Last weekend I placed 4th at Canada Cup #3 in Hardwood Hills, ON. I am happy with my form and I felt great on race day. Unfortunately I was having some minor drivetrain problems which caused me to move at a slightly slower pace than I otherwise would have. It was a good day, could have been better, could have been worse.

A few days prior to the Canada Cup I met up with my teammate Evan McNeely at the EMD Serono Headquarters. We were attending a conference for the MS Bike tour which we are both taking part in. It was a great experience and we heard from speakers on all sides of the disease; researchers, marketers, patients, doctors, fundraising participants and then some. It's cool to be so involved with such great sponsors. They are going above and beyond here to help raise funds for research. On the topic of great sponsors, Specialized is unreal. I feel very lucky to be on such a professionally run team and I'm excited to be able to offer feedback that is taken into consideration right away. I feel very involved and that means a lot.

I returned from out east with the swine flu or something of that sort. Last week, which I had big plans for in terms of volume, was a complete write-off. I had to take a rain-check on Squamish Toonie #5 as I was barely able to cook 16 litres of chili.. but I did. And it's awesome! Knowing I wasn't able to race Toonie #5, I had to call in Corsa Cycles's secret weapon... Ricky federau made the trek from Chilliwack to be sure Team Corsa remained undefeated on home turf... so far, still the case as Ricky slayed Toonie #5.

I was on my bike thursday for an easy day as well as attending the Corsa Cycles Friday night world Championships where I won both primes, the KOM, and the final sprint. Groovy. It has been said that I am a sandbagger.

Saturday I was still not feeling 100% recovered from the swine's flu but I had a good day riding easy trails and bumped into some rock climbing pals while on the trails. I rode with them for a bit and then back home for some chili.

Sunday was the Junkyard Dog XC in Surrey (BC Cup #1). I managed a win with a narrow lead over the rocky duo of Greg Day and Colin Kerr; both of whom are riding really well.

Next up is the Test of Metal and Mt. St-Anne World Cup.

Keep the rubber side down.

-Neal