Roll with the punches

I haven't updated my blog in a while. I've had pretty killer ideas kick around in my head, but alas, I never got around to publishing them here as intended. Anyway, I'll give a quick rundown of current events in my life since my last post.

-One of my bestest friends ever came home from a three month excursion across Europe and South Africa. I picked him up from the airport and his beard was beastly. He got into cycling and said he wouldn't shave until he rode 1,000 kilometers. I told him I'd grow my beard along with him and so I have a small, furry animal living on my face now.

-I drove to multiple central florida airports probably about five times in the course of three days (two trips took place at 5am). When I hear people need a ride, I guess I am just too nice to say no. The airport ride is the sincerest showing of love/friendship, so I don't take these trips lightly.

-I've done more lawn work in the past few weeks than any single person should take on. Grass grows too fast in florida during the summer. I mowed on Monday and it's Friday and it already needs a cut. The process of mowing sucks, but being able to look at the finished products makes it all worth it. Not much looks finer than a freshly cut/edged lawn.

-I donated half of the crap in my closet to Goodwill. This helped me to realize that I never need to go shopping for new clothes again.

-I started reading this book about this fellow from South Africa that all of a sudden decided to ride a bicycle around the coast of the entire continent of Africa. Amazing.

Anyway, to the good stuff... I've dominated the past three races in the Lake Louisa summer race series. With those results, I upgraded and now race in the pro field. It's really been a steady, upward climb for the past year, especially as of late, and words can't really describe the feeling I get from seeing my hard work and determination materialize into what I've set out for myself. I did my first race in the pro field this past weekend in Jacksonville and raced like a true G. Pretty interesting story.. this retired linebacker from the NFL, played with the Patriots and Jaguars got into cycling after football. It was a long transition for him coming from football to cycling, but now he's one of the best racers in the state. The first time he won any money in a race he said he cherished it more than any money he earned in the NFL. Someone snapped a pretty badass picture of me riding on his wheel during Saturday's road race.


Pretty sick!

Putting your money where your mouth is

There is something real gratifying about being able to put your money where your is, so to speak. You know, being able to set your sights high and just go out and perform brilliantly. I had a moment like this last night and I'm still riding high from it.

During the summer months a local guy puts on these bike races on Tuesday nights out in Clermont in Lake Louisa State Park. It's a 25 mile race, five laps of a five mile couse, full of a couple short but real hard, sharp climbs with the finish being near the top of the hardest climb on course. Last night was the fourth race in the series. I knew I had to perform in this race so I could get the few points left that I needed to upgrade to a higher category of racing. I put the pressure on myself and pretty much told myself I was going to do well in the race no matter what, no other options.

It was a wet and rainy race, which is only good for relief from the summer heat. Anyway, on the first of five laps I felt a lull in pace, a slight let up as we started one of the bigger hills. I literally said "phuck it" and jumped out of the saddle and accelerated as hard as I could and was away by myself up the climb and was quickly joined by one other rider. Him and I destroyed ourselves for a lap, keeping a 15 second gap on the main field until we were joined by one other rider, one of the strongest racers in Florida. We three just killed it for the remaining three laps. Our gap didn't grow so it was a definite battle knowing we were barely hovering off the front. Finally on the last night, the peleton couldn't chase anymore and we were sure to stay away to battle out the race between the three of us. In the end, the strong mofo won, myself taking second place, which I was, and still am, very happy with. I, of course, got the joy out of having a great race, but it was also that feeling of relief from doing what I told myself I had to do. Putting the pressure on myself and performing in the clutch. That's one of the most satisfying feelings in the world.