A lot of thoughts run through my head on my daily bike rides of 1-4 hours. Oftentimes, my mind runs over the things that I haven't gotten around to doing in a while. The most common being, of course, blogging. So this time, I have decided to write a blog post before my ride. Right now, I am sitting in spandex cycling attire on my fluffy pink bedspread. My purple room is flooded with light and the wind outside is making white-caps on the lake. It is beautiful sight but does not promise a pleasant bike ride. I hate riding in the wind.
The past month has been filled with family time, friend time, cycling, school, and traveling. My exam week this year was the best I've ever had. I had two exams on Monday and left for the beach on Tuesday with my family. There was a small part of me that felt sorry for my fellow students holed-up in cooper library. I tried my best to enjoy the sun at the beach for them.
One of the highlights of this Christmas break has been the Upstate Winter Bike League. For those of you who are not familiar with the UWBL, it is a group of appr. 100-150 cyclist who gather in downtown Greenville to suffer together during the cold winter months of December and January. The group divides into two groups to accommodate different abilities and fitness levels. Before the first UWBL, I was nervous. I knew that I wanted a challenge and had been told that I could probably keep up with the faster group (the A group). As we rolled out of the parking lot on our 70 mile ride, I cautiously positioned myself in the group in order to get as much draft as possible. As I glanced around, I could tell that many of the cyclists surrounding me were just as competitive as I am. Sure enough, towards the end of the ride, several of the cyclists took off with a speed that was difficult to match. I leaped up in my seat and tried my best to stay with them. My surroundings became completely irrelevant as I struggled to maintain a speed that I had not equaled in months. The challenge, the competition, and the sheer exhilaration of riding fast was invigorating, exhausting, and addicting. Needless to say, each UWBL has been challenging and fun as the distance and intensity gradually increases.
Three days before Christmas, Jesse had the pleasure of getting all four wisdom teeth yanked out of his mouth. Fortunately, his faithful girlfriend was there to drive him to and from the dentist, sign a few papers, and take care of him until his mom could pick him up and take him home for Christmas. He was a great sport and emerged from surgery with a goofy lop-sided smile and an appetite for a chocolate milkshake. The next morning, I drove down to Atlanta with my dad to pick my sister and brother-in-law up from the airport. My dad and I had some good conversations during our trip down to Atlanta. I am always amazed by his wisdom and knowledge about the world around him. After our trip to the airport, we had a huge lunch with Jesse, his mom (hi Minnie!), and his lovely sister Bonnie who is coming to CLEMSON next year! My brother-in-law, John Miller, claimed to be of the "northern" Miller clan, while Jesse claimed to be of the "southern" Miller clan. Regardless, there were a lot of Millers around.
Christmas day was... interesting. I woke up at 5am with a horrible stomach ache. It didn't take long for me to figure out that it was a stomach virus. As of this year, I have been sick 4 out my 20 Christmas's (20%). Statistically, this should not be possible! It's not like I get sick very often either. In fact, I can only think of a few times that I have had the stomach virus during a time other than Christmas.
My sisters brought my presents down to my room with about 20,000 shielding sprays of lysol before and after entering my room. I opened my presents via Facetime on my phone and slept for most of the day. In some ways, being sick wasn't all that bad. It forced me to slow down and be thankful for what God has given me. I can be such a selfish pig sometimes. Fortunately, I have a God who loves me and constantly reminds me of the fact that I have been saved by His grace, and His grace alone. Hallelujah!
After Christmas, I got to see Jesse and his dad before they headed off for a 4 day excursion on the Appalachian trail. I stayed here and worked on my plans for this summer. You see, I am leaving for Australia during August and have committed to racing almost every weekend during the summer. On top of that, I will be taking an online class. This will leave me enough time for a part-time job/internship. I want to do something that I am passionate about and walk away with more than a paycheck. So far, I have an idea that has the potential to be AWESOME. Right now, I am in the information-gathering process and will reveal the "project" in my next post if it is a real possibility.
Until then.
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