This time of the school year is absolute agony...

Well, here it is again. Approaching May, with a little more than a month left for school. It is going to be the longest month of my life, I can just feel it. I don't understand how this happens, this sluggish, unwilling attitude that grips me and my fellow students around this time each year. My head keeps telling me to press on with schoolwork, extracurriculars, and studying for AP tests and finals, et cetera, but I am mentally spent. I realize that this is just a fact of life that we all have to deal with, but regardless, I will be among the happiest to finally reach summer vacation so that we can all take a breather.

Wednesday Time Trial

So I did my first time trial yesterday at Panther Creek park, which was organized by River City Racing, the local team. I got there a bit late, so I got to start dead last. That's kind of a good thing, considering that makes it impossible for me to be caught, which really is demoralizing. I did manage to pass the two people in front of me, and came desperately close to passing a third person, whom I caught just after the finish line. I only averaged 20.67 miles per hour, which put me around the 9.8 mile course in about 28 minutes. Despite my mediocre time, I can't wait until next month when I can improve upon my time.

Liege-Bastogne-Liege 2010

I must say that I am surprised and a bit disappointed. This race is a Classic that waas won by Eddy Merckx 5 times, earning him the title "Mr. Liege-Bastonge-Liege. This year, the race was won by Alexandre Vinokourov, a Kazakh rider who was suspended for doping 3 years ago at the 2007 Tour de France. He was completely unrepentant, and now most of the professional peloton and fans alike hate his guts. Now that he has actually won something of prominence, it raises the question "Is he back on the juice?" I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt until something is actually proven, but I would not be surprised at all if a positive test pops up somewhere in the next couple of months. If not, well then, Congratulations Vino, good ride.

President Obama

There seems to be a great deal of hateful feelings and attitudes directed at our Commander in Chief recently. The aggravation claims to be stemming from health care reform, or whatever other policy he is thinking about enacting, but I think that it is just an excuse for some people to launch against him in their own personal crusade. I don't agree with everything that Mr. Obama is doing and plans to do, but I do need to get one thing straight. All politics aside, whether we like it or not, this man is in charge of the entire nation. I don't think that we necessarily have to like him on a personal level, and certainly should there be political opposition, but regardless of both of these things, he is our President. Bottom line. He deserves our respect and support as citizens of the United States. When Mr. Bush was President, I didn't agree with all of his policies either, but anytime people would begin to bash him, I was glad to defend him, and likewise with Mr. Obama. He has the most stressful job on the planet. I know that both of them have done and will continue to do a better job than me, and besides, I don't think the Presidency is a job anybody truly wants. Especially not after actually understanding what all it entails. The office should be respected, no acceptions. To quote an unknown person, "The man on top of the mountain did not fall there." He is in the position he needs to be, and I think that personal issues need to be set aside if we are going to recover and flourish again as a country.

Fabian Cancellara- What an athlete.

I think it's safe to say that Fabian Cancellara is my all-time favorite professional cyclist. It's no secret that he has had an amazing career already, and at only 29 years old, he is sure to be dominating for many years to come. With impressive palmares like 3 Tour de France prologues resulting in a week in the yellow jersey, along with a win in Classics such as the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, and Milan Sanremo. He also is the current world time trial champion, for the third time in his career. While any self-respecting cyclist would be more than happy with any one of these results, Cancellara just keeps getting better and continues to dominate. Take the last 3 weeks for example. Fabian is on the form of his life, and has won a race every week since the beginning of April, beginning with the E3 Prijls, followed by a magnificient win in the Ronde de van Vlaanderen (aka the Tour of Flanders), and most recently, at his most clinical, a crushing domination of a very strong field of riders in last Sunday's "Hell of the North", Paris-Roubaix, winning it for the second time. I can't wait until the meat of the season gets here, with Mr. Fabian Cancellara continuing to awe fans around the globe.