31 Days.

One of the problems I have with blogging is that I post countless amounts of entries then, when life gets busy, I stop writing. Then when I 
decide to start writing again, I want to start fresh, so I make a new blog. It's a never ending circle with me. I've been reading Sean's blog for a while now and it made me realize how much I miss writing. I actually went out the other day and spent my last dollar on a notebook at Target. I didn't want to use it until I had money to buy new pens because nothing beats writing in a new notebook like brand new pens. Well, I finally bought new pens on Monday, mainly because I was going to fill out an application at a shop and wanted to look professional by having my own pen. Well I was so nervous about the application and meeting the manager, I forgot my brand new blue pen in the car. Go figure.

So what's new in the life of Paige Alexandra? Not much, really. I picked up a job at Sidecca around Thanksgiving and have gotten so use to saying, "Bye! Have a great evening!" that I catch myself almost saying it to total strangers who are leaving a store that I'm shopping at. And is it just me or have parents given up on parenting altogether? I find 
myself standing in my store watching kids run amuck, screaming at the top of their lungs, unfolding every single tshirt and pair of jeans, then stuffing them back where they were neatly folded just 30 seconds 
before. I'm hoping to actually land the job at the shop I was talking about earlier before Sidecca is burnt to the ground by the middle schoolers that come in on a daily basis (or even the employees). 

I recently decided to try not eating meat for a week. It's day 6 and I'm feeling pretty good, to be honest. I'm definitely not making it a permanent thing, though. Vegetarianism is not my thing and I find myself eating out more because when I AM home, it's usually late at night, and the only things microwaveable are pepperoni pizza bites, corn dogs, or chicken nuggets. I'm also allergic to most fruit we have in the house so, unless I wanna blow up like a balloon, I eat out.
 

I finally got the motivation I was looking for to get back on my bike. Ever since the 2010 racing season started for both Track and Road, I've been attending races on almost a weekly basis and meeting the most friendliest and helpful people I have ever met in my life. I've conversed with World Champion & Olympic individual pursuit rider, Taylor Phinney, and watched him race and train on the same velodrome I trained at last year. I've briefly met 2006 Tour of California & Tour de France winner, Floyd Landis (without realizing it haha), and will soon be helping out the OUCH-Bahati Foundation Pro Cycling team at the local SoCal races when needed. I really honestly can say that a lot of my motivation has come from certain individuals (like Ryan, Greg, Chris and most importantly, Collin).

With motivation obviously comes riding. I started training last week, logging in a total of 110 miles in 2 days. I rode the longest distance I have ever ridden in my life (70 miles) and let me tell you, it was a cake walk until I some how let Greg and James persuade me into riding to Seal Beach after riding to Huntington Beach from Yorba Linda at seven in the morning haha I decided a few months ago that I wanted to pursue a career as a professional cyclist. I'm slowly getting my foot in the door and learning the ins and outs of road racing (since my mild fall at the velodrome last June, I've only returned once and don't really see myself riding it anytime soon). I'm trying to pick up more hours at work so I can pay off my Kestrel that my friend and his father are selling me for $1,400. It's definitely going to take me a long time to pay off mainly because my biweekly checks have been around $180. That's not going to cut it.

So now it's 1 o'clock in the morning. I just turned on Pandora's Blink-182 station. Oh man, why haven't I checked out this website before?!?! Pandora's first choice was "Dammit" by Blink-182, which is my favorite Blink-182. I think I'll let this station play for a few more minutes before I hit the hay. I have to be in Long Beach in about 8 hours for the Long Beach Bicycle Grand Prix. I'm really stoked that this race is happening, mainly because it's in such a beautiful city and it's part of an amazing festival (Long Beach Bike Festival). Plus, I get to see a lot of my favorite people race for big money!

And with that, I leave you with the follow quote:

"Big thanks for everyone who is supporting and a special thanks to those who hate." — Rahsaan Bahati, Co-Founder of the OUCH-Bahati Foundation