Taking time off the bike might have been fun for a few days but it's been slowly driving me crazy for almost two weeks now. After months and months of training there are some serious withdrawl symptons associated with missing out on all the endorphins. The other day I went on a walk on the AT to combat boredom and itchiness. Got some nice pictures. North Ga sure is perty. Anyway, pretty soon I'll be back to some pedaling so I'm looking forward to that.

off season

I'm gonna have to quote my friend Mike on a phrase he once used, that being "a long time ago, in a galaxy that actually made some effing sense."

I like this quote because you can use it in a variety of scenarios, for example:

"A long time ago, in a galaxy that actually made some effin sense, I didn't structure nearly every day of my life around riding a bicycle."

And now that it's the offseason, this is true once more. At least for a little while. Since Greenville I've been off the bike, my man Eddy Hilger (coach) has me off the bike for a little while to recuperate from a long season and get motivated for next year. It was cool for the first few days, but I'm already craving getting back on the bike after just over a week off. Pretty soon I'll be back on the bike building up for 2009, which I'm really excited for. I think some people here at school think I'm nuts because at random times I get really excited and space out while thinking about racing. Not much else to say, but hopefully soon I can reveal he details on the team for next year. No huge news or big money contracts in hand but I'm excited about the program I'm involved with and want to make 09 a big year.

i can watch football now

So, the 2008 season is now over. here's my quick rundown of Greenville on saturday:
-start
-hang out top five first few laps
-wonder why this race is so easy
-wonder if I really feel this damn good or if this race is still absurdly easy
-sorta attack
-dig my pedal in a corner while sorta-attacking
-fall over really fast and scrape my body up.
-get up, walk to the pits. "what are you doing," asks man who saw me crash. "going to the pit." "wait, are you ok?" I look around confused before replying, "oh, yeah, I'm fine."
-keep racing, move up to the front, attack a lot more in an adrenaline haze.
-cause an 11 man split to roll 10 seconds up the road with 8 laps to go.
-Fill with rage and frustration as everyone in the group refuses to take pulls and we get caught.
-roll in for an astonishing 19th in the field sprint.

Sunday went about the same, except i felt like a truck ran over me after crashing.

apparently i should win more often

I got a lot of blog hits after that last post, maybe if I start winning regularly I can begin to take over the blogosphere? Anyway, thanks to the Helms I have a few pictures of the crit sunday so here are a few.






Anyway, I counted the other day, it's been 18 months since I last got to post the hands up! That's right, a dry spell from April of 2007 until October 2008. During that time I had the worst run of form in my life (this spring) as well as my best ever results, some amazing races and experiences, and plenty of podiums and other results. But, I didn't have any outright wins and I've definitely missed that.

Now, on to Greenville, a race I've never done before. I'm really excited to race and hang out in one of my favorite cities. After that, it's time for a break and then gearing up for 2009.

First pro/1/2 win

I grabbed my first Pro 1/2 Win today in the cycle for parkinsons crit in gwinnett! Pretty stoked.

First, the road race saturday-the race got shortened to 50 miles and the course wasn't too hard so it stayed together most of the day. With a lap and a half ago I went on a ridiculous escapade that involved getting away in several moves, countering myself, and basically spending 10 miles off the front in various moves. Unfortunately I got caught, cracked, missed the counter, and didn't have a great sprint, and ended up 9th. So that was frustrating to say the last and I had plenty of piss and vinegar today.

Today was tough and my legs were trash at the start. It was a small field which makes for hard racing since there's nowhere to recover. The race largely boiled down to Thad Dulin and I watching each other while at the same time keeping one of the Carolina Triathlon riders (who had a 5 man team) from getting up the road. It stayed together until 6 laps to go I ended up in a five man move with thad and 3 others. I attacked with two to go and got caught, Thad countered and I was promptly gapped off. I chased back on with a lap to go and sat at the back waiting to jump into the last two corners. I attacked right when I planned and got a good launch, cooked it through the last two corners, and hung on for the win.

This is myy first pro/1/2 win and the first race i've won in a long while, so i'm pretty stoked right now.