Yoga and a Great Ride

So this morning Rebecca, my sister and myself went to a yoga class. Not just any yoga though, this was Bikram yoga. What's that you ask? Well Bikram yoga is yoga that is done in a room that is around 100 degrees and you sweat, you sweat a lot. I don't think I have ever sweated more in my entire life then I did for this hour and a half. My sister has been doing it for a few years and she assured us that it's safe and you feel amazing afterwards. This was my first yoga class ever so I'm glad it was a special one. It was full of a bunch of middle aged women and then one other dude... We got through it without passing out or anything. Robin was right, I felt great afterwards! The theory is that you sweat out all the toxins and then the heat allows you to stretch farther than you normal would. They were right, I had no clue I could move like that. I still was really stiff but I did things I probably couldn't do without the heat. We are gonna try and go again on friday, the one dude in there kept telling me that you have to keep coming back to get the full benefits... He told me all this while he was bareass, a little strange... Needless to say I did not break eye contact.

After that we came back and had a nice lunch, I was starving after yoga. Me my mom and Rebecca went to get a few things while my dad and Robin and the girls went to the pool. My nieces seem to only want to swim and play monopoly, they are a lot of fun! We are gonna dye Easter eggs tomorrow night I think but that's a post of its own. So I had to get new running shoes because mine seem to want to kill my feet. My left foot feels like someone took a hammer and broke my foot in half, it hurts to walk sit or do anything really... So I got some sweet New Balances, they are so freakin comfortable! Then we went to Target which is always awesome! I had to get back because me and a friend were gonna go for a ride at 3:30.

So we got home and I got a quick snack and Chris showed up. Chris has been doing triathlons so we had a pretty decent ride. The weather could not have been better, super sunny but fairly cool, a light breeze but no strong wind to speak of. I think we had a tail wind both ways, score! We got a good 3 hours in and kind of hammered most of the way. My legs are fully reefed!

Tomorrow should be relaxing, until the evening. We are gonna do a 5k, mine and Rebecca's first! So that will be a good blog for you guys to read. Well I'm beat and am going to bed. Later.



Fig has been doing this a lot.

Riding with Chris.

A park we stopped at to get water.


The progression of my tan, not great but it's a start.

Riding and such

Big Nate brought my bike down and I picked it up yesterday. So I got out for my first ride since being home, It was really nice and sunny but mega windy. Major Fredfest but that's what riding in South Florida. I almost got knocked over a few times cause of the wind but it was nice to have a big tail wind on the way home. I got out for 2 hours or so.

My tan has slowly been fading away since I was down here over Christmas... I shall be posting updates of my tanning progress throughout the rest of break. As we all know, major tan lines are a must for a fast cyclist...

These are pre-riding lines. I'll post the after ones when they are a little darker...


Rode with Big Nate a bit...


Joining the ranks of the Apple employees, I wish!


Saw this Guinnes mini-fridge at the beer store. Totally want it for my room, too bad it doesn't come loaded with Guinnes...


Well more photos and stories to come. Later!

Kennedy Space Center

So since we spent the night in Orlando we decided to go to Kennedy Space Center before heading home. It was cool, I haven't been there since I was little and this was Rebecca's first time. It was really warm and sunny, it was great! Looking at all the original rockets from the early days of the space programs are all lined up. It's great to see how far we've come, from the astronauts being squeezed in a small capsule no bigger than a bathtub to a living in space for weeks on the International Space Station. It was pretty cool, here are some pictures. Well we have a a fun filled day ahead of us, going to Costco!!! So pumped! Well more pics and stories to come!

So it begins...

So yesterday we left Banner Elk for our trip to Florida, spring break has started! We got on the plane and ordered a drink to start off this wonderful trip. Rebecca stayed classy and got wine, I got some Jack and coke, totally both tasty choices.

My parents met us at baggage claim and we went to our hotel. We decided to spend the night in orlando instead of driving all the way home and get home late. So we got to the hotel and went to find some food. I got a steak and it was amazing! My body was craving a steak for so long. We walked around a bit and then got back to the hotel and went to bed.

So stay tuned because the blog will be boomin'. Lots of family fun, sun and training! My sister and her kids will be joining us on monday and I can't wait. Totally looking forward to a great spring break. Oh by the way, I shall be wearing shorts and a t-shirt today, totally awesome!

This is our wonderful view of the engine, best seat in the house!


Rebecca keeping it classy!



The aftermath!


Ripley's Believe it or Not building near our hotel. If you can't tell it's sinking into the ground. Pretty cool.

WTF??

Warmth!

So Saturday had to have been the best day we've had since October probably. It was probably 62 maybe 64... I went for a sweet 3 hour ride, Shulls Mill, probably my fav ride. The weather was awesome and the views were great! I had great tunes on the iPod and the climbs seemed like nothing, it was probably the best ride I've had in a while. The parkway was great, except for one little section right at the end. It was closed off but I decided to go ahead cause I didn't want to go on the main road. A bunch of branches and trees were down all over, it was fun weaving in between the trees. I had to pull one or two cyclocross moves and carry my bike over a tree. When I was getting off the parkway I ran into Doug, Matty Light, Pastor Joe, Kathryn, and Steph. I guess they had come up from Jonas Ridge, another decent ride.

Today the weather was kind of crappy, it's been raining all day. I welcome the rain though, I want all the salt and gravel washed off the roads. I'm tired of inhaling salt when a car goes by. The weather is going to pick back up by the middle of the week though so I'm pumped. I will also be going home Friday for spring break, I can't wait to be able to ride in really warm weather and work on my tan. Not sure that I got one yesterday... Well these are some pics from Saturdays ride, enjoy!

I wore only shorts! Haven't been able to do that for a while!


My phone makes it really difficult to take a good picture of yourself. Plus if I moved it any further away it would rip my headphones out... So instead I look like a retard.


I love Shulls Mill, such a great road.


View from the parkway.


Obstacles!

Sorry for the delay...

Sorry I didn't have a post from our last race. The race was hosted by Georgia Tech, we had two road races. The drive down was really long, like 5 hours. It rained the whole time and we got stuck in traffic someplace near Asheville. This race blew last year because it was pouring rain the entire time and it was about 30 degrees... This year the weather was a little better, kind of sunny but still fairly cold, but at least no rain. However it did rain and hail on the backside of the course and only for like 10 mins... My phone died on Saturday so I didn't really get any pictures. The races were long and everyone was pretty banched afterwards. The team did really well. The girls dominated both days and our guys did great pretty well saturday but we won on sunday. I again did not do so hot... I'm not gonna let that get me down though, next race I vow to destroy the field. I have been stepping it up and training hard this week.

The weather has been getting way better in B.E. this week. It was like 62 today! I got to ride with knee warmers yesterday! It was really great, tomorrow is supposed to be even better! I plan to ride on the parkway tomorrow so I will try and take some sweet pics(fingers crossed). Well here are a few pics from GT weekend. I hope I can ride and get some sweet picks tomorrow. Till then, later...


The men domination on sunday.


Eric getting a recovery ride in at the hotel.


The beautiful red clay of Georgia... More like the ugliest damn thing ever (I hate GA)


Eric fueling up before the race.


The traffic we sat in for a good 20 min. They had to glue a reflector back on the road...

GA Southern and other stuff

So we the first race of road season was last weekend, hosted by Georgia Southern. It was a fun weekend, it's always great to travel with the team. Race wise this weekend was not great for me, however the team did great! The weekend started off with an early TTT. It was cold and windy but we are used to that... However it has been almost 2 weeks since I've gotten to ride on an actual road. Eric helped me build my road bike earlier the week before and it was the first time that I rode that bike outside this year.

So the TTT was ruff since I did not get a good warm up in and like I said earlier hadn't ridden on the road much let alone in a pace line. Jake and Lucas had to do most of the work, sorry guys. I figured that the TTT would open my legs up for the crit later on that night. The crit was flat and in a parking lot but it had 8 turns... Ya, I know right? The evening was very windy but I fellt good on the line even though I was in a horrible starting position. The line basically went straight for 50 feet or so then there was a sharp left, I was at the back into the turn and went to shift into my big ring, well the chain jumped the ring and went around my foot... by the time I got it on I was off the back and the field was a good ways ahead. This all happened in a matter of 6 secs. The wind was so strong that once you were alone you stayed alone... I spent 3-4 laps trying best I could to catch them but with no luck and was pulled. I felt like a retard and went and rode around some since I only got to race a grand total of 15 mins.

The women dominated as Rachel lapped the field like 10 times or something and they got like 1,2,3,4,5. The A men did really well. Zac beat Chris Butler who now races for BMC, he totally kicked butt. The RR was a little better fitness wise, but organizational wise the race was a mess. The C riders caught us then merged. We would get up to speed then stop, then get back up and stop. Then our pace car missed a turn, the whole field had to turn around. The women got totally lost and kind of rode around for a while. Carla and Rachel were on like a 50 minute breakaway.

Other than that the weather has been horrible, it has snowed everyday since Feb. and wont stop. We had a weekend of sunshine and 40-50 degree weather which was amazing! Most of the roads were clear and it was a big morale booster. I have watched about 100 movies since riding the trainer everyday for almost 2 months.
Well that's what has been happening lately. No race this weekend but we are supposed to have decent weather so I plan to ride outside both days as long as possible to enjoy the sun cause who know when it will be back. Here are some recent pics. Later!