My 2008 New Year's Resolutions

1) NO MORE CRASHES!
2) Top 9 at Rutger's Season Opener Time Trial for the ECCC collegiate season under the Men's D category
3) Lose 20 lbs by summer
4) Place top 15 in all of my USCF road races over summer
5) Purchase a Fuji Track Pro
6) Start track racing, place top 10 in those races
7) look into upgrading to Road Category 4
8) Upgrade to better wheels, tires, components, etc.

Comments please... Thanks!

MERRY CHRISTMAS...

And Happy New Years!

To all my readers, have a safe holiday season and DRIVE SAFELY!!

For the cyclist readers, ride safely and be aware that there will probably be more drivers out there for the next week or so than any other time of the year! Also, drinking is more usual around this time especially New Year's Eve and Day, so just be more careful and aware when riding.

NEW BIKE!

I just ordered a Trek 2100 D recently from Spokes Bike Shop in Hamburg, PA. I put down $300 for it and it will arrive at the bike shop soon and they will start assembling it for me right away. Hopefully with the officiating of basketball games I'm doing, and the Christmas and Birthday money I should get in the coming weeks, I can pay off my bike by the first week of January and start training again right away. Yes my birthday is coming up on January 3rd. Don't forget ;-)

D-O-N-E... Finally

The worst and best semester of my college career has ended. Worst in terms of health (bad cold, shingles, bike/car crash, sinus infection - in that order one after another), but best in that I got back on my feet regardless, dusted myself off and still finished this semester strong with my classes.

This Christmas break is going to be eventful. I'm off from school until January 14th, I have a lot of High School (JV and JH) basketball games to officiate, as well as a bunch of CYO and Biddy games. I'm also focusing on trying to buy a new bike or get a fork and wheel for my Trek 1000. I really need to get back on the bike SOOOOOON! I'm slowly getting out of shape, already have gained lbs which is visible to me... not good! I'm probably going to call the bike shop tomorrow or Monday to see if they can help me out with my bike.

In latest news... Trek is now the official bike supplier for Team Astana. Not sure if I'm happy about Trek going with a Foreign Country's team, but I know they wanted to sponsor a good team, and Team Astana, respectfully, is a good team. I'm sure Trek will be successful with being the bike supplier for Team Astana. I just hope a professional team emerges to the top in the US within the next year or two after the Discovery Channel team dropped, and Trek will become its bike supplier.

Anyways, Next time I post, hopefully I will have gotten back on the road with either a rebuilt Trek 1000 or a Trek 2100 D! Until next time.........

Almost Over, Finally

Sitting in the computer lab of DeSales University's Trexler Library, I just completed my final project for my last class of the semester tomorrow. I sit here anxiously waiting for my friend to finish his project as well, and got bored so I though I'd make a post.

Next week is Final Exams week, which I only have three of them; one on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Oh how I cannot wait until I am finished so I can focus on my winter training to get ready for the 2008 Road and Track season.

I have not bought a new bike yet, but I'm considering buying a cheap fork and wheel (both under $50 combined probably) somewhere for my Trek 1000 and use that until I do buy a new bike. This will be sufficient for my training in the mean time.

I'm about ready to leave the library now, so until next time, thanks for reading!

Univest Grand Prix Cyclosportif: 20 Mile Mistake

On September 8th of this year, Jon and I decided to do the Univest Grand Prix Cyclosportif 40 Mile ride. It was more of a community fun ride than a race, but there was a prize for the first finisher of the 40 mile and the 60 mile rides. Jon and just wanted to go for training and fun.

The race started at about 8:00, and Jon and I embarked on our 40 mile ride. Jon and I worked together to move forward, but about 5 or 10 miles into the ride came a sharp right, uphill turn that I bonked on and Jon continued to move forward. I stayed back hoping to catch up to him at some point. I never got that chance because of what happened...

About 20 miles in to the race, I was behind this guy who just would not keep his line, and I had no opportunity to pass him. Coming to this left, downhill turn I saw an opportunity to pass him, hoping he would go to the inside of the turn so I could go to the outside. Well, he did go inside, so I went outside. He, again, couldn't keep his line and drifted to the outside as I was trying to pass him, forcing me off the road and into someone's front yard. I first hit a small ditch just off the shoulder of the road, and then when I was still up and riding after that I was headed for this HUGE tree. I just barely missed it, as in I felt the tree brush my shirt. Had I been going even slightly faster, I would've hit the tree and could've been badly injured. After passing the tree I turned to head back onto the road but when I got just off the side of the road there were riders coming around the bend and I just got so frustrated that I got off my bike and threw it into the ground. This ended up lodging my computer's wireless sensor on the fork into the wheel without me knowing, and when I went to take off (after the riders have finally passed me) I heard a snapping sound, and saw that my sensor broke. I no longer had a working sensor for the rest of the ride so I kept asking other riders "what mile are we at?" throughout the course. This all took me out of the race for about 3 or 4 minutes, so I really didn't stand a chance to catch up to Jon.

Now for the 20 mile mistake I made. About 30 miles into the race is where the 60-milers and the 40-milers break apart. I guess I was riding with a bunch of 60-milers and wasn't paying attention to any of the signs. At this one left turn, the 40-milers were supposed to turn right and I did not because, again, I was not paying attention to the signs and I was riding with all 60-milers that made the left turns where I was supposed to go right. So yeah, I did a 60 mile ride when I was supposed to only do 40 miles.

I don't know if I plan to do this again next year, because this was a bad experience for me, but that is because of errors. The whole 60 mile ride took me 4 hours, 38 minutes and 13 seconds (4:38:13). I did decent comparing myself to other the other 60 mile riders' time, and I didn't come in last in the 40 mile. For the results, click here.