Double Racing

Saturday was the Stark Velo Cross race at Kent State in Stark. The A race was of course stacked as always and the course was definitely a roadie course. Not a lot of twists and turns or technical sections. Just pure power sections including a long uphill that zapped all the energy left in your already beaten legs. The start was super fast. I had a pretty good position and tried to keep my heart rate low. After crashing around a corner and dropping my chain, I was soon in a position where I did not want to be. I did not panic, I just wanted to keep a constant speed and not blow myself up. I ended up finishing 12th in the race and found out at the finish line that John Proppe battled it out with the big guns and ended up winning overall. Big congrats goes out to him. Everyone from the team did well too and we had a great showing.

Sunday we raced at Westbranch State Park and it was a great day. My girlfriend Courtney goes to Ohio University which is around 3 hours away from the park, and she surprised me in showing up before my race and came to watch. Little did I know, everyone from my family knew about it and kept it a secret until she showed up. It was awesome! The race went well in the Sport division. I raced the Sport 20-29 and after a pretty big crash on my second lap, I finished 2nd. Dad finished in the top 5 in his division and we both had to take advil after the race because of the aches in pains in our bodies after the race due to the massive amounts of rocks and roots we hit during every pedal stroke. It was a great weekend for racing and this coming weekend, we are heading to Dayton for Crankfest Cyclocross Weekend. Should be a good weekend for racing as well!

Late

Laziness

Been a very long time since I lasted posted and I apologize for that. Since Fire Academy, I've had more time to train and race. Cross season has started and I have been training a lot. Also, last weekend was the last triathlon of the season at the Portage Lakes Triathlon hosted by HFP Racing. Woke up that morning at 4:00 and stepped one foot outside and felt the 45 degree temperature, and immediately ran back into the house. Starting temperature was about the same as 4:00. But, once the swim took off, I warmed up very quick.

I probably had one of the best swims I have ever had and existed the water 3rd. T1 was super slow for me but I tried to make it up on the bike. Fortunately I caught the two ahead of me on the bike and was then leading. I tried to keep my mind focused and tried to push it pretty good. T2 was a lot better than my first and then it was onto my run. Again, I wanted to keep a good pace, not wanting to fall into anaerobic threshold and to keep my mind focused. I ended up finishing first overall with the second place racer hot on my tail, only 6 seconds behind. I was extremely satisfied with my performance and my training leading up to the race. Dad finished great as well. He finished 6th overall and 2nd in his AG. As the race went on, the temperature became warmer and made it more comfortable.

I am currently in Paramedic School now and wow is it a wake up call. I am reading, studying and doing homework every night of the week. It is currently week 4 of the 50 week program and it is already kicking my butt. I have to try to stay motivated and focused so that I do not fall behind and make it any harder than what it really is. So life now consists of that, training and racing. This weekend is a double race weekend with Stark Velo's Kent State CX race and Westbranch Mountain Bike Race on Sunday. I'm very excited to finally be racing a full schedule again and I will post the results and the write up this weekend. Stay safe everyone!