Things are progressing...

The belts are getting a bit more space in them, the pants ever so slightly less tight. I find myself looking forward to using the next size down Marmot Windshirt once that can comfortably take place. Any of you who know (all of you?) the ebb-and-flow of weight loss understand that the process is more important than the result, or at least I think so. In conjunction with some long-term weight goals come some long-term cycling goals for 2013. '12 has been a reasonable year, but aside the tours nothing jumped out and grabbed me. So far for 2013 are some options:

• A gravel ride coming up in early January, the first of numerous opportunities I hope.
• A visit to S-Tree and the surrounding Daniel Boone National Forest, an area Patrick and I visited in August but did not conquer. The idea is to drive/ride/carcamp/ride and return home. Two days of riding significant backwoods gravel, logging roads and maybe a bit of single/double track. Remote riding.
• Centuries- I can't commit to a century a month because the Spring tennis season is so wack. The best I can do is hope to do half that, 6 hundys in the course of the year. That would be swell. There is a chance of the first one of the year on January 1 hosted by Dave, but I don't know my schedule yet. 
• 200k- I would like to do my first "official" brevet, but will have to travel to do so. The KY brevet calendar is Spring heavy, again during tennis, so it would take a trip to TN or IL.
• A mini-tour, preferably the Central KY Donut Trail tour. I don't remember if I expounded on the idea on this platform. Fundamentally it would be a 3 day/2 night tour out of Lexington, averaging about 55 miles per day, visiting some donut joints written up in the NYTimes travel section. I'm completely prepared to do this solo as a test for myself. All my bike camping has been with groups.

I want to have fun on the bike, ride many miles, do some interesting trips, and do it all about 50lbs lighter. I'm 7lbs down from Thanksgiving, my starting point. I'd be really happy down 10 by Christmas. And then from there, slow and steady.

Hope you have some fun, ambitious goals for 2013. Venga!