I am ashamed

The last time I posted was on Tuesday, forgive me...please. This week is a rest and recovery week, so I'm enjoying it, because at the end of the last week I wasn't feeling so strong. Tomorrow, I will likely do a graded exercise test. I'm going to see how high I can go (wattage). I haven't done one since last year and I don't know what to expect. I'm going to ride now once the bike laundry is done. On my last ride I had to use use regular shorts.

Some pictures

Here are some pictures of my team.

Alexey and I

Jacob

Abby

Joe Wendorf(not to be confused with Joe Toma of the Maple Leaf Cycling Club)

Rem
Caleb

Pieter

Also on the team but not pictured: Jonathan Geva, Sam Sonnegga and Adam Hernandez(I couldn't find pictures of them, if you have any please give me a copy, please).

Girl-Infested Grammar Class

This is our best song, by far. I hope that doesn't scare you.

The All-Star game

It's was very cool to see Pavel Datsyuk, Nick Lidstrom and Chris Osgood ALL ON THE WESTERN CONFERENCE STARTING LINEUP!!!

Another Nice Ride

Man, these rides are always nice! In the morning, a duo of Maria's friends came over, to record a song. That meant that I had to operate the mixer. The song (which was not original) had piano and vocals, and was definitely a girly song. At 2:10-ish, Alexey came over, and we rode. For twenty minutes we warmed up, and then did two 18 minute intervals. To be frank, my legs felt like junk. I wasn't riding on the compu-trainer, but had I been, my wattage probably would have been over fifteen watts lower than what I was aiming for. But nevertheless, the ride went well. Alexey and I were both in very festive moods.

Trivia

Who is the small junior bike racer in the yellow jersey? The first person to answer correctly will receive a virtual (non-existent)pizza.

Feelin' Strong!

I rode tempo last night, and I felt awesome! I couldn't help but think about when I'd be using tempo in a race. It would be sweet to do some tempo work for my team! If we recruit some more strong juniors my age, team tactics will be really fun! Being a domestique would be fun! Being the team leader would be fun too!

Molly!

No, I do not have a dog. This is our neighbors' dog, Molly. She's a very easy-going black lab, and pretty old. Today she decided to check out our deck.

Two months until the Michigan racing season starts!!!

Someone finally e-mailed me!!!

I don't usually get e-mail, but today I got two e-mails!!!

Workouts for the week

A total volume of 10.5 hours.

Looking for junior bike racers

If you are a kid, age 10-18, or are a cyclist with a child (or children), you should try out out bike racing (or introduce your child to bike racing). In other words, I'm dying for more junior bike racers, whether they're on AAVC or Team Venom. AAVC would be better though.

A nice ride

Yesterday, I rode inside for a while, and then outside. We then drove to my grandparents' (on my dad's side)house and ATE PIZZA! We drove home and by 11:30 (P.M.) I was in bed. 7 hours later, I was awake, waiting for Alexey to come. Craig Rice came too, and we all had a nice ride, filled with intervals.
Rem and Vincent (AKA Maas) made a cameo appearance as they and Mrs. Vermeulen came to pick up Alexey. I hadn't seen Maas in a long long time.
I can't think of anything else to add, so bye.

A late new years resolution

Use "may" when you should use it, instead of using "can". Okay, I've got to go now.

The Mixer

It's pretty easy to use. I had been recording some experimental songs (only like a minute long), and was ready to record... We were only able to record one song. It was okay.

Remember to keep close tabs on my other blog, yummyyummypizza. It's a goofy blog. AKA, non-cycling. AKA, extroverted exploits. There's my disclaimer.

Rewards for my suffering!!!

Today I went to the Ann Arbor District Library with my girl-infested grammar class. I was dreading it, but it turned out okay because the other Homeschool Connection grammar class was there too. That class has a few boys, and its teacher's son is my friend, so I survived the Ann Arbor Library. I also got my grade. It was good. It gave me enough motivation to keep doing the class (not that I could drop it). My guess is, that this girl-infested grammar class will make me tougher and a better communicator...with the opposite gender. It will also make me a better writer!

For Doug's Sake...

I wore a pants and a coat as I played football today. I will not get lung infection or viral pneumonia!

Riding day

In the morning a foursome of riders from SLC showed up at our door: Eric, Craig, Zack and DMO. They rode for a while. In the afternoon, we picked Alexey up from the Ice Cube (Ice rink, arena). We rode when we returned home. I rode intervals, and when I was done Alexey got on the trainer and did a 30 minute critical power test. And then we rode through my neighborhood for thirty more minutes, adding our total ride time up to about an hour and fifty minutes. Alexey told me that he was going to ride another 30 minutes when he got home, in order to not have to ride as much on Sunday. As you can see, those are two empty cracker packages; Alexey and I were hungry when we finished riding.Another package stood in our way...And we vanquished it!

Who's whose?

Training Zones

Good Day

I hopped out of bed this morning, looked out my window, and saw with pleasure that there was no snow on the ground. An hour later, I was at Home School Central (not Homeschool connection), in my Physical Science Class. Another hour later I was at my Mime and Improv. class. I'm glad that the original HSC has begun it's new semester. We got a mixer on ebay, for only $66 with $15 for shipping. I played football with my neighbors and felt so fast in my shorts. That's right, in my shorts. I'll soon be hopping on the trainer to do a tempo ride. Stay tuned.

Big Suffering

I did a thirty minute critical power test. If you don't know what that means, it means that I time trial for thirty minutes, as hard as I possibly can. Simple yet agonizing. When I started the effort, I wasn't feeling very motivated, and my dad saw that. He started trying to motivate me. His plan worked, and I kicked the pace up. Without about ten minutes left, Dad started throwing it down; he thought of everything he could possibly think of, pretending I was in a Willow TT-like scenario with everyone screaming at me to ride as hard as I could. Dad said I was catching my minute man, and I picked the pace up harder. Dad said that everyone that I knew from Mr. Lovejoy to the whole SLC Team was screaming at me, to not give up. One minute left. I absolutely let loose, pushing my wattage up to 260. Twenty seconds left. With Dad screaming at me, I sprinted hard, letting loose a brutal scream. The scream was just to distract me from the pain and agony. I had never gone that hard before. I really felt like screaming. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! And then it was over.

Go Bucs!

Well sort of. If Ohio State wins the National Championship, Michigan will look better. We always root for the Big Ten, unless it is playing the MAC, then we'll root for the MAC.

A long expected ride

Alexey came over yesterday and we rode the trainers for an hour. We talked about what we're going to do for the 2008 season. Neither of us will be able to race as frequently as we did last year. Yeah, I'm bumming, but it's not my parent's fault. I'll still be out there racing though.

Trivia

Whoever can get this decipher this quote (determine it's meaning) will receive a virtual (non-existent) lifelong gift certificate to Little Ceaser's pizza: The quote is from the Fellowship of the Ring, where J.R.R. Tokien's character, Bilbo Baggins says in his farewell speech: "I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve."
Comment away.

Girl-infested Grammar and Composition Boot Camp assignment

Although homeschool connection doesn't resume until february-ish, we GCBC students are already hard at work. I am working on my research paper; something that I personally have an opinion on and not something as cliche as something as global warming, war and whatnot. So naturally I picked cycling. I wrote a rough draft for my opinion paper, not even close to the final draft of my research paper. I don't have a title yet, give me some ideas.

Cyclists are under fire; physically and mentally. We are treated like pests and endure the inconvenience that pests endure; being mocked and threatened. Motorists appear to enjoy this the most and many biking accidents involve cars. What did bikers ever do to car drivers? It isn’t right. Cyclists and car drivers both have a goal; to go from one place to another. Some car drivers figure that only cars are allowed on public roads and bikes don’t belong. Bikes do belong as the law states. However, cyclists need to ride inside the two-foot wide shoulder of the road. That fact showcases the injustice of the discrimination of cyclists.

I admit, there are many kind drivers and many rude cyclists, and I admit that these rude cyclists poorly represent cycling. The average person looks at a road cyclist and says, “Ew!” at the cyclist’s riding clothing. Many people like to mock the spandex shorts, calling them leotards, tights and whatnot. If the United States of America is to discriminate cyclists, why does it look with compassion upon the many disgusting, unworthy cults in this country? Where are the equal rights that America preaches about? They are denying cyclists the right of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Yes, it's extremely dramatic, but unenthusiastic writing gets you a B.

Hail to the Victor

Lloyd did it! He won a bowl game. I basically saw only the second half of the game and Michigan looked good. Apparently Mike Hart had a few bad fumbles that cost us two scores, so we really could have pounded Florida even more. I'm content with the "V" though.