Inevitably it seems that I continually get very backlogged in writing blog posts and lately has been no exception! About a week ago I moved out to Trexlertown, Pennsylvania to spend my summer interning at the Valley Preferred Cycling Center, affectionately known in the Track Cycling world as "T-Town". The velodrome here is world class and plays host to a handful of UCI pre-Olympic races. It's been super wild to watch Olympians train and race here, and the real races haven't even picked up yet!
While I'm here I am working as a marketing intern, but I'll also be spending a considerable amount of time behind the lens of my camera in order to help the track better advertise its community programs and high profile UCI races. Outside of work I've been super excited to begin discovering all of the riding and training opportunities that I now have at my disposal due to the large riding scene in the area. On Wednesday, I took part in my first "T-Town Derby", a big and fast group ride that covers 30 miles with about half being at tempo pace and half being an all out effort. Then the next day I hopped into a training criterium just across the street from my office and managed to take home a win in the "B" race. Hopefully I only have to complete one more "B" race before getting bumped to the "A" race, which is where Olympians and Pro cyclists battle it out with overly optimistic amateurs such as myself.
For the rest of the summer I'm just hoping to find my groove here and continue to produce work that pushes my expertise even farther, all while training for my own final collegiate mountain bike season next fall. Every day is a busy one, and I find myself out of the apartment at 8:30 am, only to come back frequently as late as 10:00 pm, but it all seems to be well worth it!
