What a week it has been following Labor Day. I have decided sometime in the near future I will be leaving my beloved racing team of over four years. It was a tough decision, but one I felt needed to be made. There have been lots of little pesky items on my mind for a while, but in the end, I truly feel the need for change. I feel as as if the team has done everything it can to develop me as the athlete I am today. Looking back, I have grown from a lowly sport racer to racing among the fastest mountain bikers in the state. A midpack Cat 5 road racer to a strong Cat 3. A fearful force in the Xterra age group. A beginner Cross racer to hanging with some of the best in the state. I’m looking upwards now. Getting a Pro license in MTB, moving up to a Cat 1 or 2 on skinny tires and Cross racing, and a Pro license in Xterra. It is time for me to look beyond grassroots racing and towards associations that can help me achieve these higher goals.  I have no idea what those new associations will be, but I will when the time is right. It has been an absolute honor representing NRC/Pedalmasher (now NRC/Kona) and I wish the team the very best. Colleen will remain on the team, so in reality, I will still be very much a part of the team too.

Racing is not life though, and that news if dwarfed by the talk I had with my architecture firm Thursday. They have decided to disband effective October 1, which means I will sort of be out of work. The news didn’t really come as a surprise. Times really are tough in this profession and they finally caught up with us. I enjoy my work there, but the recent slow pace along with other life happenings (keep reading!) have had me thinking about finding new work anyways. My boss here in Austin has offered to keep me on as part time contract work, and I will probably accept this until I can transition into something new.

Work comes and goes, and that news is further dwarfed by the really big announcement. Colleen and I are engaged!! Yes, despite warnings from my brother and bachelor friends to not do such a silly thing, there comes a time in a caveman’s life when he has to take the leap and throw his woman over his shoulder. My time happened to be Friday night. We’ve been dating since January 2008. She’s been there with me through all the times-good and bad. We go together like peas and carrots, and I’m not sure why peas and carrots go together, but they just do! I love this woman with all my heart and I look forward to our life adventures together. Neither one us knows when or where the wedding will be, so don’t ask. You’ll get an invite if you’re in the “cool” crowd. I’m kidding, but seriously, three days into our engagement and this question is already getting old!

So, the culmination of all these events has led to another pretty big decision. Colleen and I will be moving to Colorado. After visiting Breckenridge this summer for a killer bike race, we both fell in love with what Colorado has to offer. We were initially thinking Breckenridge, but are leaning a little more towards Durango now. We’re taking a 9 day trip at the end of September to visit lots of cities and get a better feel for where we want to be. Don’t be sad that we’re leaving though! We’re full blooded Texans and not so sure we can dish out the cold winters there. Not sure we could fully leave behind all our great Texas friends and family either. Since we both own property in Austin, our goal is to find some land we can build a cabin on, live there in the warmer months, than scoot back down to Texas when the daily high starts to hover around 35 degrees. Hopefully we rent out the cabin to skiers and such so that we’re never really having to pay more than one mortgage at a time. So, what Texas lacks in moderate climate and neverending places to ride mountain bikes, Colorado makes up for. But what Colorado lacks in Texas hospitality and social atmosphere, Austin makes up for. Sounds to me like the best of both worlds. Don’t know how well it will work out with employment and finances and such, but I don’t care. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. It is what our hearts desire and even if we have to take on jobs as loggers and waitstaff, so be it. Life is too damn short to let things hold back your dreams. It is time to quit the rat race, and move on to places where time is measured in sunrise and sunset.

This wraps up my news. If you currently contact me through my work email account, I’d ask that you switch to my personal email at aardvark31@juno.com . You can always keep up to date through the blog as well. One last note, I’m not moving to Colorado tomorrow, so no need for goodbyes at this point. We might not make it there until the spring snow melt, but who knows? Just keep in touch, as I will try my best as well. Thanks for checking in. If you’ve got dreams that are being hampered by fear or uncertainty, quit worrying and start doing! There is plenty to think about, but nothing to worry about.

Cheers,
Greg