MTB National Champs and Missula Pro XCT

Mountain Bike Nationals was finally here. My 7 months of training was about to be tested in 15 seconds. Go!!! The start of the race went great, I was third going into the 10min climb and was ready to rock. Slowly my legs were starting to, well... lets just say they were feeling like a word that rhymes with Sit. I have had starts like this before and knew I had to just keep fighting through it and it would go away. By about mid climb my legs started to come back and by this time I was in about tenth. From this point on I moved up to 8th before he single track and was only seconds away from the main group. Half way down my chain didn't just fall off, but rapped around my cranks turning it into a crazy Chinese puzzle. After solving the craziness i was back on the bike in 20th. From here I hauled butt on the flat and the next climb to get back to tenth. I was stoked, even though I was at a VO2 max getting back I still had a chance. I recovered on the down to pretty much full recover when on the one place on this very untechnical course you could flat, i did. I jumped off the bike and sprinted all the way to the pits. By this time I felt like I just raced a 24 hour solo race and had absolutely nothing left in the tank. My national goals were demolished, but in a weird was I was still happy. After being out of competition for 7weeks with my broken collarbone I was able to come back and still battle with the best. The following weekend was the Missula Pro XCT was it was killer. Easily the best US course we had all year. Unfortunately this race went just like my start at nationals, but luckily no flats and by the end of the race I found my legs and was able to hold on for fourth. The whole week leading up to the race was amazing. Hammer nutrition set us up at a house and transported us to the race and gave us an amazing experience. Plus I found a new love with the Hammer Fizz lemon lime. New race fuel, I think so!