Hallelujah

It's been a while since I've posted, and, that's not out of laziness or anything...I simply haven't been riding. Things here have been a whirlwind of craziness to say the least, but (almost) all positive things. The only thing that's really suffered is my fitness, and, ability to workout. Let's summarize the last 6 months of my life...shall we? Here goes..

1. Had a baby
2. Death in the family
3. Moved across country
4. Started a new job
5. Another death in the family
6. Bought a house

To say the least...it's been crazy.

However, today, the cycling deities aligned and I was able to get out for a nice long ride*. Before I could go, I had to kiss Amy & Wyatt goodbye as they were headed to Greensboro & the in-laws' house for the night. Then, I had to try to remember where the heck we packed all of our water bottles. After searching for a bit, I decided I need to just go buy some, as, if I recalled, we didn't bring any with us. So, a quick trip to performance yielded a few CamelBak bottles...both insulated & non-insulated, some drink mix, and, a few energy bars.

I suited up for a colder day as the wind was biting and blowing a decent clip, but, eventually it died down and warmed up nicely. My original plan was to head out and just do 1hr. I figured, I haven't ridden since 11/28, and, only like 3 or 4 times total since November 15th. It was gonna hurt! I'd keep my eyes off of the SRM display, and, just ride for 60 minutes. At the end of that, I'd see how I was feeling, and, where I was on the route to try to either extend it or, end up back at the house. My route was simple...just do what I'd done before, but, make a slight change and head in a smaller square, so, I could eventually ride my route to work at the very end if I felt like it. So, I headed out.

I ended up going a bit longer, and, eventually, ran into a fellow cyclist on the road. He was doing some intervals up the small hills/rises, so, I didn't want to interrupt his workout and just rode by with a "hello". He yelled to me if I wanted any company, and, I replied "Well, I don't really know where I'm going, so, you lead the way!". He explained that he was doing 2 laps on a 40 mile circuit, and, was about 1/4-1/2 of the way into his second lap. I could tag along if I wanted, so, I obliged and said absolutely. He took me on a great route, littered with small short climbs that had some KICK to them (pretty steep!), but, nothing longer than a mile. While the climb was nothing compared to what we did on a regular basis in Colorado, the hills here roll enough that you can get the same total amount of vert! Anyway, we twisted and turned, climbed and descended, and, I ended up back at my house 1hr 51min later. 30 miles, 1214 KJ. VERY good day. I felt good on the shorter climbs, and, it was just so nice to get out.

The next few days I'll workout at the gym at the office, and, hopefully by the middle of the week, I'll have received my replacement motor for the Tacx, and, I can do some serious interval work in the morning, or, evening. We have to do the "noise" test though :-). Either way, it was great to get back out! Things are going to get a bit crazy again after the 1st of the year with work, but, I still hope to commute in at some point.