Blog's not Dead

My blog was totally dead.  Maybe it's not anymore though? It has been 324 days since my last post, or 27,993,600 seconds if you operate in a finer scale of time.  I've had several requests to start blogging again, this can't be because my writing is as fantastic as Ian Crane's or my stories as grand as Kennett Peterson's.  I will admit though that a lot of cool things have been going on in my life that some folks would like to hear about.  Before I can tell you any recent stories though I feel the need to summarize the last 27,993,823 seconds (note how many seconds it has taken me to get this far).  I'd like to do keep this summary as short as possible. So really, please don't mind the gaps.

Based on my last post back in August of 2011 you probably thought that I enjoyed my outdoor adventure so much I just moved off the grid and into the woods.  Unless you follow me on twitter. That is a hyperlink for a reason...  Instead I finished off the road season with some fun local racing and got ready for some cyclocross racing.

My 'cross season started in September with one last year as a U23 rider with the Rad Racing program.  I didn't travel much at all as I was going to school and wanted to put a lot of energy into the 2012 road season.  I took as much time as I could to hang out with some of the younger Rad Racers throughout the 'cross season.  We had a great time.  I won a few races, won both the MFG and Seattle Cyclocross series overall titles.  I really like this photo from DBC Photo so check it out.  

With some big pressure school, I kept the 'cross season pretty low pressure.  I did feel the need to test myself a little bit so I went down to LA for a UCI race weekend at the beginning of December and came away with my best UCI cross results to date with 6th and 8th place finishes.  That was the true end of my cross season.  I took a week off the bike in an attempt to avoid being completely crushed by some finals at school.  I still went down to Bend, OR though and raced one day so that this could happen.

With my cyclocross season ending much sooner than any time recently I took a little break.  I even got to go on a real deal vacation for a week with my family in Mexico.  Then I  did some skate skiing and started preparing for the upcoming road season.  In January HB had our first team get together, it was grand. #heeleyswag #peacoatswag

 

Then I bought this car, which I considered a fairly large step out of the many towards adulthood.

The Spring road racing season started in earnest and I was feeling better than I ever had before in March.  Still not crushing it though considering that most of my competitors and nemeses had begun their training long before New Years.  I kept doing my thing knowing that my fitness would come when I'd planned for it to come.  I've already done a lot of racing this year and had some notable results. I finished 5th in the U23 Nationals road race!

Nationals was swell.  I was thrilled, but knew that I was ready to keep on giving it for the next month.  Last weekend I took the biggest win of my career in the final stage of the Tour de Delta, also coming away with the overall win!  It was a huge team effort with my teammates riding the front for me all day.  I still can't really even put it all into words, but below is my favorite photo, ever.

 

 

Photo: Greg Descantes

 

Now I'm in Belgium to race with the U23 National Team for the next several weeks.  To sum things up I've been literally living my dreams this year.  I landed in Belgium a few days ago and did my first kermesse today.  I'll write a little bit about that soon.  We start a 5-day stage race in the Liege region on Tuesday and I hope to provide regular updates throughout my stay here.