Blog Revival

Hello out there. Sorry for a bit of a dry spell in the updates, I don't really know what I've been up to, but I guess it didn't involve maintaining the blog. New Years has come and gone, and this year I ended up ringing in the New Year in St. Louis at Laurens place with some of her family and friends. I took my bike but didn't touch it for the 3 days that I was there. That's one of the nice things about starting up the training a little earlier this year, I don't have to ride every single day if I don't feel like it and I can just let the miles come as the motivation does. That being said, I'm officially motivated. Last weekend I tried to get a ride on the rollers in one evening and I got all of 32 minutes in before that was all I could take. So I decided I was riding outside, rain or shine, above freezing, or not. Well this week has been a nice test for how bad I really do hate the rollers. I bought a fender and some lights and have been putting in some solid outdoor hours even though the temperature has seldom been above freezing. Yeah, it sucks when it's snowing and a 30 mph wind in your face, but when you're done it feels pretty good to have fought the weather and won. Plus, I can't seem to feel like I'm ever getting any fitness out of the rollers, so I'm burning those mothers down.

I've got a nice little training trip planned for Southern California in 2 weeks to look forward to as well. My new teammate Dan Campbell and I are heading out to Redlands for a week to stay with my host family from the race last year, and slay some climbs in the meantime. Hopefully that will get my fitness moving a little bit, compared to last year where I was still off the bike at the end of Jan. Plus my tan is really suffering. This might be the first time I have lost my tan line from my high socks... gotta fix that. Also, word is that the team frames are in and the rest of the components are on the way as well, so that will be nice to get a hold of. I don't think we'll be getting our hands on those for another few weeks until we have our team get together.

Just heard yesterday that Tri-Peaks/ Tour of Arkansas isn't happening this year. That really sucks. I think that may have been my favorite race of last season. It also leaves a hole in my schedule. Oh well, I'm sure something will pop up.

Sorry for a picture-less update. The only pictured I had that I wanted to share was the picture of Stuart O'Grady from the Bay Crits racing with a saddle bag. He's so pro he's all the way back around to the other end of the not pro spectrum.