#posttour

So it's been a while since I've written on here. I guess I just needed a little break from updating. I didn't intend to just let this website stop at once, and for that, I apologize. I'm going to try to recount my adventures after the trip, but I'm not promising the most exciting material - certainly not as exciting as riding across the country. =P Anyway, after I left the group at Oregon, I headed to Vancouver to go to a media conference called SIGGRAPH. I'm not going to go too much in detail with this because it doesn't really pertain to cycling, but it was super exciting to be around so many people in the media industry. I got to talk with Disney, Pixar, Framestore, and so many more large companies. I even had an interview with Disney Animation Studios! Anyway, the conference lasted for about a week, then I got on a plane to head home. Even though the airport lost my luggage (which was found and delivered later), it was so nice to be home again. As soon as I walked outside the airport, it was extremely apparent that I was in the humidity that was North Carolina in summertime. I got to eat local food and meet with so many of the people that followed my blog. If I didn't get to see you in the few days that I was home, I apologize. If you'd like to reach me, just comment and I'll be happy to hear what you have to say. Last weekend, I went home to pick up my bike box! It has been almost a month since I've touched a bike and that feels like way too long. I put it together and rode it around a few times. The feeling of flying is still there after so many days on the bike. It's a feeling I'll probably never grow tired of. I also received a package from across the ocean! Many thanks to Brendan Traynor for sending me awesome socks! It was such a great early birthday present. I've already worn them around campus a lot, but haven't gotten a chance to write about it until now. Thanks again! On Friday, I was feeling a little down due to being loaded with school work. I decided to take a break for about an hour and a half to climb the mountain I trained on - Elk Mountain. It looked really cloudy and sure enough, as soon as I reached the start of Elk Mountain, it started pouring. It didn't let up until I got to the top. Due to the weather conditions and my lack of recent riding, I didn't expect to beat any of my times, but I was very wrong. I beat all of my ascending times! I didn't beat all my descending times because I was being careful on the wet road. One thing I noticed different about going up the mountain now is that my legs weren't suffering at all. It was all a heart workout for me. I imagine that if I do enough cardio, I can shave another few minutes off my time. Pretty exciting! I'll get around to doing the last two week's videos eventually! I promise! Thanks all of you for following the blog and thanks to all the ACA riders that joined me on this adventure of a lifetime! Until next time Alex