One more cup of coffee before the... rain

Got a ride in. It wasn't easy despite being half of what I used to crush multiple times a week. Got behind a guy early and the competitive bike hunter would not be quieted. Chased him for a while until he peeled off on a different route. Later saw that he took a shorter way while he was stopped on his cell phone. He eventually caught back up and I was too blown up to stay with him for more than a few miles. Frustrating, but motivating. Crystal Springs was gorgeous and flat, and the rolling of Canada looked worse going out than it felt on the way back.

Ended up with 32.5 miles at 16.6 mph. It's a start.

New Years, Revolutions

Never been much for resolutions, and this New Year is definitely a revolution more in the way of a new cycle beginning again as opposed to an upheaval or large change. The large changes in my life began last year, so 2012 is more of the new revolution gaining momentum. I see it as a giant concrete wheel, on top of which I have stacked a ton of shit. New car, new house, larger job on top of the considerable amount of life happening before all of those things. They sit on top of the 2012 wheel as it creaks into motion, gaining speed and momentum with each moment.

Biking has been limited to commuting, but the crucial part in this is that by moving to the Peninsula, there is no reason I should ever drive to work. It takes as long or longer, is less convenient, and I'd usually end up taking my bike and biking to the office from free parking anyways. 15 minutes and 3 miles on my single speed makes it awesome. With that, there's a slight uptick in my mileage, though I'm hoping that will start to increase faster as I get more settled and get back on the real bike. With no practices today and my morning meetings done, today might be the day to get that going. A resolution seems trite, as there is a constant battle to run against the treadmill of time and lethargy towards a little more fitness.

The car has continued to be a revolution, in ways I had planned and some I had not. Perhaps two anecdotes sum it up, or start to. First, the bad in some "growing pains," involving several trips to the mechanic. The steering became loose on the road trip home which turned out to be broken steering box mounts. An expensive but solid fix left me feeling good as I drove Mean Marcus up to Washington for the holidays, but the steering got a little wonky on the drive back down, which was both depressing in thinking about the fix not working, and disconcerting as I flew through mountain passes significantly above the speed limit. But, I made it, got the steering box tightened, and things are mostly better other than realizing that someday it will require a new steering box which, thanks to the rarity of the car, is several thousand dollars.

The flipside of this is best represented by the day I returned from our weeklong training camp in Sacramento and Lake Tahoe immediately after New Years. After a week driving a Ford F-350 SuperDuty with a 60-foot long trailer, I got home late in the evening before morning practice the next day. I hopped in the M5 just to hear it for a minute. As soon as he rumbled to life, shaking the garage and jostling awake my love for cars, I started laughing uncontrollably. This continued as I shut him off, walked up stairs, and went to bed.

I don't expect 2012 to be an easy road. In fact, I think there are some big challenges ahead, the car being one of them but certainly not the greatest. The team is strong but needs more. Camps will still be a clusterbake. And I'm sure there are plenty of things hiding out there that will knock me down a few pegs. 2012, whatever you've got, I'm ready for it.