Jeep #3 and Interbike Wrap-Up
November 2nd, 2004

Jeep#3 >> Austin, TX
So I was going to give you the complete lowdown on the last Jeep race, but well it’s been about 3 weeks and it’s old news. Oh well here goes.

I finished up third, which put me into third place overall for the series. I was glad I worked my way back up from fifth after my gate incidents in Vermont. Out if the first round because I hit the gates with my handlebars and fell about 1 foot out of the start gate. Oh well. The finals were in Austin, Texas and the track was super flat. I was O.K, with that because I still had some fitness coming into the last race of the season. The first day of practice was good with Katrina and I being the only girls to clear the gap jump at the end.

Unfortunately it rained hard that night. So hard they cancelled the next day of practice and had to pretty much level the entire third straight away and get rid of the gap jump. On top of that on the day of finals it was so hot the ambulance came out because a few of the guys were getting dizzy. The race aired on CBS a couple Sundays ago at like 2pm after a huge football game and it was awesome. I mean even with all of the elements not cooperating and the course having to be flatted with nothing technical on it they still made it look good. I was stoked. Right now the Jeep King of The Mountain race is the only mountain biking on TV and they just re-signed for another two years. I am stoked to be apart of this series and am grateful for them being involved in the sport. Also I want to thank all of the co-sponsors of the series for wanting to get involved. Here are some links that you should check out.

www.jeepsports.com
www.sirius.com
www.fender.com
www.giantbicycles.com
www.infinitysystems.com
www.columbia.com
www.paulmitchell.com
www.playstation.com
www.mopar.com
www.bartoncreek.com.

Without these sponsors we wouldn’t have a series. Thank you all!

Interbike >> Las Vegas, NV
After the race in Texas we all pretty much flew straight to Vegas for the Interbike trade show. I flew in on the Monday before and ended up getting in seven hours after I was supposed to only to find out about five minutes after landing that I had to be in the lobby the next day for dirt demo at 5:30 am. Adam and I had to get there early for a photo shoot. Ahhh….I just wanted some sleep. We got up Tuesday morning and headed out to the dirt demo with Frank and Tom our kick ass mechanics. For whatever reason I was having a hell of a time that day. I woke up, but my equilibrium didn’t. Granted we were riding the new bikes for 05’, the Trance and the Reign and they were not exactly set up for us. I crashed going uphill in the first 15 minutes of the shoot. Then broke the brake lever and rode like a complete idiot. After the shoot on top of the mountain we decided to ride down. About ten minutes into it I wanted to lower my seat. I got off pushed the bike forward and leaned the bike on my leg. Yeah, STUPID idea!! I burned my leg pretty bad on my Hayes brake rotor, which will forever be a scar now. Way to go dumbass.

A few hours after that we had a Pearl Izumi fun ride and ended up riding with the Luna Chix. Yeah so I ate it again on that ride when Katerina tossed up a rock behind her and it believe it or not went in my glasses and I couldn’t see. So I jumped out of the ditch blind and crashed still clipped in. This was sooo not my day. I finally got back to the room battered and beat.

Adam and I cruised to the show the next day and did a bunch of walking around a couple autograph signings. I was going to go for a couple hours the next morning, but I ended up not simply because I just wanted to get home. I drove home Wednesday morning and that was the official end to the season. Gawd I thought it would never end. It was a great one, but seemed never ending.
Until next time….