I am trying to put off my training plan for a bit longer this winter and in the meantime I am staying as active as possible. Good news is that I have been much more motivated than years past. I am very excited that the days are finally starting to get longer. Working 10-7 M-F and not seeing much daylight takes a toll on me and usually sucks motivation. Christmas morning I ran 3 miles and it was not pretty. I am soon going to get new running shoes and until then NO RUNNING! This morning I went to spinning class with Mary and rode a little over 2.5 hours. Though I feel pretty weak right now, I have a very good feeling about the upcomming cycling season. My goal for this week is to start looking for target races this year in order to develop my structured training schedule.

Softer side: My brother (www.rhettbales.com) and I went home for X-Mas and I got to see my sister Rachel for the first time since she became pregnant. She is due in April! I was not looking forward to going home, but it was very nice to see all my family and friends. I don’t get home often, but nobody keeps in mind that I work and train/race all year and I also have no car. Give me a little slack and know that I love all of you.
Jett turned 2 on the 11th and he is the cutest thing on the planet! I can not get enough of this kid.
Mary! Well…she is the main source of many good things in my life right now. I know I sound a little cheesy, but I don’t care! She puts a smile on my face, makes me laugh, and for some reason I think she actually enjoys me as well. She is beautiful in so many ways and I feel like a very lucky guy. Ok, I’ll stop there for now.

Look for a potential race schedule to come soon.

I finally feel recovered from snowboarding and my IT band is not hurting today. I am still very hesitant to run right now though. I spun my legs for an hour on the trainer on Sunday and felt like crap. Today I rode to the CTS Criterium video, which is pretty epic if you ride hard. I feel like I am going to have a good winter of training and a strong spring. I was daydreaming about the Mohican 100 today and I feel like I can get a top 20 this year.

Personal- life in general is fantastic right now. I love rooming with Rhett. I also got to see Matt for the first time in a while, which was nice. Now I suddenly want Maté! I have been spending a lot of time with Mary lately as well and she makes me very happy. What else could I ask for? I wish her family the best in the hard times they are having.

Good night tumblr

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With adult cyclists, police found the driver solely responsible in about 60%-75% of all cases, and riders solely at fault 17%-25% of the time…the report showed that the government needed to focus more on driver behaviour rather than on issues such as cyclists wearing helmets. [From the CTC:] “The main cause of crashes seems to be ‘failed to look properly’, whereas very few cyclists are injured or killed acting illegally, such as failing to use lights at night or disobeying traffic signals…
Risky cycling rarely to blame for bike accidents, study finds | guardian.co.uk (via littletinyfish) (via rhettbales)
(this post was reblogged from rhettbales)

Random stuff

So my intention of this blog was always to have a means to log my training in an unconventional way. I think I have done an OK job of that, but I also like to have a place to say some things I may not say elsewhere.

I am sitting in a condo overlooking the slopes at Boyne Mountain in Michigan. The whole trip here I was bitching that I wasn’t looking forward to being here. Now that I am here, I feel lucky to have this view. I haven’t even touched the snow yet, with the exception of falling on my ass while bringing my bags in (nobody saw it, but I laughed at myself). Tomorrow should be fun and I AM looking forward to it, although I do wish a certain couple of people were here to enjoy it with me.

My next two and a half days consist of snowboarding till I get tired or my buzz wears off then climbing back into the condo and chillin’ out. I’m bummed that Rhett isn’t here and have Mary in my thoughts. Training: I am sans training and feel guilty about it although I’m sure I’ll get a pretty good workout in this afternoon.

My next two and a half days consist of snowboarding till I get tired or my buzz wears off then climbing back into the condo and chillin’ out. I’m bummed that Rhett isn’t here and have Mary in my thoughts.
Training: I am sans training and feel guilty about it although I’m sure I’ll get a pretty good workout in this afternoon.

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We have so much in common, we both love soup and snow peas, we love the outdoors, and talking and not talking. We could not talk or talk forever and still find things to not talk about.
Jennifer Coolidge from Best in Show

Roller ride was a success. I did very easy intervals for an hour with the CTS mountain biking video. No intensity, just differences in gears while holding the same cadence. I have a little pain in my knee today, but it seems to be much better than Friday.

Meet Mary! She may kill me for posting this, but this photo makes me smile! It also looks like she’s choking Pollock, but she IS petting his neck.

Meet Mary! She may kill me for posting this, but this photo makes me smile! It also looks like she’s choking Pollock, but she IS petting his neck.

Weekend

Not a lot of training this weekend. I have been having IT Band troubles again. Had a great 18+ mile ride with Mary, Bethany & Mike (Mary’s sister and b.i.l.) on Saturday and as you will find in the previous post, they provided wonderful shelter for Mary and I. Today I nursed the leg a bit so I survive my snowboard trip next weekend without pain. I do plan on an early morning trainer ride at Hodson’s Bay Company tomorrow and hopefully getting into some sort of normal sleeping habit so I can be a morning person again sometime. We’ll see!

Decorating the tree with Mary, Bethany, and Mike. They were wonderful hosts and I hope to see them again soon

Decorating the tree with Mary, Bethany, and Mike. They were wonderful hosts and I hope to see them again soon