Hugging the Turns

Reboot

2011-04-11T00:38:00.000-04:00

It's been far too long since my last blog iteration. Let's quickly what you've quickly missed over the last 6 months: I've failed to update you on the remainder of my European trip. I've failed to upload my pictures from Europe. I've been working. I've been applying to more career-related jobs. I've been riding. I've been buying socks. (false: I haven't bought any socks since Europe) That's

Paris, enfin

2010-10-19T12:36:00.000-04:00

Preface: the Oktoberfest post will happen as soon as I don't have to compose beautifully smithed English on a BlackBerry. I had studied French for who-knows how long. Middle school. High school. A short time in college. I've been lectured on France and Paris for years. Finally I had arrived.After a much needed do-nothing/laundry day in Brussels at my host's house, I took the high speed train down

Blitz aktualizace ("Lighting Update")

2010-10-05T16:15:00.000-04:00

Blitz means "lightning" in German. Aktualizace means "update" in Czech. Since Amsterdam, I've been in Germany and the Czech Republic. Tremendous amounts of fun! Berlin Berlin was a blast. I did a free walking tour when I got there that really showed you the sights of the city. It was then that the Australians started to infiltrate my trip. I met Olivia, an Australian on the tour finishing up

Amsterdarn

2010-09-24T15:49:00.000-04:00

Okay, I have another QWERTZ keyboard to do battle with, and 19...no 18 minutes left on the clock on the computer. Amsterdam, I cut my original stay in this city short by a day and decided to do an extra one in Berlin. The 'dam wasn't really my bag, or at least not while traveling solo. There's a lot to do in the city other than the smoking and Red Light District stuff (and while accepted,

Merckxland

2010-09-23T06:51:00.000-04:00

I am, of course, talking about Belgium, You'll have to pardon me in advance - I'm typing on a computer who's keys were designed for a pigme and whose keyboard is not setup in the standard QWERTY formation. In fact, what I'm looking at can be described as a QWERTZ keyboard. Whatever, I'm over it (not really) My trip has exclusively been in Belgium so far (minus the part where I'm sitting in

Euro-Spelunking

2010-09-16T11:43:00.000-04:00

For those of you that don't know, I'm off to Europe for a month and leaving in about 6 hours. No...not that Europe (C'mon Chair) Although I will say that now is the final countdown. Taking a break from packing, there are just a few more things I need to throw together for this month-long journey. So what's the goal of this poignantly-cheesy travel edition of this blog. Beat's me. Come to

The Donut Derby

2010-09-15T00:33:00.003-04:00

Krispy Kreme in all its glazed glory used to have stores. Giant stores where they stored coffee and glazed donuts and cream-filled donuts that turned into absolute perfection after exactly 11 seconds in the microwave. Since that time of yester-year, those store have disappeared, falling short on business despite the delicious nature of their economic endeavors. They are, however, still the

Return of the Witch

2010-08-27T23:55:00.001-04:00

Last Star Wars title reference, I promise… (and it’s a longer one, so grab and espresso while you read) For months now, I had been determined to call it quits for the season after Witches Cup. Following a long collegiate season and a USCF season of similar length, it was time to give my legs they well deserved vacation they needed. I have 47 starts over my 6-month long season; by all

The Empire (State) Strikes Back

2010-08-20T00:22:00.002-04:00

I didn’t really expect to run with the Star War's theme, but it just worked so perfectly. The Tokeneke Classic was the New England Road Race Regional Championships. It was also the first “real” road race in some time, which was quite refreshing after all the flat crits and circuit races that New England has offered lately. Cat. 3s were doing 66 miles and 6000 ft. of climbing – the same as the

A New “Hope”

2010-08-12T21:01:00.002-04:00

Espoir – “hope” in French. The Massachusetts State Criterium Championships were on Wednesday in Beverly, MA. My race happened to be a Pro/1/2/3 race, which I had found somewhat surprising at first – I thought for the State Championships they might have split the races differently. The GLV squad consisted of Gregg, Sam, AJ, Keith, and myself. The weather was cooler than it had been the few

Catching my White Whale

2010-08-05T00:57:00.004-04:00

Everyone has their “White Whale” – something that you constantly hunt for but never quite get a hold of; the one that got away, an obsession for which you are willing to throw all caution into the wind to catch; etc. For Captain Ahab, it was the white whale Moby Dick: For the parking officer in Seinfeld, it was Newman and his elusive parking tickets: For this man, apparently it’s

My Superweek hath cometh

2010-06-30T23:53:00.003-04:00

One week from now, I’ll have had five days of racing: Exeter Criterium and the Fitchburg Longsjo Cycling Classic. Jelly legs to come. Exeter finished up about 24 hours ago. This was my first Pro/1/2/3 race I’ve done this season (not including Collegiate A races, which are technically Pro/1/2/3 races). 1 hour. 80 starters. 27 mph average. Pain.Pain.Pain. Tons of pros at the race: Ted King,

Nationals Criterium – Pedaling Squares

2010-05-12T00:26:00.002-04:00

Okay, so I wasn’t really pedaling squares (a term referring to someone who’s hit the wall an can’t pedal properly). The race, however, was indeed a square. The whole day was surreal. I never felt so pro (yet so scared at the same time) while waiting in our room, kitted up ready to go with my race just around the corner from the hotel. I got very little warmup on course – about 1/4 of a lap.

Nationals Road Race - “How stupid are we!?!”

2010-05-08T00:29:00.004-04:00

Personal Objectives of the Day: 1) Finish - complete 2) Have fun – complete Two-for-two ain’t bad, right? This is going to be super quick and not have a lot of photos for two reasons: 1)I’m pooped and 2) I was racing for 4 hours, so needless to say I didn’t get a whole lot of photos. 63rd out of 146+ starters. Beating half the people ain’t bad, right? Right. So I may have completely

Recon ride day

2010-05-06T23:32:00.002-04:00

S’gonna hurt – the road race that is. We went out and did a reconnaissance ride of the USAC Collegiate Nationals road race course. We rode in the area a little before heading to the course, which was about 45 minutes away from our hotel. The finishing climb goes to the top of Blue Mound (you can see the course here). Word on the street (aka Collegiate Cycling’s Jeffrey Hansen) was that the

Mooo – Arrival to Madison

2010-05-06T02:15:00.002-04:00

Glad to say that the travel day today went without a hitch. We left a very empty Boston Logan International Airport today, stopping over in Milwaukee. Not a single problem or snag with Midwest Airlines – everyone from the airline was very nice, especially with handling the bikes. Preparation is key, so I put as many BU Cycling stickers on bags as possible. All my scchtuff -- Big black box.

The Thing Called Icing on Top of the Cake - Nationals

2010-05-05T16:15:00.003-04:00

I ate a salad with tuna for lunch today and yesterday. So yeah … you can say I’m taking this somewhat seriously. I’m taking a quick break from packing to bring you this update. Regrettably, between racing, training, managing risk analysis reports on Bangladesh, and those few odd parts of the day when I get to eat and sleep, there hasn’t been much time to blog. I will be blogging each day,

Spend a Night in Purgatory with Green Line Velo

2010-04-13T00:29:00.002-04:00

Everyone come and support an amazing new race put on by Green Line Velo! For complete information visit the Facebook Event Page

I am ‘Burnt Cream’

2010-04-08T00:16:00.002-04:00

Je m’appelle Crème Brûlée. “I am Burnt Cream.” I used to announce the Men’s A races –- now I race them. It’s bittersweet I’d have to say. From time to time, I still protest to Joe that he give me the wireless mic so I can report from the peloton in the 5-10 seconds it takes to roll past the receiver at the Start/Finish. Needless to say, it hasn’t happened yet. So Joe’s been left alone with

Under Construction

2010-03-26T12:18:00.001-04:00

Your blog looks funny (aka different)! Don't be sad, Ben! There's just some construction going on over the next week or so. Expect a fresher look in the near future. In the meantime, eat some food...Shave your legs and learn when chamois time is over... ...so in then in the end we can all celebrate

…Like a swift Belgian Waffle Iron to the Face

2010-03-23T12:38:00.002-04:00

Yeah, two weekends ago was pretty much like that. I know I’m way behind on this, but give me a break. I do go to school too, you know… This past weekend the ECCC and the Atlantic Corridor became Little Belgium. Cold and clammy weather, torrential downpour and gale force winds. It was a beyond horrific, but still the few and the brave raced and raced to immortality. Hurricane Jens Voigt was

Mr. Collegiate Cycling

2010-03-15T13:35:00.001-04:00

Well...it's not me. I'll admit that much. I did find him though. Check out my interview with Jeffrey Hansen

Mullets: The Enforcement Begins

2010-03-05T10:48:00.007-05:00

New year, new rules… This may be my most important post, ever. Somewhat recently, Conference Director Joe Kopena appointed me the official Mullet Enforcement Officer of the ECCC (record of this can be found at the ECCC Facebook Page). I take this job with pride and humility in addition to my other positions within the ECCC, which include, but are not limited to: an official member of the League

Clinico Fantastico!

2010-02-28T20:35:00.003-05:00

BU Cycling had a nice pre-Rutgers clinic today, focusing on what some of our new riders will be experiencing down in New Brunswick, NJ. It was the best clinic that I think we’ve held so far and it was clear that new members were quickly improving. We started the day with a nice leisurely warm-up ride out on the Green Line Velo Tuesday night route before detouring down some back (and I mean

Dear Dick

2010-02-19T00:24:00.003-05:00

Dear Dick, I feel like I can call you “Dick” because, well…that’s your real name. You are my landlord and your name, quite literally, is Dick. It’s what I write on my checks: Dick. Well Dick, I’m not sure if you’re aware, but I’ve been sick lately with a stomach flu (so I must be doing something right, right?). Needless to say, my temper’s been shortened thanks to the gnomes boxing it out in