A peek behind the curtain!

So where do I go from here? I’ve talked about my goals for next season on the bikes, with my running, and at the gym. But what is to become of all this? This little project has developed a small, but devoted following. It’s become important to me and to more of you than I ever would have guessed, over the past 12 months. A whole lot of you have asked what will happen when the year is out, and expressed hope that I’ll continue.

Well, I think that I will. Daily posts aren’t very likely, but I intend to shift the focus from quantity to quality. There will be fewer “this is what I did today” posts, and more posts commenting on industry happenings, trends and news. More posts about training philosophy and motivation. I’ll still write about my races, and keep you all well appraised of what I’m doing, what I have planned, and where I’m going, but I want to broaden my subject matter by adding stories about other athletes as well.

Another thing I’ll be doing more of, with my sudden influx of spare time, is reading. My writing has only become what it is because I read a lot, but that’s had to take a back seat to the sheer volume of writing I’ve had to do as part of this project. In an effort to continue my development as a writer, it will be nice to be able to read, and by that to study the styles and techniques of others.

I’ll also be pursuing other writing opportunities, in an effort to broaden my skill set. You may see me linking to things I’ve written for other sites more, and hopefully one day I might even make a few bucks for what I write. There is a large gap between here and there, but it’s a possibility many of you have encouraged me to explore, and I want to.

In that vein, I’ve accepted a post as Communications Director for the Miami Valley Mountain Bike Association. I’ll be in charge of newsletter stuff, website stuff, social media stuff… In short, doing for them what I’ve done for myself all year this year. It’s a volunteer position, but an important step forward in my media career, if I’m to have one.

And what of this project as it sits? I’m not sure yet. It’s been suggested that I work it into book format. I may shop some of the articles out for republication. At the very least, it will serve as a memento of the year that has been. And if that’s all it ever becomes, it will have been worth the effort.

The Mad River, living up to its name.

What do you get when you cross five rivers, a foot of snow, a random 60° weekend and two days of torrential rain? A freakin’ whole lot of water, that’s what!

All of those elements combined over the past weekend to make the Miami Valley as wet as I’ve seen it for a long time. There was some localized flooding, not least of which was seen at Innisfree on the Stillwater, which very nearly became Innisfree in the Stillwater. I’ve crossed the Huffman Dam countless times this year on training runs and rides, but I’ve never seen the river quite like this.

I stood at watched for a long time before I took this picture. Fast-moving water is fascinating in much the same way as fire, and maybe the only earthly thing more powerful.

Among the reasons we made the trek to Virginia for Thanksgiving this year was to meet our new nephew, Oliver. He’s only just over a month old, so there was more of him eating and sleeping than us meeting, but that’s to be expected.

Another highlight of the trip was spending Thanksgiving evening itself at the home of one of my brother-in-law’s coworkers, who graciously agreed to host the six of us (plus Oliver) for dinner. I’ve spent a lot of Thanksgivings away from home over the past decade, mostly due to work-related travel. But I always seem to find myself at the warmth of a family table, welcomed sometimes by total strangers with genuine hospitality.

For that small miracle, I am deeply thankful.

This. Gallons of this.

Well, it finally caught up to me. I felt it coming on as early as last Tuesday, but I kept soldiering on anyway, hoping it’d clear itself up. I’m a big fan of moderate exercise when you feel yourself starting to get sick. My very unscientific theory is that raising your core temperature and heart rate through exercise helps fight infection. I have no study to back it up, but it seems from my own experience that working out can shorten the duration and lessen the intensity of whatever you’re coming down with. That, and whiskey.

So when I felt that familiar tingle in my sinuses last week, I just kept on. I rode and ran like I normally would, although with a slight decrease in speed. It seemed to be working. I didn’t get much worse. At least, it didn’t until my all-day, race and ride pedalfest on Saturday.

By Saturday night, I had just about lost my voice. By Sunday morning, I was a full-blown wreck. This morning marks the first time I’ve had to call in sick to work since probably 2009.

Maybe it would’ve happened anyway. Maybe going down for the count was inevitable, and pushing through last week was just postponing it. But there’s no denying it’s here, now. Time for rest, and lots of tea, and maybe even a little medication. Oh, and whiskey, because it hurts so good.