I have to admit.  I get lazy about writing on this blog.  I certainly go in spurts.  Sometimes, I feel like I have 5 posts a day to write.  Then there are times, like now, where I have to force myself to write something.  Its times like these that I feel like shutting this whole sucker down.  But I won’t.  Not really sure why.  Guess because it isn’t costing me a thing.

Either way, I have been riding just about every day in preparation for the 24 hour race that is coming up in a little over a month and the days that I do not ride (I always ride M-F because of commuting to work) after work, I am usually taking the dog for a run after work  Usually this is about 2-3 time a week I am running her.  Sometimes I ride and run depending on how much time I have.  I feel like I have the right amount of fitness for what I want to accomplish at the race.  However, the biggest thing that concerns me is that I will be traveling for 3 weeks before the race and with most events, I won’t have the time to ride like I need that close to the race.  I am not sure what to do, but I am thinking that running might be a viable option. Not sure yet because of my distaste for running.

One other exciting thing is that I just got my economy stimulus check from ‘W”.  The question now is what to spend it on?  Kelly wants me to pay bills with it but seriously, what fun is that?

And the circle goes around and around and around…and so on.  I have lost the desire to keep posting everyday, which is why you see a post once a week or something along those lines.  I have a feeling it will pass.  It always does.  I get into a groove where I post something every day and it doesn’t take much motivation to do so.  Then there are spells, like now, that I struggle to come up with anythine.  Ohh well.

I haven’t been on the bike yet, as mother nature is not being nice to us.  More snow and rain every day.  Its getting quite sickening.  Even the people at ski resorts that I have talked to say they are ready for this snow to be over.

Wow, it has been a long time since I have made a post.  I think the reason for this is I am trying to “blog” in 2 different locations and it is really hard because they are both on the same subject matter…me riding my bike.  I hate to make duplicate posts, but I think sometimes it has to happen.  I guess if there are no posts here, head on over to Crank for the Cure and see what is going on over there with Terry and myself.

Why is it that the 25 degree commute seems much colder than the 25 degree 2 hour spin I take after work?  That just doesn’t make sense…

Snow keeps falling and I keep shoveling.  This weekend was FULL of shoveling and all sort of things.  Friday night I spent 4 hours shoveling half of my roof so it wouldn’t come down on me while we sleep.  Some parts of the snow on it were higher than 4 feet tall.  Yowza!!  Saturday was spent shoveling the driveway from the storm on Friday night, then went to Downeast Bike Distributors to set up for their open house followed by dinner and drinks with bike folks.  Sunday was filled with the open house, followed again by dinner and drinks.  Monday did a half day at the office and spent another 5 hours on my roof shoveling off the second half.  Then spent an hour digging out some windows from the snow that came off the roof and then digging a pathway to the door into the pile that came off the roof.  Nothing like shoveling the same snow 3 times.

No riding, but I feel ok about that because of all of the shoveling that has been done.  If I have just been sitting on the couch, I might be upset, but I am ok with it.  I think I am going to try to start commuting this week (depending on if we get the couple inches of ice expected this week).  Next week I plan on hitting up a ride every night after work because of day light savings time followed by a mini training camp in Pennsylvania next weekend.  Should be a good time.  Then again, anytime I am on the bike is a good time.

With all of this, I hit one of my early season goals to be below 210 lbs by March first.  208.6 was the number and I am ahead of schedule.  Next step is 205 by April 1.

The snow wasn’t as bad as expected.  We only got about 6 inches of the expected 18 inches.  So in a way, that is good, but in a way, that is bad.  Either way, that’s 6 more inches of snow that I have to melt until I ride my bike.

The good thing about snow is that I took off much of the day and went snowboarding.  Any time I am not in the office and I am outside, that is a good thing..

I am completely over this winter.  All this snow and we are supposed to get another 18 inches of snow tonight.  Throw in the white flag.  Time to look for a job in warmer climate.

Ok, I’m not really looking for another job.  I am just ready to ride a bike in warm weather..

This weekend was a bust for riding, even though  the weather was there for me to.  Let me explain.

Friday night it was snowing so I grabbed my newly mounted cross country skis and went out for about 2 hours.  It was a good time.  From this point out, winter won’t be completely awful as I now have something to do that challenges me cardiovascularly.  Most of the day Saturday was spent shoveling snow off the driveway and digging at the pile at the end of my driveway so I can get mail delivered.  The one good thing was that I got to take Campy for a 1.5 hour hike.  By the time that was all over, it was too dark and I was too tired to get on the bike.  Today was spent shoveling more snow, more hiking with Campy and since I did not ride in in this 45 degree weather, I figured I would build some wheels for the road bike.

Even though there was no riding done, I got to take Campy out for a while and that is just as important.  When I got the dog, the one thing I didn’t want to do was have her just sit inside all the time so I try to get her out and running as much as possible.  That is why I got a little athletic dog instead of a big loafy couch dog.  Sometimes it seems like a sacrifice my riding to take her hiking, but it is all worth it when you see her running and that tail wagging all over the place.  Plus, sometimes, its nice to just hike as it stretches out the muscles a little differently than just walking because of going up and over boulders and logs and things of that nature.

It is currently 12.4 degrees outside right now as I sit here watching the Tour of California on Tv.  That is one thing I have always hated.  Being inside watching cycling instead of being outside riding the bike.  Even in the summer when the tour is on and it is raining, I hate it.  Either way, winter is still here and I thought I was dealing with it.  Apparently not.  Kelly told me tonight that I really need to “get out for a ride on the bike soon” to let out some of my aggression.  Even if I can get out once a week, I feel much better about things, but these past weekends haven’t been great for riding.  Hopefully this weekend is different and I can log some miles.  I think both Kelly and I would be much appreciative of that.

Well, with all this snow, it has changed over to a whole lot of rain.  Today it is expected to rain all day with temps in the mid to high 40s.  That equates to a lot of heavy, wet snow, and hopefully, some of it will melt away with the temps and rain.  Maybe I will be able to get outside on the road bike a little.  With all of this snow, I won’t be touching the mountain bike for a while as the mud season will be here till August.

On the racing side of things, the Tour of California has started up.   I got to watch the 2 mile prologue on Versus yesterday as Fabian Cancellara destroyed the field.  I am glad that Versus is showing  the race, but if you look at the schedule of events, they are showing the coverage at 11pm.  Really?  They want people to watch, but they show it at a dumb time.  If you want people to watch it, trying showing it at 7pm.  Sure, there are all these new fangled recording devices, but there why should I have to fire up the Beta Max and record it?  I would like to watch it during a normal time of the day.