Sometimes there just aren’t enough hours in the day. I met the big goals of the weekend, neglected the mid-sized ones, and threw out the small ones.  Rides- got a late start to my Saturday ride, but it was all good once I got going on the knobbies. Rode to the greenbelt at Zilker, took it past the hill of life all the way to Lost Creek Blvd. The trail gets pretty scrubby a 1/2 mile from the bridge, but this is mountain biking. Took a slow and painful cruise up Lost Creek to 360 while an older couple chuckled “helluva hill, ain’t it?” as they squeaked by on their golf cart. Took that up to Bull Creek greenbelt. I had never ridden this 5 miles of trail in its entirety, but thought this would be a good chance to do so. The trail is hard to follow sometimes and I did get lost a few times, but all in all it was a nice 5 miles. It got dark on me with about 1.5 miles left, so on came the Nightrider. From here I headed up the dreaded far west climb and to shoal creek. Picked up the Shoal creek greenbelt at 38th st and proceeded to downtown and back home. A nice blend of trail, flat road, hills, and time in the saddle.  The pleasant weather allowed for a sleeveless jersey all day.

The sunday ride wouldn’t be as nice. Wool warmers, jersey, and base layer were all in order as the temps didn’t get much above 40, and windy. Thommy Cho came by to borrow a bike while he was in town from grad school at Vanderbilt (the same bike I rode yesterday). Since he was taking my hardtail, and I still wanted to do some trail/road riding, I threw some fat tires on the cross bike and we drove up to Walnut Creek to meet some other friends for a ride. I wasn’t nervous about riding a Cross Bike on this trail, just wasn’t sure what to expect. Rocinante held his own though, keeping up with the mountain bikes just fine. It was just as much fun on a cross bike as it is on my mountain bikes. We finished our lap, said goodbye to Thommy, and then I rode back to Nick and Dustin’s at mopac/duval with them to refill water. From there headed to jollyville -> great hills->360 ->bee caves ->Yaupon Holly -> Red Bud -> Lake Austin and home from there. It was dark and really cold by the time I hit Lake Austin. By the time I reached 6th/I-35,  things were starting to hurt, but I was able to block it out. The pain set in big time as I crested Prospect Hill and coasted 100 yards to the house. Two back to back long rides and the Sunday weather had taken their toll, but it was a feeling of accomplishment and solid training heading in the right direction for Spring.

I wish I could have has the same success with my Christmas gift making and holiday spirit gallaventing around, but I was at least able to watch the crappy 2nd half of the Cowboy game sat night. I missed my Saturday Plyometric workout due to time constraints, so moved it to Sunday after the ride. I was spent though, and my form completely fell apart after 30 minutes, so I called it a day, got some quality home cooking at Colleen’s, and some much needed rest.

Keep an eye out after Christmas for website updates-Motivation, Health Tips, and Tech Corner ( lots of component/bike reviews!)

I wish everyone a safe and joyous holiday season.

-Greg