Word Turd

I have been super duper busy...

within the past 2 months I have competed in 2 national championships.

1. Collegiate Track National Championships here in Indianapolis where my school, Marian University won the competition overall and we had a few individual wins as well. It was definitely a great experience for me and I learned a lot about track racing since I came to Marian. Big thanks to Coach Dean Peterson and my team for helping me throughout the way and my sponsor Don Walker/Don Walker Bikes.

2. Collegiate Mountain Bike Nationals in Lake Tahoe, Ca. What a wild trip... I didn't have the best start heading out there, getting very sick on the way to the airport questioning if I should even get on the airplane or not.. but I did...

Our small squad of 3 riders, Sierra, Alder, and myself, and coach came too, we headed out to CA on Wednesday looking for a top 20 by the end of the week and we pulled off 13th, we were pretty happy about that! Alder and Sierra both raced in the XC and Short track events. Alder having trouble with flats in his XC race but doing a lot better in the Short track event and Sierra pulling through with top 20's in both events! I did Short track, 4x, and Downhill. I not the best at endurance MTBing haha, and in 4x a girl and I were battling for 2nd to the first corner so I threw her a bow and she crashed and I went off the track and the 4th place ride got ahead of me in time before I could get going again and I didnt have enough time to catch her so I ended up 13th. Downhill was just a mess of a day for me but it was a lot of fun and my downhill bike is a lot of fun to ride. I love it out in Lake Tahoe, I swear I will live out there one day. It was nice to see old team mates and some friends that I havent seen in a while!!!

Coach and I

MTB TEAM 4 LYFE

... finally...

Holla

So it has been awhile since my last update....

I moved to Marian University in Indianapolis, Indiana almost a week ago. It has been so far so good. I finally got to see friends that I have not seen over the summer, or saw very rarely and I am glad we are all together and I have made some nice new friends as well. The early morning road rides and track practices in the afternoon have been going real well. The team is pretty big and has a lot of great riders and people to learn from and my coach is great as well.

My Don Walker Track and Road bikes have gotten a lot of compliments which is great, they are nice bikes!

In the beginning of August I went to Nashville for an NBL race... total waste of time besides the fact I got to see my team and other friends... The pro-spectacular was rained out on Saturday night so the NBL made Sunday a double points race... I did not make the main on Sunday so that counted as not making the main for both days... I was pretty upset and I was also upset with the NBL because they should run pros at the same time as Amateurs so if the weather gets bad at night, we dont have to deal with the double points race and the chance to miss out on both main events.

The next BMX race I had after that was in Connecticut... I flew out to Johnny P's house and had a great time there with crew we had. On Saturday I finished 4th in the main and on Sunday I finished 8th. I had a good weekend making both main events and making some cassssh!!!

I am glad I am at school now and riding all the time and meeting nice people that I will be spending a few years with (some of them will graduate before me obviously). I am glad I made the change to Marian and I know this will be best for me.

My oldest brother Shawn is getting married this Saturday the 28th of August, so I will be going home for that and to see my family and I am very excited for that.

The NBL Grand National Championship is in 2 weekends. It's go time!

Ohhh Yeaaah!

Ok, so I have been pretty busy since my last post...

I have some news...

I've been riding a lot on the road bike, nothing out of the usual. I finished 10th in both my road race and the crit. I was pretty bummed out because the pay cut was 8th. BUT I did get to use my new carbon Cane Creek wheels AND I got to see some friends at the race!

This is the start of my road race in Mt. Pleasant.

I've also been back on my BMX bike and I really cannot get enough it! Two weekends ago I had a race in Rockford, Illinois. I did not do so well at the race both days. I was extremely bummed out about my results. The Monday after the race I helped at a BMX camp in Warsaw, Indiana. I was an instructor and along with all the other instructors, we taught the campers skills on and off the track. It was a great time! I even got a little help myself from the guys which was awesome. The camp was Monday-Wednesday and we have great success.

I drove home Wednesday from Warsaw and had a day off, it was great. but turned back around on Thursday and went back to Warsaw to catch a ride with Jerry Landrum from BMXmania and Ramiro Marino from Argentina, heading to South Park, Pa for another national race. Since I helped at the camp and got a little help from the guys, my weekend went a lot better for me. I made the main event on Saturday but not on Sunday. But I keep telling myself, progress is progress and making the main one day is better than not making it the whole weekend. My teammates Scott McMahon and Johnny P. came and raced in South Park as well, Scott won the A- Pro class on Saturday... He didn't even know he made the main event so he ran up to the gate before it dropped and ended up winning!! Congrats! And Johnny P. killed it in his class as well!

From top to bottom, that is me in pro practice, the second picture is Scott winning his main, the third picture is Scott and I with his check (it was extremely HOT!) and the last picture is Pat from ESPN, Johnny P. and myself! sick!

It is ALWAYS great to see my friends in BMX and learn more everyday about racing and riding.

Next stop, Nashville, TN next weekend. I will be busting my butt to be in the main event both days there!

So... I have some news to share. I have decided to transfer schools. I will not be attending Lindsey Wilson College anymore, I will be attending Marian University in Indianapolis, In. in the fall. I will for sure miss my friends at LWC but they always have a spot at my place whenever they want. I am looking forward to my new experience!

YO!

Well.... My name is Allie and you probably know that if you're following this blog post. I really don't know what to say so I guess I'll tell you the story of my life.

I've lived in Michigan all of my life. I grew up playing a lot of sports, mostly hockey and racing BMX, but I've always do my best in sports that deal with bicycles. I guess there is just something about a bike that gets to me where its your own work and power that makes the bike go as fast as you make it and that makes me work as hard as I do today.

I've raced BMX for almost 13 years now. I ride for Standard Byke Company, Fly racing, Answer, Pokerstars.net, and Alienation. Spending a lot of my mothers and sponsors money traveling and racing around the United States has been worth every second of its own. I've won several national events and a National Championship but nothing compares to the friendships and memories made on and off the track.

This is me out front in Akron, Ohio.

Another note about BMX, a great friend of mine, Kyle Weisenberger who was a professional BMXer and everybody knew him and I knew since I was a young girl passed away December 1, 2009 due to a car accident... it was very hard for me to accept that he had passed away but Kyle had save a few peoples lives by donating his organs! So, DONATE YOUR ORGANS PEOPLE!!!! I love you and miss you Kyle, and the BMX world thinks of you often!

I attended high school at East Grand Rapids High School and played on the golf team. When I graduated in 2008 I decided that I wanted to be a Special Education teacher. My first year of college I went to Aquinas College. I played on the golf team and BMXed through college missing a lot of class, HAHA. Aquinas just wasn't for me, I needed a new place to go. So when I finished my first year of college in (09) I got a call to be on a mountain bike team at Lindsey Wilson College in Kentucky. I said, "heck yeah!" Riding a bike for college? Never thought of such a thing... I thought it was great idea! So summer went on, I went through my first Pro summer for BMX and made the National Championship main event and was very happy about that!

School started and I raced dual slalom/4x and downhill for my mountain biking discipline. I learned a lot every time I got on my mountain bike even though I thought it was pretty scary riding down sharp rocks. Our team was excellent, we killed our conference and went to nationals out in Lake Tahoe, BEAUTIFUL!!! I made it to the main event of the 4x race but ended up crashing and getting knocked out for a few seconds and started bleeding from my my head, my friends were laughing at me, I guess it was funny, haha. I was on the podium for my team and for myself at nationals for my first year ever touching a mountain bike and I was happy about that, but I was unable to race the downhill race the next day due to the crash in my 4x race.

This is me racing 4x at nationals in Lake Tahoe.

Lake Tahoe...

I got up from crashing, I don't remember a thing...

Good Stuff. That ended the great experience for me.

Also, I tried racing track/velodrome. It was AWESOME! I'm hooked on it. In the fall I did a clinic and a race so I could race in the nationals race PA with my team from LWC it was a crazy experience since we didn't have enough bikes, shoes, or pedals. Everything was thrown together and we used Don Walker bikes.

Obviously I was unsure and did not want to mess anything up for the team and I definitely gave it my all even though I look a bit mental in this picture. sweet.Here is that one kids bike... yeah that kid... My team told me I wouldn't ask to ride his bike, they were wrong!

Here is the main part of this blog. When I arrived to LWC, I saw a bunch of dudes in spandex and I remember laughing and saying, "you'll never see my in spandex." Well, it only took a few months until I was in them and riding the road and track. People told me I needed to race road but I was unsure if I was able to do so and I did not have a bike. Through the winter I trained and got help from a few people but mostly from my two great friends, Alder Martz and Danny Estevez, who I owe a lot to for teaching me almost everything I know about riding and racing, they really took me under their wing. I'm very lucky to have them as friends and people who I can rely on if I have any questions about biking. I love you guys! But I don't ever want to leave out those who have also helped me and you all know who you are and I am SO thankful for you guys as well.

this is Alder!

And this is Danny!

SO, this was my first year ever on a road bike as well. I was borrowing my coaches wifes bike all season. I started out as a B rider but only stayed there for about 3 races but I wanted more challenges on the bikes so I moved up to an A for Collegiate racing... There were some pretty good girls in the A races and I definitely got the challenges I was looking for even though they were A LOT better than me. I believe if you ride with better people, you get better. no doubt. I placed top 10 in most of the races, especially in the Crit races. I love racing crits, they are fast and fun.

The team went to nationals with Filip Capala, Josh Nagode, Christopher Cruise Bogedin, Kip Spaude, Clayton Omer, Alder Martz and Danny Estevez for the mens squad and for the ladies it was Brooke Crum, Ashley James, Sarah Lukas and myself. Our team finished 10th out of 50th, I think coach said and 3rd overall in points.

We won free shoes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I miss you guys!

Now that it is summer time I have a sponsor, Don Walker bikes, for road and track. Thanks Don!