Still here! Mostly hiking and killing myself with indoor training, although I’ve gotten a few good rides in.

Yesterday, Margot and I and our two minions hiked to the top of Aumick in Minnewaska preserve. It was slippery, foggy, and generally a glorious hike, made five times harder by the slippery slush–particularly on the way up.

I also bought a new bike, but it doesn’t arrive until mid-April.

This last year was a bit of disaster in terms of riding: only 3500 miles. I blame the big move and tons of travel for work. For comparison, I rode over 8000 miles the year before.

My primary goal for this year is a reasonable 6000 miles, with a peak 300-mile ride. I think that should be relatively easily accomplished if I can keep the work travel miles under 100k this year. I’m also going to focus on increasing speed–not because I care about winning a race, but because that means I can expand my range. If you’ve been following along on the blog, you’ll know that my usual approach to 100-mile plus rides is puttering around at 15 mph or less and exploring all the side roads, with lots of breaks for pictures and food. More focus is desperately needed, and that’s part of the reason why I’m staying indoors for a few months and focusing on intensive training.

I’m going to be building up to weekend centuries starting at the beginning of March. Provided work doesn’t interfere, I should be up to centuries again by the second week of April. I’ll announce where and when prior to each ride, and if you want to join me, please do!

John

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