The year is swiftly moving to a close which gives me the chance to reflect upon the events, and the end results. A quick synopsis reveals that I cycled only 72 times on the road to date, compared to 92 road rides in 2006. The good news is that I averaged slightly higher YTD speeds, and had a strong September, and October run.

My YTD average speed for those 72 rides was in mid 15's. Nothing to write about...but I'll do it anyway - ha!

2007
Rides:     72
Miles:      2,247
Avg spd: 15.556

I was hoping for at least a 16 mph average, but just fell short. 72 rides netted me 2,247 total miles, much less than the 2,699 in 2006. Which was 500 less miles this year, but with more ascending and slightly higher average speeds overall in 2007.

                                             Side by Side

Now let's take a look at September/Oct 2007 v 2006. Which I believe is more indicative of my performace at the end of the year. Here is where I excelled for a very brief period.

For the two months of September and October 2007 I averaged 16.325 mph versus 15.64 mph in Sept/Oct 2006. I think 15 out of the 16 rides in Sept/Oct 2007, I never averaged below 16 mph. I was riding stronger than ever before, and I felt good. Unfortunately, it has all been flushed away! By the end of October, I had lost all motivation to get out on my carbon hot rod. I still had and still do have the desire to ride, but there is a difference between the two. I just cannot seem to implement my desire to ride... into actually riding.  

This flaw in my character only fortifies my lack of discipline, and structure which I am all too aware of. It is fairly simple, I despise the cold weather. By cold, I mean any day under 60 degrees. The older I get the more I hate the cold, cloudy, and dreary weather. The plan is to move to a warmer climate in the next few years. Until then, it will probably be more of the up and down results tallied up over the past 3 years of cycling. I need to take a page out of the CSC team's motto: "Harden the fuck up" or similar to some of the Military's creeds: Hunker down, never quit, and meet the objective. I need Boot camp! Or a good kick in the ass.