new title and a reason why

Ever since I started this blog, which was originally for family and friends to keep up with and know the excitement that can go on in a race, I try to pass the feeling of the race on through words as best as I can describe and offer a little peak into the world of racing when it is you and 49 others making your way around a small course at high speeds with only millimeters of lycra protecting your skin from hitting the ground in a descent, sprint etc.

In the course of my writings I have been carried away with some of my feelings about how others ride. I am confident in my ability to handle a bike well, even though I have ridden for only two years this May 1st I have ridden just under 18,000 miles this includes time riding in the city in rush hour traffic to riding Skyline Drive or at training camp in the hills of West Virginia. This also includes riding in all types of weather, as a year round bike commuter I havent driven to work since July 13th 2008 and only 5 times between and when I first started May 1st 2008. Snow, sleet, rain, freezing rain, everything, I have ridden it all, the hottest day 102F and the coldest 0F.

I would like to apologize to my teammates, my team and our sponsors for any misrepresentation, ill publicity or any other negative attention I have brought to them. Yes this is the internet and I should feel free to write my feelings as I did toe the line and stand with an M16 after 9/11 to defend such freedoms but I also have the responsibility to everyone I race with to show them an equal respect as a cyclist.

I was recently told my upgrade to Cat 4 could have been denied because of a possibility that there were complaints lodged against me as a rider. I am not sure how true that is or if there is any weight that could be held to that statement, as others who I have raced with completed the same number of races as I have, to request and receive their upgrade in an extremely quick manner. If my racing style or my writing style has any affect I apologize for that as well. From now I will focus more on being more courteous and more sportsman like.

see you on the tarmac and keep the shiny side up.

-jeremy