Ride at Southern Illinois this weekend!

For anyone interested I am hopefully going to make a drive to S. IL to put the 5" bike to a real workout. I have been itching to get out and have some fun riding time in S. IL but the weather has been real hot and the race schedule real demanding. Now that I have a free week from racing and I am making a drive back to Murray to celebrate my niece's 4th b-day...I thought what better weekend to ride over some logs and huck off some rocks!!! Wheeeeee!!!

This weekend is going to be great! I just received an e-mail from long-time friend and riding buddy, Dynamite David Timmons. He is hosting a cookout Friday night with his Pops preparing the infamous blackened catfish. I believe I will be heading straight to the Timmon's residence to partake in some good eats and fire-side discussions with the Murray State cycling crew.

Please post a comment if you are interested in a ride this weekend, whether road or mtn!

--Daniel

Back again after a solid weekend of racing at Chickasaw Trace Park. This weekend was the finals to the TN pts series that I have been battling to win all season after missing one race to attend a family reunion. I came into this weekend 1 pt behind fellow Wood-n-Wave teammate, Dustin Greer, after a dissappointing double flat and a 13 mile run at Lock 4.
The weekend began with a 4.7 mile dirt time trial. I was the 1st to get on course and laid down a solid 13:12. Too bad for me D-money Greer was a following me up with family members relaying split times. Advantage Greer by 2 seconds as the results were posted. I felt good about this 2nd place finish considering I was flat-sliding the 30 lbs Liquid through corners.
Sunday began at 12:30 with a 3-lap, 21 mile XC race. With the State Championship on the line, we didn't waste any time getting a gap. Dustin and I attacked each other time after time and came upon the realization that neither of us were going to let the other go. As we talked down to the finishing straight, we congratulated each other on an amazing season as we filed in side by side. The wait was on to see who was going to make the jump 1st. Dustin made the move and I followed. This was the most amazing race finish I had ever been in. We came across the orange line side-by-side. I wish there was a camera since both of us had to throw our bikes out towards the line in an effort to win. Yet again the decision was advantage Greer by an inch. Two seconds on the weekend and most would be upset to lose the championship....and I am, but I wouldn't want to lose to anyone else. I just wish I hadn't missed that one race or I would have been right there with the pts instead of fighting back all year.
Now with only the Bald Eagle Challenge left, the season is winding down. I ready to begin some cross training and head to Seven Springs with MSU cycling to work as team mechanic and support at Collegiate Nationals.
Standing in spandex typing at Fido's leaving for a ride, so I will check in later. Thanks for reading!
---Daniel

Hello and welcome all,
This is the inagural post that will be dedicated to following cycling in my life and what is happening in the area.
The most recent news I can discuss is actually some of the most important. This past weekend, I made the drive back home to Lake Barkley State Park to assist in promoting, what I like to call "my legacy", the Murray State Cycling club. Since I graduated many people have stepped up taking the lead of the team and it was great to see them host their 1st collegiate race that hosted schools from 7 states across the Midwest Collegiate Conference.
The weekend was filled with camping, catching up with some old college racing buddies (by the way that I can't believe haven't graduated yet), and some good ole racing. I must admit it killed me to stand at the top of the climb for 3 hrs giving feeds to all the MSU boys. Felt really great to see the masses of riders come from the woodwork from Murray, since there were very few riders when I got things rolling in 2003.
Luckily I was bullied into riding the Mens A shorttrack on Sunday by good ole Steve Wilson. He had single speed 29er that had to be torqued on for the day, and I figured who'd be better to give it a shot since I didn't have anything on the line. I must say that I've never felt like my knee caps were going to pop off before. Really frustrating trying to spin 130+ cadence on the flat sections just to turn a corner to climb a hill and have to wrench the bars back and forth like I was trying to tear them off. Definitely would do it again though.
To wrap it up for now, I want to thank everyone that was around at the MSU race this weekend for a fun weekend of racing, camping, and fire-side discussions.

--More to come later. Keep an eye open for an update on this weekends event, Chickasaw Mtn TT and XC. It's the finals of the TN series which I would like to win for the 3rd year in a row. I hope the Trek Liquid holds true to the awesome ride and helps me mow down the competition.

Daniel