Merry Cycle-mas

I hope that everyone had a great Christmas. Even though I wasn't able to go home for the holidays and celebrate with my family, I had a pretty good Christmas. This was the first year that my husband and I spent Christmas together, just the two of us. We were able to do a Google hangout with my family in the morning and Skype with his family later on in the day. So luckily we got to see everyone in one way or another.

About half of my gifts this year were cycling related. :) It was a nice change of pace. I love all my gifts, but i'm really excited for the new gadgets I got. Here are some of the cycling-related gifts...

A nice gift certificate for Sports Basement from my parents. Maybe I can get myself another pair of cycling shorts or some bibs.

My sister got me some Clif bars. I always carry one or two of these (bars, not boxes) with my when i'm on my bike. They are great for fueling up on longer rides.

Wool socks, from my mother-in-law, to keep my toes nice and warm. These will be great for my winter rides as well as those early mornings on ALC. 

A fun snarky book from my friend Allyn. Should make for a good read. I read a little from Chapter Eleven : A Brief Guide to Etiquette for non-cyclists and it made me laugh. Here is a little excerpt:

     Don't Touch our Bikes or Interview us:

         ...Do you touch strangers? Unless you're reading this from prison, probably not...

         ... Does this mean that you should never talk to a cyclist? Of course not. Just try to use common sense.

          A good rule of thumb is to pretend our bikes are underpants. Think of it this way:

               --You wouldn't ask a stranger what their underpants are made of

               --You wouldn't ask a stranger how much they paid for their underpants

               --Most importantly, you definitely wouldn't try to touch a stranger's underpants

          See? It's simple! 

A nice little LED headlamp from my mother-in-law. I 'm sure you're thinking, how is this cycling related? Well, I will be using when i'm doing ALC. I've been told they make it a lot easier to see when you need to go to the bathroom or do anything at night when in camp on ALC. 

My husband got me a 15000 mAh portable charger. This thing is going to be amazing! I can charge two things at once via USB cables. When the device is completely charged up, I can charge my phone about 6 times. That's pretty awesome. This is going to be so helpful on ALC. Since we camp, we don't always have access to electrical outlets. 

A set of bluetooth headphones from my parents. These aren't exactly cycling related, but more work-out related. While on ALC training rides and during ALC, I can't actually use headphone. But I might see about using them when I'm riding by myself up here. I tested them out and I can have the volume at a level where I can enjoy my music but still hear noises around me. I hate when I pass people on trails and even though I announce myself as I pass, they get startled because they can't hear me since they have headphones on. They also work as a headset for my phone. I tested it out with my husband and the sound quality is very good. 

So, those are my cycling related Christmas gifts. I got some other great gifts this year, but I don't need to go into those here.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!