Nationals...Again?

I know I have been off the radar a bit in terms of the blog. Lots of traveling and a good deal of work has taken me away. Check out some of what I have been doing for other blogs though. Go to www.findingfreestyle.com and then go to their blog. I wrote a little article on Cam Dye's swimming as a kid. You might enjoy it.

Today I am sitting at DIA waiting for a flight to Madison, WI for Cyclocross Nationals. I am racing the 35-39 masters race and then the elite race on Sunday. I haven't raced since November so I am pretty excited to toe the line again. I think the break was pretty good for me though, mentally and physically. I got back to some base and LT training on the bike and back to the things that really matter in my life, coaching and my family. I always am a bit better off when they are my focus.

I realized something the other day though. This nationals will be the third different sport's national championships that I have competed in as an elite. Now, I need to start by saying I have been pack fodder for the most part, but it's pretty cool to think that since I moved to Boulder in 1999, I have gotten to the National Championship level three times, in three different sports.

In the summer of 2000 I started racing Xterras. It was the first time I had raced bikes let alone Mtn bikes or triathlon. I guess I did pretty well and I went to nationals and worlds as an amateur. It went suprisingly well and I turned pro at the end of the season thanks to the support of training partners like Neal and Jimmy and the Xterra race people themselves. In 2001 and 2002 I raced Xterra National Championships as a professional and turned in a couple top 20 efforts if I remember correctly. I truly feel that I was on track for an even better year in 2003, but I took a promotion to Aquatics Director at RallySport and racing took to the back burner.

Around 2005, Rob Putnam, the other coach at RallySport Aquatics, and I were back in the pool training and racing a bit. By the end of the 2005 season, he had qualified for nationals and I was swimming pretty well. When Cameron Dye and JD White came back from school and said they wanted to do one more Nationals, Rob and I joined them. In the spring of 2007 we all swam at Nationals in New York. Those three carried me there as I only swam relays, but we did all right. We were 16th in the free relay and 20th in the medley.

In the years following that I dabbled back in triathlon and with bike racing, but in the Fall of 2009 rediscovered a love for cross. I raced my first UCI Elite races last year and decided this year to give Nationals a go. My callup will be 79th out of 100 guys at this year's elite race and, if I have a good day, maybe I can hold that spot. At 38 though, I will take to nationals number 4 in my third sport. I may not have ever been amazing at any sport, but its nice to have been pretty good at a couple.

Quick thanks to all who helped get me here. My Plains to Peaks teammates, Scott Tietzel, Jesse Goodrich and Spencer Powlison, our sponsors, Carroll, Breeze Bars, Mix 1, BCSM and Specialized, my fellow local crossers, Allen, Pete, Dubba, et al, Apex and Neal Henderson, RallySport for supporting RACE and my life, my family and most importantly my wife Breeze.