I want to race!!!!

So, I just got home from a quick recovery ride and safe to say, my legs are dead today. I guess you have those days. Probably something to do with the solid drives ride last night in Philly. Good stuff!


Anyway, our team schedule is starting to get a bit frustrating. After the cancellation of Jeff Cup last Sunday, we scrambled to find a race for this coming weekend and found the Salisbury Road Race in Gap, PA. A nice little local race in the lovely farmlands of Lancaster, PA. Well, just as I type this, I come to find out this race has been cancelled as well. Not sure why, but we now are looking at the Morgantown Road Race in Morgantown, WV to be our season opener. Looks to be a local race, but low and behold, we need to get some racing under our belt. Let's hope it really happens.

The real one I am now eyeing up is the Tour of the Battenkill (http://www.tourofthebattenkill.com) to be held on Sunday, April 10th. Although this is not a team race, my teammate Blair and I are headed to upstate NY to give it our all. Battenkill is a 1 day classic and known for its Belgium like racing feel-dirt climbs, rolling countryside and covered bridges. It's a 100 mile race and usually attrition is the main factor in winning. I'm looking forward to it. Prior to this, our team is planning on hitting up the Fulton Road Race in Peach Bottom, PA on Saturday, April 9th. Again this is a local race in the Lancaster Countryside that we expect to do quite well in. It's a 66 mile road race and we should be strong in numbers. I'll keep you posted on team results.

For now, let's hope for no more cancellations. Hot tea is calling and hopefully a chill night here in Skippack.

Sunday Fun Day

Since my last post, 3 major events took place.  Here goes:

1.  I turned 31 years old on Friday, 3/25!!  I love my birthday and had a great day of breakfast with Erin, yoga class at 10:30am and a great massage at 1pm.  What a great day!!
2.  My first race of the season was cancelled do to heavy snow conditions in VA.  While I was disappointed, I also know that the weather is out of my control.  I will be ready for the race come May as its been rescheduled. 
3.  I ate an entire (little help from Erin) banana cream pie thanks to my friend Dina who so graciously made me the treat for my birthday.  It was so good!  Thanks Dina!!!

The new ride!!

Thank you Trek-Fischer and Race Pace Bikes out of Baltimore for the sweet new ride.  Today was my first day on it and it's great!  I'm looking forward to riding it this year.  Race day is just around the corner (Sunday) and the weather looks to be decent.  This race is notorious for anything from beautiful sunshine to cold, blowing snow.  We'll see what shows up on Sunday.  Our team is ready to go and we are hungry for an early season win!  My back/glute has been holding up well and I'm doing everything I can (yoga, pt, chiro, massage, stretching blah, blah, blah) to keep it healthy.  Sunday will be a good test for it.  In the meantime, I'm looking forward to Erin flying in tomorrow to hang with me until next Monday!  Out for now....food is calling!!!!

The Background

So I never thought I would start a blog; however I've had a number of people ask me to start one as I'm taking a year to give cycling 100% of my attention.  So for anyone that may read my blog.... here goes and thank you.

Long story short.... I've had the thought of dropping my full time job for a few years now and giving cycling everything I have.  I finally grew up the courage this past fall and did it.  I have a great boss/manager Bob Eschenbach who has been a constant supporter of my cycling dreams.  He gave me his good graces over the holiday season and soon there I was....unemployed!!  It felt strange at first (many sleepless nights), but normalcy has set in and I've began to love this lifestyle.

In short, I picked up a part time job at both the YMCA and Best Buy to offset a few of my expenses.  I've also made a number of simple changes in my life.....no blackberry, eat out less, and in general just being more mindful of my spending habits.  It's been both challenging and rewarding in many ways.

Cycling... I still ride for KBS/LSV and we just finished up a 4 day team camp in VA near the Blue Ridge Mtns (Skyline Drive area).  It was awesome to be with my teammates again.  Focused is the word I would give to the group.  Yes, we have our fun in the evenings, but overall, we are out to defend our 3 MABRA jerseys as well as make a strong appearance at nationals this year in Atlanta.  Game on!  Our first race of the season is Sun, 3/27 in VA.  Jeff Cup is an 85 mile road race that usually offers some good pain.  Weather and road conditions usually make it rather interesting. 

Ok...I'm off to yoga... been hitting that 3x/week...big help for my back.

Here is a quick picture of our cabin from team camp in Washington, VA just outside the Shenandoah Valley.  Big thanks to our teammate R who put us up in his cabin!  Love this place!!!

Everything starts with a first step....

Here we go.  This is a test post, but its game on from here.