welp no new news from the wildflower rush, cept that im not there. instead im back in junction working... kinda bummed since i've never ridden or raced there and the track was rumored to be super fun this year! oh well, i finally started hittin the gym trying to get my scrawny ass back into shape and ready for nationals less than a month away!!

Angel Fire 2009

Once again I made the trip south to Angel Fire for my first real pro race. Anyone who knows Angel Fire knows you don't leave with injury, mechanicals and all in all a feeling of getting worked; this year was no different. The course was the usual brutal rock gardens fast open fire roads super technical woods sections complete with sniper lines. I was feeling pretty strong in practice but knew i would have to step it up in qualifying, after qualifying 51st i was a little dissapointed because i knew i could've gone alot faster. So in my race run i decided as i was rolling out of the gate to hold nothing back. My run was going great nailed every line i had practiced and was hammering on the fire roads, until the tight s-berms into the wood section above the last fire road. I came into the first turn too hot and blew the corner and sampled some silt. I knew right away that was all she wrote for a good result but i grabbed the bike and pushed as hard as i could through the bottom 5th of the track finishing a very dissapointing 73rd, definately not how i wanted to make my professional debut. after finishing and catching my breath i realized my brake lever was broken off. i had ridden the rest of the way with out a rear brake and barely noticed it. this just added insult to injury knowing how fast i couldv'e been...

wow its been a long long long long LONG time since i've updated this thing, better get on it i spose!
anyways the 2009 season has started off really really slow. being broke really puts a damper on your first pro season. but at the first race of the season, Ranch Style Jump Jam dual slalom i put down a pretty good weekend of racing against some tough competition. after qualifying 12th in pro mens i had a crash in my first heat losing by the max differential of 4 sec. then in my second heat i won by 3.65. not enough to make up the difference to move on. but it was a sick weekend of racing and the slopestyle on sunday was siiiick!! there was huge tricks being thrown on huge jumps. Tyler McCual took the win with force, throwing a massive tailwhip over the 40 footer. All in all a good week end of good clean cycling fun ;)

DH FINALS

when i woke up the morning of race day i couldn't see the road from the balcony because the fog was so heavy. the race organizers decided to bag slalom practice in hopes to keep the ds track in somewhat good shape. so i had all morning to sit around the house and think about my DH race run and what tires to run. i had been running the maxxis minions in practice but the course had definitely evolved from slick to mud put. so at the last minute i made the executive decision and threw on the wet screams. that was a great decision! right out of the gate i felt more stable and was holding traction way better than the day before.

my race run was going great. i nailed everything that i thought was going to be a problem. the wall, the gardens and the mud luge. all of them went alot better than expected and i was pinned coming into the last tree section of the course. but while making a sharp left through a few rocks my front tire caught a rock or root or somthing. and WHAMMY!! i was on the floor, hard. i jumped up covered in mud and soaked and was immediately in catch up mode. i picked up the bike and started sprinting as hard as i could through the last 30 seconds of the course. i wasn't expecting much when i came across the finish, but lo and behold! i was in first by 5 seconds ahead of Mines rider Brandon Turman. but it was short lived as riders began coming in and eventually bumped me down to 9th. but i figure with an otb crash in my race run a top 10 finish isn't too bad!

heres results for the top 10 D2 mens DH

1. 3:49.47 Michael Thomas, Appalachian State
2. 4:00.65 Steve Trottier, Appalachian State
3. 4:06.02 Michael Carpenter, Wentworth Institute
4. 4:11.07 Peter Shulze, Mesa Stae College
5. 4:12:61 Kevin Green, Colby College
6. 4:13:09 Andrew Mueller, Appalachian State
7: 4:15:83 Brian Piper, Wentworth Institute
8. 4:16.54 Deider Barrick, Colorado School of Mines
9. 4:16.60 Marshall Roach, Mesa State College
10. 4:21.46 Brandon Turman, Colorado School of Mines

18. 5:06.71 Griffin Lewis, Mesa State College
DNS Quinn Maxwell, Mesa State College

update! finally xc and dh practice

well sorry i haven't updated the blog in awhile. unfortunately we didn't have internet at the house we were staying at. but now that i have 6 hours to kill in the charlotte airport i figure i can catch up on lost time.

the team rolled into banner elk north carolina thursday afternoon and got settled into our pretty kush digs. we woke up the next morning to almost an inch and a half of rain that turned the race into an absolute slop fest.

the endurence riders took the xc track at 8am and threw down in a pretty heavy downpour.
kevin mullervy, a roadie convert posted the best result for d2 men with a 23rd.
brent steinburg finished 30th while connor mullervy rolled into 38th.
unfortunately zach logan suffered a mechanical and wasn't able to finish.

the downhill track was amazing! even in the mud the course was super fun. the wet roots and rocks mixed with deep mud made for a hell of a good race! the whole way down we had smiles that only went away when a giant glob of mud found its way into our helmets. SUPER SICK!
the only problem was the cold. after three runs we couldn't feel our hands enough to brake or shift, or even hold onto the bars. thats when grif took his spill over the bars and we called it a day before anyone got hurt before the race runs the next day.

hooray airport security!!!

well the department of homeland security has done it again and the security level has raised to orange and my tolerance has been cut in half. we woke up at 3:30 am to to fly direct to north carolina. then the plane broke down. . . so, us airways booked us a flight FROM Dallas, TX to Charlotte NC. but they didn't book us a flight from denver to dallas. finally we managed to put together a system of flights sending people to chicago, dallas and finally hopefuly to north carolina.
now we're learning that they are trying to scrounge together a plane and a crew to get another direct flight to NC. but while booking seats, they decided to leave the entire mesa state team in denver! anyways, its turning out to be a long day in the airports of america. at the very least i will get to experience the cultural diversity of the world with out leaving gate C29.
until next time,
cheers!

its nationals time! woo woo!

Hey everyone! to keep everyone informed on whats going on a nationals im doing a blog. that way you can all keep up with whats going on out in north carolina!

we're driving to denver tonight where our flight leaves at 6am on thursday. then its off to north carolina to play in the mud for a few days.

rumors have been flying around that the DH track is as gnarly as ever with a few new additions. also the slalom track has been completely rebuilt at the lees mcrae campus.

the team is looking super strong all around. we have a full mens and womens cross country team as well as a full mens downhill team.

heres a quick rundown of who will be representing Mesa State!

mens cross country:

Kevin Mullervy
Conor Mullervy
Brent Steinburg
Zach Logan

womens cross country:

Maggie Cole
Naticia Slusher
Carrie Barber
Morgan Moore- injured

mens downhill:

Peter Shulze
Marshall Roach
Quinn Maxwell
Griffin Lewis

womens downhill:

Naticia Slusher


more to come soon!