Just another day in paradise..

The last three weeks at home have truly been the definition of living the dream. Fall is by far my favorite time of year because the race season over so things are a little more relaxed. It's nice to be riding with me buddies and exploring the high country that is covered in snow most the time I'm home. Lot's has been going on since I got back from Worlds. Jack hung out for a bit but returned home for Chequamagon and to see his family. I was hoping to head out there to race but it didn't work out so I raced the Palmer Park 50 instead. It happened to fall on my birthday and I took the W which was a nice present to myself. Kind of funny how we can call suffering for 4 hours a present...

Nice shot by Christian Murdock of the Colorado Springs Gazette

Brady and I went to Winter Park one day with the big bikes. That was too much fun!

I also did a cross race to keep the high end fitness going for Malaysia. It was fun, too bad there aren't time bonuses for wheel turns..

I've also been doing a lot of "get fit" rides at home. I don't feel like doing intervals right now, so instead I've just been going out and riding tempo/threshold for a couple hours. It's actually a lot of fun and not as mentally draining as structured intervals. It still hurts just as much if not more! If I feel strong in Malaysia maybe I'll incorporate that into the training next year. My favorite ride lately has been up Mt. Baldy and down various different ways. Right now it's pretty incredible with the Aspens changing and the amazing trail conditions. We got 6+ inches of rain about 2 weeks ago so they're in pretty prime shape still. I feel really fortunate to be living the life I'm living right now. With school out of the equation I am able to just get in a lot of good steady rides. You'd think I'd have a lot of free time now but somehow that's not the case. My days feel full and I'm never bored. Taking a year off school has been one of the best decisions I've made. This is a lifestyle I could get used to..

This weekend I'm racing 24 hour National Championships with Brady Kappius, Kalan Beisel and JJ Clark. It should be a good time out there. I leave to Malaysia for the 5 day stage race October 12th. Brady Kappius and I are traveling together. There's a lot of money on the line and I hope to bring some of that home. Afterwards, hopefully I can race Iceman then rest up a bit before training for 2012! I'll be in Tucson this winter getting fit with other U23's. I'm already super excited for 2012 and know it's going to be my best season yet. This will be the first season I've been able to focus 100% on being a bike racer!

Here's a bit of a photo dump from the last few weeks! A majority of them are shots of the Aspen trees, I'm a major fan!