A Different "Winter Wonderland"

I'd be lying if I said I don't feel guilty for not blogging in over 3 months, but what better way to start off a new year of hopefully more consistent blogging than by posting on the last day of 2011.

The last 3 months for me have been all over the place. I started out by making the 26 hr drive to Texas shortly after my 19th birthday in October. I can't say I enjoyed the road trip as its hard to find positives to 26 hours alone in a car with only your thoughts and a battery dead iPod, as well as a 6 hour "sleep" in the drivers seat of a small Ford hatchback. I can say, however, that the misery of getting there was totally worth it, because the weather, views, and roads that greeted me were awesome.

I lived and trained in San Antonio and Austin with a good friend of mine up until Thanksgiving when I drove down to meet my parents for the holiday in St. Petersburg, Florida. Unfortunately, I didn't get much training in while I was there, the lack of quiet roads without traffic lights didn't help. But it worked out well as I used the time there as a rest and recovery period, which as it turned out was very needed.

I came back to TX with a burning motivation and immediately got onto the bike again. I hammered out a couple 20+ hour weeks with a few long trail runs in the mornings and some solid power tests, was in the gym every night at 8 for core work and stretching, and was having my legs dug into a few times a week by an active release therapist to ease the strain of the road.

During those 2-3 weeks before Christmas I was also lucky enough to connect with some guys that I really look up to for a couple rides. If you know me, you are probably aware of my goals in this sport, the biggest of which being the Trek Livestrong U23 development team. So, you can imagine how stoked I was to ride with some of the guys on that team that are based out of Austin. I worked out the plan with Gavin Mannion, and met up with the rest of the guys, Lawson Craddock, Nate Brown, their coach, as well as 2009 British national road race champion, Kristian House, at a small coffee shop in downtown Austin.

The ride was awesome. A solid 5 and a half hours in TX country, on some beautiful roads, with some really down to earth and easy-to-talk-to guys. It was nice to be able to ride with guys that are my age, and that are as good as they are, to hear what they had to say about their experiences with cycling and their backgrounds with the sport. When I fly back to TX next week I'll hopefully be hooking back up with Gavin to try to plan a few more of those "blog-worthy" rides.

This has been my life for the last 3 months, waking up every morning with a bit of an ache in my quads, long nights in the gym, deep tissue massage recovery, hundreds of emails back and forth with my coach, thousands of miles of driving, healthy "sale-only" grocery shopping, and memories that I'm probably never going to forget. I'm loving every moment, and to me thats whats most important.


THE PLAN


So, until the 5th I'll be here in VA with family, riding every once in a while, but mostly just relaxing and enjoying the time off. Then I'll be back in TX to continue some serious training for a few weeks.

Now, the plan was to head down to the island of Nassau in late January, to participate in what was going to be my first race of the season, the Tour of the Bahamas, with a few teammates on XO-Comm-Harley-Davidson. However, because of not enough riders able to go, and unfortunate illness of our team leader for that race, its just not going to happen.

Really it came down to, either I can waste the money doing a 3 day race in the Bahamas, or I can head back up to VA at the same time of that race, to participate in the EPIC Haymarket Winter League "Race" Series. First of all this won't cost me anything, and speaking from experience, this series is probably the hardest "race" type simulation you can do at this time of the year. There's even a leader's jersey this year which is awesome!

So, that's the plan. I'll be headed back up to VA in late January to continue training here for a month, or two...or three. Honestly, I don't know how long I'll stay, it'll all really depend on how well the training is going and how my body is reacting to the climate change. At the end of the day, thats really what I have to look at. "Is going here, or doing this, or eating that, really the best thing for my training and maintaining my goals?"

Thanks for reading

Training in Bryce

For the last week I've been in an awesome getaway house near Bryce Resort with family for a long belated reunion. Its good to see everyone back together, especially in a place like this.

The house sits at around 2,000 ft. elevation surrounded by endless hills and beautiful gravel roads, its an ideal place for training, both on and off the bike. However, this being my cross-training portion of the year, I've been using the extra time here to run.

I'll usually get up around 6 or 7 when the air is still moist and its in the low 50's which, in my opinion, is pretty much perfect running weather. The miles haven't been tumbling quite as easily as I wanted them to, but I guess I'm still kinda used to getting back from 40 or 80 or 100 mile days on the bike rather than 4 or 6 miles from running.  Its funny how big of a difference there is in that, yet I feel so much more hurt after a 6 mile run than I do after a 60 mile ride.

The gravel roads and soft dirt trails have been keeping me away from possible injuries, especially shin splints, which is a major danger when transitioning from cycling to pounding up and down roads when running.

I've also had to take stretching a lot more serious now due to the fact that most mornings I wake up not being able to take my first few steps without holding onto the wall. And forget about walking down stairs, its impossible. But, each day the mornings get less and less painful, and the endurance gets more and more enhanced. So, although its a long process, I at least know that its paying off.

Today I'll be heading back home to get unpacked, clean, and re-packed again to catch a 6am flight to San Antonio tomorrow morning for my good friend Robbie Wade's wedding. It'll also be a good chance for me to kind of scope the place out, seeing as how I'll be living there and all over the rest of TX for a good 3 or 4 months.

It's going to be nice to get some more running in down there as well, although I'm not quite sure that I'm in the best shape yet to run with a professional triathlete. In fact, I'm positive I'm not in that kind of shape . . . Go easy on me Robbie.

: )

Good Morning

The last 2 weeks have been filled with...well, pretty much nothing. I've been resting up as much as possible. Relaxing, playing video games, sleeping in past noon, enjoying time with family, things that most teenagers do.

Today, however, was different. The alarm went off at 7am and I awoke to a dewy, 63 degree morning, got in my car and headed over to Roosevelt Island. After 7 months of cycling, I've been looking forward to getting back to my roots, running. Its that time of year to do some cross-training, and I plan on taking full advantage.

The trails were littered with puddles of water that I didn't hesitate to step in. It was wet and muddy out, but I didn't care at all how dirty I got. I was too caught up in the feeling I get from running, that rare sense of solitude. It was really cool to experience that again.

I finished up, hurting and dirty. I could really feel the affect that the lack of exercise over the last 2 weeks has had on my body. But it was a good hurt, like accomplishing a century ride kinda hurt, or beating someone out in a sprint on a training ride kinda hurt.

Regardless of how good it felt mentally though, the need for stretch and recovery is constant. So I headed home, and jumped in the hot tub for a half hour to warm myself up and let the muscles loosen up before the next part of the process.

Finally, I finished up with a nice 20 minutes of easy stretching, accompanied by 'The Stick.' It was really nice to be active again, to get out there on the trails and get dirty. It was a 'Good Morning' and I'm smiling at the thought that this is going to be my life for the next year, and hopefully beyond that.

2011 Season Wrap-Up

Words can't really describe the experiences I've had, the people I've met, and the things I've accomplished this season. Its been an epic blur of memories these last 7 months. I kicked off the season in North Carolina on February 12 with the Wolfpack Classic. A third place finish their had me excited and eager for a lot more races. However, I don't think I ever really realized how many "a lot more" was.

After 51 races started, 32 races finished, 3 crashes, 4,500+ miles, 8 wins, 4 seconds, 3 thirds, and 7 other top 10 finishes, I can finally say I'm done, and this is my reflection on it all.

Having never raced before, the learning process was long and tedious. It was really hard for me to accept the fact that the strongest guy simply does not always win, thats the plain truth of the sport. I made plenty of mistakes and bad choices along the way but I also did a lot of things right and proved a lot of people wrong. The crashing, and the losing, and the failing really, really hurt but the feeling you get from winning and reaching your goals makes it all so worth it.

Photo Credit: Tim Kelley

I went into the season as a Cat5 with the goal of coming out as a Cat2. I've never been more happy to say that I reached my goal. I doubt I'll ever forget that experience, seeing that email from USA Cycling in my inbox, opening it, seeing the word "approved" and then just sitting there in disbelief. It was a really awesome feeling, to reflect on everything I've been through these last 7 months and knowing that it was all worth it, that it all paid off.

It hasn't been easy, in any sense of the word. Its been the hardest thing I've ever put my body through. The amount of mental torture you have to deal with in this sport is just insane, but that part of it is what makes me love it so much. Theres no one to blame but yourself if you don't succeed. The more you can suffer the better you are than the next guy, I love that.

To wrap this up, here are a few of my favorite pictures from the season. Enjoy.

Photo Credit: Joe Dombrowski

Photo Credit: Anthony Skorochod

Photo Credit: Bruce Fleming AKA "Pops"