OK, major good, major ouch.  The good:  I reconnected with a true pioneer who's strength has helped millions of others like her.  Major ouch:  Thanksgiving, and some tough words from someone close.  That's all I'll say for now. Doesn't matter. Life and biking are about suffering, and continuing to move on when someone slugs you in the gut. And I did. Got on the bike in the cold and killed (for a fat guy). Final rabbit score: me 4, rabbits 0. Put the miles over 5K, no minor feat given all the personal turmoil this year. And that 5K miles baby was kicked out, screaming, in just over 9 months. It was going to be a C-section, i.e. I had drawn a "C" around the USA and would do my virtual, riding with the blue moth, but after figuring roughly 40 calories a mile, 3500 Calories per pound of fat and therefore nearly 100 miles for a pound of pure fat, it was going to take more than a single pass across this huge country to drop the weight. I had to draw a giant "C" on the U.S. map, starting and ending at places I'd been before to provide added visualization. I started in Bar Harbor, Maine, across to Seattle, down to San Diego, and finally Jacksonville Beach, FL. That was 2 years ago. After nearly making it Seattle in 2007, I decided to start over this year. But I knew it now had to be the full circle - back to Bar Harbor for 8,375 miles. I improved in 2008, and that's good. As a billionaire CEO once told me, the best advice he'd gotten over the years was "best is the enemy of better". It's the same guy who said "real artists ship". Well, this artist is saling right along, and while the calorie intake didn't decrease like it needed to, I'm 15 miles east of Tucson, virtually pedaling east. Not my best, but better.

ps - I have to finish with a bit of fun with Landowski. Any bike blog that can make me laugh like this HAS to be added to the reading list.

pps - Here's a few people like me, who've put in the miles, but unlike me have controlled the calorie intake. Something to shoot for in 2009.