Cycling Center

A nice little shot of the outside of the Cycling Center...home for the next 6 months.




 

9 MONTHS IN A NUTSHELL

9 MONTHS IN A NUTSHELL

Its been quite a while since I have done much writing about my little adventures. I’ve been busy, yeah I know, its no excuse. I’ll run through some of the happenings I’ve been up to, as always feel free to send me comments, questions, or just tell me you like what you read. If you don’t like it…you know how it goes…I’m not forcing you to read on.
I returned from Belgium this past summer in June, continued racing in the US, had my up and downs, and continued working at good ol’ Wheel and Sprocket. For those of you who don’t know, I’ve worked summers there since I was 15.
At the end of the summer the opportunity came about for me to take on a position at a company called Johnson Diversey. It was a good move to make, at least in terms of future job opportunities, and it was money. Although, it did mean that I would be staying in Wisconsin for the winter. Not the most ideal thing for a cyclist looking to prepare for a whole season in Belgium. But hey, you do what you can do.
Back to the “job” thang. Johnson Diversey is a part of a fairly large family of companies. The best know is SCJonhnson. They make all sorts of consumer products, some being; Ziploc products, the Glade product line (shaving gel, air fresheners etc.), OFF bug repellent, etc.etc. Johnson Diversey is an industrial division. Meaning they make products for other companies…not the individual. I found a position in the Reseach Development and Engineering department, specifically, the laundry and warewash group. Warewash being industrial dishwshers, and laundry being obvious (at least I hope it is obvious). It might not sound that interesting, but remember I have degree in chemistry. With that said, it was pretty interesting, I wasn’t saving the world, but it wasn’t toooooo terrible. Besides, I got to deal a little with the European counter-parts in Utrecht (Netherlands)…eventually meeting them for a few brief minutes.
The job itself wasn’t redundant or too repetitive, so things stayed interesting, always some new project, or production emergency. Most of the work involved “wet” chemistry and working with and trouble shooting dispensing systems. I got to know some really great people with all those wonderful qualities like intelligence and good work ethic etc.etc. They were very accommodating when it came to flexibility in hours…as long as the work was done, everyone seemed happy. OK, enough of me trying to make my fall/winter sound all cool and stuff.
As you can guess, a solid part of the long winter miles were done on rollers. I have this love/hate relationship going with my rollers, we decided to have a trial separation…I’m sure she (yes my rollers are feminine) will come crawling back to me. On weekends I was able to sneek outside…usually, when it wasn’t snowing. We’ll see how long it takes for me to get my feet under me. Seeing as I have yet to get any racing in my legs.
I got a chance to stop in North Carolina for a few days before I headed to Belgium…which was very good, just wish I could have had some more time in some decent weather. I know it sounds like it, but I am not complaining…just well… discussing/writing, and by decent weather I mean just a bit more manageable, not ideal warm sunshine and nothing else…besides that would be a bit toooo cush.
This sort of brings me to the fact that I owe a lot of people a great deal for supporting me. I’m not going to go on with a big list because if you helped me out, even in the smallest way, you know who you are (at least I hope you do). So, just a great big THANKS to all of you, think of it like a great big hug!!....make it a bear hug!

North Carolina

Aww...isn't it cute.

Location: Nanthahala Outdoor Center




The quiet little cabin across the street, up the single lane paved road for a mile, up the dirt road for another mile, from the NOC. Once you got passed the broken down trailers and packs of dogs on the first mile of road, it was really quite nice. Really, I liked it. 

Back Again

Busy, busy, busy.....yeah the past 9 months or so have flown by and I have been a bad little writer. So, its time to get back in the saddle again. In some respects, literally.

I'm back in Belgium again ready to rock and roll. Expect a few more articles describing the past 9 months or so, but for the moment here is a pick of some of us who spent a week or two in the Blue Ridge mountains of North Carolina. Anyone want some "boiled peanuts?"