Livin' the Dream

Not too much wild going on lately.

Working at Century Cycles in Medina is proving to be pretty cool, as everyone that work there rules, and what do you know, working at a bike shop is a good time.

So here's how the week schedule has been looking:

Monday- Class 9:15AM to 8:15PM, homework and design work down in Kent

Tuesday- Freebee day, try to ride some, catch up on homework / sleep / design work

Wednesday- Class 9:15AM to 8:15PM, get home from class, ride from Kent to Royalton; about 35 miles. Get in by 11PM hopefully. Fall into a Coma.

Thursday- Work 10AM-8PM. Ride to work in Medina from Royalton, 20 miles each way.

Friday- Work 10AM-8PM. Ride to and from, 20 miles each way.

Saturday and Sunday is pretty much alternating as far as racing and working. The good news is that I'm done with school and out of Kent in may. Hopefully this doesn't kill me first.

I am definately getting miles, granted they're junk miles, but better than none.

Pictures of the commute to come. Century Night ride Saturday, maybe Covered Bridge race Sunday, maybe MSP. Maybe both. Woo I'm busy.

My Lucky Day

OMBC Race yesterday at Vulture's Knob. It was my first time at the Knob, and man it was a cool atmosphere. The warm weather brought out a good chunk of like-minded dudes and dudettes, so the starting line was packed.



I think I need to be more competitive or mean or something, as most people pushed in front of me for position on the line, leaving me struggling to pick through people and get to the front of the pack. After busting my ass for a majority of the first lap, I worked my way to the front and was keeping the pace up trying to increase my gap.



All was well... or so I thought

Maybe a half mile before the start of my second lap I got a flat. Shit!

Trying to fix it in the field with my CO2 cartridge and tube, I ended up breaking off the valve stem on my backup tube. Double shit! It was really discouraging to see the entire field passing me, along with novice racers, the women, etc etc, pretty much everyone on the course going by.

So, super dejectedly I ended up picking up my bike and carrying it to the line, planning on telling them that I flatted out and to mark me as DNF. As I got back to the line, someone ended up running up to me and asking what was wrong. What do you know, they had a support tent. I wish I would have realized that before I blew like fifteen minutes fucking around on my back tire and leisurely walking back to the line. Once again, big big thank you to Rody of Groovy Cycleworks and whoever the dude was at the Jamis tent. Lifesavers.

They made quick work of my flat, and I was off again. Finished my first lap in like five minutes after that and was on to lap two. The rest of the race I went as hard as I could, mostly for personal satisfaction, as I figured that the rest of the race was long gone. About half way through my second lap, lo and behold, I started catching people. After picking a good chunk of people off, I ended up in fifth place.

All things considered, I'm pretty happy with it, and I think I'm going to sink some money into a Stan's tubeless conversion to prevent this from happening anymore! For the sake of comparison: my first lap with the flat was 1 hour 7 minutes, and my second was 41 minutes. Pretty nuts.

I've got a decent amount of snaps on my Flickr, so click this picture to check them out.

Weekend Shred

I've been riding a ton lately, but the camera is out of service. So makes for some uninteresting bloggin'.

The good thing is, I've been out pretty much every opportunity I can get.

This weekend was spend in the Valley a good bit, first experience with Oak Hill. Fucksake.

Went on a 32 miler with my main homeboy Andrew today. The weather was a bit nicer than I would have thought and we took a tour de Portage County. Here's a map:



It was nice, tried to keep the tempo up, and worked on climbing sitting down. Granted Portage is flat as a pancake, but was on my fixed, so hopefully it'll be the same principle as on my SS mtb. We'll see.

The next couple of months are going to be awesome for me. I just got a job at Century Cycles in Medina, so I'll be making the commute from Kent a few times a week and crashing at my parents' place in North Royalton the other times. So my saddle time is going to be at an all time high. Hopefully I can work in some intervals or something sweet to keep me in shape.

I'm out of Kent in May, so now begins the search for somewhere new to live. Hopefully somewhere a bit nicer than my current spot.

Registering for the Mohican 100 tonight, OMBC race at the Knob this weekend, and maybe Covered Bridge race on Sunday if I'm feeling spry.

Staying busy is sweet.

Slowwwwww

This snow and shitty weather has really killed my motivation. No real riding excluding commutes, roller sessions, and putting around on the touring bike.

Big weekend planned though. Get ready.