California Climbing

After a couple days of bad legs, they finally came around today. I did another big ride, up into the mountains of Cali. I think the route I did was actually part of one of the stages of the Tour of California... Only the other direction. There were some spectacular views today, but I didn't carry my camera for lack of jersey pocket space. I climbed for probably about two and a half hours on this road and climbed about 5100 feet. The weather was beautiful, as ussual, mid-70s and sunny. I got incredibly dehydrated because there was nowhere to fill up water the entire time. Luckily I ran into this weekend warrior with his aerobar equipped bike who was carrying a gallon of water in his backpack. He gave me about 16 ounces, which was enough to get me about 40 miles back to the nearest gas station.

My current home is slowly filling up with more and more teammates. Alejandro Acton, the Argentinean sprinter just showed up a couple days ago. He doesn't speak very much English, so I've been trying to brush up on my Spanish. I took 3 semesters of Spanish at CU, but I've never had a real opportunity to actually use it outside the classroom.

In the last week my team has decided to send a crew out to the Valley of the Sun stage race in phoenix, AZ. The race starts on Friday with a time trial. I think Saturday is a road race and Sunday is a crit. This will be a good tune-up for Vuelta Sonora, which will start a week later. Wow, I can't believe that the race season is already starting... Crazy!

Stuff that breaks sucks.

The posts have been scarce lately.... and I have many excuses for that, the main excuse being that my laptop is broken. I woke up a few days ago and it wouldn't start... damn that sucks! Well, I spent an entire day trying to figure out how to fix the darn thing, and I eventually found a somewhat invasive fix that entails pulling the hard-drive out and hooking it up to another computer to get my personal files off. After that, I'll format and reinstall windows. What a bitch! Oh well, I actually kinda enjoy doing that kind of stuff, so alright!

Today I went out with the Hulk (teammate Dan Greenfield) and busted out about four hours of tempo. The ride totaled 6:45 and 126 miles. I'm in the transition phase of training right now, so every other day I'm essentially going long and hard.

Dan and I both ran into some mechanical problems along the way today. He had a couple flats, and my derailleur cable broke when we were in Santa Monica... which was pretty far from Oxnard (where we're staying). We searched around for awhile and decided that a coffee shop would be a good place to ask for directions to the nearest shop. The first person I saw as we approached the coffee shop looked kinda like a cyclist... you know, skinny, strange tan lines, bike t-shirt. We got to talking and I knew I recognized him from somewhere, and then it stuck me that he was David Zabriske from CSC, and it was. I thought that was pretty bizarre that of all the normal people we could have asked for directions in that town we bumped into one of the best American bike racers in the world. After that we found the shop and the guy working was super cool and hooked us up with a free cable and some energy food. After that whole fiasco, we got back on our way and pinned it for the rest of the ride. The roads are amazing here... the climbs are spectacular.

The owner of our team has been out here for the past few days and decided that it was time to purchase the new team vehicle. We got an Audi A6... Damn that car moves!! I've never driven a fast car in my life until this one... even compared to Old Reliable.

Well I hope I fix my computer by tomorrow, I'll try to get some more pics up when I do that.

Happy rides!

California Love

I'm in California now, and I love it! I can't believe that I've spent so much of my life without the ocean.... it's so incredibly beautiful. And what's even better, is that right up next to the ocean there are some pretty large mountains. The house that my team is staying is great... it's about a block from the beach and about five miles from the PCH and the mountains.

The scenery is spectacular here. Today I rode down the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway or Hwy 1). The road follows right alongside the coast, it's very pretty, a nice shoulder, and not too much traffic. I turned off the PCH pretty early to head up into the hills... amazing roads!


The first thing I did when I arrived last night was go to the beach and take off my shoes to walk barefoot in the sand and the ocean water.

We tried to get a picture of the sunset, but I think we were about 20 minutes late.
My Beach and my neighborhood.

The ocean and mountains.... What else could you ask for?

Strawberry fields

To the beach!

I went through that whole process of packing up all my bags again tonight. Fortunately, this time around wasn't nearly as painful as when I left Boulder. This time I don't have 75 things to eBay, an extra bike, and a car. I sent my car back with my coach, Rick Crawford, so that I can just travel with the team van and won't be burdened with my own gas guzzler. My teammates and I will be leaving Tucson at 7 am. Our destination: the beach. Our next house is in Oxnard, CA and is right on the beach... I can't wait! I'll be staying there for about two months, with a couple weeks in March somewhere else racing.

Here's a link to a satellite image of where we're staying:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=140+Los+Angeles+Avenue,+Oxnard,+CA&t=k&ll=34.149144,-119.216343&spn=0.002189,0.006738&t=k

Is lying on the beach a good way to recover from a hard ride? I don't know, but I think I'm going to find out. I'm not sure if it'll be quite as warm as it's been in Tucson, but it'll still be way warmer than what I'm used to in Colorado.

Today was officially the last day of my rest week. I spent it off the bike and about four hours of it at the book store trying to find the perfect book. I just finished 1984, which was really good. I have the "Da Vinci Code" right now, but I just haven't felt the desire to read it, even though it’s so incredibly popular. Instead I bought the first book of Stephen King's "The Dark Tower" series called "Gunslinger". I've always been a science fiction and fantasy dork, and I like Stephen King, so I think it should be good. This kind of book is good for bedtime reading because it puts me to sleep and give me cool dreams. I also bought more of an intellectual read, titled “The Fabric of the Cosmos” by Brian Greene. I figure since I’m not in school for awhile, I’d better keep my mind in shape and read something that’ll make me think and learn a little.
a

Century w/45 miles on dirt + 7 flats = EPIC

The end of my rest week is approaching, and I’m not sure if I‘m quite ready for it to end.
I spent the first few days sleeping, getting caught up on stuff, and watching old people play golf in our back yard. Yeah, we live on a freakin’ golf course!!!


I was starting to feel fully rested by about Wednesday, but then yesterday, I couldn’t resist the temptation to join my teammates for an epic. I’m not sure if I can even call it an epic though, because compared to a lot of the rides that I’ve been doing this year, it’s just like any other day. The thing that did make it epic however, was the 45 miles of dirt/jeep roads that we rode. Now if I were to take the ol’ MTB out there on these roads, it would’ve been a piece of cake. But 120 psi and 700x23 tires, made the downhills sketchy and fun… I got that high speed dirt lovers on the edge of your chamios fix that I’ve been craving from all the asphalt I’ve been on lately. Yes, my MTB friends, as I was shredding those dirt roads on my road bike, I felt a bit nostalgic and was dearly missing my mountain bike.

I guess this “es un muy popular” place to cross the border. My Canadian teammate Dustin en route through a hot smuggling route for illegal immigrants.

Not only did those skinny tires make the descents hairy, they also pinch flatted on just about every rock they hit. I think we totaled about 7 flats between the four of us. Wes took the prize for the most with four, and Dustin was the only one not to pinch a tube. All those flats caused quite the delay and put us pretty behind schedule. So once we finally hit the pavement again, about 50 miles from home, we got into formation and rode in a paceline (TTT style) full-on. I felt like I was back with my collegiate mates killing it during TTT practice. It also showed me how strong the rest of these guys are. We haven’t really gone out and hammered together yet until yesterday, and all three of these guys (Frank Pipp, Wes Hartman, and Dustin MacBurnie) have got some horsepower… that’s pretty damn motivational for me.

Today we put on a clinic for TargeTraining. We basically rode slow with some weekend warriors and talked training and racing, and tried to share our knowledge. We’ll do another one tomorrow… it’ll be fun.

I’m only in Tucson for a few more days, and then I’m off to Oxnard, CA for some more training to get ready for the first race at the end of February in Sonora, Mexico.

Cheers.

Base is done, let's eat pie.

I finished my last day of base today. Like I had planned in my last post, I rode up Mt. Lemon which I consider to be the best ride in Tucson. I was a little off in my estimate of mileage and elevation gain, it’s more like a 25 mile climb and about 5000 feet of elevation gain… still huge. Before I started up the climb, I rode down on the flats for about 2 hours.

From Tucson, Mt. Lemon looms in the distance.

By the time I got to the base of the climb, my water bottle was only half full… big mistake. I got about halfway up the climb and was completely out of water. I was already feeling the dehydration draining my power and boosting my heart rate. The only place to get water was the café at the top of the mountain. I got the café and downed a couple bottles of water. To celebrate successfully making it through the hardest and by far the highest volume month of base in my life, I bought some of the famous pie that the café is well known for. One slice of pie cost $6.50… it was worth every penny. What’s pie without a little joe to wash it down?

Well, after all that pie and coffee I was recharged and ready for more, the only thing about that was that I now had about 25 miles of descending and it was cold up there. I made it down without getting too cold, and felt like I was ripping the descents. The more I ride that decent, the faster I go, and the more fun it gets. The views are spectacular up there too; I actually stopped on the way down to try to get a shot of the best part of the decent. This section of the road skirts across a ridge which drops off on both sides, it's pretty amazing.

Out and Back

Hell yeah, another huge day in the bag. I peddled my bike another 125 miles today for six hours. I was pretty much on the gas the whole time. The music selection of the day: ambient beats, haven’t listened to those in a while. I started it off with some AIR and then changed it up to some Café del Mar. It turned out to be excellent desert riding music. DJ Niko (Gould) may disagree, but he is the Master of Beats and a damn good DJ. I heard his latest album last week and holy shit I’m impressed!! DJ Niko will spin all night and still race your legs off the next day.

Today’s route was another out and back. I rode up Oracle road a little beyond Mammoth and flipped it. I’ve only got one more day of base left tomorrow; I think I’ll finish this phase with the best ride in Tucson, Mt. Lemon. This ride climbs about 6500 feet in about 35 miles. It’s a pretty gradual climb and is incredibly beautiful. The scenery is constantly changing as you climb. I’ll try to bring my camera this time, and get some eye candy up for you. I haven’t been bringing it lately because I’ve only got so much room in my jersey pockets, and I have a tough time stopping when I’ve got it pinned. But since tomorrow’s my final day of base I will try to take some pictures.

Well that’s all for now… time to stretch.

Desert Solitude

The last ride that I wrote about put me into more of a deficit than I had expected and I could barely ride my bike the next day. I still ended up putting in about 4 hours, but 2 or none at all probably would have been the better move. I ended up going out that night with the intention of having dinner and checking out the night life a little, and to come home by midnight at the latest. It didn’t end up working out that way though and I was out until 2 am. With my poor levels and lack of sleep, I decided that a day off was needed. I was able to get caught up with everything off the bike (ebay, packing MTB, etc.)

I rode alone out to kitt peak and back today… it was 128 miles total. I think this is the furthest I’ve ever ridden in my life. On the way home I past about 50 stopped cars on the main road (Ajo road). At the front of this traffic jam there was a bunch of cop cars an ambulance and a helicopter. An 80-something year old man hit a cyclist. His story was that the cyclist just out of nowhere, pulled out onto the road in front of him. I have a feeling that this is a bullcrap, and that the old man swerved into the shoulder. Hopefully the cyclist comes out ok, and the old guy that hit him will have to pay dearly. I had to sit there for a while until the cops let me by so I ended up getting home late and had to ride through Tucson at night… that’s a bit scary… lots of fast cars.

Well, I’m tired and I gotta go to bed so I can do it again tomorrow.

Good night.

Puttin' in the miles

Oh man, am I tired. My volume is incredibly high right now. I’m supposed to do a 36 hour week this week… that means 6 hours a day for six days… I’ve already taken my rest day. I rode alone today and logged in 126 miles. Sometime around hour 5.5 I started thinking about how different my daily life is from your average Joe, Dick, or Jane. While I’m struggling to pin my HR at 145 BPM for 6 hours, the majority of the population probably won’t even touch this during the day. I don’t really think most people understand how much training, hard work and dedication goes into this sport… especially when I get either honked at or buzzed by about 10 cars a day. I think I started losing my mind a little too towards the end when I caught myself pointing out glass in the shoulder even though I wasn’t riding with anyone. Well, I’ve only got four more days of base, then I start my rest week, then I get to begin transition.

I’m already starting to think about my first race coming up. I’m scheduled to do Vuelta Sonora which is at the end of February/beginning of March down in Mexico. This race should be pretty sweet… I think its 6 or 7 days long. It’ll be a good way to kick the season off and to bring on some form. I can’t wait to start racing again!

Tonight, I’d love to be able to sit on the couch and watch mindless television all night, but I just sold my MTB so I gotta make sure that it’s all dialed, and then pack it up.

Time to motivate and try to be productive.

My new job

I’m back. It’s been hard to motivate to write on the blog these last couple weeks, my life has been all about readjustment. I’m finally feeling readjusted enough to share my thoughts. I’m living a completely new lifestyle now, where all that really matters to me is training and racing… I absolutely love it. I don’t really have to think or worry about anything else… except of course the 70+ things I posted on ebay. About those… half of them went up for auction and finished last week and the other half are up for auction right now. I made a butt load of money, but, I also spent a ton of time (my entire rest day) packaging that stuff up and I’ve made a lot of trips to the post office.

I gotta tell you, my life is awesome down here. The weather is beautiful (sunny and mid-70s everyday) and I’m just riding a ton and spending time with my new teammates. The team is awesome, I feel so lucky that I’m on this team. I know for a fact that we’re going to be a very strong presence at all the NRCs this season. A lot of the guys on the team don’t have the experience of a lot of the other pro team, but with the level of management, and coaching that this team has, our success is inevitable. Now that I’m not in school, my training load is massive, 5 to 6 hours a day. I'm usually pretty famished at the end of these rides and head straight for the kitchen with the rest of my riding partners to consume an enormous amount of calories.

Well, that’s all for now, people want to go to bed and I don’t want to keep them up by banging on the keyboard. I’ll try to be a little more consistent with my posts from now on.

NEW YEAR

Whew… The car is packed, the apartment is clean, and I now have 74 things posted on ebay. Martini, I think I may have broken any ebay record you may have set for “most auctions posted at one time”. I put in a twelve hour day on Thursday doing nothing but ebay from about eight or nine in the morning until nine at night… work sucks. The trunk of my car is jam packed with all that junk (Yes, I have junk in my trunk) that I’m selling, in a few weeks it’ll be empty and I’ll be a rich man.

I’ve been off the back with my blogging lately, but moving out has totally consumed all of my time and energy. It feels good to finally be done.

So here’s a funny story… the other day I was riding with this guy (I won’t say who he was) but we came to an intersection where I always go straight, but he was used to turning left. He was on my outside, and totally turned left right into me. We both bounced off each other in opposite directions. It happened so fast that I don’t really even know what happened; I just remember getting hit and then being on ground with some light road rash. My bike got pretty mangled though, and I had to rebuild my rear powertap wheel with a new rim and spokes. And my leg warmers and booties got trashed. Oh well, that shit happens, especially when you ride alone a lot, you forget to tell the other guy which direction to go.

Last night I was going to go see a movie, but as I started riding down to the theater, I realized, that riding my bike was way more fun… I don’t really know what got into me, but I was listening to 311 and I just started hammering. I rode my commuter way out east, and then realized that it was much more exciting in the city so I rode back and did some urban assault around town for about an hour… I was sweet, I felt like a kid again shredding the streets of downtown Wayzata or Minneapolis. I then parked my bike and walked all over boulder, just checking stuff out. It was a really good way to spend one of my last nights here. I’m gonna miss this place.

Well, it’s New Years Eve… I think I might have one more wild night of some hell-raising. I mean why not? It’s my last night in Boulder, and it’s New Years. Let’s go nuts!!

Happy New Year!

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions.

Yes, it has been several days since my last post. Basically, I've just been really tired from training a lot, and in the evenings I’ve been stretching and reading a book (1984) that I started last week. My biggest time commitment right now though is trying to sort through everything I own to decide what to throw away, and what to bring with. Too many decisions! I hate throwing stuff away, even though most of it is junk that's probably easily and cheaply replaceable. But, I've made a lot of progress with my sorting in the last few days, especially tonight. I think tonight was so productive because I went to buy a decaf coffee this evening, and the girl at Starbucks decided to give me a free Caramel macchiato too. I normally wouldn't drink a couple shots of espresso at that hour, but I couldn't turn down a free drink. It was delicious, pure sugar and fat with dose of caffeine. After my first sip, I was fully committed to gettin' stuff done.

This picture of my living room may look like just a bunch of crap pilled up everywhere, but there is some serious organization happening here... it's too complicated though, you wouldn't understand.

I also rented another indie flick tonight. It's called "Me and You and Everyone We Know." Not as messed up as the last movie I recommended (Tarnation), and not quite as powerful. It's quite a bit more on the lighter side... it’s funny. It was good, you should check it out.

So my departure date is coming soon. I plan to leave around the 1st of January, and will be heading down to Tucson for the month. I'll then go to Oxnard, CA for February and March.

I finally did something that I've been putting off for far too long. I shaved my legs. I'm no longer a normal dude anymore... which is what I was going for (normalcy) for about a month when I refrained from shaving, but since I started training again, it just didn't feel or look right. Every time I looked at them I was like "these look terrible, I'm a disgusting slob". Now don't get me wrong, I don't think that other people with hairy legs are slobs, it's a self-image thing. Well, while I was transforming the appearance of my legs into beauty, I decided to keep going and get rid of the chest hair as well. And then, I said, "who needs armpit hair, that's the most disgusting hair on the body," so away that went that too. Now, I'm hairless, except of course my wavy, thick, full head of hair, and the hair above my leg tan lines and below the waist.

BEFORE

AFTER

If you don’t hear from me for the next few days, have a Happy Christmas, a Merry Hanukah, and a Kick-Ass Kwanza!!

Gotta recover

In the words of the Grinch, "Oh... so blown out." All thanks to Colby and others from the d-town crew. The last few days of riding finally caught up with me today. I'm to tired to do anything right now. I'm so glad I won't be having to deal with school after long days of training this year.

Okay, I know that was a pretty lame post, but that's all I got today... too many dead and starving brain cells.

Nap time.

Back in the Saddle Again

That's right, the metal gods AC/DC can tell you what I'm talkin' about. Honestly though, it hurts real bad. My chode is just not used to that kind of torture yet. I rode with Colby and Mitch yesterday, and those guys worked me... I'm pretty sure they worked themselves too though. The pace seemed a bit hard for this time of year, and we rode for 5.5 hours. What a great way to start my first week of base. I was totally exhausted by the end, but luckily, Myles and Colby were having a holiday potluck dinner party that night. I was easily able to replenish all those burned calories... with a lot of empty calories on top of that.

Today, Colby and I are going out again to log in some more chamois time, today we've both agreed to ride a little easier though, and a little shorter.




Durango is a great place to take a vacation from Boulder. Right now I'm kinda on vacation. Since I just finished my last final, I need a few days to unwind. I've got about a hundred things to do back in Boulder, but I think I'll stay down here for a few more days and relax... which for me means riding my bike five hours a day.

I forget the name of this dog, but he's friends with Psylo... he slept through all the commotion.

This was some damn good cake... the frosting was the best part. The secret ingriedients were two sticks of butter and five cups of sugar.

Going the Distance.

Old Reliable ('88 Plymouth Reliant), my car, lived up to her name and got me to Durango in one piece yesterday. I drove down here to meet Dr. LaCaze, who’s supposed to be the best muscle balance specialist in the country. He found a lot of imbalances with me, which I'm actually pretty excited to find out. Now I have a bunch of things I can improve on that I know will make me a stronger rider.

Unfortunately, I can only stay down here for a couple days. I need to get back to Boulder because I only have about 2 weeks to try to sell most of my stuff on e-bay, and to find somewhere to store the rest. Then I pack my car for life on the road.

Today, my new Targetraining teammate, Anthony Colby, and I are going to head out for about five hours. It's cold down here though... the guys who are riding big hours in the wintertime here are tough.

They also party a lot... or so I've heard. It sounds like someone I know is putting on a party every night for the next three nights. The first of which will be at the house I'm staying. I have no choice with the first, tonight should be fun. But, I'll probably head back to Boulder and skip the others though; I need to start getting a lot more serious about training now that I'm done with school and with some very big races looming in the near future.

Coffee, CoFFee, COFFEE!!!!!!

Done

I thought I'd just document the fact that I'm totally stoked right now! I've been slacking on blogging the last few days because they have been the opposite of kick-ass, and I didn't want to write about stuff that sucks. I did actually get a lot of good riding in this weekend though and rode with a slew of fast pros, including Moniger, Baldwin, and about ten others. It was a new crowd, but one that I need to get used to.

I just finished my last final about 20 minutes ago... it was a bitch, it took 2.5 hours and was worth fifty percent of my grade... Damn that sucked. The first thing I did when I got home was pour myself a glass of vino... it feels good to be done. I think I did well though. I made this semester really tough by trying too hard, so now I think I'll get high grades in all of my classes. Yipee. Alright, time to fill up another, than I'm off to the stir for some happy hour martinis.

Snow riding and more of the same ol' BS

It’s been three days since the snow storm covered boulder in 4 inches of white cold stuff and the temp still hasn’t gotten above freezing to melt it away. That didn’t stop the two most hardcore mountain bikers in the vicinity, Martini and Ranno (AKA Short Bus), and I from suiting up and hitting some sick snow packed trails. As usual I left my camera behind, but you can check out some sweet pics off of Martini’s blog at ridewithnickmartin.com. I don’t know how to link his name to his website yet, but I plan on learning HTML once I’m finished with school. Not only will I someday be able to link a person’s name to their websites, but I’ll be able to fulfill my dream of creating the best internet porn website ever!! Just kidding, I don’t look at porn…

So anyway, here I am back at the coffee shop studying like a good little boy, well actually, to be exact, I’m currently wasting time checking e-mail, facebook (new timewaster), and blogging. But I needed a break… my brain hurts. I’m paying the price for riding today now by having to stay up late studying, but it was worth it because that ride kicked ass, and I feel way better now because of it. Tomorrow is the kick-off of my finals, beginning with the hardest and most important one, Biomechanics.

Well, that’s all I have time to write tonight.

P.S. I’ll bring the pictures back soon… I have not been putting my amazing inherent photography skillz to work lately, but you’ll see… the pictures to come will blow your mind.

Coffee and exercise addictions

Someone I know once told me that “coffee is the Devil”. I didn’t listen to him. I’m back on the coffee program… it’s a love-hate relationship. The sweet nectar of the gods, black gold, or bean juice, coffee has been successfully fueling my days for the past couple week. Today, however, I think I may have ODed. I woke up… barely, today was a tough one to get out of bed, but I had a presentation that was worth 50% of my grade to give at 8:00 am. I decided to go with the Mate to start the day off instead of coffee with plans of taking a nap later in the day. But as usual, as the day went on, the possibility of napping became less and less of a reality.

I got back from school pretty early and the snow was dumping. The Grinch had just gotten up and the aroma of his French press was pungent. I couldn’t resist, I gave into my addiction, and I fired up the grinder on my way to making a home brewed mocha (or cafe florintine). Tis the season for hot drinks, and cuddling with your girl by a fireplace. Unfortunately, I don't have a fireplace or a girl, but I do have hot chocolate. I bought some hot chocolate the other day, so why not mix it with my coffee. It was delicious, but I think it was a little overkill. I tried to hit the books after that, and my focus was all over the place… I just kept getting up to eat another bowl of cereal or write another e-mail, or clean something… this must be what it feels like to be on crack. I couldn’t handle the energy any longer, so I executed plan B, exercise.

Exercise was the key maneuver. It’s what I really needed to do today. I went running in the snow, probably one of my favorite things to do. It was pretty cold, probably around 8 degrees, but I didn’t get too cold; running keeps you warm. I did a much longer route than I had planned, but that’s the best way to do it… no plan. I ran over settlers park and up over Mount Senitas. It’s hard to explain the feelings and emotions experienced while snow running in the mountains by yourself while setting the trail on fresh snow. It’s so incredibly peaceful too. This is the only way to train when you can’t ride outside… trainers are a waste of time.

I totally forgot about an important review that I was supposed to go to at 5:00. I still tried to make it hoping that I could catch the last hour of it, but it only lasted an hour. Lucky for me, it was actually really fun riding over to campus tonight. Riding the bike in the snow is a blast… I’m outa control the whole time.

Now I’m back at the coffee shop trying to study more… blogging is a great way to take a break from HW.

OK time to get back to work.

Peace.

Nor-dork skiing and Cross-maniacs

Yesterday, Cap’n Bob Productions (AKA Boulder Racing) put on the ACA state cyclocross race. I didn’t race, but I did spectate, which can sometimes be equally as fun and hard when the temp is around 25 with wind. This was the first cyclocross race I had ever been to in Colorado… I definitely want to race next year now. Those guys were hammering… it looked like pure suffering without recovery for an hour… Awesome! A lot of big dogs showed up for this one with JHK taking the dubs. Jonathon Baker also showed once again that he’s a fast mother f@$ker taking 2nd. And the third place guy was like fifteen years old… talk about talent. There were probably about seven TIAA-Cref guys in there too… they’re taking over Boulder! The competition in these parts is fierce! All the race did was get me psyched about racing again… it made me miss hammering really hard.

Well I did fill that “lactic acid” void today. Lynch and I drove into the mountains to Eldora for some skinny skiing. I used to race this all through HS, and skied every day of the week for 4 months a year… now I’m lucky to get out three times in a year. But, it’s just a lot easier to instead go for a ride usually in Boulder. I’m pretty worked right now, but the post XC ski high is always the best… so relaxed.

I worked my ass off yesterday doing HW and finished a big project, so I’m taking a day off from school today and just having a good time. School is just like training, you need rest days… sometimes I forget that, and just do HW everyday for too long and I get totally burnt out. But next week, finals begin, so I gotta be fresh before I start hitting the books hard. I can’t wait for it to be over and I can get rolling on my adventure. I’m already kinda starting to miss Boulder already, this town kicks ass. But, it’s also good to take a break from where you live; maybe I’ll find a new location that I like even better. I think I’ve already found a new guy to replace me here… his name is Bryan Smith and he rides for TIAA-Cref… pretty soon Boulder’s gonna have to start regulating the amount of those guys that keep immigrating here… “They took our jobs, dar de gar, dar!!!”

I tried something bold tonight, I sat down with a random chick at the coffee shop, struck up a conversation, and walked away with a phone number. She actually seems really cool, so I'm stoked! But the only thing is, I'm outa here in few weeks, but who cares, i can still have fun, who knows.

I just finished watching the most fucked-up (pardon my french) movie ever. It's called Tarnation. It's very good though... I've never seen anything like it, very original, highly recomended, but be prepared for craziness.

Well here's some pics from the cross race for y'all.

The Grinch and Dirty Sanchez

JHK = fast

The "Band" - I'm tellin' you, someday, there's gonna be cheerleaders.

JB

Let's talk about TEETH and the FUTURE

This morning was quite the adventure. I woke up around 7:00... I would have liked to have gotten an hour more, but once I'm up, I'm up. I sat around for a while, not eating or drinking, and then I suited up in my pro commuter gear and began my epic commute into the 27 degree Colorado morning air. I rode out to Lafayette, which took me about 45 minutes, and I kinda felt a little bonky the whole ride, but not nearly as bad as when I tried that juice fast, it was no big deal. I was just looking forward to eating later, which I inevitably knew was never really going to happen... just wishful thinking. After I got there I filled out a bunch of paperwork, saying that it was ok if I wake up retarded from all the anesthetics... sure, why not, that kind of thing never happens... or does it? They yanked out all four of my wisdom teeth, and now I have them in a little baggy, I'm thinking about making a really cool necklace out of them... maybe I'll use hemp. I woke up feeling great!! And, as the day went on, I'm still not feeling too shabby. But that's probably the percocet (drug) doing it's job, I'd probably be suffering pretty badly if I wasn't on anything right now. I'm also kinda on another juice/yogurt fast right now, not willingly though, and I'm not making fresh juice either (I should be though... that'd be healthy). I've just been drinking Odwalla smoothies all day... Those are damn good.

On another very exciting note (to me at least), I put up my apartment for rent on several classifieds and I plan on being HOMELESS for the next year!!!!!! Not really homeless though, I figure with all the host housing I'll have this year, it just seems like a waste of money to be spending $400 a month to rent a place I'll probably only be in for like 10% of the next 8 months. I'm really excited about this, not only will it save me a lot of money, it's gonna be a major adventure, I haven't had a great adventure in a long time and I think I'm pretty damn overdue. Sometimes I think that being really comfortable in one place is a bad thing, yet that is something that so many people strive for in there life... I guess it's called security. Well, sometimes security is a good feeling to have, but it's also kinda boring. This year will be far from boring... I can't wait to get it started.

Sorry there hasn't been any pictures lately... No I didn't lose another digital camera. I just haven't had much time at all lately, and it's not like taking pictures takes a long time, but my life has been pretty boring recently due to school taking up all my time. I also apologize to those who are squemish that had to see these yucky pictures. Soon school will be all over and I'll take lots of cool pictures for y'all. Also, I haven't been getting any comments lately, you should go ahead and leave me comment from time to time.

That's all.