End of the Semester

So I have reached that time of the year again. Finished with exams, waiting to get the grades, now turning my attention to the fact that Christmas is coming up very soon and I have not shopped for many presents yet! My wife is happy that I am not totally focused on finals and end of the semester stuff and I can focus on Christmas and getting to see family that I have not seen since July.

I am looking forward to seeing my family and riding with some friends that I have not seen in a long time, both in NC and TX. I have been off my bike, except for Thanksgiving day, since the beginning of November so as you would expect I can't wait to get back on! I am hoping for 400 miles or so before classes start back again in January. This should not be too hard since classes don't start again until mid January.


Now after finishing my last exam yesterday my wife and I engaged in one of our favorite holiday traditions, driving around looking at lights. So back in NC the light displays always were nice. In North Texas the displays are crazy. So you have your standard light displays with some lights on the roof and maybe an inflatable Mickey Mouse Santa in the yard but then you have your professionally installed displays that border on a National Lampoon's Christmas style display. Looking at some of these displays I can almost see the power meter spinning in the back. While I would not want to be their neighbors I did appreciate being able to drive by and admire their work (and payment of the electric bill). The house with the red lighted arrow on the roof pointing to the chimney may take the top spot for creativity for the year, unless I see one that tops it soon!

Well since it is starting to warm up outside (37 degrees) I may see if I still have any warm riding cloths and go and get the first ride of the break in. I am probably going to freeze when I am back in NC riding.

Manuscript submitted

So today I submitted my first manuscript to a journal in which I am the first author! So now I play the waiting game and see if it gets accepted, revise and resubmit, or rejected. We will wait and see.

On other news I am trying to decide between a Selle Italia SLR and a Selle Italia SLR XP, or wait and get something else with some extra money that I earned this summer.

Do the 30grams of extra padding really make a difference??

Any opinions??

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope that everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. Right now I am sitting on the couch watching a movie and the fire in the fire place, sitting beside our very good smelling Christmas tree. We just had a great dinner of the left overs from yesterday and they were just as good today as yesterday.
After a good afternoon of doing a little black Friday shopping it is nice to come home and relax.

No to get up tomorrow and hopefully put in a few more miles to take care of the extra turkey that I ate yesterday. And then of course enjoy the great football on tomorrow.

Endurance Racing

So with my weekend cyclocross race chances at an end I was happy to see today that DORBA ( Dallas mountain biking group) has decided to grow their frozen four hour series to three six hour races. I have not done any 6 hour races since I moved from North Carolina and to be honest I have only ridden my mountain bike twice since I have moved to Texas. I am really excited about the series and the first race is scheduled for 12/13 so I guess it is time to hop back on the bike and try to find some form. Hopefully the last three weeks of time off the bike will have been a nice "rest" and allow me to still have some legs so that I can actually do the first race in the series.

I may have missed the big cross races but endurance mountain bike races will be a nice way to start back with some winter base miles for this next season.

Cyclocross weekends

OK so wouldn't you know it. Last weekend 2 cross races in Dallas. This weekend 2 cross races in Ft. Worth. All part of the Texas cyclocross race series that has stops in Austin and Huston. So it would make sense that I would get sick last weekend and not be able to race and now on Friday I am starting to feel better but after two weeks of not riding my registration fee would simply be a nice donation to the cause. While I don't mind not winning a race I at least like to go into a race knowing that I have a chance to not finish last. Given my lack of a true cyclocross bike (have to use my hardtail mountain bike for now) and the probable lack of legs it looks like I will be leaving the cross racing for me to just some weekday training races that I can catch once classes are over in a week or so. That and the good Belgium beer I have waiting in the fridge. MMMM Delirium Nocturnum......MMMMMM.

Maybe next cross season will be better. Now accepting cyclocross bike sponsorship (ie. bike donations). :)


It is nice to have my wife back in town after a long 10 days of being out of town for work. We all missed her (me and the four legged crew).

Swimming

So I recently started doing some serious (or at least pretty serious) swimming. I actually got a real swimming suit (nike jammers) and goggles and set a weekly swimming time.

At first I could only make it to the end of the pool before I had to take a break. Then I could do a full lap without stopping.

Well last week I hit a new mark. I swam a full mile without stopping at all. I was pretty tired at the end but very happy that I had made it!

So what is the next mark- 1.5 miles, 2 miles? or just faster?

VOTE

So in case there is any one reading this who has done gone out and voted yet or have no plans to do so on election day, let me just say this------GO VOTE!

Our ability to go out and vote and make our beliefs known is one of our greatest freedoms. If you do not use your freedom then it does not seem like such a big deal when you lose them. Who cares if the government can tap our phones, as long as it prevents terrorism. Somethings we must stand up and scream about so that we do not lose. Sometimes the cost is not worth the gain. Losing our privacy so that we are "safer" is not as easy a trade. Nor should it be one we have to make.

Sometimes we must stand up and say ENOUGH!

So go out and make your voice heard. GO VOTE!