Team Time Trial report

Last saturday was a TTT in Hwaseong city (about 1 hour west of where I live). The course was a really boring flat 5km oval but it was good for a TTT because it made it easy to draft and set up echeleons. We started with 7 guys and we needed to finish with 4. The race was 8 laps for 40km and after the first lap we ended up dropping 3 guys all at once! That meant that we couldn't afford to lose another rider. My teammate Hwangeol brought a TT bike and was taking nice long pulls while the rest of use were basically just pulling through for 10 seconds to give him a small break. I was behind Hwangeol and it was not very fun to draft someone riding a TT bike! We placed 3rd over all(last money spot) and we beat 4th by only 4 seconds and 5th by only 10 seconds! Our time was about 57 minutes. It was a pretty good race overall and I was really please with the way my team rode despite dropping the 3 guys right at the beginning. There won't be another race until the end of June for me it looks like. There are a bunch of mountain bike races and hill climbs but nothing really well suited to me so I guess I will just ride for fun and try to do some epic hikes with out an racing for a little bit.

Biking and a friends wedding!

Last weekend a friend of mine who I met at the summer camp 4 years ago got married. He is an identical twin and his brother was engaged too so they decided to have the wedding together! It was pretty cute seeing identical twins get married on the same day in the same place! He was a really nice guy who I did some back packing trips with when i was here 4 years ago. The wedding was good and it was fun because I got to see a lot of my old friends from the summer camp!! Not to much else exciting happened I hung out with my friends friday and met Yujin on Sunday. I had a really great mountain bike ride yesterday too and I am feeling pretty good for the TTT this weekend. I hope my teammates are also feeling good. It would be fun to take a nice team victory. Its really nice that its almost summer. The weather is great for riding and it doesn't get dark till almost 8pm so I can get in a long ride after school. The only problem is I wish there were more road races here! In june there seems to be only hill climbs and mountain bike races(which Im usually ok at if they are flattish but they tend have huge climbs in them here). Im excitied to race this weekend anyway!

Great weather for riding!

This past week was really busy and fun. After the bike race I went to Sokcho with Yujin which is on the east coast of Korea. It was really beatiful. We went to the beach, at some famous foods, and went to a hotsprings place. Overall it was really tiring but really fun! This week the weather was pretty cruddy for a few days with lots of rain but from Friday on it was great! Sunny and about 70 degrees. Saturday i went for a road ride with my friend Aaron who is a high school teacher at an airforce base here. We had great weather and a good ride. sunday i went riding with the Suwon Alpha club that I'm a member of. We did a road ride on our mtbs. That was fun too but I got super hungry at the end of it and nearly bonked. After that I met yujin in seoul and we went bikign on the han river(not hardcore biking just like 5km or so). Overall it was a really good weekend. Now I am back at school for a full week.

Children's Day Criterium report

Yesterday was Children's Day in Korea. Its a national holiday so everyone gets the day off. The race was in Gwangmyeong which is west of seoul and a little over an hour drive from my house. I raced it last year and liked the course so i was looking forward to it this year. I did the men 40 and under group on mountain bikes and my group included the winner of the tour de korea as well as another biclo (the dominant team at tour de korea) and my teammate Yeon deok were probably the fastest riders i could think of in the group. The biclo guys attacked a bunch at the beginning but there attacks were quickly neutralized basically it was a field sprint. There were 2 tough corners in the last 600m and yeon deok attacked going into that section. he gapped the biclo guy who i was sitting on by about 5 meters and held the gap through the next corner. I sprinted the biclo guy for second and he got me by about 5 inches! But they didnt' have a camera for the race finish they only used chip timing and our time was exactly the same according to the system so we both got 2nd place (they split the money of 2nd and 3rd place between us). Overall a great race for our team. Yeon Dok didnt' have the best tour de korea so it was good to see him win this one! The next race is in 3 weeks its a 30km road race in the morning and a TTT in the afternoon. The picture is me and Yeon deok mid race.

Close

Recovering and getting ready for the criterium

Well the tour of korea is over so its time to recover a bit. But this Thursday is a criterium with a pretty good purse so i had to ride a little bit this week. Im racing the mountain bike category with slick tires so i got my bike all set up and rode a little bit over the weekend. I reallly miss mountian bike riding and once the race is over i hope to put some knobbies on and get some good riding in here. This weekend was pretty fun. Saturday i met one of my best friends girlfriends for the first time since she is visiting Korea me and him and yujin and his girlfriend all went shopping together in the pouring rain in Myeong dong(one of the most popular shopping areas in Seoul). Sunday the weather was a lot better thankfully. I went for a 2 hour ride in teh morning then Yujin came and we had a picnic near my house by a creek in the woods. Now that tour of Korea is over the next thing i have to do is figure out exactly which MBA programs i want to apply too! Exciting stuff!