Catch up...

OK! I apologize for my extreme lack of blog time lately! As could be guessed I've been pretty darn busy and once you get past a certain point you can't even think about trying to update everyone without getting stressed out about it...haha! So, I will do my best but it will probably be the short quick version of most thing...lucky you! Especially sense I really should be doing school work right now, but it can wait, you are all more important than that!

I left home August 18th and headed to Downers Grove, IL for the Criterium National Championships. I meet up there with Theresa, Trish & Lisa who all flew in from Philly, along with Phil and Gary. The weather was less than perfect but it looked like it was going to clear up for our race (so we pumped our tires to max pressure)...think again as the rain came on for the last part of the race (keep the bike upright, watch the painted lines, o don't hit the man hole cover!). In any case the race didn't go quite according to plan. I made some tactical errors come to find out following the race. Just some more lessons to add to the long list from the whole summer. I actually felt like I was in pretty good position most of the race and both Theresa and I stayed out of all the crashes, which were amplified once the pavement started getting wet. Unfortunately both Trish and Lisa got caught up in some of the crashes. Despite my "good position" I made a huge mistake in the last lap and hesitated when I shouldn't have, which ended up getting me caught behind some girls staling up and I chased the lead group for the last half lap, never actually catching them. Theresa was with the lead group and came away with the 5th place finish...not quite what she was shooting for but as she said on the podium: "I'll be back next year!" In the end I finished up 12th. I was a bit disappointed with my race more from a tactical error standpoint than my finish, but hopefully I will remember my lessons and not make the same mistakes again. And some other good news...I'm getting better at putting things in perspective! O and I should mention also that Mom and Dad came this year so it was really nice having them around and for them to be able to see some of our racing.

Depart Downers - head to Banner Elk! Mom and Dad decided to come along for the trip down to school so they could help me transport things, move into the apartment and then get out and do some hiking and such on their own! It was a long drive down just following nationals, but it wasn't too bad. The first day we got into town we pretty much got everything moved into the apartment and I surprisingly got most thing organized! That was Monday. Tuesday I went to Asheville with the collegiate track team and did some racing. Proceeded to get sick Tues. night and battle a cold/allergies for a good couple of weeks on top of everything else...that was pretty miserable. I started up school and Mom and Dad headed home Thursday.

It was great to be back in the mountains and with the trees! I love it! Also having Mom and Dad around was HUGE help! Dad did a few home depot runs and got to help my room mate Robert a lot with building and putting things together in his room...so you know he had fun!

So much fun that this is him in the afternoon! I LOVE YOU DADDY!


Mom did her usual and just took care of everything, putting stuff away in the kitchen, stocking the fridge, etc!

And of course one of the best things about getting back was seeing everyone again and starting to catch up with friends! Especially my super amazing friend Ally!!! I LOVE YOU TO PIECES GIRL! And so does my Mom and family!

Ally and Mom taking a break on the futon!

Now I get in on the fun!


The first weekend in town, while I was still sick I went to Atlanta with the track team for some training and we got in some real good time!

Ally and I at the Atlanta Track:


2nd weekend back I was finally starting to feel a bit better and I was a little worried because I felt like I had been off the bike a lot, but I headed to Atlanta for some track training of my own and to drop in on the 10K classic and hopefully make a few bucks! I got in some good training on the track Saturday, did a good roller ride Sunday and Rocked it at the 10K Monday morning! I found myself a bit out of position in the end of the race but I make the best of it and was able to hold on for a 3rd place finish, which I was pretty happy with for that day!

On the way home from Atlanta I was on the phone with my Dad and saw a dog in the back of a truck...wait a minute...thats not a dog...that is a GOAT! Awesome!



The following weekend we went to some local races where I had a lot of fun and seemed to be going really well, so I just hoped I could hang onto the legs for collegiate nationals.

Because of all the school and riding I haven't gotten to catch up and hang out with friends as much as I would like, but I did go waterfall/cliff jumping the week before we left for nationals and that was AMAZING! It was good for the soul to hike out into the woods, be with the water and just climb around on some big rocks! Other than that just hanging out with people between all the other business. My true break with come after elite nationals and then I won't have to worry so much about keeping these legs in check!

Alright, I think that pretty much brings us up to date prior to Nationals!