I didn’t know the off-season could be this busy!

So it is definitely the off-season. One way I know that is because of the number of projects that have managed to make it to the queue for processing. I am working on the development of two different websites in addition to creating a toolkit for monitoring Ajax performance as part of my academic research. I haven’t been riding a ton, but there a few things to note:

1. The 2008-2009 BBL season is underway! I am managing the website for the series, and we have really stepped it up this year with organization, prizes, etc… I rode the inaugural weekend but was then out of town last weekend for a conference, and this coming weekend we will be on our way back from Thanksgiving with family in Northern Indiana.
2. My Garmin Edge 705 bike computer / GPS unit arrived in the mail yesterday morning. I brought it with me here to Indiana where I am sitting in a coffee shop trying to get caught up on a few things while Kristine and the kids nap. I will write up a detailed review of my experience with the Garmin after my first few rides with it. On an interesting side note – I am writing from Rocky Mountain Cafe – a very cool coffee shop in La Porte, IN. My large mocha was a bit expensive ($4.50), but I have unlimited access to free wireless. This is compared to the other wifi hotspot that I tried – Temple News Agency – where I had the option of paying $4.25 for a large mocha and then paying not $1, not $2, not $3, but $4 for one hour of wireless connectivity. Hmmm, let’s see – $4.50 plus free wifi or $8.25 plus the opportunity to sit in a small cramped building with somebody smoking inside it. I’m glad I just smiled and said “thank you” and left the first spot!
3. Finally, it looks like I’ll be doing a couple days of cold-weather riding up here on snow-free roads surrounded by a beautiful snowy countryside up here in La Porte, IN! They had a lake effect snowstorm that dropped about 10 inches of snow a few days ago and all of it has melted from the roads which are completely dry and yet the fields are still covered in snow! It doesn’t get any better than that for a biking southerner who doesn’t get to see snow very often!

Fall Commute

I biked home from work early today to make it ahead of the rain. Even though the lighting wasn’t good, the fall colors were absolutely amazing. I had my old camera with me and got to do one of my favorite things to do while riding a bike — taking pictures! These pictures below are all taken on the climb up Smyer Road or from the top of the mountain at the Baptist Church.

2008 – End of the year review

Personally, this was definitely my best season ever. Also, as a team we had our strongest year yet and things are looking absolutely amazing for next year. I am in the middle of a Windows Vista installation so I thought I would take a minute or two to report my 2008 statistics. I’ll report from January 1st to October 12th (last race of the season) even though a lot of the pre-season training happened in December 2007 and won’t be included here.

Statistic	Avg	Max	Min	Total
Weekly training time (hours)	14.65	20.18	9.6	600.5
Weekly distance (miles)	252.2	337.1	159.7	10,339
Workouts per week (#)	11	15	5	443
Weekly climbing (feet)	12,848	20,348	6,158	526,785

2008 Season review - total weekly mileage

2008 Season review - time spent in heart rate zones

Enjoying the off-season

Not much new to report here other than I have been taking advantage of the off-season to get a lot of work done (academic research as well as work on my e-commerce website topocreator.com). It’s also left me a little more time each day with my family which I am really thankful for. I’ve been riding everyday to work so I have still been getting in about 75 miles of riding each week, but I haven’t ridden on the weekends now for a couple weeks. That will change on November 15th when Birmingham’s winter training series (called BBL because of its similarities to the Athens WBL) kicks back up again.