Pretty crazy I won the Worlds in Australia two weekends ago. I certainly didn't start the day out the fastest, I mean Stumpy, Herman, Long, Bradford, KY...all the dudes that should be pullin' were. This year it just worked out for me on that final lap. Very thankful for this title for sure. There were many other guys that deserved the title as well.
Getting home Monday from Australia I felt great. I was able to stay up all day and had a great nights sleep Monday night. Tuesday-Saturday I felt more sick than I ever have in my life. I'll spare the details but I thought I was on my death bed and Saturday morning after nearly passing out after my shower, I knew it was time for the hospital. I spent 6 hours in the emergency room getting blood tests, x-rays and a spinal tap to see if I had Meningitis or something as serious. All tests came back negative and the doc said that I most likely had SWINE FLU. Apparently, Adelaide has been a hot spot the last month for new Swine Flu outbreaks and I was one of many riders that actually came back ill. It's a trip because how many people can say they've had Swine Flu so far? Definitely kicks your butt for sure...
Now for a little more about the Australia trip...
Started off flying to Australia in United's new "lay flat" Business class and it rocked! 10 hours of solid sleep was nice. As you may remember, the past couple years I have been pretty superstitious about flying business to a race, so now I know it's not a curse to upgrade and I can do it more often (besides I don't know if I have enough trips to use all my United upgrades). During the week I stayed in the Hilton that Team USA stayed at for last year's Adelaide race and it was great being comfortable and knowing where everything was. The week was non-eventful as I just rested most of the time.
We had our first practice on Friday and I felt decent. Saturday was the big show. There were some 120 guys racing the Elite class, which meant if we made it to the final we would have to race 7 laps over the course of the 4 hour show. Motos started out pretty good with a third, second, second. I then proceeded to win the next four laps. I won my eighth, quarter, semi and main. It was very crazy as I haven't put that many good laps together in a row in many months. After the main it was a nice scene with the awards presentation/press conference and doping control and finally dinner with the UCI and USA Cycling. Heather Novickis from Octagon was in attendance and it's always great having her around as she has done so much for me.
After the race, I was also given the news that I had won the 2009 Overall UCI World Ranking title (pretty much encompasses all the big races of the past year). This is actually the third year in a row that I've won this title. A very big honor for me and I hope I can keep it.
Next up is the South Africa Supercross race in 10 days. Can anyone throw me an upgrade on South African Airways? That's 22 hours of flying time... :)
Special thank to BMXMania's Jerry Landrum, Belgium's Nico van Dartel and Octagon's Heather Novickis for the photos below.
Thanks!
