New This Week

My latest Ipod download this past week...the newest addition to my Ipod running tunes...




The latest book I started reading this past week has kept me glued to the pages for the past few days - "Racing Through the Dark, The Rise and Fall of David Millar". My favorite part in the book so far talks about riding in the peloton at the 2000 Tour de France...."The US Postal Team was coming up the right side of the peloton, bringing Lance back up through the riders. As Lance came by, he looked at me and called to his team to wait. 'Dave, what are you doing back here', he asked. 'Chatting to the boys, just a bit of a calm moment', I said. 'Dave, this is the Tour de France', he said sternly. 'I know, Lance, I know'. 'Well, Dave, at the Tour de France you have no friends. Ride at the front'. It wasn't a suggestion. It was an instruction...capturing exactly how he saw the Tour de France. It was war for him."



And saving the best for last, my new Trek frame for 2012! I'll have it built up and ready to go in the next week or so while I work on installing the motor over the next few months...

Seasons Change

You know you're having fun when times flies by and before you know it January is gone in the blink of an eye and it's February. Since I'm more of a math/science, black/white, problem/solution person, and writing is not on my "favorite past times" list, I made a goal of writing one blog a month, and up until now I've been able to stick to it. However, January has proven to be the exception, and not because of procrastination (ok, maybe a little), but because the month flew by and I honestly don't know where it went!

So what have I been doing over the last month? Pretty much spending the majority of my time on the bike - well, that's what it feels like anyway - building up a base for the season ahead. And I can't complain, I LOVE riding my bike. This is the time of year when decisions about the year ahead are made - whether to stay at home, go to training camp, plan races for the season, try out new products/equipment, figure out a training schedule and training partners that work for you, etc, etc. It's the path that we pick at this time of year that often decides where we'll end up down the road in July, August, September, and beyond.

For the past four years, I've spent the winter months and the majority of the summer away from home at a training camp in either Asia, Switzerland or LA. I recently decided that I would go down a different path and stay at home this year where I have a great group to train with and access to a great swimming program five minutes from home. I'm happy to not be living out of a suitcase for a change, and I'm super excited for the season ahead since training is going better than ever. Change is sometimes good, and better late than never. I never want to look back and have regrets for the things I didn't do or didn't try. As one of my favorite quotes reminds me, "Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time. It is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable."