Not going my way, not at all.

April is not shaping up to what I hoped it would be. The first week of the this dreadful month had me bed ridden with the stomach flu, which kept me off my bike. Week two was looking promising, got beat up on the Tuesday night sunset ride( 8 mile loop with lots of climbing, hardest ride around so cal) and then ran into my first crit practice(ride around 4 corners about 1.2 miles in length total, isn't bike racing cool...) and got punished. And my first Saturday ride back I hid pretty well in the pack. Third week started off slow because of my job hunting and life in general. Mid week put in a great 4 hour ride to Pasadena and back then took took a few days of easy spinning.Once the Saturday ride hit I felt great and rode myself into the ground and felt great, until later that evening when my Achilles tendon swell up to the size of a banana. Not siked. Week four of being back on the bike had me off the bike, again. To bring us to current this week started off great with my best Tuesday night ride of the season, great recovery ride with my buddy Chris S. yesterday, then tonight it all turned around again with a crash at crit practice. Took the inside line on a corner to fast and tight and went down . Only pissed off about it because my frame might have a few hairline cracks in it. Really upset actually.

Oh well, tomorrow is a new day. And a good day actually. Might as well start it off with a good ride and see how it turns out. Hope my luck turns around here pretty soon.

Racing

Bike racing is an art to be mastered and one I am far from. I've been at this sport for nearly four years , but have really only been riding my bike or training shall I say for about a year. I say for real , because riding a bike and training on the bike is much different and for much of my time on the bike has been mere riding and not so much training. But that has all changed over the last 8 months. I've learned how to train properly, how to suffer , how to recover and few other things. I am far from anywhere I'd like to be on the bike, but at least I'm on the right track now.
Being overseas for 5 weeks with out my bike put a bit of a damper in my training but not as bad as I thought it would be. Since i like to hit things head on I decided to do a race merely 8 days after returning from European soil. It was my fourth time on the bike in the week, after a long week of having the stomach flu and being bed ridden for nearly 3 days out of the week I figured I'd still give it a shot. The race was 1.2 mile circuit on know as the "Ontario Easter Sunday Grand Prix". This was my first real race in a over 12 months and to be honest I had a great time and felt really confident and had a lot of fun in the race. I was suffering though out the whole of the race but still felt great in how i raced, except with my finish which was not noteworthy and merely in the pack. All in all I accomplished what I sent out to do , have a good work out and enjoy myself. Next race I m hoping to suffer even more but some out on top, well at least top ten....

On the Road

The sun is going down. The time is changing. I have changed. And I'm happy about it. Im at a very interesting place in life. Life has taught me a lot over these last 12 years of being on the road. I've learned a lot about love, women, hard work, friendship, and everything else in between. I am becoming the man and father that I want to be. And I know the two are different, that in itself has been a struggle for me, and I'm excited to see where both of them take me. I've seen more than most see in a lifetime. I've hurt more souls than anyone should ever in a lifetime. Most importantly, I've learned from my mistakes and from all the good doings.
I have never been to college, but I've got an education that is priceless. I've never seen the liberty bell in Philadelphia, but I can tell you where Lorenzo's pizza shop on South street in Phillly is. And if you want the best slice of thin crust cheese pizza on this planet, you can go there and get two slices and a coke and it will still only run you about $5. I could sit down in a coffee shop in Athens, Greece and have a conversation with someone in my generation, and it wouldn't be about politics or global warming or how fucked we are right now as a people, but can gush and over flow on how great "Turn on the Bright Lights" by Interpol is.
As I was writing this I was with our monitor engineer Phrogg, and i was the morning DJ before we took the ferry from Belfast to Manchester. Phrogg being more than close to 30 years older than me in age, I can still show him music from his youth that I have discovered throughout my travels and even introduce him to music from 3 decades ago he never knew existed. When I put it on, it brings a nod to his head and a smile to his face. I could keep up my traveling career and find more bars and great places to eat and build more great relationships out here on the road, but I'd like to try something new. I know the memories will always be there and the road will always be me. The road is what I've been. It has been my identity and my escape. It's now easy to go on the road, and I much prefer challenges. You can always run away from life on the road, you can always hide from your l loved ones, your hated ones, the ones that adore you, and the ones you scathe.
Now I'm on to something new. It will take time and patience, which is difficult for me. But time is on my side. To be honest, I've always struggled with time. Maybe its because time is so powerful. TIme is a beautiful and frightening all at the same time, and it's something to be respected. I'm glad I have these memories in my heart and in my mind. I've met the most amazing, beautiful, talented, and gifted people one could ever know. But the time has come to move on. Do I know what is next yet? No, but I'll know what it is when I get there.

-On the road.