A new chapter

A few weeks ago I moved down to school for training for my new job at school as a resident assistant. It may be odd to some people but I was actually looking forward to going back to school and getting back into a productive routine. This is a very important year for me. It is the first time I have ever stayed at a school for longer than 2 semesters and I have my courses planned out for me to graduate on time in the spring. This current semester will be a little rough with 18 credit hours including 3 separate accounting courses. Managing this with 2 jobs and a full cycling schedule might get a little hectic, but I'm sure I'll get even better with time management skills.

Speaking of cycling, I've had a nice long break to relax from the stress of constantly racing and I believe I'm starting to recover from my mental burn out. I talked to Polo from RGF and he was super cool with it all and even offered for me to stay aboard for next year on the U-23 team. This will allow me to still compete with a great team without the pressure for the big races and extreme traveling which I don't know if I'm ready for or not. I can't thank him enough for sticking with me through this rough patch. The last few weeks I've just kind of been doing whatever I feel like for training. I only ride when I feel like it and I'm trying not to force it. I've been running a bit and I've been feeling really good. I'm planning on starting to train consistently again next week with an actual program so I can still peak in time for cross nationals. I'm going to have an emphasis on recovery this time but that should be ok since I'll probably not have much riding time anyway with the amount of homework I'll probably be getting.

Collegiate mtb season starts in a week and a half. Last year I didn't touch a mtb until the very first race where I borrowed one. This year should go a little better since I actually have one to train on now, but too bad there aren't many trails around here. Or dirt roads for that matter. I just got my new cyclocross bike in a couple of days ago. It's a focus mares expert. They definitely put a lot of work into their design, it truly is built for cross and I can't wait to start racing on it. For the cyclocross season I've been picked up by a cyclocross specific team out of Louisville called Bob's Red Mill pb Focus Bikes. It's a perfect fit for me since I'll be doing a lot of races in Louisville this fall and my main rivals from last year on cross are on the team as well. We'll be hoping to sweep the overall podium in the OVCX series so that would be pretty cool if that happens. Hopefully I'll be stronger than I was last year. This rest might do me good.

Anyway, I intend to post more often from now on, but we'll see if that actually happens. Also, I'd appreciate it if the weather would cool down a bit, I don't enjoy riding when it's over 100. I need some CX weather..