home race

Thanks to Justin Morrison, triathlon club president and mtn bike stud I got to race the VT Home Race this weekend.

Saturday morning I woke up and rode down to the base of Old Farm for the uphill TT. Old Farm is about a mile and a half, and it has a few really steep and technical sections. I hungout in the B field waiting to go off and happy/nervous to be racing.

My effort was ok, and I came in at 8th place in the B's. I know I can climb better I just need to start working out. Ride down the mountain was fun, I pushed a few sections and took some risks. I like it.

That evening was the short track race around the cyclocross course. The B field got on the course as the sun was setting and it made for a really cool race. all the photos are from the short track thanks to Nick Shoemaker, here's his gallery.

I took a really good lesson from the race's that I'll need for some upcoming xc races. Attack the start. I need to be ready to go as hard as I can from the very beginning and try and hold that effort. I wasn't aggressive at the start of the short track race and couldn't make up the time I lost soft pedaling on the first lap.

My next race is an 8k in a couple of weeks. So hyped, get to race with the xc team.

back in the game

back at school. new apartment. the semester is going ok so far, all the classes are good, i can ride to campus in a few minutes, and the the golf course and xc course are within about a mile run.

a few things are new:

Kyle and I are starting a band, for real this time, first practice tomorrow

I've been climbing a good amount, but nothing like this summer, I went to the rock gym in Christiansburg a couple times this week, and did pretty much all the problems I'm capable of, sadly it's nothing like Peak in Richmond and it gets boring. we compensated by making up games, like "Sasquatch" pick a bottom starting hold and a hold near the top of the cave, you have on foot to start and four holds to get to the top hold

it makes people climb like Sasquatch, all big moves, hand foot matching or no matching at all, i probably won't climb at the gym much more though, it just makes me miss Peak

i have a race schedule for the fall, all xc races with an 8k road race at the end of the xc season

Sept. 18 VT Alumni Invite 8k
October 11 Homecoming 5k
October 24 Southeast Regional Champs at JMU 8K
November 6 Hokie Open 6k ( YEAH BABY)
November 14 Suntrust 8k in RVA

all my training is geared toward 5k, and the volume is pretty low cuz of school so I'll see where I turn out in some of the longer races, probably do some cross training for endurance

mtb race this weekend EVERYONE is doing it, seriously

project

A few summers ago I put up a tag that I'd sketch all over my school notebooks on my wall. It's a peach color, because that's the only color I had available, and once I finished I wanted to out some color around it to highlight it but I let it just sit, as I was never sure what to use.

Last week I had the idea to add to it using a design I painted on a table in my apartment in Shenandoah last year. It's all these arrows spilling from the left side of the table and splitting

into these smaller things. On the table the arrows were black, and I wanted to put some lime green around them, to accent it. I've thought about putting something like this on the wall of my room in my apartment this year so I'm using my wall as a kinda rough copy. I'm going to put this design next to the tag I have. So far I've cleaned it, and sketched it in pencil on the wall, and the proportions look fine.

Here's a detail of some of the pencil lines on the right side of the wall. I wanted to get the whole thing, but when I step back the lines are to faint for the camera to pick the markings up.

Or I have a bunch of chalkboard paint maybe we'll just paint the entire kitchen black and tag it up like that?

James River Park

Philip and I explored some boulders at James River Park close to our house. We found a few fun lines. Nothing that hard.


































I've gone to Manchester Wall the last couple of evenings and done a lot of traversing all in hopes of sending the Morman's Boulders "Ring of Fire" travese in Charlottesville on my way back to school. I've read it's rated 5.11, so it should be doable. On my way home from school after the spring semester I stopped at these boulders, they're right on the Morman River, and the traverse is a filled with big athletic moves to jugs and pockets, the sort of climbing thats really fun to me.

I'll be there in less than a week. Here are some photos from James River Park, and of course that afternoon's lunch. Solid day.

Here We Go

I was at the river the other night and there was a lot of fog and mist.

Really cool I had my camera and shot these, pretty straightforward, good colors.

Rest Well

Reminds me of that Regina Spektar song "Blue?" It has a few really neat parts especially the second verse, like Amanda Rogers

Hey Cool

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/07/17/sports/cycling/20090718-tourfood-audioss/index.html

it's garmin's chef featured on nytimes audio slideshow

not cool, garmin chased down Hincapie this morning, what's the deal?

this is tight

my friend christian showed me this