A Redneck Christmas

The families plan to go snow skiing in Colorado during the holidays were postponed due to Carolynn's back injury. She is starting to feel better which is great news. Hopefully she will be back to normal in a month or two. I know from personal experience that back injuries can take a long time to heal, especially in some of the areas of the lower back with limited blood flow.

We then made plans to head south to Arkansas, but Christopher wasn't really motivated and I did not want to go alone so the decision was made to stay home and catch up on some projects, get in some long MTB rides here locally and chill out and enjoy a week with the family without too many worries.

Christopher called this Christmas a Redneck one. I kind of agree with him. Especially with his new toy - Mossberg 12 gauge pump action shotgun. I must admit that the kid is very good with guns, which is kind of scary when you think about it. But seriously, he handles them extremely well and has a tremendous amount of respect for firearms. He certainly knows they aren't toys!



Got in some very solid rides this week and learned some valuable lessons. Most importantly is that what would be warm enough on single track will not provide the same level of warmth when you have 20+ mph winds on a very cold day on the open road. I already knew this but it hit home hard on Christmas day when I went for a 3 hour ride. I had to bail into a QT (thank goodness it was open) to warm up. I think I actually saw Santa Clause in there or at least a fellow who looked liked a very tired Santa. I always enjoying riding on Christmas day because there is hardly any traffic and you really get to enjoy the ride. Well, at least until you start to freeze to death. For a moment there, I feared that I would end up like the little squirrel I saw on the way home.