Ride Bikes! Ride Bikes!

So this last week or so has been quite busy and I haven't had the time to sit down and write something up so here goes. A week or so ago I ordered 250 business cards from VistaPrint.comThats the business card there. I plan on giving them out to people I meet on the road if they want to learn more about affordable housing and Bike and Build. So that is really cool.

Also this weekend I had my first USCF sanctioned race. Beforehand I got a full USCF license (instead of just a collegiate one), and using my 6 mass starts at collegiate races and half a dozen more at home in Alaska I was able to upgrade to Category 4. So then early Saturday morning I went down to Sunapee, NH and raced 46 miles twice around the lake. The race went very well, I narrowly avoided one crash on the first lap and settled into a place about 2/3rds the way back of the pack, far enough forward I wouldn't get dropped but far enough back that I wasn't breaking much wind. The one downside was I wasn't in a very good position to get on breaks or finish well, but since it was my first USCF race I wasn't all that worried. The finish was all uphill which allowed me to gain about a dozen or so places because I am a pretty good climber. I was still not in the right gear and wasn't able to move up more than I could have. But a 21st place finish in a field of 80 or so, not too bad for the first time.

Looking forward to tomorrow I'll be going down to Claremont, NH for a training criterium race. It should be fun, nothing too serious, but I'll be racing the A race (there's only A and B) so I get to race against the big dogs tomorrow! The race is around a quarter mile go-cart racing track, so that will also be fun, so if I get dropped I can just catch back on the next time around.

That is about all, oh and I finally built up a singlespeed campus bike for myself. And for a closing quote:

Nothing compares to the simple pleasure of a bike ride.
-- John F. Kennedy

peace, love, and bikes