home sweet home and 2009 plans... and tons of photos

Well we're back home and very happy about it. The holidays were so much fun and we had a great time hanging out with our "new" families. We both took it really easy, slept a lot (me more than Beth), and definitely enjoyed all the holiday food and drinks. I was stoked I got to spend a lot of time hanging out with my parents, brother, courtney, and monster of a nephew, Greyson. The kid is awesome! I already miss my family.

Little G.


It was a long vacation and break from out normal routine which was nice, but it also felt good to get home on Friday, jump on the bike, and then hit the grocery store and re-stock the fridge and pantry with good, healthy food. It's 2009 and time to get back at it... well kind of.

3 hour Holiday Dinner. Great food, plenty of wine, and great converstations.


I am really struggling right now with what I want to do this year. My foot is still not right. I wake up and it's sore to walk on, and then it loosens up but does not feel good enough to run. I have done exactly one run since the Xterra trail race on 12/14 and then was just to test it out.... and the test didn't go so well. So as of right now I still can't run. I was hoping with all the rest over the holidays and with not running I would be ready to get out and run this weekend, but that's not the case. The only good thing is that riding doesn't bother it at all.

So I am finding it really hard to plan my season and training when I can't run. I has some lofty running goals this year and was really motivated to put in some miles but now my focus needs to change, at least for the next month. So I think the plan now is to put myself through a bike "bootcamp". I haven't done any focused bike training since the weeks leading up to Xterra Worlds in October so it's time. I still need to consult with Trevor for the exact plan but as of right I expect to riding a ton in the coming weeks and hoping that my foot heals and I can get back on track 100% in February.

Early Race Plans:
1.24.2009 - 12 hours of Temecula - 3-man Team
3.7.2009 - Counting Coup - 44-mile Mtb race

That's it. No running races, no triathlons. It's all up in the air right now.

With all that being said I did get in some solid riding over the weekend, even with the crappy weather on Friday and Saturday. Beth and I hit the road after getting home on Friday to knock out some of the travel junk. It hit the gym early on Saturday morning and then got in some mountain bike riding with Beth. We hit mix of wet roads and trails and it was fun.

start of the ridgeline trail. Beth killed it.


on/offroad ride with Beth.


it was pretty cold.... for southern california so Beth requested an americano stop.



Then on Sunday I met up with Trevor some mountain bike action. We hit my local trails and then went exploring. We found a lot of trails... with a ton of climbing. The ride shelled me! Thanks T.


I also have 2008 recap post in the works but I am being lazy about it.

Here are some awesome photos from a great new years eve. It was Courtney's b-day so we had a killer dinner and then a fun bar. Nothing major but it was a good time for sure.

Beth, me, courtney (brother's gf and baby mama), chris (my brother) grabbing a drink before dinner.


at the bar. same crew with addition of Britainy (courtney's sister). She set the whole night up. she's rad.


trouble.




soon to be family.


I made some new friends.


we love to party!


Beth really loves to party!