Training Begins and Changes to Come

     I'm gonna keep this short and sweet. I've gotten my hands on a bike, a Trek Antelope 830 that's at least 25 years old. Despite its age, the thing is a tank. It's got 26" wheels and a 16.5" frame, so it's decidedly small. I'm extremely grateful to my stepmother Louise Ball for the loan. At least I'm pretty sure it's a loan, I don't think I get to keep the bike (if I do, I've got some plans to turn it into a cyclocross beast). Unfortunately, weather hasn't been the most cooperative, with rain, wind, snow, and cold this week. That means I only got about 12 miles of riding in. That's an hour on the Tour Divide, and it's simply not going to cut it. I'm really going to have to just suck it up and go all weather right from the get-go, when I had planned to work up to rain and mud rides.

These two bear a striking resemblance. Lovable, but it's just not gonna get the job done.  

     On another note, my tax return is done, so I'll be picking up my 29er in the very near future. The crappy part is that I work Tuesday thru Saturday this week, so I won't really have a great chance to break it in for almost a week. My 5 day span will probably see an attempt to ride the Tail of the Dragon at Deal's gap. there's lots of climb, descent, and turns there, so I think it'll be a great way to gauge where I stand and get a baseline for my training. 

     Scott Thigpen and I have been exchanging emails, and he's made me aware that my diet may be flawed, so I'll be contacting his nutritionist in the near future. He's got some really great advice and I can't recommend his blog enough. 

     That brings me to my last point. Scott was so generous to give me a lot of advice on blogging and websites in general, and set up a beautiful template for me using HostGator and Wordpress, so in the very near future, I will be transferring this blog to a new base and address which I will disclose once I have secured the domain name I want. Keep checking back for updates, As soon as it's a done deal, I'll make an update here. See you on the trail!