HoengSeong Road Race Report

Last Sunday we had a race in HoengSeong about 1.5 hours from my house. It was a team race each team had 5 riders and the top 3 riders times counted. So basically the strategy was to keep at least 3 riders in the lead group. The course was really hard and had 2 pretty long climbs in it. After the first one we still had 3 in the lead group me Hwangeol and Yeondeok but the second climb had a long section at 13%. At the top the group was reduced to 14 riders and we had lost our 3rd guy. Yeon Deok and I were still up there but 2 other teams had 3 riders at least still. I tried a few attacks but nothing was going anywhere. The tactics are a bit weird in this kind of race because its all about time so winning the sprint didn't give you anything. There were a few more small hills before the finish and we raced pretty hard up all of them but didn't split our group up anymore. Hwangeol did a good job of riding though and finished in the second group (which was only like 4 riders) he beat out all of the other teams that had 2 riders in the lead group so we got 3rd out of about 20 teams. Overall a decent result for the team. Our other 2 riders didn't far as well Minseok got stung by a bee and MyoJin ran into someone who fell in front of her on the second climb! They were both fine though. I really liked the course but it would definitely be fun to do it as an individual race rather than only as a team race next time. The next race is in 2 weeks its a mountain bike race held mostly on farm and dirt roads near the ocean. This weekend is a 3 day weekend and I'm definitely going to try to get some more good riding in. I'm also still suffering from a cold which I have had for 2 weeks now! Its gone into my sinuses and I have head aches if I don't take decongestants! Hopefully that gets better soon too!! It feels pretty much fine when I ride though.

Spoke too soon about racing(I got sick)!!

Unfortunately racing in Chuncheon as I had planned this weekend was not meant to be! I'm sitting at home sick (I have a fever, cough and stuffy nose). It all started on Tuesday. I had a small cough but I felt totally fine except that until Saturday when I woke up sore and with a fever. I really wanted to race so I still went out for a ride on Saturday hoping it would make me feel better but I felt like crap and knew there would be no point in racing if I didn't feel a lot better Sunday morning. I slept 11 hours and then woke up to go to the race but I still had a fever and didn't feel great so I bagged it in. At least there is another race next Sunday! Hopefully I'm feeling 100% before that! But I should look on the bright side! At least I have a full day to sit at home and write essays now!

Time to race! (finally!)

It was a long summer with basically no racing! But now that my knee is better and I'm training hard again I can't wait to race. This weekend is a 45km road race in Chuncheon (east of Seoul). It will be held on a 9km course with what looks like a decent hill each lap. Hopefully it goes well. The next weekend will be a team race (2,3 4 place riders from each teams time are added for a team time). That will be on what looks like a pretty brutal course climbing wise but hopefully I can ride well even on the longish climbs. The race is in Hoeng Seong and I won it last year but this time its on a totally different course. After that I have 2 weeks and then a mountain bike race probably in Pyeong Chang which is where they are going to have the winter Olympics in 2018. Then my big goal will be 2 weeks later with the big money criterium in Changwon. I enjoyed my chuseok vacation which included camping with my buddies Alex, Munju, Jinho, and Mark Friday night and was capped off with a trip to a hot springs/water park with Yujin yesterday. I had the day off today and I spent it going for a 5 hour bike ride up and working on MBA applications! The ride was great and included a ton of climbing but it was an hour longer than I expected it to be. I thought I could take a short cut on some new roads but they turned out to be really long dead end roads! Which added about 20ish more km to my ride. I'm excited to see how my legs are this weekend! I'll update next weekend after the race!

Awesome weather for biking and writing essays

The weather has been amazing in Korea this past week. I've done a few more big rides and I also got some new shoes for my road bike. I think my old shoes were part of the reason I was having knee problems. The new ones are carbon and are super stiff and more comfortable. I'm starting to feel strong riding again too. Hopefully this is a good sign since I have 2 races coming up soon. This weekend is a Thanksgiving in Korea so I have next Monday and Tuesday off. I'm not totally sure what I'm going to do but camping, bikeing and a big hike are all part of my plans. There is really crazy traffic in Korea during Thanksgiving that can make it really difficult to travel so my plans are all basically in the town I live in so I don't have to worry about traffic. My school year is going well so far and I'm working hard on my MBA applications. I'm applying for the first round meaning the applications are due by mid to late October. I still have a lot to write but I'm making good progress. Hopefully over the Holiday I can get solid drafts of my essays done for each school I'm applying too!