My life.

The goal is always to be like the Daft Punk song, "Better Faster Stronger." I finished the 2009 racing season with a whimper by crashing three times in successive weeks. In fact I crashed in three different cycling disciplines (road, track, and cyclocross) which has got to be some kind of record. I currently find myself in the position to live a partially employed (see underemployed) lifestyle which grants me the freedom to treat this off-season with the respect and dedication it deserves.

In the past two months I have become a recluse living by a schedule written on expired days of a page-a-day calendar about the 1,000 places to see before you die; in the interests of full disclosure, I often forget there is anything on the other side of these pages, I treat my calendar like a post it pad I am only allowed to use once a day.


On these pages I scribble my weekly weight room work out schedule, my weekly on road training schedule and the names of absent teacher I will replace at some point during the week for a few hours. There may also be a business plan on a few of them, but don't you worry about that.

Along with the structured allotment of my time during the week, I have also redesigned my diet. I have been vegan for over 10 years, so this is nothing new, but one thing I realized this year is that I am addicted to dessert. Dessert is what all vegans crave, I don't know one who can pass it up. That's gone. I also have a problem with making sandwiches too often and relying on burritos for sustenance, they're so delicious! Bread (and tortillas) is gone too. The idea was to kick bread, not ALL wheat, for the month of November to help me keep my weight down while I started training. That has since changed to I will not eat bread again until I win a race, and that whole pizza that I do devour that day will be much better than any trophy.

What's it all for? I enjoy racing my bike, I don't ride my bike just to get around, I ride it because I like going fast. I like the power you have when you step out of the saddle. I like the competition. I race to win, just like I play hockey to win. If it was all for fun I would never join adult leagues with refs and organized playoffs, there would be no need. I had a really fun year this past year. I got to ride and race with one of my favorite people while living in Sacramento watching my "nephew" figure out how to use his body for the first time, but I never won a race on the road.

Enter Dane's return from Korea and an organized weight lifting program designed with my bottom heavy interests in mind.

What I mean to say, in my natural long winded way, is that I want to do this right. I have the time and the support (friends, not money) to make my bicycle go faster. I am in a good place now where I have a team who is willing to work with me, unlike last year where I spent most of my time alone. The support is always what's been missing, not the desire. Jordan and I spent 2 hours talking about how the community of cyclists in southern California has created a lot of friendships for us both, as well as symbiotic relationships with people who have more experience and are willing to share that with us. I feel so lucky.

Now I just need to make it all work for me like my confidence tells me I can.