The Ins, the Outs, the What Have You's
Getting back to where I left off
It has been a while since I started a proper essay so I figured I would state the obvious with the title. And the second sentence.
It has been a pleasant morning. I woke up to an alarm that did not correlate the time and light intensity, so I knew it could only be one thing: dark, stormy clouds. A peak out the window and a heavy draft confirmed cold and light rain. Run? The reason the alarm had gone off was because I knew that I had Daimeon waiting downstairs.
The second I actually arrived downstairs I knew the run was still on. That's a boy - the perfect companionship to go for a trudge in the weather!
The run happened and banana pancakes and coffee followed. Now I sit on the couch and listen to Johnny Cash American IV album. It suits the mood of the day and I figure its the perfect day to write a story on behalf of the USWCDP, as I feel for a strong moment pretty gosh darn lucky, happy, excited, and content.
The 2009 road season has come and gone and left me with much to be desired, yet also much more to be confident about as well. My year with Webcor Builders was awesome - great teammates, fantastic staff, and top of the line stage race support.
A couple key moments of fantastic riding stick strongly in my head such as Alexis Rhodes' spectacular ride at Nature Valley and Amy Dombroski rocking the KOM jersey at Cascade along side her total U23 domination on the road, mountain, and cross bikes.
We had a great year and by the end the team seemed to be working at near perfection. What a beautiful thing to be a part of. I was pretty stoked to score the Best Young Rider's jersey for the Women's Prestige Series this year and move my way from U23 TT champ last year to 6th in the Elite Race. I'm getting back to where I left off!
Throughout this season I have been trying to feel out where I wanted to settle down for a while, for as much as I love my dear hometown of Chicago, at this stage in the game, elsewhere is simply where I need to be to keep my life moving forward.
After an excellent summer six-week visit to Boulder, Colorado, I decided there couldn't be a better spot to commit to for a while. My parents let me borrow the Chevy Malibu and I drove it out West to set up camp.
I have been taking shelter in my boyfriend's room and Amy's garage these last few weeks, but found a room to settle into next week just in time to start training for the 2010 road season whilst I dabble in cyclo-cross with another A team crew - Hudz-Subaru. There is no better way to spend the off-season fooling around in the dirt and trying to go up hills as hard as you can. Love it.
Johnny Cash is starting to go on repeat one too many times at this point and in reality the fact that I just sat primarily still for three hours is starting to wear on me. It's time to make a little more coffee and do something productive today to better the world around me. Possibly vacuum?
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Follow the program's young female cyclists as they embark on their journey to the top of the pro ranks
The US Women's Cycling Development program was founded by former pro rider, Michael Engleman, as a way to help promising young women cyclists reach their full potential as athletes.
The dedicated and well spoken women of this program provide thoughtful, compelling and sometimes hilarious anecdotes of their experiences in this diary. For further reading about the program, visit the USWCDP website.
