skip to main |
skip to sidebar
This past week was filled with great mountain bike rides on sunny, warm days. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were all over 65 degrees, and I took full advantage of the unseasonably warm weather to get in some good fat tire bike practice and finally expose my pale skin to the rays of the sun. But, in typical Colorado fashion, it dropped over 30 degrees and snowed 13 inches on Friday. So much for my trip to Moab with the roomates this weekend... At least I still have a Jay-Z concert on Monday and our trip to VA to look forward to.
Yesterday was our home collegiate crit. Crashes marred the first 4 collegiate categories leading up to the Men's A race, and since I broke my wrist in a crash at this same course last year, I was quite nervous before my race. Fortunately, the majority of people know how to handle their bikes in the Men's A races, so I made it through unscathed. Our team made up the majority of the field, and we controlled most of the race, sending off attack after attack. I did my part by chasing and blocking, but everything ended up getting pulled back so it came down to a sprint finish. We weren't able to organize a strong lead out and we ended up not getting the W. However, I was up there at the finish and came across the line 13th, better than I usually do in crits. That and the fact that I didn't go down in a heap of bikes and bodies made the day a success in my book. Lisa also had a successful race in the Women's B field, taking a solid 4th place. She narrowly avoided a crash that saw another girl break her jaw, so she too was fortunate to come out unscathed.
Today was spent taking it easy seeing as I have very little work due between now and spring break. It feels nice to know that I can just coast this next week until more racing next weekend in Fort Collins. The weather was crappy today, but it's supposed to get nice in the middle of the week so hopefully I can get some good hours in on the bike. Maybe the trails will even be dry enough to do a little fat tire riding...
So, it's been almost a year since I last wrote on here. A lot has happened since then, and I have neglected to keep updating. I'm just going to start fresh, and that begins with the fact that I am currently in the final semester of my college career. Wow. It's kind of intimidating, and I'm not sure if I am ready to go out into the real world. I still do not know what I am going to do post-graduation, which is the scary part. I really need to figure that out. Until then, I have Spring Break to look forward to! My girlfriend Lisa and I are going to be seeing a Jay-Z concert on the 22nd, and then flying back to VA the following day. I can't wait to go back home and give Lisa a little taste of my hometown, as well as see my little cousins (Jameson, Rylan, and Greycen). It's been too long...
Also, my last collegiate road season is officially underway. We had our first race this past weekend: a crit in downtown Denver. It went pretty well considering I haven't gotten to train very much. All I have been doing is a few weeks of base miles, so a 60 min. crit was definitely a shock to the system. I hung in with the lead group, though, and finished in the pack. I'm just glad I didn't get dropped. I hope to continue with some base miles and racing, and hopefully get into decent shape come nationals time. This weekend is our home crit at the Research Park... I'll have an update after that, and hopefully I'll continue this on a regular basis again.
I'm currently in the library, amped up on most likely unhealthy amounts of caffeine. I just thought I would convey the repulsive feeling I have towards studying right now. Summer cannot come soon enough...
This past weekend's race ended up being slightly different than we all expected. The road race course got changed due to snowy conditions in the mountains around Salt Lake City. Instead, the race was held on laps of the Miller Motorsports Park (a world class auto racing complex) outside of Salt Lake. We ended up doing 8 laps of a pancake-flat 7 mile loop, and I actually surprised myself with my performance. My legs actually felt like they had some jump in them, and I was able to take pulls at the front and respond to attacks with relative ease. We covered the 56 miles in just over 2 hours, so the race was quite fast. I ended up finishing somewhere around 20th, but not too far off the winning time. I finally feel like I'm getting some fitness back, which is encouraging. But the best news of the weekend was that our team won Conference Finals, which hasn't happened since I've been here at CU! We beat out two of the best teams in the country, CSU and Fort Lewis, which is just rad.
After a LONG drive home from Utah, it was time to face the last week of the semester. This past week I've been busy finishing up a big paper for a writing class, and getting ready for finals. I did manage to get one good ride in on Wednesday with Carter Jones. He had just gotten back from the Vuelta de Bisbee, and kicked my ass in a hill interval workout. I was sore the next day to say the least.
In other news, my roommate Chris just got back from spending 3 months in Africa. He did some AIDS education in Cape Town, and then worked with water treatment in Ghana. It sounds like it was an awesome experience for him. You can check out some of the cool stuff he got to do by reading his blog (click on the Trogdor blog to the right).
Well, that's about it for now. Finals start on Tuesday, end Thursday, and Road Nationals are next weekend! I'm unfortunately not going to be racing, but I will definitely be there cheering and gettin' rowdy. Hopefully we crush. I will leave you with one last thing... I found my new dream car:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaENG1vt6-Y
So it's off to Utah this weekend for Conference finals. The last few days here have been absolutely amazing, with temperatures in the mid 70s. I got a few good rides in, but the legs are still feeling a little sluggish. Hopefully they'll be prime for this weekend though. Weather is looking like 50s and rain for Salt Lake City... boo.
