Dudes, it is almost time to start training again. Yes, I know most of you are training right now. Maybe you’re at a training camp somewhere warm or sweating it out on your trainer. Some of you are probably already racing on the road. Not me. I’m in my off-season break. This time when I don’t ride and I attempt to “not think” about bikes. So far so good. This is week four of the break. And thankfully, the last week of the break.

Call me crazy but I’m kind of looking forward to riding the trainer in the basement. My last race was on Jan. 31 and I’ve ridden only three times since. Granted those three rides were pretty darn awesome. Lots of fun. I dug my old mountain bike out of the garage and hit up the snowy trails down the street from my place. What fun! I’d never ridden in the snow much before (apart from the odd ‘cross race…). I really enjoy being out there spinning my legs out and getting a feel for the mountain bike.

My brain is clear. My heart is pumping. And I’m pretty sure I’m smiling. It is so refreshing to be out amongst the trees, birds, squirrels and blue sky. It is really quite warm in the woods as well. The extra bonus is that crashing in the snow isn’t that bad since the snow is rather deep!

Had a great talk with my coach Steve Weller of Bell Lap Coaching yesterday. This guy has been instrumental in my success on the bike. He really knows his stuff and most importantly he has the ability to pull me back when I want to just go out and ride and ride and ride… Steve is also excellent at really listening to what I’m saying – hearing between the words. We talked about the plans for the next few months and the summer. We’ve made a few tentative plans and have once again decided to change things up this spring/summer. Last year I hit the gym for some serious weight lifting. This year, we’re switching gears a bit and instead of the gym, I’ll be spending more time in the yoga studio, running, mountain biking, and working on core strength. All this with the goal of making a faster, stronger, and more technical cyclo-cross racer. Looks like I might even go to camp. Yep – mountain bike camp. Pretty cool eh?

My “training” resumes next week. But this first four weeks will be pretty loose. Some calm easy rides to ease back into things. I’ll be going to yoga 3 – 4 times a week and adding a new core strengthening program. Also some fun snowy mountain bike rides in the calendar. To say I’m looking forward to the next four weeks would be an understatement!

And in more exciting news… I’m going to Florida at the end of March. Four days in Orlando. Cool. I’m going down to help support KingsBridge at the Disaster Recovery Journal Spring World conference. KingsBridge is not only a long-time sponsor of mine but also a leader in disaster recovery and business continuity software. We’ll be in booth 510.

A little while ago I also hinted at a new team for the 2010 – 2011 season. Well, things are coming together really well and in a few weeks I’ll be posting a press release with full details. Let it be known that I’m pretty darn excited about the upcoming season and really am quite overwhelmed with the support from my sponsors. Feeling pretty fortunate and lucky.

(P.S. let me know if you’re up for a snowy mountain bike ride this weekend. I’m looking for new places to ride so any suggestions are appreciated.)