I rode with the Wednesday night gravel group and we ended up all the way down by almost Three Rivers. It was a lot of fun, and I"m looking forward to riding lots of gravel races in the Spring. I'm planning on riding the Michigan Gravel Series Long races in the Spring, with the rest of the fastest guys in Michigan and surrounding areas. Super stoked! The Wednesday ride finished about 8:30 and it was super cool to be able to hang w everyone comfortably. My lungs exploded with about 2 laps to go today though, I think I might have overdone it a little too late in the week, oh well.
School is going fantastic. My motivation for anything school is at an all-time low. People always talk about 'Senioritis' but its pull is so strong. It might be the fact that my two classes right now are Professional Writing and a Business Internship thing that is all online. Believe it or not, I can cite just about anything in APA format, perfect preparation for my career in the accounting field. Speaking of which, I'll begin studying for the CPA exams this next week, with plans of taking the first test in January. Planning to finish the fourth and final CPA exam early next summer, and then it will be all bikes all the time; it kind of is right now, but school and CPA exams will be a welcome distraction (not really).
As with most of my cyclocross races, it is a lot of fun but my CX skills are still developing. I'm in some pretty good fitness right now and I've been losing weight!!! but I can't seem to go around a corner very fast without falling. No worries, we will get them next weekend!
A week from this Wednesday I'll be flying out to Cali solo to spend some time with family out there and get away from the office and school! I'm very much looking forward to getting away and riding bikes in the mountains; this time my focus will be on not crashing (: hopes are low, but I won't ride by myself so all will be good!
Ha! I didn't write about it two weekends ago but I raced up in GR and I crashed on the second corner! My computer said my race only lasted :34 seconds, ouch! I landed pretty hard on my shoulder and it is still pretty sore at times, but not bad! I was second place and feeling really good but just hit some wet pavement/bricks just right and my front tire slid out. I crashed in front of the entire field. I feel really bad about it, especially on the first lap, but these things happen (: We continue learning!
3/16 Waterloo G&G, Grass Lake, MI (Gravel) 34th Overall (221) / 4th AG (6)
3/23 Melting Mann, Vandalia, MI (Gravel) 61st Overall (255) / 17th AG (31)
3/30 Dirty 30 Gravel Grinder, Saranac, MI (Gravel) 81st Overall (215) / 9th AG (24)
4/6 Lowell Classic, Lowell, MI (Gravel) 27th Overall (239) / 8th AG (15)
4/13 Barry Roubaix, Hastings, MI (Gravel) 216th Overall (1342) / 6th AG (18)
4/28 Ann Arbor Spring Training Series, Ann Arbor, MI 11th Overall 4/5 (48)
5/5 Fort Custer Stampede, Battle Creek, MI (Mountain!!) 7th AG (13)
6/1 The Waterford Races, Clarkston, MI 21st Overall 4/5 (24)
6/5 Grattan Race Series, Grattan, MI 20th Overall 'B' (37)
6/9 Dirty Donut, Martin, MI (Gravel) 1st AG (11)
6/14 Zeeland Crit, Zeeland, MI 27th Cat 4/5 (40) / 30th Cat 3/4 (38)
6/15 Ada Crit, Ada, MI 16th Cat 3/4 (25)
7/13 Detroit Cycling Championship, Detroit, MI DNF Cat 4/5 (81)
8/25 Debaets-Devos Crit, Detroit, MI 16th Cat 4 (25)
9/7 Alma Grand Prix of Cyclocross 18th Expert 3/4/5 (20)
9/8 Uncle John's Dirty Ride, St. John's, MI (Gravel) 2nd AG M 21-26 (9) / 10th Overall (322)
9/15 Art Van Sports Complex CX 14th Expert 3/4/5 (17)
9/29 Kisscross - Richmond Park DNF
10/12 Detroit Invitational of CX 37th Expert 3/4/5 (55)
I'm pretty sure this is by far my biggest year of racing, and by even more far my biggest year of training. YTD I am at 6,707km for the year; which for my less-European friends, is 4,167 miles. This is pretty insane, but I for sure think 5,000 miles is well within sight for this year! If I can keep my fitness somewhere near where it is now in the Spring, I'll be competing quite well in the early-season gravel adventures!
I have two goals in mind for the rest of the year:
1) Get to 5,000 miles
2) Top-ten finish in a CX race!
Have a great evening everyone! Cheers!
CE
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