.... but anyhow, we got off the fire road, onto a super tight traversing single track that was pretty hard to go fast on. that lasted about 5 minutes, and then the trail opened up into what I have now ranked as one of the best descents I have ever ridden. It was flowy and fast, intertweaving through tall redwodds and poison oak. I thnk it took near half an hour to get down, with just a few short sprints up some hills. Curtis was out front, then brandon, then myself, then Buck, and it was sick!! I have not had that much fun riding in a group in a really long time. all those guys know how to ride a bike, fast. My new bike finally felt right under me. by the end of the ride the bike felt like home...a good thing to feel like coming into sea otter. I'm so stoked to be able to ride with such a great group of guys. It is now deffinately on my to do list any time I am in Nor Cal from now on.. Definitely in my top 5 best rides ever!!!! thanks guys!!

Firestone Classic Dual Slalom

Umm, I hate to be negative about bike races, but yesterdays dual slalom was the slowest and most unorganized race I have ever attended. Granted it was the race organizers first go at it, it was still agonizingly slow. we waited two hours from the first round of elimination, to the second round.... and the field was only a few over 30 riders.....TOTAL!! from beginner junior to pro men there was a turnout of 30 people, and the race took all day... So frustrating.

However, the track was fun, and fast. I think it was around 20 seconds per lane. I qualified first, Chris Herndon crashed in qualis, and there was a huge class of 5 pros and semi pros!! I had a bye run, and in the next round when I finally got to race against someone, my chain snapped on a fast sprint before a quad, and I ate it.... pretty hard. It wouldn't had been a bad crash, but with my already sprained wrist I was trying so hard not to hurt it, but ended up hurting it anyway. It's not as bad as when I did it at first, but it's kinda sore again.... So frustrating. The first time I hurt it was cause of another person, and the second time I hurt it was cause of a bike issue.... just not having good luck this early season!! hopefully that's all done, out of the way before the real racing starts this week at sea otter.

Herndon also crashed out the second round, and Brandon Sloan who we are staying with also slid out in his first round... So our saying was, "we came, we saw, and we got conquered"... ha ha we showed up to a race with 30 people and left battered and bruised. But that's why we do these early races, to get all the cobwebs out and get into the swing of things. So all in all, it was fun. Lots of driving, I got my new bikes last night at nate's house, and sea otter here we come!!!!

GAMUT pump track session

Mr. Gamut Juan has built himself quite a nice pump track... and there was quite a crew out there this evening. Tyler McCaul and some of his Aptos friends showed up along with a mojority of the Specialized staff.... Not really, but alot of faces were there and some shredding got on. Steve Wentz was trying rediculously technical lines as usual and pulled most of them off first try.. Pretty impressive. Chris Herndon was right on his tail, and even though we were at a pump track Chris managed to slap and get some blood showing... good to see nice work there Herndoggy. It's fun to see so many people stoked about riding their bikes around an 8 second track. The mosquitos started swarming as the sun went down and it was back to Sloans' house to watch dvd's of the TV show "Lost". I thought that show was retarted yesterday, and now we are all hooked.... not good!! for all of you who have watched it, I'm going to marry Kate.

Off to Santa Barbara tomorrow for the Firestone Classic. I'm not going to be racing but Herndon and Some of the Specialized chicks will be, so I'm going for moral support, and to be the photographer ha ha!

In the photos we have Juan the pumptrack man himself, herndon after his slap, and the whole crew.

Dirt Jumping Yesterday

I could right about it, but i'm too lazy, so you should click on Chris Herndon's name in my links list, and there is a full description of our day.

Today I went XC riding... more intervals. I thought I may get eaten by a cougar or gored by a wild boar, but not to be. I made it out alive and tired. nobody went with me. Just old mate Leroy (my truck) and I. more Gamut pump track tonight!!! Pictures later I promise for reals this time!!!

Santa Cruz XC Riding

Curtis Keene and Chris Herndon took me cross country riding in Santa Cruz today, and now I know why so many people rave about that place. It truly is amazing in there. Not only are all the trails totally entertaining, but the woods have a special feel.. pretty magical. The redwoods are so differnet from anything in colorado.

Curtis and chris were pinned on the downhills.. it was rad. I had to take it easy over the chattery stuff cause of the wrist, but i'm feeling better than ever on the bike thanks to my Coach at CTS, so thanks Colin!!! looks like we are going dirt umping in the am tomorrow and more xc in SC in the evening. hopefully i'll get some photos of us SIDEWAYS!!!

new-bee

Hello, I'm new at this whole blog thing, so this is my first post. to all of you who know me.. hi. To all of you who don't know me.....umm, hi too. So I guess the deal is that if you want to know what's going on in my life and racing, you can check here and it will give you some idea of what i'm doing, how racing is going, where I am, and some photos too.

I'm currently in California training for the first world cup round in Maribor, Slovenia. I sprained my wrist pretty badly in Fontana, so i'm nursing that trying to get it back up to strength. I spent the last week in Auburn with my good friend Ryan Condrashoff and the family he is living with, the Benedicts. Auburn is pretty rad, close to the mountains and still great riding all year long. I'll show some photos.

I'm now in Morgan Hill hanging with the Specialized boys and girls getting ready for Sea Otter in 8 days. If your going to sea otter stop by the Specialized pits and say hello and heckle Chris, Curtis, Cody and the rest of the guys for a while.