27 January 2008  |  Misc

Slacker

Yes, I have been a slacker, but I am remedying the situation. As of today, I am back online! No, I haven’t been hiding in a closet (although if the closet was 65 degrees and I could go for really cool training rides in it, I would consider living in a closet). No, I’ve just been neglecting the ol’ blog. Lots of cool stuff has happened in the last few months, and I will try to give a brief overview of what I have been up to.

Indiana Jones

Dusty and I went back east to spend Christmas with Mom and Bo. Mom’s dog Lucy had just had 3 puppies, so we had plenty of cuteness around. We packed a lot into our east coast trip- we went to D.C. and did the theater-gallery-culture thing, and we also got a chance to spend some time up in the Catskill Mtns in upstate NY. We got back to Fort Collins in early January, and then Ben and I spent a week in Austin, TX hanging out with the folks at Source Endurance.

The weather in Austin was fantastic and we got in some good training rides and runs. One of the highlights of the trip was racing in the Tuesday night “Dirt Derby” which was a low-key cyclocross/short track race held on a motocross track. It was REALLY cool, and the course was SUPER fun to race on (thanks to Mario Cantu for the photo from that race). There were lots of nice folks out, and of course kids’ racing too. If you are ever in the Austin area and are looking for something fun to do on a Tuesday night, definitely check out the Dirt Derby.

Ben and I also raced in the Texas State Championships cyclocross race, which was also a fun race. Ben and I both raced in the Open Men’s race, I managed to come in 6th (losing the sprint for 5th- dang it!) and Ben was right behind be in 7th. It was so nice to be riding in shorts and a jersey (instead of tights and booties and such)!

After we got back from Texas, I had about a week and then I had to go to San Francisco for “Olympic Ambassador Training.” It was a 2-day deal designed to give Olympic hopefuls a taste of what to expect (and how to handle yourself) at the Olympics. By far the coolest part of the whole thing was getting to meet all the other hopeful athletes from all the other sports. It seems like most of us are in the same boat- most of the selections aren’t made until June or July.

So anyway, that is a brief overview of what I have been up to.

Blah Blah Blah, I’m starting to bore myself. Ben and Dusty and I went for an AWESOME ride today- and the temperature was in the 50s- couldn’t ask for anything better! (except maybe the 60s or 70s…).