We’re three days into the new year and it’s so far, so good. Tomorrow, I have to go back to work. I’m a little bummed that I can’t wear sweatpants all day anymore, but that’s ok. It’ll be good to get back in the swing of things. I’ve taken short bike rides every day so far and am up to 11 miles. So only 2242 to go to hit my goal. 🙂 I’ve cooked some good meals (homemade pizza, eggs with pepper, onion and avocado) and some ok ones (roasted vegetables with noodles). I’ve also used up my blackened bananas by making banana muffins, which turned out pretty good. I went with Paul today to his bar and helped him clean up some wood. So while I didn’t technically do a workout, I worked there for a couple of hours and got my heart rate up. My car has only been out of the garage one day. And since the weather looks pretty good, I’m hoping that the bike will get me to work for most of this week.

I’ve also been good about not doing anything for work this weekend. Quite frankly, I haven’t done much of anything except watch The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi and the Bikes vs Cars movie that I bought. I read a little of the book that I bought myself before the holiday. Basically, I just tried to relax. Not my strong suit, but I do feel pretty rested. This is good because this week will be a little busy. For the past couple of years, I’ve taken every Friday off in January. I’m still debating whether or not to do that. Maybe I’ll do it in February. Usually I’m taking some days off because I’m close to the maximum accrual. This year, I’m not at the max, but I’ll get there by April if I don’t take any days. Think I’ll decide later this week.

I also took some time to look for more bike rides to do this year. Found two that I didn’t know about. The Tour du Port (not sure why it’s called this) is in Baltimore in September. I don’t think the roads are totally closed, but the ride looks neat. There are different lengths of ride, but the one that looks the most interesting to me is the shortest one. “A family friendly 14 miles around Baltimore’s Inner Harbor that includes designated bicycle lanes through historic neighborhoods and the famous National Aquarium rest stop.” Riding through historic neighborhoods will pretty much get me every time. The second one, also in September (sigh), is NEOCycle. This is billed as “The Midwest’s biggest urban cycling festival taking place September 11-13 on the shores of Lake Erie in Cleveland, Ohio.”. The part that interests me is the Fundo ride. (Guess it’s a play on Gran Fondo rides, but this one is apparently FUN since it’s not timed. But since most people don’t know what Gran Fondos are, I’m thinking this name might not make sense.) Anyway, they also have a short family (10 mile) ride that looks to go through downtown Cleveland. Could be interesting, but I’m thinking this is on the same day as both Detroit and Minneapolis and I think I’d rather go to one of those. But we’ll see.