Kent Park

First real race of the season....Kent Park.

Great field...I think 15 Cat 4's? We all bridged up to the Cat 1's and 2's group after only a half mile or so thanks to Mike Edwards. Nice 30 min training plan bro!!! Because we had a group of 50 or so to start, things were a little sketchy with guys from each group level, but things got more comfortable after a while. Tried to spend as much time at the front, getting to know the tactics, and I did learn some good ones. Knowing when to be in the front, and how to move up in a field of many guys. I think I accomplished both very well as when the final sprint came around I was sitting 5th wheel or so? Came up the sprint finish, and a guy's chain exploded causing him to stop and causing mass panic behind haha, me included. According to Jimmy, I must have been a little mad as I thought he was lapped traffic ;) Sorry Jimmy! Finished in the top 15 out of 115 riders or so, Jimmy won the 4's with another finish to his liking!

Go back to school tomorrow......blaahhhhhh for a week of learning, and then leave Friday for Ankeny, for the Altoona and Big Creek RR's next weekend.

Death by Cost of Life?

I can't believe how stupid our planet is right now. My tuition at Luther next year is 36000?? WHY THE HELL IS IT THAT MUCH!!! I just can't see how they can increase tuition by 7% in one year, how do they expect kids to be able to pay for college, with parents who make to much to meet financial aid. It doesn't matter how much parents make, the schools need to help with the costs, if they want the economy to ever be prosperous. Kids paying back tuition for half of their lives will not help this feet.

Also, gas is stupid. Our economy is not the cause of the gas problem, nor are we in a shortage of gas as many people say. OPEC and Chavez and others are just money hungry punks, who are actually doing what anyone should do. We are a country who will pay anything for gas, so we can drive, me included. I have stopped driving so much as I drive a blazer, not the greatest. If only people would realize...if we stopped buying gas for a week, or the summer and rode our bikes and or used alternative means of transportation....we would see the gas prices fall dramatically. Trek, Specialized, Surly, many other names all make good commuter bikes, and I don't see why people can't get off their fat asses and use alternative means of transportation. Bikes, Buses, Subways...anything but driving cars.

If only we could go to the river and fill up with H2O.

Easter!!

Got up...went to church, but didn't have lunch???? until 3ish. So I just decided to ride on the trainer and watch Milano-San Remo on Versus. Slipstream had a pretty good showing, with Julian Dean in 25th.

I traded in the beautiful outside picturesque scenery of Cedar Rapids and Linn County to watch TV, but oh well!!!
This guy is absolutely sick!!! He is 6'1, 180 lbs......99% the same as me (Im 6'2), but can push out un-Godly amounts of wattage and is a pro cyclist :) Ahh...I can only dream. He has won a stage race and 3 other races in about a month. Now I know that a fat-ass who can use power, can win :) haha

First Race of the Season

Went down to McBride today with Mac for Conns Long and Grinding Road Race. 2 hours on a slightly hilly/downhill course. Got there, and it was bout 29 degrees, but by the time we started racing, it was fine. After a while we started popping riders, and with about 1 hour left, we had 10 riders or so.

Jimmy Carrico and Chad Bishop were on fire today, def. the guys to watch in the next few weeks - summer. For only 3 weeks of training, I was very surprised to stay in the pack, even though with about 4 laps to go, I was on the rivet. By the time the spring came, I just sat and coasted across for 8th out of 9 or something :) It was a fun race, got to race with a bunch of 1's and 2's, great for the experience.

This next week, I will be working at the bike shop for a few hours then out for some training as Kent Park is 8 days away!!!! I am so ready!

I guess I made Noonan mad by asking a question about a crit later this summer. I owe 5 extra dollars on my entry fee :) Hopefully he forgets!

Yay for Tests!!!

So I got my two tests back from late last week today. All I can say is I am gonna have a better spring break now that I saw the scores!!

Got a B on my philosophy midterm, not to bad, I was hoping for an A, but for a class that I have no idea what is going on have the time, good for me!!

In bio, at the end of lecture, the prof. comes out and says we are handing back the tests, and goes through the usual speal about the avg, mean, median stuff. The test was out of 50, and the class average was a 63% at 32. I was like OMG!!! I am gonna fail Bio, as I thought this test was pretty hard when I took it. So we found the 3 profs. after class who divide up the ABC's and I got my test.

I opened it up and saw a 42!!!!!! I got an 84% on the test, and my Standard Deviation against the class was a 1.26, which is almost an A+ with the curve. My Std. Deviation for the overall grade in the class right now is......... .354, which is a B+. I can't be mad about that at all, Bio is the toughest weed out class in the school.

Ok, so now with the cool stuff. Spring Break starts officially at 4:00 tomorrow and I will be on my way home, brining a lot of clothes back as I have to many up here at school.

"Winter Biking Gloves" aren't gloves for winter!

Went out today for 90min, wore some Nike specific Winter Gloves and I tell ya, they are not warm after about an hour!! My fingers started to sting and such, as I am sure you have all experience at some point. I didn't think it was that cold out today, but I suppose with the wind and not moving them, the fingers get cold.

I have invested this winter in a $4 pair of Fleece Hunting gloves from Wal-Mart and I put these bad boys over the Nike's and nothing will penetrate, it feels like an oven. So do yourself a favor and go to your local hardware or sporting good store and get some hunting gloves!

Legs are feeling as though they are coming along good!! YAY!

Done with school on Thursday, and its to Cedar Rapids for Spring Break, and of course....

Le premiere etage de le saison 2008, Kent Park!

Weekend of Relaxation!

Yesterday, I went to the twin cities as mentioned for the day. The play turned out to be quite a piece, it was all about our "H2O" supply and how we need to cherish it and save it. It had great refrences to the $3 bottles of water you can pay for in some places. It was really cool. The theatre that put it on was "The Heart of the Beast" check it out if you would like something to read about.

Today, got up and rode for 2+ with a couple guys on a pretty hilly route. 3 climbs or so of a mile or longer...and I was able to push and lead up 2 of them. Who knows, maybe I can start getting my fat ass up the climbs and be considered decent?? Who knows!!!

Peace

WEEKEND!

So had my two tests today, philosophy and biology. Both went ok i suppose, I am ready to hopefully see a decent curve on the bio one however. The weekend is finally here, thank goodness, that week seemed like it went by so slow!!

went out for 2 hours today in a nice but slightly windy day.

tomorrow i get to go to the twin cities with my design 1 class to see a play: Heart of the Beast

should be interesting!

I hate school!

I have no motivation right now, as the weather has gotten good and I want to be out on the road. But of course, I just have to do it! 2 tests this week....Microorganisms Unit in Bio with Protists, Bacteria/Archaea and Fungi. Also have a Philosophy Mid-term.....gosh, uggg haha.

Rode today without a wind jacket or legs on!!! It was great, think I might even have gotten a little sun on the legs!!!

Back to Norweiga

Drove back to Decorah-land today! Dropped some of my stuff off at the dorms then drove to my grandparents for a little trainer/paris-nice action. Rode on the trainer for 1H30Min while watching the Paris-Nice race......dude whose the same size as me took the prologue.

The God of Thunder Thor Hushovd. Slipstream faired very well, Danny Pate and Trent Lowe in the top 10.

This week is supposed to be nice, hopefully get some good mileage in as I continue to get ready for the racing season. Getting really pumped for the season!! AGGGHHGHSDGHKSFJALJF

Only 2 weeks!!!

The Big CR

Down in Cedar Rapids for the weekend. Its cold, and sandy, and there are more potholes and craters in the street, then on the Moon!

Didn't go riding with Jimmy, he wussed out on the temps. :) Its ok, I don't blame you, it was really cold.

Went out with Junior Mac Sheldrup instead, for a nice 20 miler, involving Spanish Road(Hill) Nice just to get out and ride with someone for the first time this year.

Back to Decorah, and reality and homework tommrrow...but hey, thats life and Im getting old!!!! IM ALMOST 20 in SEPT! HAHA

Interval 2!!!

Did interval #2 today....down in the fitness center, on the stationary, inside, for 1h5m...get the picture lol

BOORRRINNG!! I was able to watch some spring training baseball, that got me through it ok.

So, Im still going to Cedar Rapids this weekend, but of course the weather wants to not be as nice as it was supposed to be....but I still wanna get my PowerTap wheel and give it my first ride of the season!! :)

Got a long way to go!

Did my first interval of the season today haha :)

Didn't hurt as much as I thought it would, but still a long way to go before Kent Park is won. Oh well, the pain is worthit, I'm back doing one thing I love!

So Team Slipstream is doing so awesome, I don't think anyone but Jonathon Vaughters knew they were going to be this good, have some classics riders now!! It will be good to see what they do at Paris Nice, I know Millar wants to win it. OH BABY!

Rest of the week will hopefully fly by as I will be back in CR this weekend, hopefully go out for a long ride if you want...

*Wink* Jimmy, Mac, Chris Reed *Wink*