Yikes!! It has been way too long since my last update.  After Windham, I flew straight to the National Champs in SunValley, ID where I raced the XC (cross country), STXC (short track) and SD (super downhill). I did pretty good in all three, despite a few minor mechanicals. The cross country was the first of the three events. The race was four laps of the hardest yet easiest course I've ever raced. The race started out great. I had the second call up so I was on the front row with my main competition. The start went straight into a 20% climb for 10min, Ouch! I was in third for the first lap, then I got passed by Cypress and I rode in 4th for two laps. On the last lap, I was really suffering and got passed again and finished fifth.  Two days later I raced the Super D and got a flat two minutes from the finish and tied for sixth. Later that day I had the Short Track, a 20 minute all out sprint! The race was extremely fast with tons of passing and getting passed. In the end I finished 6th.

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      After all the racing was done my family and I packed up the motor home and headed to Washington to visit my cousins for a few days, that was super fun. Then, we all loaded up and headed to Montana for the Missoula Pro XCT. The race was super awesome, the course was on an old steep ski resort and had lots of twisty climbing and technical descents. One part of the course had a monster drop that was really scary looking but once you hit it, it wasn't so bad. I had a solid race for second there but I had a ton of fun! After the race I had to say good bye to my South African friend Brendon Davids, he had to go home after spending two months here in the US racing and training.

Brendon!

Stay tuned for more soon!! ....lots more :-)

Casey

Windham World Cup

         After a long summer of training and racing, I only have a hand full of races left in the 2011 race season. Last weekend I raced my 2nd World Cup  in Windham, NewYork. The race was held at Windham Mtn. Ski Resort. The course was straight up, straight down with lots of SHARP rocks and slippery roots. My race started out great, my legs felt light and powerful! I rode the first lap and a half with some of the fastest Jr's in the world, then one of those SHARP rocks ripped a big whole in the side of my tire. I had to stop and fill it with co2 two miles from the pit. That air lasted maybe half a lap, then my tire went flat again. No! After filling it again and again, I finally had to stop and get a 26" wheel put on my 29er bike. Yep, the Shimano tech was out of 29er wheels! After all that I managed to finish 11th out of 23, about 5 minutes back from the winner. I wasn't discouraged from the flats in this race because it  happens to all of us we just have to keep giving out best all the time.  I am happy to see that my training is paying off.

    After the race, my Mom, Alexis Ryan, Brendon Davids, Caitlin DeWet,  Rachel Campbell , and I spent the entire day Sunday in New York City! That city is amazing. There are crazy amounts of people. We rented bikes and rode around Central Park, that was the best part of the day. The World Trade Center, and ground zero were amazing to see. The new memorial is going to be even better.
 
           Now I am off to Sun Valley, Idaho for the National Championships!  My race is on Friday, the 15th mid day., Can't wait to see everyone again.

What a summer!

      Wow! It has been one crazy summer so far!!! It all started out with some pretty tragic events that went down two days after the Sea Otter Classic.  Cameron got hit by a car and broke his femur the day after my mom got her shoulder surgery.  Not the best way to start out the summer, but I stayed on track. Training rides were lonely and I was super paranoid while riding on the road. I was really happy when I found someone to ride with. Of course I had Evan to ride with me, but it seemed like every chance he got, he was at another friends house somewhere far away.

     After what seemed like the longest month of my life, it was finally time to pack the bags and head to Germany for two weeks to race for USA Cycling at the Offenburg World-Cup and a Swiss Cup in Switzerland. This was my first time ever leaving the US, so I was pretty nervous. I had never even raced a World Cup before so this was all very exciting.  The farm we were staying at was really calm and peaceful or at least until we showed up. There were six guys and six girls from all over the US. The guys stayed at the farm and the girls were across the way at a hotel, but we all spent most of the time at the farm playing foose ball, ping pong, jumping on the trampoline, working on bikes, and just chillin.

   The races were really short, fast, punchy climbs with gnarly down hills and a lot of other Jr's! The first race was the World Cup where I started in the back of 125 Jr's. The whole race, I battled between 80 and 90th place worrying about not getting lapped or pulled.  The second race,  was in Switzerland and was a bit smaller.  60 Jr's started, with me at the back again.  This time, I was able to make my way up to 32nd place by the end. What I love about this style of racing is that you have to fight for every position.  I am very glad I traveled to Germany now I know what to expect for next year.

     As soon as I got home from Germany I met Brendon Davids from South Africa, who was here training and racing  in the US for two months. Brendon spent two weeks with me in Big Bear and man, we had a blast. While he was here, I showed him what the Big Bear Life is all about. We also spent most of the time on my trampoline messing around, learning new tricks and how to face plant the ground really hard! Brendon took some gnarly spills on a couple of rides but he bounced back pretty quick. After the two weeks was up we were off to Wisconsin for the Subaru Cup Pro XCT.

   Now I get four days of rejuvenation before my Mom and I leave for another World Cup in Windham New York.  After that, we fly straight to Nationals in Sun Valley Idaho.  Well that's it for now, more on my upcoming trip soon!

Wisconsin

         This last weekend I was in Wisconsin racing the Subaru-Cup pro XCT presented by WORS. The race was really sick! World Cup style course with a good amount of technical climbs and descents.  There were screaming spectators and drunkin vuvuzela blowers lining the gnarly sections of the course for the Cat 1 Mens race! Twice the amount showed for the pro men race later that day. There was a DJ on the the first big climb blasting Dubstep the whole weekend! All the top American and Canadian Pro's were there to fight it out for some UCI points.

       My race went well,  I got a good start and sat 5th wheel for the first half of the climb.  Brendon Davids, my buddy from South Africa took off like a crazy man, so I pushed hard and moved up into 2nd place to catch his wheel. I was able to hang for another half of a lap, then he attacked on one of the harder climbs and got a 30 second gap going into the down hill. He kept opening the gap to 1 minute until the last lap where I went ape and made up around 35 seconds in the end to finish 2nd place by 25 seconds.
 
      After the race, Brendon and I hooked up with a super cool kid Named Riley Kopesky and stayed with him for three days at his home near Milwaukee.  I flew back home to Big Bear to get my last couple days of training before Windham World-Cup and Nationals in Sun Valley, Idaho.
        

First Post!

          Hey guy's this is my first of many blog posts to come!  I will start by asking you to tell all of your friends about this new blog of mine, but only if you want to.

 More to come!!

Casey