LDACistan

As you may know, I went to Fort Lewis Washington for the last five weeks. I've been constantly blogging about it because I was pretty worried about my performance. I am glad to say that I meet the school's standards and exceeded them. The Army asseses leadership on 16 character dimensions and provides an overall evaluation. The overall eval can be an N, "no-go," S, "satisfactory," or E, "excellent." Of the 16 dimensions I recieved 11 dimensional E's and received and overall evaluation of E. I hope this will be able to land me into active duty but we'll see. I also have some resonsibilities to look foward to as the Battalion Command Sargeant Major. I can't wait.

Internal Conflict

This week has turned out to be quite a ride. I am very tired and struggling to keep the pace at which I have set myself up for. I have been working almost 10-12 hours everyday and driving back and forth from Philadelphia to meet my ROTC responsibilities. It was nice since I was able to hang with my friends still in that area.

A close friend of mine talked to me about having some problems with his girlfriend. He had been dating her for a few years now and it seems like they are having a serious relationship. His problem is that he wants to break up with his girlfriend because he feels like the relationship is not going anywhere. She wants to have a future with him but he doesn't see himself with her. I am not sure why he feels that way because he has an amazing girlfriend but it doesn't matter what other people see all that matters is what you see and what you want. He told me that he feels "comfortable" with the relationship and he doesn't really know what to do if they would break up. A person once told me that you need to be able to stand on your own two feet if you ever want to make it so I passed that information to my friend.

I can see that guys and girls are different when it comes to relationships. Women like to see the future and plan far ahead and want head over heels commitment early on. Men (at least for me) are more concerned about their well-being before making plans of taking care of other people. I am a very ambitious person and have a lot of goals I set up for myself. I have a long list of things I want to experience before getting married and I don't feel like someone should hold me back from doing those things. I want to feel like I accomplished what I set myself up to do. Sometimes a person can help but wonder if you can have a playmate and a spouse in one person. Someone who enjoys everything you doon the weekends and rubs your back at the end of a hard day at work.

Confident but Not Ready

I had ROTC drill this weekend and I am glad to say I had a good time. The atmosphere was very calm and not stressful by any means. We started the weekend with Field Leader's Reaction Course. It is basically a bunch of different obstacles a squad must complete. Many of the tasks seem impossible but a great deal of teamwork and strong leadership are needed to succeed. I had a good evaluation for my leadership and boosted my confidence for LDAC. Afterwards we did some Land Nav. It is pretty boring stuff but I ended up getting 6 out of 6 points. I was too HOOAH for my own good that I figured if I got back early I had more time to chill. I was sadly mistaken and had to go back out and find more points. Then we finished the weekend with the Basic Rifle Marksmanship. I qualified but I should get better as time goes on.

So I did a lot of "warrior" tasks and proved to myself that I am tactically and technically proficent but I still don't feel like I am ready for LDAC. I think I need to keep my guard up and continue to prepare in the same intensity I am currently doing. Although a bunch of other things in my life are at a stand still, I find that it may be worth it as long as I kick LDAC in the ass.

"You are not Superman"

This week has been really rough at work, at the gym, and at the trails. I have a bad habit of being committed to everything I am a part of. I guess its not always bad but somtimes it turns out that way. I am worried about going to "LDAC" this summer because if I don't pass I will not become an officer and everything I've done would have been for nothing. This fear has coused me to discipline myself a little more then I usually do. I also enjoy mountain biking more then any other activity I have started. I would even go as far as calling it a passion. This passion forces me to want to incorporate mountain biking into my fitness plan just because I enjoy it. Now there's work. It is what I want to do for the rest of my life. Just thinking about calling myself an "RF Electrical Engineer" is making me feel like I have accomplished something. I work for an awesome company that I would really enjoy working for when I am done with college and/or the military.

This week I have been getting up at 0400 in order to go to the gym in the mornings before work. I workout for hour and a half and then go to work. I usually get to work arounf 0645-0700. Monday,Thursday, and Friday (today) I am going to have to work really late. Monday and Thursday I already worked until 2000. The time card shows 13 hours in one day. I get home around 2130 and do some chores around the house to get to be by 2300 just to wake up in a few hours. Then on Tuesday and Wednesday I was able to hit the trails which was enjoyable. I did endo on Wednesday and I hurt my elbow. It has been a really long week and this weekend I have ROTC stuff but it shouldn't be that bad compared to the last few ones.

So I woke up this mornin rather late. I got up at 0600 and woke my mom up. She saw me and I had this look of exhaustion. The first thing she says is"Paul, you are not Superman... You need your rest just like the all human beings." I know I need my rest but I do not like it when people question my committment. I usually go a little m0re then what is expected of me because I want the people I work with to know that they can trust me. Hopefully it is not going to ruin my life but right now it is kicking my ass trying to keep up with a schedule I set up for myself.

Weekend Recap

This past weekend was pretty uneventful and filled with the same old stuff.

Friday:
After work a few of my co-workers and I decided to go to Happy Hour at a place called Beacon Street Grille. The beers were pretty high on my scale of what I should pay for a pint but all is well when in good company. I ordered sushi because I am one huge sushi fan. I learned a valuable lesson that American Lagers and Japanese food DO NOT taste very well. It was also fun hanging out with a bunch of the guys while we talked about girls, girls, and more girls. I ended up having 2 beers and then then calling it quits and going home.

Saturday:
I spent the morning doing trail maintenance at Round Valley State Park. A section was eroding pretty bad so we filled it in and spent four hours getting bitten by bugs and rolling huge rocks into place. While driving there I was doing about 80-85 MPH which is rare for me. If you know me, you would know that I do not speed at all so I was pretty cautious. As I am driving I see a cop putting his seat up and getting ready to drive out of his "trap" zone. I am thinking he tagged me and I look in my mirrors and he pulls out and has his siren on. I think to myself "F*CK!!!!" this is going to suck. He gets behind me and then immediately shifts the left lane and pulls over this SUV a few cars ahead of me. I was so happy he didn't get me.

Sunday:
Mother's Day in my family does not really mean much. We already do a lot of things for each other that this day was pretty much like any other weekend and we eat out at some different place. I learned that Seventeen Magazine is the reason why the younger generation of women is all messed up. The magazine had articles for girls on how to pick up guys at the beach and how to finally have that summer romance you only read about. There was also an article on how to pick the perfect swimsuit to show off the most cleavage. It just proof that we are all headed for the $hitter. We already know that guy's magazines aren't any better but what are you going to do; the world and the people in it are f*ucked.

Thanks Combatives

I went for a ride yesterday with some people from MTBNJ at 6 Mile Run. I had an awesome time. It was fun not only because I was on a bike but because the group of people I was riding with made everything quite enjoyable. I did have my moments to remember though. Before the ride even started I had flat rear tire because the valve was leaking. I run around a get a spare 29er tube. I rush over to the trail and fix it. The ride starts and we are moving at a good pace but nothing too fast. Then I take my first spill because I leaned the bike to much trying to corner at speed that it washes out from underneath me. Then I end up breaking my pedal on one side. The ride continues and we are moving along crossing over man made bridges and log piles (29ers eat these up BTW). Then We are going across the final bridge which goes over a canal about 5-6 ft. Of course I am the one that falls in. Thanks to combatives I learned how to brak my fall correctly without hurting myself and it worked. I got right up and continued to ride. Then as we approach the end of the ride I end up getting a flat tire in the front. Damn I got tubeless tires for a reason; TO AVOID FLATS!!! How do I get two in one ride? Oh well time to upgrade the wheels I think.

Finally I am going to talk about women and bikes. I think the combination is magnificant. I think that if a man and woman are going to get along, certain sacrifices need to be made by each person. Sometimes you have to accept the lifestyle of the other person and try it out. I am convinced that if a girl wants to be a part of my life intimately, they are going to have to try riding a bike a few times. Luckily my girlfriend now has tried it and continues to ride so she is making the right choices without me having to nag her. She is also my biggest supporter when it comes to racing. No one else in my family is so eager and enthuastic to come to my races and watch me. So for those who think girls on bikes aren't hot check out Niki Gudex. Beautiful woman, XC champion, DH champion and everything else in between.

First Race: Over and Done with

It is Monday morning and I am here at work early and really tired. I decided not to go to the gym because I am pretty tired after the weekend's events. I finished 3rd place at the Waywayanda Spring Clean Race which is the 1st race in the Camp Mor H2H MTB Race Series. I don't think its a bad finish considering its the first race of the season but my field (19-29 Beginners) was not the largest by any means. Here is the recap of the day:

I wake up at 0600 to start the day. I had already packed everything the night before so I was ready to just eat some breakfast and get rolling. Tina and I eventually mount up and leave around 0645. The morning was foggy and a light mist filled the air. I had a feeling the race might be run in rainy wet conditions but I figured it would be ok and just go out and race. We end up getting to the park around 0815 and I start getting ready around 0830. I ride over and sign a waiver and begin my warm-up around 0845. I go and pre-ride/warm-up on the the course. I find some key terrain like hills and choke points and some places to attack. As I am getting back to the start line, I see everyone lined up and ready to go. I get in behind some people and the announcer yells "19-29 Beginners Ready, Set, Go!!" Meanwhile I am in the back while everyone leaves. I had lined up in the back with the wrong field. I says excuse me and work my way up a group of people who hadn't even started. I finally get out and start the race with half a water bottle and tired legs. I catch a few people and make my way to third place but I didn't know it. I see that the guy I had caught up to was moving pretty fast so I decided to ride his wheel. My calf was feeling funny due to the lack of hydration so I decided to just finish the race behind this guy. We spent most of the race going back and fourth and discovered that he was a strong sprinter but not so well on the climbs. I thought to myself that the next hill I would attack and force him to keep up with me. Unfortunately the hill never came and I actually struggled trying to keep him in my sights. The final portion of the race was a fire road sortof downhill where he could sprint his way to a second place finish. Overall it was a good race where I learned more from in one day then I did from reading books and talking to people about their experiences. Although most of people's experiences did help me as far as pre race preparations but next time I can actually use their advice during the race.