It's Been A While

For all three of you who have read this sad excuse for a blog I apologize for not writing in a very long time. In my defense though I find this blogging site somewhat ridiculous because you are not allowed to have a GMail email account associated with your blog. What happens when that's your primary email source? Anyone know any loopholes around this?

Ever since I stopped writing on this there really hasn't been much to write home about other than a giant party. Needless to say I had a great summer. Never went grocery shopping and ate out damn near every meal and partied like a rock star. Loved every minute of it but I'm definitely ready to get back to a little regularity and schedule. Starting class on Monday up at Andrews. Looking forward to making this progression into professional school.

Helped move Elliot down to Bloomington and it was bittersweet knowing that i can't go back to bloomington unfortunately. Grace is also leaving tomorrow for  Valpo so I will be the king of the castle rightfully so!

Had a great trip out to Colorado to visit mom and had a tremendous time. Went to the Royal Gorge Bridge, took the train down the Arkansas River, hiked Pike's Peak, conquered the Incline, 7 Falls, Cripple Creek, and rode a bit and most importantly had a giant bear digging through the trash.

Heading up to Grand Rapids tomorrow to watch Hazel compete in the US Pro Criterium Championship. Wishing him a safe race and hopefully he will be able to bring home a stars and bars jersey!

The Next Stage

This last week was big; in fact it was huge in terms of my future. Only weeks prior have I decided that my chances at attending graduate school this year were slim at best and I was losing faith. I decided that my best career choice during my year off would be to study for the board examination to become a personal trainer and work at a gym that I used to work out at in the summers of high school. So I ordered some study materials and started the process. Finishing up at work I headed home to study a bit before going riding later in the day with a few friends. I really wasn't feeling the whole studying process and a bit tired so I decided to take a little nap; go figure! I easily passed out within 5 minutes and low and behold was woken up by my obnoxious ring tone only 30 minutes into my nap. Now if you know my sleeping habits at all you know exactly how hard it is to wake me up so the fact that the phone ringing woke me up is a miracle in itself. I rolled over and grabbed my phone and didn't recognize the number. I throw my phone back on my nightstand and was just going to ignore the call being the screen er that I am. For some reason that I still don't know myself I reached for the phone again and answered. It was a sweet lady on the other side and I immediately thought it was one of the Red Cross people calling again asking, or better yet, begging for me to give blood even though I've repeatedly asked to be taken off the list. (Note: I support giving blood but while training for bike racing its a terrible idea that I found out the bad way) Then she introduced herself as Dixie Scott and the lights went off in my head because I recognized that name from my interview about a month ago for grad school. "Zachary, I've got some news that may be of interest. We'd like to offer you admission into the Doctoral Physical Therapy program here at Andrews University." I about hit the ceiling with excitement!
   
Now that I've got a plan in place for the final stage in my journey toward becoming a real adult I feel like my life is finally taking shape in the direction it was suppose to go. To say I wasn't worried before this phone call would be a drastic understatement. For now just trying to figure out some financials as I see lots of dollars accumulating in the red (debtcity) and enjoying the last month here in Bloomington before I leave this great town back to the grassroots before starting class on August 22nd.

Back at It

It's been a while since I've blogged or for that matter done much of anything. To put it simply, riding and exercise in general has taken a back seat the last few weeks to the finer things in life: eating fast food, hanging out with buddies, going to the bars, and hanging out with a lady. The point at which I really realized that I was horribly out of shape was when Pilling somehow talked me into competing in the Hummel Park circuit race a few weeks ago on my way home to see me baby sister graduate. Needless to say I lasted about 6 laps and that's putting it generously. I felt like death right from the start and wasn't too surprised to find that my Little 5 fitness was completely gone. Instead of getting back on the bike and doing something about it I kept the downward spiral going with the exception of a few quick runs with Caitlin and running in the Sunburst 5k back at home. That really sucked too! I finished right at 20:00 which I was pretty happy about since I've ran about 5 times in the last 3 years. Caitlin actually won the overall women's title for the 5k as her and my old man battled it out to the end with her edging out the personal victory over Big Al by mere seconds.

After riding a quick and easy ride to shake the legs back into form on Monday and see if I still remembered how to clip in and such I decided to test the waters in the Forest Time Trial. Ouch! I was actually pretty satisfied with my time (24:34) due to the severe lack of riding. Riding is making it's way back into the regular daily schedule and I also plan on jumping into a few races before the finale being the Scholars Inn Cycling Festival here in Bloomington.

Promise I'll keep this thing updated a bit more...until then keep fighting the good fight!

Summer Time

Heading into the Summer months the weather is finally starting to cooperate and the sun has actually been shining a bit which is nice so everyone isn't depressed. In other news it seems as though everyone is moving; Kristen is taking off to Arizona to teach America's youth, Clayton and Caroline are off to Colorado, and I'm still waiting to see what the hell I'm going to do next year. I'm getting to the point where it's looking like I'll be joining the work force for a short stint before re-applying to schools next year. It shouldn't be all bad getting a job but I'd like to get the ball rolling on finishing this PT stuff because that's ultimately what I want to be doing with my life. Should have applied earlier and now I'm kicking myself because of it. I guess I could always pull a Van Wilder and just be a professional student.

Went with some friends to dinner and to see The Hangover 2 last night. Pretty decent follow-up to the first movie! Even better was the 80 year old woman that sat next to me! Other than that I've been eating a lot of fast food and not riding my bike. Excited to head home for the next few weekends to celebrate my lovely sister, Grace's graduation. She'll be heading to Valparaiso University next year and I wish her nothing but the best! Proud of you Gracie!

Kentucky

Headed down to Kentucky with a slew of scholars inn riders to Frankfort, KY yesterday in the morning. To my surprise the team worked really well together controlling the pack and chasing down moves. Seeing as it was my first race of the year I was a little unsure as to how the legs were going to hold out but it ended up alright. I think SIB took 3,5,8,13,19...with a few more threw in there as well so pretty good showing especially for a first year team. Kevin went off the front with about four to go and when he did I was sitting about ninth wheel and he sort of just slides away. Before I knew it he had a pretty decent gap and I thought oh shit I better get to the front and try and slow this honky down so he can solo away. Did a halfway decent job of slowing it down with the help of patch giving a little guidance sitting second wheel. I told him I'd lead him out but wanted to keep the pack off Kevin took first priority...Kevin ended up third as that last half lap got stupid fast and I got swarmed by a slew of people able to hold on for 13th. Overall good day for scholars inn team though and even the announcer was giving us a lot of credit in not only the 3's race but all other categories as well. Give it another go today in Richmond.

One Week into Summer

I can hardly believe that it's been nearly a week since graduation already. This week the weather seems to be transitioning into the summer season as everyone waits for pools to open and to hit the lake on boats. My personal transition into the daily grind of work instead of going to class for a couple hours a day definitely took its toll on me this week as I was definitely burning the candle at both ends this week. Staying up late with friends and waking up early to complete various experiments that I'm a subject for marked for a long week.

Logged some decent riding this week finally as it was for the most part my first full week back on the bike with some regularity. It felt good to have the knees finally cooperate as they were starting to really bother me toward the end of Little 5 season. I was planning on racing this weekend up in Winona Lake but I feel like I'm not quite ready for the race scene and don't want to throw away any money just to get my ass handed to me. Looking forward to heading out to Iowa on Memorial Day weekend for 4 big races. This might mark my first races of the season so it will be fun as there are a bunch of spectators and lots of riders. I'd like to slip into the top ten for at least 2 of the races and want to really do well at Quad Cities which is the last of the 4 crits. The most famous though is the snake. A winding cobblestone crit that is easily the most terrible thing I've encountered in cycling.

A picture of the snake from last year. Perez said I don't leave much of a draft; I beg to differ...

Went to a few gatherings this week as well. Lylepalooza at Scholars Inn on Monday followed by a terrible movie that definitely was not my choice. Word of advice if you're thinking about going to see Something Borrowed you might as well stay at home and smash your fingers in the door instead. Tuesday I was feeling surly and so overwhelmed by how terrible that previous day's movie adventure went that I decided to go see the new Fast Five (Fast and the Furious) movie and was impressed. Of course its a little out there but nonetheless pretty sweet cars and fight scenes! Wednesday marked the infamous Wednesday Worlds but just as the legs were feeling good and opening up my back tire blew out so I limped it home and my night finished rather uneventful. Since then just hanging out and going to experiments and work. Today I went to lunch with my buddy Andy to Smoking Jack's Rib Shack and got the Catfish sandwich: so good!

A teammate of mine, Kevin set me up on a little date with a girl on the track team: Caitlin Engel. I was a little uneasy about it at first but figured I'd give a shot to go out and have a little fun. Turns out she's pretty cool and very competitive as we immediately started making bets about various games and low and behold I was the ultimate winner as I had to do a little research with the help of a friend in finding a hidden gem of a picture taken earlier this year...

She's a steeplechase runner and had an unfortunate turn of events on this hurdle. Ha she's going to be pissed about this but I just can't resist. And to be honest I've got a way better one of her but I'll save that one for another rainy day. In all seriousness though she's a badass and I wish her the best of luck this weekend at the Big Ten championships out in Iowa.

Looks like another rainy weekend in store for Bloomington; go figure.

Goodbye Indiana University

Walking out of my last final was absolutely surreal this afternoon. I knew it was coming but at the same time after you turn in that last exam and walk down the hollowed halls and finally progress outside of the building it hits you. It was a beautiful day in Bloomington this afternoon so upon completion of my final undergraduate endeavor I strolled to work nice and slow and took in the sights, the weather, and the smells of springs. 4 years here in Bloomington have shaped my life in ways that I will never be able to tell and I'm glad I will be here for another month or so to grant Bloomington the proper goodbye. When I was walking to work today its funny of the things I thought of that suddenly come rushing into your mind. Things such as how many times I've walked down this sidewalk, or the number of visits to the union to print off notes for class. 4 years seems like such a long time but when I look back on it I can remember many days back when I was sitting in my room at Manchester College with the big decision of whether or not to transfer to IU. Talking with family friends and finally convinced by my good friend Blosser to go look for apartments I made the choice that when I think about it more was probably the best decision I've made or probably will make.

The actual commencement ceremony was pretty cool. I wasn't sure how I was going to like it being that there was going to be so many graduates but it was nice. I think the best speech of the day was giving by a fellow graduate, very professional and light-hearted at the same time.

Partying with the McFall's at Nick's English Hut was a blast on Friday night as well. I'm really going to miss that family a lot come college football season and not being able to go to their amazing tailgates. Truly an incredible family and I owe it all to my good friend Alex.

Indiana University it's been a great 4 years; undoubtedly the best thus far in my life and I highly doubt any will top them! So many memories are swirling around my head that it seems impossible that there was enough time in that 4 years to accomplish all of them.

The old man and I prior to the ceremony

It only took 5 years but I've finished. All of that for that little red folder!

Just want to throw out a big thank you to anyone that has supported me over the years to make this dream possible. My family, friends, teammates, coaches, coworkers, and many others. Couldn't have done it without all of you!