Some more pics from the ride a couple days ago

Hoy es llova

Today was pretty chill, it was raining on and off throughout the day so I studied in a cafe for most of the day. My first test is tomorrow... I don't feel ready. Learning Spanish es muy dificil! On Saturday I'll be climbing to the top of a local volcano with my classmates... Can't wait! Tonight I'm going to a yoga studio... It only costs $1.50!!!

Correction on my friends bike shop website, it's ciclismo-xela.com or thebikehouse.net

Buenas tardes

Post Created Sep 15, 2010 7:13:53 PM

A few pics from the celebration last night. Today I went for a big mtb ride with sergio, the owner of the bike house cyclismo-xela.com. He guides mountain bike tours as well and took me a classmate of mine out to see some incredible waterfalls. I'll try to get pics from the ride up soon.

Post Created Sep 14, 2010 6:03:40 PM

Here are some pictures from the last few days. I just got done riding with mi amigo nuevo. Fireworks are going off all night!!! It's going to be LOCO aqui en la noche!!!!

El Dia de la Indepencia

I´ve been her for a couple days now and so much has happend! I´ve been taking classes for the past two days and Love it! Xela is sooo beautiful. My Spanish is pretty bad, but enough to get by. I only made it two days without a bike and broke down and rented a decent mountain bike for the week. I got to know the owner of the bike shop who is also a cyclist and he is going to take me out on the local mtb trails. Cycling is actually the most popular sport in Guartemala... cyclists are everywhere!!

Tomorrow is one of the most important days in central american history because it´s independence day. Apparently Xela is the main city to celebrate, so people from all over central america travel here for the celebration. Tonight there will be many festivities and fireworks. It should be a lot of fun.

I´ve been pretty short on time with all that is happening, so I havent had much time to update the blog. I´ll try to get some pics up soon. Thanks for reading.

I made it!!

More to come soon!

SPACE

Have you ever looked up at the stars, far removed from any city, and thought about what's out there? Or even more, wanting to go there. I recently had a great conversation with my friend Kelly on this topic. The conversation was actually very short, it consisted of only one word, "SPACE". But while staring at the stars at about 1am in the middle of Wyoming during a pit stop on our drive to ND, that single word summed up everything that could possibly have been said about what we saw. Staring at the sky above evoked such an immense curiosity about all things. The big question that always comes to mind in these situations is "what's out there?". I have a feeling that this is a natural human instinct... And I'm guessing this is why we've created religion and pursue science.

Well, I would give up anything to own the starship enterprise and be able to explore the far reaches of space, but I know that's a little far fetched. However, I've called earth home for just over 29 years now, and I have only seen a fraction of what I actually and realistically have the capability to experience. So what's holding me back? Money of course... But I've found ways overcome that obstacle for now. Other than that, nothing. There's no excuse for me to stay in my comfortable box.

I'm leaving today for Guatemala to partake in a four to five week Spanish immersion program in Quetzaltenango, AKA Xela (pronounced Shay-la). The excitement I have right now is insurmountable. With my recent graduation and success on the PANCE (board exam) I'm in a very good place in my life right now... Relief, satisfaction, happiness.

I know this is kind of cheesy, but I want to give thanks to friends and family that have supported me throughout all my adventures.

Thanks Mom and Pop a million times over for being the best parents anyone could ask for. Thank you for supporting all of my endeavors.

Thank you Lonna and Mike for taking me in and making my life soooo much easier during the rigorous last few months if PA school. Thank you for inspiring me to take this trip and and to do so many other things!

Thank you Kelly M. for being such a great friend and training partner despite me leaving you one month before 24 hours of Moab, leaving you to race the CB100 solo, and not joining you for the next mah-dah-hey In a day attempt.

Thank you Kelly S for all the great info on Guatemala!

Thanks to everyone else I left out, wish I had the time to give props to y'all.

I hope you enjoy reading my updates and looking at my pictures, and thanks for taking the time to check in on me!

Don't hate the player, hate the game.

At the airport waiting for my flight to Guatemala city.

Psych 101

I'm living in casper, wy now... taking care of a bunch of kids that are pretty messed up... it's sad. My roommate kicks ass though. His name is Lupe and he's a total ladies man. He's 47 and has several beuatiful girls (ages 25-35) that he's hanging out with... total hero. I haven't updated the blog in like 3 years, but I thought it'd be fun to throw a new update in now... cause damn... things have really changed a lot. I'm a lot different now... but still the same... you know? Biking is still fun, but I've only done it a few times in the last couple months... I hammered! I've been xc skiing a lot though. In three forks I would go to Bozeman a few days a week and ski at Bohart ranch... which was an awesome xc ski place. And here in casper, there is actually a great xc ski area that I've been going to a lot. So I'm actually in decent shape and plan to kick kelly magelky's ass and make him cry next time we play foot down. Thats all for now.

Josh

the last couple weeks

Soo… here it goes.. the recap. Well, I went into the XC at Snowmass with no expectations. I’ve been crazy busy with work, school, PA school crapola, etc. So training has been on the back burner… but if you know me at all… I still manage to get out and ride; otherwise I might go insane and destroy things. So I’ve found that in order to maintain sanity…I must continue to ride (as well as race) and go out once or twice a week and do some drinkin’!! A few weeks ago, I raced the sunshine hill climb, then I went for a midday ride with my road team and took some team photos… then I decided to go out and do a night ride with a bunch of friends…. So essentially, I ended up riding up to Gold hill 3 times that day (about 11,000 feet of climbing total). I ended up catching a cold the next day... sore throat… but I still woke up and did a 4.5 hour Ned ride with Fuentes, Jung, and Monique…. Jung hurt his coccyx and had to cut it short… but we pressed onward to cover greatest amount of single-track possible. Had lots of fun the rest of the week… crashed in short track on weds the fourth, but saw some cool fireworks, then went to Redfish for some Reggae. Rode a new trail on Saturday around Estes in the forest that was up there with the best single-track ever. Then went out for Monique’s B-day … so that meant another late night. Recovered in time for short track... got into break (sorry for the roadie lingo) with West and Fuentes… the course was very hard to pass… so I sat in third the whole race, and that’s where I finished…. I was up all night thinking about how I coulda won… the next day at work was rough. I recovered from that in time for Snowmass, where I guess I felt pretty good… considering I finished pretty good. I got 3^rd which I was not expecting to happen. After racing the previous MSCs, I was beginning to think that a podium finish was impossible… the competition this year is outa hand!! But, I guess I’ve successfully raced myself into shape… which was my plan for the year. I felt good… I was able to move up a couple spots throughout the race and kept second place in site most of the time… never saw Jay though… he’s completely on another level this year. Well… I don’t think I recovered in time for Boulder Short Track which was this evening. I still got second, but West and Fuentes were missing… my hardest competitors. I was suffering hard tonight, but didn’t feel like I could go very fast… it was frustrating… I dug deep though to hang on to 2^nd place… which I nearly lost on the last lap. I was close to hurling after the race too… that’s never happened to me in the hundreds of races that I done in my life… crazy. Okey dokey peeps… time to go to bed, I got a long day of labor ahead of me tomorrow.

This is the Bikeparts.com/GoFast/Maverick team mascot

Gimme some SPEED!!!

Can't sleep. Drank too much espresso and GoFast... Where's my Dale’s Pale Ale, or even better, an Old Chub when you need one... I gotta calm down. For a very long list of reasons, I'm a little jacked right now. As already stated, I had a lot of caffeine... but that's gotten to be a pretty standard post-work routine. How else am I gonna do everything?!?! I also pulled off my first win of the year, albeit it was Boulder Short Track, it still felt damn good to throw my hands up in the air as I crossed the line… and I beat the undefeated Mike West, who pulled me around the course for most of the race. The course kicked ass… there were big jumps… I got like 3 feet of air… it was sweet. The weekend was amazing. I spent four days in Crested Butte racing and riding. Friday – prerode; Saturday – raced; Saturday night drank and danced a lot; Sunday – epic; Monday – epic with two badass chicks. I’m getting a Subaru Forester tomorrow too!! I also took my GRE on Monday of last week and did great… man does that feel good. Still haven’t quit my job to try to make another attempt at being a pro bike racer… but I think about it multiple times a day… those thoughts can drive a man insane. I do know that the 9-5 thing is something I don’t want to do for too long… life is too much fun to spend indoors workin’ for the man. I’m also taking microbiology right now… so I’m spending about 3 hrs a night on that. Anyway, all is great, just crazy. And here are some pics from the weekend!!!

We're going to have mexican food and margaritas?!?! Stoked!!!!!

Mexican food and margaritas. Stoked.

I've got a good idea, lets drink lots and dance for hours.
Mo, Me, Jamie

Yeah GoFast!!

It's a monkey doing an impression of Jung
I wanna live there - from Saturday's ride.
Pretty

Wow, now that is impressive!
This is from the top of trail 403 - we're all captivated by the view.

Camped Sunday night
I showed Jamie and Mo one of my favorite epic rides ever. It was mucho fun.

"Rosebud"

I luv U Benson!!

Old Reliable - R.I.P. 1988-2007

This was the last living photo taken of Old Reliable. I took this on Friday evening after I had found my camp site for the night outside of Vail. I was sooo proud that I scored this sweet little secluded campsite that I felt it necessary to take a picture of my car, with my Maverick (which is literally worth about 10 times what my car is worth).

I raced the Teva Mtn. Games this weekend, and put the smack down on Tour de France Champ, Floyd Landis, I don't care what his excuses are... it's still pretty cool. The race was incredibly hard. I think that when there's a lot of money on the line ($3000 for 1st), the pace is turned up a few notches. This was definitely the hardest start of the year for me. I wasn't feeling very strong, but I tried to suffer and still compete, and I ended up doing alright. I raced Angel Fire the weekend before, feeling about the same, maybe a tad stronger, but it was the same thing, I just suffered and tried not to get down on my self for not being up with the top guys... which is where I feel I should be. I'm definitely not at the same level that I've been in the past, and that's a tough pill to swallow, even though I know all the reasons why I'm not riding as fast as I know I can. I'm just hoping that suffering through these races (it's still early season for me) will give me some good fitness later this season.

Anyway, about my car, it broke down on the way home from Vail. The oil light came on and my engine basically shut down as I was descending down into Silver Plume/Georgetown. I was able to coast into silver plume. My phone was dying so I tried to find an outdoor outlet so that I could call for help. In Silver Plume there is only a General Store and a Garage. At about 10:00 I found a working outlet outside of the entrance to the Garage and plugged in my phone. About 5 seconds later, this guy who was about twice my size came through the entrance, staring silently at me, looking very pissed off. I tried to explain that my car broke down and I needed to charge my phone so that I could call for help. He didn't care what I had to say and claimed that I was "sneaking around, which was no different that being a thief". I tried to explain myself some more and justify that I wasn't a thief. This only aggravated him further at which point he started threatening to "pound me into the ground" and "kick my ass". I was getting pretty scared for my life at that point; I've never really been threatened like that before. I was able to back out of that situation without any harm being done, and made it back to my car. A few minutes later, the Jung showed up in his Ass-Finder with the Grinch and McCalmon. Those guys helped push my car back onto I-70 and I was able to roll down to Georgetown... where my car sits right now. I'm going back up there today with a good friend (with AAA) to get it towed back to Boulder. I may try to resurrect it, but there's a good chance it may end up at the junkyard.

Just in case you were wondering

Yeah,i know, that last post was really short. I didn't have time to write anything, and I wanted to get that picture up... cause it's sweet. The race didn't go so well for me... I got a flat on the first lap... it was a slow leak so I wasted my CO2 thinking that my stans would seal. That didn't work, so I pulled my wheel off to fix it. It looked like the stans did its job so I just added the reamining CO2 I had. When I tried to put my wheel back on my bike I somehow knocked out my brake pad... which took me forever to put back in. I finally got going again probably about 15 min down from the leaders, but luckily, Jung had missed his start so I was able to ride with him. By the time I made it around for my second lap my tire had about 10 psi in it... so I decided I should just get a new wheel in the feed zone. To top off the string of bad luck, the cassette that was on the wheel I got was completely worn out and none of the gears work.... I finaly decided that it was time to throw in the towel. So I got my one DNF of the year out of the way, so this kind of thing shouldn't happen again. This being my first race of the year, gave me the standerd shck to the system and the head. Damn... racing is hard!! But I'm totally looking forward to racing next weekend.

On another note, my dog is leaving me to go out to NY with my EX. I'm a little sad about that... I love that dog, I'll miss it. I'll definitely be getting another one sometime when I'm a bit more settle down. I've finally got my new pad dialed... It's nice to finally have my own place.

Chalk Creek

The dusty, rocky, downhill dirtroad start was dicey

Don't drink the water

It feels strange blogging again after such a long hiatus. It wouldn’t surprise me if no one looks at it anymore, and those who don’t keep in touch probably think I’ve dropped off the face of the earth. I’ve been living the life of a weekend warrior. I don’t get to get out as much anymore to ride these days, but when I do I make the most of it. Saturdays and Sundays are designated for epic MTB rides. I got a Maverick a few weeks ago and it’s the greatest bike ever… period. I’m riding the techiest shit around, stuff that I would never ride before on my previous bikes, totally in control of my bike and without fear. It climbs great too. I also just moved into my own studio apartment… I’m stoked to finally have my own place. It’s just a few block away from work too. This week was pretty rough though. I’ve known for a while that I had parasites from Mexico, and this week they decided to wreak havoc on my intestines again… So I contacted my Doc and he hooked me up with a script for some heavy duty antibiotics that have made me drowsy and queasy all week. I was planning on doing the Buffalo Creek TT this week, but it got cancelled, which is probably a good thing since I’ve been sick and my living room is pile of rubble right now that needs to be put away. Alright, that’s enough crap about me for now… maybe since I broke the ice, I’ll start blogging more again… no promises.

Workin' for the Man.

Check out the new team website at team.bikeparts.com!!!!!!!!! I also added a link to it on the side panel.

Wow... time flys when your working 9-5. I can't believe a whole month has already passed since my last blog. The hospital job is going pretty well... I wouldn't mind being able to ride my bike all day instead, but, I'm choosing this lifestyle instead for now. I've been super busy though... on top of working, I've been taking Genetics, studying for the GRE and still trying to train three or four days a week, with an hour of shoulder rehab every day too... pretty hectic. Time for a social life? Somehow I still manage to have a little room for this. Luckily, I've been able to get a lot of studying done at work.

I'm bummed because I came down with a cold yesterday, so I'm not going to be able to put the big miles in that I was looking forward too doing all week. Well that's all for now. I'm going to get as much HW done this weekend while I'm sick and try to get ahead.

New Job

It's finally warming up!! The weather has been so crappy lately, I feel like I'm living up in Minnesota again... snow storms every few days and sub-20 degree highs. Well I've been able to stay pretty active considering the conditions. I've either been running or xc skiing everyday... not a whole lot of riding though. I'm finally going to get out for a ride today. The plan is to ride up Flagstaff and then cut over to coal creek canyon, then ride up over to ned... It will probably be pretty epic. I'm not really feeling too up to it right now, but it needs to be done.

My roommates, Shep and Alders, have been joining me for the col winter miles.

Group snow MTB ride, earlier this week.

My life is about to drastically change begining tomorrow... I'm going to start working a full-time 9-5 job. That's right, I got a job at Boulder Community Hospital as a Radiology Assistant... Who's RAD now Ross?!?... Ok, your still the RADest.

Oh yeah, I change the blog up a little... the look seriously needed to be updated.

It's time to chamois up people!!

Changes....

Okay, now that I've left the previous post (Mexico) up for about three weeks (pretty typical), I hope that all of you have read it multiple times now... enough so that you feel as though you experienced the same trip as I had.

Anyway, crazy shit has been happening in my life since the return. I should have been keeping the blog updated while these were occuring... but oh well. Well, the night I got back from Mexico, I got food poisening or something from a burrito I ate at the Dallas airport... I felt like I was going to die for about three full days and nights... it was hell. After that cleared up, Ali and I decided to part ways. It wasn't working out and both of us knew it... so breaking up was the best option. I found a new place and moved out the very next day. I'm now living with Master Mechanic Shep, Brian Alders-Brian Alders, Sunshine, and few other guys I just met. There's a total of 7 people living here now (including myself).

I got settled quickly because now that I'm done with school, I have to deal with the harsh realities of making money, and following a career path. So I've been job searching relentlessly, looking for a job in a clinic or a hospital that specifically puts me in contact with a lot of patients and has me doing basic medical procedures (taking vitals, inserting IVs, etc). My goal is to get into Physician Assistant school in 2008, so I need about a full year of medical experience as a prereq to get in. I've had one interview as a Radiology Assistant, and the interview went really well, I think I have that job in the bag. I still have another interview in Denver... the job sounds great, but it's in Denver... I don't know if I can handle that kind of commute (by car or bike). I did get one job and quit already. I got a job as a dishwasher at a sorority of 60 girls... it sounded great at the time, I would get free breakfast, lunch and dinner everday and only had to work a couple nights a week... but I decided with a new full-time job, training, and taking Genetics ( a prereq for PA school), I'm gonna be spread pretty thin.

I've also been either riding or xc skiing almost everyday... the weather has completely sucked ass since I got back from Boulder. It's probaby good for me though... I'm spending more time doing important "life" things, like looking for a job.

Oh yeah... bike racing plans... I haven't said a word about that in long time. Well I decided that I don't want to do the road thing anymore a long time ago. I did decide that I do want to return to the dirt. Luckily, I didn't have to try to sell myself very much this year because I have teh connections with all my previous teammates from DEAN from a few years ago. So, I was lucky enough to get in contact with those guys at the right time and got set up riding with them. The main sponsors are Maverick, GoFast, and Bikeparts.com. I'm really excited about this team, its with a great group of racers. I'll be teamed up with Jesse Swift, Matt Unger, Brian Laiho... and a few other guys... It should be a blast!

Well, I'm going to go try and brave the cold again... not sure if I'm skiing or riding yet... will decide soon. Enjoy your Sunday!!