I’m not a religious guy. I’ve had my moments. Mainly concerning deaths. Pets, parents. But, I don’t buy into the historical religious standards. If I were to pick a religion, it would probably be closer to some religion an American Indian tribe practiced than anything that “modern” society has come up with. That being said, I like Christmas. People seem to be nicer and happier during the holiday period. That is enough reason on its own. I don’t think most Americans would say religion is the main theme of Christmas anymore. I might be wrong here, but to me, the hanging with friends and family outweigh the religious overtones.

The presents are good too. Great, in this instance, this year. Trudi gave me a Eddy Merck Special Edition Book. I saw this book over at the BMC Service course. Och (Jim Ochowicz) owned it. I spent a couple hours going through it. I guess Trudi observed this.

So, she asked Jim about getting one. He said, “Sure”, called Eddy Merckx on his cell right then, and it was done. It wasn’t that done, though. The book didn’t arrive at the Service Course before Trudi left Europe, so she sort of stressed. She called Och again and he said just to get in touch with Axel, Eddy’s son. Axel lives in Canada. So, Axel was going to bring one to Texas and ship it to Kansas, but then decided against that and just shipped it from Canada.

I used to say that I wouldn’t really care if anyone robs my house. I’ve lived there for nearly 40 years and have never had a key to the front door. I really don’t have anything in my house that I can’t live without. Now I do. I’ve always wanted a full Campy tool kit. But, I really don’t. Most the tools don’t work with today’s bicycles. I didn’t know I wanted this book, but now that I have it, I’m going to read it cover to cover many times, and guard it with my life.

It is pretty cool having this book in a box sent by Eddy Merckx's son.

It’s 450 miles from Chicago to Cable. There is a ton of after Christmas traffic. Lots of trailers full of snow mobiles. There is a ton of snow in Wisconsin, so everyone wants to get out in it.

I got out for an hour and a half ride yesterday. My hands are still jacked from Cross Nationsls, or before. The roads were clear, but wet. I can’t believe how much salt they dump on the roads in Chicago. My nostrils and lips were swollen when I got home. Weird.

The Bears game is on the radio. The Chiefs are playing too. I watched the World Cup Cross race live this morning. Lars Boom killed it, especially taking his starting position into consideration. Pretty great win for him. Man, did that course look treacherous. Super hard. The time gaps reflected that. Jonathan Paige was 19th. Seems good.

We might stop in a couple hours and meet Tom Schuler to ski by the Wisconsin Dells. Or maybe just keep going and ski under the lights at OO.
Or maybe not ski at all. Tomorrow might be near 100km. Probably don’t want to be too tired for that.