Monday, May 18, 2009

School, bikes, SLEEP

Several things have happened since my last post. A few races and most importantly, graduated from the University of Houston! I'm not sure how I feel about being done, other than relief. It all came to an end much faster than I expect. I did attend my graduation ceremony, even though it was boring and they mispronounced my FIRST name. I guess I'm a Frenchman named Breeon. It was nice to see all my family and old friends at my post ceremony party. I'll post more after on this matter once I get settled into real life.

In the midst of finals week and semester projects, I also attempted the mountain bike race out in Coldspring, TX. The start was typical and I was feeling excellent, but was caught up in the game and blew my legs to smithereens. So, that was that. Mountain biking hurts.

This past weekend there were two crits I attended, first was the Houston Metro Crit. This was my first road event in quite some time and just wanted to keep my bike up right, but things went better than expected. The course had 10 turns in a .9 mile loop. I definitely enjoyed the turns. Although it took me awhile to accustomed to racing at speed and cornering in a pack, I felt good. There were some attacks, but no one was able to get anything going so I just played it safe. On the last lap I knew I needed to position myself so I began to move up. With 4 turns to go the pace significantly increased and the guy in front of me sat up creating a nice gap. The 2nd to last straight away was approaching quick and I knew I needed to be in a top spot going into the final 90 degree turn so I went into the turn at full speed and came out 2nd about 5 or so bike lengths behind Tom from MSHC.net. He threw down a good sprint and rode in for the win with me in 2nd. Later in the day Mitch decided to kill everyone and lap the field in the P/1/2/3 race...ridiculous. He also woke up at 5am to help me get ready for my race. Thanks for that homey.

Sunday was the Houston Grand Crit, put on by Bike Barn. The event was awesome, as it is every year. My race was first at 8am. I was feeling confident from the day before and lined up with 105 other Lycra clad individuals and waited for the start. As soon as the whistle blew, the game was on and as expected, the crashes came with a vengeance. I managed to avoid all of them by staying near the front, but it was still squirrely being in there with that many guys. The race really wasn't that eventful so I prepared myself for the end. I positioned myself on the 4th wheel coming into the final 1000 meters, but before I knew it, I was boxed in. I was really hoping to help give my teammate, Jason Danvir, a good leadout or sprint in myself, but it was not to be. I kept the pace steady and cruised in about 30th place. All in all a good weekend and no crashes.

For now, I am busying myself with small projects that I have been putting off due to school. I've been trying to rest, relax, and ride as much as possible. Mitch and I will also be heading up to the DFW area for the Memorial weekend crits on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. It will definitely be a good time. That's all for now, brush your teeth.