Dan Action

What do you know; it’s a new year. January 1, 2008

Well it’s gonna drop down to freezing tonight here in Gainesville, FL. The town is completely dead on this first day of the new year, not that I see that much of it anyway. My ride out on the back roads today was pretty much me on the road and that’s it.

While I’m on the subject of riding, there are a bunch of events coming up here that I’m pretty pumped about. First, the Tour of San Felasco is coming up on the 14th. San Felasco is an incredible nature preserve about 10 miles outside Gainesville that boasts 50 miles or more of continuous trails. The tour there is a well attended event, filling all 450 spots within a week of registration. A guy who works at the shop with me has an entrance form, but is not sure if he’s going to use it. If not I’m hoping to be able to volunteer or something to ride it.

Next are the two ‘cross races in Largo, FL. about two hours south of where I am. I have no idea what to expect from cyclocross in Florida, and I will demur speculations. There are two of them in the same town one on the 20th and another on the 27th. The latter is apparently going to be the Florida state championships. Who Knows?

Other cycling events of note are the training crits that are starting up as early as next Saturday and running for three weeks. Unfortunately for me I work all day on Saturdays and it makes up a big chunk of my paycheck, so You can’t race them all.

Early February there will be the perennial Gainesville Downtown Criterium. I look forward to this one and in preparation, I am going to make myself a new skinsuit. Since I race unattached on the road, I feel I should take advantage of the freedom of choice I have as to what kit I can wear. Look for it.

There’s a lot more I want to add to this post, but I guess it can wait and this one can suffice as a small update. I hope a good number of you were close to a bottle of champagne last night and were able to hear some version of Robert Burns’ Auld Lang Syne. New Years may be the only holiday that has gotten me consistently choked up. Get right with those you love, make sure they know it.