Tulsa Tough Day 2

The race was pretty hard and fast. I sorta' messed up and sprinted for a prime (a lousy pair of sunglasses—woohoo) with only 10 laps to go. Then, somehow Joseph took me from 45th to maybe 9th or 10th on ONE STRAIGHTAWAY! He delivered me to the bottom of the last turn, then I just sprinted as hard as I could for what felt like were days! OK, maybe not days, but that final sprint must've been at least 500 meters! So, thanks to a hell of a teammate, I ended up with 7th place for the today. I should still be in the running for the overall. Tomorrow is gonna' be tough—short, steep hill on the course. It will definitely be a test of strength and my ability to endure pain.

My boy!

Tulsa Tough Day 1

Colton and I went for a little spin on Friday morning along Riverside drive in Tulsa. This path is AWESOME! It's divided in half to accommodate bikes on one side and pedestrians on the other.



We raced the CAT I/II race at 8pm in the Blue Dome district of downtown Tulsa. With 6 jumbo-trons and the streets lined with cow-bell ringing fans, I managed to grab second place out of the 100-man field. It was a pretty fast race with a handful of crashes—one of which that took out my teammate, Joseph LaFico. He's a little scraped up, but ready to redeem himself in Stage 2 of Tulsa Tough.

Oklahoma is OK!

We stopped just outside of OKC on Thursday to go for a quick one-hour ride down an unexpectedly beautiful road through some rolling hills. The sun was setting and the temperature was floating in the mid-70s.

Joseph and I cruising into the sunset after our openers.

Colton and I heading East through some Oklahoma wheat fields

Brian Barnhart Photos from Keyko

I got a little dirty playing in the mud

The second berm of "Whammo" goes to vert

Tabletops are addictive. I want to do these like this until the day I die.

Thanks to Barnz for shooting these and letting me post 'em on my blog. He's working on a website and once it's up I'll post a link so you can check out his other work.

Birthday Trail-B-Que at Keyko

Barnhart loaded us up in his Aerostar and took us out to the Keyko trails on Long Island. I have no idea what Grady is telling Dwight in this photo, but it's probably pretty shady.



Superfly and crew spent the week prior getting the "Whammo" line running like a dream. Thanks to everyone for making all of this possible. DB, I can't thank you enough for finding a driver for my wheel. Thanks a ton, man. Oh, and YAY—I'm 30!



Hanson shredding Whammo



Whammo



The last set is a sweet step-up hip

Brooklyn Banks session

Birthday weekend in NYC

Waiting for the AirTrain after putting our bikes together in the JFK baggage claim

Empire on the A Train in the Empire state..?

Two amazing tacos for breakfast

Somehow, this yogurt and granola fueled Hanson until midnight.


Breakfast spot


China banks


Mono and an orchestra played at the New York Society of Ethical Culture.


Random panorama portraits