Its a bit late for the first post of the 2009 season, but what can I say. You start training, start looking for sponsors (hoping to keep the old ones and bring in some new ones), start racing, keep working to pay for the racing, try not to neglect the family, the housework... It goes on and one. And so does life. And here we are, a couple months into the season and this is my first post. Life goes on.
I have to say I wasn't the best about keeping up with races last season either. It was off to a good start, but I think I relied too much on this blog to be a photo gallery, which just takes too much organizing, too much planning. You can't go back and create posts between posts, your newest posts just show up last. So, once you get behind, you have to go back and do all the old posts to catch up. You can't just do a new one and then expect to go back and fill in the blanks. Nope. And that's my excuse. A few races got away from me and here we are. I missed half of last season.
Overall, I have to say, 2008 was a great inaugural season for the Faction team. It was off to a great start working with Phil and getting our sponsors lined up. I was pretty proud of who we rounded up and the application I put together. We were a strong team of 7 riders with high hopes and aspirations. We all had plans of attending all the NMBS races in Cali, and even some in the Midwest. And Nationals in Vermont.
As it went, three of us made it to Vermont and had a great time. Keith and his dad James travelled with Khaner and I. We rented a car together and booked the same hotel together. James functioned as team photographer, and the rest of us raced.
The DH course was fun, rooty, wet in spots, challenging, fast, rocky, even scary at times. We all had great practice runs, and were feeling great when race day came. Khaner went first and ended up in first in 14 and under. James and I were at the bottom waiting for Keith and he never showed. We both got worried, especially James. I had to head up for my run in spite of the absence of Keith. After all was said and done, I ended up 4th in 35 - 39 Expert. Keith showed up later and had a broken ankle. He had went too fast through the top section and got thrown off course, over the bars and onto his feet where he rolled his ankle. He got him some crutches and got taped up for the ride home.
On the way home, we got stuck in DC overnight due to bad weather so we made the most of it. Keith and Khaner had wheelchair stunt contests in the airport and we all checked into the Hyatt at a discount rate for the night. The next morning, we headed back to the airport and back home to our jobs and families.
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