Catching up on time lost on the Blogosphere.

Ok so its been forever since ive blogged. For some reason my blogger account would not let me log into it with the information that i had been using in the past.. It took me a while to figure it out.

Im going to Bullet point that past few months so i dont write a HUGE blog with all the awesome stuff going on in my life. I will start from my last blog post.

BRAZIL

• Amazing country. So beatiful. Racing was wicked hard. Made the Break in a mountain stage and sold myself to another team to help them out. It was cool. I felt pro....
  

• We ate SO MUCH GOOD FOOD. They really like the meat on a stick deal. They will come around with every piece of meat known to the cow.. and they just keep on coming!! it was amazing. But i gained a bunch of weight because of it. They also have these endless pizza places where they bring out every type of pizza know to man. I had chicken heart pizza and thoroughly enjoyed it. The dessert pizzas were the best tho!

OK enough about Brazil. The next thing in my life was probably...

New England Bike Racing

• Came back from Brazil and had to get back in the swing of things. I did the Bennington Stage race. I got destroyed. Legs were not great after traveling across the world and then racing a couple days later. Then we did some local races (sterling comes to mind, and others.. it was so long ago) I did well in these races that i cant remember. Ive been pretty consistent this year with making it into the breaks and finishing top ten. But the big W has snuck away from me.
• I came in Second to Gavin Mannion at the Purgatory RR. We took off together and rode across a 4 min gap to the leaders and then rode right past them where we then duked it out on the hill and he just had one more punch in him at the top and took me by a little bit. Its was fun and that was my first big result of the year.

Grandparents Millionth Anniversary

• I forget how long they have been married. But i took the evening off from riding so i could go and visit the family, get some good food and hang out with the Grandparents. I assume they have been together for a long time...im gunna guess 55 yrs? my mom will know
• This next pic is from a Pow wow that they honored my Grandparents anniversary. very cool.

Me and my little cousins!!


Next might have been (and at this point im just looking through my facebook to see the chronological order of my photos..)

O yea, THE GLENCO GRAND PRIX!!!

• I went riding with Jeremy Powers and we were talking about cool races that i could potentially get to this season. Well he came up with the idea of the team sending me out to the Glenco Grand Prix in Chicago. So we scrambled around, got me into the host housing that jelly belly was at... got some extra race wheels from the JB team and was ready to rip.
  

• The race went really well. I rode "for" the jelly belly guys and did whatever they told me to do. The race was pretty hard, but nothing really crazy. 20 laps in it went from 75 riders to 17 riders and i was one of the only amateurs in that selection... very cool. I covered some moves, tried attacking a bit and was feeling really good. But it wasn't until i went up to Brad Huff from Jelly Belly and he told me that there was going to be an opportunity for me to attack and get away. So i did what he said and i immediately had a 15 second gap.. then 30 seconds.. all by myself. I bridged up to some lapped riders and then there was a lot of confusion and the lead vehicle thought i was a lapped rider and went behind me.. i kept trucking along and then another solo rider came up to me and we rode hard for the next few laps... We got caught with 1.5 laps to go and then i tried helping the JB lead out train but was only able to do about 30 seconds worth of work before legs started dying. It was sick. i came in 15th, so for my first NRC crit thats not to shabby...

Lots to catch up on.. So i will do another Blog in the next couple days

Topics to include:

• Summer in Amherst, MA
• More Bike racing - Altoona, Clamfest, and other races.
• Whats been going on in my life
• Whats on the plate for the next couple months of road season and plans for Cross season.

Here are some random Pictures from the last couple months.






Thanks for reading. Talk soon!

First part of my brazil trip

Ok, so im here in brazilian on my exciting bike racing adventure. Its been unbelievable so far, its so beautiful and fun here. The first few days we were in a city called Florianopolis. This is the real touristy part of south brazil. It was really amazing here. The first day we showed up and had Rodrigo, our teammate and translator, show us around the city a little bit and take us to some great local food places. The first thing we got was an acai berry sorbet with granola and sliced banana, it was delicious. Then we checked out the local mall where everything costs a million and a half dollars because everything is taxed so high for the imports. A set of Nike or Aasics shoes costs about $600 US dollars, crazy town.



Then we went to the beaches the next day. Rodrigo took us on a tour of 4 beaches and one of the most amazing ones in south america. It was so nice and relaxing.




After the second day we headed out to the hotel for our first stage race in Gravatai. It was about a 5 hour drive and it was so nice with all the mountains and new sites.




So today we finished out first stage of the Volta Cyclita International Tour de Gravatai. It was a 115 mile flat road race. It was pretty challenging in the first 2 hours while the break away was trying to be established. Al, Sean and I were being aggressive and getting into a lot of moves, and thank goodness we didn't make it into the break because the 3 guys that were in the break had to suffer in the blistering heat and wind all day just to be caught with about 20K to go. That sucks. Well the race wasnt to crazy and i was feeling really good with about 30K to go when a dude crashed in front of me. That sucked. I went down really hard and smashed my back and my side. My back is bothering me a lot, but hopefully a good nights sleep with make me feel ok.


Check back tomorrow for a video that is taking a millions years to upload.

California

So i have been in california for the past 2 weeks now. This place is really cool. I never thought that i would ever really like Southern California, but i can definitely understand why people would move here. THE WEATHER IS PERFECT ALL THE TIME!



I have been staying at the beach after I attended the Jelly Belly Training Camp. The Camp was really cool. Getting to ride with all the Pro Riders on the team was a great opportunity. We had a lot of great rides and experiences when Anthony and I were with them. At the end of the camp we got presented with a signed jersey and lots of Jelly Belly memorabilia.




So since the camp has ended, i didnt really have a plan of where i was going to stay. I had a back up plan that would save me, just in case. I thought it would be fun to try and meet up with random people and stay with them for a couple days at a time. So with a day left in camp i found someone from Couchsurfers. He messaged me back and said that I was good to go to stay at his place!

Awesome, now i need to figure out how to get there and wether or not this guy was going to kill me and throw me in the ocean. So i show up WED afternoon to an oceanfront property condo and out comes a short guy with a beard and long hair...... I think, either he is a hippy, or hes going to murder me! So he welcomes me in to his house and its a little bit of a clustered living space with lots of instruments and art work everywhere. Then i think: Alright, im gunna die!

Turns out this guy was one of the coolest people i have ever met, hes travelled all over the world and has so many cool stories that he shared with me over the 5 nights i was there. I only planned on staying there for 3 nights, but my other housing fell through and since my host Mike was so nice, he let me stay as long as i needed.

He was within walking distance of one of the best sushi restaurant in the US. Best Sushi I have ever had. And even tho my sushi life is young, this sushi was amazing.



The Sushi roll in the picture was my favorite. it was made up of Tempura Shrimp, Spicy Crab, and spouts wrapped in soy paper. Topped with Tuna, avacado, spicy lobster, eel sauce and masago.

Sounds crazy! but it was really good.

I also tried surfing for the first time and i was absolutely terrible at it! The good guys make it look so easy and im ussually prety good at picking up sports pretty fast. I spent about 2 hours in the water and never got up on the board once! And i could barely catch a wave!



There is a lot of cool local music in the city of San Diego and i got to go to the famous Belly Up bar and music hall place to see a local legend Steve Poltz. He is the dude that co-wrote a lot of jewels big hits in her first albums.



SO THAT WAS FUN!



I also got to go to the San Diego Wild Park Safar. Here are some cool pics from that!






Rhinos have to be the coolest animals ever. They look like dinosaurs and are massive!!

I also competed in some serious air hockey tournaments. It was pretty sweet.


I DID NOT WIN!

Cali is cool. But i like New England better. Everyone here is SOFT! they cant deal with cold, and they wine to much. Also, everyone is really into themselves here. Everyone is very self involved and needs to "One-Up" each other all the time. This is true for most of the people that i have met here. But hey, whatever floats their boat!

But, i can say that it is really fun to meet new people from all over the place. I have met a few australians which are really cool guys. And i am currently staying with a guy that was in a car accident with Travis Pastrana and was paralyzed from the wast down. Well, now he is riding bikes and walking again. Really cool dude and a very cool story!

The sunsets here are nice.



Here is an interview that i was in for the JAM fund ( the cycling team i am one) I didn't want to post it, but my parents asked me to so my GRANDMOTHER could see it. Yes, thats right. My grandmother uses the internet now! NICE!



I DID NOT RE-READ this post. So don't tell me my grammar is bad and that i have spelling mistakes. My wifi time is limited here! So i don't care.

I am about to go make some amazing dinner now. so have a good day.

Its been a while.... My goals for the year are in this blog!

The title is for me. I want to be able to find my goals whenever I want. So that way I wont forget which blog post my goals are in!


Life seems to be going great right now. Lots of new and exciting things are coming my way so far in the new year. Ive been doing a lot of base training (riding my bikes for lots of hours) and it gives me a lot of time to think about everything.

I've thought a lot about how becoming a professional cyclist would be really cool. I guess i have always been hesitant to say out loud to people that i want to get to that level, because that would put a lot of pressure on myself. I've decided that i want that pressure, i want to have people helping and knowing what I'm striving for. It will give me the extra drive that i think i need in this upcoming season. I have a job that is allowing me to train as much as I need to, travel when I want to and still get paid good money. Since i have that in place, I am FULLY committing myself to train and be my best in the upcoming road and cross seasons.




Goals are something that i always use to try and achieve more (like a lot of other people). Ive been thinking a lot about the ones that I have set for myself for this year. I've decided to write them down in this blog so i can refer back to them whenever i want. Also, it gives me more incentive to achieve them because other people will know what I'm striving for this year.

I have separated my goals into two sections and since cycling is a big part of my life i gave it its own category.

Cycling Goals:

• Get signed to a pro team for the 2012 season

• Win 2 New Enlgand elite races this season

• Be considered a good / fun teammate

• Get into EuroCross camp next cross season

• Race my bike in another country

Personal Goals:

• Travel to three countries I've never been

• Do the best job I can at work and take advantage of the opportunities given to me.

• Take the GMAT / GRE and apply to grad school

• Meet a girl

• Read more books

• Meet as many new people as I can
  

• Eat new foods

• More to come!

I realize that cycling is a big part of my life. It has given me many opportunities and friends that have changed my life and i am very thankful for that, but i want to make sure that I remain a well rounded person and balance my non-cycling life with everything else I do.

So those are my goals this year, I'm sure i will be adding more as the year progresses.


Family at my brothers going away party before he left for cambodia


The next few months are looking really good for me. I am traveling to the Jelly Belly Training camp in San Diego CA with Jeremy Powers and my teammate Anthony Clark. It should be really fun and it will be a great way to meet and ride with pro cyclists for a few days. After the camp i will be staying out for an additional 2 weeks to train and see what California is like. Ive never been to the west coast, so im really looking forward to it.

After California i will be back for the month of march. So hopefully, the weather will be nicer when i get back! After march though, i have the trip of a lifetime planned for April 8'th - April 26'th. I will be going toFlorionopolis Brazil and i will be racing in two big UCI (UCI means big race with fast guys in cycling) races.



The races are"Volta Ciclistica Internacional de Gravatai" y ""Tour de Santa Catarina" . This is the opportunity of a lifetime, not only to get to travel to another country and race my bike (which checks off one of my goals for the year) But to also race bikes against some the South Americas best racers.


This is the "queen stage" climb. Looks crazy!


This year looks to be a good one so far. So I hope it continues on that path.

ALSO! I did my first yoga class ever, and I did one of "These"..... Just kidding. But is did do one of "These". I never knew i could bend like that. Yoga is a very humbling thing, it makes you realize you can be terrible unfit in a lot of areas of the body. My hips are tight, and my upper body is not quite there!

I consider myself very lucky to be having such great opportunities being brought to me this year. I can't wait to go to brazil and hang out in one of "These fine pieces of clothing"!


My past couple months in pictures:


Christmas at my cousins

Winter storm survival pack

Bacon Sushi

CLimbing with my brother on Christmas day

Racing bikes in Tennessee

Best night out with all the housemates. Bowling and endless beers!!!!