Okay, I’ve tried everything that I can think of to ride my bike better, to no avail. So, I give up and am just going back to doing things that I don’t necessarily think make me ride faster, but enhances my general life.

So, after the cross race, I went MTB riding for a couple hours with some of my friends. A super cold front came through yesterday and the low was into the single digits, so yesterday I decided to go running. I haven’t run in a long time. I ran over to the park and did hill repeats. It is one of my favorite places because George, a very special dog, is buried at the top of the hill. It was his favorite place to roam in the world. So, I like it a lot too.

I thought I was going to cripple myself. The jury is still out on that, but I’m hoping for the best. The morning I spent 3 hours on my hand and knees doing a making a shower basin. This morning we’re going to screw up a bunch of cement board and finish the drywall. It’s an upstairs bathroom, so there is a lot of walking up and down stairs carrying a lot of weight. Should be great after the hill sprints yesterday.

I’m not sure why my hamstrings are so tight nowadays. That is mainly my problem. Especially the left. I’ve been doing a ton of stretching and some weird bridges that are supposed to help, but so far it hasn’t done a thing. Maybe the running will shock them back into cooperation.

It is supposed to be cold once more today and then a warming trend. I’m going to look for as many races as I can the next month. Obviously training isn’t working that great, so I guess I need to turn to racing to get race fit. It is kind of tricky using cyclo-x races to get fit. It’s a fine edged sword. I could sure use a nice stage race right about now.

PS-Don’t forgot you need to enter Cross Nationals today to avoid a $20 late fee. Click here to get to registration.

This is the shower liner that is covering a couple inches of cement, already laid with a slight slope and contour.

This is pretty much the finished product. It has a pretty good slope and it super smooth. Should be easy to lay tile on.

It just got cold and everyone is a little out of practice on dressing for the correct temperature. Here is the spectrum, Eric wearing a sleeveless jersey and arm warmers. And Catherine, wearing Assos thermal tights with neoprene booties for riding on single track. She’s already peeled off her jersey. And Eric was a runner/triathlete before he came to his senses and now rides his bike nearly exclusively.

My bikes is leaning against the biggest vine I’ve ever seen. I have no idea how this vine got there, but it goes to the very top of a super tall sycamore tree.

If you’re looking for a Christmas present for someone that has a Garmin computer, I’d highly recommend this Bar Fly mount. It is so much better than the Garmin mount. I didn’t think it would be any different, but I have a couple and love them. They can be bought here at Amazon or lots of other places online. It’s around $40 most places.

It holds the computer much better than the original mount and in a better position, freeing up some handlebar space.

Or if you’re looking to spend more money, $200-250, then this Nest Thermostat is super cool. It is made by some guys that used to work for Apple and does a lot of interesting things. It learns your temperature habits and then sets them. You can access the thermostat from your phone or computer to change it or see the temperature. They sell them at Lowes now, so they’re easy to come by.

I saw these brussel sprouts at Trader Joes the other day. Did you know they grew so close together on the stalks? I had no idea.