Not what I was expecting.

This weekend kicked off the 2013 Virginia cycling season, the William and Mary Winter Classic to be more specific. After I registered for the race last week, I immediately checked WeatherUnderground rain was in the forecast. Yesterday, Saturday morning started with 6:00am butterflies followed by heavy sighs from the inevitable monsoon taking place. Since the Cat4 road race started at 10:00am we wanted to be on the road headed to Williamsburg by 7:30am. Once on the highway, the rain picked up as well as 64West was backed up at the HRBT. After making it through the tunnel we picked up a teammate, and our rain filled journey continued. We arrived at York River state park around 9:00am, once registered, we bundled up it was 40s no sun and tons of rain; after getting the bikes off the racks and tires pumped up it was warm-up time. 10:00am sharp we all lined up and the neutral roll out commenced. Once the whistle blew my heart rate sky rocketed, I clipped in, started my Garmin and away we went. Within half a mile my glasses were useless from the rain and tire grit and my contacts had a nice coat of mud forming. Before the race started I created a mental checklist to work on during the race: stay towards the front, fight for position, don't over worry and if there is a break away chance take it. The first lap consisted of a bunch of nervous riders in the rain clinging to their brakes, even the lead up to KOA hill was slow, once we reached the hill it was sketchy and choppy, but thankfully uneventful. The second lap was a little faster, riders remained nervous and I kept my cool. The third lap was horrid, once up the KOA hill the speed picked up, about 3 miles later I was in good position third row from the front, right in the middle when it happened. The rider in front of me hit his breaks at the foot of a small climb, instead of eating his wheel I veered to the right, my immediate reaction was to lean into him with my helmet "seeing Mark Cavendish do this numerous times it was etched into my mind" hoping he would hold me up, instead of letting me go down taking half the peleton with me, luckily it worked. As soon as the starting line was visible the pace rocketed up, the last lap has started. At this point I was in great position top ten, and since there wasn't much movement I was rested as well. The KOA descend was extremely slow, which I wasn't expecting, once the climb started there was no room too move up. At the top I was rested by the next straight I was rested up with no attack nor anyone doing any work. The final is where I knew I had to attack, so as everyone slowed I geared down and out of the saddle I went creating a gap between me and the peleton. I kept my head down until I was tired, looking back there was just a gap no one came with me so I let off the pace some but stayed on the front, remembering to leave some in the tank I peeled off the front and back into the peleton. As the last straight crept up on me I moved into a good position around twelfth taking a left onto the finish road with 1km flying by me. Out of the saddle I went, the riders quickly opened across both lanes, all of the sudden the motor pace bike started beeping his horn attempting to push the riders back into a single lane "which was not advertised" causing a shit storm of a crash. The riders in front of me toppled, knowing I was certainly headed for a crash I chose to swerve the rider and his bike for the wet grass that looked much softer; once whipping out and realizing my only injuries were soreness I shook it off and rolled to the finish line. Although I'm a bit shaken up, I can't wait until the Chesapeake crit, March 10th. Keep the tires on the pavement and the bike right side up.

Ambition...

So it has been a very short 3 months since I have posted a new blog. Let me give you a quick recap of what has happened in our little world. College wise I passed all 4 of my classes moved my GPA up to a 3.0 "stoked" and found out glass blowing just isn't for me. April was my 25 birthday, got my first pair of free running shoes from my mother "which I will never go back to normal shoes"; also in April Ashley, and I had a weekend getaway to Washington D.C. and visited the Smithsonian Museum. If you have never made it up there, it's a must. The exhibits are amazing my personal favorite is the wooly mammoth/Abraham Lincoln not in any order. After visiting D.C. I have realized a large over run city just isn't for me, people shoulder to shoulder and the poverty level is lower than Nicki Minaj cleavage. After saving all of my pennies I was able to get a new race bike 2012 Trek Madone 5.2 she is all carbon and weighing in at 15.2 with cages and pedals I couldn't be happier with it, Thanks to http://eastcoastbicycles.com/  always providing great parts at amazing prices and the mechanics are on point. This being my first race season I am really happy with my finishes 7 races 5 top 10s a top 30 in a Cat 4/5 road race and a 21st in a race that I was smart enough to pull out, the front 5 crashed and I was just happy to finish without crashing my rig. Last week I put in for my Cat 4 upgrade, still waiting for it to be official; I might be small fries still but hey I gotta start somewhere. celeritycycling.com/ is my teams website. Why did I join this team? Well my 2 team Captains Dan Netzer, and Frank Cundiff are a couple of hungry animals on 2 wheels and can shake me any day of the week. Every time I get the chance I ride with them learning and soaking up all the information I can, good isn't good enough; only great is going to work for this guy. After getting some advice from my teammates I have shrunk my weekly mileage and  upped my Avg speed. I went from 200 miles per week avg 19.0mph to 140 miles per week with a new avg 24.0mph. Last Tuesday was my first bully ride out at Great Bridge Cyclery and let me be the first to say that is exactly what it is, an all out RACE. No friends, no enemies just all out racing, and let me tell you I love it. Pulling at 31mph is a rush I can't explain. Therefore, Thursday I went back for seconds bringing 2 teammates Brandon Carter and Chris Goyne, we rep'd hard and worked great together. This weekend is the Stony Point crit race up in Richmond, VA. and I am very excited to crush it. Earlier this week a couple friends of mine Patrick Ard and Anna Ard made a video short of me and a coupe of my teammates, so check it out and give us some feedback. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDIuZ-kIgqM&feature=youtu.be Until next time. Stay right side up and keep the tires on the pavement.

What you see is what you get?

It's been a few weeks since my last update. Where should we begin? Once the spring semester of school started it was face first in the books. This semester I'm taking Art History, Spanish, Glass blowing, and English writing; do I work you ask? In a sense taking 15 credit hours for college, cycling 300 miles a week, studying for exams, and helping friends with photography. Enough about that, my spanish is coming along quite nicely, I am really digging my professor he is quite comical. As most know I love cycling "understatement" in the last three weeks I have purchased 3 bicycles and have sold 2. Currently my line up is my Trek T1 fixed gear brakeless, recently we threw some Continental Gator skins on it. The newest addition is my Trek 2.1 with all Sram Force group set, minus Sram Rival carbon double tap shifters, and all components are from a Trek 5.1 Madone I absolutely love this bike and he shifts like butter. As some know I recently joined Tri Power race team out of Virginia Beach, Virginia; the atmosphere of the group is amazing everyone is very informative. Along with my extra riding, I broke down and purchased cycling shoes, cycling bibs etc. Let me be the first to admit I have hated on the spandex gear but from experience wearing the correct gear really makes riding more enjoyable. Overall I try and ride at least 300 miles per week thats commuting, solo, and group riding; along with 7-9 hours per week on my indoor trainer. Why am I doing this? For the first time in my life, I can honestly say I enjoy the competitive environment of cycling. Pushing my body to new boundaries is awesome, but being able to muscle over the pain, drown the agony out grit your teeth and get to work. Priceless. After a hard ride Sunday morning I came home to awesome breakfast Ashley whipped up for us. What was it you ask! "Sausage rolls" Cooking is not my strong point at all, but admitting Ashley is amazing is fairly easy SHE IS AMAZING! My main focus with photography besides cycling and cycling gear has been Jobie. He is so photogenic and makes taking photos easy. Our eyes stay peeled open for possible Sphynx sitings if anyone knows of a Sphynx that needs adoption please email us. Thanks for viewing.