Mia Meets Bike
- Thread starter Meatball Mia
- Start date
Turns out if you can follow Bill you can go pro.
Mia this is beautiful; thank you for sharing. You are so brave, and you brought tears to my eyes. To say I am proud of your accomplishments is quite the understatement. I've followed your journey through the NJ NICA program (and that of your wonderful family) from the moment you joined the Rockies and as @Robin mentioned it's made this blog so much more impactful.
Mr.Moto
Well-Known Member
Congratulations on your successes and overcoming some tough challenges so far in your young life. I hope your journey continues to be fulfilling and rewarding for you!
I'm happy to say that I rode with you and your dad in those early years. I think one of the places we rode one time was High Mountain. That park is not an easy place to ride, but you seem to take it stride, rode everything and had no complaints. That's when I thought to myself that riding was going to be your thing. I saw a young rider with drive, immense potential and what I perceived as a love for the sport.
Your riding has certainly far exceeded what I am capable of and I look forward to reading more about your journey.
I'm happy to say that I rode with you and your dad in those early years. I think one of the places we rode one time was High Mountain. That park is not an easy place to ride, but you seem to take it stride, rode everything and had no complaints. That's when I thought to myself that riding was going to be your thing. I saw a young rider with drive, immense potential and what I perceived as a love for the sport.
Your riding has certainly far exceeded what I am capable of and I look forward to reading more about your journey.
xc62701
Well-Known Member
So I decided while I was bored studying that I wanted a blog. Mostly, I want to have a place for race recaps, training, fun stuff off and on the bike, and maybe some life updates, so basically a little bit of everything.
Now I’m assuming not many people know who I am so I’ll give a quick little introduction. My name is Mia. I am currently 19 years old, only a few months away from turning 20. I’m currently attending UConn for pharmaceutical sciences. I am also applying to pharmacy schools to hopefully get my PharmD and work in pharmaceutical research and development. I also love to cook and bake. I play fantasy football but suck at it not matter how hard I try. I have an obsession with rainbow sprinkles, Vans (sneakers), and bigfoot. Rumor has it that I also have an obsession with Richie Rude, but that may or may not be true. Just because the day that I hugged him has been one of the best days of my life thus far does not provide evidence for that.
I kind of have an interesting backstory to get me where I am today so I might as well share that now. My dad introduced me to mountain biking when I was 12, so I’ve been riding for almost 8 years now. I've been racing for 7 years and started racing cross country with my NICA team: the East Morris Rockies. I was a founding member along with my sister, and the first season went really well for me. I won every race for the 7th grade girls category. I felt on top of the world and I didn’t train much for the next season where I was moved up to the freshman girl’s category while I was in 8th grade. I did ok that season but all the girls I used to beat started to beat me by a lot, and I didn’t feel good during any of the races. I thought I would have learned from this the next season, but I didn’t. The next season I didn’t even do most of the races and every race I did, I felt like crap, and I considered quitting racing. There was one race in particular that sticks with me to this day. It was down in Camp Edge and it was my first race in JV. By lap one I wanted to die. My back was killing me and I had no energy. At the end of the race, my sister had beaten me, and for reference, I had always beaten my sister when it came to racing and we are competitive with each other so this one hurt a bit. My dad was also extremely disappointed in me, and I was really disappointed with myself. I felt like I had let myself down and my family which I never want to do. Looking back on this now, I think this is where I get my race anxiety from because I don't want to disappoint myself or others.
Then, covid hit. This is where my story gets a little bit sad and hard to share because I’m kind of embarrassed about it sometimes, but it makes me who I am now.
Growing up I had always been overweight and was told to lose weight by my doctors. I was actually told by my doctor when I was like 10 to go to a fat camp because of the way I was. I’ve always been very active so I was healthy in that sense, but a big part of my personality is my love for food. When I was little I just brushed this off and didn’t really think much of it. I thought I forgot it all until the pandemic hit, and I started to reflect on the past season of racing I had. I decided to start to lose weight. I was eating healthier and exercising a bit more but nothing too extreme. The issue came when I started doing more research into dieting, losing weight fast, and calorie counting apps. This led to the development of my eating disorder. I started training like crazy and eating less than a toddler a day. In my mind, I started to connect my weight with my performance on the bike and my worth as a person. The first stage of my eating disorder lasted for a year and got progressively worse because I started to get faster again on my bike and became obsessed with losing weight to go faster and looking like other people. My eating disorder just kept getting worse over the years, but I kept functioning through it. I hid it from the people who cared about me most because I was in denial that I had it. I made excuses for my behaviors when it came to my eating, training, and family. To be honest, I was a bitch to my family during most of my eating disorder. Instead of being nice and free spirited like I always was, I became uptight, anxious, and controlling over everything. It made my relationship with my family really rough and to this day I wish I could go back and change those years because I can never have that time back.
My eating disorder became its worst during my first semester of college. I was physically and mentally deteriorating. I lost a ton of muscle mass and looked not healthy at all, but I told myself I was. I mentally couldn’t handle anything and I lost hope in my life and felt like I was alone and no one cared about me anymore. That’s when I decided enough was enough. I admitted to myself and to my parents that I had an eating disorder. It was also the first time I was medically diagnosed with an eating disorder because I finally went to a doctor about it. I enrolled in an outpatient recovery program during my second semester at school. To say this program basically saved my life is an understatement. I learned a lot about myself and retaught myself a lot of things.
So the positives from this! I’ve been in recovery for almost a year now and I am doing a lot better! I would be lying if I said I don’t have my tough days, but overall I’m back to being a free-spirited person and have grown all my muscle mass back and gained even more. I’ve become the strongest version of myself physically and mentally. Honestly writing this is a very cathartic experience because I’ve bottled this up for almost four years now. I’ve realized it's not something to be ashamed of, but rather an experience that others can learn from too.
Now you’re probably asking, “What about biking?” well back to that…
So through my NICA team, I met @graveyardman67 . He was a coach for my last three years of NICA and that’s when I wanted to get more serious into racing but I don't really know why. It was like I woke up one day and was like I want to race again. I knew he was on team MTBNJ, so I decided to ask him if I could join the team. Well long story short, I made it onto the team and this past season was my third season with the team. I’ve met a lot of incredible people from being on the team, and some people I would consider to be a big part of my life now. It’s safe to say I can’t imagine my life right now without the team. I’ve also found my love for stupid gnar thanks to @JimN and @Wrong Way Dan .
Now the fun stuff: enduro racing! I started enduro racing my first season with the team because I was told I would be good at it so thanks @graveyardman67 and @UtahJoe ! I also had been following Richie Rude for a while so I kind of wanted to do it to be like him too. So my first enduro race was the MASS mountain creek enduro. I raced the U19 girls category and surprisingly won by a decent amount. This race was what sparked it all for me. I fell in love with enduro racing ever since that race. That season of racing I did some races but not a ton. The highlight of that season was winning the ESC Pro Women’s race at mountain creek for my last race of the season. That race is the reason why I'm racing pro today.
My second season of enduro was for the ESC series in the Pro Women’s category. I also got a few sponsors for my season. I didn't win a race that season, but I finished 2nd overall for the series which was pretty sick. I also did the EWS 100 at Burke, which was so much fun and I got the best prize in all my years of racing which was a Cabot cheese box.
This past season of racing has probably been one of my best ever. I wanted to go for the ESC Pro Women’s series again but hopefully win it this time. It was a lot of training and effort, but it all paid off in the end because I am the 2023 Eastern States Cup Pro Women Champion. Winning the series means a lot to me. It kind of proves to me that maybe someday I can go pro in the world circuit with a factory team sponsorship.
Now what I have coming up for this next season/year …
I plan on doing a bunch of the ESC races and try for the series podium once again. This one will be difficult with pharmacy school but it's on my list. I also want to convince my parents to let me do an enduro out on the west coast at some point or an EWS in Europe. Finally, I want to do the Wilderness 101 100 mile MTB race. This goal is kind of loose right now, but it's something I really want to accomplish this season. I just need to find someone dumb enough to do it with me.
Well there it is! Hopefully this wasn’t too much to read (sorry if it was) and stay tuned if you want to hear about what goes on in my training, racing, and life!
Awesome! You've accomplished so much already and you've got plenty of opportunity ahead of you! I remember riding at the Tourne with you and your dad and your sister? That was the Tuesday Tourne rides and you were already crushing it at an early age. I'm not surprised that you have been doing so well! Keep up the good work!
Gene
The Dancing Machine
Bravo @Meatball Mia on being open. As others have said it is NEVER easy!
It is fitting you are at UConn. Their motto in Latin is “Ronit”, meaning “hard timber” “strength “. Lots of good stories from this…
I’ll be a subscriber and proud of you taking this step.
May you continue to enjoy your journey. Both with your team MTBNJ and here…
As far as your fantasy game, you’ll always be the Raiders go to!
It is fitting you are at UConn. Their motto in Latin is “Ronit”, meaning “hard timber” “strength “. Lots of good stories from this…
I’ll be a subscriber and proud of you taking this step.
May you continue to enjoy your journey. Both with your team MTBNJ and here…
As far as your fantasy game, you’ll always be the Raiders go to!
Hey Mia, We have never met, but Utah talks about you endlessly and I almost feel like I know you because of it.
My daughter is in 5th grade next years and we are both excited for NICA! I can't wait to share your thread with her and her friends.
I am so envious of all your travels to cool spots around new england etc. Especially sugarloaf as it means so much to me. Don't be surprised when a 6th grade fangirl is to shy to talk to you but I push her to do so soon enough.
Ride and smile!!
My daughter is in 5th grade next years and we are both excited for NICA! I can't wait to share your thread with her and her friends.
I am so envious of all your travels to cool spots around new england etc. Especially sugarloaf as it means so much to me. Don't be surprised when a 6th grade fangirl is to shy to talk to you but I push her to do so soon enough.
Ride and smile!!
a.s.
Mr. Chainring
Life is hard. You can complain and let it beat you down ... or ... face the obstacles and push forward. Amazing things happen when you take the leap and decide to knock down walls. There is reward and comfort on the other side.
It ain't easy Mia. The walls get bigger. You push harder. Looks to me like you got this. We'll see you on the other side!
It ain't easy Mia. The walls get bigger. You push harder. Looks to me like you got this. We'll see you on the other side!
I love this Mia! Impressed with all you've accomplished & overcome. Excited to follow along with your continued pursuit! I 100% believe you could do well in the EDR series (sadly, no more EWS). The tricky part is qualifying since there are now so few qualifying races in the US or North America. Hit me up if you want to scheme up a way to make this happen. Plenty of races overseas during the summer when you have no classes 😉
serviceguy
Well-Known Member
@Meatball Mia keeping things from us already!
Ouch 😂
For the record he actually only said "Hi Mia" 😂 but if he wished me a happy birthday that would been even more exciting 😁 I think hugging him may have been better though
My semester finally ended, so I thought I would give a little bit of an update on pharmacy schools, my fall semester, and riding. And maybe a little bit of perspective I’ve made on my recovery.
First pharmacy schools. Just for reference, the path I’m taking for pharmacy school is two years of prerequisites which include gen. ed. requirements and some higher level science classes like Organic Chemistry, and then four years in a professional “graduate” program where I will earn my Doctor of Pharmacy title. So I decided to apply to six pharmacy schools: The University of Wisconsin Madison, Virginia Commonwealth University, University of Connecticut, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, UNC Chapel Hill, and the University of Michigan.
Of these schools, I’ve been accepted to UW-Madison, VCU, and MCPHS. I denied my acceptance to VCU. I am still waiting to hear from UNC Chapel Hill and the University of Michigan, but I am less hopeful about UNC because I submitted my application in September and haven’t heard back. They are also one of the best pharmacy schools in the country so their standards are very high. The University of Michigan is still reviewing my application and are waiting for my fall semester grades, so I am still hopeful about it.
UConn is currently where I am completing my first two years. I just had my interview last week and I now need to wait 3-4 weeks for a decision. I like the school. I’ve made some good friends and joined the mountain biking team. The issue here comes with some of the experiences I’ve had with an ex-roommate, my advisors, and the general location of UConn. So I don’t need to go in depth with my crazy roommate story, but the most important notes are that she physically threatened me, she’s also on the pharmacy track, and she took away my whole “friend” group during my first semester at school. Looking back on it, none of those people were actually my friend but it was hard because all of sudden I was alone at school without people to connect with. It’s funny because my sister makes fun of me for being friends with some of my MTBNJ teammates but it's not my fault that most people my age don’t share my same values or priorities. It’s also hard because I had to grow up kind of fast because of my eating disorder and when I tried to open up to my "friends", they shut me out because I was “messed up.” I just can’t deal with stupid, petty drama that people my age like to be involved in. I swear I’m an older woman in a young person’s body. Now my advisors at UConn have been very nice to me, but they make me feel dumb. They question all of my class choices like I’m not smart enough to be in them. This doesn’t make me feel good because an advisor is supposed to support your decisions, and I can safely say that when I didn’t listen to them, I ended up doing pretty well. You would think they would learn, but they didn’t. When deciding on my classes for this spring semester, my advisor refused to raise my credit limit so I could take some extra classes to make sure I hit my prerequisites for all of the other pharmacy schools I applied to since the UConn pharmacy school required less courses than the other ones and I was already ahead on them. They said it was because those courses weren’t “necessary” for me. Like I’m sorry I wanted to apply to other pharmacy schools too. I’m trying to set myself up for the best possible career and UConn just doesn’t seem like the right choice for me right now. The location of UConn is kind of my last issue because it's in the middle of nowhere. It's the closest school to home, but I literally have nothing to do on the weekends or when I have free time. The riding there is not my favorite and anytime I want to ride, I usually have to go by myself, which I don’t always enjoy. Sorry for my little rant, but my admissions process with UConn has been a bit frustrating and disappointing.
Now with pharmacy schools you typically need to make a decision two weeks from your acceptance, which leads me to MCPHS and UW-Madison. The deposit is not binding until the final decision date for all pharmacy schools, which is March 1st, but I don’t want to waste money putting deposits down on a bunch of schools. I’ve made a document with research into these schools, but I’m still very torn. Both schools are great in terms of their program, but each have their own special attributes that makes me want to go there. Wisconsin is a bit far away but it's in an amazing location and has great opportunities. Last week, I went to Boston to visit MCPHS and meet with my admissions counselor. Personally, I love Boston. It’s a great city because it's not really a city to me. It’s more toned down especially since the school is in the Longwood Medical Area. I’m also a Boston Red Sox fan and the school is like 10 minutes from Fenway which is amazing, and I would get student discounted tickets. (I’m sorry but I typically dislike Yankees’ fans so please don’t attack me for that. But what can I say? I've been a Red Sox fan since I was born and I’m proud of it.) I also would get discounted tickets to Bruins games and Celtics games which would also be incredible. But as of now, I’m really stuck between these two schools, so it looks like I’ll be putting a deposit down on both. I’m also not great at making decisions.
On to my semester. I’ll keep this brief because there really isn’t too much to say. It was overall pretty good. My grades were good and my finals went pretty well in my opinion.
Now, riding since I’ve been home. The first day I came home, I just did a quick ride by myself at the Tourne before dark. It was a good ride, and it felt good to be home. I also was able to push the pace a bit and averaged around 8 miles per hour and felt good afterwards. That’s definitely positive going into my off season. On Friday, I went to Jungle Habitat with my dad and did a route that we don’t do that often. It was a ton of fun, even if he goes a little slow sometimes. It was also a good way to get acquainted with rocks again. On Saturday, I did a team Fugawe ride with @JimN , @Wrong Way Dan , @graveyardman67 , @muddybike , @Chris26er , @UtahJoe , and @shrpshtr325 . That ride was just incredible. I also missed some of my teammates, so it was nice to see them. I made it through some sections that shocked me, but I still had a couple dumb moments where I swear I forgot how to ride a bike. That might also be because I skipped practice a few days in a row with my coaches. Today, I rode Fugawe with Jim before the rain. Somehow Jim was able to take me on a route that was possibly better than Saturday’s. I messed up in a few spots that I knew I could’ve made, but I also made this one hill towards the end of the ride that I was not expected to make. Overall, the last weekend of riding has been so much fun and I’m looking forward to riding even more while I'm home for break.
Finally, a little section about some progress I’ve made in my recovery journey. Right now, my biggest concern is relapsing. This gets tough sometimes because my eating disorder tries to take over during times of progress when I’m moving further away from habitats that I’ve formed during my eating disorder. The holiday season makes this especially hard. I know a lot of people feel like they struggle during the holiday season, so I’ll just give a little bit of insight to help myself and anyone else who might be looking for another perspective. My biggest fact is not labeling food as good or bad. All food is good and serves a purpose for your body. No matter if it's a cookie or a vegetable, your body uses it in a similar way. For me personally, it is also helpful to remind myself that I’m an athlete in recovery so my energy needs are greater than most other people. What I view as “a lot” of food right now probably still isn’t as much as my body needs. In general, restriction leads to binging, so I just try not to restrict myself and I find that helps a lot. (Let me know if you like this little section because I can add a little bit about what I've learned throughout each blog post, but if you don’t, I can leave it out.)
Well! That’s all I have for now, but I hope to do a little blogging every week or so.
First pharmacy schools. Just for reference, the path I’m taking for pharmacy school is two years of prerequisites which include gen. ed. requirements and some higher level science classes like Organic Chemistry, and then four years in a professional “graduate” program where I will earn my Doctor of Pharmacy title. So I decided to apply to six pharmacy schools: The University of Wisconsin Madison, Virginia Commonwealth University, University of Connecticut, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, UNC Chapel Hill, and the University of Michigan.
Of these schools, I’ve been accepted to UW-Madison, VCU, and MCPHS. I denied my acceptance to VCU. I am still waiting to hear from UNC Chapel Hill and the University of Michigan, but I am less hopeful about UNC because I submitted my application in September and haven’t heard back. They are also one of the best pharmacy schools in the country so their standards are very high. The University of Michigan is still reviewing my application and are waiting for my fall semester grades, so I am still hopeful about it.
UConn is currently where I am completing my first two years. I just had my interview last week and I now need to wait 3-4 weeks for a decision. I like the school. I’ve made some good friends and joined the mountain biking team. The issue here comes with some of the experiences I’ve had with an ex-roommate, my advisors, and the general location of UConn. So I don’t need to go in depth with my crazy roommate story, but the most important notes are that she physically threatened me, she’s also on the pharmacy track, and she took away my whole “friend” group during my first semester at school. Looking back on it, none of those people were actually my friend but it was hard because all of sudden I was alone at school without people to connect with. It’s funny because my sister makes fun of me for being friends with some of my MTBNJ teammates but it's not my fault that most people my age don’t share my same values or priorities. It’s also hard because I had to grow up kind of fast because of my eating disorder and when I tried to open up to my "friends", they shut me out because I was “messed up.” I just can’t deal with stupid, petty drama that people my age like to be involved in. I swear I’m an older woman in a young person’s body. Now my advisors at UConn have been very nice to me, but they make me feel dumb. They question all of my class choices like I’m not smart enough to be in them. This doesn’t make me feel good because an advisor is supposed to support your decisions, and I can safely say that when I didn’t listen to them, I ended up doing pretty well. You would think they would learn, but they didn’t. When deciding on my classes for this spring semester, my advisor refused to raise my credit limit so I could take some extra classes to make sure I hit my prerequisites for all of the other pharmacy schools I applied to since the UConn pharmacy school required less courses than the other ones and I was already ahead on them. They said it was because those courses weren’t “necessary” for me. Like I’m sorry I wanted to apply to other pharmacy schools too. I’m trying to set myself up for the best possible career and UConn just doesn’t seem like the right choice for me right now. The location of UConn is kind of my last issue because it's in the middle of nowhere. It's the closest school to home, but I literally have nothing to do on the weekends or when I have free time. The riding there is not my favorite and anytime I want to ride, I usually have to go by myself, which I don’t always enjoy. Sorry for my little rant, but my admissions process with UConn has been a bit frustrating and disappointing.
Now with pharmacy schools you typically need to make a decision two weeks from your acceptance, which leads me to MCPHS and UW-Madison. The deposit is not binding until the final decision date for all pharmacy schools, which is March 1st, but I don’t want to waste money putting deposits down on a bunch of schools. I’ve made a document with research into these schools, but I’m still very torn. Both schools are great in terms of their program, but each have their own special attributes that makes me want to go there. Wisconsin is a bit far away but it's in an amazing location and has great opportunities. Last week, I went to Boston to visit MCPHS and meet with my admissions counselor. Personally, I love Boston. It’s a great city because it's not really a city to me. It’s more toned down especially since the school is in the Longwood Medical Area. I’m also a Boston Red Sox fan and the school is like 10 minutes from Fenway which is amazing, and I would get student discounted tickets. (I’m sorry but I typically dislike Yankees’ fans so please don’t attack me for that. But what can I say? I've been a Red Sox fan since I was born and I’m proud of it.) I also would get discounted tickets to Bruins games and Celtics games which would also be incredible. But as of now, I’m really stuck between these two schools, so it looks like I’ll be putting a deposit down on both. I’m also not great at making decisions.
On to my semester. I’ll keep this brief because there really isn’t too much to say. It was overall pretty good. My grades were good and my finals went pretty well in my opinion.
Now, riding since I’ve been home. The first day I came home, I just did a quick ride by myself at the Tourne before dark. It was a good ride, and it felt good to be home. I also was able to push the pace a bit and averaged around 8 miles per hour and felt good afterwards. That’s definitely positive going into my off season. On Friday, I went to Jungle Habitat with my dad and did a route that we don’t do that often. It was a ton of fun, even if he goes a little slow sometimes. It was also a good way to get acquainted with rocks again. On Saturday, I did a team Fugawe ride with @JimN , @Wrong Way Dan , @graveyardman67 , @muddybike , @Chris26er , @UtahJoe , and @shrpshtr325 . That ride was just incredible. I also missed some of my teammates, so it was nice to see them. I made it through some sections that shocked me, but I still had a couple dumb moments where I swear I forgot how to ride a bike. That might also be because I skipped practice a few days in a row with my coaches. Today, I rode Fugawe with Jim before the rain. Somehow Jim was able to take me on a route that was possibly better than Saturday’s. I messed up in a few spots that I knew I could’ve made, but I also made this one hill towards the end of the ride that I was not expected to make. Overall, the last weekend of riding has been so much fun and I’m looking forward to riding even more while I'm home for break.
Finally, a little section about some progress I’ve made in my recovery journey. Right now, my biggest concern is relapsing. This gets tough sometimes because my eating disorder tries to take over during times of progress when I’m moving further away from habitats that I’ve formed during my eating disorder. The holiday season makes this especially hard. I know a lot of people feel like they struggle during the holiday season, so I’ll just give a little bit of insight to help myself and anyone else who might be looking for another perspective. My biggest fact is not labeling food as good or bad. All food is good and serves a purpose for your body. No matter if it's a cookie or a vegetable, your body uses it in a similar way. For me personally, it is also helpful to remind myself that I’m an athlete in recovery so my energy needs are greater than most other people. What I view as “a lot” of food right now probably still isn’t as much as my body needs. In general, restriction leads to binging, so I just try not to restrict myself and I find that helps a lot. (Let me know if you like this little section because I can add a little bit about what I've learned throughout each blog post, but if you don’t, I can leave it out.)
Well! That’s all I have for now, but I hope to do a little blogging every week or so.
Red Mosquito
Formerly RLB the Scrapple Boy
What's your gut tell you? Sometimes it comes down to just that! In my humble opinion, the school itself doesn't matter as much as the connections you make when you're there. Whatever place you think you'll connect with the most (on a personal level with the people around you, along with the school culture and the location) will probably be the right choice. And sometimes, there is no right choice. Just a choice that's not wrong. It sounds like moving on from your current school is one of those "not wrong" choices. Good luck wherever you land!
iman29
Well-Known Member
For what it’s worth, I read your post twice and to me it seems obvious that your gut is already telling you Boston. Academics aside,
you are already learning that there’s a bit more to it and the community and life around and outside school and classes are also important to you and your ongoing recovery and progress. Right there that’s a good decision.
Another good decision would be to get away from any toxic situation that will get in the way of your goals (hint UConn ).
And don’t worry too much about which program “is the best” compared to the others. Your grades and accomplishments will define you not which name is on your degree. Go with your gut and where you will feel the most enjoyment all around and not dread every day.
Good luck with your decisions !
you are already learning that there’s a bit more to it and the community and life around and outside school and classes are also important to you and your ongoing recovery and progress. Right there that’s a good decision.
Another good decision would be to get away from any toxic situation that will get in the way of your goals (hint UConn ).
And don’t worry too much about which program “is the best” compared to the others. Your grades and accomplishments will define you not which name is on your degree. Go with your gut and where you will feel the most enjoyment all around and not dread every day.
Good luck with your decisions !
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