Starting back up on the blog

I have decided to enter the blogging world once again. As most of you know I recently moved to San Francisco, CA and I’m finding it sort of difficult to keep in touch with all of my old friends. This is mainly due to the fact that I don’t really call people, but I hate phones so I don’t see that changing anytime soon.

Instead of using the blog as a place to post tons of introspective pieces or commentary on pop culture (which may occasionally happen) I plan to use it as a more of, “here are the weird things going on in my life” type of blog.

For example, tomorrow, 7/6, I am taking the plunge and toeing the line in my first bike race. I’ve been pretty much riding bikes for four years but ironically enough have never actually raced my bike in anything other than a time trial. This is because of a few factors, but mainly because I’ve always felt like I pretty much knew where I stood amongst the cyclist wherever I was living. Anyone who’s ever gone on a group bike ride knows that it inevitably turns into a few people’s key race of the week. Due to this mentality there wasn’t really much of a question as to where I’d finish a race lined up against those in the ride.

However, recently I decided that I want to start actually racing my bike. And while I’m extremely excited about seeing where I match up with people and then hopefully improving on those results, I’m probably more nervous about this than anything I’ve done in a really long time. While I’m not in the best shape right now I’m hoping to just sit in and get some experience. I have no misconceptions about out sprinting people right now, or ever really. The fear of being crashed out of the race because of someone else is far more nerve racking than the possibility of getting dropped.

You see in the world of amateur cycling everyone starts in category 5. And while this makes the most sense, for those of us who have been riding a while and are pretty good bike handlers, it means you’re going to shoulder to shoulder with people who just got on bikes, have huge engines, but no clue who to ride. I fully expect to get chopped in turns as people fail the hold their own line and encroach onto mine. I’m really hoping I find a good set of wheels to follow and make it through unscathed. Check back tomorrow and hopefully I’ll have some good, crash free news to report.