a little bit of everything to get me by

I like most of you am sick of cold weather and snow but I have been making the most of what Mother Nature has given us. Cross training has been the word and I've been trying to be as creative as possible with it. We haven't gotten a lot of snow but we have got a consistant amount. We've seen snow on the ground for over a week and that's not normal for us. There has been alot of hiking but until today I haven't really felt like I was getting the workout I really wanted. I received a new Backpacking magazine in the mail yesterday and apparently there is a new weight loss fad where you can pay some guy to take you backpacking for a week in order to loose weight. I went into the gear/bike room grabbed an old pack loaded it up with a couple of weight and went on a good long hike with Melinda and the dogs and it worked excellently and didn't cost me a dime.

2011 is already looking up for me and the racing scene. I signed up for 2 races for the month of January. The first one is at the Kingsport Cup CX races this weekend here in Kingsport. The organizers have added a new class to the CX scene. One for those of us who like to race the fat tire bikes, yes a mountain bike class. There are no points and I doubt there will be any prizes not that I think I would win but at only a $10 entry fee and a chance to race against other mountain bikes instead of cyclocross bikes is enough for me. When I saw saw that there was a fat tire class it immediately peaked my interest. I was told that because of me asking for this class a few months back that this one race was a trial run for next years MSG series. I don't know that I actually sparked this, maybe Mr. CX was just telling me so to get me out there. Anyway I was told I had better show so nightshift or not I will be there, I'm paid up. I was really expecting the course to be nasty with all of the snow we've had lately but the word on the street is it's pretty dry and the sun is actually supposed to show itself.

My second race is a 10k run at my local state park, Warrior's Path. I've run this race before and had not given it much thought until Iron Man Dillow threw down the challenge to me and Fat Tony. Another good deal at $6 without the ugly t-shirt so I threw my hat into the ring again. I don't have anything planned for February or March but who know what may come up. My goal is to run a half marathon this year but I've not nailed down which one just yet. There are several local ones but the Nashville race looks like alot of fun just a bit pricey.

With Melinda out of school all week we finally had a chance to do a snow ride this week. We took a few pics and shot some video but I've not edited any footage.

See you Sunday