Retirement

To anyone who still bothers to read this, you may have noticed that there haven't been any posts in a while. To put things simply, the reason for this is because I have decided to quit competitive cycling.

I've dedicated the majority of my time these last few years focusing on cycling and I had a great time doing so. I don't regret any of it, I met some amazing people and got to experience so many different things. Somewhere along the line though I started to lose my motivation. I no longer felt the thrill of going to race for my own enjoyment and for testing myself, but rather I felt like I was doing it out of routine.

Another problem, that certainly did not help, occurred during my exam week and I was hit by a car on campus. My road bike was cracked and I had a hard impact on my knee and was stuck in bed rest for one month. These events combined with a few other important things made me really feel the need to separate myself from competitive cycling for a while.

I still feel bad towards the guys over at RGF, especially Polo and Bob. They were always patient with me and were willing to help me to try and make things work. I really appreciate everything that they've done for me and they have a great program over there. I was fortunate to have been a part of it.

This summer has been pretty interesting so far. It feels odd to live without riding for hours every day. My perspective has slowly been changing on things and I feel happier, so I believe I made a good decision. I got a job at KLM Bike and Fitness in Rochester and I still ride my bike when I commute there. It's not that far, but it's nice to go for relaxing/easy rides. It is also pretty nifty seeing the cycling world from the mechanic's point of view. I'm learning a lot of tricks that I wish I knew when I was racing, but maybe I'll get to use my new knowledge later on in life. I don't know if I'll ever get back into competitive cycling, but I'm for sure at least taking the next complete year off. So what will I be doing in the meantime?

I will actually be in Japan for the next year participating in a study abroad. I have set up a new blog site that is dedicated towards this trip. So if you are still interested in the events that are happening in my life feel free to go check it out.

cruisebogedin.wordpress.com

From this point on, I will only be doing updates over there. I will still leave up this blog to preserve the memories of the last few years. Thanks to everyone who read this blog and were able to tolerate me throughout the years.