Friday, February 26, 2010

The road ahead




The one thing I have learned already this season as my first year as a professional bike racer is that nothing is ever 100%. In this wild world of bike racing things change faster than the gears on a bike. Just two weeks ago I had had my entire spring planed out; I was to stay living in Chico for the spring and race with my team BISSELL Pro Cycling in a lot of the bigger races on the west coast. However, this all changed with the click of a mouse, an invitation from the national team to race in Europe for a two month block threw some curves in my road.
It took me a while do decide what I wanted to do, on one hand I want to race here in the US with my new team and on the other I love racing in Europe and the experience I get is unmatched. I finally came to the conclusion that racing in the US will always be an option, so I will be going to my second home in Belgium yet again. On the 19th of March I be leaving to us and flying to Belgium for a short week before flying down to Portugal for a u23 nations cup. The racing is bound to me hard and now that I am no longer racing at the junior level I’m back at the bottom of the chopping block. Before I head to Europe I will have the chance to race some in the US with my team. I will be racing the Snelling road race tomorrow with the company of my younger brother. He and my mother came down earlier this week to see me before I head off to Europe and also bring a few of my things back to Bend. My mother drove back to Bend early this morning, and left Austin behind to enjoy some California life style. I can’t wait to see how Austin does in the race this weekend and hope we get some good bonding before both of our seasons start and we hit the road.
My dad will be coming down mid next week for a little Boswell Chico training camp and to take Austin home. Even thought my plans are always changing my family is always there to support me and adjust with the changing tide. I’ll enjoy my final few weeks in the US with two more California races then pack the bags and go to my second home across the Atlantic.

With the season ahead the blog will be back alive,
Ian

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Team camp

This past week I've been in Santa Rosa, Ca for my team camp. I will get a post up soon but till then here is a link to my teammate Paul Mach's blog.

http://paulmach.com/

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

A little thread from Belgium

This is just a quick post, but yesterday as I was taking a shower I noticed the bracelet that my host bother Julien (from my Belgian exchange) made me three years ago. I have worn it every day since I tied it on and now three years later it remains in the same place. The white thread has aged from a pearl white to a faded gray, but I’d like to think that a little dirt from the 13 different countries I have traveled to in the past three years is engrained somewhere in the bracelet. The opportunities I have had will never be forgotten and thank you to everyone who has helped me along the way.

Ian