Winter Cycling makes me NOT S.A.D.

Avoid seasonal affective disorder.

Wow what a difference this 2010-2011 winter has been for me. Mentally I feel much better than last year at this time. Summer 2010 brought me my first competetive season of moutain biking while bringing me back to my youth in a way I didn't believe could happen. After MTB season ended in Sept. 2010 I was a bit bummed, so at the encouragement of our local bike store mechanic Don from RRB Cycle I decided to embark on yet another cycling sport "Cyclo Cross". For those of you unfamiliar with cyclo cross it involes a combination of road and off-road biking. It is intense to say the least, the races typically occur on a golf course or park setting, lots of turns, twists, hurdles, sand and run ups while carrying your bike. These races are timed 30-45 minutes depending on your category. I will tell you this, my heart and lungs have never worked as hard with NO REST. I entered into the "Chicago Cyclo Cross Cup" series which ended with the state championship Dec. 5th 2011 in downtown Chicago, the temp was a cold 16 degrees with a 20mph wind and 3 inches of fresh snow! Whats happened here is I was actually doing something I had never done before, I was training outside in inclement weather to say the least, soaking up D-3 from the sun and having fun doing it. This turn around in behavior has saved me from a winter of seasonal affective disorder and kept me in awesome shape for the upcoming mountain biking season this spring. Since the end of cyclo-cross season I have continued my outdoor cycling at least 3 times per week with the addition of snow shoeing and trail running. On top of this I teach and participate in 3 PHA Bootcamps per week at our Body Logic Fitness Center in Lake Geneva, WI. For more info on PHA Bootcamp go to www.bodylogicinc.net . Thats all for now, more later. Get off your duff and DO IT!