Ashley Barson: 2011

I have wanted to update my blog more than I can explain, but when I have homework on my mind I feel like this would be very unproductive and thus I continue with homework. It's hard to explain what goes through my head when I am smothered with homework, but I can tell you sleep along with blogging and tweeting gets the boot. Not good habits and I full understand that, but with only one more week of school left I will soon have much more time for blogging and tweeting!

These last few weeks of school have been...crazy to say the least! I have been working all term on researching office design, finalized by applying that research to our own design. The best part is we were able to choose the company we want to to design the office space for. It was quite obvious to me that it would be cycling related as none of my class mates would choose something remotely close it and I wanted mine to stand out. WHY? Well not only is this class the highest weighted course and you want to have a good mark, but this project is for a scholarship with Staples Business and Allsteel Office.

Last week on the 30th we had arrange our projects on desks in the classroom so that the panel of designers from Allsteel could select what they thought was the top three projects were and those three students would then have the opportunity to present their project to a panel of interior designers and furniture designers in Toronto on the 18th. Well... the night of the 30th I received a e-mail from my prof saying I was going to Toronto on the 18th.

While my first reacted was SWEET! It very quickly turned into a 'Oh ****!'. I can't explain how much work I have to do in other classes in the last two weeks, but now I have to continue with this project and meet with profs and enhance what I have. Mean while all my classmates are done with that project and only have to worry about other classes.

Once I finally concluded that this is not only a really good opportunity to

win some money to help out with school, but this would be really good networking with interior designers in the industry (I have 8 months off of school coming up, a job would be really handy) I applied my theory I use while biking, 'Just F*** It!' Basically don't hesitate, just go for it!

So to conclude my rant and on the note of cycling, I will be racing P2A on the 17th and on the 18th I will be in Toronto hopefully accepting a scholarship :D

(: *****I will be posting updates on both, as school will be done after the 18th***** :)

...My office is designed for SCOTT...Pics will be posted...

There is promise, as I just took time out of homework to write this!

Having time off school for the holidays provides you with an abundance of free time, and what better way to spend it than at Joyride 150! Since I was there last winter there has been several changes, and by changes I mean more fun. More skinnies have been added in the beginner section as well as a whole new expert section, which includes drop offs, teeter todder, and a very narrow pole you have to try to ride across. The pump tracks haven't changed at all, but not to worry they are still as fun as ever!

When I went to Joyride previously I brought my XC bike with, but realized quickly that everything but the XC course is designed for a bike with a smaller wheel base, thus making it much more fun to ride a dirt jumper or bmx bike. That said, my XC bike stay at home this time and I decided to rent a dirt jumper. Much more fun for this type of riding! It does take some getting use to not being able to sit down and using non clip-less pedals, but after a while you adapt.

I warmed up with a few XC loops and riding the pump track till I was nice and toasty, then I was off to the other room. Before hitting the jumps I thought it would be smarter to ride some skinnies and get a good feel for balancing this bike. Surprising to me, I found the jumper easier to balance on the skinnies than the XC bike. Nonetheless, I was ready for some air! I had some trouble the previous year getting air and had my mind set that I wasn't leaving till both wheels were off the ground for a respectable amount of time. Two or three times around the jumps and we had take off! After completing my mission faster than I expected I spent the remaining couple hours off and on riding the jumps, taking breaks and riding other sections.