Thanksgiving away from Home

Current Song: Where are you going, Dave Matthews band
What I did Today: Classes, Work even played some ping pong
Energy: Pretty tired from the most amazing break ever!

For the past few weeks, I have done a lot of firsts, including first cyclocross race, first thanksgiving away from family, first time eating hush-puppies and oysters, first time taking my car to the ocean, and many others among everything else, it was an amazing break from everything.

For the cyclocross race, it was interesting. The first day, I had no warm-up. I walk up to register, no problem which I expected since I was racing out of category, but then no debit cards, so a quick run into town to get cash then paid up, no pins, by the time I have pins, no warm-up. So I raced, and admit it mentally and physically I had a horrible race and turned it into a good time, learning the ropes of cyclocross. So next day get all set to go, warm-up and everything and then BUSTED! I guess a pro mountain biker has to race beginner cyclocross even though registration allows it. Oh well. I admit I was pissed but it sizzled off by the end of the race. So that was my first cyclocross race, sorry for the scant report, but it was a little disappointing.

The fun part! Our school began break the day before thanksgiving and got back today, so yes it was a legitimate 5 days outside of school which was so amazing! A few weeks back I made the decision to travel with several friends down to stay with my amazing friend Addison Dent in Charleston SC. One of the first port cities, this place was so beautiful. Not to mention it was the first thanksgiving I spent comfortably relaxing in the 80 degree weather. Quite a culture shock. Not to mention this is only the second thanksgiving I spent away from home, once before was in San Francisco and I was so sick it wasn't fun at all, and the first time away from family. I admit, it was hard, real hard but the Dent's made us feel so close to family that everything was fine. We defined relaxation on the trip, never doing anything until about 3 in the afternoon. What a vacation. To the entire Dent Family, thanks for everything.

Thanksgiving included an amazing dinner, eating oysters, at the end of the night, we were given two free trays, staying at the famed "Broughton House"which is a 5-6 bedroom/bath house that includes a living room big enough for a concert and riverfront property with an amazing dock. Not to mention the amazing friends, and new friends. It seemed like this was a transition family, see according to Kody, there are three types of thanksgivings. First is normal, spent with your family and third is spent with the family of your own where you are the parent. Well this was our friend phase, where we are stuck in between the boundary of the family we grew up with and the family we will create. Such a cool idea and it made me realize what a cool place we are in life. On top of that I just spent 5 days down in Charleston, SC for free, it seems so spontaneous that makes me feel so great. It was a blast and one more thing, Atlantic Ocean water is so much warmer!

Oh don't worry I got plenty of pictures!

Dock at Broughton

Sunset on the River

Awesome graffiti in Charleston, the guy gets paid to do this

The Thanksgiving group!

With the amazing cook!

The wall at the cyclocross race

Barrier Jump

Well hopefully didn't make anyone jealous of my thanksgiving! Until next time, If you don't go, you don't see!

Package from Grandma!

Current Song: Wonder Wall, Oasis
What I did Today: Classes, work-study
Energy: Content

Well here at college, the mailroom either makes or breaks a day. It is so exciting to get a package or even an envelope that when one checks the box and its got something in it it really does make my day at least. It can also be really depressing to look in and see nothing, well luckily today I had a slip! It was a surprise package from my grandma with so much candy and goodies, pretty pumped to be stoked about it! There have been a lot of little updates since the last blog so let me fill you in.

First was the long board, yes a long board. After sleeping through a gear swap I asked if there was a skateboard and there was, I was bummed but luckily one of my friends knew the guy, long story short, I picked up a long board for twenty bucks and got my money's worth that night! It was so fun even though I almost died, well the next day I blew up the bearings in it... :( I was super bummed about it since it would take like a week to even get it shipped here so I accepted how long it would take and went to work-study, where I looked up some longboarding videos and techniques to stop (still don't really know how to) and decided I needed it so I found a local skate shop thirty minutes away and made the trip! Its amazing the difference these new bearings made, the wheels won't stop rolling! It goes so fast now! I had to bail off for the first time and I am sure I will be writing about some great, hopefully harmless falls! Its a blast and is the closest thing to skiing yet here and its a great way to get to class!

It has been 4 weeks since nationals, 4 weeks off the bike basically, right as my two week break ended I got sick and rather than push it, I took it easy. Finally I got better just in time for the rain to start so hopefully that ends soon, the bottom line is that I definitely want to start riding! Which is great. Its so easy to get burned out and I almost was but now I am ready to ride, with only a few weeks before christmas break I know that when I get back in January I will definitely want to start! Meanwhile I changed up a little bit in my diet. I decided that instead of eating biscuits and gravy everyday for breakfast I would switch to something a little more healthy like nutella and bananas or cereal, so that has been great because I feel like I have more energy for the day!

 After a late night, I finished up one major project for a class and another project for another class that left me pretty much on the home stretch in both classes, should be pretty easy coasting from here to the end of the semester which I am hoping starts to come faster, I am starting to miss home, snow, animals and real eggs, salsa and any other food that is not made here. Thanksgiving break is a week away now, I am going to head to a friend's house in Charleston where a bunch of people will be so that should be a blast! After thanksgiving break I believe we have two weeks before I get to go home for awhile which should be great! Until then everything is just fine, especially with a longboard! I have some pictures I never got up of a beautiful fall here so enjoy!

One more thing, THANKS DEE DEE AND GRANDAD!!!

here is an awesome video too, it definitely inspired me to want to skateboard more! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkviQ41u0eQ

At the bottom of the ladder again!

Current Song: Stir it Up, Bob Marley and the Wailers
What I did Today: Had an excellent ride on black mountain
Energy: Tired with a chance of excitment here and there

When I found out what categories are in mountain biking and how you move from one to another it was explained to me like this, When you get to the top of one ladder you go to the bottom of the next one. Well I may have not been to the top yet, but I switched ladders. In my mind it is much easier to get a pro upgrade as a Cat 1. junior, because it is so much more competitive than a Cat. 1 19-29. So I went for it, knowing that if I wasn't meant to race pro next year it would get denied, well I guess I was meant to! I found out this morning looking for some records for my dad, sure enough the upgrade was approved, I am no longer a Jr. Ex but a Pro. Pretty psyched to be pumped to be stoked. Like I said it may be a little early, but I would rather spend more time getting my butt kicked than at the front of a pack, I know that it will teach me something new every race and that it will make me faster. That really meets my goal for the year, which was to get the results to get my pro upgrade, kinda cool to look back on something I didn't think was possible and realizing I did it. For now, my goal is not to get any major results but merely to get the feel of the faster field and get better because of it, off in the distance is definitely a good spot in U23's. I know this will be interesting this summer because it will be the first time I focus only on biking rather than splitting the focus with skiing. I can't jump the training up too much though. Next season will be a balancing act of many different things but should be a fantastic challenge! Well that was my update for now figured I would get it out there! Lots of training to do!