It's been busy up here in the North Pole

I hope everyone had a nice holiday weekend! Mine was filled with family, friends and lots of sugar cookies. In fact, if I ever hear the word sugar or cookie again it will be too soon!

Saturday was a monumental day for me just because I actually dragged myself out of bed at 2:50 a.m. to get my workout in before work. This may not seem like a big deal, but it's two days later and I'm still patting myself on the back about it. Because trust me, I am NOT a morning person!!!!

Anyways, it wasn't too bad once I was actually out of bed and pedaling. My legs felt good and I felt great afterwards. In fact, I had a ton of energy until about 11 a.m., when I absolutely hit the wall. Everything went into slow motion and I would have paid good money just to go back to bed. But it was all worth it, because after work I was able to catch the end of the Ergon Clinic going on at Velo City.

Namrita and Eddie sharing training tips....

It was pretty nasty out so we ended up coming home after the clinic and staying in for the night. Naomi was in heaven. More people in the house meant more treats and more attention...

While we were hanging out, a certain somebody knocked one of our pictures off of the wall. Namrita and I took it upon ourselves to fix it. And in typical "Namrita and Danielle fashion" it took us much longer then it should have!

2 hours later we were still working on it...
We are considering starting our own decorating business :-)
And just for the record, that picture still isn't straight.

The next day we spent the morning eating pancakes, drinking lots of coffee and trying to decide whether we should ride inside or out. Of course we chose outside...

Here we are just leaving the house, hence the smiles...
Winter can be a _______, but it sure is pretty!

Our friend Mackenzie joined us for the ride. She's the rider in the green jersey in front of me. She's also partially responsible for one of the biggest blow-ups I've ever had on a bike.

I'm not sure exactly what happened, but right before we started climbing Knapp street, Scott peeled off and Mackenzie started leading. She asked if the pace was OK, and I said yes. But here's the deal with Mackenzie. She will go the same speed regardless of what we sort of terrain we are on. So all of a sudden we were doing the same speed up the climb that we were doing on the flat road.

I was supposed to be riding in my endurance zone, but I will be the first to admit that I am 100% stubborn when it comes to holding someone's wheel. Half-way up the climb I started to see light bulbs and as we neared the top I was mentally screaming at myself that I would never, ever, ever eat another sugar cookie for the rest of my life. Then I actually stopped pedaling. And just for the record, do you know how hard it is to get up a hill when you aren't pedaling? Scott had to come around and give me a push, because my legs were toast. Luckily I was able to rebound! I definitely hope to ride outside with Mackenzie more often. It will be like having a secret training weapon :-)

We ended up riding for about 1:45. I had initially hoped to ride longer, but our bikes were about 10 pounds heavier from ice build-up. And everyone was frozen solid. In fact, it's 24 hours later and my feet are still in the process of dethawing!!!

Next up is the annual Velo City New Year's Day ride. Don't miss it! The ride leaves the shop at 1:00 p.m., and the ride length is determined by the weather. If it's really nasty we can always just ride downtown on the heated streets.