Well, it's that time of year again . . . the time after all the seasons are over and I'm building up a base that I become completely enamored with the sport all over again. I'm happy to report that my enthusiasm for the bike is at it's annual winter peak. Seeing as I'm now at week 18 of living without a car during the week, that's good timing. Right now I'm spending my time building up a base as big as I can handle. I'm back home after spending the holidays with Jess in Pittsburgh, so I'm seeing 2.5 hours of riding each weekday, split up of course into 1.25 hour segments in the AM and PM. That's the 40 mile roundtrip to work everyday. I'm hoping to make it out the DC Velo 7am ride or a Coppi jaunt this weekend, which should add at least 50 miles and 3-4 hours to the total--not to mention some climbing, a bump up of the pace, and some friendly competition. My goal, I think, is to settle at 300 mi/week, which should be about 18 hours in the saddle. Because the volume is so high for me, I'm not really hammering much these days. Waking up at 6a every morning is tough, but I'm getting in the miles and so far I'm not sick or really feeling all that tired. Of course, I haven't done much on the weekends up to this point, so it's possible that once I start doing rides on Saturday and Sunday, I could feel it a bit.