PHEW! Where do I start? A lot has happened in the past few months! Here are some highlights: the snow started to melt, spring road riding began, and I GRADUATED FROM COLLEGE!
Lets start with the riding... it feels great! At the beginning of April, Phil and I decided to pack up for a weekend and go to Levis Mound, WI for a weekend of riding with Abby and Alex! I got to ride my Trek Remedy 29 9.8 for the first time and it did not disappoint! It is so quick and feels so light and stable! We had decided to camp right at the trails, and that was the coldest camping I had ever done! I decided to wear my hat, down coat, and Answer Strike gloves to bed that night! in the morning we woke up, made some fantastic pancakes and got out the bikes! After riding for a few hours we packed up and headed to Phils Grandmother's house for Easter.
When we got back to Marquette I got back to road riding. Brian had me putting in some base miles and some testing of my powertap hub. Usually I would say I do not really like road riding, but the winter seemed so long that any riding was good riding. Some days were even warm enough for short sleeves!
It was a busy semester balancing about 40 hrs in the classroom student teaching, coaching for Marquette Mountain Race Team, and training but I did it! And will soon be certified to teach K-8 with a specialty in integrated science. I still cannot believe that I am done... Let the bike riding begin!
Then came new bike day! I was having a hard time waiting to build my new Trek Superfly FS 9.9 XTR, so I decided to build it in the driveway. It was difficult to build the bike and not ride it because the trails were still covered in snow. FINALLY the snow started to melt and I was able to squeeze in a couple rides before the first WORS race!
Although the snow started melting, it was still pretty chilly in the U.P. So traveling down to WORS where it was 80+ degrees was a serious wake up call. I knew that I had been training well, and that I should be ready to race I was not quite ready for the heat. But HEY! What are you going to do? Can't control the weather right? So I made sure to stay in the shade, drink plenty of water and eat plenty leading up to the race.
The race started off fast, I might have been a little excited and gone a little hard right off the start but seemed to pay off. I battled the heat the whole race but managed to cross the line in first, and still feel pretty good. I was excited to take the win but knew that I had made some mistakes, and had some improvements to make for the next race.