School, Weddings, Work and Bikes!!!

I have been away for a bit and it has been NICE!!! I have been busy with school and work, but still had time to get out a few days and put some training in. The highlight of my week was a wedding I attended, which was a childhood friend getting married, and as her parents and my parents are best friends it was only right that I attended. I went with my best girl friend Nicky Smith and she is awesome, even though we made fun of the gay 5 year old all day, HAHA!!! Thanks again Nicky, U RULE!!! It was also awesome to see mom and dad, as they have become my best friends and I can talk to them about anything and we just sit there and laugh our asses off. So Saturday was Great!
Then Sunday I woke up to say goodbye to Nicky and go for a ride. At the beginning of September we had roughly 20 people/ teammates joining us on our rides. As it has gotten a bit nippy out the numbers have taken a hit severely and today it was just our top guns out together. Myself, Josh, Dave and Alvin all went for a nice ride and I realized I get a bit giddy when I get with those guys, I kinda get the urge to HAMMER!!! It is going to be a great collegiate season and I am starting full preparations now. I enjoyed the time off and will continue to do so, but I want those guys and myself to do something special as it is our last season as teammates for WMU. We are also going to start doing the TT work on some Sundays together, because if we all put the work in together I think we could put together some decent Team Time Trial performances. Life is pretty good, so I am going to go to bed and enjoy "the warmth". OUT!!!

Reality Check

So I got a HUGE reality check today. I will not be done with my teaching degree until Spring 2010 (best case sceneario). That means I will be 28 when I get my 2nd degree, and I damn near quit today just thinking about that. Then a great person made me realize if I really want this then now is the time. I thought I should talk to my mom and dad and see what they thought, but Jeff really helped me make up my mind. Thanks Jeff. That is why I love cycling and every little aspect about it. These teammates and guys you race against are not just "guys on bikes", some of them just happen to be the best damn guys in the world.
I would also like to thank Louie for helping me get the cross bike in riding order. How was it you may ask??? I will just say I have gained so much respect for those who race cyclocross and mountain bikes. Needless to say I will not EVER talk shit to anyone who rides a bike again. Now I am positive the more I get on it and practice the dismounts the easier it will get, but its not as easy as it looks. Although I did "eyeball" my seat height and took an allen wrench with me on my ride, but I felt at home as soon as I was clipped in and I have never had that before with any bike. So thats a huge plus.
Last to mention work.....um well haven't been doing much of that lately. I have been focused on school 100% and getting advised and just making sure I am happy. Oh and napping has definitely been a priority lately. Now I have to go get ready for a math exam tomorrow and then out for a ride with the tough guys from Kzoo. PEACE!!!!

Tigers/ Cards

Could this really happen??? At the beginning of the year I was joking with a few buddies. They ask who I have got this year, and jokingly I said well you can always count on the Tigers, and in the NL I really like the Cards. I am only 1 game away from being right. Saying this I know there are many of you shaking your heads, thinking to yourself "this no talent ass clown did not really say that." I jokingly said the Tigers, hoping that someday I would get to witness my favorite team from my first real passion in life do something great. Someone was listening because they are there and they really don't have stars on their team. Other than Pudge, it is a team of role players a la the Detroit Pistons. No one is "GREAT", but everyone does their part. Thats my schpeeel on the MLB playoffs.
Now on to even better things, I got advised today and realized the hardest part of my second degree is going to be the math classes. I just have to put in the time. My Education classes look to be pretty damn easy, but nothing is ever handed to you in life.
Finally I awaited my cross bike arrival all day long and at 5:20 I had to leave for class. So I made a call to my roommates girlfriend asking nicely if she would come to our place and sign for it if it came as my roommate was at work. Well there was a communication error and she ended up not coming over as she misunderstood me. Needless to say I got home from class only to realize that there is a missed delivery note on my door. Oh well, I guess I will just have to pick it up tomorrow myself. YES A NEW BIKE!!! OK enough of this newbies sad ass blog as one guest writer put it. The sad thing is I may be a newbie, but if you are reading this and take the time to comment it must be "worth it".

HUGE P.S. Kelly Wyckoff is 26 today and it damn near slipped my mind. Happy 26th Kelly and I hope to visit you soon.

Jackass 2

So I just got home from my second viewing of Jackass 2. Louie and Josh and I went to see it and it was not as good if you know whats coming. Ah well, it was good to get out and do something. On another note i have not riden a bike in the past 5 days and I have to say it fells amazing to actually rest. I need some time to just lay back and chill, so this was a much needed break. Tomorrow I begin my preparations for next year, and as things look now, we have a very solid team for the collegiate season. I know that Josh will always be ready, but now Dave, Alvin and myself have to step up and put some points on the board. I also recently was involved in an online scam which cost me $493.00. I was bidding on a cross bike on ebay and I lost the bid, then I receive a second chance offer from the "supposed" seller. He told me I could get the bike for $450.00 if I sent the money via Western Unoin. I didn't even think about it until the day after I had sent the money. I have had to contact the FBI and the state Police to try to sort out the matter, but they say my money is probably gone and never to be seen again. So what did I do..... I bought another cross bike the day after and it should be in my possession by Tuesday. Other than that things are tremendous. I haven't shaved my legs in about 2 weeks and any bike racer will tell you that it feels somewhat awkward. Nevertheless it is also nice. School is great as I have nothing worse than a BA right now in any class. OK, I don't really wanna blog due to the fact that I have let all my emotions on my sleeve in the past, but I am trying to keep some things in. Some people can't understand it, but I have had a g/f for the past few weeks, but I just choose to take it day by day and not get to excited by one person. But thing are good and I am not worried about someone else as I have been in the past. OUT!!!!

Little Bits of everything

You know how people tell you the worst qualities about you it makes you mad. Well today Josh and I went on a ride in the country. Usually I take offense to everything, but coming from him and what he told me about my riding and what I should do to improve my riding, I welcome it. He has told me so much this past year, but some times I was too hard headed to read into it. Today I heard everything for the first time. I look back and just wonder why the hell I didn't listen sooner. There are some things I need to do to improve and make some head way as a cyclist. Yeah its cool to be a local guy tearing up the MICHIGANSCENE as some terd is calling it nowadays, but there are bigger and better races to be at and compete in. I know I have things to work on and I am taking steps to do that.
Second, people who may tell you that you HAVE to take time off at the end of the season are crazy I think. If you love riding your bike or training, then hell train your brains out. True one can not train year round at the level needed to compete, but now my days are filled with class, ork and easy training rides, with a few races with cars mixed in. Today though was probably the best ride I have done in a VERY LONG time. There were litle bits of everything from closed off bridges to maneuver around, to chip and seal roads, to dirty roads, to perfectly brand new blacktop. Josh and I just headed southeast of Kalamazoo I believe and it was the first time since early February where I did not care where we were headed or how fast we were going. I really needed today to just clear my head and enjoy the great fall day that it was.
Lastly, I FINALLY received my last statement from my credit cards and the balance on ALL of them is NOW ZERO. It has been a hard year trying to juggle school, work and racing while the whole time worrying about being $12,000 in debt. It took 9 months to get out of it and a little help from mom and dad paying my rent for a few months, but hopefully I can pay them back in short order. I will just tell people this, if you have credit cards and expect they will never catch up with you, THEY WILL. I learned thsi lesson sooner rather than later and I am a better person for climbing and clawing my way out of debt. I have written enough for one day and you are all sick of me, so I am off to watch the TIGERS WIN against the Skankees, I mean Yankees. JETER WHO?????

What a team is made of!!!

Here is part of a race report from the Tour of Leelanau. This is what we do in race situations when the team leader gets a flat. This is an unspoken rule in cycling and for once I did something correct. Can't wait to do it all again next year. The race is now a UCI event, which means not just the best in the state anymore, but the best in the nation and even domestic pros from all around the world. Here is what Jeff had to say about the middle of the race.

The race was all and more that all of us thought it would be. Hard Hard, Hills,
Hills, Long, Long!

Personally I had more misfortune in one race then I have ever had, but I am
thankful that I had teammates who believed in me and supported me along the way. After I
flatted around mile mark 50, John Rigdon came on the radio to tell guys I had flatted.
Jason Brake, Jason Rafeild and Jeremy all dropped back to motor pace me back. Jeremy
went as far as to offer me his wheel. What team support!

If I had to do it again, I would easily do the same for any teammate that I thought would have a better chance to WIN a race. Thats what we are there for is to WIN period. If I can be any help to anyone who can WIN on my team, then I have done my job. Most outsiders look at cycling as man against man, but the truth is Lance Armstrong would not have won 7 straight Tours without the one team he was on. That is why this is not an individual sport. OVER and OUT!!!

THE ZONE!!!

Okay so today was one of those days you all read about. I went out riding and everything was effortless. I mean effortless to the point where I felt like I had no chain, soon enough that would ring true.
To start my day I had my first math test, and I scorched that mother. 95% and the one I got wrong was a error of not transfering a negative sign. So I was on top of the world and ready to go out for a ride, but ever since Leelanau I have not felt good at all. Just sluggish in everything, attacks, bridging gaps, and general acceleration issues. Well today was a whole other story. I figure I will hit out early and get in a nice 2 hour spin. Less than 25 minutes in and my body is all systems go. I mean everything from tunnel vision to not even feeling the effort to roll at 26 MPH( no wind to speak of). So I am getting this crushing ride in when all of a sudden I take a corner full speed and come out of it, stand up and put slight pressure on the pedals and BOOM. I immediately feel no resistance, so I figure I dropped my chain. I look down and my chain had just exploded and one link was shaped like a T. So I wait for an hour for a ride home and take a nap and after the nap I go to the bike shop. I had the chain for 15 days and it failed, so Josh called Shimano and they said they would warranty it. So I get home after buying a few goodies at the shop and decide to ride to class and leave my bike at work and hoof it the rest of the way. I get 1/4 of a mile and I feel the chain is not feeling normal so I shift to see if it is the gear I am in. All of a sudden it happens again, but this time I stopped in time to just mangle the chain, a few links being completely twisted. So now I am even more furious cuz I have to walk a mile and a half to class. Regardless there is something wrong with my derailleur or my cassette, or something in my drivetrain. So now I can't do the Wednesday night ride unless I use my TT bike. Maybe this is the lords way of telling me to take some time off after a long season. Just goes to show u a GREAT day can all go bad in the blink of and eye, or the shift of a gear. Hopefully this gets fixed before the ride tomorrow. Peace!!!

BTR Criterium and Birthday Recap

So the road season in Michigan has now ended, but the last race was much harder than I had anticipated. The day started with Graham Howard attacking and me being the only one wanting to go with his move. Graham is so strong and it took a lot to get up to him. The race actually had only 15 riders, but there were no slouches in the race. So attacks and counter attackes were continuous. Three Priority guys got away with Greg Christian and we were the ones obligated to chase, I damn near dropped myself by trying to get Jeff back to the breakaway, but we reeled it in. Soon enough Jeff was away and I was in the position of having to just sit on, but Greg was a MONSTER at this race. He damn near single handedly pulled back the break with Jeff, Tucker, Graham and Ben. All I can say to Greg is kudos for riding like a bull. Nevertheless, I talked with Vince and told him I was gonna attack and to counter it if I got brought back. My attack lasted 3/4 of a lap and then right on cue Vince tried his move. I have no problem sacrificing my results for guys like Jeff and Vince, thats what a team player is. Well the sprint came and it seemed like no one wanted t hit out, then all of a sudden Dave Boboltz made the smartest move I have ever seen him make and he jumped HARD. It didnt work, but great job Dave. As I am not a sprinter I ended up 10th and Vince got 8th. Jeff rode like the man we all expect from him and ended up 4th after having to counter every move in the break. Nice job guys, its a true pleasure to race with these two riders and friends.
After the race I left after chatting with everyone from the 1/2 field. The turn out was poor, but thanks to those who came and gave their all. I then went out to celebrate my 25th birthday with MOM. We went and got some goodies from Sam's club and my mom spoiled me rotten. I also got a new IPOD and it is AWESOME. Then we had some lunch and mom made her way home. I found out where I get all my best qualities...... from my loving parents. How did I get so lucky in life. The rest of the night was filled with drunken debauchery. It had been 9 months since I got crooked. All I have to say to those of u whom attended the festivities is thanks, I love you guys more than I can express. I did end up running nearly 6 miles home in Doc Martens, which was a task to say the least, but drunkeness and driving do not mix, so I made the right choice. My quads are killing me from my little run at 3 AM, but I was in bed by 4:20 AM and awoke to a beautiful Sunday morning and went out for a 3 hour ride. Thanks for everything and everyone who made my birthday the best I can recall hands down. To my Sunrise teammates, thanks for everything all season and I can't wait for next year. To my friends, thanks for always being there even when you really can't stand to look at me. Most importantly to mom and dad, thanks for ALWAYS being there regardless of the shit I get myself into, I love you two more than I could ever show. I am sappy and tired so I am gonna go curl up in the fetal position and suck my thumb now!!! Thanks for reading. OUT!