Thanksgiving Post

I was lucky this Thanksgiving to be able to go home to Savannah with a new friend and bring my road bike back. This meant my track bike got a little neglected, but I got a lot of good riding in with my new friend, Paulo, and with Granger.  We averaged four hours a day, except for on Turkey day, when the rain and all of the cooking going on in the house convinced us to stay inside.

 Our first day in Savannah, Wednesday, was spent fixing Granger's VO and hitting up a bunch of trails. A bolt had snapped inside the boss for the downtube shifter. We tried drilling it out, but because it snapped at an angle, the drill bit wouldn't stay centered. To fix this we machined a bushing out of brass to keep the drill bit centered. After getting the VO rolling, we headed out to the Savannah Ogeechee River Canal Trail. The trail was root filled, but had many boardwalks that made up for it. We then headed over to the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge and explored the rice paddies. It was a perfect day for it, and we got some fantastic views of the port. Thursday we took off, but we were back at it again on Friday. Welland Racing had a team ride in Richmond Hill that we went out to and hammered for a few hours. Richmond hill doesn't have the most scenic routes, but there's no lights and, depending on the road, no cars. Saturday we did the fast group ride and hung out with David Hiatt, and Sunday we did a 100km recovery ride with Granger and David. It was really fun showing someone else around Savannah and it was really interesting to get someone else's perspective on things. 

News For 2017 and Beyond

I'm excited to announce that I've been chosen as a rider for the junior development team Welland Racing, as well as being chosen to be a  Cinelli USA Brand Ambassador for the rest of the 2017 year. While the Georgia Tech Cycling Club offers a great opportunity to race at the collegiate level (they cover collegiate race expenses, provide bikes on a rent-out basis, provide consultation with a coach, and offer an environment where it's possible to meet training partners, who have a similar schedule), they don't support non collegiate races. For this reason, I'm very excited to be joining Welland Racing for the 2018 season. I look forward to racing with a serious team in non collegiate races and I'm grateful for the support they will provide, both financially and as a community, as a I strive to gain experience and fitness through the 2018 season.

Becoming a Cinelli USA Brand Ambassador was another happy occurrence. Cinelli is one of those brands with a special role in the cycling community, having found a niche in the track and fixed gear scene. Combine that with their proud Italian heritage and support for artists and you have a very special brand. I've always really enjoyed their products, both aesthetically and functionally, and I look forward to repping them for the rest of the 2017 year.

Token Bike Photo

Weekend Home

Cafe stop at Espresso Hill

I took a bus home to Savannah for the weekend after feeling a little homesick. It was a really nice way to de-stress from school, spend some time with the family, and catch up with some good friends. Despite getting in to Savannah at three a.m. Saturday, I was able to get up three hours later at six a.m. to set up my fixed gear, eat some breakfast, and roll out to meet the Perry Rubber group. It was really nice to see a bunch of familiar faces and ride out with the big Saturday group. I had a hundred mile ride on the training plan for Saturday, so I wasn't going to ride the whole way with the group. Thankfully though, I was able to talk two of the SCAD Savannah kids into going with me

SCAD Savannah wants YOU for their cycling team.

Bike or Banana?
Thankfully only one flat on this ride.

Granger, Lotti, and I rode out with the Perry Rubber group ride and then kept going on Ogeechee Road to do a cafe stop in Richmond Hill and begin our ride in earnest. We suffered one flat on the way over to Richmond Hill, but spirits stayed high as the temperature was perfect and the coffee shop, Espresso Hill, had some excellent scones waiting for us by the time we got there. Two hours and twenty five miles in we started our ride in earnest and set off to finish the rest of the seventy-five miles at a solid pace. I had raced with Lotti once before and Granger was an old training partner, so we quickly fell into a good rhythm and kept the pace high as we explored the quite Richmond Hill roads.     

Fixie whip for the ride. 

Our spirits were lifted after an impromptu store stop for peace tea. A little more than eighty miles in.

I was a little nervous about doing the ride on my fixed gear because I hadn't ridden it in a while, but I spent a lot of time that morning dialing in the fit and it payed off. Thankfully, running the stock 48-16 gear ratio was perfect for the long training ride we were doing. Unfortunately, non of us fueled properly. That led to some suffering towards the end and an unplanned store stop, but that's what we were all there for anyways: good roads, great friends, and a little suffering.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

Why Everyone Needs a Training Partner

Proper store stop before night set in. 

This was one of those rides where I felt great, until five minutes into it the humidity hit me and all of my sore, non-cycling muscles from doing squats the day before began telling me to go home. Atlanta had been experiencing a little bit of a dry, cold front that had left me totally unprepared for 80% humidity, further because both Conner and I were semi-swamped with school we didn't leave until rush hour. Everybody loves cyclist during rush hour. Despite making it out of the perimeter in thirty minutes (we may of split a couple lanes), an hour into the ride I was totally over it. I had pulled my already sore hip flexor, clumsily bunny hopping a pot hole, while trying to not get run over by cars passing in our lane. The dull, random pain combined with my body's shock at the humidity meant that if I had been solo I would of called it quits and gone home an hour in. Thankfully though, I wasn't the only one on this ride. Conner needed someone to ride home with in the dark if he was going to do the full workout that he wanted to get in. Nursing a sore ego, I sat on his wheel for the better part of fifty miles.

The route sampled some pristine country roads. 

Low and behold, once the sun started setting my hip flexor had worked itself out and the humidity began to drop. Suddenly I was feeling great and we made great time on the way back as we switched off on the front. What had been a crappy day on the bike, turned into a great training ride with some great scenery. It only took some fifty miles for things to turn around. It's days like these where the true value of a training partner is seen. Someone to get you out of bed at six in the morning or force you to keep going when otherwise you would not.

Training With the Tech Kids

The team on our weekly, coach-led ride. 

While the Georgia Tech Cycling Team is a club team, I've been fortunate to meet many kids who are very passionate about the sport and competing. In addition, many past club members and officers have worked hard to secure sponsors so that the team is in a good place financially. I was worried coming from riding with the SCAD Savannah kids, a varsity team, that it would be hard to find the same level of motivation on the Tech team, but that has not been the case at all. While we don't have organized practices or training plans that are given out, we meet up to ride, talk about training, and help new riders make their own training plan.  All in all, it's a great environment for an up and coming racer, and I'm looking forward to the coming road season.

Savannah To Atlanta: Moving into Tech

I managed to transfer to Georgia Tech this fall and am beyond excited. While I'm sad to be leaving many great professors at Armstrong State, the Savannah cycling community, and many of my friends on the SCAD Savannah Team, I'm looking forward to challenging myself against a very bright group of kids and joining the Georgia Tech Cycling Team for both road and track. I'm going to try to continue the posts about cycling, but I'm going to also try to add a series of posts about cooking in a college dorm. Eating healthy as an athlete can be challenging enough without the added stress of a tight budget and a communal cooking space. Hopefully something can be gained from chronicling my struggles as a collegiate cook.

A big thanks to my family for helping move me in and being supportive of me as I go through college. Another big thanks to the Savannah cycling community, especially Paul, Jed, David and Edgemont at Perry Rubber, and Stephen for being so supportive of me as I got started as a cyclist. I'm going to miss the Gallery Rides and Savannah's cycling community.

Blue Goose Road Race

I had a great time at the Blue Goose Road Race this past spring, and I'm looking forward to returning this coming year. The race is put on as a joint effort between The Savannah Wheelmen and the Blue Goose Bike Hostel. The route covers rolling terrain with a seriously steep category four climb that tends to split the field. As only one of two cat fives to make the split I was guaranteed a podium and spent most of the race hanging out in the pack. Another cat five bridged up to us, but he was seriously cooked and I was able to out sprint him in the downhill finish to claim second. Besides a nasty crash during the downhill, sprint finish (the one questionable part of the race course) the cat 4/5 race was relatively calm with everyone taking the corners safely and holding their lines.