Winter is certainly playing along this year, who would have thought I would be putting in a 60-mile ride along the lake 2 days before Christmas. With a break before Christmas, I have been taking advantage of the 'mild' weather and getting in some decent rides.  My most recent ride was at -9C and oddly enough was one of the best rides of the year that I have had. It's correct what they say, "Its never too cold to ride, you just are not wearing the right gear." I was perfectly comfortably cool in that I did not sweat and never overheated or got too cold - and the sights along the route were just perfect! Work has really been getting in the way of my training schedule - but mostly I must admit I have been finding it really hard to get motivated. However, with less that 6-month till the kickoff of 2015 Tour Divide - I am going to be kicking up my training. I plan on hopefully getting in a few more rides before the big freeze of winter settles in. I am also taking the time to set up my indoor trainer in the garage. I prefer to choose the garage for a number of reasons:
1. I can ride early in the morning and not disturb the family.
2. I can set it up 'permanently' which cut down on excuses for setting up every time you want to ride.
3. I can ride to whatever Taylor Swift songs I want without worrying about waking up my family!
4,. And probably the most practical reason - the temperature in my garage are normally in the 4C to 9C in winter which means I don't need to have a fan while on the trainer which means I can also use the time to catch up on all my movies and TV series!

So, as I close off 2014 - probably a year I would not want to repeat. I am really looking forward to getting ready for TD'15 and I will certainly make a greater effort in updating this blog more frequently! Merry Christmas to you all - I hope your bikepacking gear wishes come true and that 2015 has many open road adventures!