Training and an Air Show!

Last week had great weather for riding. It was almost in the 70s a few days. I got in a few good training rides but with it getting dark at 6pm its pretty hard to ride more than an hour after work. This Sunday I am racing the DMZ road race which is a 50 mile~ road race. I did well last year and got second place in my age group so I'm hoping to do well again. There is a points based team competition where the top 5 from each age group get points. My team will definitely be trying to sweep the podium in my age group as we have 3 strong riders but there should be some pretty tough competition. The course is pretty mountainous for me but if I have a good day I should be able to ride well. The next week I will finish off my season with a 30km mountain bike race. I'm hoping to finish off the race season with some strong rides and then do some hiking before skiing starts here.
Last Sunday I went to the Osan Air Show with Yujin. My friend Aaron is a school teacher at the Air Force base there and we went to his neighbors house to watch the show. It was pretty cool and after he took us on a tour of the base. Its like a little piece of America in Korea with American schools, restraunts and a grocery store with basically everything. Thanks to Brad and Aaron for showing me around. I'll post a report about the race next week. Also I'm basically done with my MBA applications. I'll post on here about it again when I decide what school I'm going too. Shoud be an exciting next few months!

Chris' Second Visit and the World Amateur Criterium Championship

Last Saturday was the big race I had been trying to build up for. Unfortunately it didn't go as well as I hoped. My strategy/tactics were a bit off and my legs weren't really that good either. Thats bike racing I guess though. It was still a fun race though and what made it a lot more fun was having one of my best friends and college roomates Chris Uberti come out for the race! He arrived on Thursday night and left yesterday at lunch time. Chris raced really well this summer and he lived up to my expectation that he would win the race! It was all the way down near the southern coast of Korea which took about 4 hours to drive too. I have one more race left in 2 weeks the DMZ road race which should be pretty fun and maybe one more mountain bike race in 3 weeks but I'm not sure if I will ride it yet or not. On Sunday after the race Jason a friend of mine who used to be a teacher in Yongin gave us a tour of Jinhae which was near the race and where he now works. It was a really beatiful town with a big bay and a really pretty chain of mountains surrounding it. I'm almost finished with my MBA applicaitons and bike racing is almost over as well. I'm looking forward to hiking and relaxing a bit this November!

Tour de Dangjin

Well I said last week that I was almost done being sick but I spoke too soon. I'm still sick with a cough now but I'm getting better. I had a race on Sunday in Dangjin next to the ocean and about one hour south of where I live. I raced the same course last year and really liked it. This time because I was sick I didn't ride for 3 days prior to the race so I had some pretty stiff legs at the beginning. I missed the lead group of 3 riders but I settled in with the second group of about 10. It was a mountain bike race but was basically all on farm and dirt roads with a few random sections of single track mixed in. Our group stayed together until near the end when there were a lot of corners. A lot of guys in our group hadn't been cornering well so I thought I would attack and right when I did the lead guy crashed into a corner so I got a 5/10second gap. Unfortunately it was a lot further to the finish than I thought so I blew up and got caught by Lee Jin Ok(a 50+ year old racer who did the olympics a long time ago) and my teammate Hwangeol. We had had Yeon Deok in the lead group but he flatted and had to drop out. Hwangeol beat me in the sprint for the win in our age group but that was ok. I won 80km of rice for my effort and our team did great. We had enough points in the team competition from our good placings that we won! We got about 700 dollars for the win and had a really great lunch after the race. I really like this course because while its on mtbs it races like a road race with several tough sections thrown in. This week I'm focusing on recovering from my cold and finishing up my MBA applications! They are all due by the end of the month! This weekend is the track race that I explained in my last blog. I will be racing the missin and out with Min Seok while Yeon Deok and Hwan Geol will be doing the points race. The 4 of us will also be doing a TTT. Should be a fun race! But what I'm looking forward to most is finishing up my applications!

Almost better from being sick!

It was a pretty good week. I recovered finally from my 2 week long cold! But then I had a stomach bug and couldn't eat much for 2 days. I'm basically over it but I wasn't able to get as much training in as I wanted too but I did get a lot of work done on my MBA applications!! The first ones are due soon and the rest are due by the end of October! Next weekend I have a mountain bike race the Tour De Dangjin which should be pretty fun its 40km and mostly held on dirt and farm roads around rice paddies. I raced last year and did well so I am hoping to do well again this year. The week after that is a track race! There is a 500m velodrome about an hour south of my house and they are having amateur races on road bikes there. There is a points race, Miss and out and a team time trial with pretty good prize money. The week after that is the big money criterium in Changwon that I have been training a lot for. Hopefully I can put all of my health issues behind me and have a great race there. One friend of mine from Purdue will be coming with another maybe attending! I'm really looking forward to it. The last race of the season looks like it will be the DMZ race held the first week of November. I did it last year and its held on a gorgeous course near the border with North Korea. I'll post again next week and let everyone know how my race goes!