ETSU

race race race sleep race. yep sounds about like my weekend. tight. this weekend was the first race I've done since getting hooked up with the whole Brevard college thing, really the first race I've done since march. wow, i forgot how much fun racing can be. one thing i gotta get out there is a huge thank you go's out to thad walker for getting the ball rolling on me doing this college thing and really helping me out a bunch. the support compared to my usual race weekend was unbelievable. i mean hotels? good food? no drinky? shit, now I'm big time. that was amazing actually, i didn't have to worry about shit but getting on my bike and kicking a little ass. thanks guys.

i wasn't so stoked on the race order when i saw the flyer. with short track being at 9, dh at 12, and slalom at 4, i had my work cut out for me on sat. a lot of people these days specialize in one discipline, which is cool, but i got the attention span of a goldfish and like to switch it up . anyhoo we started out with A short track where you sprinted around a wet grass field for 25 minutes or until a lees mcdork guy passes you. the whole time i just thought about how much more fun this would be if the course had a little more than just 5 ft of single track. it did have a fun flat grass corner at the bottom of the dh section that you could flattrack the hell out of, so i got a little enjoyment out of it. other than that, i just talked shit to people around me and pedaled till i didn't have to anymore. i really think that event is plain shit, and will prob never break the top ten in it cause i just don't care and it doesn't take any skill other than gorilla power. lame as hell on all fronts.

second on my plate for the day was the DH. I'd been talking with some folks the night before about it, and the general thought was that i had a pretty good chance to get on the box, so i really wanted this one. i had some pretty sweet crashes in the practice, but was able to keep it together for the race runs. first run i played safe and consistent, but when i got to the bottom, i noticed my fork had just had a wet dream all over itself. bummer. i knew my time was well off the lead and that id have to pick it up on what was now pretty much a pogo stick strapped to my bike. i gave it pretty much all i had for the second run with the fork clanging through every rock garden and log pile and was able to pull off second place, off by a little bit. i flatted the front DH tire with a six inch fork at the end, but it was slow and didn't effect me, so that was good. i dunno if i could have made up the time with no mechanical issues, but that's racing i guess.

by the time slalom came around i was so damn tired i didn't really give a shit what happened. i just want ed to ride the dirt jumps with alex uh-ohman and get some grub in my belly. i got beat out of the gate and crashed trying to play catchup on a slick and rough course in the semis, and that was all she wrote for the slalom. I'm just glad i didn't crash on the super sketch final jump at the bottom of the course that people were getting annihilated on. that thing was scary.

Sunday rolls around, and my old ass can hardly roll out of bed. I'm beat up, cut up, sore as hell and pretty damn tired to boot. fortunately that seems to be the recipe for Dan Ennis to have a good race. the xc course was a fun as hell super twisty trail with shortish power climbs that sucked if you sat down, but weren't too bad if you just stood up and monkeyed up it. basically i loved that course, i wish it was closer so i could ride it more. the race started with a ridiculous sprint uphill to the single track, and i just sat in, figuring the rested up xc guys would be blowing me away all day. first singletrack section in and I'm feeling pretty darn good, so i start picking off riders and working my way up through the Field. before i know it I'm rolling up on Matt Wells wheel and I'm thinking damn I'm feeling pretty good. two minutes later and I'm up with St. Marie, the semi pro. i figure what the hell and lay down a little horsepower to keep catching carrots, figuring those two would be coming past me like a freight train in the later laps. i end up battling with two Wilson Stinky's and a Cumberland guy for a few laps, until the day before started to catch up with me on the last lap and i couldn't stay with them on the last lap. oh well, 9th for the day, and i stayed ahead of the Matt's. i don't think they'll be letting me do that again, just a hunch. ill take it though being that i don't do anything to train for xc racing and its not even really my focus. that was a nice end to the weekend though, and that course was awesome. much props to ETSU for a sweet weekend of racing.

my fingers hurt.

dano out.