Snowboarding

I went snow boarding for the 4th time ever on Friday night. It was fun. I feel like I finally really got the hang of it and can go down with out thinking about my technique the whole time. Boarding is really popular here (it seems like 80% of the people at the ski resort are boarding) so I figured I had better at least become decent at it so I can go when my friends want to. It was really fun except that my friend had a bad spill at the end and sprained his ankle! I was lucky not to have any real hard falls. Saturday Yujin came to Yangji to hang out. We went to the art museum at Everland(a big amusement park near my house) and it was realy cool with lots of old Korean art. Sunday I went skiing with Alex and Brittany which was really fun! We skiied for about 6 hours the most I have done the whole year so far. This week is the last week of school. Wednesday is the last day of class for the kids. One of my best friends Greg is coming to Korea to visit his sister this week and we are gonna go hiking and biking Thursday and Friday. I think we are going to go out to Chi ak San National park on Thursday if we have time. I have never been there but always wanted to go. Friday we are gonna do an epic 70 mile bike ride from Yangji up to Yangpyeong. The rest of my vacation should be fun too!

Skiing and Studying

I've finally buckled down and started studying for the GMAT. Also I've been able to get out skiing about 3 days a week and the resort is now about half open. Unfortunately the weather in Korea has been on off between cold and warm meaning they havenj't been able to make snow very quickly. By Christmas time every course should be open though. I made a new friend in yangji a few weeks ago who also happens to be studying for the GMAT! What a small world! We have been studying together once a week and its been helping. He is good at math and I can help him with the reading questions. Last weekend was busy but fun. I skiied on Friday night with 2 friends who also have season passes. Saturday the Suwon Alpha club came to ride in Yangji and we rode a pretty nice course but there were a few patches of slippery ice that scared a few of the beginners in the club. Overall the ground was frozen pretty hard so it was good conditions for riding. After biking I was dead tired and I actually took a nap for 2 hours! Sunday was busy too! I met yujin in the morning and we biked along the Han river in the cold for an hour. Then I had lunch with a friend and she gave me some tips for taking the GMAT then finally I met John and Yeon Gi for dinner! This week I'm aiming to get some quality studying and skiing in. I'm skiing with a ski club called Yangji Family tonight that I met at the resort last year. They are all really good skiers so hopefully they can help me improve my technique a little bit.

what to do with no bike racing?!

Last week was the first official week of the off season. I still had a little bit of an itch to go biking though so I met up with 3 new friends who are in the Air Force and stationed about 40km south west of me in Songtan. We rode 100km on new roads I had never ridden before. I also went snow boarding with my friends Danny and Eunhye on friday night! It was my 3rd time snow boarding but its definitely fun. Im gonna practice more this year. I'm getting the hang of it pretty quickly but I think I have potential to get up to a pretty decent level if I do it a few more times. After the bike ride Saturday and met up with Yujin in Jukjon. We went to this place that is supposed to look like a european village and ate spaghetti. Sunday was my Suwon Alpha bike clubs year end lunch party. We went to a huge buffet near the shop and the gave some speeches and gave away door prizes. They said they were very proud of me for being the first foreigner in their club. After that I met up with Yujin, Allan, Asami and some other friends at the Seoul world cup stadium park. we walked up and looked at the view from the top of the park then went to a korean barbeque buffet and to a singing room! It was really fun! This week im trying to take it easy and study for the GMAT more. it worked yesterday so hopefully I can stay motivated and study hard today!

1, 2, 3!

My team acheived its goal at the Seoul Rally Hill climb this weekend of getting 1 2 3 in my category! It was in a different order than I thought it would be though. The course was really well suited to me and I was able to take the win! It wasn't a regular hill climb. It had 2 1km or so hills followed by a 3km hill to the finish. The hills had some steep parts and some flats and some gradual which works a lot better for me than a long steady hill. It was freezing cold and my hands and toes were basically frozen after the race! It was a great way to close out the season. My whole team went to Saipan(a US territory near Guam) this week for a vacation and one final race but I had to work so I couldn' t join them! Im jealous but today is the first day of skiing at the yangji pine resort. This was a great bike season for me! Im really looking forward to continuing next spring with Team Cannondale! Its a great group of guys and its great racing with 5 guys who can legitimately win most races here! The race was in down town seoul and was near a famous Palace so after the race I went there with Yujin! It was really cool. I guess now that I don't need to bike for a little while I should buckle down and study hard for the GMAT

Getting ready for the last race

Last week was pretty uneventful. After the race last week my team said how cool it would be to get 1,2,3 in my age group with the other 2 guys my age from the team. so I have been riding still trying to stay in shape. Its a 6km hill climb in seoul this sunday. Last sunday my bike club Suwon Alpha came out to my town to go riding. I took them on a new trail I found outside of my town that they really liked. Its a 1km climb followed by 1 mile of rolling single track and a 1.5 mile twisty tight single track downhill. About 15 riders came out and we had great weather. We had goat soup for lunch too which was suprisingly good. They love taking me to eat foods I have never eaten before. The Yangji pine ski resort opens next tuesday which is only about a 5 minute drive from my house. Its perfect timing with the last bike race! 2 of my other friends have bought season passes this year too and I found a korean ski club that goes every weekday after work that I can ski with as well. Should be a pretty good winter! Im looking forward to a little time off the bike even though compared to the last 10 years of my life this is by far the least I have ever ridden but my best season in terms of results. The last race of the season should be fun though hopefully I can follow my teammates wheels to acheive our goal!

race photos

Climbing during the race

Podium Shot! My team mate Hwan Geol got 3rd

This is the best victory shot I've been able to find.

Tour de Korea pre test = WIN!!!!

Sunday was the qualifying race for the 2011 tour de korea which is the biggest ameteur race in Korea. My team and I went down on saturday morning to check out the course and enjoy the ocean. Teh race was in Tae An county on the west coast of korea. It started and finished right in front of a huge beach! We rented a condo near the beach and grilled clams and other shells on the barbeque saturday night! The course was a pretty good one for me. 50km with 3 1-2km climbs. The climbs were fairly steep but were followed by fast downhills immediately so I didn't think a break was gonna be able to go on this course. 2 of my team mates Yeon Deok and Hwan Gol (who are about the same age as me and really fast riders) said they wanted to attack and I said I wanted to wait for the sprint. so we had a pretty good game plan going in. The race played out just like I thought it would with lots of peopel getting dropped on each climb. The race started with over 300 people and after the final climb there were 30 or 40 left in the lead pack. The final 15 km were flat with a tail wind and no one really attacked. The final 300 meters had 100m of up hill followed by 200m of down to the finish. I attacked with 300m to go and held a good gap till the finish. I will try to post some pics soon!! My team took some good shots. my teammates also took 3rd and 4th place. There is one more race like I said in my last post. I don't think im capable of winning but we made a team goal of taking 1,2,3 in the senior men mtb cateogry with myself yeon deok and hwan gol. they are both really good at hill climbs so hopefully I can hold their wheel at least!