Regional Championships and new stuff!

Regionals were in St. Charles, Missouri for road cycling this season. We took the big ol' charter bus there, so it was kind of like we were traveling in style - kind of. We got to St. Louis and I had my headphones in, then looked up and saw these cars way close... all of a sudden, BOOM! Apparently the brakes were not working on the bus and we side swiped a couple cars and rear ended a Honda. No one was injured and the vehicles were still able to work, so things were fine. The police officer needed us to write down all of our names and he told us to write our real names down, not the goofynames like "Phillip MaGroin" or "Ben Dover" or anything like that. It caused everyone on the bus to laugh. We finally got to the hotel and we were all tired from our trip. Team Time Trial and Road Race on Saturday.

When Saturday came along, it was chilly in the morning. The TTT was an 8.5 mile out and back course. It was Nick, Dooley, Taylor and me. The first half of the race was hard into a sucky head wind, so it felt really slow. Once we got to the turn around, we started zooming because on the way back we were in a tail wind. ZOOM! Nick popped with about 3-3.5 miles left. Then I looked to the right and it looked like Dooley was popping at the same time, too.... Crap, I thought it was going to just be Taylor and me. We pushed on and kept going. I guess Dooley decided to suck it up and he hung on, which benefited us as a team. We rotated and could see the finish line and we pushed it hard. Our finish was almost perfect since all three of us were close to each other, so I felt pretty good about out time. Coach had us guesstimated at 21 minutes and 30 some seconds. Marian was our biggest threat. They started a couple minutes behind us and Coach said that their time was either 30 seconds slower than ours or 2 minutes and 30 seconds faster than ours... I was hoping that we beat them.

Results were posted near the registration table.. 1st place in the TTT!

Next challenge was the 3 lap (21 miles/lap)- 63 mile road race. My front shifter was not working 100% correctly so the hills were going to be a challenge. Our race started and it was a slow pace to begin with, but it would soon speed up since there was a good size hill within the first three miles. I figured out how to get my shifter to work and pressed on with the group. It started to warm up as we got into the second lap. The first big hill came again during lap two and this time I could not get my shifter to work when I needed it to. The pack progressed without me as I finally got my shifter to work and I tried hard to catch them. They were within sight, probably 20-30 seconds up the road but riding in the headwind all by myself was just too much. I did not give up tho like some other people who would have just dropped out of the race. I knew I was in a good enough spot to earn points for the team, so I pushed forward. Lap three was extremely tough, especially the hilly first section with the huge hill. I actually puked and had to get off the bike for a couple seconds then climb back on and mash gears up to the top and work my way to the finish line. Ended up finishing 12th, which was in the points for the team. Mission accomplished and thrashed legs! YAY.

Sunday was the criterium and it was pretty warm out. No need for leg warmers or arm warmers! FINALLY! The course was a three-turn loop with a section of brick-type cobbles. It was pretty smooth but there were some rough parts that sent a few people flying in our race. There actually was a crash that happened right in front of me on the cobble section and luckily I avoided it. Taylor and two other dudes were in a breakaway from the rest of the group. My legs were feeling pretty sore from Saturday but I had to suck it up. It was only a 45 minute race, but it felt fast. I watched the time counter count down as we passed with each lap until it read about 5 laps to go. Then I knew I had to prepare for battle. Last lap I was sitting in a good spot - about third or fourth wheel going into the last turn. In the middle of the last turn there was a loud POP! Someone blew a tire and wrecked, luckily it was not me or any of my teammates. I ended up getting 12th, again, but still in the points, so I will take it. I also got prime lap points, too! I was pretty stoked about that! The team ended up 4th overall in the conference. We would have done better overall if so many people did not drop out of races, but what can ya do? We ended up getting back to Columbia at about 1230a.m. or something and I was glad I did not have classes Monday morning.

In non-cycling news, I did not receive the R.A. position for next year even though I was one of the top applicants and had a great interview. Oh well, their loss. Waiting until next Thursday on the result on the Begley scholarship, since I was invited to the Honors Convocation award ceremony. Not sure what I'll be getting, but hopefully some sort of good scholarship money that will be helpful. We shall see!!

There was an Earth Day 5k that I decided to do yesterday (Wednesday). I ended up getting third overall and 2nd place in the men's field. A LWC running team guy and a Kenyan LWC running girl beat me (by 2 seconds). It was a hilly course but lots of fun. Then I had to go and immediately teach abs class, so it was a good workout :)

I also have got in touch with Peter at Vespa Power

(www.vespapower.com) and will be using Vespa during long distance training and long races. Pretty excited about it and the adventure that is in front of me as I go down the path towards become an ultra runner. I've also been trying to find ultra runs during summer and even into the early fall semester for race prep for the World's Toughest Mudder but they all seem so far away. :/

I think that's it for now, I'll be back with more news and stuff later!