Crazy Week

Last Thursday I left the state on a visit to Creighton University for a grad school interview. The trip was great! Not only did I get a great idea of what Creighton has to offer I had a little time to hang out with some of my cousins that I don't get to see too often. With that being said I owe a huge thank you to my cousin Greg. He drove me around, took me out to eat, the whole nine yards; it was great.

I had a great day at Creighton. The thing that really impressed me with their school is the knowledge and expertise of their faculty. To say I wasn't nervous going into it would be a vast understatement but the faculty and staff there made you feel like you belonged. I went into the interview process thinking it was going to be nothing but me trying to sell my abilities to the school but in all honesty I think it was more of Creighton selling itself to those who attended. Seems like a great place to learn and situated in downtown Omaha, Nebraska provides students with ample things to do, though I'll probably be studying most of the time similar to undergrad...ha!

Got back into town about 2 am Saturday morning and turned around and woke up at 6am to start getting ready for Quals. It was one of the more difficult tasks of my life trying to wake up that day! We had a clean run considering the conditions and ended the day in 2nd place. Starting on the first row right in the middle, not too bad really!

Cool picture taken by Ryan Dorgan during qualifications

Then ITT's or individual time trials were tonight. Although final results are not posted yet I believe as a team we put 4 guys in the top 20/25 so that is definitely a positive going into the weekend where miss-n-out will take place. I was matched up with a decent heat and had the pleasure of following my future teammate on the road this summer, RJ Stuart. I started off the ITT hot, a little too hot really as I could see RJ's distance decreasing with every pedal stroke I took. Knowing how good of a rider RJ is I got a little anxious and went far too hard on my 2nd lap still closing the gap. Then my pacing got the best of me! I knew I was not going to be able to maintain this speed so I slowed down a bit and when I did I never found the strength to get back on top of the gear. From experience I knew about half-way into the third lap I was in trouble and there was no coming out of this one. Live and learn I suppose; can't find those limits unless you test them so although I'm a little upset about mine I learned something that will ultimately help us for race day. Eric won in dramatic fashion and Beaver got 4th so putting 2 guys in the top 5 is great for our quest for the white jersey.

Days are seeming to get faster and faster meaning only one thing: it's Little 5 season!