The New Year

We spent New Year's eve around a bomb fire with friends in Clemson and setting off fireworks at the Wood's . It was great riding with so many girls on the chicken ride and regaining my strength from the flu. We also met Tigist in Grenville and are so excited to watch her grow. Thanks to the GVL girls for meeting me for lunch. I miss my girls dearly! We are back in the Boro and I start classes on Monday. The temps are warm and the days full of sunshine. We are both hoping to get in some good miles on the bike, since race season starts next month. Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays!

Santa was generous this year! I received a new mixer for my future baking endeavors, Cutco knives, and clothes, while Sean got his new Specialized bike and long awaited Road Warrior watch. He was able to use the snow blower to put new components on my bike in the cold garage. We've enjoyed our visit up North with the exception of my stomach flu. Monday evening I began my quarantine and by Friday I was able to eat a meal. Unfortunately, I lost valuable time with my family. We head to South Carolina on Wednesday to stay with the Wood's and farm sit. Happy Holidays!

The Winter Chill

Friday we started our trip Northward stopping at the farm for the weekend. I was fortunate to have a warm, dry evening to ride Molly before the rain settled in on Saturday. Sunday we drove to Indiana watching the thermometer in car drop from 54 degrees at 8am, to 1 degree (-20 wind chill) at 7pm at my folks house. As good friend Joy would say, "you are a Midwesterner gone South." This I know is true since I have been freezing since Kentucky. Rules to live by in this weather are:

1. No skin can be exposed for less than 5 seconds outside without severe burning
2. Wool socks are required in the house since all doors, cabinets, etc. are open to avoid pipe freezing
3. Warm tea is required all day
4. Hot baths are the only way to truly get warm
5. Clean up dog poo, since they won't venture more than 10 feet from the house due to the cold
6. Plan trips out of the house wisely, you don't want expose skin (see # 1)

A Party Weekend

It was a busy weekend full of parties! Saturday I managed to hang in the chicken ride,despite numerous attempts to charm the boys and encourage a slower pace. I got the comment when asking for assistance, "I think you look fine." Needless to say my legs felt like jello the rest of the day, but I was happy, as Foster put it, to be home. Sean rode in Greenville on the Winter Bike League with his team and in the evening we both attended our team parties. It's always great to see all our friends and catch up. Sunday we hosted Jennifer's baby shower at Scott's house and had a great turnout! I was elated my cake and diaper center piece turned out so well. Thanks to Danna and Caroline for all the mentoring. Baking is hard work and has taken me a few years to finally weather the storm and successfully make cake and icing that looks decent enough to eat! We are back in the Boro, which I will admit is welcome this time of year. I have a week catching up at work, no teaching, and temps in the 70s. Sean has to work all week and then we head to GVL for the Sullivan benefit ride and then to Indiana for the holidays.

I couldn't resist...

Thanksgiving Break

We spent the first week of break in Boone, NC with good friend Joy. You can see the tempratures dropped and the white stuff fell! Although I didn't get on my bike, Sean managed to mustard the courage for a few rides. We spent the rest of the break in Clemson visiting friends. We got to spent time with Zac before the Wood's traveled to FL and rode with the gang in Clemson and GVL. It will be busy next few weeks as I head to Kiawah and then GVL for social gatherings. Only two more weeks of school and winter break is here!

A Year Better

This same time last year Sean and I rode the Claxton Metric Century. I could line-up my excuses as to why I had not been on the bike; i.e. mono, dissertation defense, moving, new job, etc., but will spare you all the details. It went down on record as one of my worst rides ever that included bonking, pouting, crying, and at complete defeat, drinking a coke and eating a snicker bar on the front sidewalk of a fried chicken joint in the middle of rural Georgia. This year we met 4 Georgia Southern cyclists 5 miles from an intersection on the ride course--of course Sean rode to the ride, but wanted to hitch a ride home in the car. We rolled out around around 8am to sunny skies, cool temps, beautiful fall colors, and lots of cotton. We finished the ride in just over 4 hours, averaged around 19mph for a total of 77 miles. What a difference a year makes! I felt great after the ride, although my legs were certainly not happy with me. Sunday morning Sean went for an easy ride and I put in a 6 mile run, that took everything I had to finish. It was a great weekend to get some long miles in and enjoy the warm weather. We'll stay in the Boro this weekend as well so I can prepare for the end of the semester and pack for our trip to the mountains for holiday.