A!

I got an A on my final for my first class in my "new" college career, and the instructor said I got a "very high A" in the class overall. Higher GPA is on the horizon!

In other news, I'm still riding all the time, and feel stronger every day. I had a knee injury hiccup last week, but all is well and I'm back to normal. Other than that, my weight is back down to almost a season low, and the first local time trial is tomorrow!

Wow!

It's been like a month. I really need to get on the ball and post at least once a week. This weekend I raced 6 times from Friday at lunch till today at lunch. I did one time trial, four criteriums, and a road race. I didn't finish one of the crits, and I got dropped in the brutal road race today in which only about 20 of the field finished out of about 60. A team named Fly V Austrailia showed up and did some work on us all weekend, but overall it was a good experience.

I'm back in college now. It's not a huge deal, but my first class is a type of "intro to computers" type class, which goes into more detail than I thought it would, but in a good way. I've been studying and such which seems to be a trait I lacked when I went to college 6 years ago. So far my grades have been satisfying, but I guess I need to keep plugging away so I can fix my "teenage" GPA I achieved the first time around, which right now sits at 2.4 :( ...I guess that's about it for now!

It Has Returned!

Okay, so as of late, I've had a bit of an issue getting motivated to get out and ride. It was getting better little by little until Saturday night, when my motivation went through the roof! The team I race for, Iron Data p/b Apto Solutions, received an invitation to race in the Athens Twilight, which is the BIGGEST criterium in the entire United States. Saturday night as I lined up to race with about 180 other guys, I got so nervous that I almost made myself sick! There wasn't a single spot left on the barriers throughout the ENTIRE course! It really gave me a huge taste of what professional racing is truly about. As the whistle blew, I'm surprised my heart didn't explode from beating too fast, lol. We headed down the straightaway and took turn one, then two...CRASH! I got caught in the first crash of the night and had to head back to the pits. It's not very easy sprinting onto a raging pack of bulls running at 35mph either! Regardless, I was dropped about 10 minutes later, but it was still super fun.

Sunday was the Historic Roswell Criterium, in which I competed in the 2/3 race, followed by the Pro/1/2 race. The 2/3 race went well until the end, which some small AVX guy went down the line like an idiot and proceeded to lean into turn one touching a pedal. He took down about 20 guys, but I managed to skid to a stop on the curb within inches of where everyone else was piling up. I was dropped 30 minutes into the Pro race. All in all, I had a very fun weekend, and my motivation and reason to want to succeed in the sport has fully returned!

Zero Motivation

It's been a while since I posted. I've had zero motivation to post AND ride. I've talked to the coach, and seems it's normal, which makes me feel better. I actually CAN'T WAIT to get out and ride today just because he talked to me about it and in a round about way motivated me again.

On a side note, we got a Greyhound this weekend. They are hypoallergenic dogs, which mean they shed very little, but man is he a horse!

Time to Rest

This weekend I was in Chattanooga, Tennessee. To cut to the chase, my time trial sucked, as did my crit. I raced the time trial like I had never did any pacing in my life, blowing up on the way out, and having nothing on the way back. In the crit, I got stuck at the back from the gun, never really moved up, and finished in the pack. The road race was pretty productive, with me getting in a break with a teammate and one other guy for 15 minutes, chasing breaks, kicking up the pace, ect...In the end, I got dropped on the last lap of the road race, but my teammate we were working for got 9th. Of course there are things I should have done differently, but I'll get there.

A Minute

So it's been a minute since I posted. I really didn't realize how long it had been. There hasn't been much going on lately other than just a lot of training and racing. I'm almost finished with getting everything in order so I can go back to college, so I guess that's something. Otherwise, I got nothin...

Teamwork

So this past weekend was a bit disappointing for me personally, but great for the team. We came out for our first weekend racing as a team and took 3rd in the road race. I chased way to many breaks down, resulting in me getting dropped the first time up the climb, but I wasn't all that upset due to the fact that it was in the low-mid 40's and raining. The ONLY reason I was disappointed was because I raced like an idiot and got dropped, when I should have been able to get over the climb and into the chase group again. This weekend is Union City, and I definitely don't plan on racing the same. I'm for sure going to be there for what's best for the team, but I'm no good to the team if I'm not there the WHOLE race to help out.

The Traveling Starts

So this weekend will be the first that I'm on the road. The Georgia Cup cycling series starts this weekend with the "Seige of Rome" weekend. The time trial is suited for me a bit, so I shouldn't get last at least. The crit seems like something I might do decent in, with the course being fairly flat. The road race, on the other hand, is quite nasty. I'll post the profile below so you can fully appreciate what I mean. For a professional race, it's not very long at just 52 miles. What does make it quite nasty, however, is the little 3 mile climb to the finish. This weekend will be the first real "test" of how well I can manage to play it smart with what I have. The past few weekends have been me acting a bit stupid when it comes to chasing breaks and such, but I can't afford to do that this weekend. I need a solid performance in the first two races, with the third being very tactical as to not allow myself to get dropped on the first climb. Click the "view elevation" button to see the course profile in another window.

Nasty Sickness

I had originally planned on blogging Friday about the upcoming weekend I had planned and such, but that didn't seem to come to fruition. Tuesday night Aaron got pretty sick, and it was confirmed by the doctor Wednesday that it was, in fact, the stomach virus. Of course the entire family had to come to make sure he was doing fine, which was a huge mistake. The entire family ended up coming down with it, except my grandfather and Hope's dad. I didn't come down with it until Friday, but it hit me pretty hard when I got it, which messed with my race preparations for the weekend.

I raced yesterday, but it wasn't anything amazing. I went to the back after a couple laps of trying to chase a break, and finally got dropped with 11 laps to go in the race. Before the race I parked next to a "no parking" area so I could lay my rollers out in that area and warm up with no disturbance from other vehicles. Of course, so idiot in a Range Rover just had to drive through the area without looking, and drove over my rollers that I got for Christmas! The damage was decent, but not too bad upon further examination today. Also, the guy gave me his trainer, which was a nice gesture. Although, it would have been nicer to get the money to fix my rollers!

Tough Race!

So I did race #3 for the season this weekend. The race was on Saturday, and was in Dacula, GA. As is the case with races that occur in bad conditions, only the serious racers (excluding me I guess) show up. There was an ex European pro among other actual pros. I got dropped 37 miles, or 1.5 hours into the race, but at that time my normalized average wattage was about 320 watts! To put that into perspective, the best output I had last season was in a local time trial where I put down 335 normalized watts for an average for 23 minutes. That means that I put out almost that many watts, but for about 4 times longer! Needless to say, even though I got dropped, I was still quite happy that my recent knee injury didn't hurt me as badly as I had originally thought!

Insult to Injury

Not all that insulting, but my threshold power has been affected a bit by my injury. I had a peak threshold of 320-ish last season, so I honestly would have expected at least that at this point. Due to my injury, however, I have dropped to about 305 according to my race data from this weekend and calculations. Whether or not that number will remain there for long remains to be seen. I plan to do all I can to get my training back together and improve myself to be better than ever. On a side note, I got dropped from my Sunday race, as with the wind and competitiveness of the field, it was just too much for me. Hopefully this Saturday will go a bit better.

Finally!

The season has officially started for me! My first 2009 Pro,1,2 race was today in Greenville SC. Although I didn't do anything by way of a top ten, I did FINISH my race, which is the first time I have officially finished a Pro,1,2 race with the pack. Here's the stats for the race:

Miles Ridden=58.29miles
Average Speed=25.6mph
Work=1725KJ
Avg Wattage=211
Norm Wattage=263
Avg Heart Rate=156
Avg Cadence=96
Total Time=2hrs 15min

The College Game

Okay, so there's still nothing really going in the world of jobs for me. There IS, however, something going on as far as a possible return to college. The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) is a deal where if you're unemployed, you can get some financial aid from the government to alloy you to gain an education in a "needs" area. I have decided that I want to pursue this route, and have applied to a couple of colleges. Tomorrow morning I'm going to take a trip to the offices that handle the WIA claims in my area to get some serious information on what will be provided to me. I'll update once I get info!

yep

i'm still around....just not sure what to blog on...

Some Video Updatings!

Still Here!

I'm still out of work, though. I've been to the labor department in town to search their "job database", but nothing really came to fruition from that. I've been getting a lot of things done around the house that otherwise wouldn't have been taken care of, but that also doesn't bring home any money! I'm going to drop in at Gainesville College tomorrow or Friday to see what kind of information they have on the WIA (Workforce Investment Act). I've read a few things stating that the government will pick up the tab if I go back to college, but I need to get more info first. I'm a bit torn between a degree in education or something pertaining to a sports medical field. Nothing may come of that either, though. Whatever I do, I just hope God blesses me in it and his will is done. I've been two weeks without a paycheck, because my first unemployment check has not yet arrived. Other than that, the family is doing really well, and I have a positive outlook on the road ahead!

Just Sittin' Here

So that's what I'm doing. I'm sitting here thinking of where my life is to go next. I've gotten a lot of things taken care of today, like cleaning up some things, doing some clothes, washing some dishes. I have one or two places in mind that I can go apply to at some time this week, but I don't know how it'll turn out. Right now, in all honesty, I'm just enjoying sitting here and relaxing with my son for a change. When you train as much as I do, you find that between God, work, family, and training, sometimes things get to the point where they interfere with each other. I've spent the day with Aaron, and it's been pretty cool. He's a very easy to please baby, and he's growing fast! If nothing else, I couldn't have lost my job at a better time. Who knows, I may be here when he walks!

No Job

So yesterday I lost my job. Surprisingly enough, I wasn't really tore up about it or anything. I loved my job, don't get me wrong. It was a very laid back atmosphere, and everyone there was super nice, but I don't know if I was really "happy" there. By "happy", I mean it in a sense of being happy with what I was doing. I will admit that I did kind of enjoy it, but I'd much rather be doing something to help someone.
So where do I go from here? As of right now, I have absolutely no idea! I would love to get my level 3 coaching license and get into that game, but I bet the money I'd bring in wouldn't be all that much. It might be pretty interesting to start a business centered around bike fitting, as the closest fit location to me is 1.5 hours. I believe there is enough rider base in this area to support a small business in this area of sorts. The question is "How hard would it be to do this?". I'm not sure right now. I guess all I can do is look into it. Other than that, though, I can pray, and trust that God will take care of me and my family. By the way, thanks for reading, and God bless!

New Year's WBL

So today was the first WBL of 2009. The ride was pretty good, and was definitely one of the tougher ones so far, with a 7 mile attack zone thrown in for good measure. I did as much work in the attack zone as I felt reasonable, and felt pretty decent. There's not much else to say I guess. Here's my first video blog with the new Canon Powershot the wife and I bought ourselves for Christmas.