Today it rained. All day. I tried to go out on a ride, but didn't get more than two miles from the neighborhood and it started pouring. So much for that one.

Not too much new stuff has happened since the last post. I had one road race in Fishers, Indiana which didn't go so well. Essentially, I got dropped. Faster than a fat kid in dodge-ball. I suppose I could come up with some reasons as to why this happened, but I think it all has to do with the fact that summer has started and with it, has come lots of work to try and earn money for my EPIC TRIP TO COLORADO!!!!! Let me fill you in on the details. My roommate from freshman year, who is also a friend from high school, is working in Estes Park, CO as a camp counselor. So I'm gonna go crash there for a few nights while I explore all the possibilities that Colorado has to offer. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures and put them on the inter-web.

Other than the daily rides, not much has been going on. I finished my desk, and pictures will be coming soon. ( I have to wait for my sister to get back from France so I can use the camera.) And at the end of the month, I am going out to New Hampshire for a much-needed reprieve from this hectic schedule. So until then, arrivederci!

So here I am. Stuck in Indiana, and its raining. Correction, thundering like crazy. So any ideas of a nice, cool evening ride are out the window. Good news is though that I got new pedals to replace the ones that I sheared the spindle off of. I decided on the speedplay zeros chrom-moly. So far I am pleased with them. I still need to get out on them for a few hours, but I took them around the neighborhood earlier today. Seems to me that the extra float will come in handily on those tough climbs that I stumble upon in Indiana so frequently...... If you haven't noticed already, I am suffering from lack-of-terrain-itis. Even Carmel is flat as a pancake compared to the already flat West Lafayette. Its sad to think that the highest point I have climbed has been a whopping 150 feet top to bottom. I am really looking forward to July when I join my family out in New Hampshire for some epic dirt road- mountain climbing awesomeness.

So far, my summer has been relatively laid back. A few trips to the bars with friends from high school, working and the summer project that is almost done! I'm building myself a nice desk for my apartment and later on, my home after I graduate. So far it looks pretty nice if I do say so myself. It's a plain mission-style desk with a light-oak finish that is sure to attract the eye. I've got the top left to put together which shouldn't take more than a few days at most. Here's a picture to help illustrate.

And, true to Indiana, the rain has stopped as soon as it started. I love the midwest. Which leads me to think what I am going to do once school is finally over. I have one more year left to dwell on this question, but I already know in my heart that I won't be in Indiana. Colorado or one of the neighboring states have been calling my name for quite some time. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love it here in Indy. The people here are so friendly and I have acess to some good times in Indianapolis. But I want to explore my options so to speak. I have been to Colorado a few times, once in the summer and once in the winter and it seems that its the perfect area for me. Snowboarding in the winter and all-you-can-eat cycling in the summer. I have friends and extended family I can visit or stay with out there. Here's to hoping everything works out....

summer is officially here...

Let me start off by apologizing for the time between posts. Its been a very hectic first week home. Since school let out for the summer I have....had one race (I'll discuss that later), lost a job, gotten that same job back, started working on my desk, the parents have left home for a week and a half for the Holy Land, I have been expected to take care of my little brother since the 'rents left, my computer screen decided to take a shit and on top of that find time to train. phew! Oh, and I went back to Purdue to get some things that I had forgotten on the move out and somehow forgot them while I was up there. ( next time I need to make a list ON PAPER)
Other than that things have been just peachy! The Giro is coming along quite nicely and I am thankful that universal sports have been able to provide us mortals with live video streaming of the race. Watching that has been motivation enough for me to get my sorry ass off the couch and on the bike, not to mention the landscape they have been going through has been absolutely beautiful.

The mountain bike is finished also and its about time! However, mother nature hasn't been so friendly lately and has blessed us with exorbitant amounts of rainfall. This, as you could imagine, has temporarily closed the trails. so for now I shall stick to my road bike.

Now to the exciting content! I had my first cat. 4 race two weekends ago. It was the eagle creek crit and man, was it fun!!! We averaged 24 mph for an hour long crit. It was balls to the wall. Now I know all you mighty cat 3,2,1 are sitting there thinking "hmmm...I can do better" but keep in mind this was my first cat 4 race of many to come. The course was intense. There were two major turns at the beginning of the loop that caused some mayhem, but the real killer was a deceptively sharp left hand turn that was slightly off-camber which you could take going about 30mph if you had the right line. I didnt do anything specatcular during the race, just hung around in the group getting my ass handed to me. Thankfully, I did not get dropped and managed to stay in the group the whole time. It was a blast and I am looking forward to the next race. whenever that is.

As far as work for the summer goes, I am relieved to say I have a job! It was in the air as to whether I would be working at the same place as last summer due to the fact the economy is in the shitter. I am an aircraft mechanic when I'm not racing bikes and if there arent any planes for me to work on, then I don't have a job. Seeing as general aviation is a luxury, its fair to say those have been going by the wayside recently. But alas, I got a position on line crew which is basically towing aircraft and refueling and getting planes into the hangar for maintenance. Its not what I would like to be doing right now, but its a job and I am thankful for that.

One more thing before I depart is a huge congratulations to Chris Uberti and Derek Laan in their performances at the collegit national road race and crit. You can read their versions of the race on their blogs.

Well, its coming up on the after-dinner-happy-hour, so I shall say goodbye for now and as always, thanks for reading.

thank goodness that's over with. Last week was finals week and I had four finals. That's below the norm being five. The first one went well and the last one went well. I wish I could say the same for Physics.....

So they figured out Manny Ramirez has been taking some sort of performance enhancing drug....big surprise there! Being a former baseball player I am somewhat embarrassed to have another one join the ranks of the filthy. All you cyclists reading this can relate. Remember last year when Saunier Duval's rider, oh gosh what was his name? Ricardo Ricco was caught for cheating it seemed that all faith that had been previously restored to the sport was gone forever in an instant. Sure it felt good to see someone get caught and justice be served, but man it was a hard blow. I remember going into work the next day, being a cyclist myself, and talking with a lot of people about it. What the pros do at that level quickly transcends down to the rest of us and a lot of people get a negative image about cyclists- as if we don't have it hard enough already. I guess it's an inevitable that there be someone who gets caught every year for cheating, or maybe im just on the hopeful side that there is finally a clean peloton. Any way time for me to get off the soap-box.

The weather is finally cooperating and I've been able to get out on the bike for a few consecutive days now that finals are finally done. Thank God!!! one more ride tomorrow before I head back home to Carmel and lots of riding!

That was a good weekend. Got about 90 miles in so I'm feeling pretty good right now. A little on the sore side just because I didn't get any riding in last week. Tomorrow marks the start of finals week and marks the beginning of a very tough round of finals for me. I've got a final on Tuesday, two on Wednesday and one on Thursday. The biggie is on Wednesday and its physics. The strange thing is that it doesn't really feel like its finals week next week. I guess because I had such a hellacious week last week that I didn't really have time to feel like the semester is getting close to being done. Normally dead week means exactly what it sounds like. dead. Apparently my professors didn't get the memo because they poured on the material and lab hours. I realize that there was a lot of work to be done in each of my labs, but pouring more work on us on top of what we are trying to finish up in lab isnt fun. My focus is slowly coming down to where it should be and I plan on hitting the books hard tomorrow seeing as I am kinda worn out tonite from the weekend's activites. Oh, good news. I found a good mountain bike frame for $600 dollars so I'll be looking forward to that arriving sometime in the next week. well, thats enough for now. thanks for reading!

before you go... a big congrats to all the seniors graduating this semester!

So i made it past dead week, somehow. we got the engine running yesterday which you might have read about earlier, and I somehow got all of my labs done.

While searching for a mountain bike i stumbled upon this quote which i think i shall adopt as my new life motto:

"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in one pretty and well-preserved piece, but instead to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, worn out, and screaming Woohoo!!!! What a ride!"
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wow what a week so far. its dead week, the week before finals, and it seems the professors are really laying it on thick. I've only had time for one ride thusfar due to a ton of work that needs to get done before tomorrow. Seeing as finals are next week, I really need to start studying. Which might be difficult seeing as i have spent the past 8 hours out here on campus. My group and I have been working all week to get our engine started from our overhaul class. We got it to kick over earlier today but somehow flooded it with about a gallon of fuel. that was interesting seeing it pour out of the intake manifold. So we let that dry out and I finally got it to run, it was rough though. I'll be out there again in about a half hour to try my luck again. so in order for that to happen, I must cut this one short.