Cascade...

Sorry for the lack of posts, I didn't have much internet for my trip in Oregon and did most of my updates through Twitter on my phone.

Cascade, as I mentioned, was super fast and a great experience. I didn't have any expectations aside from finishing every stage and saving as much as I could for nationals the following week.

That was all working fine until stage four. We started with a 15 miles climb out of Bend, and then it was flat until another climb up to the finish. I dropped my chain about halfway up the climb when I was shifting to my little ring. It was a bad one too, one of those where you actually have to get off your bike to put it back on. Well, I got it back on, got a push from the Shimano guy, made it back to the group, and was in serious oxygen debt. I knew it was a matter of time before I popped off the back.
I got into a little group of 4 or 5 with 4k to the summit and we tried to limit our losses. A couple guys turned around in front of us, and there were more guys behind. We crested the summit and worked together to the feed zone, where my dad told me I was 15 minutes off the back already. So I figured I would get off and save it for nationals. I was wrecked!
- I know for sure that at least one of those guys that, were in the little chase group with me, made the time cut by less than a minute. Guess I should have kept riding.

I took a few days real easy in attempt to try and recover for nationals.