I just read that 1 in 8 U.S. women will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of her lifetime, thats around 12%!!! I have a family member thats a breast cancer survivor and chances are you reading this know someone who has or is battling breast cancer.  I feel honored to be included among some of the amazing female athletes that are participating in the MZ & Emmers Sports Bra Auction for Breast Cancer. Such a cool idea for an awesome cause. My good Pole Vault buddy Melinda Owen spearheaded a big group of athletes from the OTC in donating signed sports bras for this auction which will go live April 7. Take a look at the Facebook page created for the cause to see bras from Olympians, actions sports shredders, race car drivers and more up for auction. Highest bidder on my bra will get a fresh pair of kicks courtesy of Nike.

What a trip this has been, literally. Great opportunity and experience to be here at the PanAm games, I’m so grateful to USA cycling for giving me the opportunity. Today we walked away with three medals, congrats to my brothers Conner and Nic for going Gold and Silver in the mens final and I scored a Silver myself behind the reigning World Champ/style cat Mariana Pajon.

It was yet another battle the injury race for me, getting pretty tired of these… I tore the ligament in my right thumb in June racing Papendal and it has continued to plague me ever since. Prior to the Chula World cup it flared back up and unfortunately yesterday in practice it completely blew off my handlebars upon landing a jump–sending me OTB. It was painful enough that I was unsure if I would be able to even ride today, but after extensive conversations with the doc’s and PT’s both here and at home we decided to tape it up as tight as possible and give it a go. It wasn’t my prettiest race, but we managed and I’m stoked on the Silver. Mandatory 6wks immobilization now to let it heal, bummed on that because it means I will have to sit Grands out, but if I don’t take care of this now I risk surgery and that’s not something I want to entertain in an Olympic year.

As for Mexico? So psyched on Bmx. I was skeptical when I heard our event was sold out, especially after seeing how far out our venue was (including a 3mi venture on dirt roads) but we pulled up this morning at 730am and there was a lengthy line up of fans outside the gates waiting to get in. They were loud and excited which made the experience even more awesome for us. Many even stuck around for 2hrs while we completed doping control aftwards just to snap a pic or get an autograph. The track was a little different. Euro style big peaky jumps on narrow straights with a unique 6m steeper than SX ramp starting hill. I like technical tracks and the challenge made it fun until my thumb decided to muck things up. Props to the promoters for working hard to make the track something competitive.

The PanAm village itself is an experience– and part of the reason USAC sent us so we could get a taste of what the village will be like in London. I’ve never been in a place that has so many athletes at one time. Everyone walks around in their country kits and credentials are mandatory to get anywhere. Security is extra tight which makes us feel extra safe. The cafeteria is massive, and the food is as my favorite masseuse puts it “underwhelming” but they have done an amazing job feeding so many people at one time. Must be a project. Speaking of so many people… It makes the Internet very hit and miss so sorry for the lack of pics. I’ll upload some to FB when I get back to the states.

Best of luck to CV-OTC athletes still to compete, archery goes to gold medal rounds tomorrow, Field Hockey is working their way through games to an epic showdown with Argentina, and my kayak buddies are about to roll in to handle some water business. Good luck guys!

Rumor has it we are getting our Nacho Libre on tonight to watch a little Mexican wrestling. I am beyond excited.

Adios!

Words can’t describe how amazing it felt to finally land a WC victory and on home soil. Pic below says it all

Really special to have my husband there and my family and friends who made the trip out for support, meant a lot. Jill missioned down from Seattle and made the raddest sign. Mom and the fam back home cheering me on via freecaster. Melinda getting my crew together to celebrate at my favorite spot afterwards. It was an awesome day, still trying to swallow it all and have lots of people to thank for helping me get there. Too many to name everyone but gotta thank my coach James for believing in me, JRich for getting my head straight, the entire USA Cycling staff who worked their tails off this weekend, CV-OTC sports med team for stitching me back together- I’ve had a plethora of injuries since Copenhagen and they’ve worked overtime to get me back on the bike. My Sponsors: Intense, THE, SINZ, Oakley, Profile, FLY… all the others… and last but not least The Kids! I Ride for you!

Proud of my little buddy Brooke for snagging the silver. Men’s race was crazy, big old explosion in the first corner. Bummed to see Nic go down with them. Conner ran away with the win and my teammate zHermator snagged the Bronze.

Check BMXMania, BMXNews and my Bmx http://Facebook for pics and more. Its time to hit the beach!

Just got back to my dorm after participating in the Chula Vista 9/11 Tribute Walk with some of my fellow CV-OTC athletes. We went to represent the training center and show our support for those who have and continue to serve our country. I also brought along USADA who came knocking on my door for a sample of my urine right as we were leaving. Why do you always pick inconvenient times USADA? Why?

Anyway, I debated about whether or not I wanted to write something- not because 9/11 didn’t affect me- but because I feel like my words can’t possibly do it justice. I was not there, I did not lose someone on that day but I’m an American all the same and my life was impacted the second that first plane hit the north tower at 8:46am.

Stories have gone around the dinner table here at the OTC this week with “where were you ten years ago?” We all remember. How could we forget? I was 16yrs old, slamming some breakfast before school with the tv on in the background when the news alert flashed live to New York and caught my attention. I saw the image of the first tower burning, and the news commentators still in confusion on what happened as we watched the second plane come crashing in. I think I choked a bit on my cereal and called for my mom to come downstairs. We watched together in horror until I was an hour late for class and she made me get to school. I remember walking down the hallways at Lone Peak High seeing every tv in every classroom turned on as students sat in complete silence. It continued that way through the rest of the day with our principle urging teachers to get back to material but how could they? Rumors of 5 planes hijacked, 8 planes hijacked, the entire country under attack. We had no idea at the time what was going to happen. We were watching history as it happened, suddenly the War of 1812 seemed less important.

My story was weak compared to some of the other athletes, two of which were in New York traveling back from competition. They saw the smoke from the towers, landed in the frenzy of the airports shutting down had to find a way in the panic to make it home.

So after hearing all the stories this week in person, and on tv, the vibe at this morning’s tribute was pretty cool. Everyone decked out in USA gear with flags everywhere. My snowboard pal Tyler Jewell proudly wore a red bandanna for his buddy that died that day saving people (heartbreaking story you should watch on ESPN- click here). Seeing all the men in uniform who continue to serve and defend our country was a little emotional for me. My husband who is overseas right now joined the ARMY because of what happened on 9/11. He had always been fascinated by the military and helicopters, but the events of that day and the war that ensued were ultimately the deciding factor for him to join. As the color guard brought out the flags today I caught out of the corner of my eye one of our Paralympians Rob Brown (silent Rob) standing at attention in a salute. Rob lost his leg in a firefight in Iraq a few years ago and has since joined the ARMY’s World Class Athlete Program (WCAP) for track and field. Seeing him today standing at attention in his workout clothes really moved me, he’s a true patriot and we could use more guys like him in this world.

Just like everyone else I can’t believe its been 10 years. We will never forget! We have risen above. I’m proud to be an American and proud to be a military wife.

Sidenote: crazy to be reminded that 10yrs ago Brookie was only 8, sometimes I forget our age difference but she was out there repping BMX with me all the same trying to get the crowd pumped for the SX here in two weeks. It’s coming up fast, can’t wait!

After 4 days of being in London they finally let us into the Olympic venue today for official training on the track. The promoters are taking security pretty serious, it took an hour and a half to get from the hotel, through credentialing, bomb squad detection, and a small army of road blocks before we saw the track. Definitely got goosebumps when we pulled into the Olympic park, such a special experience being here, what it all means. The BMX venue is right in the middle of the park which is super cool, rumor is that we will be a premier event for the games. Most of the place is still under construction but the athlete village, velodrome, basketball arena, T&F stadium and swimming are all within view of the start ramp. I don’t have the patience right now to upload photos to this blog since I am stealing Internet from Coach Glynn and its super slow, but Facebook seems to work faster so i’ll throw some up on my ariellemartinbmx page.

The track looks pretty great, quite a bit different than I expected from Papendal. Us girls have a big bonsai (havent said that since the 90′s) into a tunnel with a massive stall wall step-up coming out. Pretty hell track-ish but im into it. Boys ‘A’ group practice went over pretty smooth, MDay riding like he owned the place, but about 5min into the B practice it started to rain and never really stopped so practice was officially cancelled for the rest of us and rescheduled for tomorrow. It will be a big day learning the track and going straight into time trials but I’m looking forward to it!

Over and out.