The Real Deal

Ahhh Worlds is OVER; part of me is happy, the other part is... also happy haha. The competition was great; i had an awesome time racing the world's best, but it's been a long year with a few bumps in the road and a decent chunk of my training never happened- which is nobody's fault but my own. Next season, starting Oct 1, i will be keeping an online blog style training journal, which will include all my workouts and my diet. It will also include exactly how i felt in each session as well as what was going through my head while i was doing it- i will provide the link once it is set up.

The Asian countries are definitely stepping their game up and showing the rest of the world that to be the best you have to put in the work; too many kids now-adays dont understand that concept. I was really let down to hear about sebastian arce from colombia, he was my pick to be the star of worlds this year- i hope he gets his health back sooner than later. With his absence, arose a new world stud from china taipei- Son Qingyang; the kid is incredible. Wei Lin Lo, also from china taipei, won his first individual gold this year, which was well deserved; he's been one of the fastest guys at worlds for the past 3-4 years, if not longer, and has always come up short. A lot of skaters stand out in my mind, but with long day of travel yesterday, my memory is near non-existent.

To clear up a few cloudy rumors traveling around at the moment:

• I was not under any contractual obligation at the world championships - i chose each part of my product by my own will and received no compensation for those choices
• I currently am a 'free agent' and have not signed any deals with any companies, nor have i made any verbal agreements to what will happen for the future
• I do plan on skating next year on inline and i do plan on skating indoor, including nationals; the goal being to clear up peoples' ideas that i've 'lost my touch' so to speak
• The seven fingers held up at worlds does not represent any monetary value, it represented my 7th gold medal of the championships

Anyway, back to the trip... one of the best after parties i've been to ever! It seems that the worst organization is complimented by a dope after party (first spain, now china)- but i can't give the credit to the organizers of worlds this year, the good chaps from new zealand set this one up at a local bar called the Oasis. This place is run by a really nice couple who both speak english and happened to welcome us with open arms. At one point there was a bull frog the size of a softball sitting on the pool table pissing, and of course peter michael drinking a pint of beer out of someone's shoe (this is known as a shoey)... it was good times. NOTE: if you want a couple free drinks at the oasis, just give them your overall trophy, works every time haha... seemed like a fair trade, pus i was REALLY thirsty and all i had in my hand was my trophy cup- what other solution was there?

China was hot and humid, kinda like the worst day in florida- but every single day. It wasn't exactly easy to breathe there either, mostly because chinese people LOVE smoking, especially inside... especially in our hotel... especially RIGHT outside our room. We changed rooms with about 4 days left, but the damage was done, i felt like i was going to die every morning when i woke up; i was coughing up this awesome yellowish, greenish stuff. That, accompanied with some minor chest pains, led me to believe that i  had emphazima or however you spell it... then i hypothesized that the chest pains came from swinging my arms too hard in the 200m... i apparently strained a chest muscle or somethin; this, ladies and gentlemen, assures me that my choice to give up my dream of becoming a doctor and to instead pursue a career in skating was completely just and a very good judgment call on my behalf (thats a lie, but if i could be a jerk like house and get away with it, I'M IN) .

im pretty excited to see what happens for the next season; there are a ton of things on my plate and its a good thing because im HUNGRY. First, NSC- in my opinion, this is going to change our sport and there have also been a lot of rumors floating around about what this thing is really going to be about...

• by no means is NSC scripted... not even a little bit... it's legit sport by passionate athletes which is going to bring more excitement than you could even imagine; we don't need to make it fake
• harry vogel won't be skating the first event because he made prior obligations to attend different races around the same time frame- my assumption is that he has a new brand and needs as many SKATERS to see it as possible to get it off the ground and a good way to do that is to skate meets where those skaters will be in attendance. He was on board before this, so again, this is my assumption... we will see what happens for the subsequent races.
• we already have several local sponsors interested in what we're doing; this is going to be huge
• The site will be live in just a few days, check http://www.pronsc.com/ on Oct 3

Second, my sponsorship situation for next year. I have a few legit offers and really look forward to moving forward with my career. Opening new doors is always yields exciting results and keeps things fresh when they start to seem a little stale. It gives me a new set of goals to work toward.

Third, my main race goals for next year are as follows:

• something i haven't had any desire to do in years has suddenly sparked my interest again with everything going on: Win Indoor Nationals- not just overall, every race
• i don't know if it's ever been done before: Win every race at trials
• there are 2 titles that i haven't been able to attain at worlds: Win 200m, Win 10k Points/Elim on Track; i will work to win all that i can at worlds, but these 2 races are my primary concern

I have plans to start a technical video that i've been wanting to shoot for the past 4 years or so, if anyone can help with this, i would greatly appreciate it. Im looking for quality videography accompanied by someone who really knows what they're doing when it comes to editing.

One last thing, thanks to EVERYONE who's been reading and also to those who have been complimentary in their comments, both on facebook and on here, much appreciated.