Last Race of the Season!!!

My first week of college has finally come to and end. It contained 3 tests, 7hrs of class, and lots of money spent in just 3days!!!! The best part is that there is still a TON of time for riding. My schedule is so nice, the most classes I have in a day are 3 with the earliest beginning at 9:30a.m. and the latest going till 1p.m. Its a perfect schedule considering I have team core workouts in the mornings with yoga included in there and then my training rides in the afternoons to early evenings. This week has been pretty relaxed as far as the training goes due to having two races this week. The first being on Tuesday where I placed in the top 10 and 2nd in two sprints during the race. My final race of the road season is tomarrow in Greenville, SC where I will be racing the South Carolina State Championships. I am very excited for this race. I will have my fellow Brevard teamate and European racer Marshall Hartley by my side. The course is not long and does not have really any big climbs. I am told its a rolling course with short steep climbs and a very fast field. I am as ready as I can be, being a week off of my last hard block of training, about 3 weeks off my peak (3lbs heavier) and acclimated to the elevation.

On Wednesday our team had to go get physicals done and 3 of our team were not cleared to race collegiately this weekend. One was me, which is no big deal since I am not a mtn biker and the collegiate race is a mtn bike race. I was told I have to do rehab on my shoulder and ankle. I had severely sprained my ankle in middle school and they would like me to get it stronger, and in 2007 I wrecked on my mtn bike and dislocated my AC joint. They would also like me to get that shoulder stronger as well. So needles to say I am not cleared, but it will not put a damper on my training or this race coming up as it has had no affect on me this season in racing. The other two riders on my team who were not cleared was Tristan Cowie (Cpt. America) who won 2 national championships last year in XC and short track, but he will return next week as it is just a need to have some medical records forwarded to the school, but this will dampen our roster for this weekend, and Chaput who is getting rehab on his shoulder as well.

After my race on Saturday I will be watching the U.S. Pro National Championship Road Race in Greenville. Once returning back to school, I will have 2 weeks of unstructured training before my huge base workouts start. Coach said that I will be riding more than last winter due to being able to ride outside all winter here. And for those of you who were around me during the winter months last season you know the number of 5-6hr rides I was putting in on the trainer when it was too snowy to ride outside. This winter my rides will be more in the 6-7hr range I am told with core workouts and lifting as well in the mornings. So needless to say, all the free time I had this week where I went and watched our women's soccer game and hung out with friends will be down the drain come 3 weeks from now. One last thing, please be sure and check out the newly developed Brevard College Cycling Team blog at www.brevardcycling.blogspot.com and the twitter site as well which is connected directly to the blog on the right hand side.