After finishing off my sophomore year with some solid grades in June, I had exactly 80 days of summer until my junior year of highschool started. In the first week of summer, I really got to relax. I basically chilled, went swimming, and did a lot of biking.
The next week, I went to a Health Explorers Camp at the University of Michigan. One of the professions that appeal to me is a trauma surgeon. It's something I'd like to look into at least. This camp was four days and we looked into many of the health fields, such as dentistry, emergency medicine, and pharmacy. Suprisingly, dentistry somewhat appealed to me. I learned a lot on this camp and it really got me thinking about college. The campus was beautiful and I had a lot of fun.
Soon after this camp, I went to the 2012 USA Cycling Juniors U23 Elite Road National Championships. In simpler terms, I went to junior road nationals. I was very pleased with how I did. I got 14th in the road race, 16th in the time trial, and 4th in the criterium. These races pushed me to the limits. It was very hot and the importance of hydration was really enforced into my head. I am excited to do 15-16 girls again next year and hope to bring home some hardware.
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| My medal from nationals |
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| On the podium. |
After road nationals, I went to New York to my first USA cycling development camp. This was an amazing experience. We stayed at college dorms and woke up early every day to go a ride. When I
think of New York, I think of big cities such as New York, New York. However, we stayed in the northern part of NY where there were many mountains, lakes, and trees. Not only did we ride at the camp, but we also did tests which were sent to USA cycling to determine whether or not we will be invited to the Olympic Training Center. These tests were uphill and even though they were not very far in terms of milage, they were very hard. Living in the area where I live, there are almost no hills, yet alone mountains (just to prove my point- even the local ski hill is built on a garbage pile, not a real hill). I learned a lot about bike maintanence, turning professional, bike fittings, and bike handling. This camp was really fun and it is definitely something I would recommend to anyone, whether they are 14 or 20 years old and definitely something I could do again.
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Me, 20 guys, 3 coaches, and one world champion (Gordon Singleton--- it was awesome!
He talked to us about his racing experience - really motivational!) |
The last day of camp, I left knowing that it was an experience I would remember for the rest of my life. I went to Canada with my mom to join the Mt. Borah team for the Tour de Rimouski. (Check out my blog on that race-- http://daniellemullis.blogspot.com/2012_07_01_archive.html).
We spent a day in Montreal first...
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| Mommy Mullis :) |
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| Notre Dame Cathedral |
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| Inside Notre Dame Cathedral |
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| China Town. |
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| People doing Tai Chi (this was so cool!) |
Once I came back from Rimouski, I went to Wisconsin to a drum major camp (http://daniellemullis.blogspot.com/2012/08/fjm-drum-major-camp.html) then came back the next week for band camp (http://daniellemullis.blogspot.com/2012/08/marching-band-camp.html).
Over the summer I did many Michigan races. I upgraded to a cat 3 on the road at the end of last year. I raced a lot of cat 3 races and gained a lot of experience riding with the fast pro 1/2 riders.
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| I raced and set all new 200, 500, 1k and 2k records for my age group on the track. |
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| I was in a team pursuit team with my brother and 2 other teammates. |
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| My grandparents bought me a Trek Cronus cyclocross bike! |
In the last week of summer, we adopted a new cat. His name is Printz and is a very big cat!
I also took my first online class. It was a government class and boy, it was a lot of work! If we turned in any assignments late, we got an automatic 0% for the assignment so I really had to be efficient and remember when my assignments were due. It was a lot of work but I'm glad I did the government class (which is a state requirement) online, instead of doing it at school.
I also took a drivers ed class (segment one) towards the end of the summer and I will get my permit in September!
Speaking of classes, the summer is now over and I've started school. It has been a great summer and one I will never forget.
