Christmas Bugs

     We are settling into the new house and so far we like it. It's so much better when it comes to space. We aren't so cramped now. One drawback to the house has been crickets. Crickets are everywhere! They are in the basement and occasionally scutter across the floor of whatever room you are in. It seems the yard is just full of them. Harmless crickets are much better to see than cockroaches or termites so I'm not complaining, just making an observation.

     The basement is a real plus to this new place, and so is the fireplace. I've never had a fireplace before. It had to be cleaned before we could use it as it was full of 30-year old petrified firewood.We fired it up Christmas night for the first time and got to take a late evening nap on the couch with heat pouring out on us.

     The change in roads around the house has been a welcomed refresher. Our old house was in a place where I know all the roads, but for some reason I like it better here at the new place. It's my old training roads from when I was younger and it feels like coming home on the bike.

     I decided to scrap the rest of my season after the last Cross the Way race at Lock 4. I feel like races are getting in the way of riding during the week and keeping me off rhythm. My current method of training isn't working so I'm throwing it all out the window and just riding for a while. I'll do what I want for a few weeks and a pattern that works for me will emerge. So far it's working. I've put in a few 15 hour weeks just on the bike with some running, core strengthening and yoga throw in. I've discovered some new roads up near Adams, TN that go out into the country and then roll next to a creek deep in the woods. It feels more like I'm mountain biking than road riding.

     Keith and I have tried to do some riding, including one frigid night ride two weeks ago. It was 40 degrees when we left out in the dark and a moist 34 when we got back over 2 hours later. It was one of those rides where your face gets so cold that you look to the left and your eyes are slow to follow because they are so cold.

     I mentioned yoga earlier. Shannon and I have been doing it every morning. I like it for a pre-work activity. It makes me work on core strength and stretching, two things that I am terrible at and never want to spend time on. I've been doing it for almost three weeks now and can definitely tell a difference in my flexibility and overall strength. I've been running at lunch too, just to take advantage of free time. It's fun to get out of the clinic for a while, even if I do run the same stretch of road every day.

      Crickets aren't the only bugs running around our house lately. For the first time in my life, I came down with the flu. It sucked. I missed a whole week of riding and a day of work due to feeling like crap. I had the body aches, massive headache and fever. Did I mention it sucked? I was still a little sick when we went up to  Indiana to visit Shannon's family for pre-Christmas Christmas. We had to work on Christmas Eve so we made our trip north the weekend prior to Christmas and then came back. We had a good time in Indiana despite me sleeping through one day of festivities and Shannon then coming down with some sort of sickness too. I was hoping to ride during the trip, but I was far from in any condition to be out on the backroads of Indiana on a bike, especially considering it snowed the first day and the temp was in the 20s the whole trip.

      The only good thing about coming back before Christmas was that we also got to do Christmas with my family. They're weird sometimes, but entertaining so it's fun to go to the family dinner. Between having the flu, the warm weather here in Tennessee and the pre-Christmas trip to Indiana, it just never really felt like Christmas this year. I got back on the bike on Christmas Eve, getting in a fairly long night ride in drizzly rain. Then Christmas Day I got in a nice morning ride with my lovely wife, followed by a hilly ride to the family dinner with my Dad. I got in over 3 hours of tough riding at 34 degrees. I got in another long, frigid ride this week as well. I finally have the cold weather gear to be able to get outside in the 30s without suffering the entire ride.

     The year is pretty much over now. It was a good year overall. I've enjoyed building a good life with Shannon, but I can't say I'm happy with my riding. I still feel like I'm not at my full potential yet and I won't be happy until I get there. The year ahead brings more opportunities to get to that full potential and I'll keep working hard to make it there.