FINALLY...

something to write about...this is going to be long cause it has been like forever since I wrote...said like a 14 year old gymnast. Can you believe someone named their kid Nastia? Seriously.

The past couple weeks have been a little on the strange side. I go through these periods where I just seem to lose my center. You know all that yin yang stuff. I don't know really how to describe it but I just feel off...I really didn't want to train, I didn't really want to work, My weight had gone back up for some unknown reason...well okay I ate a shit load of salt is my guess and thankfully it is back to 195.6...I was supposed to race the crits in OKC last Wed but my car was being worked on and the fuck sticks stripped a bolt so they didn't get it done PLUS they got it done like 3 hours late so I didn't drive to the race.

Last weekend we headed to Ark to race a sprint Tri. I was pretty stoked to race it then Sat afternoon the rains started. Toads were choking like a mother fucker. It poured. Shelley was NOT game to do the sick descents and started to worry. We wake at 4:30 to drive to the race site and you could not see a fucking thing. I hit one water hole and the water was damn near mid way up my door. Shelley had this look on her face like "screw this". I told her to say the words and we would head home. I just love her so much she said "you can race, I will wait in the car". The pretty much made my mind up...we headed back home and called it a vacation. We did eat at Doe's Eat Place...spend $90 on a steak it was awesome. The place is rated #2 in the country by the food network. Really good stuff.


This really bothered me not to start the race. I have never gone to a race and didn't race. Shelley asked if I thought we made a good choice but how would you know. If we would have raced and crashed we would know that we made a bad choice but know way to know if it was a good one. Called Holloway and she of course said GOI (Get over it) I do love the Queen B

We cruised home and did a short run on the trails after a long nap. That part was awesome as well as every minute we spent together.

I started to find some balance this week and found out that there is a weekly crit series in Tulsa. A friends team puts it on.

So last night I get my first crack at a crit in a years time. Man I was half pucker assed worried that even in the 4/5 race these dudes have been riding racing all year and I would get lapped right off the bat.

The course is at a police driving range...this weeks set up was 8/10ths of a mile long, 8 turns with two long straights. There are about 12-15 in the C race of course no one I knew. The race was 30 min +/-

So we get the go and immediately two chicks from Tulsa Muscle head to the front...okay well then, take off an do the work went through my mind. I was going to sit in and try to hold on as long as I could. I was afraid I would get popped so I just sat in about 5Th wheel. The pace was pretty quick from the start but I felt really comfortable and was not really taking any turns out front. There were 5 or 6 people taking pulls but I kept my nose out of the wind as much as possible. About mid way through we get a bell for a preem lap and some dude goes off the front and three or four chase. I decide to go with them as I am feeling pretty good. We close on the guy but he gets the Subway sandwich preem. Looking back there were 6 of us with a pretty good gap. We all pretty much start working to see if we could stay away. That worked well for 3 or 4 laps then we started to slow since 3 of the 6 didn't want to work.

We get the 5 laps to go and things picked up for real. The field had caught back on and I was taking pulls with 3 others for the most part everyone else was tailgating. I didn't want to be second wheel but with 2 to go me and the other guy were pretty much pulling the field. I figured he would go in the last set of turns and I was cornering better than he was so I thought I would catch him in the last turn with about 100 meters to go...I let one dude pull through so I could work him on the into the wind straight. That dude touches a pedal and bounces about 3 feet into the air...shit I am back in second wheel and that dude leading makes a big move and gets 20 meters on me. SHIT, I don't think I can bridge and now I am pulling the field...with 3 turns to go I figure I am screwed so I jump. Hit the last turn with 50 meters to go and FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!! a chick that was stuck to my wheel comes around and my leg are FUCKING GONE I thought I was going to shit my pants trying to hold her off but it wasn't to be.

All in all I had a blast and it feels like my head is back on right.

Ahhhhhhhhh me loves the crits