Summertime and the new plan

Hey all, well summer vacation is here, without the vacation part. Basically I'm working 12 hours more each week instead of going to school in the evenings. But its not all bad, things at the bike shop are going well, I seem to have people coming in a lot to visit, and hang out which always makes the days go faster. We are actually a full service store at my store now, so I can do anything and everything on peoples bikes now!
Well since this spring was the demise of my fitness due to school, and work I'm starting to ramp it up again. I made a solid start by not driving to work almost every day this week (except today.) So I've decided that I'm only going to let myself drive to work once a week. I'm also going to start doing the Tuesday night crits up in Golden. There is also that short track series in Ft. Collins on Tuesday's at the New Belgium Brewery as well. I would like to do one of those races up in Ft. Collins but we shall see.
In other news, I broke out the cross bike earlier this week, to try and get it ready for some serious commuting this summer. I was thinking about getting a new frame for the upcoming cross season this fall, but I decided to keep the old redline and put a little money into it and make it better. I'm gonna get a new fork for it, and a Chris King Headset as well. I ordered a new Ritchey WCS handlebar for it, due to my old one getting very bent in a crash at Boulder Research Park last year. I ran it all year after that, and only noticed the bars were bent when I was in the drops, but I am a little worried how strong it is going to be, so I opted for a new one.
Well thats about all I got for an update now, I'll start throwing some pictures up when I get the cross bike ready for commuting. Thanks for reading, and check out the new songs I have up on the page!

Done and Done

Well I finally wrapped up school late last night, and I'm now a certified EMT! I actually did well in school this semester for a change as well, it feels good for sure. It's going to be awesome that I'm finally going to have more time to ride now that school is over. This spring was a joke as far as my racing and training goes, and its time to ramp it back up. I'll be working full-time at the bike shop this summer again, and hopefully by this fall I might be able to get a job on a private ambulance, but we will see. Other than that not a whole lot has changed. Check back soon as I finally have time to do some better updates! As always I have new songs on the page as well, check them out!

Spring is here

Well Spring has officially come in Littleton, it has snowed a bunch, and been 80 degrees all in the same week! I havn't updated in awhile, but then again I havn't raced much either. The last race I did was the Boulder Koppenberg earlier in the month. The race was a lot of fun, and ended up being one of the better ones I've participated in this year. The course is mostly flat with one power climb that is over 17% but is very short. My kind of course for sure, I didn't end up getting in the action that much, and stayed in the group for most of it. I came to the front a few times near the end with a few teammates trying to bring the break back. I finished somewhere in the middle of the group and by the end I was pretty spent.
Since then I havn't raced much but have had some time on the road bike here and there. I started my new job at Littleton Cyclery and it couldn't be going better. I get a deal on parts again, and have lots of fun. A new cross bike could be in the works as well.
School is finally winding down a little, finals are in a couple of weeks! I'll get some pics up soon of the Mtn Bike trip to Fruita, Thanks for reading.

P.S. A couple new links on my page, as well as new songs to listen to.

Priorities

Well it has been almost a month since my last post, but a lot has happened for sure. School is finally going great for the first time in a long time, and I'm pretty sure I found out what I want to do in life. Only problem is, I have to put a lot of things on the back-burner that I wish I didn't have to put there. The amount of time that I have had to put in has made it difficult to have any kind of "routine" riding at all. I have been doing ride-alongs with various Fire Dept's and Ambulance agencies around the Denver metro area, and usually am gone for 12 or more hours at a time. Not to mention school and work all week as well. I wish I had more time to ride, but I just don't right now.
In other news, I had my first race at City Park in Denver, hosted by DU two weeks ago. It didn't go bad for my first race, considering I knew I wasn't ready for it at all, having just come out of base a week before that. I got lapped with 3 to go, so I got pulled. Disappointing for sure, but what can you do.
Yesterday was the Promontory Park Crit put on by UNC, in Greeley. Last year the race never happened due to not getting a bid for the race and other schools taking over instead. The races all went great for the most part, and it a huge success for the team for sure. Besides the issue with a security guard everything went really well, and it didn't start snowing until after we packed up all of the barricades and cones. I raced in the Cat 4's, later in the day. I got dropped with one to go and just cruised in with a couple other chasers. Not to bad considering the lack of training I have had in the past couple weeks. We had a great turn out for all of the open categories, and had over 50 racers in the Pro 1,2,3 race! Dana Curlee and Alex Lewis did a fantastic job of making that race happen and it couldn't have gone better, awesome job guys! Koch even showed up to help out as well! Also, thanks to my little brother Eric for dealing with the parking fiasco today!
Anyway, I'm still wiped out from yesterday just laying in bed, so unfortunately I'm not going to be making it out to the race at CU research park today. But on Monday and Tuesday, my brother and I are going to Fruita, CO to hit some dirt for a few days. If anybody wants to tag along let me know! Then I will enjoy the rest of my much needed spring break. Thanks for reading and check out my new songs as well.

Rocky Mounts Group Ride

I attended another another Rocky Mounts group ride this past weekend. We rode up to Carter Lake and back, and I am feeling every minute of the 4.5 hours I spent in the saddle yesterday. It was great to get to chat with some of my new teammates and I'm so excited for the season to get up and rolling. The weather was great until the last hour or so. All of the sudden the wind hit, and it seemed relentless. It was a wind that reminded me of a race I did in Wyoming a few years ago, Corey and Dana know exactly which wind I'm talking about. But I made it back to my home destination and made my way back to Littleton.
I'm sitting at school right now, procrastinating on the studying that I have to do. I just want to wish my good friend Thomas Kelly a fun and safe trip to Europe. He has said that he is going to be writing a blog, so hopefully I will have a link up soon. Until then, thanks for reading. I got some new songs as well.

Well I have finally got some consistency back in my life again. I have been able juggle school, riding and work and it all seems to be going great! I'm finally enjoying everything in school which is a big change from school in the past.
On another note, riding is going great and I'm looking forward to my season this year with Rocky Mounts. I think that I have decided that my first race is going to be the DU collegiate race at City Park. Anyway thanks for checking in and check out my new songs as well.

Homework, and lots of it

Well I spent this past weekend skiing up at Beaver Creek with a couple of buddies, and Koch offered up a place to stay up there as well. One of the better times I have had skiing in years, waste deep powder in spots, and making your own tracks! Only problem is driving home afterwards, 4.5 hours home is not my idea of fun at all, but that is the price that you pay I suppose.
Other than that I have gotten bombarded today with more homework then I know what to do with. Online Quiz today, paper due next Monday, and a test on Thursday. To top it all off, I have work for 2 days this week, all while trying to fit in riding. Pretty lame for sure, and not looking forward to much of it. Anyway enough bitching for me, I'm off to hit the books and try to get ahead of the game a little bit. Thanks for reading, and check out my new songs as well.

Jinx

Well, my last post I was talking about how nice the weather was. Today is exactly the opposite; High of 34, with gusts up to 40 mph, wind chill 2 degrees. Seeing as today was my day off of school and work, I had a long ride planned. Looks like I'm riding inside, lame. At least we aren't in Durango though, check out Todd Well's blog, they are getting a taste of what we got in Denver last year.
On another note, how about Team Quick Step? They are killing it at the Tour of Qatar and they have already blown the race apart. Here is a pretty sweet article from VeloNews about it, pretty impressive to say the least. Well time to take the dog on a walk, and its roller time, thanks for checking in.

Busy

Well things have changed since my last post. First, the weather finally took a turn for the better in the past few days. I haven't had to ride inside once this whole week! I had an awesome ride today in Boulder with my new team today, couldn't have asked for better conditions. We had easily 25 to 30 people with us off and on today. I wish that we could get a group like that here in Denver, but who knows.
On another note, I started up school this week, and I'm already enjoying class more than ever! Well I'm off to hit the books, then maybe a movie night will be in store. I managed to not bring my camera on the ride today. Next ride I will have pictures up for sure.

P.S. Congrats to Lars Boom on winning world championships today. What a ride! Check out my new songs as well, they are good.

2 posts in 24 hours. Coincidence? I think not

Well I woke up to a fresh layer of snow today,
So far I have blown off hitting the rollers and killed a good portion of the morning drinking an entire french press, and reading the paper.
Well I have killed all of five minutes trying to avoid the rollers, but here goes nothing. Maybe I will even have three updates in 24 hours...

P.S. I threw a bunch of new links up on my page, check them out.