back in the groove

Well, like i mentioned before the county ride was a great experience. Got a chance to get to know some of the guys from the club a little better, especially Frazier who I spent quite a bit of time riding with and hadn't ever spoken to much prior to this ride. I decided it was best to take Monday off. I had a lot of work to catch up on from being gone all weekend. Today I headed out and met some of the guys for the Tuesday noon ride.... man to those guys hall. I looked down at one point in the ride as I was pulling through And saw the power meter read 650 Watts! These guys don't play around. I almost fell off more than a few times on the back side of the ride cruising back towards fairview but somehow managed to hang in there. Its a great opportunity to practice my handling skills and riding a fast pace line. I definitely think my handling skills have improve drastically since my first race some 4 or 5 odd months ago. Tomorrow morning I'll sneak in a morning ride with Gary... once up osm and then a two man TT at threshold. Should be a good ride, Gary's an animal.

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Thanks to the help of Jason Osborne I've started training with power. Which means a really specific training plan. So with a lot of focus and hard work It should be a great season in '08.

I'm actually really new to the road seeing as how I only really started riding in may/June of this year. The last real riding I did was in high school over 4 years ago when I would ride my Mountain bike a couple of times a week. I raced a little on the dirt back then when i was 17 but it wasn't anything really substantial or sustained. Something I would pick up now and again. When I left for college virtually all my cycling stoped. And while I would run for a couple of months here and there and rode a handful of times, my fitness was hardly anything to write home about.

When I moved to Santa Barbara I was actually smoking a pack a day and wrestling with some other health related issues. I guess we all have our demons that we face. I decided, right around the time of my birthday this past year (April 2ND) that I was going to sign up for the Santa Barbara Triathlon. Its an even that my Mom has competed in for the past 10 years or so. I was of the notion that it would be a lot of fun to race with my mom again (I used to race with her in high school from time to time). Plus there was a chance that my sister would be competing as well. The thought of My mother, sister, and me racing together (and me beating them all) was too juicy of a thought to pass by. So I registered for the long course before I had time to talk myself out of it. This provided great incentive to quit smoking. I kicked the 'Butts' and discovered how much I loved to cycle. It wasn't long before I wasn't too interested in running or swimming, all I wanted to do was ride. I met some of the locals and pretty soon had a host of new riding partners and friends. I started racing and had even more fun. I was even invited to race for Platinum Performance's Road team this next year. Its a trip looking back at where I was over a year ago and all the progress I've made since. I have a really full life today with school, Caitlin, Bicycles, friends, and goals (both in cycling and life). Caitlin and I will have been together a year come November 12th... WOWZA, for a guy like me thats a feat of its own.

I guess one thing I've learned is that "I" make plans and then Life happens. Thank-goodness too. I couldn't imagine how chaotic my life would be if I got everything I 'thought' I needed. One step at a time Life for me is really Good and it just keeps getting better.

Go Packers