June Diary:
Hello everybody. I have been traveling a lot this month. I had to go to Canada twice and to Pittsburgh. I collected a lot of air miles; I’m going to use them for a nice vacation to either Hawaii or Alaska when I have the time.
The first race was in Aidrie, close to Calgary. I was supposed to arrive around 2:00 p.m., but I got stuck in Denver for ten hours. My flight got canceled, and I had to get on a later flight. I had just bought a PSP a couple of days before, and it came to good use that day. I was able to get the last seats for Thomas Fernandez and myself on the last flight to Calgary that day. Thomas was on my original flight that day. I played so much on my PSP while we were waiting that my eyes were hurting. We arrived at midnight. John Purse picked me up from the airport. Purse and I were sharing the rental car and hotel room for the weekend. I couldn’t sleep in as long as I wanted because I had to be at the track before 9:30 am on Saturday to show my membership.
My eyes were open but my brain was still asleep. Practice went terribly. I was all over the place, and I almost crashed a couple of times. The track was good and a lot of fun to ride on when my brain was awake, ha ha. The moto’s were rough on me, but I was able to qualify for the main. I had an awesome gate in the main, and I was able to put in a good consistent lap for the first time for the day. I won with Lebel in second and Purse in third. Later that day, Purse and I went to Calgary for some food and to check it all out. We were still wearing our sunglasses at 9:00 p.m. The next day started the same as the day before, slow and all over the place. I was able to crank out one good lap for the main, and I was able to win on Sunday. I had a lot of fun at the track, but I was happy that I was going home so I could sleep in my own bed.
The next weekend I had to go to Pittsburgh. I needed some good scores to gain points because this was the last chance to get points before the final race in Louisville. I flew out on Thursday afternoon, and I arrived in Pittsburgh at midnight. I normally fly on Friday, but if I had done that, I would have missed practice. I could sleep in anyway, so getting in late wasn’t a big deal. They changed the track a little bit compared to last year. The track was good and really fast. Mike Day and I hit up the early practice so we could go back to the hotel early and chill for a bit.
The weekend was like a roller coaster ride for me. I had good and bad results. I won class on Sunday and that helped me to close the gap with the leaders for the NBL title. I didn’t do so well in the UCI races. I didn’t make it on Saturday, and I blew my gate in the main on Sunday. This was the last weekend before the NBL Grand’s. I’m 12 points behind the leader. It’s going to be tough to win the title, but there is still a good chance for me to win it. The flight back was nice and smooth for a change. I arrived on time in Orange County.
The weekend after Pittsburgh I went back to Canada for the last UCI North America Continental race. The race was held in Grabtree, close to Montreal. I went to this race last year, too. The track was good, and the atmosphere was great last year. Sean picked me up from the airport again. Last year, he drove me around for the whole weekend. It was good to see him again. John Purse arrived a couple of minutes later. We went straight to the track to check it out. The track looked good. Dylan the track operator was there, too. He took care of our lodging, food and all the other things we needed for the weekend. Thank you, Dylan, for taking care of John and me.
The weather was nice on Saturday and Sunday. It was a bit windy at some moments, but we all managed to stay on our bikes. I won both days, and John got a third on Saturday and a second on Sunday. The best part of the weekend was Saturday night. Dylan booked a wrestling team to perform on Saturday night. It was so much fun. The crowd got into it, and the wrestlers played it good. I almost lost my voice from yelling too much. John has never seen a wrestling match, but he knew a lot of the moves they were doing. At the end of the show, one of the locals jumped onto the field and climbed on the ropes in his underwear. The organizer didn’t like it too much, but the crowd went wild. The local had to run for his life because the staff was chasing him down the baseball field. He made $60 for doing it. On Sunday afternoon, Sean dropped me off at the airport; thanks for driving John and me around, Sean. I had a great time, and I will go back to Grabtree next year, for sure. I want to thank Dylan, Sean and his girlfriend for taking care of John and me.
I have one more thing. The Tuesday before Pittsburgh, I split ways with my bike sponsor, Staats. Staats wasn’t able support me for the ’06 season so we had to split. We had a good talk before we made the decision. I want to thank Staats for their support over the years, and I had a lot of fun riding for them.
I want to thank my sponsors: Maxxis, Troy Lee Designs, Oakley, Shimano, Sun Ringle, Ogio, Ciari, G3, and Sponsorhouse.com.