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!!!!

I guess i wont ride my bike anymore!!

So, just found out that bones dont actually come back together as fast as i thought. I figured since my collar bone felt alright then it MUST be back together... but turns out that the body produces this weird glue stuff when it breaks a bone and that holds it together for a while until the bone starts to calcify and get stronger.. But during this process the bones can still move around, so its best to not use it at all.

I cant pick up my bike with one are like i used to do!!

Long story short: i should not be riding my mountain bike everyday like i have been. Even though ive been riding on easy dirt roads and smooth trails, im not supposed to have any pressure on my arm at all.... So thats a bummer. I thought since i was an elite athlete that is really healthy, my bone would heal faster than the "average" person. But i guess i have to settle with being just average during my recovery and i am now officially on my break from riding, a little earlier than i would have liked.

Cool thing tho, i still came in second in the nycross.com race series!! and the last race of the series i got to watch anthony smash the race for his first elite race win of his career! During that time i got to enjoy several fresh pulled pork sandwiches and a bunch of beers. so that was enjoyable.

So now that i realize that im not a super human and i have all the people around me like my coach/mentors/ friends Alec, Jeremy Powers, Mukunda and brian hayes telling me to stay off my bike. I guess i will listen to them and take it easy and get rested up so i can start doing base!! i plan on going to Southern California for base this year. Hopefully i will be gone for a little more than a month. So if anyone has any connections down there, let me know!! trying to do the trip on the cheap.

I have the coolest team in the world! and i will tell you why right now. Not only do we have some of the best racers in New England, we have the nicest people in the entire world on our team. Al and Mukunda care more about the team than i can even imagine. They put so much time and energy into running a very successful program that they are now in the second year of running. After two years of great sponsors and a great bunch of people, the team is getting even more awesome next season. Nothing can be talked about now, but there is some sweet shit happening that i will discuss once the team officially announces it. Besides that tho, we just bought Mairena Arostegui from Nicaragua (http://bit.ly/ax2IqS) some pigs and hens through the KIVA.org. Check them out. Every time that we win a bike race, we help someone around the world with there business by offering our race winnings. And while we dont win a lot of money racing bikes, it still really helps someone that could really use it! So our team is just awesome.

Go to the teams website and subscribe to the newsletter to stay up to date on what we are doing and how awesome we are becoming with each passing minute.

http://www.wheelhouseracing.com/

I wish it was summer still, so i could be doing this again!! jumping off trees into rivers..

Thats all i have for now, but hopefully there will be more interesting things happening soon.

goodbye

Double Rainbow win! and broken bones!!!

so this weekend brought me a set of wins in the new england cross scene!

It was great. The first day was pretty easy when no really fast guys showed up. I took the hole shot and had a gap the rest of the race. It was the least "cyclocrossy" course ive ever riden on. It was very straight, lots of pedlin' and no hard turns. perfect for me!

The second day brought the Saratogo springs Nycross race. These are my favorite races and it was going to be good racing against Alec for the win.

Al got the hole shot and then proceeded to turn really slowly, so i tried to go around him and crashed on the 4'th turn of the course. that was cool! got back on and it was just me and him with a good sized gap after the first lap. We were riding comfortably together and playing a game i call "cannondal-cyclocrossworld.com" . What happens in this game is you choose a rider from the cannondale team to be, and then whatever rider you chose to be, that real life rider will get the same result you did in the game.

It worked out pretty good cuz i was "Jeremy Powers" in the race and i won and Al was Tim Johnson and he came in third. And then Powers also won his race and johnson came in 3'rd weird... good job us! ha.

Al was really sticking it to me for a while and not letting me catch up after he rode the run up and got a big gap on me (http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=610249179085). So i chased really hard for about 4 laps and then he rolled his tire and i got ahead of him and was able to maintain my gap for the win!

This is the awesome podium they had at the race!

I won a sweet GORE jacket thats probably worth a couple hundred dollars, so that was really cool.

So that was an awesome weekend. and now im sitting in my bed cuz i broke my collar bone yesterday at cross practice!! typing with one hand is challenging

on the left side of the picture there are 2 pieces of bone that are supposed to be together.... but they are not.

I guess thats what i get for trying to hop the barriers like a cool guy. heres a video of me doing it last week. im the second person through. http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=609509780845

I had it down really well yesterday, but just messed up a little on the last time through!! and bam, i immediately knew it was broken and it strangely didn't hurt that much! but now it does! good thing i have lots of drugs to numb the pain....so if this post sounds dumb just remember im on drugs and typing only with my left hand!

if only i had a really beautiful nurse to take care of me! that would be the best!

in other news. my brother is traveling to cambodia and is raising funds to help support talented young kids that dont have many resources. http://timdurrin1.blogspot.com/ thats his blog, check it out and donate if you can!

im gunna go take some drugs now and vedge out. the pain feels weird.... almost as if there are 2 bones just hangin out not connected in my shoulder... and every slight move makes them want to yell.... weird!

Selling my HED Stinger 6's

I am selling my 2010 Hed Stinger 6 wheelset to make room for new projects I have going on. I put under 200 miles on these and were never crashed! These were only used for 2 road races and 1 crit, so you're getting an almost new set! I definitely babied these wheels and the front wheel is absolutely brand new and never been glued. Just out of the box. THE FRONT WHEEL IS BRAND NEW WITH RE-DESIGNED RIM BED. The HED Stinger 6 is a 60mm deep carbon wheel set and features the C2 23mm wide rim that gives you more traction than imaginable while providing the most aero wheel available! Jump on the opportunity for some great racing wheels. HED skewers also included! The set will be packed by a local bike shop and shipped to you in a wheel box to ensure they arrive safely. Feel free to contact me with any questions you may have. Due to the expensive nature of these wheels I will only ship within the US to a valid/confirmed paypal address. These wheels retail for around $1,600 so this is your chance to get a nice price cut on a really close to new wheel set.

Fall Season. bike racing, hiking, apples. and im on the UCI worlds rankings for CROSS!

So its fall now... that means apples, leaves, hiking, and cyclocross.

Ive done all these things in the past week.. i think

On Monday i did some work and then went hiking with a friend Julianne and her two friends from Worcester.

It was perfect weather and we had a great time, and after we even visited a cool little biker bar that ended up being really cool and played some great jukebox music and played punching games, that were very overpriced i might add.. yea it was cool.. i know your jealous!

Tuesday myself and jeff cronin indulged in a few adult beverages in the evening time and ended up shooting an awesome dance video showcasing some sweet new cycling pants. Lots of controversy surrounded the release of the video, so I apologize to you for telling you about it, and not actually releasing it to the interwebs! sorry.

Wed/thursday/friday were normal boring work and ride times.. no fun.

Saturday the team headed out to NYcross.com race series at Troy NY. These races are awesome and i have been doing well at them. From the gun i was off the front of the race in search of the first lap prime of $50 which i got!! so that was awesome. Al and I ended up in a group with one other rider. So we worked together to get rid of him and i ended up off the front of the race by myself while he helped protect my lead. I ended up taking the win and Alec a close second. AWESOME racing.

So that was day one. Day two looked just as promising. I shot off the line and got the first lap prime again. I was ahead by a good amount with one other rider when i suffered a flat tire and had to run a bunch to get to the pit! that stunk. But luckily Alec caught and dropped the other rider i was with and won the race for the team!! i came in 7'th.

So the weekend went really well. being able to win some money at these small little races in upstate NY is always a great change to the big Verge series races. Sunday night was also great! did some fun things to top off the weekend on a high note.

On top of all that fun bike riding/ hiking stuff going on. I made SO MUCH APPLE SAUCE! with the apple season in full swing i made a lot of apple sauce that i have been consuming all day everyday! its great. i love it.

another thing. I made the UCI worlds ranking list for cross. im ranked 166 out 194! thats really cool! http://www.uci.ch/templates/BUILTIN-NOFRAMES/Template3/layout.asp?MenuId=MTU2MTc&LangId=1

So that means that i dont start dead last anymore in cross races and i actually get a call up now!

Things are going really well tho! and cant wait to see whats in store for me over the next few months! yea. cool stuff.

This is my little cuz. Shes the newest recruit on the team for next year!

thats my life.

Long time coming blog entry... NIGHT WEASELS

I havnt updated my blog in a long time, but the race i recently did called the night weasels definitely deserves a blog update. this race was so much fun, it was held a ski ward in shrewsberry MA. Colin from crossresults.com was promoting it and he did an amazing job.

this is only my second year racing cross, but this was the most fun ive ever had on a cross bike! EVER.

High fiving the fans! they were so helpful with there loud cheering

The field was pretty stacked and i had hoped for a top ten finish. I started behind Johnny Bold, the masters national champion, thinking that he would have a great start and put me in good position. That didnt happen, he slipped and missed his peddle and we ended up sitting around 25'th position into corner one. It was bumper ball for most of the first half of the course and then finally it lightened up and i got to get in a little groove for a bit.

I ended up with Johnny for the first lap, the lead group of about 8 or 9 was already established and riding away. So i started yelling at johnny to get moving and chase them down.... people were cheering for him a lot since he was national champ... i went around him and had a bit of a gap for half a lap... then i crashed so hard and he came cruisin right by... and that happened again for the next 2 laps....

I had a good gap from the chasers, but i couldnt figure out how to ride my bike that night and kept crashing! I felt bad for Peter Bradshaw, i must of crashed in front of him about 4 times. Sorry Peter.

I had such good legs, but it didnt matter because there was nowhere on that course to peddle really hard, and i just ended up going to fast into the corners and crashing every lap. Although i did ride the stairs about 5 or 6 times, and the announcer didnt give me any love about it.... All he talked about was the stupid pro, Adam Snyder, who was doing it.... Lame!! Nonetheless, it was fun to be able to ride something pretty challenging that noone else was riding. I think im going to call up Matt White and ask for private lessons on hopping barriers next.

I ended up being chased by Peter Bradshaw, who i can never seem to beat in cross races... and James Morrison and Steve Hopengarten were heckling in amazing fashion.. it made it so much fun... I enjoyed yelling at Peter as he was catching me and not taking beer feeds or riding the stairs. Which i think was lame, cuz hes a cool guy and should be doing cool things like riding stairs and drinking beer.

So i was enjoying myself very much, i was very muddy and couldn't ride my bike at all. I ended up 14'th overall which stinks, but at least me and johnny bold are now best friends since i got mentioned in his blog http://jonnybold.blogspot.com/ .

My coach and teammate Alec Donahue came in 3'rd over Adam Myerson which was great! His interview is here: http://bit.ly/c2CUaT

And my buddy Sean Kennedy had a great ride in the 3's race and also gave a really funny interview: http://bit.ly/ahfV46 .... check it out

I bought new brakes and put a new shifter on my bike... so its gonna be real fast this weekend at Providence! o snap.

But i need to go ride my bike now. hope you enjoyed my update

Heres a pic of a cool plane... $20 to anyone who knows what race you see this at when your driving there.