Pushing it to the Limit

In the past week I have done most of my riding on the mountain. Of the past 5 days, 3 of them have been MTB to the top of Tam. I have enjoyed an awesome break of easy riding and I am excited to get my training going again and these rides have felt like the perfect transition. Now it is not the trek up the mountain that I am so addicted to, but it is the flash back down. The beginning section of the descent is rocky as can be and is pretty brutal on the arms without about 2 pairs of gloves on, but once you get through that part it is straight adrenaline. There are a bunch of waterbars that are perfect for getting some air off of and millions of rocks. So I basically spend about 45% of the time in air while on the way down. With another 20% spent sliding through corners uncontrollably it is absolutely packed full of fun.

Well yesterday I went out for another ride up the mountain. The climb is great, it is so steady that I can find a rhythm and just go for hours. Plus I got out of school at 12:30 so there was no one on the trail. It was a beautiful day and views from the mountain were pretty great. Well in my usual rush to leave the house and get on the trail I just strapped my road kit on and didnt bother to grab a mtb tube. I have tubeless tires so they are super trustworthy. Well I made it to the top feeling great and I was excited for the descent back down to say the least. That is what I came for...

I started down sliding through the piles of rocks. Then I was off flying, hit each jump like there was no tomorrow. Pssssssss......done. A sliced tire is no good. Well I grabbed my kit and put the road tube that I had into the wheel. I always wondered if it would work, and it did. I stuck my CO2 into it and it was awesome. Felt like a solid wheel and I was ready to get going again. At first I thought that I better take it easy. But there was still so much to descend I could not help myself. I needed to fly. I began to push up the pace and I could feel the loss of control that I had with the road tube in the rear. It definitely was not the same, but that did not matter, I knew I wasnt going to crash.

I hit the next jump and...BANG. The top of the valve decided to explode off of my tube. I was finished. I took the tube out and began to roll slowly down the hill attempting to put all of my weight onto my front wheel. I couldnt take it though, I did not want to damage my beautiful Crossmax SL. So.....I stuffed all the dirt and grass that I could find into the tire. Jeze, it was actually pretty difficult to get the tire back onto the rim with all of the dirt in their. I finally got it back on, but I wasnt able to keep a lot of the dirt in. Oh well I was off again riding up on my front wheel cringing every time my rear wheel touched a rock. I passed a few people and then one guy offered me a tube. I was thrilled and I thanked him at least six times. I popped that in and just as I put the CO2 in. POP. The tube pushed out of the slide tire and I was done.

I sank back down the mountain. Then I climbed back up to 5 corners, where upon my arrival some lady sitting on the bench began to yell "FLAT TIRE, FLAT TIRE!!" As if I didnt know that I had just ridden 2 miles uphill with a flat!

Well I made it back home, with a pretty decent workout I must say. The worst part were my arms that had been locked up so much as I leaned forward for over an hour trying to keep my weight on my front wheel. I guess I shouldnt push it to the limit all of the time!

California Rain

Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.
~Albert Einstein

This past week I have been taking it super easy and enjoyed a few days off. On friday though, it was time to get back on the bike. It was the start of a 3 day weekend and I was definitely excited to relax a little from school and enjoy the road. Well Friday was actually one of those half misty days, and I could not wait to get on the bike. Believe it or not I love riding in the rain, at least california rain.

Well I went out and hopped on the TT bike (I don't know I just have felt like riding it lately) and went flying out towards Paradise loop. Just as I went out it started to rain harder. I was pumped. I barrelled through the rain soaked streets in my aero position as the rain pounded down upon. A smile did not leave my face the entire ride.

It goes on

In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: It goes on.
~Robert Frost

A few good quotes

"A team is not about a bunch of kids out to win.
A team is something you belong to,
something you feel,
something you have to earn."


"I feel my fate in what I can not fear."
~ Roethke


"The unexamined life is not worth living."
~ Socrates


"I try to live my life without regrets. Besides, I think there are probably patterns and designs to our lives. Mostly, of course, it's fuck-ups, but there are designs, too."
~ Norman Maclean

Bicycle Spring

Windy, sunny, and Sunday,
the afternoon of your father's promise,
you will learn to ride your bike:

your father breathing hard
pushes, runs at your side,
one handon the handlebars,
the other firm on the seat,

launching you like a glider
to soar long seconds
before wobbling to crash
in the soft green field

until you know how to ride
suddenly except for the brakes
and your father suddenly
is a speck waving way behind.

as you pedal toward strange sights
in blocks where he
has forbidden you to walk.

by Keven FitzPatrick

The Lion of Fairfax

All alone for the win..

Staying on Bjorns tail....

Bjorn and I taking off on the first lap..

Juniors 1st Place

There was a cyclocross race just a few blocks from my house, so I decided to give it a go. I was not sure how it would go on my mountain bike and all, but it was actually a sweet course, and might have even been better on my mountain bike. My race was around 12:30 so I went for a little 2 hour ride before to loosen up the legs. I was pretty unsure of how my legs would be, especially since I had played basketball for about 3 hours the day before. Well they did not feel very good on the ride, but they loosened up.

I was able to do one lap pre-ride of the course and then I had to get ready to go. There were a few solid riders out there. They had cross bikes and were not even carrying water bottles so I was a bit confused on how this was going to go. Then we were starting with the women, well they started about 30 seconds before us, so that proved to be the biggest obstacle of the course for me. Well the whistle was blown and we were off. I got a great start and was in the lead breaking the group into pieces, then we got to the first barrier. I actually made a good dismount and hopped back on with no problems. Then Bjorn Fox took over the lead from me and him and I rode away from the group. He was fighting pretty hard to stay in the front so I decided to sit and wait for him to make a mistake. Well this proved to cause me some problems as he continued to dismount in front of me on short singletrack climbs and such. We weaved through the women and stuck together for most of the race. And jeze cross definitely hurts, but it is fun. I think that the most painful part is trying to get riding again after jumping over the barrier. Once you get back on and such your legs just feel beaten up from that few hard steps.

With 2 laps to go I passed Bjorn on the steep uphill climb that we had to run up. I could tell that he was laboring and I just gassed it and opened a decent gap. I continued to charge through the final lap and I enjoyed my first race and first win at a cyclocross event.

A Dream

In visions of the dark night
I have dreamed of joy departed
But a waking dream of life and light
Hath left me broken-hearted.

Ah! what is not a dream by day
To him whose eyes are cast
On things around him with a ray
Turned back upon the past?

That holy dream - that holy dream,
While all the world were chiding,
Hath cheered me as a lovely beam
A lonely spirit guiding.

What though that light, thro' storm and night,
So trembled from afar
What could there be more purely bright
In Truth's day-star?

By Edgar Allan Poe
~A poem I picked to memorize for my english class