Well then….

Still alive? I guess I am.  Wow it’s been sometime since I last updated.  June!  During the ToAD series.  I’m sorry about that all you loyal follers (all 2 of you who somehow stumbled upon my blog while trying to goggle something not even relating to my blog).

I do apologize for my hiatus though.  I don’t know I guess I just didn’t have it in me to blog about anything.  Where do I start I guess. I guess the rest of my cycling season….ok GO!

I raced the rest of ToAD.  All 11 days of the series.  I was toast after we finished.  I finished up 10th overall in the Cat 2 series.  I’m a little bummed about that seeing I was sitting 4th for a bit, but then a couple bad days happened.  At the Road race up at Greenbush I was caught up behind a crash that split me and many others from the main peloton.  My friend Nick was the one that went down.  He had to get some stitches to his chin.  I tried chasing back on, but my legs were just fried that day.  I sat in the sun and just watched the rest of the race at the start/finish line.  My best race was the 70 mile road race at Road America.  It was awesome getting to race bicycles on a track that is usually used for motorcycles and race cars.  It was a hard and hot day.  Attacks, attacks and more attacks.  The little hills each lap was zapping a lot out of the legs, but I held strong.  On the last lap I was able to roll off the front and head to the finish line solo (almost catching the break ahead of me).  Two others joined after about 3km.  I didn’t have very much left but I tried to keep pushing.  Got to the final hill to the finish and I barely had energy left.  I saw the sprinters start up behind me.  Crap.  I only had 4 of them pass me at the finish line.  I ended up 28th I think.  I was still happy that I at least tried!  Then there was Fond du Lac.  I crashed pretty hard at that one.  I got pinched off into the barriers.  I guess I scared the officials.  I was able to get back into the race, but I was hurting.  I thought I broke my arm and leg when I was laying on the ground, because I wasn’t able to move either limb very well.  But they were just stiff I guess.  The last 2 races got really hard, because a couple United Healthcare Pro Cycling guys decided to show up all fresh and beat up on the field.  I held on and finished in the field at the first one.  The last race of the series: Carl Zach Crit I just wanted to be done racing.  I held it together though.  I was split from the group I was in….there were probably 4 or 5 different groups on the course that day.  The race just blew apart.  I ended up 30th I believe.

After all that I took too long of a rest and didn’t race until a month later at Superweek: Whitefish Bay.  I got my ass handed to me due to the non-existent speed work I was doing the last month.  This year will be different though.  After that it was Glencoe Gran Prix where a crash took me out of competition again.  My last race (which should have not been my last race) of the season was at Fond du Lac again.  I was really testing the legs and going on flyers and then sitting in the field.  Well it came down to the final lap.  I was sitting 10th wheel going around the first corner.  I went on the outside of the turn, my teammate on the inside.  My teammates tubular rolls off and he’s sliding right at me!  I hit his rear wheel and superman over him right into a nice muddy puddle. I land on his bike.  I get orientated and notice my sock is sticking to his front chainring.  Damn destroyed sock.  Oh well.  I get up and my ankle is hurting a bit.  Whatever I was just in a crash.  I ride back over to my friends at the start line, sit down and begin to take off my sock.  A flap of skin comes right with it!  The chainring gouged my ankle pretty bad.  Down to the fat layer (if I have any fat down there).  I had to skip my race the next day (Race The Lake) and had to drive back to Madison to the hospital.  Ended up getting 3 stitches and taking a bit more time off the bike :-/

Ok so I had some bad luck this year, however, I believe this was one of my better, stronger years. I was overall very pleased with my performance.  Now just to leave the bad luck behind.  Recently, I believe I have been training smarter and with a purpose.  I want 2011 to be my breakout year and I believe that it can be if I just do things right.

I have been riding more consistently, with a little break in the middle of Dec due to the GRE, I have also been weight lifting every Mon, Wed, and Sat.  Next week I’ll actually start working on a little bit more of my explosiveness in the gym.  I’ve tried to watch my diet during the winter and I’m doing pretty well.  With the season coming up faster and faster I’ve been really watching what is going into my body.  I’m at a good weight right now and I would like to keep it that way.

For 2011 I will continue to ride for the Wheel & Sprocket Elite Team.  We have some new recruits this year and I think we’ll have a pretty strong team this year.  I plan on heading to bigger races this year to hopefully get my foot in the door.  I will also focus heavily on cyclocross this fall, because CX Nationals is right in my backyard!  CX Natz will be held in Madison, WI at Badger Prairie Park!!!!  Sweet stuff right there!  I’m going to purchase a CX bike later in the summer and will race at Natz!  I’ll hopefully have a 2011 Schedule tab up at the top of my blog soon.

What else?  Well, I still work at Steep & Brew :-/ Not the happiest about that, but at least I still have a job.  I did hold another job during the months of Nov/Dec.  Just seasonal work at Vom Fass.  Look them up, awesome place!  Different types of olive and nut oils, balsamic and fruit vinegars, and spirits and liquors.  I was really hoping to land a full time job there after the holiday season, but it didn’t work out because they didn’t need the help.

I’ll be coordinating the annual UW Cycling Spring Break trip AGAIN!  This will be my 6th year coordinating it and my 8th time on the trip.  This will be the biggest year to date.  I actually had to get us a 4th cabin.  There will be close to 70 participants on the trip!  Damn thats going to be a lot of food!  EPIC…thats all that can be said.

Finally, I’ve finished applying to graduate school. I really hope I get accepted somewhere.  I’m really keeping my fingers crossed for UW Madison.  Its just time to go back to school and get a higher education.  I want to receive a masters in nutritional science, then go on to become a Registered Dietitian (RD).

Ok well thats good enough for now.  I don’t want to go thru everything I’ve done in the past 6 months as you’ll probably become bored (if you’re not already).  I’ll try harder to keep this blog updated.  At least once a week or something like that.  I think that’s more than possible, especially since I only have 1 job now, don’t have to study for the GRE anymore and have now gotten all my grad school applications submitted.  Gosh sounds like I’ll have a bunch of time!  What will I do with myself???

Ciao ciao

Waitey