Nearly Normal

The weather this morning was nearly back to normal for this time of year. It was around 37F when I went out, and there was a nice frost covering everything, but by the time I got back a couple of hours later the temperature had risen over 10 degrees and there was a clear blue sky. I could have ridden longer under such nice conditions, but there are still a few Christmas loose ends left to tie up. We had a small group on the levee - only six or seven - and The Howard was out with his PowerCranks, slowly lugging some enormous gear. Anyway, it was a nice maintenance ride at mostly 19-21 mph with nice scenery, no wind, and a bit of conversation. One of the guys was in town from Boulder and kept saying how nice it was that we had that bike path to ride on. Sometimes I forget how lucky we are in that regard. If they could just put in some hills, it would be perfect!

The Daughter called last night around 11:30, having made it back to Iowa City OK, but, once again, without her luggage. I wasn't too surprised. When we checked her in at the airport yesterday afternoon, there was a huge 10-foot high disorganized pile of luggage waiting to be scanned. I'll bet her bags never made it onto the plane out of New Orleans, even though they were there over an hour early. I hope they show up today. She ended up taking two huge bags back with her, each weighing in at just about 50 pounds.

Meanwhile, Joey and Kelly D, who had stopped by the house for a while Saturday evening, ended up spending the night in Charlotte, courtesy of the airline, and didn't get back home until this morning.

The university is officially closed until after New Year's day, although I'm sure I'll stop in a couple of times between now and then. It should give me a chance to get in some nice rides and catch up on a few little things around the house. Next Sunday we'll start the "real" winter training rides, and I'll start pushing a little harder as we generally are in Joe Friel's "Build" period. Joe's book was one of the first I ever read where the author really seemed to have a handle on the kinds of training that U.S. cyclists typically do. I'm sure if I ever had the discipline to actually follow the full training program I'd be a better cyclist, but in reality I compromise quite a bit between a well-structured training program and one that allows for a bit more fun and group rides.