Too Long...

It's been too long because my bike has been a problem.  Sometimes, I wish I were a mechanical engineer like most of the rest of the ECCC!  Silly Liberal Arts degrees...

Apparently something funky was going on in my derailleur.  I brought my beloved Scott CR1 into Human Zoom for a tune-up pre season.  I guess the fact that the derailleur was bent for a long time finally bit when the new chain was put on... communism.

Co-captain Josh is away for the weekend, and thankfully he's also about 5'11" so I managed to borrow his bike for a pretty epic ride today.  This was the legendary "vino velo" ride, starting from the art museum in Philly at 9.  That meant that I was on the road at 7:30 to cruise from Villanova, pick up former president Kevin in Ardmore.  That is WAY THE HECK TOO EARLY especially when your roommate has a cold and coughs all night long.  It's 2:30 and I'm so tired right now.  It's naptime.

The ride was great though.  Even on only a few hours of sleep, I felt really strong and ready to rock and roll for the season.  Philly has a nice mix of rolling hills, bigger high percentage grade climbs, and flat out straights, and I managed to stay in the saddle and near the front on a pretty bunchy but fast ride.  It was solid.

In other news, I can't wait to use this blog as a place for detailed race reports.  What else am I going to do during ECCC downtime with my laptop?

'

WIND!

Can the wind stop already?? My sweet new wheels aren't exactly designed for a day facing 20 MPH winds. The Easton EC90 Aero rim catches a whole hell of a lot of those gusts, and I feel like I'm about to be blown off my bike.

We rode 37 miles today out to Ridley Creek State Park in the driving, face searing wind. A 2hr and 15min ride felt like a 4 hour marathon- climbing a hill with that much back pressure really saps the energy. 32 degrees and sweating bullets through my winter jacket doesn't help much either.

I'm ready to get on with this ECCC business- I'll be ready to fight that wind at the Thrilla'

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Maybe I'll delve into restaraunt reviews tomorrow, I'm going to the White Dog Cafe near UPenn with Shanna... looks to be delicious!

The Stock Market Run

As the lyric from that Wolf Parade Song goes, "You are a Runner."

Yesterday I did my favorite new run just to keep my legs light and fast.  Yeah, it did take my an hour and 15 minutes to lug my heavy legs up and down the "volatile" hills of the stock market run, so named in the fall when things were out of control on Wall Street.

It's beautiful today, high of 66 and sunny.  When we're freezing our butts off at the Thrilla' on the Riva down at Rutgers.... then we'll know what's up.

(p)HILL(adelphia)

Quick ride today after yesterday's long ride... 28 miles out to Philly and back.  I went home a sweet way though, up one of the five hills of Lower Merion, AKA La Collina, or "The Hill" in Italian.  You may recognize it- it's visible from 76 heading out of Philly.  Yeah, straight up the hill, hell yeah.  Epic Win.  PS- It's been beautiful the past two days.  Hopefully we'll have some race weekends that look like this... stellar.

In other news, I'm going to go see a nutritionist a week from today.  Hopefully she'll tell me how to eat 3000 calories per day and not feel hungry all the time anyways.

Homework time!

Sunday Riding

Where the hell is my helmet????  

After being up for 23 hours continuously on Saturday (one of which was a roller workout with a 123454321 interval, trademarked by me) I went to bed and got up early to make sure I'd be able to find stuff for my ride in the lovely springy weather.  Apparently, my helmet was the challenging item.  I thought I'd misplaced it; it wasn't in the usual hanging on the handlebars spot when I looked Saturday night.  Then again, a party was going on, so there wasn't much I could do...

I live in an apartment that's about 500 square feet.  Not much place for a big helmet to hide!  I looked around and around, no luck.  I ended up leaving and borrowing an extra helmet from coach for the day.  His extra is "flip top" style, i.e. the strap in the back is busted so the helmet was falling over my eyes all day.  Bummer.  Still, we got in 50 solid base miles out to Doylestown, PA- a nice ride, not that hilly, but really trafficky.  My bike got soaked and completely covered in salt and grossness, so that's another half hour I had to take at the end to clean everything off.

I went to do my laundry afterwards, and as I was transferring the mountain of laundry from my hamper to a washer... AHA!  My helmet!  What was it doing at the bottom of my hamper?  Who th heck knows.  Case of the missing bike stuff, part 5 million for me, is solved.

YOGA!

Here's my cross training for the year: YOGA!

Each friday for me is Yoga Friday, and this will lead to the introduction of two key characters: Shanna and Josh.

Rather than ride on Fridays, I head to the yoga class at the Villanova gym.  I've been doing it for about a year and a half now, and I was introduced to it by Shanna.  She's also an Econ major, also from New Jersey, and totally the greatest.  Earlier this year, I convinced Josh (team VP, from NY, riding for 2 years) that yoga was a good idea.... the kid's a champ.  He beasted the side crow pose... look it up.

Rockin.  Dinnertime.  Later.

Who Am I?????

Like the tackling guy on that one scrubs episode, I'll answer the question... WHO AM I?????

I'm James Miceli.  I'm a Junior Economics Major with a concentration in Writing and Rhetoric at Villanova.  I'm originally from Sparta, NJ, way up in the great white north of Sussex County.  Things I love: my girlfriend, habitat for humanity/ service/ helping people, my friends, cycling, Villanova, films (not movies), fine wines and cheeses, long walks on the beach, etc.

I'm in my third year with Villanova Cycling.  I am also coincidentally the third president of the club.  Running the team carries quite a bit of responsiblity, but with the help of Dave Lauria (coach), Chris McAlpine (Club Sports Director), and the two past presidents (Carl and Kevin) who may be known around the humble new ECCC blogosphere.

Last year I raced in the C and then later the B classes of the ECCC.  I'll keep it close to the vest for now, but we'll see where this year takes me.  Penn State, here we come.  Villanova Cycling is in gear, outfitted in our new Canari suits, and ready to roll.

All we have to do is let all the ice melt and get out on the road...

Joining the ECCC Bloggers

Hello Riders and Readers!

As a Writing and Rhetoric Concentrator, it only makes sense that I offer up a blog about the other passion in my life that occupies my spring... Villanova Cycling!

Stay tuned for more posts...

-James