i survived the hectic nature of an all inclusive christmas. little b didn't really know why he had a pile of stuff in front of him but he enjoyed the paper and boxes nonetheless. we ate like kings for three days. shaubie and i had thai food tuesday night and it was amazing, a new place for us b/c the usual places were closed. a different take on the same three dishes normally get, with one new thing each time. this time it was a noodle dish that was super-spicy, as thai-hot as we have had! someday we'll go there and see what native food is like, after reading the beach (having not seen the movie, yet) it just sounded like an amazing place, full of new things for a white-bread westerner to see. three days of riding outside in a row was wonderful, little things are what make riding a bicycle so enjoyable. i found a curvy road i had never ridden before outside carter lake, the way the bike flowed through the turns made the whole ride better, then just going fast in a straight line up and down rolling hills, working hard thinking about the first group races and then the first stazio sufferfests a couple months away. i really believe that this year will be better than last year. my motivation is better than ever and i feel good about my off season workload. now that i won't have that luxury of sustained outdoor cycling for a while i need to maybe get out at the nordic cneter on a regular basis. the lungs are in far worse shape than the legs. going hard for a few k yesterday had my lungs seared and my legs a bit fatigued but not near equal the way they would be mid-season. more work is needed, in the lt department, sustained 20-30 minute efforts are in order, wait, isn't that nordic skiing? great, done. enjoy your holiday break