Twas the night before the night before Christmas, and all through the house, we were busy wrapping presents, drinking coffee mixed with beer and listening to loud music. The kids were all packed full of sugar and running around at Grandma and Grandpa’s, but they brought this upon themselves thinking it was a good idea to give the kids M&Ms before bed time.

The temperature was 50 (Fahrenheit), and the rain had stopped falling, so I put on my supersuit, took the bike off the trainer, put on my outdoor wheels, pumped up the tires, had a swig of beercoffee, made some gatorade, grabbed a spare tire and put some heat pads in my gloves - then hit the road.

It was nice to be outside, real riding is so much more real than riding on the trainer in the basement. I am definitely not in as good shape as I was during the season. I really felt it going up some of the minor hills. I took the rail trail out to Hudson, then took roads back. Just a little workout, 11.72 miles, 45 minutes averaging a measly 16.12mph, 30.6 top. I did notice my cadence is staying up there, usually in the 80s to 90s. My total odometer since July 2005 is now 4,530.