Let's Get Down to Business

first off, the picture on the right is the Catedral de Barcelona all lit up at night, its my favorite part of the city at night


So I'm realizing that it has already been about a month since my last post..

I keep thinking that I should blog to try and keep everyone up to date on my life, I just never seem to get around to it. When I actually get access to the internet I usually end up checking my email and thats about it.

So, just as an update this is what I've been up to for the month of March:

Keanan and Lonni were here for a week and we did a Ton. Sorry to them for making them exhausted on their vacation.
When I say a ton I mean it:
National Museum of Catalunyan Art,
All of Port Vell and the Beach
Sta. Maria del Mar
Catedral de Barcelona
La Rambla
Fuente Magica
Plaza Reial
Tibidabo
Montserrat (they went, I was in class)
Figueres and the Dali Museum
Girona
Sitges (again, they went while I was on a different trip)
That's a lot for a week..

Aside from Keanan and Lonni,
I also, went to
Monastery of Santes Creus
Montblanc
A Cava Factory
And!
Baden-Baden, Germany
Kehl, Germany
and Strasbourg with Sarah and her friends

After all of that I had midterms which went just well enough. HaHa and then this week was a week of classes and now we have a week of Spring Break for Semana Santa. Most everyone is travelling around the continent and even a few to Africa, which just sounds awesome. So for me, this is going to be a really relaxed week.

When I get another chance to post I will go more in depth about things that have been going on and try to give a little insight into the Spanish language that I've been noticing in my time here.

That's it for now I'll be sure to get back to everyone over the weekend. Hope that you guys haven't given up on me!

As you can see, I strayed a little from the original title..

Europe

I’ve been told that I’m lucky.

Spain itself is about the size of Texas, and Europe is, for argument’s sake, about the size of the US.

I’ve been told that traveling around is cheap and easy.

As of yet, I haven’t really had the chance to travel too much. I went to Andalucia by bus, but that was all included in my program, so I didn’t have to worry about travel arrangements.

I’ve been told how many amazing things there are to see and events there are to go to..

I am lucky enough to be able to go to some incredible cycling events while I’m here, but at what cost? I’ve spent the last month and a half here without a bike of any sort. I envy crap that will hardly roll. I will continue for the next 2.5 months without a bike as well.

While it may be true that I wouldn’t be able to ride my bike now at school due to the cold and the snow, that only offers me a little consolation. I spend my time below ground on public transportation, at the mercy of whichever computer is controlling the temperature and whichever fluorescent lights decide to flicker or go out. Above ground, it’s probably bright and sunny and in the 70’s.

You don’t really appreciate things until they are taken away from you. At Etown, I would walk by my bikes on a day like this and think, “Damn, I should really get out for a ride.. or I could go take a nap..”

If I could just walk out of this room and hop on a bike, I don’t think that there would be anything that could get me to turn around. I truly understand what people mean when they say it takes heart to compete in the higher levels of any professional sport. Anyone can train day in an day out… that’s for sure. But right now, I feel like I could get on a bike and take any one of them on. There wouldn’t be anything to keep me from the next pedal stroke.

I suppose that first pedal stroke that I take in May is going to be the best one of my life.

Picture it:
4 months without a bike of my own.
5 days of following one of the most prestigious bike races ever
3 days of the largest bike show in Spain
2 days of World Cup Trials Riding
1 day of ProTour XC Racing
~100 days of staring at bikes in shops

All in pursuit of a ride of my own.

I have a couple of leads on some used bikes here, but for 100 euros to buy the bike I want, then 140 more to ship it home, then 30 more for enough chains and locks to keep it, it just doesn’t seem worth it.



On one particularly inspired night last summer, after a long days ride or maybe a broken rib or two I wrote the following. It’s what keeps me going:

There is nothing on this earth that can mimic the feeling of going fast under your own power, cranking, leaning, charging, hurting, coasting, burning, or flying.

Nothing.


Now, that’s not exactly what I’d planned on saying for this entry, but it just sort of happened. It made me miss riding so bad, that I am going to go for a run I think.. It’s the best thing that I’ve got. I’ll at least get the hurting and the burning in.. who cares if Spaniards will look at me funny, don’t they do that already??