i'm aliiiiiiiiiiiiiiive (still)

Hello all...

Well, here I sit in lovely Ann Arbor, the humidity increasing by the minute, with not very much to say at all. Be prepared, as this blog is about to take a very bike-oriented turn.

I've already decided on my summer plans for... next year (yes, summer 2008) and they include much bicycle racing. This summer I'm getting my @$$ royally kicked by high schoolers in my age category (24 & under, seems i'm the only over-20 that has the ganas to race) and it's rather depressing.

So... i'm writing the season off to training and learning how to race-- heck, i've never really *raced* before... collegiate races were just an excuse to ride my bike on some new trails with other people who liked to ride their bikes!!

so this year i plan to qualify for and attend Collegiate Nationals in North Carolina come fall-- i pretty much qualify by default.. the whole lack-of-20-somethings racing thing.

then i'll ride my bike all winter to de-stress from the whole school-is-my-career thing (this will be a big change for me-- school... is really my JOB now.... SWEET... and YIKES).

i'm gunning for a nice bike store employee-discounted 29er rigid singlespeed and some very nice super-employee-discounted Pearl Izumi arctic cold weather gear to help keep me motivated when it's still dark at 8am and already dark at 5pm this December (ie: the only time i'll actually have to ride).

never fear-- i still plan on dabbling in some picture-taking and will blather to some extent about how awesome my classes are and how i really love living 5 miles off of campus and riding my bike to class every day.

oh, right, next summer. well, plan #1 is culinary arts classes at washtenaw community college. just to get some actual kitchen experience under my belt (for that someday when i open a sweet bike shop -slash- gourmet cafe specializing in food from locally-grown organic and fairly-traded sources in middle-of-nowhere Maine -or- Northern California). i also plan to do some endurance races in june and july (i realize quite some time ago that i can ride at a reasonable pace for a really long time given the amount that i don't train, and still have juice at the end... but i can't sprint to save my life.) and then take off for guatemala again in august. back in time for school in september! yay.

that said... i am heading up north to a race tomorrow after work, and will post a full report-plus-pictures on sunday. *yay*

PS. oh right... my thesis... i'm working on it. really, i am.