Home time.
Some friends have asked where I have been the past 5 months and if I am still racing or riding. Thank you for asking. Stephanie and I have been living in San Diego off of Nobel Drive where we have good access to the beach for bodyboarding and canyons for riding. Rose Canyon, Miriam Bear Nature Preserve, and Penasquitos Canyon are all nearby along with the UCSD Eucalyptus grove.
Am I still riding/racing? Yes. I am riding still but have put the racing in a holding pattern. In fact I have been putting plenty of miles on my cyclocross bike on the road these past few months. We also rode a few times with the Manns and spent a week in Whistler on those world-class trails.
The primary reason for our racing hiatus is that Steph and I are serious about purchasing a home. We have a three part plan to save money to purchase a home. 1. Invest our current money for a year so we can't spend it and we’ll have a little bonus interest when we are ready for the down payment. 2. Stay close to home to save gas cost and vehicle maintenance (bonus: it is good for the environment). 3. Avoid racing and shuttling. This saves race fees, replacement parts, transportation costs, dining out receipts, and doctor’s bills. I am staying local for everything else as well and cutting back on service plans (cell phone, cable, etc). We are going to purchase a home within a year and a half!
Despite this plan I need to keep my sanity so I will be making an announcement this fall concerning an adventure that we are planning for 2009. One of my top ten life goals is to raise at least $10,000 for a cause and I want to do that in 2009. This may be a couple of days or a couple of week’s long event that we hope to get our friends involved in and report on here at Loop'd.
I sincerely hope everyone is enjoying the early fall and getting in lots of trail or road time on their bikes.