New Year's Resolutions, Ramblings

Every year on Jan 1, I set my new year's resolutions as either lofty goals or a silly to-do-list. Most of them I write in my head and keep score for a few weeks until the days are longer and I get pre-occupied with riding outdoors or I eventually forget about the new years resolutions all together.

So one of my new year's goals for this year is to read 10 books. Since college, almost 10 years ago, I have started several but have not finished a single book. My plan is to read a mystery, sci-fi, 2 classics, auto-biography, biography, fiction, non-fiction, current events, and a recent bestseller. First book (for Jan) was Why French Women Don't Get Fat. Not a great book, but it did encourage me to eat more soup and to enjoy seasonal produce: berries in spring, not apples; root vegetables in winter not zucchini. Second book will be What's the Matter With Kansas (aside from hosting cyclocross nationals......) Ohhh!

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Winter time for many cyclists means riding the trainer. I'm still riding, but only about 4 hours a week on trainer plus a ride or two outdoors on the weekend. Our entertainment is watching euro-cyclocross race re-runs. My favorite cx race to watch is still 2007 CX World Championships with the Americans being the surprise at the end. Actually I enjoy watching all the cx races and find them more captivating than a 2 hour movie (not that I even ride the trainer longer than an hour anyway right now). I cry and laugh and yell at the screen more watching a bike race than being at a theatre watching a comedy. I yell when the riders crash, I ball when the racers cry after a race (except for deClerck who I think is just a baby) - whether they are tears of joy, like with Lars Boom's recent victory, or tears of frustration like when Nys crashes out in a race.....Sigh.

Now that I haven't raced since December, I have realized what a lack of a social life I have. Instead of taking the opportunity to hang out with old friends, watch movies, go to concerts....The biggest and most cherished outings so far this year have still revolved around bikes! whether it was the three group rides we've done, a gathering at a fellow cyclist's house, and now, the MAC Banquet. I'll have to add to the New Year's lofty resolution list: Do something other than biking!

Speaking of the MAC Banquet - it was in Philly this past weekend. We lost our driving endurance more quickly than our riding endurance. Gosh the three hour drive up and three back in one day was rough - but only a few months ago driving 8 hours at a time was nothing (although JD and Mega made the drive from New England which was SOOOOO cool to see them....). I really regret that we hadn't made it out the MAC Banquet's in the past. It's really nice to finally be able to talk to the racers you saw in passing but never really had a chance to talk to them and also to see what people really look like. Not everyone is so dorky after all...... Everyone is all dressed nice and there's no snot or spit hanging from people's faces, no helmet head. I wish more folks could have made it out. After the very nice awards ceremony Judd and I met up with some friends in Center City for a very awesome dinner at Trio. Every time we hang out with them, I just want to move to Philly - they tell stories about the great riding and racing options, the great food, the nice community.....

My latest mission has been to figure out what 'new' bike I should get as my commuter/ride around "town" bike. I encouraged the office to get a bike rack and as a result a few folks have been riding to work or bring the bike to work and riding at lunch. I had been bringing one of my 'race bikes' as my coworkers call them and I'm afraid they will get scratched in the rack. I could use one of my old bikes, but I finally sold them (took a while cause I get all sentimental about them). But I'm eyeing up the Kona Paddy Wagon.

And there I go again - it's all about bikes....