Bobby Sweeting

Well, 2010 has been a whirlwind year.  Between graduating, getting married, getting a new job, finding a team, and moving to CT, I figured my racing may end up taking a back seat.  I can’t believe how great CSG has been about letting me continue my normal training routine, giving me the option to work my job around it.  If I’m on the bike from noon to 5 that just means I have to stay at the office until 9:30 at night (or as late as necessary to get everything done!), which sure beats riding the trainer in the dark.

So my training didn’t suffer, but if I couldn’t get to the races then it wouldn’t matter anyways.  With 2010 being my first year racing with an amateur team, I figured this may happen.  I was overly impressed by my team, Globalbike p/b Catoma, as they went above and beyond all of my expectations.  This “amateur” team got me to more national caliber events than I’ve ever done with any pro squad, and gave me more than I needed to succeed.  I’m glad I could be a part of such an awesome organization and cause, and I’m sure we’ll see big things from this team in the future.   As much as I hate to leave, I’m excited to be re-joining the continental scene next season with a team that looks to be one of the best in the country.  I’ll elaborate more later, as all of the paper work is still in progress.

Even though both CSG and Globalbike were awesome, I think we all know that none of this would happen if my wife wasn’t totally awesome.  Between work, training, and traveling it’s tough to find time for much else, but she manages to bring relaxation, and a bit of normalcy, to my life.

It certainly wasn’t all roses though.  I woke up with a bit of a sore throat just a few days before one of my teams more important races, the Presbyterian Hospital Crit.  Having not been sick all year, I figured I was due.  I took the normal precautions: gargle salt water, use the sinus rinse, drink some airborne, take a Zicam, etc.  This routine is usually enough to knock out whatever has decided to make me its host.  Unfortunately, by the time I got to Charlotte I was running a fever and couldn’t drink water without cringing.  It was by far the worst sore throat of my life, with golf ball sized glands.  Well that was 3 weeks, 3 doctor visits, 1 blood test, and 1 round of antibiotics ago.  I didn’t have mono, which was great, but as of 4 days ago I still wasn’t feeling well.  I’m a few days into antibiotics round 2 and I’m feeling much, much better.  My health, that is.  Not my fitness.  I was able to do my first long ride today after a 3 week stint of 1 hour spins and off days.  Needless to say I felt like total crap.  At least I was able to ride hard and feel that fatigue again, that sunken, dehydrated feeling after a hard day.  It didn’t take much to get me there, but it’s a start.

Now if I can only get my dog to stop eating my fingers so I can get some sleep.  Did I mention that earlier?  Well yeah, I got a crazy little Jack Russell Terrier named Allie (Alligator? UF? Get it?)  Goodnight guys, keep the rubber side down.