A Beginning and An End

I'm sure that my long absence has lost me any faithful followers I may have once had, but for those of you still interested enough to reading this, hello again!

It would be a waste of time to recap the past four months, so I'll just give you a few highlights:

• I finished the fall semester of my sophomore year at Tufts.
• I joined Independent Fabrications Racing Team, which warrants an entire, forthcoming post of its own.
  
• I skied in Mammoth, California.
• I hiked in New Hampshire with my new teammates
• I rode my bike...a lot.

And there you have it: the cliff-notes of my life from September through now. As of now, I'm all packed and ready to head back to school tomorrow morning, where I will reluctantly be heading back to class and, gasp, reading. At least I made the most of my time at home.

Since coming back from my ski trip Christmas week and then playing in the snow in New Hampshire with my new teammates, I have spent pretty much every minute of every day either riding my bike or eating so that I could ride my bike again the next day. As you may recall from an earlier post, pancake consumption is absolutely tantamount to my happiness and motivation; and let me tell you, my mood has never been better (I'm sure Aunt Jemima must be happy too). I don't do the whole "here are my numbers, now bow and worship me" thing, but I will say that over the course of 15 days, ending yesterday, I logged 51 hours in the saddle. That's a lot of pancakes.


Nearly all of those miles were logged in some very good company, namely other local riders and Finkrafters in the area. The group was different every day, but Roger was always in it, which for me is just incredible. I can't stress enough how valuable it is to get to ride with my coach/mentor literally every single day.

Though there were lots of great days over those two weeks, the real high point was last Friday, when Roger, Kyle, Andreas, John Raheb, Prinsloo, Arland, and I set out for the first great epic of the year. We covered 112 miles and climbed over 6000 feet, and somehow still had it in us to haul ass for the last 45 minutes to get Prinsloo home in time to go pick his son up from school. I'd be lying if I said that didn't hurt, but we made it and it was one of the best days I have ever spent on a bike, and 6 hours has never gone so fast. Great company makes days like that truly enjoyable, and all those guys were great.

So now that I have closed that chapter with a nice coffee shop ride today with Rog and Kyle, it's time for me to rest up a little bit, settle back into life at school, and then prepare for the start of the racing season. Collegiate racing kicks off the first week of March at Rutgers, once again on my birthday, which I really enjoy. Though, as I said, I'm a little reluctant to go back to school, where I'll have a few more things on my plate than just bikes and pancakes, I know that I can push through the semester and, before I know it, I'll be back here in Jersey and back to the simple life I love. In the meantime, I'll have this to keep me motivated:

Isn't she pretty?

I promise to try to keep the updates a bit more regular from now on. I'm already beyond excited about this year, and I know it's going to be a lot of fun. Landing it IF was really a dream for me, and all my new teammates are really awesome guys. I could not ask to be in a better place, and, like I said, I promise to fill you in a little better later on. In the meantime, thanks for reading and, to many of you, thanks for riding with me.