The last 2 weeks have been a blur. We left New York, drove across the country in single digits, endless semis, rest stops, a wind and dust storm, and landed in Colorado in time to close on our new house. We were back to work two days later, adjusting to East Coast hours being 2 hours earlier and trying to get the house unpacked and organized. It’s the same size, but has different spaces, so things don’t just GO where they used to go.
I’m also learning that despite the massive purging we did in New York, I still have too much Stuff. Some of it might just stay in boxes until I’m ready to fully part with it.
The holidays have barely registered for us – each holiday was a day off from work and a chance to catch up on the house (and sleep in). We’ve had service people out almost every day this week to complete the routine maintenance the previous owner didn’t do. We have a handman coming next week to knock out a long list of little things that, once completed, will give us more time to maintain rather than catch up.
We’re like 90% moved in … that 10% is going to take a minute.
In bike news, I’m psyched to have a local bike shop and will be dropping my bikes off for tune-ups after being in a moving pod for a bit. I’m starting to think about bike plans for the year. The plans will be modest, as 2026 will be reacclimating to elevation and exposure (there are very few trees – you can see forever, but there’s also very little shade).
Events and Routes I’m looking at this year:
- Steamboat GRVL – June 27 – Colorado
- Ned Gravel – July 11 – Colorado
- Lewis & Clark Gravel Classic – July 25 – Montana
- Borderlands Gravel – November 14 – Arizona
- Queen’s Ransom – Arizona
- Joshua Tree – California
- Big Bend – Texas
The goal is to reconnect with old bike friends and find new bike friends who want to explore at a casual pace. I’m super into fat bikepacking and want to do it a few more times. The number of routes and options for bikepacking out West is tremendous – way more than out East – so I’m bound to get to at least a few new places.
And of course, spend more time with my family and Pete’s family. That’s the main reason we moved back – we missed being near our people. For now our kids are still out East and we look forward to setting up vacations to see them. Our kids are the coolest people we know and we always love spending time with them.
So that’s the plan for 2026 – be gentle to myself, try new things, find my place in where I live, and do my best not to become a Z-list celebrity among bike people in my area.
Hope to see you out there!
wife. mother. awesome girl. 