Developments...
I was laid off on Wednesday the 17th. On Thursday the 18th I had my first bike ride in two months. The weather was nice, although I had to root around to find my cold-weather gear.
Good thing I did, too, because the next day it snowed all day long, the first real snowstorm of the year piling up nine inches of white stuff. While all my riding buddies were at work, I of course was out in the snow on the hybrid. I went when there were about 3-4 inches on the ground, and the riding was fine. Well, except for the return trip going right into 20 mph driven snow…
Although I may have more time to ride through the winter now that I’m unemployed, I have also recently borrowed a resistance trainer from one of my buddies. I haven’t gone very “far” on it as yet, so more details to follow. But so far it seems like it might give me a bit of a training advantage this spring.
I’m nearly done reading Jamie Smith’s new book “Roadie: The Misunderstood World of a Bike Racer”. Despite my complete distaste for the pro cycling circuit (mostly due to perpetual doping scandals), I found it an entertaining read. I’ll also be using notes I took from it as the basis for next year’s Pan-Mass Challenge ride report, since it makes a number of good observations that would help explain cycling events to non-cyclists.
This year’s Pan-Mass Challenge yearbook is now available online. As always, it’s a good read. Also, this year my name appears twice: once as a $11,000-level fundraiser, and once for contributing over $2,000 myself. The latter was the result of my charitable match challenge to my (now former) employer. Check the yearbook out here.
Finally, registration for next year’s PMC ride opens a week from now for alumni Heavy Hitters, a week later for alumni, and a week after that for all riders. If you’re thinking about riding, now’s the time to firm up that decision.