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!

Training Hard!

My knee seems to be basically better and I was able to get in a lot of good riding in the last week. The weather has been great for riding too. The fall semester of school has started again and I'm definitely going to try and enjoy my last year of teaching as much as possible. Last weekend my friend Allan had a going away party. We are best friends here in Korea and he is going back to Canada this week to go to Teacher's College(1 year graduate school to become a teacher). The party was a lot of fun and a good way to see a lot of people I hadn't seen in a while. My next race is coming up in about 3 weeks but my big focus is on getting ready for the Changwon City Criterium (ecomobility.co.kr) I hope I can find the form I had last fall and get out and win some races. I also have to really sit down and finish these MBA applications up as well!

TTT and Jeju Island

The TTT last weekend didn't go as well as I or my team hoped we ended up 5th but our goal was to win. I wasn't in very good shape because I hadn't been riding and only one of our riders was really riding strongly. We didn't ride too terribly but we didn't ride well enough to win either. After the race I headed off with my friends Allan and Daniel to Jeju Island. We took a boat from Mokpo in the far south part of Korea with my car. The boat ride took about 5 hours and was pretty fun. You parked your car on the bottom of the boat and we shared a huge room with about 20 other people where you could sit on the floor or sleep. They had a big cafeteria, convenience store and live music on the boat too. Jeju Island was awesome we went to the beach, camped, hiked up the highest mountain in Korea and I did a little bit of bike riding too. It was an amazing place to ride and I hope I can go back this winter to train before Tour of Korea for a few days. Because its a volcanic island it had really cool nature and even had a lot of palm trees in the south part of the island. The weather was great for our trip too with temperatures in the mid 80s every day and low 70s at night. The only disappointing thing was that every time we gained any kind of elevation the mountain we would be surrounded with fog and wouldn't be able to enjoy the view. It was a great final trip with my great friend Allan who is going back to Canada next week. My knee seems to be holding up pretty well too and I'm training hard. I'm doing 2 more races for sure and maybe a mountain bike race as well. There is a big criterium with a great prize list coming up in October and I really want to ride well at it. Check out www.ecomobility.co.kr

Finally!! My knee is almost better!

I finally found a solution to make my knee feel better. I went to the traditional Korean medicine doctor and got actupuncture and something else(ultrasound something something) on the tendon and it felt way better immediately! I've been 3 times now and it only costs about 5 dollars each time. I've been riding again and only had minor pain in the tendon and it seems to decrease with each treatment. I have a TTT this Monday (which is a national Holiday in Korea) and then I am driving with 2 of my best friends Allan and Daniel down to Mokpo where we will take a boat to Jeju Island. Jeju is a huge island that is an old volcano and its famous for its scenic beauty. We are going to hike a 6000ft plus mountain, go to the beach and explore caves! It should be a really great vacation. The fall racing schedule is coming together as well with a race in Chuncheon and a race I did well in last year in Dangjin. The past few weeks I have been basically on vacation and have been really busy. I was hoping to buckle down and get some serious work done on MBA essays but it didn't happen with constantly going on trips! I went to Jirisan and Busan last week and I was focused on English camp and getting back in good biking shape this week. I only have a week and a half left of vacation now but once school starts I should be able to buckle down and finish my essays. I am extremely relieved to finally have found something that has helped my knee feel better having tendonitis is no fun and the regular doctors recommendation of just resting didn't seem to be making it get any better! Hopefully I can keep training and have a good fall race season like last year!