NEVER give up!

This past weekend I had a break off from collegiate MTB so I headed over to Fort Collins Friday afternoon for two cross races. Saturday was at Xilinx, and Sunday was in Fort Collins. I was looking forward to get my cross fix in for the week.


I arrived to Saturdays course pretty early because I had some friends racing in the fours and threes. So i got to see the course and the lines people took before I raced. My race started very good, very fast. I was fifth going into the first corner and feeling really good. It was a long course so I knew that we would not be doing a lot of laps so I had to stay up front. Then on lap two my chain feel off during a barrier section. That cost me some time and a lot of places. I started getting into a good rhythm after that, but once i got rolling my chain feel off again, and lost some more time and more places. Just had some bad luck. Ended up 27th, not very happy with my result so I was ready for Sundays race to redeem myself.


Sunday was another long day. got there early once again to cheer on some of my friends. The course looked very fast and very bumpy. So our race started fast once again. I tried not blowing myself up too bad in the start so I was about mid pack into the first corner. Then a couple of more turns my chain fell off again.



I got passed by the whole field and lost some time. The next time through the pit I changed bikes. I didn't want my chain to fall off again so that's why I changed bikes. Then one of my friends said he fixed the chain guard and my bike was ready to go.So the next time through the pit I changed back to my normal bike. Loosing a lot of time from changing bikes and fixing my chain I had a lot of chasing to do to get back to the front. Then again my chain feel off. I fixed it but decided not to change bikes and hope for the best that the chain would not fall off again. I was so far back at this time that I was mentally not there for a few laps. Then I got rolling again once I started picking off people. On the last lap I caught 3rd-6th place and gave it my all to pass all of them. It was a slug fest until the finish. I kept passing 3rd place then someone would pass me. Then on the last barriers before the finished i surged into 3rd place and sprinted as hard as i could. I ended up 3rd on the day, not bad at all considering what happened. I gave it my all and threw up once i crossed the finish line. Now that's going all out. That is my best result so far in the pro field and I am hoping to improve on that. The moral of the story is never give up until the finish line.





I am in school for a couple more days then i am off to collegiate MTB nationals in North Carolina. Then once that is over I will be sole focused on Cross and can't wait until the Boulder Cup.

Photos by Mat Peters

Summerhill 15th in opening World Cup

Photo © 2008 Bart Hazen

TEAM CLIF BAR's Danny Summerhill kicked off the World Cup season in Kalmthout, Belgium with a solid 15th place finish in the U23 race.

Wondering what Andrew has been up to?

Hey there,
I hope that everybody is off to a good cross season already. I have been sitting out of the racing scene recently due to commitments with running cross country at my school, but as that season is coming to a close I figured I’d write a little update on what I’ve been up to and my plans for cross.

Although I’ve most likely lost a lot of bike fitness and missed out on an opportunity to go to Europe w/ the national team this fall, deciding to run cross country turned out to be excellent. I got a great break from bike racing to refresh my mind and an outlet in which to enjoy my senior year at high school a bit more. Although the season has been mostly fun, 5K’s and track workouts never fail to surprise me with the incredible pain involved and the ability to mentally suffer. In a way I think I have worked on expanding my pain threshold to be a better bike racer, while not riding much at all. Funny isn’t it? After our state championships meet next Saturday up in Ft. Collins I will be back on the bike and gearing up towards getting in decent shape for cross by nationals.

My aim for this cross season is to keep it fun, and work to being competitive for nationals. If all goes well, I would love the opportunity to go over to Europe for the first time and do the Holiday cross camp in Belgium.

On a more community-servicy note, a club at our school has been working to raise money to help a project that works to better water purification in Sudan. It is truly amazing how we take clean water for granted, and yet so much of the world still lives with primitive water supplies. Some other running buddies and I have been work’n the good ole lemonade stand after school to bring in the dough. So far we have raised a decent amount of cash while supplying the D’Evelyn Jr./Sr. High community with a tasty beverage. Also my brother and I have started to collect some canned food around the neighborhood for an organization that donates to homeless/struggling families.

See you at the races…soon,
Andrew

Kappius 2nd at Xilinx

On Saturday, TEAM CLIF BAR's Brady Kappius showed his improving form with an impressive 2nd place ride in the Open Men's race, dueling with Matt Pacocha and Colby Pearce throughout the race before succumbing to a fierce Pearce road sprint at the end. Kappius heads to Louisville, KY this weekend to join teammate Troy Wells at the first stop of the Crank Brothers US Gran Prix of Cyclo-Cross Series.