Hockey

After skiing for five days in a row, and because the weather is pretty nasty outside, I decided I would go play hockey. It is kind of a ritual for me now to go play once a year to remind myself that it is a pretty fun sport.

It is a lot different from mountain biking. I thought for sure, since I ride so much and am in such good shape, hockey would be no problem. But sprinting from one end of the ice to the other still makes me have to take a little breather. My feet were hurting most of the time, and I have blisters on my heels now, most likely where calluses used to be.

I was a little worried at first that I would have forgotten how to skate and handle a puck. It came right back though. It just like riding a bike (although that phrase has a different meaning now).

Anyway, it was fun to play again and I hope that there is intramural hockey wherever I go to grad school, but after all this skiing and hockey, I am very excited to get back on the bike for the long cold rides of January.

First time skiing

I went out XC skiing for the first time ever today. It was a lot of fun, but challenging.

I ended up falling about 7 times, one of which was a pretty nice face plant into the snow. I will say that falling on skis is a lot less painful then crashing off a mountain bike. It is a lot harder to get up though.

I haven't ridden much since Iceman because school has been quite busy. (That's just my very good excuse- I actually have enjoyed the time off.) I am excited to get back into it, though. Now that school won't be busy again for a while, I don't have an excuse, but I don't think I will need one.

I have gone on a couple bike rides this week with very cold temps and wind chills. Frozen water bottles and frozen sweat on my glasses seem to be quite common now. Can't wait to start doing it everyday...

XC Skiing

Yesterday I bought some cross country skis. They still have to come in, but I am very excited to give new sport a try, since I haven't done any sport but cycling since high school when I played hockey.

And now I have decided not to ride inside once this winter. Either ride or ski.

Back on the Bike

I made my return to biking today after a 2 week hiatus. It was a nice three hour local loop ride with Steve. With the exception of no feeling in my tarsals, it was an awesome ride.

I got to try out some singletrack I have never ridden before. It was pretty technical and was tough enough that Steve and I had to walk a bit of it.

That is all...I just wanted to share my excitement that I am riding again. It is colder now, but it is still great to ride. My knee is feeling a lot better now, too.

So here goes the start to a couple month long base mile period.

Blog

It has been a long time and a lot has happened since the last time I posted on this blog. Since I got back from Florida, I have raced 14 races and only won one (out of 1 racer). This last half of the year didn't go as well as the first year as far as results are concerned, but it was still fun...at least most of it.

The Tailwind series ended with Stony Creek XC. It was one of the muddiest races I've done (until the next week at MSU- where I lost all braking ability). I got 1st place out of 1 in the race, which clinched my overall series championship. So, I was this years Expert Men 19-29 State Champion. Plus I got a free Iceman entry out of it.

Collegiate season was really long. We raced 6 weekends straight and it took its toll on my body. Combined with my way too serious attitude about race during the last half (which goes against everything I bike for), my form declined more and more each weekend.

After having a great race halfway through the season at Lindsey Wilson, where I was sitting 2nd almost the whole race until I crashed with a couple miles to go, then rapidly declining, I decided not to go to Nationals. It gave me a much needed month off from racing before Iceman a couple weeks ago.

Iceman went very well. I got fifth, but I still had a lot of fun and was in the lead for most of the race despite having crashed in the first couple miles and losing touch with the leaders.

One aspect of my racing that has improved the most this year is my starts. I have gotten very good at starting and was able to be in the top three for almost all collegiate races this year going into the woods, with a couple hole-shots. Starting better has had an amazing impact on my racing. Going into the woods third position at Lindsey Wilson definitely was a huge factor in my being in second place for most of the race.

The collegiate season marked some ups and downs. After Lindsey Wilson, I started taking racing too seriously and it started not being fun. Here is a picture of me being too serious:
During the third lap at regionals, I finally started having fun and enjoying myself. I rode out the rest of the race with Chris and Jon, and we were just chatting the entire race (mainly bashing Union). Here is a picture of me being not-serious (a fake sprint with Chris and Jon, we let Chris win since it was his birthday):

The best thing about this season was getting Kelly Bartlett into it. She started out already awesome...there must be good cycling in the Bartlett genes. She won 3 out of the 4 races she did. Her skill improved rapidly in just the few weeks she started riding. She bought a bike only two weeks into it and raced her first race only three weeks into it. Here is Kelly looking awesome going up a hill.
Unfortunately, she broke her collarbone and Team BCB won't be able to ride together again until spring. Team BCB is Kelly, Steve, and me. It is our super-cool team created once we got kelly into it.

I think I will start writing again, since Mike has a new blog (which means I will get some traffic again).

Florida Report

I know it has taken me a while (I have had a busy week back), but here it is.

Florida was fun. Hot, but fun.

It started in Lakeland. My time in Lakeland consisted again, as it did in CT as a lot of Tour de France watching. I got to spend a lot of time with my mom and got to see my other siblings and my grandpa, too. It was a really good time. Here is a nice collage of a picture of me with all of them.
Near the end of the week, I took a drive up to Gainesville to visit my friend Jamie who goes to UF. That was a fun time, too. Not very eventful, just went to a couple bars. Although one was a dancing bar that was called :08 (8 Seconds). If you can't tell yet, it was a country bar. Everyone was line-dancing and it was all country music. I was very surprised to find out that there is a unique line dance for every song that they line dance to- actually pretty impressive.

After Lakeland was down to West Palm Beach and the Keys with my brother and his wife and her family. This was a lot of fun. I already talked a little bit about it. I did a lot of snorkeling and water stuff. I ended up only catching one lobster that wasn't big enough, but it turned out to be good enough for me. Ryan and Erin and her family get really serious when it comes to catching lobsters, so I think I helped the most by staying out of the way.

There were amazing sunsets every night and I think the only pictures of me down there also had a sunset in it. Here is one of them.Speaking of the sun, I actually took my shirt off for a lot of the trip. A week in the Keys with my shirt off still didn't seem to be enough to get rid of my tanlines, so I think it is just hopeless to try.

Overall, I had a great trip in all three places I visited. Thanks to all of my hosts for great times. I am very relieved to be back, though. A month of doing nothing started to make me feel like a bum. Plus I was without a bike for two weeks. So now I am back and working and riding. Back to the usual grind.

And just to mention riding...I rode the super sketchy section of the local loop last night with 7 eggs in my back pocket- in the dark. I went down once, but didn't land on my back, so the eggs were fine and made it all the way from Steve's to my place and were just the right temperature to make pasta.

July Wrap-Up

Due to nine days off and lots of MTB riding, in CT and running in Florida, July turned out being a pretty light month.

I did a total of 338 miles, 2/3 being on the road bike. I did 3 races and was humbled in all of them. I've been running the past week in order to keep up the fitness until I can get back on my bike.

August will be a better month, since I will not be racing until the end. This will be my last chance to get intense training in before collegiate season starts.

I'll be back on the bike on Monday.