skiing action

I got enjoy some of the best crust skiing conditions of the year yesterday here at Purdue. Crust skiing is when the snow has melted and compacted and then freezes hard again so you can skate ski over any surface on top of the snow easily. It is a blast and yesterday was no exception. I felt great skiing and I wish I could have competed in the American Birkebeiner(birkie.com) this past weekend. In high school I used to do nordic ski racing and all through out my senior year I always said I would make a skiing comeback someday. Yesterday got me thinkin about the comeback again. This weekend we have 2 more college races and it looks like it is gonna be pretty nice weather which should get me psyched about bike racing again. I think I am gonna try to ski once more today before the snow melts this weekend. I also need to study for a big food safety test on Friday!!!

OSU Road race

Yesterday was the first race of the season. It was a 40 mile road race at Ohio State University. I placed 12th and had a few good break away attempts but my lungs weren't really cooperating. My asthma was bothering me every time I had to go hard for more than 1 minute. It ended with 2 guys off the front and a field sprint. I got 12th place but I am not very happy with it because I should have jumped earlier to move myself into a better position. Good news is Purdue cycling is looking really good this year and I think we will actually have a good shot at going to Road natz as a team which would definitely take the pressure off me to qualify as an individual. I think this is gonna be a pretty fun collegiate season. This weekend is races at Depauw university about 1 hour south of Purdue. Hopefully I can pull of a couple top 10 finishes and help Chris get some points up too. Hopefully my asthma gets better too other wise I will have to race more conservatively and just wait for the sprint.

snow no!

The first race of the season got cancelled today and the second one scheduled for sunday might be snowed out too. That is frustrating but at least it snowed like 6 inches here so I was able to go for a nice long ski. We went sledding tonight too and went off some really big jumps. Even though I was disappointed not to get to race I am always happy to get to go play in the snow. If Sundays race gets cancelled too you can bet I am gonna do a lot of skiing and sledding this weekend to take advantage of this snow. Hope everyone gets out and enjoys the snow this weekend!

feelin better

It's amazing what taking a day off and actually getting some sleep can do for your recovery. I did just that on Tuesday and today I did 2.5 hours of riding and felt much better. I did some snow mountain biking on the purdue trails which had 3 inches of fresh powder on them. It was really really slippery but still fun. I only crashed about 5 times. It was pretty cold outside maybe 20 degrees but it was really sunny and didn't feel too bad. I hope it didn't snow much at Ohio State. It would really stink if we drove all the way to Columbus only for the races to get cancelled like last year.

AHHH!!!!

That is how I feel today. I went for a ride in some insane wind and cold and I just felt like crud. my heart was racing and i just didn't feel good overall. I know that what i need to do now is rest as much as I can until I feel better but it is still frustrating for me. I have learned my lesson about overtraining too many times to keep pushing now and make the same mistake again. This will give me a good opportunity to catch up on studying though since I have a test in metabolism class on Wednesday morning. I hope I feel better soon at least by this weekend for the first collegiate races. Overall it wasn't a bad day but I still feel bad when I can't train as hard as I have planned too. Hope everyone else is enjoying this crazy weather and is getting psyched up for race season.

riding and eating asian food

I did a lot of riding the past couple of days. Today I got out and did 3 hours in the 25 degree cold only to have it warm up to 40 later in the day. Last night we had a korean bbq at my house and we totally burned all of the meat. It was practially all char and no meat but still kind of good. then tonight I had chinese hot pot for my Purdue Cycling coaches girlfriend's birthday. Boris is the Purdue Cyclng clubs advisor and he also helps coach me. He is french and is has been a cycling official for over 10 years. He helps me mostly with race strategy and with races that i promote. Basically he is a great resource and I am so luck that I arrived at Purdue when he did. My racing ability has definitely improved since I started to work with him. Chinese hot pot is really good. You cook raw meat and veggies in a pot of boiling spicy oil. Tomorrow i am gonna try to go ride 4 hours out in the rain in the morning. Should be a blast!!! I can't wait to get out and race at the Ohio State University next weekend.

beatiful day!

Today I did 2:45 outside on the mtb under crystal blue skies. It was great but pretty cold. I got to watch the sunset too which is always really pretty at Purdue. We had about 3 inches of fresh snow on the single track and I also rode some bike paths around town. It is always my favorite time to ride right around dusk so I can see the sun set. It also happens to be the only time I ever get to ride it seems like so that works out perfectly. Hope everyone is having a great week and getting in some good riding.

Super hardcore!

Yesterday I rode in 18 degree weather but it felt much colder. The title is kind of a joke but it was really cold. I went mountain biking on the trails at Purdue and my water bottle was completely frozen after 1 hour outside. I rode 2 hours out in the cold then came home and rode the rollers for 30 minutes. With all of the snow gone from the trails the conditions were actually pretty good and I was pretty warm while riding them. Although with all the rain we had last week most of the spots where water runs were extremely washed out. It looks like it will be warmer later on this week so hopefully I can bust out some nice long rides before the first race next weekend at Ohio State!

some good riding and hiking

yesterday was a great day for riding. it was sunny and 45 degrees outside. I did a 4 hour ride with Joey Iuliano into a really strong headwind. It was one of the longest rides of the season so far and I was pretty cooked by the end of it. Then today the temperature dropped and the high was only about 15 degrees so I decided to go hiking in a park near purdue to avoid freezing my but off on the bike. I rode the rollers for 45 minutes when i got back too. Overall a pretty good weekend of training and only 2 weeks until the first race I needed it.

nice weather for a change

It was 45 degrees and sunny here today. It was great day for a ride and i got in 1.5 hours on the bike before it got dark. Then I went and got korean food with some friends. I really like korean food and I needed to carboload for a big ride tomorrow. I am hoping to get 4-5 hours in. It fllooded even worse than before here too so I am gonnna need to come up with some new routes to ride on. Hope everyone has a great weekend and gets outside some how.

Crazy wind

Today I did a 3:15 ride in a ridiculous wind. I averaged about 12 mph going into the wind for about 2 hours and then was able to easily do 25 on the way back. It snowed periodically on the ride too. I needed to get some good training in before it gets cold again. There is more flooding here as well since it has been raining a lot and all of the snow that fell melted too. Some roads were nearly underwater. You gotta do rides like this if you wanna be good though!

Epic Riding

Today I rode in the worst fog I have ever seen in my life. It snowed 7 inches last Friday and today it was like 60 degrees for the whole day!!! The snow was melting like crazy and it was so foggy you could barely see 30 feet in front of you. So I and a friend did a ride on the bike paths around West Lafayette to avoid getting smashed by a car. It was fun. We slammed through slushy piles of snow on our road bikes and rode the Happy hollow climb 2 times. I think all of the snow melted too which is really too bad I was having fun sledding and skiing. It looks like it is gonna get cold again soon too. Ahh midwest weather is pretty crazy but at least it makes you a really tough bike rider to train in the cold, rain, wind, snow and sleet.

Skiing and sledding

I have gonna skiing both Saturday and Sunday this weeeknd and it was great! Today I skiied in a really hilly woods that Purdue owns and it was a blast. The downhills are pretty hair raising since it is basically just a twisty single track through the woods and you have no way to slow down on cross country skiis other than falling. I was happy to have no crashes yet. It is supposed to warm up over the next few days but I really hope the snow doesn't totally melt. Hopefully it makes a really good crust on the golf course for skate skiing when it gets cold again. I also went sledding on Slater hill last night which is a big Purdue tradition. I went with some friends who had never gone there before so it was a pretty good time. There was a pretty big jump I went over a few times. I really love it when it snows at Purdue. Tomorrow I need to get back to serious training again though.

day off!

wow it felt really good to take a day off from riding today. It snowed about 7 inches last night so I probably wouldn't have been able to ride anyway. I didn't really get any structured exercise though and I am gonna sleep in tomorrow so that should help my recovery to start training hard next week too. I went to an Indiana pacers game tonight which was pretty fun since i haven't been to a pro basketball game in over 10 years! The pacers lost by 3 points to the houston rockets the team of Yao Ming. I went with a 2 chinese people and a korean guy and they went crazy for Yao Ming. tomorrow I am gonna bust out the XC skis and I am looking forward too it. I will probably go sledding tomorrow night too. I can't wait to get out and play in the snow.