New Year's Resolution

With about 11 hours to go in the year, I thought I'd take this time to post some cycling-specific resolutions and goals. Some are the same or similar to last year's resolution, as I did not reach them or didn't have a chance to.

1) Top 9 at Rutger's Season Opener Time Trial for the ECCC collegiate season under the Men's D category.
2) Lose 10-15 lbs by mid summer
3) Start track racing and upgrade to category 4 by end of the season
4) Place top 15 in all USCF races over the summer
5) Category 4 in Road possibly?
6) Upgrade bike components
7) Compete in at least 6 USCF races (Road races, crit, or TT)

I'm going to try and approach my training differently this year, and include some lifting to improve power and strength, as well as endurance. Hopefully this will help me in upgrading to Category 4 in Road, as well as do pretty well on the track. In all honesty, I believe I belong more on the track than I do on the road. I'm more of a sprinter and I have power that makes me more of a track racer, and I do not really have a huge amount of endurance, as needed on the road.

Anyways, Happy New Years, and enjoy the extra second we are getting today!

Transitional days

As 2008 comes to an end and 2009 is about to start, I thought I'd go back to last year when I wrote down some cycling-specific resolutions and my results/reflections:

1) NO MORE CRASHES!

I did just that, no more crashes (well, still got 4 more days to go with at least 2 rides planned)

2) Top 9 at Rutger's Season Opener Time Trial for the ECCC collegiate season under the Men's D category

We actually didn't go to the first day of Rutger's, so I was not able to attempt this. This will probably be a resolution for next year.

3) Lose 20 lbs by summer

by summer I lost only like 5 lbs, and over the summer I lost another 5 lbs. I was able to keep most of that 10 lbs off, but never reached 20 lbs. current weight is between 175 and 178.

4) Place top 15 in all of my USCF road races over summer

Still not able to keep with the pack on races, but definitely getting better. Best I did was 19th, and that was out of 21.

5) Purchase a Fuji Track Pro

Haven't done that, but will be getting one next week

6) Start track racing, place top 10 in those races

Since I never got a chance to buy a track bike yet, haven't even raced on the track. I did, however, place 3rd in the AP Finals at the track on a rental bike, so that counts towards this... somewhat...

7) look into upgrading to Road Category 4

I did look into it (haha) but never actually did. Going to try to approach my training in a different way this year in order to do better in my races and maybe upgrade to 4 sometimes during the summer.

8) Upgrade to better wheels, tires, components, etc.

Well, I did do some upgrades. I got better tires after I was force to when one of my former tires became damaged. I got a new stem after a bike fitting several weeks ago. Other than that, I really didn't do any upgrades on my bike. Never got a job over the summer to afford upgrades, unfortunately.

So there they are. In the next few days I will be thinking of some more resolutions for next year, and then post them up. Thanks for reading!

Merry Christmas

and a HAPPY NEW YEARS!

As a tradition, my immediate family exchanges gifts the night of Christmas Eve. This year we did it a little earlier, more like the afternoon or evening of today, but that's ok!

I got:
$80 gift card to Marshalls
Jeff Dunham Very Special Christmas Special DVD (funniest guy EVER!)
$200 from my dad to go towards the purchasing of a Fuji Track Pro (used @ $500)
Monopoly Electronic Banking board game
Garmin Nuvi 255w GPS (that I got a few weeks ago from my mom)

My younger sister's gift to me is yet to arrive, she told me she just ordered it online yesterday (late shopper, following in Mom's footsteps!). Probably should be here early next week in that case.

Anyways, I hope everyone got what they wanted, or will get what they want tomorrow from Santa Claus and loved ones. Drive safely too, and those of you that will be riding, ride safely! Unfortunately no outdoor riding here for a few days now, we got hit with a lot of snow and ice in the last week. Roads are horrible and nasty right now.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

My 11th Ending

Today is the last day of classes for the Fall (and my 11th) Semester, and what's even better is that this will be MY last semester of required courses! I have two more classes to endure through, the next one starting in a few minutes.

Next semester I have to do 12 credits of internship (480 hours in 16 weeks). Since most of my work I'll be doing next semester will be within the internships, I wanted to have something to do outside of my internship. So I decided to take a photography class that meets Tuesdays and Thursdays evening. This will give me something to do and work on while I'm not working on my internship stuff. More about my internships when I get all the details worked out.

Later today I will be having Body Composition and VO2 Max testings done in the state-of-the-art science building we have on campus. What does this mean? FREE!!!! The one professor is an advocate for our cycling team on campus, and has offered us testings last year. Well, if you remember, last year I was in a collision with an SUV, just a week or two before the testings were to be done. I was fortunate enough to be able to have the testings done today, after all of my classes are done and I can relax finally (before Finals, that is).

Last Saturday I had a bike fitting done for $50, and let me tell you, it was DEFINITELY worth it! Everything was off on my bike, and so everything was adjusted (saddle, cleats, seatpost, etc). I feel a lot better and stronger on the bike now, but I will give more details when I get more rides in with the new fitting.

Well, my coaching class starts in just a minute of this typing, so I should go head to class. I'll write more soon!