The Pedal Log

This weekend was my last spent racing in the ACCC, and, represents my penultimate trip with the Belmont Abbey College cycling team. My emotions are spilling over and swirling together. I'm excited for the "what's next" of my life. But, wow, it's hard to leave this family behind. I never thought I'd spend two years of my undergrad as a student athlete. What a blessing to have had my friends and family support me in pushing out the door towards this grand adventure! I'm especially thankful for my parents, who walked with me faithfully through more than their fair share of my emotional adversity, my aunt and uncle, who consistently opened up their home/refrigerator to me whenever I had a bad day, and to my Belmont Abbey College friends, who snatched me out of my aloneness. I've certainly learned more in these past 24 months than I ever bargained on. I am in awe when I look back on what I, rather clumsily, accomplished and or survived . This experien...

I don't remember a race season that hasn't started this way. With feelings of excitement, the drudgery of hard training and early season racing evaporates as personal goals peak their hopeful rays over the horizon. Many times already this year, my hands and feet numb in the cold, my frozen face has hidden behind it daydreams of race wins miles and months away from the training that fills my days. I am a romantic. I like to think that one day I'll get it right, I'll win a "big race", I'll land a contract, and then I'll be fulfilled as a person and a cyclist. But, in reality, I know this idealization isn't reasonable. Perhaps it's because I've been chasing for so long. Years have passed without a standout performance to hang my hat on. Granted, there have been more than a few obstacles that have prevented such an event from happening. Sickness, accidents, and uncertain futures have all plagued my efforts. Each year I expect my circumstances...

You may be wondering why I've not been writing. Well, I have. Family and friends, here is my first thesis essay draft of my undergrad. It has nothing to do with bike racing, riding, or otherwise pedaling. But, if you're interested, I've attached everything I know about horizontal gene transfer below.  Abstract Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is the term used to describe a modification of genetic material in an organism that occurs during the lifespan of a single generation. This process interrupts the continuity of normal DNA conservation (heredity) within a population causing changes to the chromosomal complexes of the organisms via homologous recombination, additive integration, or by adding autonomous genetic elements (most often plasmids). These alterations occur through three pathways defined by the terms Transformation, transduction, and conjugation. HGT can occur in plant cells and there is limited evidence for HGT between animal cells. Howev...