COMING SOON TO A TRAIL NEAR YOU!

Photo borrowed from Bikes Unlimited's facebook page.

Enough already...

Seriously, I don't mind snow.  I guess the Dec 19th snowstorm set me up.  It made me feel like winter started early, so now it should at least be warmer and springlike, right?.  WRONG.  It's Jan 30th and there's 6 inches of snow in my yard and it's still pouring.  SIGH.  Guess I'll go back to the basement today.  I did enjoy a nice ride on the greenway this week.  I'll post some pictures of the new signs along the Lick Run Greenway - looks like they are bringing education to the greenways, hopefully the signs don't get destroyed by the shitheads that use the greenway.  You should be able to click on the pictures and read them.  I learned a few new facts along the way!!!

Races...

Well, I am going to put this out here and see what happens.  There are a lot of races around, but most will require a bit of travel to get to them.  For some reason, there is no sustainable series based out of Roanoke.  Even the local races we did have are finding affiliation with different series.  There is the Southern Classic Mountainbike Series and the Virginia Off-road Series.  Both seem like they are fairly well organized.  I've scoured the net looking for potential races.  Of course, everything is tentative for me based on school work.  I can make time for races, after all everyone deserves a day of play. It's the training that I worry about.  Thusfar, the weather here has sucked.  I keep reminding myself that it is only January, but it will be April 3rd before I know it and I will suffer humiliation in the 6-Hour of Warrior Creek.  Why?  Because I signed up for it SOLO.  I'm still shaking my head.  It was hard enough last year with an 11-mile lap, but from what I hear, they are lengthening the distance of a lap?!?!  I have a long ways to go to be ready for this.  Hopefully I will be able to take my new 29er to play.  With the muddy trails and lack of a lot of daylight during the week after I get off from work, I've rarely ridden my mountain bike.  I did get in an hour long road ride the other day.  I've been trying to get in some cardio at the gym, and I continue to work on strength training.  The road bike is now set up in the trainer in the basement, so I guess I need to use it.  I will brag and say that I've found myself enjoying running again.  Last weekend I ran a 5k just to see if I could do it.  I followed that up on Monday with a 4.5 mile run on the greenway.  I'm hoping to run or ride afterwork this week.  Need to check the weather forecast and plan accordingly I suppose.  So I've rambled enough now.  Here's what I've found in terms of potential races for me:

2/21, 2/27, 3/7  -  Bedford Mountaincross Series
3/21 - Hobby Park, Winston-Salem, NC (Southern Classic MTB Series)
4/3 - 6 Hours of Warrior Creek, Wilkesboro, NC
5/2 - Middle Mountain Momma, Douthat SP, Covington, VA
5/29&30 - Burn 24, Wilkesboro, NC
6/13 - Shootout on Angler's Ridge, Danville, VA (VORS)
6/19 - Fat Tire Frenzy, Bedford, VA (VORS)
7/19 - The Sizzler, Greensboro, NC (Southern Classic MTB Series) *may be Commonwealth Games weekend though*
8/1 - Chimney Chase, Charlottesville, VA (VORS)
8/15 - Dark Mountain, Wilkesboro, NC (Southern Classic MTB Series)
9/25 - Southside Scramble, Danville, VA (VORS)

Now I'm not 100% committed to any of these races with the exception of the MTX Series and Warrior Creek right now.  These rest will just depend on work, school, etc.  I'd like to be able to do an additional endurance race other than Burn 24 with my team, but that all remains to be seen as well.

I also have one more thing I want to do this year and that is this Explore Your Limits 5k.  =)  It happens to be the Saturday before the last MTX race, so we'll see.  I think I might just be crazy. 

Ok, well I have to get back to reality now.  Thanks for checking in.  Meanwhile, it's raining and I'm sleepy.

Alphabet soup

My mom actually gave me the idea for this post.  We all have initials that we are given when we are born.  Mine are JJD.  Well, as you proceed through the world of education, you can acquire more to use as professional suffixes to your name.  For example, doctors earn MD or DO; veterinarians, DVM; dentists, DDS; really smart people, PHD.  I, too, have my own set of suffixes.  I started off with RT(R)(ARRT) or I could have used AAS, RT(R)(ARRT) - I chose the RT(R).  I studied hard, passed a test and became RT(R)(CT).  Then I headed off to Roanoke College and earned the privilege of using B.S.RT(R)(CT), but just stick with RT(R)(CT) for simplicities sake.  Having been granted admission to Ohio University, in two years hopefully I can then begin using B.S.RT(R)(CT),M.H.A.  That's lot of letters...

Oh, and the point to the post in case it slipped by you, I got accepted to the MHA program at Ohio University so being online now will soon include classwork!!!!  Will start one of two primer courses next week, followed by real classes March 29.

It's almost here...

Not all of my parts are here, but it at least looks like a nearly completed bike...By the way, this is Brandon.  He's the one responsible for building Ritchey and now Punkin'.  Brandon is probably one of the coolest people I've ever met.  I consider him to be a great friend and great bike builder/mechanic. The fact that he has put up with me and my high maintenance, bike breaking self for around 5 years now should speak volumes of his character!  I can't say enough about how much I love Brandon, Bob and the others at Bikes Unlimited in Lynchburg.  They've been the best group of people to work with!  Why else would I drive an hour to support them!?! 

2010...Thoughts, resolutions, plans and goals...

I decided to keep the title to this post and redo the body.  Anytime you start a new year, the thoughts of the previous year come to mind.  The race season wasn't what I expected that it would be, but in the end I think it was ok.  For some reason timing didn't seem to be on my side to get to the races, or train for that matter.  Of course, the 54 inches of precipitation we got this year didn't help matters.   So moving forward to 2010, I hesitate to say that I'm going to do this or do that.  I am waiting to see if I am granted admission to Ohio University's Master of Health Administration program.  This online degree course will allow me to move forward in my career, so hopefully I've convinced the admissions committee to give me a chance.  This is the sticking point to setting too many big goals yet.

Instead of going on and on about things, I'm just going to give you a list.  These are the things that I think I can accomplish regardless of school.

• Metric Century and then a 75-mile road ride
• Get on the road bike earlier in the year and more often
• Longer mountain bike rides
• Ride mountain bike in new places (Pandapas, Douthat)
• Explore more of the parkway on the road bike
• Run another 5k or two
• Continue working hard at the gym
• Go hiking more

That's all I have for now.  I hope everyone had a great holiday season and has a great New Year!