I am officially back. I think I am going to call the last two months, the true off-season. Obviously school finished and winter break came and went quickly. Lots of things have been happening over those two months. Over break, I spent a fair amount of time trying to get my old XC skis in working order only to find out that there is a place down here that rents skis for no cost other than the annual membership... Sold! I was able to get out to do some cross-country skiing through the Urban Ecology Center at least a few times over break. I was also happy to get a fair amount of weight-lifting in. Over the last two weeks I have been doing more cardio on the spin bike and a little running on the indoor track (much to my knee's dissatisfaction...). Thanks to the weather over the weekend and decent temps this morning, I finally got outside to get in some real saddle time!!! Meetings for Both the Titletown Flyers and the UWM Cycling team have started and collegiate road racing starts on Feb 28th, though my first race(s) are likely to be March 7 and 8th. Besides training and such, school is now entering week 3 of the spring semester, though I can hardly believe it. My schedule consists of about 4 classes, Monday through Wednesday and work 5 days a week. My biggest challenges are without a doubt my 3 night classes from 5:30 to 8:10 each Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. It's pretty hard to get used to staying attentive at night instead of in the early morning. The nice thing about the night classes is that I get a lot of time Monday and Wednesday mornings to get in a long ride or workout before classes start.
I'll have more to come, as I am making some (hopefully) big purchases over the next month or so, and as training builds towards collegiate road season!
-Andy
