Happy new year, ya’ll! Not too much to report from NYE night - just a quiet one with our neighbors. Well, things did get a little heated while we played “Cranium” - even a board game can get the competitive juices flowing.

45 degrees - that would be about the temperature outside yesterday but it was also the angle at which we had to lean our bikes into the ferocious crosswinds. Only one other time in my life have I ridden my bike in such strong winds, and that would have been during the Tour of Wellington (NZ) in 2005. After seeing too many girls blown into the ditch by the severe crosswinds, the race director neutralized that section of the race for the racers’ safety - the cars lined up on the right side of the road, we lined up on the left, and drafted off the cars for the next 25km until the crosswinds became tailwinds. The race was restarted and off we went. Unfortunately, yesterday there were no caravan cars to draft off of so I did the next best thing - rode beside the biggest guys in the bunch. Thanks!

Now I’ve got one more day on the bike and it’s off to Steamboat to hone my XC skills for the next 4 days. With the massive storm that’s suppose to hit (the one that just blasted CA), I’d much rather be playing in the snow than cursing it from inside as I slave away on the trainer!

-Meredith