Good News! (and other things)

First off, I got some good news, probably just for me. I was comparing the Track schedule with several races I'd like to do over the summer, including the Pottsville City Cycle 17 (non-usac). On the track I would only be able to do the Masters and Rookies Series on Saturdays this summer, and unfortunately that is when some of my favorite criteriums are, and so is the Pottsville CC17. The last two summers the CC17 fell on the last Saturday in July so going by that I figured it would be July 25th this summer. When I looked at the track schedule, that is a Masters and Elite Championship weekend, which means I do not race that weekend! So the good news is that I'll get to race in the City Cycle 17 this summer! Not much for all of you reading this, but I was afraid recently that I may not be able to race in the CC17 this summer if it falls on the same day I have a track race. This summer is more for my track career than road once I finish up the Collegiate Cycling season.

Speaking of which, next weekend is the Easterns Collegiate Cycling Conference (ECCC) season opener at Rutgers and Princeton, starting with the Rutgers Time Trial opener on Saturday. Couldn't do this last year because more than half the team didn't want to go on account of the rain that day, but this year I hope we fight through it because they are calling for rain again (but it's a week away, things can and usually do change). This year I'm making it happen. I'm going regardless, and I'm going to place top 7 to be the first to contribute points to the team. Overall I hope I do top 10, but 7 or less will get me at least 1 point. Then there is the Criterium at Princeton later on Saturday, and then back to Rutgers on Sunday for a circuit race. More on those later this week.

Kimberly Geist of Metro VW will be racing with us again, in her last season with the DeSales University Cycling Team, prior to graduating in May, just like me. She's mainly the reason why we place top 10 in our division at the end of the last two seasons, even though our other team members have contributed points, including myself for a few points after a team time trial.

We also have newcomer and freshman Taylor, who will be racing Women Intro for a few races. I have good feelings about her, especially after seeing her training with me on the road and on the trainer. Not to put pressure on her if she happens to read this, but I do think she could kick ass in the time trials and criteriums this year. She'll do fine in road races as well.

It is only the three of us this year. Only one from last year's team graduated, the others dropped out of the team because of either lost interest or busy schedule. Kind of disappointed but whatever, we'll still do well with the three of us. Yes, this means I'm the only guy on the team this year so I have to really make something happen.

I wouldn't be surprised if this is the last year for the DeSales University Cycling Team, but Kim, Taylor and I are going to start making the team known to the local community for any high school seniors interested in coming to DeSales University. Even though Kim and I are graduating this year, we still care about the team and do not want Taylor to just be left in the dark. Since Taylor still has three years before graduating, I want to see her race until she graduates so I'll even help out with the team after I graduate. In a few weeks there is an incoming-freshmen event for those graduating high school soon and coming to DeSales University in the fall, so I got us a table to that event and the three of us, and hopefully Scott (the president of our club), will be there to try and raise interest. Even if we don't have a team, I hope for the club to still be here.

Well, that's enough for one day. It's about 7:20 am on Sunday, and I plan on going out for a ride between 8 and 9 this morning for up to 3 hours. I'm gonna do some sprint and time trial workout for at least the first hour, and then base fitness riding to the end. Have a good Sunday!