Year-end wrapup

Overall I’m very pleased with my riding this year, especially considering this is my return to the sport after laying off the bike for nearly a decade. My mileage total for the year stands at 3628, not counting the spring trainer miles that I didn’t record. In that total are dozens of club rides and two centuries, including my first-ever sub-six-hour 100-mile ride.
I had a few low points – early-season equipment gremlins and crashing back in September were just plain embarassing, for instance, and in general my bike-handling skills aren’t where they need to be. But I’m looking forward to even better things in 2005. At this point I plan on doing the century distance to Mt. Wachusett, repeating at the Mt. Greylock century and maybe, if the stars align and my knees hold out, the Ride for the Roses in October.
For the coming weeks I’ll grind out some miles on the trainer and sneak some weekend rides when I can. Getting out on the skis has been fun and I hope to do that some more, but I probably won’t be consistent enough to build up much skill (snow being rather unpredictable around here). Spring isn’t that far off…right?