As if there were any doubts..Clean!

Police Brutality-Officer J Dangle from Reno 911 and co worker!
Working on the Biomechanical Leg: It jumped 20" and landed!
Clean as a whistle!

I got my USADA letter the other day with the results from Gloucester. Negative! Bart Gillespie is going to get a suspension for not showing up at the Drug Testing at this event. It is lame because no one grabbed him at the finish of the race to tell him he had the random. The other lame thing is he actuall asked the USADA person if he had been selected. They said no, so he took off, then they posted his number up on the board. It is a bunch of shit. I would have missed my test had someone not been there at the finish with a lasso to rope me over. Sager is currently battling with USADA for a suspension given to him for the same reason. He missed a test at a race he dropped out of. They say it is your responsibility which is legit I guess but it should be a combined effort by the USADA people and not just your responsibility. The even lamer thing is when you are on a suspension they will still show up at your house and test you. Half the guys that are suspended don't even want to race after all that bullshit. But USADA still wastes money to go and test guys that are retired. Seems a little counter productive. Just my thoughts. Sager, Jimi Mortenson, Cale Redpath, and Bart Gillespie have all taut me a valuable lessons. Don't count on USADA having thier shit together!

My Turkey Day was great! I have been on break for the last week and today is my last day before going back to the books daily. I have been working on the Biomechanical Leg project with Rick Wetherald. It has to jump and land. Can't weigh over 5 lbs-6lbs and has to land in a 12" corridor. It is crazy how difficult is to make a leg.

I put the Shriver Cross race on yesterday at the college. Overend took it! I am on a little break becasue I have been sick as a dog. I am over it now though. Caught a nasty cold after the Seattle races. None of the guns showed up to race, just to watch.

The weather here in Durango has been unreal. 50 degrees and pure sunshine. It is November and the mountian biking is the best that it has been all year. I only wish I had a mtb bike to get out there and giver on the trails.

So that is pretty much it for me. I am getting excited about next year already. Jittery Joe's stuff will be on the way soon. If you see a guy out there in Orange and Black, that is me. Tour de Georgia is going to be my biggest goal of the season I think and hopefully I can keep it all rolling from there. I am looking foreword to racing the road again already. Thanks for stopping in!

Knapp Time- USGP 5 & 6

Wow! Lame on the updates, the site was down. How are all the race fans supposed to know what the Hero, me, is up to! Well I will tell you. After paying $90, (cha-ching) to get the site back up and running people better start hitting this thing more. Sorry for the lack of photos, I have been to lazy this week to haul the 8 pound digital camera I have that is only like 3 mega pixels around.

I am in Seattle right now racing the USGP's of cross. Luckily Kona riders are everywhere and I am staying with the Knapp's. Dale and Ann Knapp live right on the Puget Sound in Des Moines, Washington. The water is so close that I could toss a quarter in it. It is pretty awesome. Dale killed it in his race and was sprinting for the win, it was Knapp time all day!

Anyway, Last weekend was the Colorado State Championships in Durango at FLC. I helped organize and put on the race with Dave Hagen. It was a ton of work to get the ball rolling and everything organized. The course was awesome, the racer turnout not so awesome. The fans were great though and we had a huge turnout because the soccre team was having a tournament and all the Hooligans came over to the beer tent to continue punishing their livers while we punished or entire bodies on the course.

I ended up staying away from the Wells brothers because Todd decided to do a crank-grind on the concrete stairs run up in the ampatheater of the course. Note to self-"Don't smash $500 cranks on the edge of concrete stairs" end note to self. I stayed away mad some sweet moola with uncle rico and had a good time at the party at Steamworks. I was to cracked to head out to the Dawg and dance the night away. Todd's wife meg was buying Tequila Shot's that was my cue to get on outta there ASAP. I'll do one! I'll do one turned into a couple.

I just got back from the 5th round of the USGP Cross races here in Seattle/Tacoma. Thank god it wasn't raining. I am already cracked, rain will just crack me some more. I don't know what is going on with the UCI points this year. I have been doing pretty well and still I am in the 3rd row. Even Horner got called up before me, WHAT???? So Horner totally botched the start today and I ended up losing like 30 spots right from the get go and had to work my way back up through the field again. Made it up to a group of 10 on the 2nd lap that was the chase group. The run up today was 80 meters long and was the UCI limit. We did it 9 times and it was so steep and loose. The last lap I was chasing McCormack and trying to catch him on the run up. For the first time in my life I was going so hard that at the top of the run up I couldn't feel my arms and my vision was going. The walls were closing in on me. I couldn't catch McCormack. Adam Craig caught me again in the corners. That guy is so freaking fast in the turns. Luckily I saved some of the Shriver Surge for the end and Adam wasn't ready for it. I gave it to him for 9th. I don't think he even cared.

Tomorrow is the last round of the USGP of Cyclocrss series in Portland. It is supposed to rain so it should be nice and sloppy. Sweet for packing the bikes for the 6 am flight out in the morning. Wish me luck! As Dave Towle would say, "there is a 90% chance of rain and a 100% chance of pain".

USGP #4, South Boulder-8th

More Photos of day 3 at the USGP#3
The barriers hurt!

Coming through the pits!

Well I had another good ride yesterday and it was a surprise. I started 3rd row this time around for some reason. I lined up behind the Danish thinking he would have a great start since he is a National champion. Well the gun went off and his chain snapped right as he tried to go, that left me at a stand still and I had to hesitate and move around him. Immediately I lost some serious spots. I was running about top 25 on the first lap with 24 fast guys in front of me. I was sluggish to get going and wasn't feeling the duffer at all. I didn't really lose many spots, but I wasn't going anywhere fast. I was just trying to hang on with what I had. Halfway through the race I was shaking my head thinking it was a crap day. About this same time I started to pass guys. Soon I found myself in the top 15. Riders were going backwards and I was getting faster with each lap. At least I was maintaining my speed. I caught and passed Chris Horner, Ben Jaques Maynes, Troy Wells, Joey Thompson, John Baker, Doug Swanson, and Anthony Colby. The course was difficult and took its toll on the racers. The sandpit was were I was actually making time. I would ride the first half and jog the second half. It was about the same speed as riding it, just less energy. Instead of being totally gassed out of the sand I could get back on the bike and hit the gas out of the next corner. I would make big time in this section. On the last lap I was sitting in 10th, Baker and Swanson were still there. I hit it hard up the climb and gapped out Baker just a little. Then I hit it again on the flat section before the sand and again out of the sand pit. I was trying to get rid of those guys and going so hard that I almost caught the next two riders in one lap. Carl Decker (Giant) and Jeremy Powers (Jelly Bellly). I think the strategy of not starting to hard paid off. I just wish I could have had another 30 seconds, I may have been able to get up there with Powers and give it a go.

I have only 3 cross races yet. I am planning on skipping Nationals this year. I need to be ready for the road season. Although all this good racing makes me want to go to nationals. We will see how Portland and Tacoma go in a couple of weeks. Once again the offer is on the table to go to Europe and race with the US team in the cross world cups and then worlds. I wish I could go and I really want to do it someday, but it just doesn't work with the road scene. It would be fund to do Worlds this year because they are in the Netherlands which means they would be bigger and crazier than the Super Bowl.

This weekend I am helping put on the Colorado State Cyclocross Championships. We had the course all dialed in but have to move it now because there is going to be a Soccer tournament. I actually think it will help us make a new sweet course that has never been raced before. I have some good ideas, I just hope everyone else likes them. Lots of racing in the quad near the clocktower. Bring your A-game!

This weekend

USGP #3 Boulder Top 10

The log carry, this hurt!
The Cref boys hitting the barrier section!

Another epic day of cross racing in Boulder. The conditions were awesome considering I love the fair weather racing. It was about 55 degrees and cloudy, nice! The course was great and very challenging. The fans were awesome and it was a good change to race out in the west instead of the east. People were all over the course screaming for me. Thanks for all the support, it definitely made me force myself into the hurt locker a bit further.

Down to the race action. I started second row and it was a fast and sketchy start on the pavement and shot into a off camber technical dirt sidehill. I sat in about 15th for awhile and moved up throughout the race. All day I found myself with Erik Tonkin, the caveman, again! Andy Jaques Maines came out of the front group and was battling with Tonkin and myself. I think the highest I made it in the field was 8th and it hurt. Coming down to the end I hit it hard on a little climb. Tonkin came off and it was Jaques Maniac and myself. I was in the front though and new he would gun me in the sprint. I kept slowing down trying to get me to come around, but his is a grizzled veteran and knew to well what I was doing. I had to lead out the sprint and it wasn't much of one as he crushed me. I ened up 10th on the day! I am pretty happy with that.

Huge props out the the rest of the D-town crowd. Todd Wells needs to work on his sprint as he got pimped at the line by jeremy powers for 3rd. Anthony Colby had a slow start and came on stong and finished 15th. Troy Wells has been training his brains out but hung in there until the last lap and slid to 25th. The biggest new was the real Joey Thompson finishing 13th and starting in the 6th row. Moving through people like they were out on a Sunday ride sniffing the flowers.

It was a good day, time to rest up for tomorrow. Thanks to everyone for screaming for me. I better see you all out there again tomorrow. Until next time.

Boulder Again!

That last post was lame. The link didn't even work, hopefully some of you got to check it out.

I made it up to Boulder again and I am staying at the same place I crashed out in last weekend. Pipp's and Hartman's, and Bryan Smith's. I traveled up with Chad Cheeny in his van and it is always an experience with Cheeny. WE got a late start getting out of Durango because on the way out Chad was cruising alley's dumpster diving and looking for free stuff in people junk piles. You have to have an eye for it, but for Chad one man's junk is another man's treasure. We did find some cool junk. One thing may possibly be a trophy this next weekend at the Colorado State Championships. Be on the lookout!

We did hit up a random ride yesterday neer Gun Smoke and it turned out to be one of the best cross rides i have ever done on a cross bike. It was ripping and the views of the collegiate peaks were incredible.

I am gearing up for the USGP of cyclocross in Boulder. I think that I may have overdone it a little a few days ago and I am feeling sore. I went motor pacing on Thursday for only 35 min and then rode another hour or so. I am feeling a bit cracked. Hopefully I nice cup of coffee will get me rolling. I looked at the start list and there are 100 dudes in the field. Stacked too!

Should be a blast, stay tuned for a race update tonight!