Ups, Downs and All Arounds

The past three weeks have been some of the most fun, longest, and somehow fastest of my life. The racing season has officially started for me, and although my form isn't near what I would like, I am showing some improvement and I hope to really be rocking and rolling by crit season. For two weekends in a row, Dad (my soigneur) drove me down to Austin for some great racing. Wahlburg was my first road race in over three years and I was nervous. This race tends to always be epic, whether from strong winds or cold and rainy weather. It turned out to be epic yet again, with pretty strong crosswinds, and rain for the first part of the race. I wasn't able to do much, but hung in with the main field untill the last seven miles or so. Pacebend is known for perfect weather and a challenging course. We again had perfect weather, and in my opinion the fastest edition of the race I have ever done. I was spit out the back of the group after not being able to recover when following attacks off the front from the beginning. The team had a good weekend overall and snuck in a fourth place at Wahlburg, and second at Pacebend.

The following weekend is at one of my favorite venues (even though I have never done well at this race) Lago Vista. Just off of Lake Travis near Austin, the best scenery and riding can be found in this area. Two 80+ mile road races with several thousand feet of climbing a day would change a normal persons opinion however! Saturday went well for me. I was able to be near the front and follow some moves near the middle of the race, unfortunately when the race split I was at the back (for no reason at all) and missed out. I had great legs and I know I could have went with those attacks. Luckily my teammates where more attentive and we accomplished our goals for the day, just barely missing the podium. I finished comfortably at the back of the peleton choosing to save my legs for Sundays race. Sunday was a much more difficult race and only 25 guys finished. The wind picked up and there was no hiding. The magnet at the back of the field was holding me there and I got dropped pretty early on, and pulled out of the race about two hours in. Patrick McCarty (a pro riding with us for the start of the season) narrowly missed the win to British National Champ Christian House. He was not happy, but he gave it everything he had, the course was just not difficult enough for him.

This past weekend was a long overdue Lucas weekend. We crashed at my Wichita Falls parents house and had an absolute blast! He is so much fun, and such a good boy. He liked the little dogs and kept playing the sharing game with thier dog bones. He tries to say Kitty, Nooooooo, and Thank you. I melt everytime he comes to snuggle or hide in my legs. There is no mistaking who his Daddy is, and even after five weeks, we settled right in, and I became a big sucker! On Saturday, we met Mommy at Toys R Us and got him an easter present, we had fun with him, he kept pulling stuffed animals off the shelves and pointing at everything he liked. Sunday we went shoe shopping, and I let him wear the Pumas I couldn't afford ($35!) around untill I found some shoes for me. We each got a pair of shoes for the price of the Pumas. Click here if you want to see some new Lucas pics. Thanks for reading!