daily musings: an ode to winter training and new toys

well winter training is still... just winter training. I've been able to make my hours every week so far since the end of race season, but the weather has been pretty cooperative so it's not too difficult to make 20 hours. Since the time change, however, it has been harder to get rides in after work because the sun sets at around 4:30 and usually by then it's pretty cold anyways. Guess it's time to consider getting out the trainer and watching long epic movies that make me forget how much i'm sweating and hurting.

In other news, next year i'll be racing for the vitamin cottage 3's team (hopefully not for long as i move up into the 2's and onto their elite team), but it's been good so far. i've gone on 3 or 4 rides with the team and they all seem like real nice guys, i just have to get to know them a little more. riding for an actual team will be really nice, unlike just riding with steve and i last year with evergreen (more of a club team than a racing team).

In even more news, winter training means bike toys. winter seems like a good time to buy stuff because with all of the long miles and no racing means i'll have time to get used to new stuff without the stress of racing. with the money i got from selling my moped, i bought shifters, derailleurs, and brakes from the sram rival group. so far i'm liking it way more than the ultegra i've used for a long time, with the wider hoods and longer, flatter tops, it's a lot more comfortable and less frustrating than ultegra was. The sram rival also looks a lot nicer, with the hidden cables run underneath the bar tape, and the black anodised aluminum parts, it all matches my bike much nicer and just looks a lot faster overall.