Not Quite Ready to Call it a Season

It's been an embarrassingly long while since my last blog post, and though my priorities have been necessarily elsewhere in the last few months, the cycling blog will undoubtedly continue. As the season wound down, I was seizing every last opportunity to squeeze in a ride, but the writing is on the wall—I have perhaps half a dozen rides left before road salt and ice will drive me to off-season activities. 

Last season I felt a certain amount of panic toward the end of the season that I didn't want to see end. This year, however the addition of some carefully selected winter cycling wear has led to a much more relaxed tail end of the year. I know now that I can comfortably go riding in the low 30s without getting too cold, and damn, do those cold weather trips feel great!

My goal for the year was 4500 miles, which I easily exceeded, thanks to my obsessive quest for yet another ride. What a satisfying season—lots to reflect on in the coming three off-season months. Hopefully I'll be back on the roads in early March, if next spring is anything like this spring. In the meantime, I'm off to Glenn Swan's to get my second chain of the year, and then in a month or so, I'll be upgrading to a Mavic Ksyrium Elite wheelset! I can't wait to see what happens when I lose close to 500 grams (.88 pounds) of rotational weight...