I don't think I've done an update since the Olympics over a month ago. A lot has happened since then. I've finished the mountain bike season and signed for a new team for next year but one thing at a time.

I had my worst race of the year at the Olympics and can't really pinpoint a reason why. Every cyclist knows what it's like to have "bad legs". I had an extreme case of  "bad legs" at the games. I can point to few things I could have done different but nothing major.

The positive I can take away from it was the next weekend I had a career World Cup in Australia. I bagged my first World Cup podium with a 5^th place. It was a dream I have had since I started racing at the Elite level and didn't know if I would ever realize it. On top of that, next year we have our World Championships on the same course so hopefully I can improve on my result from this year.

From Australia I got to go home for ten days to Durango before getting on another plane to fly to Austria for World Cup finals. Now usually I have minimal trouble with jet lag. I usually can adjust to a time change in two to three days and be ready to race. Coming back to Durango I never managed to get a full night's sleep. I would sleep for twenty minutes, wake up and fall back asleep right before the sun came up. It was brutal and I was really worried about how I would fare at World Cup finals since I couldn't train well because I was tired from spending the night watching ESPN.

Turns out my World Cup Finals was one of my top three races of the year. I wound up eleventh but rode near the top five for a good part of the race. With super steep punchy climbs it wasn't my kind of course but I felt great until the last lap. The toughest races are the ones in the middle of Europe where all the top guys are there and didn't have to travel more then a few hours from their homes. I faded a little but wound up wrapping up my first top ten overall in the World Cup ever!

I got to go home for five days after that before heading off to the first cyclocross race of the year. My body finally said no more as I got the stomach bug the night of Star Crossed and couldn't even leave my hotel room. I managed to ride around the next day but that's about it. From there it was off to Vegas Cross and then to Mad Cross. That's five cross races in eight days. I'm finally now on a little break and my next race won't be until the USGP in Louisville. It sure is nice to live like a normal person for a week or two.

I wonder if my golf game is going to improve at all.....