Lehigh Valley Winery Criterium race report

First off, I forgot to give an update on my races in the last few weeks. Why? Because I didn't do any of the planned races, and I did one that was not under the "planned races" section of my blog (the AP Finals which is the previous post). Sorry...

Yesterday was the Lehigh Valley Winery Criterium, another race I did last year, and the race that my club is the host. What does that mean? I had to get up at 4:00 am, to be at the race location by 5:30, only to find out I would just stand around and talk to the mothers of the junior racers on the team. Ok, so I did help put up the start/finish line which involved a teammate climbing into the tree, but that was pretty much it and only took 15-20 minutes.

The course is 1.3 miles long, a downhill at the beginning and two climbs with a false flat in between them at the end.

at 7am, I got back to my car, unpacked my bike and got ready for the race. Ate a banana and a chocolate chip muffin, drank a lot of sports drink, and just warmed up in the parking lot and on the race course. at 8:30, my race went off.

Feeling very comfortable, I actually stayed in the field for 2.5 laps. However, the pace picked up on the first climb on the 3rd lap (which made no sense to me) and I did get dropped. My legs felt like they were lead at this point and I kept considering just dropping out. I kept going though, and with a few laps to go I did get lapped. However, I just caught on to the back of the field and did a lap with them, which helped me catch up to a racer ahead of me on the same lap. Him and I then rode the last 1.5 laps together and it came down to a sprint finish. This is byfar, the FIRST and ONLY time anyone has beaten me out in a sprint. I was spinning in too low of a gear, while he just kept inching away from me. I gave up about 20 yards from the finish line because I wasn't in a sprinting gear.

I got 2nd to last place (19/20) but there was at least 22 starters. I think I did better last year than I did this year at this race.

Possibly another race next week, I would just have to give up a some soccer games I am scheduled to officiate in order to do this race, since it is on the other side of the NJ/PA border, but only 30 minutes from my school. Even though it might be possible to do all, it would be too much driving for me. I will update later this week.

yesterday I was a bike rider...

Tonight, I became a competitive cyclist.

I got 3RD and a bronze medal during the AP Finals at the Valley Preferred Cycling Center (Formally Lehigh Valley Velodrome) in my Adults category (19-39 year olds). I was up against 8 or 9 other cyclists, 3 or 4 of which I was to be concerned about being about the same strength as me or stronger. I almost got beaten by another guy, but just at the end I gave a few hard pushes to inch away from him, I just barely beat him by an inch or so.

Pictures will come in the next few days when they are put on the velodrome's website and when my dad runs the pictures from the camera to the computer.

New Dream: become a pro track rider at the Friday Nights in 5 years!

Michael Phelps

(tried posting last night, blogger wasn't allowing me to log in for some reason)

Congratulations to Michael Phelps for an incredible 8th Gold Medal win yesterday with his relay teammates. I was watching the race live and was scared they wouldn't do it when the second swimmer was falling back a little, tiny bit. But then Phelps was able to make that up and surpass the other swimmers by a little, and then the fourth guy finished it off. Just incredibly awesome.

And did you hear?

Phelps is the wealthiest swimmer at age 23, bringing in $5,000,000 in endorsements.

And I was blown away by this next fact about him... HE EATS 12,000 CALORIES A DAY! A DAY!! He trains 30 hours a week, I barely do that in 3 weeks, some of the time. The guy is incredible and just, a superhuman! WOW!