Hi, my name is Jered
Friday, July 6th, 2007
Um yeah, I think
I thought that I might never write on this here website ever again, but I just
felt the irresistible urge to hear myself talk.
Fortunately for
me, I’ve had a number of outlets to read myself talk of late, namely on the
factorydevelopmentteam site, pez, and our journal for cyclingnews, and for some
reason, that was really quenching my thirst for communicating on the internet.
That’s all well
and good, but it ain’t my own site. So I think I might start writing again,
just cuz it’s fun and someday when I’m old and crouched over with a messed up
back and an even bigger forehead than I have now, I’ll be able to read about
the days of yore. Or something like that.
Anyways, not much
time right now…I gotta go get some gas to mow the lawn, buy some Newcastles,
and charcoal…gotta remember all of that. So here’s what I just wrote for our
latest team post over at CN…should be up in the next day or so I imagine.
It’s not too terribly exciting, but it’s pretty much all I’m doing right now…biking,
eating, and sleeping…and a little bit of drinking, but very little. That’s
a good thing see.
Ok, here goes:
After our last
solid block of racing in Virginia and Ohio, we’ve had a bit of time to settle
down a bit and get back to the basics of training, resting, and not travelling.
Travelling and racing is exciting and fun no doubt, but waking up every morning
in my own bed, showering in my own shower, and being able to wash my clothes
whenever I want – it’s MasterCard style priceless.
The TIME Factory Team is based out of Winston-Salem, NC in our fantastic team
house. I love Winston, the people there, everything about it really, but when
it’s time to really get down to business and get back to the simple life, I’ve
got to head home, and home for me is the oasis in the middle of the northeastern
Georgia countryside of Athens.
I love racing my bike, but when it comes down to it, I love just riding my bike
on small, little used roads till I get tired, going home, eating, going to bed,
and doing it all again the next day. I love that. I love waking up sore and
pretty much making up my mind that there won’t be any riding today, but then
I get on my bike, work out the kinks, whine a bit, but an hour or two later
all soreness is forgotten and the hours just flow on by. So with this three
week period between Ohio and Nationals, I’ve gotten a great opportunity to get
back to the basics, do some long, hard training rides and work on my tan. Sort
of. I don’t tan so well, but I do burn better than most.
The riding here is so nice – I can ride all by my lonesome all day, paved or
dirt, or I can ride with my good friend Jacob Fetty, or I can hook up with any
one of the numerous group rides, none more fun than those led by the inimitable
David Crowe and his cohorts. Seriously, everyday I wake up and it’s straight
to the map to see where I’m headed off to explore for the day, or I just follow
Jacob into any number of the unknown reaches that seem to be everywhere for
me. It’s funny to me that riding hard and beating myself up physically is the
one certain path to mental refreshment for me. Just taking a week off doesn’t
do much, but going home and riding hard everyday punctuated by some good dining
experiences at my favorite restaurants with my favorite beverages, what more
do I need?
The mental break provided by these few weeks is welcomed to the extreme, and
I am raring to go and get back into the racing to come. I need not worry too
much about racing over the coming month, because we’ve got a block that will
set a new personal record for me for sheer volume, not to mention quality. Next
up on the schedule for the team is the Iron Hill Twilight up in West Chester,
Pennsylvania this Saturday. It’s a big time USA Crit, so it should have all
of the big players, and the biggest baller of them all, Mark Hekman, our very
own Winston-Salem homeboy. After that it’s on to Nationals, Superweek, and then
our home state series of crits Crossroads culminating with our hometown NRC,
Hanes Park.
It’s about time to get back to racing, and we’ll be aiming to make our presence
felt.
