5 Days Straight

The winter holiday from school has been great! The weather has even been good. For the past five days I have been putting in the time on the bike to get ready for 09. Each day has been 2 to 3 hours and 4 of the 5 days were on the mountain bike. With the good trail conditions I could not bring myself to ride on the road. I only took pictures on one ride because of not wanting to stop all the time. Hope you enjoy the shots.

Have a Happy New Year! Be safe. Ride your bike!

2008 Christmas Photos

Thanks to all the family and friends for a wonderful holiday season!

2008 Christmas Photos # 2

These pictures are from Xmas eve. Santa brought presents on his visit to NaNa and PaPa's house. You can tell by Meg's expression when looking at Santa it was a great night.

Haro Mini Ride #1

2008 Christmas Morning Photos #1

12 Minutes

From my door it takes 12 minutes (on the Rig) to get to trails like these! Two hour ride that included road, gravel, and singletrack.

Mid-Week Surprise

As a teacher you wait for the phone to ring early in the morning when there is snow in the forecast. Tuesday night I went to sleep thinking we may have a 2 hr. delay but, not a whole day off! The phone ring at 5:45am with the message that only my school was closed due to downed power lines. Let the celebration begin! Becki was able to sleep in! I got to drive Luke to his pre-school mid-morning. I was able to get some "projects" done that you never seem to have the time for otherwise. At 2:00pm it was on to the road bike for a 2hr. tour. When you have a family, job, house, and a part time job these unexpected times to ride are a treat. When I would normally be teaching 7th grade students about cancer or some other health related topic I was enjoying the bike path. A great surprise "training" day. (see pictures)

Open Road

This weekend the family hit the open road for a trip to Dillsburg. The mission was to visit the in-laws, visit Becki's high school friends, and of course ride. First, let me say I am very lucky to have in-laws that I get along with. Thank you for everything that you do for our family. Second, was a party with Becki's high school friends. The annual Christmas party is something we look forward to every year. This year was good food, good drink, and no fighting between Chad and Steve! Last year Chad and Steve (high school football buddies) got into a late night pushing match. I was the one trying to break it up! All 150lbs. of me! More mellow this year.

Thanks to Becki I was able to get in some great road miles this weekend. Road riding around Dillsburg in York and Adams county is spectacular! Open farm roads, gravel roads, and very little traffic. I've had a few years to explore the roads of the area and have come up with several good loops. On Sat. I did a gravel road loop. I use some gravel roads to connect paved sections. On Sunday I rode my "classic" Adams county loop. I have been doing this since Becki and I got together. This is one of the few road rides I miss when I don't get to use it. Many open farm roads, very narrow and windy. Even some small steep climbs thrown in. Both rides were for just over two hours in cold, windy, and sunny conditions. Great fun on the open road!

Flyers Game

This post is to say thanks to Dave for the invite to join his family at the Flyers game. Through his work we were able to see the game from a suite. All I can say is "amazing"! Meg and Luke loved it. It was the first Flyers game for both of them. The game itself was great. Flyers were down 5-1 and came back to tie it with four minutes left. The game went to overtime and still no one scored. Then the Flyers won in the shootout. Very exciting! This round of pictures is of Meg, more to come! Enjoy!

Tuesday Night Ride

Two hours of night time fun in pictures.

Dusting

An early 7:15am ride at Valley Green with a light dusting of snow. The weather forecast was calling for the winds to pick up as the day grew longer so I got out early to avoid the wind chills. This would be a test for the 34x18 on some steep hills. The gear was hard on the steeper hills but, overall more fun. I stuck to the trails that I know so I could feel the difference in the gear. On one of the longer more gradual climbs I actually like the bigger gear. I was able to get out of the saddle and put in a good acceleration. On one semi-flat section I was moving much faster. Overall, in the two hour ride I covered more distance then usual even with the snow! Coming home from the trails on the road that wind chill mentioned earlier had arrived. I was almost blown off the road. Home just in time!

Snowy Sunday Morning