As usual I spent last night in utter procrastination, sifting through the internet for the hidden gems. I then found this blog and have spent the past few hours devouring the awesome photos.
http://s3.amazonaws.com/data.tumblr.com/tumblr_limqp5fWw81qzooxpo1_1280.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJ6IHWSU3BX3X7X3Q&Expires=1322076207&Signature=ou6taVSIw06QjKhzKRRIkTFExEI%3D.
After several hours I came to the conclusion that yes, people did at one time care about their appearance on a daily basis. As a college student I have been at fault for this numerous times. Late nights and early mornings have caused me to not care how wrinkled my shirt is, or that my hair looks like a squirrel has taken it to be a cozy nest. In an effort to organize my life as I prepare to exit the twilight zone that is university I have made attempts to remedy this with a constant culling of free t-shirts from my dresser and actually buying clothes that fit me. This blog only strengthens this urge to maintain higher standards, and that yes, my leather jackets are rad.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Saturday, September 24, 2011
The end of Summer School
The past few months have been pretty routine. I have gone to school, trained, and raced here and there while enjoying a beautiful summer in Santa Barbara. The past week put my life upside, foreshadowing what I imagine fall to resemble, a full load of school and hard training days leaving me desperate for more hours in the day.
My week started as I went home for three days to hang out on the ranch and see my parents for one last time before Thanksgiving or potentially Christmas. I had turned in my term paper for my plants class two days prior and only studied for my final the following Thursday for a few hours, the others I sent riding, eating, and remembering the joy of target shooting. On Labor Day I packed it up and cruised south, ready for a few good days of cramming before my test. The next two days found me far behind as my teacher dumped another 400 slides on us to memorize before Thursday, bringing the total material to 1700 slides over 17 lectures.
I made it to the test on a potent mixture of fear of failure and a constantly full cup of coffee in hand. I took my exam and spent over two hours recognizing slides and labeling plant genetic trees, and left the exam having received a suspicious text message while finishing up. I pulled out my phone expecting a message from friends to hang out. Instead I found that my roommates had discovered another aspect of living with a national team athlete, the unannounced visits from USADA testers. For those unfamiliar with the United States Anti Doping Agency (USADA), I will give a short primer.
Due to my status as a national team member on the Paralympic cycling team I am required to give my location at all times to USADA. With this information testers can test our country’s elite athletes with no prior knowledge of the athlete. Being paranoid to missing a tested and thus testing positive I am diligent with my whereabouts and last Thursday put that I had my final exam until 10:30 pm and would be home after. Around 9:30 I received that text from my roommate, letting me know that testers were waiting for me until 11 pm. Thankfully he messaged me knowing that the finish to finals are a usual cause of celebration and that I might not come straight home.
I sprinted home, due to this being my first out of competition test I did not want to keep USADA waiting. I got home and started the monotonous paperwork after I met the testers at my door. In theory drug testing doesn’t sound so bad, it’s just a urine sample, right? Well, when giving that sample requires a person to watch you pee with your shirt at chin level it is a whole different matter. Thankfully my levels of modesty are in the basement so after the initial shock last year when I was first tested at road nationals I now see it a minor inconvenience of competing at the national and international level. With a test and class out of the way it was time to enjoy my short-lived summer break, with a trip to Los Angeles to ride on the track before national on the first weekend in October.
My week started as I went home for three days to hang out on the ranch and see my parents for one last time before Thanksgiving or potentially Christmas. I had turned in my term paper for my plants class two days prior and only studied for my final the following Thursday for a few hours, the others I sent riding, eating, and remembering the joy of target shooting. On Labor Day I packed it up and cruised south, ready for a few good days of cramming before my test. The next two days found me far behind as my teacher dumped another 400 slides on us to memorize before Thursday, bringing the total material to 1700 slides over 17 lectures.
I made it to the test on a potent mixture of fear of failure and a constantly full cup of coffee in hand. I took my exam and spent over two hours recognizing slides and labeling plant genetic trees, and left the exam having received a suspicious text message while finishing up. I pulled out my phone expecting a message from friends to hang out. Instead I found that my roommates had discovered another aspect of living with a national team athlete, the unannounced visits from USADA testers. For those unfamiliar with the United States Anti Doping Agency (USADA), I will give a short primer.
Due to my status as a national team member on the Paralympic cycling team I am required to give my location at all times to USADA. With this information testers can test our country’s elite athletes with no prior knowledge of the athlete. Being paranoid to missing a tested and thus testing positive I am diligent with my whereabouts and last Thursday put that I had my final exam until 10:30 pm and would be home after. Around 9:30 I received that text from my roommate, letting me know that testers were waiting for me until 11 pm. Thankfully he messaged me knowing that the finish to finals are a usual cause of celebration and that I might not come straight home.
I sprinted home, due to this being my first out of competition test I did not want to keep USADA waiting. I got home and started the monotonous paperwork after I met the testers at my door. In theory drug testing doesn’t sound so bad, it’s just a urine sample, right? Well, when giving that sample requires a person to watch you pee with your shirt at chin level it is a whole different matter. Thankfully my levels of modesty are in the basement so after the initial shock last year when I was first tested at road nationals I now see it a minor inconvenience of competing at the national and international level. With a test and class out of the way it was time to enjoy my short-lived summer break, with a trip to Los Angeles to ride on the track before national on the first weekend in October.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Barry Wolfe Grand Prix
So instead of attending to the mountain of homework piling up before finals I figured I would write something about my race yesterday. With the team putting on the race and my assistance required later in the day I raced for the first time in about a month. With weeks of training weighing heavily on my body and mind I made my first mistake of the day in lining up in the back row. From the gun I felt sluggish and spent the majority of the race hanging on the back of the field. I gave a generous amount space to the numerous sketchy riders who proceeded to crash themselves and others out a total of five times before the race was through. After avoiding the largest crash with two to go I time-trialed my way to the finish, with a large number of riders sprinting past me to beat the crippled kid for 45-50th place. Bravo!!!! While the race wasn't the greatest for me I had a great time being cheered on by my teammates course marsheling during my race, allowing to dig myself that much deeper into my personal pain cave. Afterwards I hung around until the end of the day to help clean up alongside my U25 teammates, ending another successful day at the races.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
School and training don't mix well
After two solid weeks of training I'm completely fried. In the past few days I've really come to realize why many aspiring athletes postpone upper level study, it's hard to do both at the same time. With a two midterms, assignments, and a final paper in the past 2 weeks, my fifteen hour weekly training schedule laid me out cold. While a 3-4 hr ride is a solid effort, having to be in the library and relatively productive afterwards makes it that much more difficult.
For a week my sleep was good, recovery was sufficient, my body was dealing with the heavy load on my shoulders. about mid week this week I began to feel as if my body was rejecting itself, always tired, I felt like shit. After I turned in my term paper for my environmental studies class I went home and passed out for a hour. At 11 am!. While I am no stranger to naps this signaled to me that I was scraping the bottom of the barrel of my abilities. I knew would have to grind it out until my gym session on monday and the start of two light weeks while I navigate the waters of dead week and finals.
Although these past weeks have been miserable at times they have taught me a lot. In order to train like I did in my lead up to worlds, I need to manage school better. I can't wait till the last minute to pull an all-nighter to finish papers and study for exams like I have in the past. So here is to pulling closer to both finish lines, graduating university and the Paralympics! It's gonna be a roller coaster, so hold on tight.
For a week my sleep was good, recovery was sufficient, my body was dealing with the heavy load on my shoulders. about mid week this week I began to feel as if my body was rejecting itself, always tired, I felt like shit. After I turned in my term paper for my environmental studies class I went home and passed out for a hour. At 11 am!. While I am no stranger to naps this signaled to me that I was scraping the bottom of the barrel of my abilities. I knew would have to grind it out until my gym session on monday and the start of two light weeks while I navigate the waters of dead week and finals.
Although these past weeks have been miserable at times they have taught me a lot. In order to train like I did in my lead up to worlds, I need to manage school better. I can't wait till the last minute to pull an all-nighter to finish papers and study for exams like I have in the past. So here is to pulling closer to both finish lines, graduating university and the Paralympics! It's gonna be a roller coaster, so hold on tight.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Dear Mom, I'm Sorry
In the past few years cycling has taken skin, eyebrows and a fair amount of my blood due to careless mistakes of my inexperience. With every crash I couldn't understand why my mom was always frantic until she talked to me, only calmed by me saying, "I'm ok, just a little banged up and sore." While this wasn't always totally truthful, as in the case of Colorado in 2009, it let my mom go about her day without worrying herself about me.
Today made me realize why my mom hates to watch me race, hates to watch me absolutely fly on my bicycle. Today in the Giro someone lost their son to the sport in Wouter Weylandt. As a bike racer I am conscience of what could happen if I fell at 45 mph, or clipped a car on a tight curve, but almost never think of them. Today I was forced to acknowledge that my sport can be a fatal one, and I cannot take racing and training lightly. I make the choice to kit up and roll out the door each day, from here on out forever thankful of my health and my understanding, supportive family.
Mom, I love you and am sorry for all the times I called Dad before you after hitting the deck.
And to cheer everyone up here are some UCSB kids celebrating easter.
Today made me realize why my mom hates to watch me race, hates to watch me absolutely fly on my bicycle. Today in the Giro someone lost their son to the sport in Wouter Weylandt. As a bike racer I am conscience of what could happen if I fell at 45 mph, or clipped a car on a tight curve, but almost never think of them. Today I was forced to acknowledge that my sport can be a fatal one, and I cannot take racing and training lightly. I make the choice to kit up and roll out the door each day, from here on out forever thankful of my health and my understanding, supportive family.
Mom, I love you and am sorry for all the times I called Dad before you after hitting the deck.
And to cheer everyone up here are some UCSB kids celebrating easter.
Friday, May 6, 2011
A rocky start to road riding and a start to a new season
Between 2 major related midterms, a quick jaunt to LA for a Paralympic team
announcement and collegiate conference championships the weekend I spent at sea
otter with my NOW-MS society team was gently pushed aside.
After being on the bike for about a month since my break my goals at sea
otter were minimal, survival in the longer races would be awesome. My crit on
Thursday held a small field on a difficult course, I made it until 2.5 laps to
go until i ran out of brute acceleration to keep up with the field to finish
12th. The road race ended early with the field riding away on the main climb as
i dug myself into a deep hole then proceeded to limp back to my car after
finishing the lap destroyed and solo. The famous circuit race on Laguna Seca
ended better than expected, when I held out to finish with the second group on
the road after being unable to match the accelerations on the last time up the
climb. It was in this race where I really saw where my abilities stand. I had no problem climbing the steep pitched portion of the circuit at a constant pace, and was able to mark some of the early moves I saw dangerous as guys tried to get away. It was on the last lap where my body failed me. We came screaming into the climb, I was sitting 5th wheel or so, riding a hard tempo, and went into pursuit mode as we attacked the meat of the climb. On this lap I saw the winning move go up the road and while I tried my hardest to get there, I just don't yet have the strength and fitness to go with the guys with body types that would look at home on the Muur de Huy, not on a pursuit bike like myself. Coming home from that weekend and the next I have come to see able bodied racing at least for the present as damn good training. I can gut myself and attempt to play my lacking deck of cards, but cannot beat myself up when I finish short of a respectable placing.
More exciting than my mediocre placings at Sea Otter is that the Home
Depot Center velodrome will play host to the 2012 Para Track cycling world
championships, the last international competition before the venues open at the
London Paralympics that September. Please mark your calenders for the weekend of
Feb 10-12 to come cheer on Team USA on home territory as we compete against the
best in the world for the right to be called world champion.
announcement and collegiate conference championships the weekend I spent at sea
otter with my NOW-MS society team was gently pushed aside.
After being on the bike for about a month since my break my goals at sea
otter were minimal, survival in the longer races would be awesome. My crit on
Thursday held a small field on a difficult course, I made it until 2.5 laps to
go until i ran out of brute acceleration to keep up with the field to finish
12th. The road race ended early with the field riding away on the main climb as
i dug myself into a deep hole then proceeded to limp back to my car after
finishing the lap destroyed and solo. The famous circuit race on Laguna Seca
ended better than expected, when I held out to finish with the second group on
the road after being unable to match the accelerations on the last time up the
climb. It was in this race where I really saw where my abilities stand. I had no problem climbing the steep pitched portion of the circuit at a constant pace, and was able to mark some of the early moves I saw dangerous as guys tried to get away. It was on the last lap where my body failed me. We came screaming into the climb, I was sitting 5th wheel or so, riding a hard tempo, and went into pursuit mode as we attacked the meat of the climb. On this lap I saw the winning move go up the road and while I tried my hardest to get there, I just don't yet have the strength and fitness to go with the guys with body types that would look at home on the Muur de Huy, not on a pursuit bike like myself. Coming home from that weekend and the next I have come to see able bodied racing at least for the present as damn good training. I can gut myself and attempt to play my lacking deck of cards, but cannot beat myself up when I finish short of a respectable placing.
More exciting than my mediocre placings at Sea Otter is that the Home
Depot Center velodrome will play host to the 2012 Para Track cycling world
championships, the last international competition before the venues open at the
London Paralympics that September. Please mark your calenders for the weekend of
Feb 10-12 to come cheer on Team USA on home territory as we compete against the
best in the world for the right to be called world champion.
Worlds, better late than never, right?
Here are a few race reports posted to my club team website a few months back.
Today was the opening of competition with the men single bikes contesting the
pursuit and the tandems racing the kilometer. While my start time was unknown i
was told to ride over alone to the track at the start of competition. That 2
kilometers to the velodrome were two of the longest kilos i've ever ridden.
When I arrived the USA cabin was buzzing with activity, my bike was in the stand
being triple checked by the mechanic, my coach and finally the director. With
two hours still to go i was directed to lay down, keep warm and relax, it was
just another day at the track. The first hour was the worst on my nerves, as i
had nothing to do but listen to music and watch the more disabled categories
race 3 Kilometers, the same as myself. I was soon on the massage table, getting
a massage to warm my legs up before my proper warm up started. When I hopped the
trainer my instincts kicked in, hey! I know how to do this! From there it was
just another track session, except today my coach Adam was standing at my
shoulder my entire warm up, making sure it went pitch perfect.
I rolled to the line with my legs firing, heart beating strong, still fully
wrapped up against the chill that never seemed to leave the track. I hardly
noticed the couple minutes sitting on deck, only that i would no doubt set a
current fast time, with no one hitting the mark of 4 minutes even I had set in
LA two weeks prior. My heat arrived and my bike was carried to the gate,
surrounded my UCI officials. I comparatively jumped on my bike as my opponent
from Russia was missing an arm as well as his lower leg.
The clock began its 10 second count down and i did what i do best, nail the
start. I left the gate clean, careful not to overcook my start lap. I heard my
splits but not much else, only that i started well but lost precious tenths of a
second each lap through out the effort. With two laps to go I came roaring up on
my opponent, weaving all over the track as he descended in to the cave that is
pursuiting. I made a clean pass and brought it home, stopping the clock at
3:54.1 , good enough for 3rd at the time and 7th by the end of qualifications.
In doing so i set a 6 sec personal best, set a new American record, and most
importantly finally made the US national team. While I failed to make the medal
rounds, I now have a new benchmark and have seen for myself how fast the Brits
really are.
So the weekend has gone, I'm sitting in a hotel room in Alba Italy catching up
on sleep as i almost pulled an all-nighter celebrating the conclusion of my
first world championships. Saturday was the hardest day for me during
competition, the kilo was on Sat and without having done a successful kilo
against the clock in training I was nervous all day, wanting to build on my
success from Friday.
After warm up I made the long walk from the USA cabin to the start line, only to
have my coach discover my rear disc was flat as he put my bike into the gate. As
the staff rushed to change wheels I sat at the gate, attempting to control the
flood of nerves washing over me. My bike was fixed and the countdown started. I
jumped the gate early but but still ripped off a fast start lap, leading to two
second PR and another 7th place. I was frustrated with my ride but with the
knowledge that I was to ride the team sprint the next day I got a quick leg
flush on the massage table and went to meet my dad and brother for lunch.
Sunday was an early trip to the velodrome. The men's tandem qualified 6th in the
flying 200 and improved to 5th in the match sprints throughout the day. In team
sprint quals we were 4th to last due to the 4th place finish at worlds last
year. In the ride prior to ours the Chinese set a new world record in the 51
second region and we placed 2nd to move into fourth behind the Czechs and the
British who reset the world record in both their runs. In the evening when
finals rolled around we ended up 4th, losing the bronze by 7 tenths of a second.
While I did not medal my worlds must be considered a success, i went from being
a so called "One lap wonder" to being running the fastest male 3 km pursuit in
US Paralympic history.
Today was the opening of competition with the men single bikes contesting the
pursuit and the tandems racing the kilometer. While my start time was unknown i
was told to ride over alone to the track at the start of competition. That 2
kilometers to the velodrome were two of the longest kilos i've ever ridden.
When I arrived the USA cabin was buzzing with activity, my bike was in the stand
being triple checked by the mechanic, my coach and finally the director. With
two hours still to go i was directed to lay down, keep warm and relax, it was
just another day at the track. The first hour was the worst on my nerves, as i
had nothing to do but listen to music and watch the more disabled categories
race 3 Kilometers, the same as myself. I was soon on the massage table, getting
a massage to warm my legs up before my proper warm up started. When I hopped the
trainer my instincts kicked in, hey! I know how to do this! From there it was
just another track session, except today my coach Adam was standing at my
shoulder my entire warm up, making sure it went pitch perfect.
I rolled to the line with my legs firing, heart beating strong, still fully
wrapped up against the chill that never seemed to leave the track. I hardly
noticed the couple minutes sitting on deck, only that i would no doubt set a
current fast time, with no one hitting the mark of 4 minutes even I had set in
LA two weeks prior. My heat arrived and my bike was carried to the gate,
surrounded my UCI officials. I comparatively jumped on my bike as my opponent
from Russia was missing an arm as well as his lower leg.
The clock began its 10 second count down and i did what i do best, nail the
start. I left the gate clean, careful not to overcook my start lap. I heard my
splits but not much else, only that i started well but lost precious tenths of a
second each lap through out the effort. With two laps to go I came roaring up on
my opponent, weaving all over the track as he descended in to the cave that is
pursuiting. I made a clean pass and brought it home, stopping the clock at
3:54.1 , good enough for 3rd at the time and 7th by the end of qualifications.
In doing so i set a 6 sec personal best, set a new American record, and most
importantly finally made the US national team. While I failed to make the medal
rounds, I now have a new benchmark and have seen for myself how fast the Brits
really are.
So the weekend has gone, I'm sitting in a hotel room in Alba Italy catching up
on sleep as i almost pulled an all-nighter celebrating the conclusion of my
first world championships. Saturday was the hardest day for me during
competition, the kilo was on Sat and without having done a successful kilo
against the clock in training I was nervous all day, wanting to build on my
success from Friday.
After warm up I made the long walk from the USA cabin to the start line, only to
have my coach discover my rear disc was flat as he put my bike into the gate. As
the staff rushed to change wheels I sat at the gate, attempting to control the
flood of nerves washing over me. My bike was fixed and the countdown started. I
jumped the gate early but but still ripped off a fast start lap, leading to two
second PR and another 7th place. I was frustrated with my ride but with the
knowledge that I was to ride the team sprint the next day I got a quick leg
flush on the massage table and went to meet my dad and brother for lunch.
Sunday was an early trip to the velodrome. The men's tandem qualified 6th in the
flying 200 and improved to 5th in the match sprints throughout the day. In team
sprint quals we were 4th to last due to the 4th place finish at worlds last
year. In the ride prior to ours the Chinese set a new world record in the 51
second region and we placed 2nd to move into fourth behind the Czechs and the
British who reset the world record in both their runs. In the evening when
finals rolled around we ended up 4th, losing the bronze by 7 tenths of a second.
While I did not medal my worlds must be considered a success, i went from being
a so called "One lap wonder" to being running the fastest male 3 km pursuit in
US Paralympic history.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Taking a step away for a moment
While my assorted teammates prepared for the first race weekend of the season and arrived at camp in Chula Juana, I was driving once again to LA. This time training was not the reason for my visit. I headed south to hang out with a group of friends from my first year at SB, all cyclists who are now scattered through out Southern California.
Due to a mildly serious health issue affecting one of my friends I took the weekend easy after whipping myself silly in the days prior. We had a great time in LA, we went to Whole Foods and bought about eighty dollars in veggies which we promptly fed to my buddy Pat's juicer. Between lazy mornings on the pool deck and rides up the San Gabriel Mountains we remembered our time at UCSB as a team; the hard racing, the half-hearted partying, and endless antics traveling around California. These discussions left us in tears, falling over with laughter. It is times like these that remind me why I started to race my bike, it's not just that I love riding bikes, It's the time I spend with the crazy group of people I call my friends and teammates during training and racing.
I also was reminded that no matter where I go, that I need to maintain my good friendships to remind me who I am and why I'm riding my bike in pursuit of excellence.
Due to a mildly serious health issue affecting one of my friends I took the weekend easy after whipping myself silly in the days prior. We had a great time in LA, we went to Whole Foods and bought about eighty dollars in veggies which we promptly fed to my buddy Pat's juicer. Between lazy mornings on the pool deck and rides up the San Gabriel Mountains we remembered our time at UCSB as a team; the hard racing, the half-hearted partying, and endless antics traveling around California. These discussions left us in tears, falling over with laughter. It is times like these that remind me why I started to race my bike, it's not just that I love riding bikes, It's the time I spend with the crazy group of people I call my friends and teammates during training and racing.
I also was reminded that no matter where I go, that I need to maintain my good friendships to remind me who I am and why I'm riding my bike in pursuit of excellence.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
being lazy between camps
after 5:30 wake ups for 4 straight days I have no running desire to rush out the door to get my training done during the few days between camps. Camp 2 was a success, strong start laps all camp long and i finally found my distance legs. Camp 2 was great, no ER visit and i discovered the wonders of benadryl, allowing me to go to bed after our night sessions on the track. It is right about now, a couple recovery days have passed since camp and my mind and body are seriously doubting one of my goals for world championships, not having a beer or glass of wine until after competition.
Now, I'm not a heavy drinker by any means but as someone who has made making alcohol a career goal i do enjoy a tasty beverage quite often. It really hasn't performance in the past, but with the biggest race of my young career on the horizon I wanted to see if abstaining for alcohol could give me one or two percent more in training and competition. Up until now the experiment has been decent, no nice meals with my parents to tempt me with good wine, no imported micro brews offered to me at friend's houses. Last weekend I almost broke down. Walking, no (hobbling is a more accurate term), into my coach's room to make a sandwich I was offered a Stella by my teammate, with instructions that the six pack needed to be finished before people left for their flights home. I bit the bullet and declined, as much as my mind wanted to say yes, sticking to my plan was and is more important than a Stella from a bottle. But, on the bright side, it's game on the day after worlds; when my Dad, brother, Clark, and I begin our short but whirlwind tour of the wineries, vineyards and cooperage of northern Italy.
Now, I'm not a heavy drinker by any means but as someone who has made making alcohol a career goal i do enjoy a tasty beverage quite often. It really hasn't performance in the past, but with the biggest race of my young career on the horizon I wanted to see if abstaining for alcohol could give me one or two percent more in training and competition. Up until now the experiment has been decent, no nice meals with my parents to tempt me with good wine, no imported micro brews offered to me at friend's houses. Last weekend I almost broke down. Walking, no (hobbling is a more accurate term), into my coach's room to make a sandwich I was offered a Stella by my teammate, with instructions that the six pack needed to be finished before people left for their flights home. I bit the bullet and declined, as much as my mind wanted to say yes, sticking to my plan was and is more important than a Stella from a bottle. But, on the bright side, it's game on the day after worlds; when my Dad, brother, Clark, and I begin our short but whirlwind tour of the wineries, vineyards and cooperage of northern Italy.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Track camp number one
I figure this camp will be remembered as the camp where Will crashed again. I did go down on day 2, session 3, but only ended up missing that session. after consulting with a doctor via text and picture message, Adam and I headed out to the ER for a late night ending in 7 stitches. The broken veneer on my front tooth was painless and i ended up getting fixed today in an easy session in the dentist's chair. After too few hrs of sleep i was at the track again, a bit sore, but ready to push just as hard as the prior sessions to get the most out of our valuable track time. Even with all my soreness and accumulated exhaustion, I still was able to stomp out some vital PR start laps in our team sprint practice.
While this camp left me wasted, still recovering two days later, I found myself loving every minute i spent suffering during the pain inducing sessions. Unlike the last few months where I found myself suffering alone, wondering for what purpose I was wailing on myself for, this camp was unlike that at all. after every effort I was not the only slumped over attempting to not puke, or later cry from the pain of accumulated lactic acid, but joined my teammates to suffer together. With the provided mutual support and encouragement, we pushed past our personal bests, all in preparation for another camp in a weeks times, and ultimately in competition against the world's best.
new year-temporary new job
With track worlds in Italy in March i took the quarter off of school to fully prepare for competition. I left last quarter in good standing, having even boosted my suffering GPA with some solid results. Beyond the bike my experiences and results last spring and summer have transferred over to school as well. In the past few months I was not scared by tests, but rather approached each one with confidence in myself and the effort i put in preparing for each test. With this mindset i was able to get good grades as well as train hard in the gym and on the bike in preparation for the new year and four prep camps before our March departure.
With my return to SB i found myself with a few days of training and an equal number of recovery. Before going to LA i stoked up on coffee as well as catching up with my friends Aaron and Kim at handlebarcoffee.com. After hanging out and cooking dinner with my UCSB teammates when they got back in town, it was time to head to camp number one.
With my return to SB i found myself with a few days of training and an equal number of recovery. Before going to LA i stoked up on coffee as well as catching up with my friends Aaron and Kim at handlebarcoffee.com. After hanging out and cooking dinner with my UCSB teammates when they got back in town, it was time to head to camp number one.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
unearthed inabilities
As I found out last week my disability follows me where ever i go. On a day to day basis i forget that anything is wrong with my body, having lived with it for 22 years i have know nothing else. Last week I left the ranch and the family and drove to LA, a week on the velodrome awaiting me.
Over the next 4 days I was challenged both physically and mentally. While I am able to ride the velodrome my cerebral palsy affects my pedal stroke on my track bike more than on my road bike. Mostly i have to concentrate on pedaling or else i could find myself in a situation similar to '09 in Colorado.
After 4 days of training and efforts, I think it may be close to impossible for me to stand and sprint at speed on the track. I have no problem standing from a dead start, thankfully the only start position for my races at worlds, but cannot get out of the saddle to wind up a flying effort from the rail. After thinking about it I realized the biggest impact that being "Disabled" has had is in the little actions. i have 90%, that last 10% is just out of reach.
Over the next 4 days I was challenged both physically and mentally. While I am able to ride the velodrome my cerebral palsy affects my pedal stroke on my track bike more than on my road bike. Mostly i have to concentrate on pedaling or else i could find myself in a situation similar to '09 in Colorado.
After 4 days of training and efforts, I think it may be close to impossible for me to stand and sprint at speed on the track. I have no problem standing from a dead start, thankfully the only start position for my races at worlds, but cannot get out of the saddle to wind up a flying effort from the rail. After thinking about it I realized the biggest impact that being "Disabled" has had is in the little actions. i have 90%, that last 10% is just out of reach.
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