Amish giants are cool

How many times have you had the opportunity to have your pic taken
with some good friends and an Amish giant? Couldnt pass up this
opportunity!

Can you be serious for 5 minutes???

It was freaking cold before our pain mountain TT. Everyone makes fun of me for bringing the sarape and wearing it. But I tell you, this thing is ultra warm. And fashionable. Add the TT helmet and I really cant imagine a better clubbing getup.

Getting ready with a hold from the official.

Looking Pro is 1/2 the battle. My time was aweful up the mountain.

Lucas pulled so hard out of the gate that his pedal broke! This kid is fast and is just getting faster.

Elliot, God bless him, cant leave the house because he "spent too much money on food"/stayed out too late with baby time! Good/bad for him. He looks pro on his TT bike, rocking my jacket because it was 41 degrees!

757 in PA

Mcgruff and the local po-lice had time for a pic with all the
tidewater races who made the trip north to Ephrata

I don't even know what to say about this

Really Late, Really Weird

Wick and I have been putting in some nasty time on the bike. I am trying to formalize reasons (goals) as to why I am doing that and shape my summer. But I have found that I just love it. I mean, we have spend at least 8 hours in the garage just tweaking setups and cleaning. I think my bike is finally clean enough to be represented this weekend. Tour of Ephrata in PA. Elliot (flavaflav), Lucas (watch your girlfriend son), and wick nasty and I will tackle 3 stages in 2 days.

Anyway, when CB and I rolled strong to Europe, we saw some really crazy stuff. Absinth is illegal in the US because it is a hallucinogenic. This bottle was really expensive (sold by an asian lady in Prague (asians own all convenience stores in the world)) and really sickening with the worlds largest beetle. Sick. Gross. Barf.

Then you have some really weird artistic statements. I think these east/west Europeans are really confused. In 2000, sculptures by Czech artist David Černý of crawling babies were temporarily attached to the prague tv tower's pillars. The sculptures were admired by many and were returned in 2001 as a permanent installation.

I will do my best to post from the road joker-style.

BigFoot/small dog

Check this guy out. How can you not just love puppies?

The olympic champ

If bike porn exists, its not much different than this. Paola Pezzo won the olympic gold and used to crush all comers on the world cup circuit. I give props to Evolution Cycles in DC who have these two posters displayed.

Two 8ths

Today was marked by a little frustration and then some satisfaction.
The casey crit was soured (some would say) by rain. I always feel
like racing in the rain makes you hard, so I was happy to line up and
giveit a go.

The 1st race was a 3 race and frustrating. Nothing would stick and
everytime I tried to go, no one really wanted to work. Lucas found
opportunity with a 4 lap to go suicide flyer. A strong Steve, ian,
and frank surged ahead and found the top 4 spots. I lead out dan
craft for a bowl full of pissed off and disappointment.

An hour later the 1,2,3 race didn't look anymore promising. 7
Richmond pro guys and no teamates meant that
I could do whatever I wanted. No rain but plenty of crashes plus
everyone knew Richmond would rally. $2 to the 1st person to cross
each lap meant there was about $90 in priems. I just took off and
soon found myself off the front with 3 Richmond guys and two guys
really worried they were outnumbered. I had just housed the Richmond
guys the night before. Craig dotson and the team are doing good
things outside of riding their bikes. Check them out.

Www.richmondprocycling.com

I have known craig for 11 years and he's been racing all this time.
He is doing what he can to let some boys race while creating a
positive social impact. Thanks craig, the world needs more vision
like yours. You are good people.

Anyway, we lapped the field and that made up for my horrible 3 race.
Long story short, Ryan was givng me a 3 lap leadout but cam holland
shot the inside line and I ended up 8th. I felt good the entire race
and a excited about heading up to ephrata next weekend.

Two races in rain and puddles meant that I ate some dirt.

WowWowWeeWow

Mom, I think I finally found someone who can put up with me!

Kid got a new jersey

Some of you know that I still rock an IF hard tail. I can't wait to
start riding it everyday to class. When I saw this new independent
fabrication jersey, I couldn't say no.

My friend ollie says do not pay the helo company.

Ollie, or anyone read German?

Ollie,
this is the best way I knew to get these documents to you. If anyone else can read German, I would love it if you could translate for me. These Austrians are trying to make me pay for services they did not render.

Again, I was in bounds, underneath a lift at a major ski resort. Was not hurt, did not need rescuing, but was forced into the rescue strop. My friend, whom I dug out of the snow, had a separated shoulder and I was just skiing (edging) down a couple feet below him so that I could stop him if he started to slide. The helo came and picked him up, then came back for me 4 mins later. I rode the helo for 1/3 mile and no more than 3 mins. It looks like they are charging me for 62 mins of flight time.

Of course the police were waiting for me the moment that I landed. They asked me a million questions. Anyone have any advice?

(click on images to make them bigger)

Say what you need to say

This past weekend was weird. I was pretty happy when I posted last. I was sitting in LAX waiting for my delay flight which I was assured would be timely enough to make my connector in the storm ridden Chicago. I was skeptical yet optimistic. I took the red eye back from Oakland because it was only $210 and I had a $150 voucher. Nice. Anyway, the flight out of LAX landed in Chicago at 602 am, 2 mins past my Norfolk flight departure time. Ok, no big deal, I'll just catch the next flight. All I need to do is go to customer service and rebook, maybe even catch another airline flight. No can do. 500 people stranded in line and most people were told that it would be Tuesday before they could fly out (it was sun morning mind you!). United was even refunding all tickets and just cutting people loose. So I would only have gotten $210. That's not nearly enough to buy a day of ticket even on Southwest. I took my chances and was placed on the standby list for next 2 flights, and confirmed on the 7 pm flight (13 hours later).

I was pretty upset because I really wanted to race my road bike at Langley. NO chance there.

Good news is that I made the last seat on the flight to norfolk. Lucky for me, it was a 1st class. Thats little reprise considering I was beyond tired. So I got home and charged up my dead phone. I had a voicemail from dan. His insurance was not going to cover my $7700 helo bill. Not cool. I was pissed I missed my race and discouraged about the helo bill. So I just got on my bike and tore off.


3 hours of riding therapy helped me calm my mood. Got home, swept the driveway and checked my email. Pete Johnson, admissions director at Berkeley, was awesome enough to give me a 1/2 tuition merit scholarship. Wow. I almost fell out of my chair.


Those who know me well know that I got sick a couple days after I turned down my 1/2 tuition scholarship at UVA. Thats just a ton of cash to say no to. But I felt that the better school ranking, smaller class size, and West coast location would better suit me in the long run. I stressed about being able to pay the $120k bill. This helps more than I can describe. I had to submit my tax information and I am pretty sure that my meager public service yearly pay is a factor in the scholarship. I guess I never realized how little military officers get paid compared to normal working professionals (consider enlisted military next time you think about cutting mil spending). I really feel like a serious weight and concern has been lifted from my shoulders. God really has a plan and all it takes is a little faith. I know that I am blessed.


I am placing my deposit for Cal today. Funny thing is, as I write this, I got an invite to interview at Columbia. I think I'll interview just for the experience. But tell me who could pass up views like these (see below).




Time to go put in 4 hours on the bike.

Out West

This weekend was a whirlwind of Haas activities at Cal. I am still
struggling with the sum of money that I turned down at the very good
MBA school darden. But this weekend helped me realize that if there
is a place where I belong, its probably at Berkeley. I never thought
I would really say that, but it is true. There are just a bunch of
really cool people who lack the arrogance that I have detected from
other MBA programs.

This being a transitory journey, naturally I consider my life's
travels. And the travelling lately has been rough. An email from dan
(chappy) says that his insurance company is not going to pay my helo
bill. Couple the aweful travelling in Europe with my flight here
(delayed and lost luggage), I would be lying if I said I were not a
little concerned. I jump forward anyway.

Haas has a ton of connections on the west coast and boast a very
strong real estate program and prob the strongest embracing of
innovation and entrepreneurship in the world. So, just like my
decision to Annapolis, I know this one will turn out fine too.

Funny, my flight out of ca is delayed (I am tapping this blog posting
out from my phone in the airport).

So I am very excited about suffering in some hard core racing this
summer. Then, I'll need to concentrate on findng some roomates and
house near Berkeley where I can relax yet still ride a bike to school.

I need to find $120k somewhere too. So if any of you know someone
really rich, let me know.

I have always found great satisfaction in solving problems and I am
trying to equate this process to one big challenge with lots of
opportunity. It is. And I plan to have a lot of fun on the way.
Just like this pic below.

Euro Is a Funny Place

It came to my attention last night that I hadnt given my peeps an update in a while. So here are a few more crazy pics from Europe. I am still hashing out the details of my avalanche and helo bill. I intend to give that entire story to the blog this evening with detailed pics. $8550 is now the tab. That whole ordeal is stressing me out.

Anyway, the mooservirt is an apres-ski pub. The drinking day started with the "Final COuntdown" and then continued in german drinking songs.


A view just before the avalanche. In bounds.

What a beautiful place.

Tough guy in a white shirt behind me, creepy girl trying to get into the picture, and me, posting where I was raised.


One of the weirdest episodes was one of my many train rides. This girl brought this rodent onto the train and stunk up our train car.


She loved the rodent dearly and let it crawl all over her. Rodent hair and poop everywhere. Chris asked her what the animal's name was. The girl replied, in a very heavy eastern euro accent "Bob!"


The Loo is different over there. NO seats.



This pic made me want some romerquelle. Not sure what that it, but I wanted some. I bought a coke light instead. $3 euros ($4.5 USD) is not a good deal.

Even the locals dress a little funny.


Night one of our trip. Lots and lots of snow.

The view from our porch at the hotel. It was a 1k trip down to the lift and town. You could catch a bus from 8 am to 4pm. Otherwise it was a $19 USD taxi. $19!!!! Dollars. Thats crazy! I ran it at least 8 times. Altitude training I guess.



More to come later.

Should be working on Essays

I should be working on essays. I declined my invitation to UVA (Darden) and the half tuition scholarship that came along with it. I decided that I wanted to be on the west coast and Wharton still hadnt contacted me about moving from off the waitlist. So now I am doing everything in my power to apply for Berkeley scholarships. The cool thing is that scholarship I am now applying to is from the Power Bar founders. I think my riding closely parallels the same kinds of struggles these people enjoyed throughout their running lives and business careers. I just hope that I strike a cord with them--there are 3 full tuition scholarships up for grabs here!


Anyway, I wanted to give you a glimpse of my trip. This pic of the mountains at St. Anton, Austria was taken about an hour before the avalanche. As you can see, it snowed at least 10-12 inches of new fresh snow the day before and this day was absolutely epic. I want my mom to note this is the same ski jacket I received as a bday gift for my 18th bday in Alaska!


This pic is of the F&G building in Prague (Praha). Amazing design, somehow, these architects manage to meld into the rest of the baroque and Gothic buildings that dominate the city-scape. More on this later.


This is the view from just beneath the Prague Castle cathedral. I love gargoyles and this cathedral had hundreds. (again, more to come)


Finally, here is a pic that Chris took of me waiting for another late train. I have always claimed that a man who cant buck his own luggage isnt worth much.




Once I have a better handle on these next four essays, there will be many more posted pics and stories, including the full details of the avalanche and helo rescue.