Fun Stuff

The last 2 weeks have been a blast but have not involved much training. Last weekend was the Purdue vs. Indiana football game. We went to breakfast club which is a Purdue tradition where everyone gets dressed up in funny costumes and goes to the bars at 7am before the football game. We got up at 6am to get ready. Then we hosted a tailgate party at our house which over 30 people came too. After going to half the football game we came home and relaxed. I had a big test on Monday so Sunday and monday morning were all about studying but I think it went well. For thanksgiving I went with my girlfriend to visit her best friend at the University of Kentucky in Lexington. We had a chinese thanksgiving it was all chinese food and people except for me and the turkey I cooked. It was a good time. We went hiking at the red river gorge on Friday which was absolutely amazing!! Kentucky would be a nice place to live especially if you could live close to the mountains. Saturday we explored lexington and we a few of my friends from Union College came to visit. We ate chinese hot pot which is sort of like spicy fondue soup. Today we drove back to a few inches of snow up here at Purdue. Next up for me is the last Chicago Cyclocross cup which is hosted by Turin. I hope there is snow up there. I need it to be as technical as possible to make up for my lack of training. I will get back on it soon!

UFFDA! Tough Cyclocross Weekend

This weekend was both extremely tiring and fun. For the third time we promoted a collegiate cyclocross race in the open grass and hills behind Purdue's Student Rec Center. We had a great turnout compared to previous years with almost 40 riders. Conditions were pretty epic with lots of rain last week making for some slick off camber downhills and corners. I really enjoy making cyclocross courses. it is pretty cool that stakes and caution tape can turn an ordinary grass field and a few sledding hills into a sweet and super technically challenging race course. Friday afternoon we made record time by setting up the whole course in just over 2 hours. I am really thankful that the Purdue cycling club has lots of hardworking and dedicated members to help make these races happen. Saturday afternoon rolled around and it was time to race. I forgot how hard cyclocross was especially with lots of fast guys to race with. I got a good start but quickly blew up as usually happens to me because my asthma usually kicks me in the face when I try to maintain any sort of high paced steady state effort. I recovered though and had a good battle with Kip. I placed 5th and rode our brand new volley ball court sand pit once. Saturday evening we made a back yard fire and enjoyed a few beverages and some smores! Sunday Andrew Treumper and I drove to chicago at 7am to help with a chicago cyclocross cup race that was gonna add collegiate categories for the races. It was a nice course and it was freezing cold. Again my asthma was bothering my and I blew up pretty bad in the last 15 minutes of the race and got passed by a bunch of people. I finished 3rd in the collegiate though which was pretty good. I think I need to start riding and running so that I can get in a little bit better shape for the last cross race of the year that i am doing at Montrose harbor in Chicago. People always ask me why I don't train more for cyclocross and I have a pretty simple answer. I don't focus on it because ever since moving to indiana I have really bad asthma and cant do hard efforts for very long. i have tried tons of asthma medicines and they just don't seem to help so I have pretty much given up on being really good at cross unless I move somewhere that i don't have asthma anymore. I still like cross but it is alway frustrating to race and feel restricted because you can't get the air out of your lungs. Sorry for the ranting.

Big Plans!

Next year I am really excited to say that I am going to be riding for the RGF Solutions Cycling Team. (http://www.rgfsolutionssportsmarketing.com/) It is gonna be another development team. Turin decided that next year they will not be having an elite team and RGF stepped up to pick a few of us up. It should be a really great team look out for an announcement this week about the team in the cycling media. Paul Martin is our team manager and I am really stoked to have such an experienced and accomplished racer leading our team. I plan to do a pretty similar season to this year only with a few less races so that I can hopefully perform better in the late summer.
OK next I figured out what I am gonna do after I graduate in May! My major is Dietetics and with that you need to do a 1 year internship to become a Registered Dietitian which is credential that is needed to get most jobs involving nutrition. I was debating not doing the internship and just doing something fun but after talking to my professors, parents and others I decided that I should just do it because I might not be able to do it again later. Basically there are Dietetics internships all over the country that you can apply too and most last about 1 year. They are typically unpaid but they are basically teaching you how to be a dietitian. You spend a few weeks learning about food service, a few doing hospital dietetics, a few doing community nutrition programs and other things. Right now my top pick is a program in Peoria, IL. But unfortunately you don't find out until April if you got in! I could end up going somewhere else but at least I have a plan now!
Halloween was also a good time. I was a cowboy and kind of looked like Woody from Toy Story.