Buddy the Elf, What's Your Favorite Color?

Did you hear that Appalachian State beat Delaware for the FCS title?!

Yeah, I didn't care either. Go Pats. Booya.

In more exciting news that I'm sure will be featured on the cover of the next Sports Illustrated, HealthNet had a mini camp here in Asheville. Three of their riders came to town to visit the new boss-man and partake in some riding. I happen to be friends with one John Murphy and therefore got to poach their mini camp bike practice. Under the auspices of being a friendly cyclist, I learned all sorts of insider tidbits that will allow me to trump their success in the upcoming cycling season. Victory will be mine!

We followed up a particularly lengthy and high calorie expended ride with a trip to the local bakery. I enjoyed one of their famous cinnamon buns. The picture doesn't offer any sort of scale, but I think the diameter was about 18 inches, or the size of an SUV's wheel. That might be a gross exaggeration, but I forget... The sugar coma made for omitted details.

The riding continues to be marvelous, albeit intertwined with some strange weather. Temperatures fluctuate between the 30s to the 70s in the past three weeks, and generally come in multi day phases. Three days of cold temps, four days of warm temps, etc. (It was 70 two days ago and spitting snow as I type this.) I cashed in on a recent warm day and summited the Eastern Continental Divide. I don't have the facts and statistics right here in front of me, but I'm pretty sure this is the highest point in the United States. Maybe even the world. The "ELEV 3028" refers to miles. Yup, 3,000+ MILES above sea level. Crazy. Needless to say, it was a fairly epic climb.

The fluctuating temperatures this time of year and rolling, rugged terrain strike me as very New England-like. As the fabled expression says, "You can take the cyclist out of New England, but you can't take New England out of the cyclist." Very sage. Here are two pictures from recent ride that could just as easily be Vermont or New Hampshire as they are western North Carolina. Beautious.

Lastly, Mayo and I shot down to Greenville to visit her brother this past weekend before they drive back home to Vermont for the holidays. Mayo's brother and roommates celebrated the end to a semester of school with a pretty sweet Christmas party. The camera soon went into hiding for it's own protection, but not before catching a glimpse of me in costume. With appropriate Christmas attire required, I tried out the local consignment shop but was totally unimpressed with their selection (meanwhile, I foolishly forgot my three-piece green checkered suit with complimentary red turtleneck at home in NH. Blast.) I therefore made do with a trip next door to the Dollar Store; one roll of wrapping paper and Scotch tape later, I had a butter costume:

The outfit was a stunning success. It features articulated elbows and knees for superior dexterity, as well as slits up the side of the apron/dress/overalls/shirt for the same reason. Believe it or not, the suit remained entact for it's entire life. After about three hours with the suit still fully functioning, I simply got bored with it and removed it.