Drip Drip Goes the Motivation

With the rain and school the last couple weeks, it has made me think a lot and stress occasionally. School brings around the ideas of not passing and the thought of when I am going to figure out what I need to do just to get through this. I am not a school person. I have issues paying attention and focusing. I just hate sitting in a class room listening to a teacher. They mine as well sound like Charlie Brown's teacher, cause I don't listen. I just go through the book write the definitions down memorize them an hour before my tests. Sorry Mom. Its just that I am thinking about being outside and not having enough time to be able to do everything I want. Dreams are what they are and they are what distract me from every day life. I'll go ahead and give you the short list of what I have thought about doing and achieving.

-The ultimate goal of mine is is become the best rider possible. I still have that dream of being able to just ride and travel for a living. I know its not something I can do for ever but I feel like I wasting away at my chances. Yeah its partly my fault but at the same time there are so many frustrating things that get in the way such as money, school, jobs, and normal responsibilities.

-Races that I would like to do: la ruta, BC Stage race, Paris-roubaix, Tour de Flander, Houfaliz World Cup, any Belgian World Cup cx race, 1-3 week Stage race, hut to hut, and at least one world championship. I would do just about anything to represent the US at an International level again. The list goes on but those the are the ones I would love to have a shot at.

-Bike Ideas! Wow I don't know where to start. lets just say I went through twenty different custom frame builders websites in one sitting the other night, which was the night before my exam. I want one of everything and have some crazy ideas. Just ask worm he'll tell you about three a day. Here is my two current favorites:





-Of course there are the normal goals in life such as a wife and children but those are boring and I will keep going.

These goals are what keep me from falling into total boredom and into a party crazed individual that is more worried about how many games of beer pong that were won last night. But this darn rain, school,and pressure can put a damper on motivation. Its like a constant roller coaster. But I try to say fired up and stay focused. I constantly think about it and how easy shit use to be. I flew through the ranks and then sputtered and can't seem to get rolling consistently. I think about how the majority the guys my age that I could beat a couple of years are now pro. One in particular has signed a pro contract and has already had a podium finish at a national. It f***in kills me! Another frustrating thing for me is watching Berg. He is having all kinds of success and doing everything I did but a hair better though he is only riding mtbs and I think he had a little better guidance. Its weird I see him having the same struggles with parents, school, races and trying to have social life which isn't easy at that age. I mean exactly alike. David all you go to do is keep the parents happy, not be grumpy a**, keep riding even when sh*t doesn't go your way and don't let adversity get to you. I would also like to personally welcome you to the Cat 1 ranks but remember I warned you! Don't get lazy and you got to keep racing your a** off to be competitive. Its not just another lap its a commitment. There is no more laying off the bike for two weeks and being able to expect to do well that weekend at a race. Your shaking your head with a half smirk but I am serious and I need to do the same. But anyway I am proud of where you have come from and I have taught you well lol. God, this makes me think hard about what I should have done things differently and about how if I only knew somethings I know now then.

Though I over think about all of these things daily, they are what keeps me going. I want to succeed again and give those goals a shot. I think they are obtainable with some pressure from myself, but hopefully some guidance from Rick and other.

OK I am ready to ride!

I am sure y'all have noticed by now I am changing my style of writing. no more crazy outburst of explicit words, though I will continue to to post music with explicit material.

No Gainsville Love

I don't know what it is about about Gainsville lately but we don't get a long. Haile's trails use to be a guaranteed good finish, but not now. But I thought felasco could be different.

So leading up to this week everything was good. I had four good easy rides, my legs felt good, and fresh. I even restrained myself from going out every night with friends that were in town for the thanksgiving. But did go out one night, for my friends 21st birthday. Its always fun reconnecting with old friends.

The Race:
Saturday morning started early. I showed up at Bergs at 7:30 and as usual Berg had pissed his mom off. O and it was her birthday. So i just keep my mouth shut and listen to music and watch cycling movies to get pumped up before we showed up at felasco. We get there and all Bergs have settled down and things were back to normal. I get registered and eat another peanut butter and jelly sandwich, while getting focused on the job at had. I get a good warm up, piss twice, say hey to some old foes and feeling pretty confident when rolling up to the line. Good size field of 12. The gun goes off and I get a good start. I am fourth going into the first corner and stoked. I am behind a guy I didn't recognize but two that I did from the tally race. So I knew I was sitting in a good spot. I move up another spot almost taking out a Zimmerman in the process and he flipped out. It was pretty funny. So I am sitting in and everything was going to plan considering I was riding the trail off of what I knew from felasco ride, since I never preroad. The trail was honestly what I consider to be made for me. It had some long gradual climbs and some fast tight single track. But things definitely didn't go to plan.

Come the end of the first lap I was in third chasing the leaders down and could tell I was getting closer. Then slowly I started to make mistakes and then it hit me. I was starting to get asthma. It felt like I was breathing through a straw that kept getting smaller. When I get asthma I tend to raise my shoulders in distress. When on the bike it makes my handling go to shit. Not fun. So I eased off race pace and tried to settle into a pace that I could prevent the asthma from getting worse and finish the race. I lose 3 more places over the next two place but finish the race pissed off. I am glad I stuck it out but what the fuck. I barely ride before the tom brown race and get third. I ride alot and get asthma and 6th! FUCK

Though I had a shitty race, it was a motivator. I know I can finish better than that and its fucking frustrating! it made me think and think of some goals for this next year and events that I want to do well at. So I am going to keep on keepin on and try to do it right for the next. Hopefully I will live up to my own expectations and finally get this monkey off my back.

I'm on my grind...

Its been a little over a week since my last blog and alot of epic rides have taken place and my first hick up in my newly rejuvenated focus.

After the fantastic four weekend being unsuccessful in saving the world, things health wise took a sudden down turn. I spent all day Monday with a runny nose, horrible sinus pressure, and I sneezed about a thousand times. I took the next day off from work and tried to lay low. I laid low for maybe an hour than did stuff I had been putting off. I still felt like shit, but got bored then I decided to go ride. maybe not the best idea but I wanted to ride and keep the consistency up. I rode kinda shitty but still almost got four hours lol. My sinus pressure went away but the nose was still running. The next day I woke up feeling like I was breathing under water. The cold had moved from my head to my lungs. It was like having asthma all day and the inhaler not doing anything. But yet I still decided to ride that night with wrecking ball and jimbo. Awesome ride but I felt like shit. For everyone that hasn't been riding with us on Wednesday nights, it has turned in to wrecking ball story time/ drive through memory lane and photo night. We have discussed relationships with younger women lol to court appearances! You would never know he was such an asshole in the past and that he could take such good pics with a cell phone lol. After struggling a lil wed night and knowing that I was going out Thursday night, I decided i was still going to try to get in three hours in Thursday morning. I started off at 8, still felt like I was breathing under water, but felt pretty good. I got all the way out the dikes, when things started to take its toll on me. I convinced myself it was that my legs were just tired, when really I was in denial. The cold finally caught up to me and called the ride short due to the whole body shutting down. I spent the rest of the day just drained feeling, that is till I started drinking at poboys lol. apparently crown and cokes is a form of medicine and energy supplement, cause I woke up the next morning feeling alot better. I still took the day off the bike on friday tho.

Saturday morning was a day of old school for the new school. Jim, Tyler, Chris and I left Chris's house around 8:30 on our old school adventure. We started off going through Lafayette park, I had never been there and had no clue that it was a big as it was. Worm weaved us all over the two hill sides and I think we all almost died couple times on the dry 90 degree corners. That said it was fun and different. It wasn't the same ol north and east side rides. We then continued a old school lesson by chris telling stories of tag that use to occur in the bbc (before bike chain) era. I kept fueling the fire of stories and got chris in memory lane mode. We ended up visiting all of the campus routes. I really wish I had been around for some of the stories and activities, because people have children and responsibilities today that prevent them from playing tag behind chubbys or cruising though campus now a days. Once we went through chris's memory lane, which took up to 1.5 hrs, we ended up at munson hills. Worm and Tyler had there usual unbelievable speed at munson. I don't understand it. I don't know if worm just sinks through the soft sand and gets hard pack sand or if he just knows that place that damn good. Tyler on the other hand baffles me a little more. He just sticks to people rear wheels and powers through everything. After those two drug Jim and I around for over an hour we headed back to worms house. Thats when everybody started blowin up. I was border line blowing up the whole way back but played it smart enough that I survived. Worm started to ignore everyone, Jim was worried about his tire and was tired, and then it seems like they forgot about Tyler. I hung back with him and rode easy. He too was sick and was bonking as a result. When we got back everyone was tired and hungry, that is except for tyler. He said all he wanted to do was lay down lol. Jim, worm, and I then went to monks or what ever the name is and watched women and ate crazy hamburger with mrs worm. good times and good food.

So by the end of the week of sickness, I ended up with 14 hrs. I was stoked to get that much and still survive with the pretty bad cold. That makes 44 hrs for the last three week. hell yeah! I am starting to feel better though and I definitely over the hump and almost completely better. Can't wait to feel 100%. I really want to test me legs and see where I have come! So beware.

Coming soon Tropical Storm ida ride story!

I Don't Need to be Macon Bacon!

The Fantastic 4 Theme Song


I thought I was missing out on the trip to Macon but I was wrong! I don't need a zipper neck comedian, an old man with a creepy laugh, pedofile photographer/ artist, cougar chasing fish, a worm with facial hair, fat tire beer, Mexican food, five guys and bad ass trails to have a good weekend. In fact fuck them! There is a new crew in town. We aren't gas guzzling fools who go and waste money and time riding in Macon. We are amazing!

Team Chain Breakers dot org is not like any other in tally. We got beauty, talent, and determination. We are like the fantastic 4! The never aging Tim, the one armed silent machine, the never ending legged retard, and the rambling asthmatic! We are out to break the habits of diaper changing men, trunk stashing whores, experts who train in secrecy, and those who leave town unrightfully! We have jerseys, tshirts, towels, and hats too. All you got to do is visit teamchainbreakersdotorg.com once there you can also find our custom anodized parts that are now available in custom scratch and sniff scents.

Saturday the rambling asthmatic did Chairs for the first time in three months. Left the house at 7:10 and it was dark as fuck. Unfortunately I didn't leave in time to ride over there casually, so I ended up time trailing the whole way there. When I arrived at the community center, I found two of the the Chain breakers dot org team there. The never aging man and surprisingly the Silent machine made is Chairs debut. Unfortunately we weren't out saving the world of those who we are out to save, but it was a good ride. The Silent machine did awesome he made to fire tower and almost hung on over it. Mad props to fellow fantastic. For the never aging Tim and the rambling asthmatic we made a select group of five and rode strong. The never aging man is showing mad super hero strength and riding the best I have ever seen him ride. As for me I give myself a 7. I didn't ride Thursday or Friday and I think it had an affect on my legs. I just didn't have speed. I had the lungs I just had no legs they burned all day. Considering all of that I was able to work a little bit and make the elite group for the last 15 miles. So all in all the 3.5 hr 70 mile ride was good and the fantastics showed that they are fantastic.

Sunday the fantastics met each other at tom brown all at different times. It wasn't planned but we all came together! That how strong our bonds are! We wanted to save a diapers changing man but he was a little girl and was a no show and didn't even call a fantastic back! Even though the fantastic 4 couldn't save the world for the second day in row we had a blast. The weather was beautiful and the trails were pretty good considering the rain this last week. We rode Cadillac and did the silent machines torture loop. This weekends version was different then last weekends version. I some how convinced the rest of the fantastic 4 to do plowed field intervals. Painful but very entertaining. we continued on keeping a very high pace. The grass hill at the end turned into who could make it to the top first. The asthmatic came out on top followed by never ending legs, followed closely by never aging man, and silent machine keeping strong. We all felt pretty good and tired after hard efforts and long ride. We all got about three hours, we are fantastic!

So what have we learned today? I think that the chain breakers dot org are fucking fantastic and that we don't need to 3 hrs of driving, food, different trail, and gayness to be cool! So we will just keep trying to save the world and try to make it fantastic!

I am not bitter at all too!

In seriousness it was a good weekend with some different rides. I got about 7 hrs this weekend of riding and my legs are feeling good. I got to keep the riding up! I want to keep being fantastic!

I got that lovin feelin!

I know I haven't done this in a long time but things have been very up and down.

This fall started out good and with an unexpected new female in my life. I was talking to a girl that I thought was the shit and thought that I could have a long time relationship with. It gave me motivation to get back on the bike and show that I still had the talent that I had shown going through the ranks in the late 90s and early 2000s. Things were all going good with some epic times at the beach with the fam and with the chain gang, and my legs were feeling pretty good.

The weekend of the gainsville race was suppose to be a fun weekend with my chick and be a come back to the expert/ cat 1 ranks. The weekend was fun with the girl but resulted in dramatic downward spin. The night before the race she got me wasted and later into a fight with. Not the best preparation for the opening race of the fl state championship. I woke up thinking about my relationship with her and not my race! Bad idea. Come time for the race I am still not focused and sweating alcohol profusely! I get a shitty start but decide to just settle in and just pick people off. The plan doesn't work. I crash in the first mile and continue to ride like a lil girl the whole first lap! I bail after the first lap of the worst race of all time. I left the race not speaking a word to anyone. I have never been so disappointed and miserable after a race. I drove half of the way home with no music and kept slamming my fist on the dash of the car. I decided half way home that I was going to never race again!

The downward spiral continued as me and the girl not be named slipped up and told me she was making out with a guy at a party and that she had been talking to another guy for about a month. All at the same time school and work wasn't going good either. It was a low of all lows. I use to just fall back on riding but even that couldn't help.

As my struggles continued, I stopped riding and became a bum. I ate a lot, turned 21 and reached an all time high in weight. 147 lol. O and I had a brand new custom 29er single speed that I waited almost a year for and I wasn't riding it. Its only the prettiest bike of all time! It was ridiculous!

After a few drunkin weekends and 200+ dollars of partying, something clicked the week of the Tallahassee race. I started riding the single speed about two weeks before the race but nothing really consistent. The week of the race, it was like a light bulb was turned on. I kinda became a new person. I was focused for the first time in probably over a year or more. The night before the race wasn't anything like gainsville. I hydrated alot, ate well, watched two mtb movies, and cleaned every inch of the black cat. I woke up ready to brawl and got super motivated blasting rise against before the race.

The race was a blast and I felt like a lil kid again. I got a descent start and made the lead group in the early part of the race. I sat in the back of the group just itching to attack but resisted and just made sure no one got away from me. By the time we go to the bmx track I was still feeling good and people looked like they were struggling. So I didn't even think I just attacked. It was the first instinctive attack in many years. I quickly gaped the group and put my head down and never looked back. Come the end of the second lap I was going good still leading but I was starting to hurt. I get passed right at the end of the lap but I gritted my teeth and tried to keep him in sight. The instinctive attack came back to haunt me on the last lap, plus I didn't eat or drink enough. I was completely fried from head to toe. I was getting light headed and crashed twice, as a result of being so weak that I couldn't correct mistakes. I lost one more spot but hung on for third. I don't know if I have ever been so happy to be third. I would have been bummed in the years past.

The day after the race, I am back on the bike. I go hard again and feel amazing. The legs continued to feel good and the motivation continued to this day. I racked up up 17 hours this week and I love my bikes again. I haven't had this feeling since high school and I haven't put in this many hours in a week in at least 3+ years. I feel like I have something to prove to people.

While things are all good on two wheels, school is still a struggle. I am having to drop two classes (fuck math) but I have realized what I don't want in life. I don't want to fucking sit at a desk for 8 hrs a day and stare at a fucking computer. So there won't be any more engineering major! I want something that I enjoy. That is yet to be determined. lol

The time of struggle also weened out some of my friends but made me enjoy the ones that are still there for me. It has open relationships and become closer with some un likely individuals: Lil armstrong and her chill bf. One other person has been there for me lately and it was unexpected. It started as a hi and how are you to someone that I never would have thought could be that cool. Easy to talk to and listens to me vent and complain constantly, while making me laugh, smile and happy all at the same time. Nothing would be the way it is with out my awesome best friends such as super chocolate bear, eli and dolly parton. They help through everything and are super influential in my decisions everyday. love y'all.

And of course the chain gang. I can't say enough about y'all. I have the best older brothers and lil brother that anyone could ask for. Y'all keep me grounded while making me laugh and not worry about life. What more could someone ask for!

So things are good and I think good things are coming!

New Crib, Good Legs and a Crazy Idea

So since the Bump race, things have been pretty good and it looks like the bad luck has finally stopped for the time being. This last week started with one recovery day, following my bad showing at bump. Tuesday was the day that things started to look better. The Tuesday ride was super fun with berg, slade, tyler, and wrecking ball. It was surprisingly quick and definitely longer than I expected to ride. The ride ended up being 3.5 hrs long for me and I felt pretty descent. On the way home I rode by a house on Glenway Dr behind the Democrat. I stopped got the phone number and rode back to my car, where I later called the owner and left a message about being interested in the house. Wed started off very wet and I thought I wasn't going to ride but after Berg sucked it up and still rode, I myself went with Marino to Food Lion where the good legs continued to show improvement. I was able to pull the whole ride and play with the rest of the guys and it made me super happy and confident. The group was 15 strong but very fast. We finished the food lion loop in 51.5 mins, which is screamin fast for such a small group. Thursday started off again rainy and after bailing on the joes ride due to the presumption that it was going to rain, I pursued that house that rode by on Tuesday. My parents and I went to see the house and we all agreed that it was a cool place and that we wanted to rent it. The next morning, I had the house wrapped up and it will be my crib for at least the next year. I don't move in until the end of July but I am super excited over the idea of being able to role out of the house and basically being 150-200 yards from the fern entrance. I also look forward to everyone meeting at the place for rides, water stops and just seeing people when they ride by place. Saturday the legs continued to shine and show improvement. I met up with marino and rode from his place to kilearn where we met spook and Donni to ride to chairs. The ride was awesome. I had legs that i hadn't had in over a year. It was vintage lil ball riding. I attacked on every climb and pulled the whole ride. 74 miles laters I was exhausted but I couldnt stop smiling, until i had to take a nap lol. Now for sunday where my mind went wild and possibly crazy lol.

So after reading an interview with Julie Furtado, watching video of the 1990 world championships in Durango, browsing through the QBP books, and showing eric a bike on the Internet, something hit me. I wanted to change the Merlin into a 90s Tomac mtb, like the picture above. This means road bars and shifters! Only if I could find a disc mtb wheel! Check out the video of Tomac bombing down the mtn at Purgatory, which is north of Durango. I am super excited and ready to get this project rolling!

Fuck your three minutes and it was wrecking balls fault!!!

My Current favorite song. It gets me motivated and flows so good!

This weekend was another frustrating fuck up! The race initially started off well, I was fifth going into the woods and and right behind silk, which is where i wanted to be. I settled in and was actually thinking damn this pace is easy and I might have a good day. We get to the first road and a guy attacks I slowly react and role pass a couple people and join the leader still breathing very easily. The next section of trail describes my whole year on the bike. I go from being one of the elite in the group, to eating shit. So I crashed and went from third to second to last place! I compose myself and get back on the bike and Silk who had some issues, start off again after the group. We pick three or four off before I let Silk go by me. I was kinda suffering from starting to hard after crashing so I let silk go after it and i tried to recover and somewhat keep silk in sight and hopefully close for the road. I realize that I am doing more damage by trying to keep up with silks pace. So I ease up and try to form my own steady pace. I get to the road with the climb and am still trying to recover. I get passed by three 30 plus experts and then my legs clicked in to gear again. I started feeling good and I was starting to reel people in slowly but like the last couple months something else goes wrong. I fucking flat three corner after blood rock. I try to relax and fix the flat quickly but it wasn't a stellar fix. BY this time I am fucking light years behind anybody in my class. I get back on the bike and feel like shit and almost hurled from some odd reason. I can't get back into a rhythm. I come to the finish line and call it game over.

I know its not what I should have done but my motivation was gone. I knew I would get shit for it but i didn't care. There will be other races this year for me and I will finish them. I am not one to dnf a lot and if you look at my 14 years of racing you will notice! so go worry about yourself and shut the fuck up! I know I didn't finish! I wanted to do well and it didn't happen and I was out contention.

Other than my bad luck continuing my weekend was good. I enjoyed being a around everyone for the most part and I definitely enjoyed watching the pro race. It was a wake up call watching it though honestly. I could point out up to ten people that I have raced against and have beat multiple times in my career. Its annoying cause I know i can race with them and beat them if i train. So like almost half of my other blogs I end by saying that I am motivated and motivated to get to where I think I should be. I know I will need to change some aspects of my current life but I know I can do it. No upcoming races anytime soon but I am hoping to put in some good training and be ready to competitive this fall. I expect nothing less than top 5 this fall in cat 1. Anything less will be a failure.

More Crazy Shit

Dirtiest Move All Time! Kinda Just Like Worms Move He Pulled on Me Last Tuesday!

AMAZING!

Inspired. Danny MacAskill from dave on Vimeo.

"I Got It, So Bad That I Just Wanta Take A Shot at It!"

Its been awhile since my last post but a lot has happened since. So I'll give in my favorite format aka the number format. And the song sums it up in Ebonics!

1. Number one thing that has happened is that I already broke something on my bike. While checking my link bottles before meeting with the chain gang. I was torquing them and the head of the bolt just broke. I had the torque setting right I promise too. I checked three times before I torqued it too. But what I thought was a horrible term of events, might have been the best thing possible for me! It made me ride the road bike and thats what I really needed. You honestly don't how fast you are riding till you are riding in a group ride. It was a wake up and a slap in the face. I had shitty legs and was just a pack filler.

2. Being a pack filler for the first time in maybe 5 plus years was a horrible feeling and not how I like to roll! Being a pack filler and watching the lil juniors beat me lit a fire under my ass like no other. for example here is what I have done in the last two weeks:

Two weeks ago: Mon-2hrs(waverly loops), tues-1hr (night I broke my bolt), wed-2hrs (foodlion), thurs- 3.5 hrs(2 hrs plus joes), fri-2hr (joes loops), sat-3.5hrs (chairs plus more), sun-3.5hrs (waverly loops)

This week: Mon-1hr (trainer), tues-3hrs (2hrs plus 1hr crit), wed-2hrs (foodlion), thurs-30 min (commute to office party), sat-2.5hrs (chairs), sun- 1.5-2hrs (mtb ride with wreckin ball, berg, and foster)

3. Riding this much and actually training helps lol. I have already gone from drooling on the back of a group to being able to pull again and play with the everyone. I still can't hurt people the way I would like to but things are rapidly changing. I am lacking the sprint/ jump thats necessary and the speed isn't there completely. Its all good though. I am learning how to hurt again and what my body can take before blowing up. and all at the same time my body is learning to recover alot quicker.

4.So to sum up 1-3. I am super motivated and have a desire that I haven't had in years or maybe ever. I just want to fuckin get fast and make people suffer lol. If you think thats messed up your not a real cyclist. The best feeling is knowing that you are haulin ass and feelin good while the person behind you has burning lungs and drool running down there face!

5. The first official race for lil ball will be the Kenda Cup race in Ducktown the first weekend of May. I kinda wish it wasn't my first but I am looking forward to suffering. I don't have the highest expectations, but I plan to fuckin drill it and use it to help me get ready for the mac daddy race of the year aka Bump and Grind. Before I try to re assert myself as dominant rider again in state series which is my most plausible and realistic hope, due to my late start on the season. Just means I will be fresher.

I want to go ride now after typing that but its time to update my social life and my career beyond the bike.

6. Opportunity struck again last week when I found out that I will basically be working full time at H2 engineering as a mechanical engineer intern. It does mean 40 hrs a week, but it also means no school, lots of learning, and more cash money. The opportunity was something I couldnt turn down, considering all the benefits and I will be the only student from Tally and the only one that isn't a senior in engineering school. So I can't fuck it up.

7. My major will be officially be changing for this fall to engineering. I will pursue a degree in mechanical engineering. It means lots of hard work but I think I can buckle down and do it.

8. This new motivation of riding has been keeping me out trouble. I have been smarter about getting messed up and eating better.

9. Riding my bike makes me a nicer person lol

10. Riding makes me sore and more tired.

...

345. My bike makes me happy and I make it happy by going faster!


Dirt, Wind, Pain, and Speed Controls My Life

p.s. big shit is comin cause "I got it and I want it!"

Emily Batty!

This has to be the hottest cyclist of all time and she is fuckin fast! She is every male cyclists dream! So check her out.

http://www.emily-batty.blogspot.com/

Holy Fucking 29er Batman

20 pound 29er! Geared too!

http://yotwells.typepad.com/todd_wells/2009/03/29er.html

Update on Life pt. II

The last blog might have been a little negative and a little abrasive. Things since have looked up. The energy and happiness came back to me while on my spring break. It was so nice to get away and just have fun and not worry about anything. I might not have accomplished anything while I was there, but resulted in a refreshed look on life and in a way it made me confident in the things I do.

I have come back from spring break and have been able to focus a lot better on the bike and somewhat with school. The new bike took a lot of focus out of me but as a result I have been riding more and have had more fun riding. The new bike is sick by the way. Weighing in at 22.0 lbs with heavy pedals is amazing! The only draw back is I have sold the CX bike to get money for the new bike quicker. I will have another cx bike but it won't be for awhile. I cant afford to keep spendin money on new bikes lol. I need new everyday and work clothes.

So with the new bike and a new refreshed look on life, training is going good.
It seems that I got the endurance after doing some long rides. I struggling with the handling of the new bike, but I am almost positive its just a tire and weather conditions. I am also lack in some speed. I am hoping that will with riding chairs, foodlion, joes, and maybe hill intervals on mondays. This weeks food lion was fast by the way. It was late 1990s speed. We did the loop in 49 mins. That means about a 25 mph avg! So hopefully I will be racing with y'all soon and at a competitive level now that my head seems to be back on staight.

BAlLLlINNNNNN

my current motivational song:

Update on Life

It has been awhile since my last post and a lot has happened over the period of time, some know parts and pieces and some I have kinda kept under wraps. I'll explain in my favorite format.

1. Being back in tally hasn't been what I hoped it would be and it wasn't what I really wanted in the first place. but it has established somethings in my life. First of all, living on campus isn't what people said it is. Its not some other part of tally. Its all the same just poorer on this side, minus some of the rich ass students with there tricked out bmws and others. I don't really want to dwell on the negatives so I'll stop before I start my stereo typical post with profanity. Being in Tally has established three main things: I enjoy my bikes and the peace in my life it brings, I have two awesome dysfunctional families: the balls/ strobels and bike posse, and that I am definitely not able to be a party animal and ride at the same time.

2. I have also narrowed down what I want to do in my life. A job that was basically given to me just cause of my mom reputation has turned out to be something good. With my job as an intern at one of the best MEP engineering firms in FL and the opportunities that sunshine have given me, has created the desire to put them together and pursue a career that evolve both all in one.

3. Being home you would think would have led me to being able to train constantly but that definitely hasn't been the case. With three or four different aspects pulling at me all at once, it has led to dismal results and shitty fitness. It seems like every time I am heading in the right direction, I hit a road block that completely fucks shit up. For example this last week I rode everyday mon-thurs and felt amazing riding, until friday morning when I became sick for the third time since the Cardinals lost to the Steelers in the super bowl. Its so frustrating b/c I have never been one to be sick and I am the worst sick person of all time! I can't lay down and sleep. fuck that! If I have free time I am going to be on the bike or screwing around outside. When I stayed home last week from work and school, I packed my bag and had thoughts of going to ride 4 laps of tom brown. I then couldn't stop coughing and went back to bed with all my clothes on and slept for 4-5 during the middle of the day which has maybe happened once or twice in my life, but they were extreme hang overs then. And as I speak I am sucking on a cough drop itching to do something especially after watching the tour of California.

4. I still want to race! some have come to think of me as more a recreational rider lately! fuck that! I want to win everything! Its killing me to watch Berg grow from some shy goofy middle schooler, into a retarded some what good rider. which makes me think of the first day that I met him. He rode down to my house and knocked on my door. i expected it to be some boy scout or someone like that who was trying to sell something. But he read about me in the news paper or someone told him about me and he rode down to ask if he could ride with me. I was shocked but I was like yeah whats ur phone number and then I closed the door haha not exactly like that but close. The next thing you know he is riding with me more and more and buying more and more of my shit in my garage until he moved to Marks Garagemahal of bikes! lol but yeah watching Berg, Rick, Mark, Jim and Terry (occasionally haha), Cody, Marino, Spook and Worm have success honestly kills me. O and Tyler def will be the next on that list. If y'all haven't seen him ride lately you should. He is getting faster and more and more confident every time he rides! So one day hopefully soon I'll be able to have the results that I thought I would have gotten by now and blow through the roadblocks.

Conclusion: Tomorrow I am meeting with my mom to tell her my plans for trying to move out west. I am trying to move to Tuscon and I already have a place I can live and I would live with my good friend Thomas. I would attend Pima Community College for a year and take requirements for an engineering degree while I received Arizona residency. I then would transfer University of Arizona and finish out my degree. I have also researched potential bike shop and engineering jobs, as well as the riding in the area and its definitely not bad. But I have to get parental approval still but I plan to fight hard for it. I just feel like I need to get away to achieve the things that I want.

What happens when I leave my own party and possible calender girl!?

School seems to be the recent talk around BC, so I figured I should talk about it as well!

Whats all this talk about school?! Its kinda depressing thinking about school honestly! Why would you want to think about long boring lectures with boring ass teachers? Cause I am assuming its so you can live the live that people dream of. Which for me means a bike for every occasion and discipline, a bad ass car, some bumpin music and of course a hot girl! Here is a bumpin track (its so sick) and my favorite free ride clip!



But back to the subject of school. School must be the cool thing cause Wreckin Ball is apparently rolling back to school, I have also heard the big ass worm talkin about the idea as well and seems to be a subject on every ride! But I am in school and I hate it. But I have hated it because I have been able to figure out what I want to do. Recently its been on my mind while I ride, work and while I have been sittin on my white porcelain throne. I have been trying to put things together and figure it out what I should do for a living. I guess you could call it weird math. Here is my current formula for a future career:

mtb + the love of new parts and toys + current job and opportunities + years of riding + the love of outdoors = mtb product developer

Apparently it requires a experience in mtb retail industry, knowledge of trends and where the future of cycling is going and history of advancements, Autocad, and engineering experience. Sounds like a match made in heaven!

So just like the wreckin ball, I to think I might have found my calling. I still don't want to school though!

This is all assuming I don't go pro haha!

FSU? Bucky Paper?

If y'all missed it FSU was considered to be possibly be related to Lances new Livestrong Madone! Bucky paper is a material 10 times lighter than steel -- but 250 times stronger. A single sheet is 50000 times smaller than a piece of hair. The material is being promoted and pushed by FSU to the areospace, body armor, automotive and cycling industries. They have been searching for a company to help push there development in cycling and other industries and thats from a reliable resource aka my mom, and I told her to investigate. O and FSU is leading everyone in development. even over the chinese.

Here is the Velonews article:

FSU2009? The view from underneath Armstrong's TDU2009 bike.
Australian journalist Benjamin Fitzmaurice got a look at the underside of Lance Armstrong's Trek Madone at the Tour Down Under this week, and saw something unexpected:

"The bike has some letters and numbers on the bottom bracket," Fitzmaurice said. "The guy from Trek said that he would show us but could not tell us what they meant. When we shot the bottom bracket a guy from Astana staff came rushing over to question what we were doing ..."

As the photo and Fitzmaurice's video shows, the lettering is "FSU2009." A reference to Florida State University?

Felasco and finally some use for my Atomic clothes

Felasco got me so motivated! I just rode the trainer for an hour! yeah the trainer the fun sucking machine! I sat on the trainer reading every bodies blogs stoking myself up even more. And here is my training song! Straight Hood Baby! Slim Thugga

A New Look

Yesterday while I was riding, I came up with a new look and ideas. Starting today, I will be keeping track of my training and motivation level. It gives me the motivation ro ride and train harder and maybe start some shit with all of y'all! I will be updating atleast weekly! So I'll being bringin the heat bitches! lol

p.s. check out the BC colors!

Wake up call, lessons and Macon

What is it about something new that just gets the juices flowing and lights that fire under your ass. Riding in Macon definitely did that for me. We might have eat just as much as we rode, but it was a time of riding, laughing, and relaxation that made it awesome. I'll leave the story telling to Worm or Jims blog because they are better story tellers. This weekend though was a pleasant change to my life. I will admit that I have been drinking and partying more than riding but that will change! The realization came half way through the slipping and sliding in the mud at Dauset. I felt like a kid again, while enjoying the difficulty added by the mud. By the way Huff and Puff is the shit! I too learned more than just life lessons.

1. Wreckin Ball never shuts up! but thank god he is fucking hilarious!
2. Tyler is chill as fuck, likes beer and never complains! mad props!
3. Worm will find the trail eventually!
4. Darren goes to bed extremely early!
5. Jim knows is always down to learn how to ride better. and he likes peanuts!
6. I can eat at anytime! mmmm 5 guys!
7. Garmin doesn't know shit!
8. Thomaston was a bad ass trail about 5 years ago! what the fuck happenedd tho?

Last of all:

Cycling is a drug and the more you do it, the happier it makes you! It realeaves stress, brings friends closer, takes you to amazing places and O YEAH, its fucking fun wet or dry!