Alright I know its been quite some time and I'm sure everyone is curious to what I've been up to. Well here you go; I am hoping to update this baby at least once a week starting now...
Most notably is the completion of my first year of physical therapy grad school. To say this year wasn't challenging would be a blatant lie. I pretty much cruised through my undergraduate studies without a real challenge with the exception of a few classes so this year was a punch to the gut of reality. Every single week this spring semester classmates and I stared blankly into the face of at least 2 to 3 exams every week and polished it off with 7 exams over a three day period. 10 different classes will make a man crazy in some regards. Hence, why I am writing my first post in months at 4:30 in the morning: my sleep schedule is severely off. I could go on and on about all the things that I've learned this year ranging from gross anatomy to pharmacology agents but I'll spare everyone as even I'll admit some is somewhat irrelevant.
Besides school I had the privilege this past year to coach the Collins Women's Little 500 team. It was a great experience for my personally and I think the girls showed a lot of determination to get this thing rolling, no pun intended. A small group of friends who maybe were getting a little bored or felt their college experience was getting a little stale decided, "what the heck let's restart this Collins team from the ground up?" With no equipment, bikes, clothing, or any idea of what to expect they jumped in head first and tried to float. When I thought about it and the challenge that it presented, along with a way to stay involved in the race that really shaped my own personal college experience I committed to be a coach. In the beginning I wasn't expecting much and just wanted them to enjoy the experience. With that being said I told them I was going to push them hard in workouts and I wanted them to fully commit to this endeavor. That they did! Sparing all the details there were many emails, texts, and phone calls with questions about workouts, pit selections, quals, and pretty much anything that one could possibly think of concerning this event.
Spring series weren't exactly a huge focus for us. Maybe dating back to my days with the Cutters and a little bit with the idea that they've only been riding for a month and a half I didn't think going full blow into these events would heighten spirits, etc. Nothing spectacular to speak of outright but they held their own flying under the radar and ultimately we had a great first quals run and qualified for the 25th running of the women's little 500 in the 18th position. We're in!
The day of the race I remember sitting around all day thinking about the strategy that I had in mind all the while trying to not think about the rain that was sure to come. Secretly I wanted it to pour though as I figured it would help a team of rookies that wouldn't necessarily know what to expect. Boy did that define their race more than I thought as everyone rode spectacular and finished all 100 laps and a tremendous 7th place. It was absolutely incredible to experience it from the perspective of coaching and to watch a group of individuals come so far in such a short amount of time. To think they went from not even having bikes at the end of January to placing 7th? Come on that's awesome! Looking forward to working with the ladies in the years to come if they decide to keep me around (I've got at least one more year on my contract and received a sweet signing bonus of an Upland growler and some cookies!) We're losing Megan who will be studying abroad next year in France. Hard shoes to fill as she was voted Rookie of The Year by her riding peers but they're up for the challenge and should be fun to see if we get some new riders interested in carrying on the tradition.
Here's a link to their blog. http://collinscycling.wordpress.com/
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