Holi-daze

Man I've missed you!! Not in the, "I cant get you out of my head, we'll be together forever, junior high love kinda way"...but more in the, "reuniting with an old friend on Facebook kinda way...glad to see them, but you could take 'em or leave 'em". The winter months have been somewhat kind...the weight only slightly increased while the workload stayed constant. Don't get me wrong, my diet sucked and the "internal training clock" was a little late flipping on, actually just two weeks ago, but all in all i say it was a success. Regardless of all that, i was able to get in some solid miles throughout the last few months of winter, I'd say average about 100-150 miles/week...give or take. Weekly shop rides as well as mtn biking a few times a week really helped maintain an otherwise lacking moral for training. If I may use another excuse...the weather did play a pretty huge role in the lack of "focused" training this winter. That being said, it did allow for some pretty fun little outings.

I've ridden in snow in years past, but one day last month me and the rest of the boys headed up to Dupont for a little mtb'ing. I can honestly say that I have not had this much fun riding a bike since proably the first time i ever rode solo for the first time...it was an absolute blast. It was like racing down a luge on a bike...every turn was banked perfectly. It was a riot!! The conditions were perfect...6+ inches a few days prior and temps that had warmed the top layer of snow just enough to freeze it solid, but soft enough to get a few treads in for all the turns. It gave me a chance to try out my new Ergon riding pack which i have to say works just as advertised, perfect. Ended up with a around three hours of riding in some pretty cool conditions, the crazy thing is that a week prior DZ and I were up there riding in shorts sweating our butts off...ah weather in the South. Fast forward a few weeks/storms and you'll see another "first" for me....Ice Climbing. I've seen it done but never had the opportunity to make it happen, finally i did. You may recall a few blogs ago about a road ride we did up Hwy 215 to the Blue Ridge Pkwy....same road, different sport. There is a section at around 4500 feet right before you hit the Pkwy that is perfect for some top-rope ice climbing. Granted it wasn't that tall, maybe 55' or so but the experience and technique was just the same. Luckily one of DZ's friends had all the ice gear and was more than hospitable for everyone to use it. Jeff P made the trip up mainly cause he wanted to get some rapelling practice in for some of his up coming adventure races, but in the end with the help of my boots he too was able to get a good session in.Although we didn't need them Tadd brought plenty of ice screws up just to practice setting, those are a pretty mean devices if you've never seen them in action. I was also able to bum a propane heater from Grumpy at work just to make sitting up on the 15 degree road side a little more bearable.Needless to say there were plenty of blog worthy moments the past few months, but due to the "holi-daze" that has befallen upon me i was lacking some serious motivation. Thanksgiving was a quick blur, basically a three day turnaround in Bham...Christmas was a first for us, no family just Doc and i here at the house with the dogs, different, but extremely relaxing. New Years was a blast at the Harris' house, as long with pretty much every Sunday for all the bowl games and NFL playoffs....thanks Jeff. Now it's time to get back to "focused" training while setting up racing schedules and for the next few months hitting the trainer pretty hard...the weather will change on you in an instant. 65 and Sunny last Thursday then 2+ inches of snow and ice Friday night....crazy. Needless to say the posts will regain some sort of regularity...now that "the season" is both behind and in front of me. Pedal on.